Landscapes

Early last Saturday morning found Elaine and I on the streets of Rochester Minnesota headed to the farmers market. The city itself is an island of concrete surrounded by fields of corn...lots and lots of corn...and multiple farms with multiple corn silos...and in the middle of town stands a water tower like many towns across this country...but instead of being emblazoned with the proud "ROCHESTER" across the center...this one is in the shape of a giant corn cob...which means you can't get lost here...you might get disoriented (especially if you hail from a place with large mountains)(to get lost in) but if you keep your eyes open in Rochester you'll eventually spy this giant effigy to the provider of high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated corn oil, corn solids, corn flour and all of the other forms of the plant that gets added to our diets to make meal (I almost forgot corn meal) after meal more delectable...if a bit less digestible!

So it was with the corn phallus standing proud to our right that we headed off to get our fresh fruits and vegetables for the week...and this farmers market has a plethora of both....mostly strawberries and rhubarb this time of year for fruit but the veggies are coming into their own and some of them I failed to even recognize...beets of multiple color...orange...yellow...and our favorite was one that Elaine exclaimed "look at the size of those radishes!!"...which were actually the brilliant red and globe shape of a radish but the size of beet and had it not been for its position amongst it's brothers and sisters of red, orange, and purple beets...we would...in the days to follow...be telling everyone we know, about the size of the radishes in Minnesota! We met an Amish farmer with his Amish family (very pleasant people) who proudly displayed a varied offering of organic delicacies of which we purchased some beautiful strawberries to add to our morning smoothie and some white carrots...not snow white...but albino enough to be called white carrots and which proved to be quite tasty as an afternoon snack....with these and a couple of bars of goats milk soap in our bag of tricks...we headed back through the canyons of the city towards our home away from home.

The sun by now had risen to a point that it added drama to the city streets...Rochester has done a fine job of mixing flora and concrete...add the suns rays at the proper angle and you see yourself surrounded by man made beauty....through which we now found ourselves wandering with the giant cob on our left (exposing itself occasionally between the concrete canyons)...and as we came around the next corner I spied a familiar sight...a big red firetruck...with its occupants no where in sight...and as the thought crept and crawled through my mind "I know where the key is!!"...I realized that this object in front of me that represented what I was about for the last two decades...was what I feared I would languish about the most once I retired...but as I looked at it I came to the realization that what I miss the most...is me! The one thing that I am surely not anymore is me. This cancer has taken me away from me...I should be amongst the mountains I love...or wandering the country looking for some new adventure...or wading a stream stalking a Willey trout...or hiking a trail, breathing in the aroma that makes a mountain so alluring...and making the best of the situation, we have done many of those same things here...but with the tether of this disease wound tightly around what I know as me!

We may well be on our way home by the time you read this...the radiation treatments will have their final "blastoff" tomorrow...the nasty looking "J" needle will be pulled from my chest with the last drip of kriptonite glistening on its point...and I will be free to catch a plane back to familiar terrain. Elaine and I are excited about the prospect...to say the least...and we hope to see the many that have offered and given their support...oh...and did I mention we have a new grandson to lay eyes on for the first time! Life goes on...no matter what...life goes on!

Perspective

Many have said that my words can be eloquent...but on occasion...a picture is worth more than a thousand!

Update on the home front...I have had a few issues with pain in the past week or so but with the help of my doc and the amazing things that they are able to do with pharmaceuticals these days...I believe I will be juuuuuuuust fine!

Up for the Count

I was born on the turn of a page in history. The War to End all Wars (ha) had just ended and those who survived it were in the throws of creating a whole new league of little soldiers to combat the next evil villain on the horizon. Those tiny school desks I mentioned earlier were being built by the thousands to help protect us should the evil ones, we were on the frigid front with, decide to drop the big one in our neighborhood. By the time I was old enough to walk, talk, and try to learn to whistle we had a phone on a party line shared by several in the neighborhood. The milk and brushes and cleaning supplies and ice were delivered to you door...I found the ice man to be the most interesting...with his nasty looking hooks that he would slam into the sides of the ice block to carry into the ice box in the kitchen...and his ice pick that he sheathed in a leather case on the side of his belt ....I would find this instrument far more exciting in the years to come after we got television and it became the focus of many a horror movie.

At that time the Friday night fights were near religion as Howard Cosell pounded out his classic play by play over the radio and eventually on the television that followed suit with the radios of the day in having a round face to stare back at you as you stared at it. The screens weren't all that big back then and when the test pattern was on prior and post transmission it did look very much to a kid like a face watching from across the room.

My father had been a Golden Gloves Boxer so we never missed a Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The fighters were tiny on that Philco and there were no close ups or artsy fartsy angles by the camera man...just the raw footage of a stationary camera that allowed you to watch every punch on that little screen...and although the fighters looked small they were good and many became legends we hear of today. But back then they were just Friday night and everyone would gather around the TV and yell for their favorite as the rounds pounded on until one of the valiant went "down for the count"...the exact place he had no plans on being at the start of the night...which is exactly where I find myself today!...(how was that for a segway!!...I have actually found a place that rents them to ride through the backwoods...photo to follow!)...not down for the count but in a place I had no idea I would be spending even one Friday Night!...as for the counts...we received some great news this past week...my numbers are great!

I have been following the diet in the book I mentioned Anti Cancer a new way of life and the blood samples they take (and they are many) are showing that all of my levels (hemoglobin, white cells, etc.) are all still within the normal range...even for someone who isn't being Kriptonited!...except for my platelets which were low to begin with and have been historically low and who stubbornly remain low...damn those platelets!...but the doc says that this is tolerable (he doesn't have to live with low platelet shame) and with the other numbers I am putting up a good fight. We also got a call from the genetic folks who look at your DNA and genetic links...at least from the way they explained it, that is what I think they do...and we were told that if any of those genetic markers came back positive I would be in a much more serious situation. The surgeons would most likely take everything from the top of my descending colon to my exit! Did I mention before that this was serious shit! Anyway...(dramatic drum roll) I am up for the count! NO positives on my double helix, all of my blood work looks good and except for a few of the expected side effects of being in this kind of a fight...I'm lookin' pretty good for the fourth round!...with twelve more treatment sessions to go! Keep cheering me on and I promise to keep the play by play up to date...sorry about the game delay...must have been a commercial break.