Oops, it’s Been a While
Sorry about the delays updating here. I’ve had 2 more infusions since writing here, so at least a month of silence. Well, aren’t you glad that you can sign up to get a brief email message whenever I post something new?
After the 2nd infusion on June 8, I started having real digestive issues. I had a couple of lab tests. I thought I had an infection. It sure felt like C.Dif or giardia but all the tests came back negative. At the consultation before receiving my 3rd infusion my oncologist spotted a deficiency in my digestive enzyme production from my blood test that indicated that I was not taking enough Creon with my meals and snacks.
It took a few hours for this to sink into my dense brain. I had given myself chronic digestive distress simply because I was not eating enough pancreatic digestive enzymes, AKA Creon, and my system was distressed at all the partially and fully undigested food it had to deal with.
So I’ve tripled the number of pills I take with each meal or snack. A full meal gets 3 pills, at the start, in the middle, and at the end. A snack gets at least 1 pill for something like a banana or an ice cream cone. I’ll use 2 for bigger snacks. By the same token, my consumption of Immodium has reduced sharply. The Creon is still the most expensive stuff I’ve ever taken outside of a hospital. I think with this refill I fall into the Medicare Schedule D drug payment gap. I’m going to have to pay near full price for at least 2 refills after that, then I get full coverage back. Our superior, private market form of pharmacy support is fully demonstrated right here.
The last 2 days I’ve felt very normal. Now I recover from all my sedentary time. I started chemo weighing 165 lbs, now i weigh around 155. I’m doing more and getting further into being winded and sweaty too. It’s funny but I’ve taken up dancing again. It’s scary how short my endurance is right now.
Went to a great friend’s garden party & potluck yesterday and was thrilled that I did not need to bug out early. It was great hanging out with vaccinated friends and not needing masks. Yes, the hostess was very specific that we needed to be fully vaccinated to show up. Yes, I have no problem with that.
We were going to have friends over here from Seattle today, but the hot weather and the 45 minute drive in heavy traffic didn’t bode well for those plans. I get it. Neither they nor we have air conditioning, so we’re all just lazing about, sipping cool drinks and enjoying the white noise of fans. I hung up a panel of aluminet over our 1st floor sliding glass door this morning. When we came home from that party yesterday evening the room with the sliding glass door was stiflingly hot because the afternoon sun just cut in through the door and baked the place. We’re still arount 10 degrees lower inside than outside, but of course that leaves us at a chilly 90 degrees F. At least it won’t cook us out of the place this evening.
The house gets pressure washed tomorrow, or at least I think that will happen depending on whether the crew can work in this weather. I’m pretty sure it will happen since we’re 1st on their schedule and they spray water around as part of their work, so why stay dry? The local weather indicates that our heat wave will be over on Tuesday with reported likely temperature right in the sweet spot of where you want to see it for optimal paint performance. We expect that the prep & painting crews will be following the pressure wash crew in rapid succession, so WEEEE, just in time!!!
Anyway, sorry that I’ve been so incommunicado over the past 2 months. I’ve been in more discomfort than pain but the pedal was down to the metal on the discomfort scale though. I’ve slacked off on everything. Just finished paying the bills, etc. I’ll catch you later!
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July 1, 2021 @ 12:53 pm
Great news that you were able to enjoy a long(er) hang with your pals. Relationships are pretty much everything.
So weird to read about the PNW baking temps. Ugh.
Never heard of Creon. My mind immediately transformed the word into a portmanteau, between cretin and moron. Stupid mind!
July 1, 2021 @ 1:09 pm
I am glad to hear from you at any interval whatever. Also glad that you seem to be faring ok in spite of the heat, and even getting some relief.
But I am green with envy that you are getting the house painted!
Our crew got us to sign on the dotted line last fall, and in the spring assured us we were next in line as soon as the weather was warm and dry enough. And. Then. somehow dumped us off the list, suggested we never returned the quote, and when I re-sent the email, solved their issue (too busy? quote too low due to rise in material prices? something else?) solved the problem by ghosting us. Think your crew would come to the East Coast and pick up a job here when you’re done?
Sheesh. It’s the little things, sometimes.
July 1, 2021 @ 1:34 pm
They were one on four bids we got. Most of the bidders would only quote a package price with no enumerations at all, plus no agreement about change orders. Those orgs bids ranged from highest to lowest. The estimators who came onsite flipped me their quotes off the top of their heads before leaving the property and when I insisted on a written quote they emailed me pretty much a clone of what they told me by voice with no added details.
Contrasting those ass-clowns with the folx we hired, the folx we hired: itemized the quote components, covered contingencies I we had not discussed but were legit, noted time & materials rates for repairs we could not see as needed at the time for the estimate, and noted a process for performing change orders.
Since then we’ve met our project manager who coordinates the crews that do the work, our sales rep worked with us on colors and visited a 2nd time to make sure that the color locations were conveyed to the painting crew and project manager. The power washing crew has come by and done their thing, and we were notified about the delay of the painting crew for an additional week while we muddled through our head wave, which we appreciated a lot.
BTW, their bid total was in the middle of the range of bids from their competition, implying that some of the bidders were underestimating and we’d have trouble dealing with inevitable change orders since they were so incomplete. It also revealed that one company had grotesquely inflated their bid. Coincidentally they were also a bunch who tried to push a hard-sales pressure strategy on us. One thing about being an old guy is that I was able to recognize it and laugh them off the property.
So my advice is to keep trying. It’s at least conceivable that there are some painting companies around that are honest, you may not have uncovered them yet.