Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Followers, Farmacy & Food

Wednesday  July 4, 2012
Quail Run Lot 15
Wesley Chapel, Florida

 

I know, I fudged the spelling a little but all for the sake of alliteration don’cha know.  After all, I am a member of POEM.  No idea what I’m talking about….look here.

 

I enjoy Following my Followers

I haven’t been able to figure out how to know who was just added to my blog followers when the numbers go up.  Seems like it should be the most recent picture top left of the group but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  If you know the secret here, clue me in.  

It’s also interesting my reaction when the number of followers goes down…..I wonder who left and why. Did I do something?  Or not do something??  Feels kind of like a friend I don’t know well yet moved and didn’t tell me.  Isn’t that silly. Especially since usually only about 25% at the most of followers ever comment so I can get to know them.   That’s sad since I would love to know them all.   More chance to meet them on the road or somewhere in my travels.

Anyway, enough pondering. 

 

I struggle mightily through my run Tuesday morning. 

It is 75 at 6:30 in the morning and the humidity is like soup.  I think this is the most exhausted I have ever felt during and after running.  Can I make it through an entire summer in Florida and not have to give up running?  I sure hope so. 

Today is a recoup day especially for David after going going going all day Monday.  He is tired all day and only manages to walk up to the office and get his wifi code and a box to sort his myriad of medicines into.   Take a look at this.  Isn’t it AMAZING!   He calls it his pharmacy in a box.  There are 21 pill bottles there.  WHEW!

 

Pills (3)

 

Pills (4)

 

We do manage to make a delicious black bean salad with avocado lime dressing that is delicious.  They were serving tastings of it yesterday at Whole Foods.  And they talked me into it for sure. 

Black Bean salad with avacado lime dressing 002

 

Black Bean salad with avacado lime dressing 003

 

 

 

They served the salad with these baked corn chips and they were so delicious we used them too.  No oil but they taste fantastic! They are a definite will buy again.

baked corn tortillas 002

Here’s the recipe if you are interested.

Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, mashed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or thawed if frozen
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
Method

In a large bowl, whisk together avocado, cilantro and lime juice until blended. Add beans, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, pepper, pumpkin seeds and toss until evenly coated.

Nutrition Per serving: 360 calories (100 from fat), 11g total fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 35mg sodium, 52g total carbohydrate (18g dietary fiber, 6g sugar), 16g protein

We have a yummy blueberry smoothie for dessert and finish the night off with Shadow Country and the dishes.

 

Wednesday is another hot one 

We spend nearly the entire day inside reading, napping, and eating.   We get a couple of chores done though so that is good.  But they didn’t seem like photo opportunities so there aren’t many pictures.

In trying to think of all the things that should be taken care of before David goes into the hospital given that his response/recovery is really unknown, I came upon the fact that the trailer dolly tires are going on 7 years old.  They show some odd wear so being the tire fanatic that I am, I decide we needed to replace them now so that they are ready to go when we are after all this Moffitt stuff is concluded.  That of course means finding tires and getting them ordered and finding a place to have them put on.  All accomplished today.   GOOD JOB!!

Problem now is that without taking Winnona over to the tire place so she can pull the dolly we’ll have to take the tires off here and then remount them ourselves since Ruby has no trailer hitch.  Much more trouble for us but what can you do???

While trapped inside we also take down the AC covers and clean them and the filter screens.  Yuck!  I thought we did this every 6 months but that sure was a lot of dirt that is apparently in our air that we are breathing.  Aren’t you glad I didn’t take a picture of that!

 

I’ve been keeping a journal for years

journal with Winnona 003

 

I prefer a large book as opposed to the little 5X7 type.  So mine are usually at least 8X10 and sometimes larger.  Somewhere my personal packrat, alias DGB, found an old Record book and brought it home thinking I could use it.  Why not?  It smelled kind of musty so I gave it a Jasmine essential oil treatment which fixed that problem right up.  It had been in a window apparently with some other things stacked on top of it and everything around the stack had faded.  Who cares?   But I’d been thinking it might be nice to do something to the cover. 

In our partnership, I’m the ideas person and David is the execution – mostly.  So I determine that “someone” should draw a picture of Winnona and put it on the front.   Today, stuck inside, seems like the day. 

journal with Winnona 002

 

David is actually a very good artist and almost never uses that talent.  Me, I’m an artist wanna be and I mean badly wanna be.  Seems to me seriously unfair that he has this talent he doesn’t use and I, who would definitely use it A LOT, can hardly draw a straight line with a ruler.  I’d love to do nature journals with colored pencil drawings all through them and I’ve tried but the results are just too pathetic.  

Anyway, David humors me.  He does a sketch of Winnona which I then trace with black ink as in a coloring book – that I can do.  It’s just what I want to liven up this old book.   Those are not shadows on the front.  They are the original color of the book and everything around them is faded.  The picture above is with my past two journals for comparison.

Here are some close ups so you can see a few of my favorite details.

Notice it does not say Winnebago and even the Duckie brothers got included.journal with Winnona 004

journal with Winnona 005

 

In the late afternoon, we have a little rain shower, very little, but it does cool things off enough that we could actually sit outside on the patio for the first time in at least a month.  That was very nice.

 

We hope telling our story will help others in our situation or to avoid it.

Later we come inside and watch a TED talk on Diet and Cancer.  It is very interesting and it turns out that the two major drugs David took as part of his targeted therapy for 18 weeks are anti-angiogenesis.   I’ve included the link.  There seem to be things we can definitely do to decrease our cancer risk.  Hope you’ll take a look.  We would love to help others avoid this path we are having to walk down.

27 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great salad recipe!! Wish Bill liked Avocado ;o(( Also thanks for the Diet and Cancer link...always interested to learn more.

    Seems like you are getting those ducks in a row. Hang in there and before you know it you will be enjoying your travels again!!

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  2. Hi, Sherry. I don't know how anyone runs in this weather, but that's me. Watching the Peachtree Road Race shows me so many not only do it, but do it in the heat and have fun.

    Thanks for the recipe. I'll pass it on to Susan. She uses beans quite a bit in her dishes.

    The amount of medication David has to take is daunting. Knowing you, though, you've already got an easy to use schedule written out so nothing is missed.

    As far as drawing, I'm like you. Can't draw a straight line even with a ruler. David is quite talented. Love the brother ducks detail. :)

    Just out of curiosity, do you write in your journal even having the blog? I do. There are thoughts that I keep only to myself. I have found as I've gotten more comfortable with "blogger friends", I let some things slip through, but sometimes my writing sounds like whining. (Yours never does, by the way)

    I started a private blog which lets me include pictures along with my writing. I don't have the great writing style that you do, but I do like to put my thoughts down in writing. It helps me untangle difficult times.

    Funny you should mention someone "unfollowing" you. That happened to me the other day, and I wondered who it was and why. Having started the blog to record my trip west with Jack for myself, I surprised myself by continuing it. I had a book made from the trip portion of it and it came out so nice with the pictures, and it makes a nice coffee table book. That's the big difference between journaling and blogging. I have separate journals for each trip Rich and I made, and I have albums of pictures--never the twain shall meet which saddens me. I know which picture goes with every sentence I wrote, but after I'm gone, my children won't. I sure wish blogging had been in when we went as the reading is so much more pleasurable when there are pictures.

    Thanks for posting the Ted Talk link. Take care as you whittle the list of things to do down to zero. I love your organizational skills and your "get it done" attitude.

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  3. You sent me to the dictionary for "angiogenesis" - good, it's the formation of new blood vessels. But after I closed the book and came back to your post, I saw the "anti" in front of the word so I had to go back and look it up again. Am I correct in reading that David is taking a med to prevent the formation of new blood vessels?

    Regarding followers of a blog, I have lots of blogs I read daily, but I never could figure out the reason to "follow" a blog. Or to have "followers". You sorta have an idea who is following along with you and as for being notified of a new post, if that's what happens when you "follow", I just check my list of blogs on my own page and see who has added a new post. So while I may not be a follower, I read your blog as often as I can.

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  4. Loved your post today Sherry! UmmUmm...also love black beans! That recipe is a "must try" for sure.
    Glad you were able to take care of the tire thing so quickly. Bummer it was so much work for you though.
    Wish I could help with the follower thing, but it's always been a mystery to me too.

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  5. Hope you can continue running in this heat and humidity but don't know how you do it! Dave has a lot of meds - his stash is bigger than Ken's and I thought he had a lot!
    Good sketching. Quite a budding artist! It is way too hot to take off the tires and put them back on. We have a truck and car with a hitch so if you want we can tow the dolly anywhere you want! Just call We are not that far away! God bless!

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  6. I started to follow you and have lots of catching up to do. Seems like you have had many obstacles and challenges and I'm sad for that. I can't wait to get through more of your posts as they seem to be full of all kinds of wonderful stories.

    I'm starting our journey planning with a take off next year some time. I have a blog I started...trying to keep it current. Found so many wonderful souls reading blogs, tweets, and forums. Just lv that for inspiration, courage, and new friendships.

    Best to both of you and being cancer free!
    ~cozygirl
    itsacozylife.blogspot.com

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  7. There he goes again. Is there anything David CAN'T do?? :-) Great job! I'm with you Sherry. I'd love to be able to draw, but sadly that talent eludes me.

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  8. Re: followers - could be with summer folks are a lot busier than in the other three seasons and they fall behing on stuff
    Re: Farmacy - I know the feeling but David wins
    Re: recioe - that really looks good - have to try it
    Re: tires - rent a trailer hitch for a day from U-Haul - you can probably get by without lights for a day - especially in FL

    Hope Davids treatments go well and hope your 4th was good.

    Cheers

    Roger

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  9. I am definitely going to make that black bean salad. Thanks for posting the recipe.
    The cover drawing looks great. I envy people with artistic talent.

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  10. Love, love the drawing of Winona!! What a guy!! I know, not fair, not fair, i, too would love to be able to draw and have it look like something recognizable!!! Going to DO the black bean salad too, it looks good & PROTEIN!! cept can't use the cilantro, that just makes my jaws ache, does not taste good to me at all....

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  11. Well, for starters, how long have I known David and never knew that he could draw that well? Dang. I'm sure that there was a time or two that I needed someone with artistic talent at work, but David must have had too much to do and didn't want me to bug him. Tell him that we'll need to discuss this at some point. That said, it's a beautiful picture for the front of your journal. The picture combined with your farewell to Lithia Springs makes me nostalgic for something. I'm just now sure what!

    The new place looks spiffy and I'm glad that you have it and are settled in at a good spot. I did laugh at your gated community line. Seriously, I've always wondered about a certain gated community here. Why on earth do we need a gated community? Violent Wahoos?

    I'm sure that you heard about our "derecho" and the destruction we had here. Honestly, after it happened, I thought of your blog entry about the changing weather patterns. I had never heard the term "derecho" until this week. It wasn't too bad at my house. I was reading all about our rector being reappointed and was so mad/curious that I guess flying monkeys could have come by my window and I wouldn't have noticed. My sister and brother-in-law and my father who lives next door to them didn't fair as well and they just regained power early this morning. It's been an experience keeping Daddy cool (at my house) and happy (back to his house to sleep). A huge limb fell out of his big oak tree, but not until Tuesday. That scared us to death because we've all been under that tree picking up leaves and limbs. Two people were killed by falling trees in Albemarle County during the storm, so we were all somewhat chastened by those tragedies and didn't complain very much about not having power.

    I marvel at David's war chest of medicine and am amazed that he can keep it all straight. I'm glad that things seem to be going well and that he's on schedule. I'm following along and am with you in Spirit. As usual, love your blog. Hugs to you both!

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  12. We will, for sure, watch that TED talk. Love TED anyway, and this is important.

    No Whole Foods here (in Flagstaff!!), but I'll bet we can find those oil-free tostadas somewhere. That's why I hardly eat chips or crackers anymore, because of those pesky omega-6s that we need, just not nearly as much as we get.

    I take it a little personally when someone stops "following," even if, as is likely, they never read the blog anyway and were just cleaning house. If your number goes up but you don't see a new picture, they probably don't have a profile pic, and so they're way at the beginning: in the first position of your "unpictured" followers.

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  13. Truth in blogging disclosure: I do not actually take a pill from each of those bottles every day, far from it. However they were all prescribed for me at one time. Some did not work, but I kept them in case they are needed again for something they do work for, many are taken on an as needed basis, which for me means as infrequently as possible, some are advance stock (i.e. a 90 day supply comes in 3 bottles of 30 each) & some are just-in-case (nausea & constipation sorts of things). According to the plans the doctors are making, I will be adding to this collection very soon. I actually have a pharamcist on my transplant team. I expect his real job is to assess whether I can possibly keep all these meds straight or am likely to kill myself taking the wrong things at the wrong times. Maybe that is why I are required to have a caregiver on my team as well. Don't want to wear her out though, so I will keep organizing the pharmaccy in the box. ;)

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  14. That black bean salad is very similar to one we make. It's so good! I love avocados, eat a lot of them :)

    I wondered the same thing about 'followers'. I always wondered too why I 'lose' one? They get bored with what I write about, or get tired of waiting for us to hit the road. I'm also wondering why if I have 83 of them, why I usually only get 5 comments on average. Oh well :)

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  15. I guess I don't comment because I'm not disciplined enough. I'm so ashamed.

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  16. Having been an English major myself, I loved finding out about your POEM membership. I want one of those t-shirts. Love the journal collection and can also relate to wishing I could draw or paint. I am also a Whole Foods lover. We are currently in the Eugene, Oregon area and a similar, more locally owned store here is called Market of Choice, sure makes shopping more inspiring.

    Our prayers are with you in having David sail through the transplant with ease and that you are soon on the road to recovery.

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  17. Yeah, we saw you after a few miles the other morning. You looked like you were going to drop! This morning at 5:30 when we got up it was 80 degrees!

    I wish you had let us know about the problem with the tires. We could have certainly helped. Please let us know if we can help you in any way.

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  18. Black bean salad looks great but we will skip the cilantro - don't like it. That is a great drawing of Winona. If you can wait until after David goes to hospital, we would be glad to tow the dolly to the tire place and back for you. We have a hitch on our truck. We plan to be at Lazydays next Thursday and in Tampa for a while.

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  19. Thanks for the recipe. I will most definitely try it.

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  20. We are looking forward to trying this recipe. I will be fixing my own black beans though...just do not like canned beans of any sort.

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  21. I just came across your blog & will definitely continue to check in. Love that black bean salad recipe. Thanks for the TED video; it sure contains some important info!

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  22. Black bean salad looks yummy and I appreciate the recipe! Will definitely have to try it. We've been making our own "chips" using that silicone thingy I wrote about in our blog. Love it love it love it!

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  23. Thanks for the TED reference (again). Very interesting, and then Annie made us some juice. :D

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  24. Thsnks for sharing TED. As a breast cancer survivor I am always eager for information as to prevention. Have you read about curcumin (turmeric). MD Anderson now recommends it..a chemist friend introduced me to it. I included this link as to what i take. http://www.agelesscures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=2&zenid=b373f6fa6e421b40df61876a452050e5. My doctor at home now recommends it too after reading articles and he actually had me switch to one with bioperine as it aids in absorptionn. also highly absorbable in alcohol so i sometimes have it with a glass of wine. Read articles related by googling curcumin and cancer. I took 2 per day morning and evening during chemo and never got sick and did not have to delay any of the six rounds of chemo as many of my co patients did. I take one a day now for prevention. I think of you often and wanted to share my battle strategy :).....Sharon

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  25. I don't officially 'follow' anyone, but do make my rounds of the blogs I enjoy. I don't like making an entrance or an exit, just kind of flit around. Guess I have a fear of commitment. :P

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  26. Excellent drawing, Pops! I wish I had inherited that skill, but alas, I got the music talent (which I think came from Mama) and got skipped over for the visual art talent. Oh well...I think you should have a pad in your hospital room and do some masterpieces during those long recovery hours. Thanks for the TED link - it explains why preventing the growth of blood vessels can protect against growth of a tumor etc. Clearly though having enough blood vessels is an important thing for women and for healing wounds etc. It's a careful balance for sure. Very interesting - there is so much info out there - so much - is difficult to wade through it all.

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  27. I feel like my day is not complete unless I read a post from you, Sherry. I know you have a lot of loose ends to tie up before Saturday. Hope you solved your computer problems. I just read that you've had some offers to assist you with the tires--I hope you accept the help. It makes us all feel good to do something good for someone who needs our help not to mention someone we like.

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