by cg on February 26, 2007
Woke up Sunday morning so tired and weak I could barely stand. Poor spouse Linda bundled me off to Stanford ER, starting a 12-hour ordeal for her while numerous teams of doctors decided what to do. Finally they decided this wasn’t a tumor-related thing – which Linda had been saying – but some sort of nasty bug, and admitted me for the night just to be sure.
Today after 5 (I think) more neurology and oncology consults (same diagnosis each time – not tumor-related) the attending physician came by, said yeah it was a bug, proscribed antibiotics and let me come home. Still a little woozy, but feeling much better than Sunday. I feel badly that this ate Linda’s Sunday for no particularly good reason – 90% of the time she was there was just dead time…. there has to be a better way to process people in these settings…
by cg on February 22, 2007
Doing better today than the last 2 – more energy but still taking it easy and napping when the urge comes. Had an appointment with my internist – hadn’t seen him since the cancer drill started – and he said my tiredness sounds a lot like what happens on a steroid ramp down – which I also happen to be doing along with the chemo. So recent fatigue might be the chemo, or the steroids, or might be some component of both.
Anyway, he’s seen this in patients with the sort of aggressive steroid treatment I’ve had, and noted I had a lot of other steroid symptoms in my body shape, fluid retention, weight gain, etc. Sigh. At least we are headed off the steroids. We are managing to get work done, particularly today (I even had an 8 PM with India colleagues this evening) : feel like I’m moving things ahead…
by cg on February 21, 2007
Linda’s blog is very good today: she takes our Presiding Bishop to task for what is a clear failure in moral leadership. Otherwise, a very quiet day for me, working from home (with lots of naps)…
by cg on February 18, 2007

So today marked a milestone: my return to one of our favorite hikes on Portola Town trails. We call this one ’short Portola,’ and pre-cancer Chris used to walk it easily and at a brisk pace. It now represents a challenge, but one I’m pleased to say I was up to, today. The path’s 2.5-mile initital ‘up’ was about as strenuous as my physical therapy sessions, followed by 2 miles of level and down walking. So our daily efforts are beginning to pay off, with a little strength returning. Got back to the car a bit tired, and happy… another tiny bit of normalcy returns…
by cg on February 17, 2007

This snap is a one-handed ‘hail Mary’ – a picture taken by holding the camera (the M8 with 21mm in this case) at arm’s length out the Escape Hybrid’s passenger window, pointed in approximately the right direction, and snapping the shutter. I was trying to capture the pretty sky as Linda and I headed out to try Mike’s Cafe in Ladera – as you can see from the snaps here, pink and salmon skies have been common these past few nights. Mike’s lamb chops were very good…