Grammercy Part 2

My mailbox runneth over!  Thanks all.  I should have sent this a month ago, but then it would be time to do it again! 

I am extremely grateful to all my friends, in the LRGV and out.  I actually had one person decide it was too hard to stay my friend when I went into chemo.  I know how the hot potato feels, that's for sure.  From near daily contact to nothing since I've started treatment.  I'm extremely glad that was a minority of one, I would be lost without all y'all! 

• Huge thanks to FC and DS for the painting!  It brings me great joy.  It transports me to the Gulf Stream and the days of guiding with Paul and Mike for the tour company that shall not be named.  This Black-capped Petrel slicing through the wake and flying by the boat is classic.  And I'm so proud to own a DS original!  It was a total shock to find the box at my door.  Long story short, this is a painting I saw on FB and loved!  I've hung it where it's easy to see from my recliner, over my feet when my feet are up (as they so often are now). 
• Thanks mom for the hats!  I never go out without one.   
• Thanks to my cousin RR for the bird books, much appreciated!  I'm going to read Susan Smith's book on Black-capped Chickadees first. 
• Thanks to my aunt DS for the CDs of the storytelling competition, and a sound of home.  The CDs were very entertaining!
• Thanks to brother JG for the book on CD and links to another online.  I need titles and suggestions of books to read still! 
• Thanks EC for the recorded book suggestions.  I'm about to cash in my Audible credits on them!
• Thanks to EE for the hat, I always need hats but especially now - and the puffin is awesome! 
• Thanks to everyone who has sent me bird pics or recordings as a phone-a-friend.  This is like birding but without the mosquitos or heat.  AS, EH, TB, MC, JL, JD et al. Please do keep it coming! 
• Thanks to DJ and MC for getting me to where I could hear the Black Rail in Cameron County, what an easy county tick for someone who can't walk far!   
• And thanks to JD for the cards, love the artwork and enjoy it on my wall. 
• Special thanks to all for the work, I need it to show income so I don't have to repay my Obamacare discount.  More on that next post. 
• Thanks to KG, PG, JG, CW, LP, and MS for checking in on me, sometimes that regular contact or joke is what I need most.  Love you. 

Round 5 - Ding!

I met with Dr 7 (chemo / infusion Dr), the usual upbeat experience.  Still no neuropathy or serious side effects, just a little ringing in my ears some evenings.  We're committed to this cycle of three treatments (2 to go) and then checking under the hood again. 
 

I also met with Dr 6 (surgeon), and she was disappointed with the results of the last scan as I was.  She and Dr 7 have been talking behind my back (her words, not mine!), and yes, it's good to have your infusion Dr and your surgeon in agreement.  They have discussed adding something to cut off the blood supply to the tumor if results don't improve next scan.  Optimistic words from Dr 6 that I could have still been on the flat end of the exponential response curve last scan, and maybe - just maybe - I'll see more improvement this time. Fingers crossed.  
 

Back to the hospital area again today for infusion (aka chemo).  Three days in a row to the hospital area. I'm getting tired of the commute. 

So I'm assigned my very first nurse again, the first time I get a repeat. You remember Melissa.  She so patiently explained all the drugs to me and so very quickly cut off the chemo drug drip when I started reacting to it on my first infusion.  She was able to get the IV in on the second stick.  Not perfect, but half as many as last time.  The pharmacy had sent IV Pepcid and not tablet so we had to wait for that and we had to wait for the chemo drugs.  Otherwise I could have been out by 4 pm again.  I was a little worried at one point that we were going so quickly the Benadryl wouldn't have enough time to work, but then we hit the first pause and I spent some time on a sodium chloride flush.  All in all smooth sailing.  Though Melissa was assigned to me I got to see most of my past nurses through the nearly 8 hours I was there.  

One thing I always do is check my blood test results.  My cancer blood marker is well down from the previous reading, more than 1/3 down from 6 weeks ago.  Of course my Drs appointments were all previous but I will take that result with cautious optimism and ask next time I see Dr 7. Otherwise not much change which is a good thing. 

I got my Breeding Bird Survey route data proofed, and one route eBirded.  It's tedious work but easy to pick up and put down.   It was really crowded in the infusion suite, hope that's not typical going forward.  Crowded is noisy, noisy interrupts my Benadryl and steroid induced naps.  Good news, the new TVs allow the use of headphones or ear buds but you have to bring your own. 

Stay tuned.

Birding and more (life outside treatment)

I did get out to the NBC last week, where as usual staff opened the massive pipe gate to allow me to cross the levee to access the river.  I enjoy this area, and spend time sitting by the river. I need to get back out there soon! 

I did my second Breeding Bird Survey on June 2, targeting Sunday hoping for less big rig and oil traffic.  This is a somewhat remote route on state highways that starts in Agua Nueva (Jim Hogg County) and heads south and west towards Rio Grande City (Starr County).  These surveys are 50 point counts of three minutes in length, counting every bird seen and heard.  South Texas is known for windy conditions in the summer and it's hard to get a day where the wind meets BBS weather standards.  I couldn't skip this day, who knows when I'd get another calm day.  The calm weather made the heat even more oppressive, and the survey process became exhausting as the route unfolded.  But I survived, taking a few short breaks to just sit in the air conditioned car.  Survey 3 will have to be skipped this year. 

I got out birding on Monday this week,  meeting Dan J at o-dark-thirty and riding with him to Laguna Atascosa, where we met Mark C.  We went out to help Mark with his Seaside Sparrow resightings on his color banding project, and coincidently to listen for Black Rails that Justin Leclaire had heard (and captured) while color banding the Seaside Sparrows.

The Seaside Sparrows in Cameron Co. are Sennett's Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus sennettii), a distinctive and well marked subspecies that is more distinct from birds to the northeast than other subspecies are from each other.  There have been a number of studies of these birds, most recently a study finishing up now on the ecological differences between birds in salt marsh and birds on salt flats.  It's a treat to see these birds, and they were singing as we arrived, an insect like sneezy trill. 

On the other hand, we had to wait for the Black Rail to sing, and we heard one or two.  Justin had two or three at this site earlier.  But sing it did, with the "ki-kee-grrr" song more than the "ki-ki-doo" song.  Access to the area is possible by walking or biking the five or so miles to the site, but leaving the levee is not allowed.  The Black Rail was likely audible from the road, but it would be distant.  Don't be fooled by tracks of researchers heading off the levee for research purposes. 

Mark showed off part of his BBS route that circles the upper end of the lake.  As we were driving and looking at the masses of waterbirds, I heard a Black Rail in a completely different area - this one doing the ki-ki-doo!  It's so odd to hear them singing mid-morning, when they were a dark of the night bird by legend in the mid-Atlantic region.  As a result of hearing this bird, we stopped in several other suitable appearing areas but didn't hear any more Black Rail.  I have to wonder what a sunrise survey of the area would yield. 

We just finished a week of 100+ heat, with highs as high as 108.  This is unusually hot for us, and hopefully not a harbinger of the rest of the summer.  I got out to see the horses and curry them a little one day, still very tiring.  Heat still exhausts me and makes me physically ill.  I'm still able to work a little on Wednesdays.  I had juvenal Black-throated Sparrows at the work site this week, not surprising given the location but a surprise as I hadn't heard any adults singing.  I get an extra day before chemo this week but the plan was to move it next round anyway, so it's no big deal.

The Upside to Baldness

Believe it or not, I have friends that want to know what the upside of being bald is, after having had long hair since forever.  I haven't been bald since I was a year old.  It's an odd experience for me and it's still weird not to be weighed down by it. 

With friends like these... anyway, here goes. 

1. It's cooler.  A bald head is a whole lot cooler than a full head of very thick hair.  That's not a bad thing given that I'm heat sensitive (still). 

2. After I finish vacuuming for the umpteen millionth time I should not have to worry about cleaning the roller on the vacuum for a long long time.  The windrows of hair up to 18" long are still turning up.  Think dust bunnies that are jack rabbit sized.  Where are they still coming from? 

3.  I dry off a lot faster after a shower.  It used to take 2 hours or more for my hair to dry.  Now even my body dries quicker, yes the hairlessness is everywhere. 

4.  I only need one towel to dry off - it used to take two towels, one for the hair and one for the rest!  Less laundry!  Woot! 

5.  I used to have to keep a hair brush in each suitcase and in my car in addition to one in the bathroom, or I'd end up having to buy a new one on half the trips I took.  Yes, it was a constant battle to keep that hair tamed.  And I usually lost. 

6. Think of all the money I'm saving on hair ties, shampoo, and the like.  A whole aisle at the store I don't have to go down or even consider.  The time savings are huge!

7. I can wash my "hair" with a wet wash cloth.  Another huge time savings! 

8.  The downside... I am in fear of sunburn. My scalp is shocking white.  Worse yet, I can't tease my brothers any more (at least about hair loss).  Mine isn't even male pattern baldness, I have about 200 strands of hair on my head.  At least it shows just how a comb-over looks.  Own it guys, I am!