Ten Little Celebrations – January 2024

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There are so many little celebrations every day. Here are my top 10 for January 2024.

51 years of being married. OK – perhaps this one is not ‘little.’ We marked the day by getting a special meal (picked up, eaten at home)…but the more significant part of the celebration was the savoring of being long marrieds…of always being supportive of each other, particularly when things are stressful.

Spider lily bulbs. I celebrated getting spider lily bulbs (and some iris rhizomes) planted before the very cold weather in mid-January.

A fragrant candle. I finally used up a very fragrant candle I had moved from Maryland (in the car since they are not permitted on moving trucks). When I entered my office each morning, I celebrated how it smelled from the candle I’d burned a few hours the previous evening!

Being home. Being away from home for 7 weeks and then leaving again for Texas 2.5 weeks later for a few days gave me several opportunities to celebrate coming and being home!

Braum’s Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad. Yum. I had about given up on finding something at a fast food place that I liked…so I celebrated this discovery. The greens are fresh, the grilled chicken tender, the strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple make it special.

First Snow. I celebrated being home for snow…not on the road between Texas and home!

Patterns in the snow. I celebrated my first pattern walks in the snow…hope to try it again soon.

Old friends. I celebrated that two old friends (that I hadn’t talked to in years) contacted me just when I needed to talk to them…before I even realized how wonderful that would be.

2 years cancer free. Celebrating a 2-year mark of a 5-year monitoring regime for cancer after surgery…and all the checks are indicating no cancer.

Being indoors. When the temperature is single digits or below zero…it’s worth celebrating an indoor day in a warm house.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 5, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Four key questions on the new wave of anti-obesity drugs – Several of the drugs were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes but now are popular weight loss drugs.

Sweet smell of success: Simple fragrance method produces major memory boost – A study done by the University of California, Irvine on older adults…participants reaped a 226% increase in cognitive capacity compared to the control group. A product based on their study and designed for people to use at home is expected to come onto the market this fall.

How the US is fighting back against deadly floods – Identifying flood plains…not building back in them after a flood.

Old-Growth Trees, Some Dating To 17th Century, Protected at New River Gorge – The Burnwood Loop – where I want to hike first in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve!

Does Cooking with Gas Stoves Hurt Indoor Air Quality? – Yes…but how much is the better question. 12.7% of current childhood asthma in the United States is attributable to gas stove use.

A quick look inside a human being – Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI)…using a portable scanner to visualize dynamic processes in the human body such a blood flow.

Why it's so important to figure out when a vital Atlantic Ocean current might collapse - Humans are changing the fundamental processes of the Earth faster than we can understand them. The collapse of the current would have effects around the planet: temperatures in Europe would fall, heat in the tropics would rise, rainfall would decrease across the Sahel in Africa, the summer monsoon would weaken across Asia, and sea levels would rise even faster in the eastern US.

New Thermal Activity on Geyser Hill in Yellowstone National Park – Short video from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

‘Perfectly Preserved’ Glassware Recovered From 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck – The shipwreck was located 1,148 feet below the surface in waters between Italy and France. Two remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were used to scan the site and recover artifacts.

Short bursts of daily activity linked to reduced cancer risk - A total of just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity that makes you huff and puff during daily tasks could reduce the risk of some cancers (i.e. cancers associated with physical activity such as liver, lung, kidney, gastric cardia (a type of stomach cancer), endometrial, myeloid leukemia, myeloma, colorectal, head and neck, bladder, breast and esophageal adenocarcinoma (cancer of the esophagus) by up to 32 percent.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 25, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The ancient diseases that plagued dinosaurs – Interdisciplinary teams are re-looking at dinosaur bones and comparing anomalies to diseases visible in modern bones….finding examples of dinosaurs with malignant bone cancer, septic arthritis, and airsacculitis. And it seems that there is a lot more to discover with the technologies now available to look at the fossils more closely and collaborating with vets (particularly vets that work with birds and reptiles).

A worthless life and the worthy death: euthanasia through the ages – The post is written from an Australian perspective and about Caitlin Mahar’s book: The Good Death Through Time. The topic is a thought provoking one….made more interesting with an overlay of history.  I wondered how much the growth of medical interventions has changed the way we envision ‘worthy death’ or is the phrase ‘death with dignity’ a better description now.

Residential solar advantages – 5 top benefits – This is something my husband and I plan to do…solar-plus-storage is our 1st choice. Residential solar also has advantages beyond the home itself: it can power your transportation home too!

Fructose could drive Alzheimer’s disease – More research is needed…but it is interesting that the fructose consumption has gone up in the US (in 1977-1978 it was 37 g/day….in a 2008 study, it was 54.7 g/day). Maybe reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s is another reason to eliminate ultra-processed foods that typically contain a lot of fructose from our diet.

High-paying jobs that don't need a college degree? Thousands of them are sitting empty – Making a career in the trades….and there is a lot of work available.

Why methane surged in 2020 – Interesting findings and how they were developed. The two main reasons: 1) heightened emissions from wetlands because of unusually high temperatures and rainfall and 2) decline in NOx due to COVID-19 lockdowns which broke the chemical reaction in the atmosphere that produces hydroxyl (OH) that serves to remove methane from the atmosphere.

Why aren’t energy flows diagrams used more to inform decarbonization? – Yes! These are easier to understand than a lot of other graphics. The ‘heating the UK with heat pumps or green hydrogen’ diagram caused a ‘learned something new’ moment for me!

Will we ever be able to predict earthquakes? – The answer might be ‘no’ – but there are still a lot of people trying. We can’t rely on predicting them to reduce the destruction in infrastructure and lives. Enforced building codes would reduce destruction and save lives since we already know the areas of high risk for earthquakes. It will be interesting to see an analysis of what the damage from the recent Turkey/Syria earthquake would have been if building codes would have been enforced (the ones that Turkey evidently instituted after the previous earthquake…and also if the ‘best in world’ standards has been enforced).

15th-Century Spices Identified in Royal Shipwreck – Analysis of plants from a 1495 shipwreck in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden: nutmeg, cloves, mustard, dill, saffron, ginger, peppercorns, almonds, blackberries, raspberries, grapes and flax. The findings provide insight on cuisine and trade of the era.

Did you know pronghorns shed their horns? – No…but it a good piece of trivia. I remember seeing pronghorns in New Mexico – racing our vehicle during a guided tour of Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.

Cancer Diary – Entry 13

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It’s been a year since my cancer surgery. All the diagnostics at the one-year mark show that I am cancer free….so the surgery was a success.

My last post was 4 weeks after the surgery but now I realize I should have done a post at 8 weeks since that is when the hematoma was finally gone. And two weeks later, in the area where the last hematoma color had been, cellulitis developed. The cellulitis might have been unrelated to the surgery, but it was a first instance of cellulitis for me…disconcerting; it was quickly resolved by antibiotics (unfortunately, I develop a reaction to the first type prescribed right after the second dose).

My fingernails became very brittle in the spring. They have returned to normal now. I suspect that the surgery and associated medication change might have been an issue but that my body had recovered/acclimated at this point.

The scar and puckering around it are not fading as quickly as I expected – perhaps because of skin sensitivity to the recommended topical vitamin E and/or cocoa butter and sunscreen, developing hives in the scar area (reaction to an antibiotic), and the silicon patches not being as effective as advertised. My current strategy is to cover the scar when I am out in the sun (rather than using sunscreen) and to use the mildest of moisturizers.

My cancer was detected early before it impacted my perception of health, and the surgery happened expeditiously. A year later, I am feeling healthy (almost like I felt before the surgery) but 2022 had the most health related ups and downs of my life!

Previous cancer diary posts:

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 19, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Energy crisis: How living in a cold home affects your health – The coming winter is going to be very difficult for many – particularly in Europe.

Parks of the 21st century: new ways to reinvent abandoned land – Parks always are signs of hope…the greening of places that might have been eyesores in the past. I wondered how much toxic remediation had to occur for some of the sites they described; its encouraging that we can clean up the messes we’ve made in the past!

Alcohol caused one in eight deaths of working-age US adults – The data used from the analysis was pre-COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the CDC has released data for 2019 and 2020 and it shows a larger-than-normal 26% spike in the alcohol-induced deathrate. In 2020, alcoholic liver disease and mental/behavioral disorders were the leading underlying causes of alcohol-induced deaths. Sad numbers….lots of people and their families impacted.

A field guide to the unusual raptors of the Southern US – I was pleased to see the snail kite in this article – a bird I saw on a birding trip to Florida in 2019.

Farmers in China, Uganda move to high-yielding, cost-saving perennial rice – Very positive results. Hopefully we will eventually have perennial forms of other grains (wheat in particular).

The weirdest places you can find wild turkeys – Wild turkeys have made a comeback since the early 1900s…a restoration success story. Part of the Thanksgiving vibe this week!

Breast cancer survivorship doubles – An analysis of Canadian data from the 2007-2001. The study also highlighted the long-term side effects in these survivors…the need for new therapies to improve the health of women after surviving breast cancer.

Permanent Standard Time Could Save Lives, Explained by A Sleep Expert – I don’t like changing to/from daylight savings time; before reading this article, I didn’t care which one we chose to make permanent. Now I am convinced that we should stick with standard time! There are too many negative health impacts to staying on daylight savings.

How to avoid bad choices – The article is about the research on how to teach children ‘decision-making competence’ – not just a measure of raw brainpower but how well someone is able to appraise situations. There are many approaches but the goal is to get children and adolescents to start thinking about risk and danger in a more analytical way….on the way to adulthood.

Blind spots in the monitoring of plastic waste – The amount of plastic waste in rivers could be up to 90% higher that previously assumed. The current measurements are mainly based on surface observations…but plastic can be suspended or sink! This study tracked 3,000 particles from 30mm to larger objects like plastic cup. Knowing where the plastic is helps guide where clean up would be the most effective.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 12, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

America’s largest transit bus charging station & microgrid open in Maryland – The headline caught my eye because I lived in Maryland for over 20 years – 8 of those in the county where this is happening! I hope other states have the same sorts of projects in the works.

NASA Finds More Than 50 Super-Emitters of Methane – Finding them is only the first step….how many of them will be situations we can reduce or stop the emission?

Iron induces chronic heart failure in half of heart attack survivors – This study prompted testing of iron chelation therapy to remedy or mitigate the effects associated with iron in hemorrhagic myocardial infarction patients.

Unique Bronze Age belt discovered near Opava – Half my ancestors came from the area that is now the Czech Republic…I am drawn to articles about the history of the region.  The belt is quite beautiful…but was it a practical item of apparel?  

What happens if our circadian rhythms are out of whack? – WHO has proclaimed that disrupted circadian rhythms are a probable carcinogen. The study discussed in this post was about the mechanism that circadian rhythm disruption triggers lung tumors.

View 16 Breathtaking Images from the Nature Conservancy’s Annual Photo Contest – Take a little break….look at awesome images of our world.

Mississippi River Basin adapts as climate change brings extreme rain and flooding – This year the stories about extreme weather seem to be more frequent – and wide ranging in terms of water. The Mississippi was low enough for barge traffic to be impacted because of drought…yet there were floods along part of the river just last summer.

Eye-opening discovery about adult brain's ability to recover vision – An unexpected success…opening new ways to treat a vision impairment (LCA) and maybe prompt a re-look about how the adult brain can re-wire itself relative to vision.

The World’s Whitest Paint May Soon Help Cool Airplanes and Spacecraft – A way of making paint that was previously too thick/heavy for things that move. The thicker version works for homes and buildings. We’ll need this technology to reflect heat without expending energy!

Greater cloud cover may be narrowing the gap between daily high and low temperatures – Simulating clouds explicitly. Trying to understand why nights are heating up faster than days across the globe.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 17, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Federal flood maps are outdated because of climate change – The challenge of record rainfall events becoming more common and resulting in flooding of places not seen as vulnerable previously.

Hundreds of Monumental “Kites” Spotted in Arabian Desert – Low stone walls that could be enclosures used to guide game for capture/slaughter as early as 8000 BC.

The mystery of the human sacrifices buried in Europe's bogs – Sacrifices or maybe burial for anyone that died mysteriously or unnaturally. I remember being fascinated about the ‘bog bodies’ back in 1970s…buying the book about them by P.V. Glob.

Diet change may make biggest impact on reducing heart risk in people with hypertension – Too bad that the study also found “the availability and affordability of healthy food sources does not easily allow people to follow the DASH diet.” Diets are hard enough to sustain without those extra challenges.

Despite its innocently furry appearance, the puss caterpillar’s sting is brutal – The don’t look vicious….but the hairs have poisonous barbs! There are other caterpillars that also have ‘hairs’ and can deliver painful stings – like the saddleback caterpillars. In general…I avoid handling caterpillars with hairs or bristles!

Cancers in adults under 50 on the rise globally – Earlier detection could account for some of the increase…but it is unlikely to be the sole reason. 8 of the 14 cancers on the rise are related to the digestive system. With those types of cancers, the hypothesis is that the food we eat has changed dramatically and has changed our microbiome composition…and eventual these changes influence disease risk and outcomes. There is still a lot of work to be done but it appears that the drastic rise in early onset cancer began around 1990.

The biggest myths of the teenage brain – Hopefully some of these findings will be factors in decision making for things like high school hours and how to help teenagers better understand themselves.

NREL Study Identifies Opportunities & Challenges of Achieving the U.S. Transformational Goal of 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 – No single solution….having multiple pathways to the goal is probably a good thing.

Arctic lakes are vanishing a century earlier than predicted – Warmer temperatures and more abundant autumn rainfall have caused permafrost around/beneath Arctic lakes to melt…and the lakes shank between 2000 to 2021. The reduction in lakes impacts migratory birds and other wildlife…and human communities in the Arctic.

Fall Foliage Prediction Map – My road trips this fall will offer many opportunities to see fall foliage: 1st week in October in Michigan and Canada, the rest of October around Missouri, then Texas later in October into November.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 23, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Watch a Deep-Sea Squid Carry Hundreds of Pearl-Like Eggs – A video from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

It’s a trap: managing cowbirds to save songbirds – The strategy of trapping cowbirds (a brood parasite) to help endangered songbirds along the Santa Clara River in Southern California has evolved to reduce harming other species and cost less.

Electric vehicle buyers want rebates, not tax credits – Of course….immediate rebates rather than waiting for months to get a tax credit are much more appealing.

Urban waterways: discovering the hidden beauty of a Jersey River – River restoration across the country…with the Cooper River story in more detail.

Universal influenza B vaccine induces broad, sustained protection – A new kind of vaccine….using nanoparticles. Perhaps this new technology will lead to an effective universal flu vaccine.

The sustainable cities made of mud – A little construction/architectural history….that could be applied more often.

10 Weird Australian Marsupials You’ve Never Heard Of – So many unusual animals…Australia has more than just kangaroos and koalas!

Cancer probably killed world’s first known pregnant Egyptian mummy – 2,000 years ago a young woman died…and was mummified. The Warsaw Mummy Project has determined that she was pregnant – the fetus was ‘pickled’ in the highly acidic and low oxygen environment of the mummified womb – and the woman probably died of nasopharyngeal cancer.

More Electricity from Wind and Solar than Nuclear for 1st time in USA – Hurray! Wind and solar accounted for over 25% of the nation’s electricity in the first 4 months of 2022!

Loss of male sex chromosome leads to earlier death for men – What? Y chromosome loss happens in 40% (estimated) of 70-year-old men. The loss occurs primarily in cells with rapid turnover, such as blood cells. And it might lead to heart muscle scaring…and then heart failure.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 30, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

India’s fantastic freshwater fauna and where to find them – I was caught by the picture of the dancing frog at the top of the post. Other unusual animals featured in the rest of the post…some very different than what we see in North America.

Meat consumption must fall by at least 75% - And not just because of climate change. Health and economic effects also contribute to the rationale.

Top 25 birds of the week: birds communications – Pictures don’t impart sounds…so the post is really about bird body language.

Meet the Eastern Phoebe, the flycatchers that coexists with humans – It’s always easier to hear this bird than see it! We have one that visits our backyard almost every morning this spring.

A community of seed savers has a recipe to revive rare varieties of collard greens – I became a fan of collards in my CSA share…now I am thinking that I might try planting an heirloom variety! I like them better than kale because the big leaves are flatter – easier to roll and the cut to make slaw…or as a last ingredient into a stir fry.

U.S. has warmed by 2.6 degrees F since first Earth Day – This was my first look at this metric. Maryland is bright orange (3 degrees increase) and Missouri is white (1.5 degrees increase). Maybe another aspect of my move to Missouri could be climate related migration!

The US will phase out incandescent light bulbs – Ban takes effect in 2023…but lots of people have already made the transition to the more efficient bulbs.

Picturesque clouds of Greenland – Cloud streets and vortices.

22% of new cars in Europe have a plug! – Hurray! Hope the US will catch up sometime soon.

Spatial maps of melanoma – Diagnostics…enabling more precise medicine. Tissue samples must be supplemented with multiplexed imaging techniques to diagnose and treat melanoma more effectively.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 5, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Scientists develop long lasting anti-fogging coating for plastic surfaces that 'self-cleans' – It seem like the current antireflective coating on my glasses is a little ‘sticky’ – making my glasses collect particles easily…need cleaning frequently. It would be great to have something that is self-cleaning! Somehow I doubt this would eliminate the need to clean my glasses but it would be good to get back to the way glasses were before the fancy coatings!

Rare Baby Ghost Shark Caught in New Zealand’s Chatham Rise – What an odd-looking animal. There is a 3-minute video that shows adult sharks.

Deer Mice: Get to Know North America’s Most Abundant Mammal – So small we might not notice them most of the time. A good overview of deer mice. They are vectors for Lyme disease and hantavirus….but provide food for hawks, eagles, and owls…coyotes and foxes.

Lichens Are in an Evolutionary Race Against Climate Change – They can be found almost everywhere…but are very slow growing. That slow growth makes it more challenging for them to adjust to changing temperatures.

Nearly 300 Million Visited National Park System in 2021, But Most To Just 25 Parks – I’ve been to 17 of the 25!

An insulin patch that sticks inside a person’s cheek – I’m sure most diabetics that must take injections would welcome an alternative.

Covid-19 Community Levels – In case you haven’t seen it already – this site has a map of the US with the counties color coded. The county where I live and the counties around it are green.

Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England – In Oxford…under traces of St. Mary’s College built in the 15th century.

Surprise small-cell lung cancer discovery suggests new treatment – New work from University of Virginia Health System (which was designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center on Feb. 1).

An Ornate, 5,000-Year-Old Stone Drum Is the U.K.’s Most Significant Prehistoric Art Find in a Century – Found buried alongside skeletons of 3 children cuddled together.  

Cancer Diary – Entry 12

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4 weeks after surgery:

  • The surgical glue has flaked off the incision. I collected the bigger pieces and did a round of macro photography – commemorating the milestone – before throwing them away. The texture of the glue varied…crinkled, fibrous, crystalline. Blood that became embedded in it provided some color.

  • I’ve started putting Vitamin E and cocoa butter on the scar to help it fade over time (and am keeping it protected from exposure to sunlight).

  • The hematoma is mostly gone. The speed of the ‘clean up’ increased over the last week.  

  • On a not-so-positive note – I’ve been celebrating too much with food and my weight has started to creep upward…starting work to reverse that and continue on my plan to reduce 5+ pounds from my weight at the beginning of the year.

This with be the last Cancer Diary post unless something else happens. Right now -  the prognosis is good with continued monitoring tests to confirm. All the baseline tests indicate that the cancer was caught early and that my ongoing risk is low.

My experience has prompted me to think about what ‘good medical care’ means….what led to the early diagnosis and treatment. Looking back…it was a 12-year progression from a blood test revealing a risk factor prompting annual monitoring blood tests and ultrasounds. There was a biopsy with a benign result 6 years ago….and lastly a biopsy that revealed the cancer last fall. My primary care doctor coordinated all the monitoring until 2 years ago; I opted to go to a specialist thereafter. The specialist recommended the surgeon. Of the three, the specialist is the best at sharing his rationale of monitoring and treatment….and that is something I have come to appreciate more over the past few months.

Previous cancer diary posts:

Cancer Diary – Entry 11

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The doctor that referred me for cancer surgery scheduled a follow up appointment for about 2.5 weeks after the surgery - assuming the surgeon would complete his role at about 2 weeks after the surgery (which I posted about in the 10th Cancer Diary post). The appointment with the doctor that will continue my care is the most recent milestone in my journey with cancer and getting treatment. He confirmed that I would not need radiation/chemo and ordered blood lab tests immediately and developed a plan for the next year: periodic blood tests and an ultrasound in a year. I am pleased that my cancer was caught early enough that I am on track to be ‘cured’ rather than living with cancer for the rest of my life.

It was bitterly cold the day of the appointment…but I was buoyed by the results I already knew from the surgeon and the continued fading of the hematoma/healing of the incision. The doctor provided excellent feedback and answered questions…the tech that did the blood draw did a great job getting the needle in smoothly then filling the multiple vials of blood required. On the way out of the building, I stopped for a few seconds to photograph the garden that looked so inviting when the weather was warmer; the fountain is turned off now and it’s too cold to linger but I still like the look of the place. I hurried to my car, thoroughly chilled, but appreciating the time out in the world, away from home. I celebrated that the appointment had been early enough that I got a close parking space!

I am so buoyed by the results that I am feeling more optimistic than I have all during the pandemic; I realize that, even though I was consciously reminding myself that the cancer had been detected early, I experienced a deep anxiety about it that became part of everything I was thinking and doing for the past few months.  Now I’ve started wearing earrings again (when I am not going to be taking a mask off and on), buying flowers every week at the grocery story and making multiple arrangements to place everywhere in the house. This is a time of celebration…a time to be happy that I am healthy and enjoying winter 2022.

Previous cancer diary posts:

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2022

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As I look at my list of little celebrations in January 2022, I am realizing that my surgery stands out so significantly that getting through the surgery itself (the 1st surgery, the reopening of the incision to release blood, the 2nd surgery) is the major celebration of the month! There are little celebrations around that big one: a sunrise and good grocery shopping experience before the surgery, an excellent chicken soup I made a few days after coming home, the hematoma beginning to fade (although it is still not completely gone 2+ weeks afterward…I am checking/celebrating progress every morning), and my first grocery shopping after the surgery (with the assistance of my husband).

The other celebration that stands out this month….more than a little one…is the death of our cat, Boromir. I was glad I held him close for over an hour on his last day….that he seemed at peace. We are still missing him but also celebrating that Boromir was with us for so many years and particularly through the pandemic when we were at home most of the time; he contributed to the positive vibe that seemed so natural…so easily sustained.

And then there were some ‘usual’ little celebrations:

A great meatloaf. I discovered that adding a little olive oil if the ground beef is very lean and using spaghetti sauce instead of salsa improves the texture and flavor!

Red velvet cake/carrot cake for our 49th wedding anniversary. We both savored our slice of celebratory cake…not having any leftovers!

Peppermint snow ice cream. Celebrating a seasonal favorite and plenty of snow to make it!

A new garage door. It was awful to have a damaged door….I celebrated that we could get it replaced quickly.

Snow on the ground. Celebrating the beautiful scene from the windows of our house….and the different perspective as I walked through the neighborhood.

Cancer Diary – Entry 10

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A week and half after my surgery, I made a quick trip to the grocery store…at my usual early morning time. I covered my healing scar with a scarf and my usual KF94 face mask which was comfortable because it was so cold! The big difference from my norm was my husband went with me to put the items that weighed more than 10 pounds on my cart. He did that at the beginning and then I continued the rest of my shopping as usual – scanning the items I was buying with my phone using the store’s app, loading up my bags as I shopped, and then checking out at the self-checkout. My husband was waiting in the car to load all the bags when I was done….and then he unloaded them into the house when we got home.  It was my first venture away from the house since the surgery….and helped me feel like I was truly getting back to normal (or ‘normal’ in raging Omicron surge time).

I had a telemedicine session with my surgeon a few days shy of 2 weeks after my surgery. Because of the ‘bleed’ and reopening of the incision on the same day as the surgery, I still had the residual purple, red, yellow colors visible on my skin. That will take time to clear. The incision itself was healing well…past the point of concern about infection… and the 10-pound weight limit was lifted. The analysis of the tissue removed had been done and it appears that the cancer was in an early stage…no further treatment should be required. The session marked the end of the interaction with the surgeon and the transition to the specialist that will monitor me going forward; the appointment with that doctor is in a few days which will define the monitoring plan going forward (the levels of the one medication required and the schedule for any subsequent testing).

The incision is healed enough that I can wear clothing that might rub it a little now and it has made it easier to dress…helped to gently cause the surgical glue to flake away. It’s also a boost to my mood to look more my normal self although some of the hematoma is still visible.

I made a foray out into the yard a few days after the telemedicine session to take the accumulated kitchen/spend cut flowers back to the compost pile and to collect branches that fell during the snow and wind of the past few weeks. Another activity that I handled with ease…. confirming to myself that I was making a good recovery.

I have been making my 12,000 steps per day goal since the week after surgery but there are still instances where I feel unexpectedly tired, and I am glad my situation is flexible enough to allow me to rest when that happens. I’ve taken a few unplanned naps! It doesn’t happen every day but when it does,  I heed the message my body is sending!

So – two weeks after surgery – I am feeling more and more like I did before the surgery…and very pleased that I will not need follow up radiation/chemo!

Previous cancer diary posts:

Cancer Diary – Entry 9

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The next milestone after cancer surgery is the appointment with the surgeon 2 weeks after. I’m writing this post a week after the surgery…so halfway to that milestone.

I spent the night after the surgery in the hospital. It was a miserable night with the head of the bed at a 30 degree angle….pressure cuffs on legs…throat sore after two rounds of anesthesia…IVs. Sleep was not possible although I felt deeply exhausted. I ordered breakfast as early as I could…the first food since the day before surgery: scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. Eating was slower going than I anticipated because my throat was sore, and swallowing was not quite back to normal; on the plus side – I really savored that meal! There was the taking of meds (more challenging because of swallowing issue), waiting around for release orders, and finally it was time to go. The coordination of me being wheeled down to the pickup point just as my husband pulled up was successful...and I was on my way home on a sunny cold day.

My priority after getting home was to have some lunch (a smoothie) and then organize myself to follow the discharge instructions. There were not a lot of meds…but enough that were new-to-me that I made a little chart to make sure I took them at the right times for the upcoming week. The situation was more challenging because we decided that in all the flurry with my evening in the hospital, the risk of being exposed to COVID was enough that I needed to be sequestered in the house. I had two rooms upstairs to myself and would wear a mask elsewhere in the house; the sequestering continued through a negative rapid test on day 5 and then day 7. Getting my meals and carrying them back upstairs to eat…juggling to open and close doors…almost required more coordination that I could muster!

Pain was not a problem but the visual of the red and purple color that had moved from the hematoma location down across the front of my chest was disturbing. It was a shock to my sense of self that I had not anticipated…my body looked so different than before…a stranger to myself. I wanted it to improve rapidly; instead - the purple and red color reached its worst the day after I came home from hospital and then seemed to just stay the same for several days; some areas are still purple a week after; I’m hearted that some areas have faded to yellow; the body is cleaning up what happened.

My sleep improved at home but did not return to pre-surgery ‘normal’ until close to the end of the week. Every little odd twinge or tightness was something I monitored….constantly feeling the need to reassure myself that everything was OK. I noticed feeling ‘different’ as I was drifting in and out of sleep – my mind working on whether it was the surgery, the mediations, or just sleep changes…the net was little deep sleep the first few nights.  I napped several times during the first half of the week to make up for the poor sleep during the night. By the end of the first week, sleep and energy level during the day were returning to normal.

My meals had been mostly things like smoothies and soup – easy to swallow – but I graduated to more normal fare by about the 5th day when my husband got us take out from Chipotle (no chips for me, though). The next day I made corn bread muffins with added cranberry/orange relish – somehow I had gotten very hungry for them! I had prepped a meatloaf before my surgery…stored it in the freezer. I moved it from the freezer to refrigerator to thaw the day before and my husband put it in the oven with some baked potatoes.

Bottom line – there are still a few residuals of the surgery that I am noticing 1 week afterward (swallowing not back to normal, color from hematoma event not totally faded) but overall, I am feeling good. Next week, I’ll have to experiment with how to cover up my scar when I am out and about; it helps that it is cold this time of year and bundling up is the norm!

Celebrating with Cake

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Three days after my cancer surgery – I reminded my husband to do a pickup order from a local grocery store that included a slice of cake for each of us: carrot cake for him and red velvet for me. We were celebrating our 49th wedding anniversary! We’ve never done huge anniversary celebrations, but this was more truncated than usual since we were in the mode of assuming I might have been exposed to COVID in the hospital.  We were masked when we put the cake slices on plates and took pictures…congratulated each other on the milestone…then we each retreated to separate floors of our house with air purifiers running full tilt to enjoy the treat.

Cancer Diary – Entry 8

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The surgery day finally came. I showered with antibacterial soap as instructed and minimized what I was taking to the hospital in the pockets of a freshly laundered fleece jacket: new mask, eye glasses case, ID and insurance cards and phone. My clothes were comfortable pull-on pants and a button front top…wool socks with clog shoes. We left early enough that the sun came up while we were enroute into the city. The temperature was in the 20s but the place where my husband dropped me off was only a few steps to the door of the building. With the Omicron surge in our area, he was instructed to go home and come back later to get me.

Everything went as expected at first – easy check in because the pre-registration had been complete…the nurse came out to get me and got me into hospital gowns…IV ports were put in….the anesthesiologist came…the surgeon was about 20 minutes late. And then there was a time I don’t remember at all…and I’m in a recovery room…woozy at first and with a headache…drinking a Sprite and realizing that the dehydration headache from the early morning is gone.

Toward the end of the time in the recovery room, things were not as expected. There was more swelling than there should have been. Rather than going home, I would be admitted for overnight. I began to realize I should have paid more attention to the non-optimal outcomes to the surgery and that my phone was running out of power. I was taken in a wheelchair from the outpatient recovery room, through a labyrinth of corridors to a hospital room; on the way there, I noticed every bump in the route and that the swelling seemed to be increasing. The nurse immediately checked the swelling when I arrived ….and realized a hematoma had formed. There was a flurry of activity in the room where the hematoma was drained; they were able to slow the bleeding but not stop it….so back to an operating room where there was another time that I don’t remember at all.

Afterward I learned that while it is not common – it happens occasionally because so many blood vessels into a cancer have to be stopped…one of mine was not seen bleeding during the 1st surgery so the incision was reopened and it was stopped. Then the area was searched further to make sure there was no other bleeding.

Another time in recovery and then back to the hospital room. A nurse had found a charging cable for my phone while I was in the second surgery, but I was too exhausted to turn on the phone until the next morning.

So – not a ‘smooth sailing’ experience. I found myself being very thankful for the doctor recognizing that something might not be quite right…the nurse realizing that the problem had become critical… the professional team that slowed the bleeding and got me back into an operating room to fix the problem.

Cancer is scary and having a ‘bleed’ right after surgery could have been a ramp up of anxiety…but my emotions were almost on pause…in a surreal experience of passively observing highly trained people focused on me…doing what needed to be done. I’ll always remember someone reassuring me, as pressure was applied to slow the bleeding as they moved me from the hospital room to the operating room, that they would get me a clean gown.

Cancer Diary – Entry 7

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A flurry of pre-op activity….the discipline of getting to appointments on time and filling the waiting time between.

The uptick in activity pre-surgery increased two weeks before the surgery date with an appointment with my primary care physician for bloodwork, EKG, and chest x-ray. Everything came back good for the surgery; however, there was a ‘nodule’ that showed up on the chest x-ray. There was a follow-up CT Chest that indicated that the issue seen in the x-ray was not there (i.e. the ‘nodule’ seen in the x-ray was a shadow or other artifact rather than something real). I was very discombobulated by the x-ray and was glad I could get an appointment for the follow-up the next day. The data from the tests done by my primary care physician were posted on the surgeon’s portal 9 days afterward….I was glad to know they had gotten to their destination.

Three days before surgery, I had a PCR test for COVID-19 at a drive through testing site for surgery patients (i.e. not a site for the general public/symptomatic people). It was my first experience with a PCR test and was easier than I expected:

  • We had gotten 3 inches of snow overnight and my appointment was at 9 AM, but the streets were relatively clear, and I drove up to the parking lot testing location a few minutes early; there was no line; the guard checked me in, and I drove into the tent where a nurse with full head gear respirator checked my ID and did the test.

  • The nurse did not need to swab deep in my nose!

  • Supposedly the results will be available and posted to the portal within 48 hours…the day before the surgery.

A person from the outpatient surgery center called with some final instructions:

  • No food after midnight, no liquid after 6:30 AM….and stopping certain supplements. I already knew those things from previous instructions, but it was good to be reminded.

  • I need to shower with antibacterial soap (like Dial) and not apply anything post shower; I made a special early morning trip to the grocery store to get the appropriate soap.

  • They are on heightened COVID protocols now and have closed waiting rooms - recommended that my husband drop me off and return at the time the nurse specifies during a call to him when my surgery is complete; he will never go into the building. I will be at the surgery center for at least 5 hours.

  • When the nurse calls my husband after my surgery concludes, she will also provide details for at-home/follow-up care and then I will get the same thing in writing before I leave the facility. One question we’ll ask is whether we should proactively assume I might have been exposed to COVID and should implement our strategy of masking/separation-when-unmasked at home.

  • The time I need to arrive for surgery was 15 minutes earlier than I was told previously.

  • I needed to provide insurance and billing information to the pharmacy at the facility so the nurse could pick up any prescription I needed to send home with me.  

  • The exact location in the building where I need to go when I arrive was also indicated; all I had before was the address of the building.

  • The list of things I should bring with me is short enough to fit in my coat pocket: insurance card, glasses case, phone, photo id. They already have my medication list in their files.

I am set to stay near the bedroom on the second floor of our house for at least the 1st 24 hours after surgery. Snacks and flowers and supplements are on top of my dresser. There is a small folding table and chair set up in case I want to eat a meal or two up there.

I am relieved that the surgery is going to happen as scheduled (not cancelled or delayed because of increased hospitalization due to COVID-19) and reassured after the conversation with the person from the surgery center; it was good to talk to a real person!

Next Cancer Diary post will be about my perception of the surgery day…

Previous cancer diary posts:

Cancer Diary – Entry 6

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A month of waiting for surgery and almost another month to go….assuming that the hospital does not become overwhelmed with treatment of COVID-19 patients and the surgery is cancelled/postponed. I am not anxious about the possibility….yet; my concern has been ramping up over the past few days with the hospitalizations in Maryland increasing and the indicators that the Omicron variant’s being more contagious than the Delta variant….and knowing that a lot of people are gathering for the holidays (more than last year….with vaccinations available, a lot of people made big plans for this year prior to Omicron emergence). By early January – the medical system could be very stressed. There is little I can do to improve the situation aside from staying healthy myself; I am trying to keep myself busy and focused on other things.

There was little in my activities this month on the critical path toward my surgery other than continuing to take the medication. The surgery date was moved forward by a couple of days and an appointment made for a pre-surgery COVID-19 test. I was glad there was a lull; I thoroughly enjoyed my daughter’s whirlwind visit (road trip for her) for Thanksgiving and then had time to focus on supporting my sisters’ from afar as my mother was hospitalized. Fortunately, the hospitalization was short, and the follow-up seems to be improving her condition rapidly; her quality of life is improving beyond what it was a month ago! And I am relieved that I didn’t need to make an unplanned road trip to Texas.

We ventured out for a walk around Druid Hill Park and through the Christmas lights at Brookside Gardens. Both were enjoyable outdoor experiences…good for our mental health. There are other outdoor activities we’ve planned…but on our own in uncrowded settings rather than organized events. The more we learn about Omicron, the more cautious we are becoming.

It’s cold enough that I have ramped up indoor activities… another effort to avoid thinking too much about my cancer. I am spending considerable time on a Coursera course: Anatomy of the Upper and Lower Extremities (from Yale University). During the holidays, I spend more time cooking…making more complicated recipes and trying new things. And there are the regular things like Zentangle tiles and book browsing that I can ‘do more’ too. I’ve started buying flowers every time I got to the grocery store since the view from my window now is bare trees; on the plus side, the birds are easier to see.

Overall – this month of waiting has not been hard at all. At this point, my mental perspective is about the same as it was a month ago although I find myself bracing for the possibility of the increases in hospitalizations from the pandemic causing a postponement of my surgery…an event that would be a major setback from my perspective.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 4, 2021

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

How driverless cars will change our world – A little realism in the projections….rather than hype. Hopefully by the time I am old enough to no longer want to drive myself, driverless car options will be convenient and safe.

Ubiquitous food additive alters human microbiota and intestinal environment – The research was about carboxy methyl cellulose specifically. As I read the article, I wondered if this additive -that isn’t really about the nutritional value of the food at all – is one of the ways ultraprocessed foods are bad for us in unintended ways.

120 Volt Heat Pump Water Heaters Hit the Market and Make Gas Replacements Even Easier – This is good news. I’ll be watching as these come on the market…see how they are reviewed. I am assuming a line will quickly form with people wanting to replace their gas hot water heaters!

When Wildfire comes to Nature Conservancy Preserves – The preserves are managed with prescribed burns and forest thinning…and can provide examples of effective ways of managing wild areas against destruction by wildfire.

Children’s Teeth Reveal Breastfeeding Practices in Ancient Peru – A detailed study of the remains of 48 children from 2,500 years ago revealed that they were breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life and were weaned when they were about 2.6 years old. I wonder how many other ancient cultures have been studied this way.

Transparent Solar Windows: You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – If solar windows could be produced at reasonable cost….a lot of people would be motivated to replace their windows/power their house. There is a pleasing aesthetic to this type of solar power too.

Why Putting Solar Canopies on Parking Lots is a Smart Green Move – A great idea…hopefully it becomes the norm. The first one I noticed was at the Patuxent Research Refuge.

Top 25 birds of the week: Nectar Feeding Birds – Always worth looking at some bird pictures!

The Colon Cancer Conundrum – Research is trying to determine why rates of colorectal cancer are climbing in younger adults….staying level for other age groups.

Our National Monuments, a Photographic Testimonial to Wild America – Some more places I want to visit (via an extended road trip perhaps).