Sunday, April 29, 2007

Poached Eggs ... EGAD

Marie continues to receive distressing news. The breast cancer has now metastasized to several locations on her spine. Fortunately the spinal cord is not affected. This was communicated to us last Friday. This morning I believe the enormity of the situation affected her normally high spirits. She lay in bed in a "woe is me" state for awhile before getting up. I feel she is allowed her "weepy" days.

Shortly after getting up, while she was sipping her tea, she asked if I could make two poached eggs. I, of course, said sure. He who never made or ate a poached egg in his life. Let me start by relating my history with eggs. I'm sure my mother would have made me any type of egg to entice me to eat. I was a very picky eater and always under weight. In my 18th year, I dropped out of Engineering College to join the Navy. The Navy did not care if I was a picky eater. I soon learned to eat the eggs presented as long as they were warm and looked cooked. Shortly after our return from our honeymoon, Marie was making breakfast when she moaned "oh no". Whats wrong... the egg broke. I told her cook it, I'll eat it. The Navy cook never cared if my eggs were broken. Years later, Marie had taken a part time job, and I was cooking eggs and bacon for the children. Well, I cooked the eggs in the bacon grease (only one pan to wash). The kids in a loud voice exclaimed that Mom never makes "dirty eggs". I think I gave them a flip remark that they could eat or go hungry. No kid ever starves to death in a house with food. Every so often I still hear a comment about dirty eggs.

I asked Marie for some guidance. How much of a rolling boil, about how many minutes? I wish to report that Marie said they were good and within 30 seconds of being perfect. I carefully observed the water and the stove setting along with the timer. I'm sure they will be perfect next time. Now I'll have to work on the technique of getting them to slide out of the little cup. The eggs ended upside down. Along with a slice of toast, Marie had a good sized breakfast for her. With a full stomach and a hot shower, her positive attitude and good spirits are back.

We are determined to stick with the program. We have our sights set on at least a couple of weeks in Florida next January.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Ahh Spring

Spring in New England can be a great time of year. The yard comes alive with the flowers that signify that winter is behind us. Spring has been a hard get this year. It was colder on Easter Sunday than it was on last Christmas day. Recently we have had a few days of decent weather. The crocus have blossomed along with the daffodils. The forsythia has turned a beautiful shade of yellow. The Lilacs have begun to sprout buds and the white lilac will be very full this year.

More importantly, Marie is feeling better. She started the new chemo April 10Th. This seems to have been a positive measure in her ongoing battle with metathesized breast cancer. She looks much better than she did 5 weeks ago and her appetite has shown a little improvement. She needs to start gaining some weight. She has always been thin, but the loss of 22 pounds has been a major concern. A good sign is that she is starting to request certain foods.

With the advent of warmer weather, I have uncovered the gas grill on the deck. I have been grilling almost every evening varying the menu selection to entice her to eat more. Her spirits remain positive and today we told the Oncologists that we are hoping for 3 or 4 weeks off from the weekly treatments next January. We may never get to spend the entire winter in Florida again, but several weeks in January would break up winter nicely. So hope springs eternal and we are hanging our hat on that objective.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

IMUS

I am a big fan of Don Imus. Granted you either like him or you don't. There is very little ground in between. He has a knack for rubbing people raw. He also does a lot of good. He used his show to shame congress into raising the death benefit for soldiers from $12,000 to $250,000. He has raised money for a number of causes.

Recently he said a dumb thing while he was bantering back and forth with Bernard, his producer. Both of them are prone to use sophomoric humor. This time Imus stepped over the line, and uttered a remark repulsive to the Rutgers woman's basketball team members and offensive to the Black community. When he said it, I knew he stepped in dog s%@t. Do I think he is a racist....no! Along time ago when a member of management in the Los Angeles Dodger organization said black players had great skills on the field, but not the mental skills to manage, he was fired. At that time, someone said media people are one sentence away from being fired. The usual band of "offended" black leaders (Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton) are getting their face time calling for his firing, demanding that sponsors leave his show or they will have their product boycotted.

Imus said a dumb and hurtful thing. However, I wonder if this had been a team of blond white girls and a black radio personality had referred to them as "dumb blond hoes" if there would have been a hue and cry. I can't think of a white counterpart to Jesse Jackson to lead protests.

My final thought, the three young men from Duke who were vilified by the same outraged black leaders over a year ago, have been cleared. We may never know who mistreated that woman, but it was not the Duke Lacrosse team. I wonder if Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will apologize for what they said back then about these young men. I doubt it.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Easter Egg Hunt

Shortly after we moved into our new home in 1968, I planted a Catalpa tree. This was a tree that was originally indigenous to the Smokey Mountains and somehow found its way to New England. My dad had four at one time on his property. The tree is more commonly known as an Indian Cigar tree. This is a fast growing tree with a large heart shaped leaf. Most people do not like them because they are considered a dirty tree. They are a marvelous shade tree. In the late spring after the leaves have developed they bloom with pretty white flowers. As a young boy, we would pluck the flowers and pull out the little insides and suck them. They had a very pleasant honey taste. When the flowers drop the whole area becomes snow white for a very short time. Then they shrivel and turn a ugly yellow - orange. The fruit (if you will) of these flowers are long green thin cigar shaped things. The insides are a stringy kind of soft fiber. When I was nine, I got good and sick trying to smoke one. In the fall the leaves turn black and drop. You can't rake them because they crumple. If they land on a roof they will stain the roof black. Then the cigars die and turn a deep brown and split in two. They do not drop. The winter wind will carry them off the tree. So far in preparation of my grand children's Easter Egg Hunt, I have filled 10 large trash barrels with these cigars. I bet my three closest neighbors have another 2 or 3 barrels worth in their yards. I finished the raking today. Even on a hot summer day I can sit under my tree and be cool. It's worth it to me.

I have two bird feeders that provide great enjoyment to my ailing wife. I have probably used over 200 pounds of seed this winter. Today I used my wet / dry vac to vacuum under the feeders to suck up the shells. I filled a 10 gallon vac, emptied it and it is probably half full again. I finally quit when the wind chill started to bite through my jacket.

Now, all I have left to do is distribute the eggs around the yard and hope the few cigars still clinging to the tree either stay there or land next door. Also, I told Marie the birds are on their own until Monday, then I will fill the feeders.

Stephan

Stephan is my closest neighbor's grandson. He is one of Jerry's MD kids. Stephan's most remarkable trait is his personality. Stephan is always smiling and happy. He has been in a wheel chair for at least half of his 14 years. His spine started growing with a curve and it was pressing on his lungs. On Tuesday, Stephan endured a 14 hour operation to straighten his spine. Over 40 screws were used to complete the straighting of his spine along with materials to support the spine. He was able to wiggle his toes and move his arms shortly after he awoke. This is a good sign that no inadvertent damage was done during the surgery. The problem is that they are having difficulty controlling his blood pressure as it keeps dropping. Until they can stabilize the blood pressure, Stephan can not have any pain killers. His grandmother tells me that he is still good natured and has not complained about the pain. The hospital staff is amazed at how he is handling the pain that he most certainly experiencing.

Stephan is in our thoughts and prayers.