Is Spring Coming or Not?

 I am somewhere on the depression scale. January and February have always been dismal months for me. Often too cold to be outside and I have many projects to do outside. So I am anxious about not being able to do them. This puts me in a mood, without even taking into account social isolation and the political crap. It would be nice to have someone to have a beer with. I have had exactly 12 beers in 18 months. I'll bet most of you are feeling about the same to one degree or another.

All these brought me to reflect on a dear friend I lost in November. We went back to our 20's together. He loved music. He played a Les Paul, not all that well, but enough to amuse himself. We spent many nights together listening to music while smoking some weed. [His wife always carried a Mason jar of all buds in her purse]

Tom was losing kidney function and refused dialysis. If he could not have a transplant he was resigned to die. He refused contact with all of his many friends. Even his sister was mostly excluded. The last time he would take my calls or acknowledge an email was six months before he died.

Tom was always quick with a laugh and a solid friend. If he had an enemy, I never knew it.

I not only miss our sharing of music but our conversations. I miss Tom.

In the end, all we have are memories. I treasure them.

What's New?

Well, not much is new. We just keep getting hit with health issues. We got yanked off the road when I was hit with a form of Leukemia in July 2019. That put me in an anemic situation and I got a staph infection that attacked my kidneys. I was in the hospital with one to three bags of antibiotics dripping into me for 14 days. One doc I know but who was not treating me said I was dead on paper. I had hallucinations and don't recall much of what went on.

While there, I had a bone marrow biopsy which confirmed that I had Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML) This kind does not kill you unless it morphs into the acute form.

The day before I was to go home from the hospital I was zapped with an attack of kidney stones. Perhaps prompted by the staph infection that I was admitted for?

Anyway, I got home for a few weeks and then got another infection. This time pneumonia because my blood counts were way wacked from leukemia and left me with low defenses. Another three days in the hospital with antibiotics and transfusions.

I got a port put in the first week in December and started chemo. After four treatments the doc pronounced me in "kinda remission". My blood counts had made it back to low normal except for platelets which remain low. In other words, I am as good as I am going to get.

Looking back a decade, my fatigue complaints increased every year and I think they were a forecast of leukemia. I know my platelets were a concern for the docs, but I had no idea what that indicated.

Last month, I had to have surgery again to remove the carcinoma near my eye. They did not get it all last year. They said this happens in less than 1% of surgeries. Lucky me. That was 3 weeks ago tomorrow. I am still one-eyed. That means I have had to stop all work on the RV. The only thing I have gotten done is our taxes. I can type with one eye. 

Enough about me. Dorothy has been having some serious issues also. She had bypass surgery in December 2019. 90% blockage in one artery and 60 to 80 in another two. They could not find any decent veins in her leg, so two of the three collapsed and they did stents last spring. She has done therapy and has improved, but still pops a nitro from time-to-time.

She kept putting off seeing the doc about pain in her left shoulder, figuring it would require rotator surgery like she had on her right side a few years back. That would mean putting off traveling longer. She finally went and learned no surgery was indicated, it was severe arthritis. She is doing PT for that and is still in pain.

We are a pair.

We will hope to have one more trip to see red rocks.

Our Version Of Overlanding

 I wanted to share this with the maybe two of you that might have similar needs.

Our Jeep is primarily for off-road trails that can only be found on the western side of the country. We tow the Jeep with our MH. We sometimes go to seldom-traveled places by ourselves. We would prefer to have company, but we don’t have that many friends on the other side of the country, so we leave word and go anyway. Not quite naked tho. We seldom have cell coverage, so we carry enough equipment to self-rescue the Jeep and ourselves. 

I looked at storage equipment made especially for Jeeps and rejected them. Plastic storage bins are ideal for us. I can segregate the supplies and the bins are removable. 

The wood shelf is secured with the same bolts that hold the top down. The shelf has eye bolts for securing the blue bins with tie-down straps. Nothing rattles or moves around. The lower bins are secured with carabiners to the never used rear seat what-cha-jigs in the body. The bins can be removed in a minute.

Tools? Oh yeah, two bags of tools, plus pry bars, bottle jacks, etc. Pup tent, tarps, padded blanket, space blankets, enough food for four hot meals, water, first aid, flare gun, several flashlights, lithium-ion battery starter, tire repair, etc.

We carry extra gas, water, and food in roof rack when we plan to spend two or more days in the outback. It’s not overlanding, we don’t BBQ, but it’s right for us.

The Fourth Of July

This time last year we were in Fort Benton, Montana. Fort Benton is at the headwaters of the navigable Missouri River. That meant all trade supplies for anyplace north of there went through Fort Benton. We went there as the jumping-off place to explore the Missouri Breaks. What we found was a delightful town that celebrated the Fourth of July as I recall it as a kid. They have their celebration before the 4th and then go upriver to Great Falls for a big city blowout.

When you look at the pictures, understand that everyone knew everyone else. They were all family and friends. There was equal shouting of greetings from the parade to onlookers and there were shouts from the onlookers to those in the parade. We were the only outsiders. They took a quick look at us and knew we should be welcomed. 

Some would say the parade was hokey. Not me. There were several signs and t-shirts about banning human trafficking. Yeah, way out in the boonies they were tangled with a subject of real substance.

The town has several statutes of white men that founded Fort Benton. I would bet heavily that they are still standing.

We wish we could be there right now.

June Is Coming

We are doing as well as we can. I have had six chemo treatments. The last one was seven weeks ago and I have just about recovered from it. Meaning my red counts are high enough to feel like doing more than being in my Lazy Boy. My monocytes are high again and that is what I am being treated for. The doc and I agreed to suspend chemo and just watch and see what happens since the drug is messing with me. He does have another drug to try if my platelets and red counts go down and monocytes go higher. There is no cure, just treatment.

The stores being closed has not affected us much as we don’t shop much. It's much easier to order online. Dorothy continues to resist my offer to cut her hair. She cuts mine. We wanted to try a new restaurant, but that can wait. I am finding recipes and doing more cooking. I have made a few things that I like better than any restaurant version I have ever had. Such as a killer Chile Colorado and damn tasty Basil Chicken - my first foray with a wok.

I do miss playing bridge. A lot.

We have not done much on KoKo since we got home. I just have not felt like it. Now it’s getting hot so that will be an excuse. We have spent a lot of time in the yard. After years of ignoring it, it needed work.

We might be able to get to CO and/or UT this year. It depends on how my bone marrow does its job. Sure would like to. There is not a rock in a thousand miles of here and the Jeep is eager to go.

I have been thinking about a garden. We have never had one, other than a few tomatoes.

The soil here would have to be replaced. Clay is not much for growing veggies.

I looked into a compact tractor. Maybe.

Travel Plans

Today March 27, I was going to write an update on my health issues and discovered this which was written in February and never published. So I post it today, with a short update at the end.

We don't have any travel plans. Everything is on hold until I complete my chemo treatments, which will be probably sometime this summer.

I am a world-class procrastinator. We wanted a new Lazy Daze, another mid-bath, this time in red. We should have ordered one five years ago. I never could pull the trigger.

We got on the waitlist last March. They sent us the order package around Christmas. Delivery would be this summer. I had the order package on the table since it arrived. I kept trying to figure out a way that I could clean the old one up, get to Montclair, and bring the new one home to do some mods and then we would be ready to travel.

Considering that I have not felt like cleaning KoKo up from the last trip. I just could not figure out how to do it plus all that would need to be done to the new one while continuing the chemo. Just a bridge too far. I called Todd this week and let him know I was not a buyer.

I have had some good weeks since July, but I have also had some setbacks due to infections. I should know by the summer if remission is possible. Then it's just a question of how long I might stay in remission.

I am holding out the possibility that we might be able to go to Utah in the Fall. After modifying the Jeep, I now realize that Utah is of the very few places I can use its capabilities. There is nothing this side of this country that offers the Jeep a challenge or scenery. The crowds in Moab will start to dissipate in late September and the weather may well be comfortable in St. George in November.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 27 - The last sentence about crowds in Moab was written before the virus hit the world. Who knows if the virus will pass by then.

Anywho, my hemoglobin level has made it to the bottom rung of low normal. I feel better than I have in years. OTOH, my platelets and white count remain critically low. Just great with the virus raging. I will be taking a reduced dosage of the drug and see what happens. Still being able to do chores, work in the yard, exercise etc. sure as hell beats laying in bed and the recliner.

Biblical Rains

Dorothy writes: The weather here has been normal, which is dreary, wet and humid. Just your typical January and February.  We have gotten 2/3 or the normal annual rainfall in less than two months. It’s also warm for winter. Just a light jacket sometimes. I do not like Central Standard Time. Not enough light so that is depressing also. Looking forward to March when the days will be longer and the daily rain will go away. Then my mind will turn toward fun things, such as getting in Koko and going somewhere.

I had open heart surgery and recovered quickly. According to the therapist that came to the house, I was more advanced at one week than most people after several weeks. I was beginning to feel better and then got vertigo. Never had that before and don’t care to have it again. The sense of falling out of your recliner is strange and keeping my hands on the walls to walk around the house is also strange.

We had an extremely quite Christmas because both of our grandsons were sick and neither of us could take the chance of catching something.  That worked out well for a while until Don came down with the “crud”. He felt awful and stayed in bed for two days rarely getting up. Luckily I have felt well and could take care of him through his different illnesses.  I commented to a friend that at least when he was sick, I was well and vice versa. Then our luck changed and I also came down with the “crud”. It lasted four weeks, but we are over that now. I also got an eye infection but that healed quickly.

Don is better and so am I. I have been thinking about traveling again.  We will have to wait until the last of Don’s treatments and see where to go from there. But I am thinking positively.