Colon Cancer

In July, my father had some alarming symptoms that sent him to the emergency room. The doctor scheduled him for a colonoscopy the next week, and the results was cancer. On August 10th, he had surgery to remove a portion of his colon. Hopefully the cancer, as well as his diverticulitis, was removed.

Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer

• Diarrhea, constipation, or other change in bowel habits that does not resolve
• Blood in the stool
• Unexplained anemia (anemia in any adult who is not a menstruating woman should almost always be evaluated by a colonoscopy)
• Abdominal pain and tenderness in the lower abdomen
• Intestinal obstruction
• Weight loss with no known reason
• Stools narrower than usual

Most people with colon cancer have no symptoms.

I flew from Fairbanks to Cincinnati on August 2. My father picked me up at the airport along with Curtis and Jacob. He was in good spirits and didn't seem to be too alarmed by the cancer diagnosis. Five days before the surgery he began preparation to empty his digestive tract. He was particularly sensitive to the process, and he became nauseated. He had a difficult time eating or drinking anything, and he lost weight during the days before the surgery.

Right in the middle of his preparations, the family reunion was scheduled. All of my father's siblings were attending, and they wanted a family photo. The group came out to my parent's house and had the photo taken on their porch since my father was too weak to attend the reunion.

The day of the surgery my brother took him to the hospital. I got a ride with my Uncle Walt. I met my sister there along with several other members of our family. The surgery waiting room was filled with people during that morning while we waited for the results. The doctor came out and informed us that everything went well, and we were able to see him for a few minutes.

We were so relieved that everything went well, that we all went out to lunch at the Ponderosa. We had 32 people at our table.

My father was in the hospital for about a week, and now he is home recovering. He is scheduled to see an oncologist to see what further treatment he will need.

My Mom and Viv took us to the airport on the 23rd. Curtis flew back to Fairbanks with me.

Perservation

Today (Monday, Memorial Day) feels like Saturday to me, maybe because Keith doesn't have to go to work. Keith is off somewhere, and I am home by myself. It feels good to sit here at the computer and not have to go anywhere.

Do you ever wonder why certain thoughts toss around in your mind? For instance, today I was sitting at the computer and the song, "Tambourine Man" started singing in my head. I haven't heard this song in ages. A long long time ago, I used to play it on the piano, but I haven't played it in years, maybe decades.  So why today?

"Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, dah dah dah dah me... " I can't remember the words, but even my thoughts are being sung to that tune with a few words of the song thrown in from time to time as I remember them.

What was I doing when the song started singing in my head? Last night I downloaded Java, and there were links to games. So I downloaded Arcade Bubbles.

I click to swap the bubbles, and as they fall, I hear "Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, dah dah dah dah me... " in my head.

If you are of my generation, when I mention "Mr. Tambourine Man" you probably remember it, a song of the 70s. If I mentioned it to my sons, they'd give me a quizzical look and say, "Yeah, right, Mom."

Before the song overtook my thoughts, I kept thinking of the movie, "Doc Hollywood". Michael J. Fox plays this plastic surgeon that has a wreck in a one-horse southern town. As a result, he is sentenced to 40 hours of community service because he plowed down the fence of the local magistrate.

The part that perservates in my head is the part where Dr. Hoke overhears Dr. "Fox" (I forget his name in the movie) calling the office of the California surgeon where he has an employment interview. He is missing the interview because of his community service. Then Dr. Hoke (why do I remember his name and not Fox's character?) has a heart attack. Dr. Fox has to call again and reschedule the appointment for a second time. It looks like he is going to lose out on this opportunity to work with a highly paid plastic surgeon's practice.

You can see Dr. Hoke right outside the doorway while Dr. Fox is on the phone. Then later in the movie you find out that the big shot plastic surgeon knowns Dr. Hoke. He gives Dr. Fox his interview because Dr. Hoke called him in Dr. Fox's behalf. Well, whaddya know, the one-horse-town doctor has a little pull after all.

One of the patients Dr. Fox treats has a stomach ailment. Dr. Fox thinks it is some sort of serious heart problem. He is ready to send him off in an ambulance to a bigger city when Dr. Hoke rushes to the clinic with a can of Coke. Apparently the boy has been chewing his Daddy's chewing 'tabacca.' Dr. Hoke knows this because he knows his patients.

I wonder if Dr. Fox is thinking, "I have more medical expertise than this small town doc. He would miss a serious ailment." So Dr. Fox doesn't look for the obvious. Then later in the story Dr. Fox's expertise does come in handy when Dr. Hoke has the heart attack.

Did you see this movie? I hope so, because I am not telling the story very well.

What I am wondering is this? Does perservation about something (like a movie or a song) that I think of out of the blue have the same meanings as a dream? Is it like a daytime dream? Is there some message that my subconcious (unconscious) is trying to tell me?

The Cabin

I didn't sleep last night. I was worried about Keith. He was over at the cabin. Last month he asked the renter to move out by May 30. They had been packing and had taken some things that belonged to the cabin, things that belonged to Todd when he lived there. When Todd went to Anchorage for lineman's school, he left all his belongings there and rented the cabin to a friend. Keith wanted to board the place up, but Todd convinced him that it would be better to have someone stay there and guard his stuff.

I keep having this vision that Keith is going to be shot. Keith stayed over there all night Sunday night, sort of guarding the place. He removed Todd's things, loaded them into his camper, and brought them over to our house. Then he returned to the cabin in case they decided to come back and vandalize the place.

Keith came home this morning and took a shower. He said that he boarded up the cabin so the ex-renter can't take anything else. They never did pay the rent for May, and the electric bill was over $200. If they pay nothing, then Keith is out the money.

I got up in time to see Keith taking off again in the truck. I suppose he is going back over there. He really is afraid they are going to trash the place.

I feel bad about this because Keith bent over backwards. The rent was always late. We paid the electric bill even when we didn't have the rent money to cover it. Keith wanted her out of there, but he didn't ask her to move in the winter because he didn't want it to be a hardship for her. So she turns around and treats Keith like dirt. What a mess.

And I was doing so well with my sleep schedule, too! I slept Friday night and was up on Saturday. Then I slept on Saturday night, and I was awake at 7 a.m. Sunday morning.  I could have been ready for bed at a decent hour on Sunday night. Instead I lay awake all night wondering what was going on with Keith. Early this morning I finally crashed. I don't remember what time it was. I woke up at 1 p.m. so I got at least 5 hours of sleep (what I consider my minimum daily requirement).

Fishing Trip

Today Keith went fishing. He wanted to fish for King Salmon in Valdez, but he didn't feel like driving over 300 miles to catch a fish. So he drove up Chena Hot Springs Road and fished for grayling.

When he climbed the stairs, he said, "Are you ready to clean some fish?"

"Oh, no," I said.  I don't clean fish. Even my Dad doesn't make my Mom clean fish."

He was joking. He caught a few little ones and let them go. Then he drove up to Chena Hot Springs for a hot soak in their three tubs. He came home refreshed.

Flossing and Gum

I've always kept floss in my car just in case, so I can clean my teeth after eating at a restaurant. I also keep gum in my car. Rather than using the traditional floss that you may picture in your mind, I bought some little gadgets that have the floss pre-threaded on a little plastic horseshoe with a handle. That way you can one-handedly floss.... even while driving down the road. Always one to multi-task, I can drive and floss.... but I find --not chew gum.

I had popped a square of Trident sugarless gum in my mouth and chewed all the sweetness out of it. Then I absent-mindedly reached for my floss stick and started picking at my teeth. Well, whaddya know!? The floss got stuck in the gum. Now I have this plastic stick with a wad of gum on the end and no trash bag in sight.

The Kleenex box saved the day, and I drove merrily on my way. So I learned that I can't floss and chew gum at the same time.

Company is Gone

My family left to go back to Indiana. I've been down in the dumps since they have left. I'm just now snapping out of it. My Dad called to let me know they arrived home safely. They stopped in Edmonton to let the boys play at the mall. My Mom said she was really tired after five hours following a 7 and 9-year old around.

My father kept a journal of his trip, and I'm putting it online for others to read, with his permission, of course. I teased him that I needed to print my own rebuttal of some of his comments.

For instance, Keith tried hard to get the yard all spruced up before they got here, but the weed whackers were in the shop. They weren't ready until the day they arrived. Dad took that as a prompt that he should clean up the yard. He did a really nice job, too, well except for whacking down some trees and a rose bush or two.

Before they left, we canned the fish they caught in Valdez. I'm sure we have enough to eat until they come again. We did from their last visit two years ago. *grin*

Smoke

The Interior has been having high temperatures in the 90s for about two weeks now. Several forest fires are raging around the state.

Today I fell asleep early, around 9 p.m. Then I woke up at 11 p.m. to the smell of smoke. I wondered why a neighbor would be grilling outside this time of night. I looked out the window and the whole sky is filled with smoke. One fire must be close to Fairbanks or the wind is blowing it here.

Midnight Sun

The boys had a great time tonight. We aren't doing a lot of stuff that I thought we would. We didn't drive 107 miles north to actually see the sun not set. LOL We went to the Midnight Sun carnival downtown. They had a few rides, but the boys didn't fuss about wanting to ride them. They walked around for awhile and Mom and I sat on a bench, people watching, and listening to the live music (picturing that Ray would've been right at home there and Stacey on the drums). We left before the drummer actually started playing because we were sitting in the shade behind the band, and we could reach out and touch the drums. I couldn't help looking through the crowd tonight hoping that Pam and Brendon might be at the carnival.

Then we went over to Pioneer Park (Alaskaland) and had dinner at the salmon bake. The boys were delighted that there was a big salad bar (except Christian, he didn't eat salad). Cooterbug even asked, "Where are the croutons?" They had them. :)

We had a selection of prime rib, grilled salmon, deep fried cod or halibut. Cooterbug went for the hot dogs which were 2 for $5.50 (included the salad bar), but he only ate half of one. Jacob rescued the second hot dog just before Cooterbug was going to dump it in the trash. I think the boys liked best that it was all you can drink, and they could get it themself. Everything is outside; so they could run around, eat a little, and then run around some more. It was hot enough and breezy enough that the mosquitos didn't bother us a bit.

The dessert was white cake with chocolate icing. Usually they have blueberry shortcake, but Dad said that was gone. We got there at the end of the serving time. It opens at 5 p.m. and was closing shortly after 9 p.m.

We got home around 10 p.m. and the boys rode their bikes in the yard. The sun was still high in the sky. It is so hot here that the boys don't want to wear shoes or shirts. I don't think they realize they are even out of Indiana if you used the weather to determine your location.

Mom, Dad, Keith and I sat outside under the motorhome awning. The boys rode their bikes down the steep part of the yard, and then they had to push them (or carry them) back up the hill. By then the mosquitos had our number. The temperature was comfortable.

Today Dad weed-whacked some of our yard. It was hard to tell the good plants from the weeds because everything had gotten so high. He managed to wipe out my perenials and my rose bushes. The roots are still there, so I imagine they will grow back. Keith had just planted some new trees along the bank, and I think Dad got those, too. I pointed out our untrimmed hedge to him before he takes up again tomorrow.

The boys have not said once, "I want to go home," even when they were in trouble or being scolded. From my viewpoint they are very well-mannered. If they get out of line, I tell them what I want, and they get right back in line. I've set down a few rules (like no food in the bedroom where they play legos), and they haven't tested me once or tried to get away with anything. When I got irritated with them for fighting over who gets to sit by the car window, they didn't cry or act very upset. I made them take turns. I got really excited when Cooterbug almost slammed Jacob's hand in the door. *whew* That would have ruined a really nice day.

While we were sitting outside tonight, we talked about what we are going to do for the rest of the week. I am going to take Mom to the Coumadin clinic Wednesday. We'll need to visit a laundromat, too. I never did get caught up with my laundry. My queen size bedspread does better at a laundromat anyway. *grin*

I enjoy having the boys here a lot. We plan to look for a basketball hoop for my driveway (something I have always wanted but Keith thinks is unnecessary... now I have reinforcements). We need to get one of those little needles to pump up the balls. We have an air-compressor.

Thursday, the motorhome goes into the shop for servicing. All the time that they were having problems with the battery, nothing electrical in the motorhome would work. But the step worked the whole time. Now that the electrical problems are fixed, and everything is working inside; the step won't work. We put a couple of concrete blocks there to step on.

While Mom and I are doing laundry, we told Dad he should take the boys and their bikes to the Pioneer Park bike paths. I warned them to keep together and watch out for strangers. Dad was cautioning them about not believeing the "Help me find my puppy" ploy.

Then we got to talking about our ailments. Dad mentioned his "number 1" doctor. He was talking to Jacob when he mentioned it, and asked him, "What would you do if a doctor wanted to stick his finger up your butt?" Before Jacob could answer, Christian said, (as he was riding by on his bicycle), "I'd slap him up side of the head." We were all ROFL.

So we decided that if anyone tried to mess with the boys at Pioneer Park, they would definitely have their hands full.

The sky is still daylight. It is a rosy pink and lavender color. It's 12:52 a.m. and I think the boys finally went to bed. Judging by their faces, I would say, they are having a wonderful time.

Beautiful Weather

The sky hasn't had a cloud for the past week. The daytime temperatures reach into the 90s. The Sunday paper showed a time/temperature sign with 104 F.

When it gets that hot outside, the inside of our house gets like an oven. We built this house to withstand 50-below winters; so when heat gets inside, it doesn't easily go away. Keith bought me a window air conditioner a few years ago, but it's on the floor in the bedroom. I wonder if it will get hot enough for him to install it?

Company is Here

The travelers got here about 1:30 p.m. The boys jumped out of the motorhome and were in the back yard before I got down the stairs. They unloaded their bikes and rode around in the driveway. Then they went upstairs to play with the legos.

Mom, Dad, Keith, and I sat in the cool garage to visit. It's still hot in the upstairs.

Mukluk Annies

Mom and Dad are bringing up three great-grandsons for a visit this summer. They are driving the motorhome from Indiana to Fairbanks.

I got a letter from my sister. My parents are at Mukluk Annies. Oh, dear, they could be here when I wake up tomorrow morning. *grin*

My house is a wreck. I've got all these projects going. I better pick some things up so they can get in the door. And the grass is three feet tall because the lawn mower is broken.