Words and pictures from Silicon Valley by Chris Gulker
From the monthly archives:
First Blush has a gorgeous rainbow photo, and recounts a very busy dawn community morning. It really cheered me to hear the news when Linda got home after her run: the morning’s events seemed to cheer her. I think it breaks both our hearts that we’re no longer experiencing these mornings together….
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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…
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Both our weather station and the local weather are predicting no worse than cloudy skies today after a rainy spell the last few days. The Barometer is rising and I see the garden temperature is up to 54 degrees (F) as of 10:45 AM: last night around 10 PM, it was 37. Chilly last night…we may get a little garden work in today…
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Cassie, looking jaunty in the morning light, is the subject of this photo, one of the first I’ve snapped in a few days, as we made our way on our walk this morning. We’re definitely feeling better, if not completely back to normal.
So we interspersed meetings, email and other work, and an early PM nap which worked out nicely. Meetings were brought to succesful conclusions, and other collaborative work progressed as well. WFH can actually make for blocks of time to be productive that are hard to find at work, where interuptions can abound.
Anyway, speaking of WFH, I note Google launched their Premiere Apps this AM, which appear to be Google Apps with support and increased storage for $50 a user. An interesting list of early adopters include Salesforce.com, Chicago real estate agency Prudential Preferred Properties and SF Bay Pediatrics in San Francisco according to PC World.
I use Google Apps (for personal stuff), and I love that they are much easier-to-use versions of Word and Excel. I track health info in a Google spreadsheet, and often use Google docs (or Apple’s Text Edit) to make rich-text docs rather than dealing with Word. I haven’t had opportunity to use the collab features, but they are intriguing and could be useful. Truth be known Google Apps probably provide as much capability as a large percentage of users really need….
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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…
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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)…
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An 8:00 AM meeting had me on the road at 6:20 AM this morning, and seeing a slice of dawn community about an hour earlier than my normal routine. There was a little color in the sky when I got to Palo Alto Station in time to catch the 7:19 to San Jose.
Connections worked well, I was on time, mission accomplished! Unfortunately the early trek and current chemo fatigue combined to just about wreck me by about 2 PM today. I made it to my normal Adobe 4 PM departure (leaving a bit early and walking slowly to the train this PM).
I got home and crashed for almost 2 hours until dinner… I’m almost at the end of 2nd round of ‘aggressive’ chemo, and am clearly in a new place fatigue-wise today. We may need to manage the next couple days a bit more carefully…
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Well, we thought to make sure Caltrain was running a normal schedule today, but for some reason I didn’t even think about the Marguerite Shuttle. Naturally, universities are more likely to observe holidays, and while Marguerite’s internal hospital shuttles were running at least a reduced service, the B Clockwise to Palo Alto Transportation Center wasn’t running. A phone call caught my sweet spouse before she was in the shower, and she rescued me with a lift to Palo Alto, where I managed to catcth the 8:58 fast train to San Jose… lesson learned…
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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…
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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…
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