41st Wedding Anniversary - A Good Day for New Beginnings

I occasionally think about the last four decades and wonder where the time went. However, some days (and weeks and months!) have gone by slowly and each year is distinct in my mind, with thousands of photos as memory aids. As my brother Al noted many years ago, my husband Bob is a guy "to ride the river with" -- a phrase in one of the Louis Lamour novels Al introduced me to. Bob and I are still on a really good ride and most of the time we live with a lot of joy. I'll add this anniversary to a long list of  days savored and remembered.

Water is definitely a recurring theme for me, and I'm never happier than when in or around water. I really missed swimming most of last school year. I was a teaching assistant, then a substitute teacher, at St. Croix Catholic School. While I loved the students and was so happy to be teaching again, I kept getting sick throughout the year, with one respiratory virus after another. Hitting the pool was the last thing I wanted to do.

I haven't done anyswimming since we left Florida at the end of March but last week I was given the OK to go back to the pool. This morning, I felt a little fearful stepping into the water at my favorite Maplewood Y, not knowing whether I'd even be able to swim a short distance. While I don't feel much pain a month after surgery, I really hadn't put my upper body muscles to much of a test until today.

Turns out my apprehension was unfounded. I asked one of the slow swimmers if I could share a lane and tentatively did a couple of lengths of breaststroke. I gradually found a new rhythm (quite slow but not pathetic) and seamlessly resumed my pattern of alternating a length of breast with one of backstroke. My goal was a modest 10 laps but I easily swam 20 (500 yards) , way short of my usual 40 but still not too bad. 

We're not celebrating an anniversary dinner until Friday, but today sure feels like a celebration to me. It's a hot day and ice cream may be on the menu.

Spring Agenda - Thoracic Surgery 05.24.24: T+15 - Good to Go!

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I opened the pathology report with a little trepidation on Wednesday, on the first day of the promised  window of "seven to  ten working days".  I can see why it took so long -- the document is extensive, well presented and easy to understand, at least for someone who has been researching lung nodule issues for nearly eight months now. The next day, I had my first post-surgery follow-up at the M Health Fairview thoracic clinic next to St. John's Hospital in Maplewood.

The nodule was indeed cancerous: not the best outcome but certainly not the worst, because the cancer was confined to the nodule and neither surrounding tissue nor lymph nodes were malignant. No further treatment, so no radiation, chemo or other medication. CT scans every 3 months for several years and TBD thereafter. I have to stay current with the usual cancer screenings (skin, mammogram, colonoscopy, etc.). I have another post-surgery appointment in two weeks, and a follow-up with my family medicine clinic on June 21.

I't's almost 9 AM and I've been up for almost five hours. I haven't had any Tylenol yet and feel quite well -- maybe I've made the turn! The pain is no longer a constant reminder of the major underlying change in my anatomy and I should make a full recovery. My biggest limitation will be my own tendency to jump the gun and do too much, rather than too little.

I guess I've now achieved a bizarre Trifecta: multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, cancer.  I expect the grace and good luck I've experienced with the first two will carry me through the third, particularly since I've also been the beneficiary of so many prayers and strong positive energy from family, friends, casual acquaintances and even total strangers.

🙏📿🍀☘️

June 6, 2024. 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

Normandy Memories

This morning, I watched coverage of the 80^th anniversary of D-Day, at the American Cemetery in Normandy.

I remembered that beautiful coast of the English Channel as one of the highlights of our 2007 visit to France. For Bob and me and some other members of our tour, it was really a pilgrimage to the beaches where the allied invasion of Europe began on June 6, 1944. The D-Day Museum is in the small town of Arromanches, forever linked in history to the fateful days of that summer. Here the allies built an artificial harbor to land troops and supplies after the initial landings in June. From this place, the troops began the long trek to Paris: 271 km (about 170 miles), a very long way from the coast. Today, it is peaceful and beautiful, but ever mindful of the events of WWII, the Normans do not forget. In the bay, the artifacts of the long-ago installation are a reminder of the engineering brilliance tresponsible for the design and execution of this installation in a region controlled by the Nazis.

The day was overcast and rainy as we walked toward the memorial in the American Cemetery. The beaches were quiet, shrouded in mist. The graves of those who died here are well tended, in even rows that extend farther than the eye can see. A wall memorializing the fallen is graven with the names of young men from every state, it seems, and several foreign countries. Our traveling companion, John Abbott, noted that the beach did not look like this when he was in this bay on that day in 1944! He was an 18-year-old sailor in the British Navy, working communications above a magazine. He claimed that those who landed were the heroes, but we knew differently, standing in awe of his humility and courage. Like so many others, he did not expect to survive that day. It was an honor to witness his return at the age of 81.

Today the presidents of France and the United States both spoke reverently as they honored the very old veterans in the audience, all nearing or over 100 years old. Eleven US veterans received the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor. For me, there were no words. Just tears.

Spring Agenda - Thoracic Surgery 05.24.24: T+10 - Enough Already

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I was starting to feel like a whiner and complainer, upset with myself for being a wimp. I'm not used to running out of energy after a short time of activity, or feeling tired in the middle of the afternoon. I have even less familiarity with looking forward to bedtime, but I've been watching the clock every evening.

Yesterday, we went to Mass and breakfast in the morning, and I was totally spent by the time we got home. It wasn't even 11 AM yet, so I was dismayed to feel weighed down by fatigue and lack of ambition. I mentioned the absence of stamina in my regular Sunday call to my sister Marilyn.

I should have known this, but either didn't know or had forgotten that fatigue after surgery is not uncommon. Marilyn reminded me that the body is stressed after surgery and needs time and  rest to repair tissues and heal. Because healing requires a lot of energy, it's not unusual for a person to feel tired. So It's going to take a while, and this knowledge immediately made me better. Marilyn may have spent her career as a psychiatrist but she still gives good medical advice.

🍁In other news, yesterday evening the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL Western Conference by defeating the Dallas Stars in Game 6. On to the Stanley Cup series. 

Spring Agenda - Thoracic Surgery 05.24.24: T+8 - Veering Toward Normal

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Yesterday was a close to normal day, though I'm still reluctant to be too far from home. We had lunch at Lakewood Tavern to celebrate two birthdays (Chris, May 25; Bob, June 1). There were 10 of us, including not-so-little Aggie and Johnny. It rained off and on all day, so much that we are considered to be out of our long drought.

Today started off cloudy but the sun soon came out and the feel of early summer (a little different from late spring) was in the air. Sonia came over for a visit and then we spent a couple of hours at Meg and Scott's, where they were burning brush. A group of us sat outside and watched as we talked.

While I felt thoroughly tired by mid-afternoon -- totally ready for a cup of tea -- I managed just fine. We are spending the rest of Bob's birthday quietly at home. As long as I keep some pressure on the middle of my back on the right side, I don't notice too much pain.