Steps with Determination(s)

There were several developments this week.   First, I got a haircut.  Not a big deal?  Since my last one was in the summer I was looking a bit like a cross between the Great Quillo and Howard Hughes in Vegas without the nails (as a former wrestler I have always kept my nails short). (My God this blog spends an inordinate portion of its writing on personal grooming)  After my last haircut, my former barber -  who owned a one chair shop near our old house in Curtis Park, decided to retire.  He had cut my hair for almost 40 years, precipitously decided to retire at 82. (i think the events were coincidental not causative).  My new barber, who is in the Fair Oaks village, thought that after the new haircut I looked somewhat like Steve McQueen.  If so I want the Mustang from Bullit. The first picture is of one of my favorite chickens in Fair Oaks - which is a rough representation of what my own hair looked like before the haircut. 

On Thursday I had one more acupuncture treatment, My regular acupuncturist was gone and thus his associate was there.  She chose to put the sounds of waves crashing against the shore,   Part of the rhythm of acupuncture is to offer contemplative music,  I find that distracting because it seems to be an endless loop of almost distinct toons.  I keep wishing the music would finish a phrase but it never does.  I found the wave sounds dandy.

Then there was the visit with my Oncologist.   As is the practice I have a visit with him to go over the numbers coming from the most recent blood test and to prep for my next infusion.  I am a numbers guy so I always have a list of questions about the numbers.   He thought things things like my “Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration determination” and my “Hematocrit determination” are mostly hunky dory.  (Not a medical term).  Believe it or not, in the spreadsheet I keep to record the numbers, I have put short definitions to remind me of the various meanings of “determinations”.   I feel a bit like an Economist at the WH Economics Council - I think there are 20+ stats to track - but it comes down to four key indicators;  hemocrit determination (volume percentage of red blood cells), lymphocyte percentage (white blood cells), platelet count (blood components that determine clotting) and white blood cell count (which are part of your immune system but which Chemo destroys).

We also discussed next steps. As the cards are today, here is what we know.  I do the fifth infusion on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.  Then sometime in January I will go back to Stanford for a consultation with the Stanford team - just to see if they concur.  My doctor here thinks two sets of eyes are better than one.   That is refreshing.  Many doctors would not think this step necessary.

At this point there are probably two options - assuming that everything is positive after my sixth infusion and a third pet scan I will be cleared as being in remission.   If there are still signs of the little buggers then I will do two more infusions, delaying my return to Mexico for another six weeks.  Obviously, I would prefer the first option.  Preferences count for little here; I am fully prepared for the  second shot should it be necessary.

This is our first Christmas in the house that we moved into several years ago.  I had forgotten how grey Sacramento is at this time of year.  Friends in SMA say this December has been cold and grey there too.  Last December, it was cold.  You learn that in houses that are primarily stone and which have no central air or heat, it can be cold.   Our house, until the most recent remodel, which was completed last week - had only unvented gas fireplaces - which require you to keep a window open when using - and thus are not really useful for heating a house.   One of the things we did in the remodel was to add a vented gas heater in our bedroom.   But the first two weeks of December in Fair Oaks has been wet and cold.  I know friends in the midwest think cold is 40 or 50 degrees less than I do - but as a native Californian, 35 degrees is cold.

As with all things, there are good signs too.  This morning, as always, Indy and I were out and beat the coming rain. Sacramento is expecting wind and rain and snow at the higher up elevations. Then it started to rain seriously on the way to our 7:30 service.   You might ask why we go that early; for one reason I hate crowds.  For another, Quinlan then goes to her water aerobics class. As we were walking into church (by this time Indy was back in the house and dry) the rain cleared momentarily to be able to see a double rainbow.

I am a big rainbow fan.

One final comment - this morning at St. Paul's San Miguel the knitting ministry, of which Quinlan is a member, offered some prayer shawls for blessing before distribution.   For the last several years Quinlan has been a yarn mule - bringing a special kind of yarn to SMA for her various knitting projects (she is a member of two knitting groups).  One of our friends proposed to include Quinlan in the blessing and thus connected via FaceTime - isn't technology wonderful?

Markers

A marker for me is one of those things we all collect and leave behind which are important enough to either save or to forget to throw away.  The odd thing about these markers is that generations from now - someone may be looking at those markers and trying to decide what type of person you were.

A few years before I retired I began a project which has been in the fits and starts department for now more than a decade.  It will be, if ever finished, a note to our five grandchildren explaining five principles which have guided me for most of my life.  

I was named after a relative who came to California on the Sloop South Carolina in 1849.   The photo is of the receipt that he got for passage (around the horn) for the sum of $250 (almost $8400 in today's dollars).  He left a series of letters but only lasted in Sacramento for about a year, succumbing to a burst appendix.  The letters were intermittent and one aunt spent a long time deciphering the writing so they could be transcribed.

Growing up, my mother's family had an attraction to family stories - my father's not so much.  But both sides collected markers.  When I started to check out the realities of these stories I found that many lacked key details and modified some facts.  For example that Civil War hero that mom's side spoke about (Uncle Billy) was not such a hero. But that got me thinking (obviously when you read the rest of this, not very hard) about doing a book on the five principles which have motivated me in life and then applying both some theory to the principle and some family stories which fit the principle.  I’m pretty sure the readship for such a tome will be quite limited but with E-books that is less of a problem.  There are plenty of characters in my side and Quinlan's side of the family.  The principles are straight forward and I use them frequently if not daily:

• Economic allocation (allowing individual consumer choice) is almost always better than political allocation (allowing politicians or bureaucrats to make choices for you)
• Individual achievement is something we should encourage
• The history of America is exceptional and we should celebrate that unique status
• Life is full of surprise and we should be prepared for them (epiphenomenaltiy is everywhere and likely to be there when you least expect it).
• Values do count, live yours, but do not be so tied to yours that you cannot recognize the value of others

I've done some research on both my ancestors and their stories and on the principles and their origins and am not entirely steadily making progress on defining the five chapters - illustrated with family photos and stories.  

The Jonathan Archer receipt(above) is one of those markers.  It has gotten me to think about my ancestor who went to California on an arduous trip.   His letters, written on thin paper and on both sides are hard to read but tell the story of his progress on the ship and in California. Life in California in 1849-50 was neither simple not pleasant.  There were no PG&E blackouts but there were also no miracle drugs, no internet, no computers, no flights and the food quality was uneven at best.

This week I got what I am sure will be another marker.   Last Friday, I did a PetScan.   On Monday I got the results.   One of my physician friends, after reading the report, said it was about as good as it could be - all indicators are heading in the right direction and several issues in the August scan have been resolved.  Before my fourth infusion on Wednesday I did the usual blood work and again, all the numbers are in the right direction including red blood cells in the normal range for the first time in several months.

But, understanding what I have found in our own family stories, I am also a bit afraid of another potential marker.  In 1972, I was included in the Volume Outstanding Young Men in America. Normally I am skeptical of these kinds of recognitions.   I once had a friend in DC who worked for HEW but signed himself up on the attendance sheet of some interagency meeting as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aircraft and Sewage and within six months began receiving invitations on Aircraft and Sewage issues.  But I filled it out anyway and was included and got the certificate (suitable for framing).   In 1973, I got a solicitation from H. Pettus Randall III (who I had met in Key Club when I was a Lieutenant Governor) which invited me to nominate an outstanding young man that I knew - so I nominated Alfred F. Katz, who had a PhD I Seafood Processing and he an his wife Susie were active in Zero Population Growth (they, as you may have guessed were our two cats at the time) - and in the 1973 edition Alfred got the Citation. The thing like many honors in our culture was a sham - a way to sell books so that winners could see their names therein.  So not all markers are the same but the one from Sutter is certainly a keeper.