Wednesday, April 29, through Friday, May 8, 2015: The Next Week or So:

I spent a peaceful night on Tuesday and woke up Wednesday morning just as good as new.  Except that I still had my huge bandages.  They are going to be with me for at least a week.  I need to remember not to scare strangers when I'm out. 

I felt better than I thought I should, which led me to overdo it a bit.  We went to Flagstaff to pick up a few items, and, by the time we got back, I was exhausted.  I went to bed before 7:00 and had a fitful night.  Thursday morning I felt better, but decided to take it easy for the next several days.  Late in the morning, Bill and Pat Wheeler showed up to stay with us for a few days. 

Their motor home could not make it up the driveway to our side yard due to its low-to-the-ground design, so it's parked in the street.  We haven't seen them in nearly a year and a half, and we had a great time catching up.

Friday morning, Jerry Whalen from Custom Sight & Sound showed up to connect up our Bose surround sound system.  The people who sold us the home disconnected everything when they left and I had no idea how to reconnect the maze of wires.  Jerry very efficiently put it all together.  Thank you, Jerry.

Troy Mortensen also showed up in the morning with his team for our spring landscape cleanup.  His crew did the fall cleaning after we left in October.  They took out many bags of pine needles, pine cones, and weeds from both yards.  The place looks a lot more presentable now.



Friday was a day of puttering around and swapping stories with the Wheelers.  Becky cleaned the barbecue (for what looked like the first time in years) and we had bratwurst and sauerkraut for dinner.  Yum.  After dinner, we watched Wild from the redbox, starring Reese Witherspoon.  It was kind of an odd movie, but it held our interest. 

Saturday was another day of just puttering around.  Bill and I made two trips to the hardware store for parts to fix a few things, and we both read a lot.  Becky made a smashing lasagna for dinner.  We watched the last 6 minutes of the L. A. Clippers game, as they headed into the second round of the NBA playoffs by edging San Antonio 111 to 109 in Game 7 of their first-round series.  I don't normally watch, or care about, basketball but this was pretty exciting.

Sunday was another day of puttering around, reading (I've started You're Only As Good As Your Next One, by Mike Medavoy), doing crossword puzzles, and watching TV.  I'm not allowed to do anything strenuous.  As a diversion, we decided wander to Spenser's, the bar at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, to have an adult beverage and to visit with Lisa D'Arpa, who tends bar there every Sunday.  (She's the wife of Jeff D'Arpa, the GCR hotel manager who was our first manager at Zion Lodge in 2003.)  It's always fun catching up with Lisa, and hearing about the D'Arpa girls, Lily and Shasta.

Sunday afternoon, I had noticed a bump on the left side of my neck.  By the middle of the night (3:00AM to be exact) it had grown some and started leaking blood.  The discharge instructions from the surgery specified that under those circumstances I should call the doctor's office.  I did so, expecting to hear a relieving tone from the fellow at the answering service and a promise that the doctor would call  me back in the morning.  Instead, he put me through to Dr. Boettcher who had obviously just been awakened and who was groggy for the first few seconds.  After a brief but thorough conversation, he suggested that I should come to his office at 9:00 in the morning.  Becky heard the conversation and, after putting a large gauze bandage around my neck to contain the bleeding, we all went back to sleep.  Promptly at 9:00, Dr. Boettcher took off all of my bandages,

checked all of the surgical area and pronounced that the bleeding was no big deal and would subside in due course as the bump simply drained its blood buildup.  He put on some new bandages, including a smaller one on the top of my head, and said I should return on Wednesday for another look. 

On the basic issue, the lab reported that the lowest lymph nodes in the area from which he had removed them, and the area around the big hole in the scalp, were clear of any malignancy, but that the middle lymph nodes had a trace of malignancy that might require more attention.  We are now going to be handed off to a set of oncologists, therefore, to determine the next steps.  At this point, I am satisfied with the progress, I feel fine, and am very positive about the future.

With the new, small dressing on the top of my head, I look almost human.  And I'm now wearing one of the neck gaiters we got while skiing in Bariloche, Argentina, 20 years ago as the covering for the bump on my neck that is still draining a little blood.  I can go out now and not look like Elephant Man.

Tuesday was another repeat of the previous days, except that the Wheelers took us out to dinner at Kicks on Route 66.  I had a marvelous Mongolian Beef stir fry, while everyone else had something different.  The menu there is quite varied and everything we've had so far has been excellent.  And Chris was our server, again.  He's a hoot.

The Wheelers will be leaving for Kanab, Utah, Wednesday morning.  We've had a great time with them this past week.  It's fun to ponder that we first met Bill nearly 13 years ago at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a chance meeting that has forever changed our lives in a wonderful way.  Thank you, Bill.

The Wheelers left before we headed to Flagstaff for our Wednesday morning follow-up meeting with Dr. Boettcher.  He again said everything related to the surgery looked good and insisted that it would be a good idea to wash my hair(!) before much more time passed.

On the way back to Williams, we stopped at the oncologists' office to stir them to set up an appointment.  We quickly heard back that next Monday would be our turn.  We then stopped at Home Depot for a few things, including new coach lamps for the front of the garage.  The old ones are too small in the view of this design genius.  In the process of mounting the first one, I determined that the new ones are too big (but without the unnecessary finial on the top they are just fine) and I can't find the switch to turn them on. 

It turns out that they are wired to go on with the front door lights.  The lights turned on Wednesday night, right on schedule.

Thursday and Friday were mostly normal days, a little fixit here and a little fixit there, and a lot of dog-walking (by Becky) in between.  It's a little strange to be alone again, now that the Wheelers are gone.  On Friday, Becky also took the dogs to the vet for some shots and some routine blood work.  Apparently, she gave Ramsey his "drowsy" pill early enough that he was manageable. 

While she was gone, I received a message from the Justin Winery that they had cancelled our spring delivery because it was too hot in Arizona to guarantee the quality of the wine during the time it took to complete the deliveries.  At the same time, I noticed that it was snowing in our back yard.  I passed that information on to Justin, and they agreed to send the wine forthwith.  A few minutes later, the snow changed to just hail.  It must be spring.

The Friday night redbox movie was Unbroken.  Stunning film.  Absolutely captivating.