On the road again

I've been on the road since early Sunday, when Jim, Katie and I drove to Bates (in Lewiston, Maine) to watch Joe play in a hockey game against Keene State.

It poured all day and night. The game was at 3 p.m.; we had planned to meet Joe for lunch, but we got there late, so we didn't see him. After the game, we saw him for about 15 minutes before hitting the road and driving back for about three and a half hours.

It was worth it, though. For good reasons, until this season I had missed all of his college hockey career. This hockey mom thing is like riding a bike. You might fall off, but once you get back on, you remember right away. Ah, those freezing cold rinks, the slightly pungent warm rooms, the blankets shared with other hockey moms to keep your rear end warm on the cold bleacher, and, of course, the excitement of getting into the game.

Joe plays goalie, and it is always extra-exciting to watch him make great saves and scary to watch the offensive players crowd around him (as in, "Stay away from my baby!").

Bates beat Keene State 5-4 in overtime. Yay!

We had gone in separate cars to Brandeis, where we picked up Katie and drove to Maine in my car. On the way back, we stopped at Brandeis, they got in Jim's car and drove back home (Katie is done with the semester) and I drove about 15 minutes to Newton, where I spent the night at Diane and David's.

Yesterday I had my check-up at Dana-Farber. My best news is that my hematocrit, at 36, is finally normal. My platelets, however, dropped to 59, which explains the bad bruising I got after my dental surgery. Melissa said this is because my liver enzymes are still elevated. I might need to increase the prednisone; she is going to consult with Dr. Alyea and let me know. I still need two teeth pulled, but I have to put it off for now. So sad.

Last night I stayed at Margaret and Nick's, also nearby in Needham. Another friend of hers was there too, and we had a delicious festive dinner. Their teenage son, Natty, wanted to go do something about 9:30. To prove that we were spontaneous, we went out into the cold and drove to one of the only open stores, TJ Max. Along the way, we admired the holiday lights. Needham has a blue and white theme, and there is one huge especially beautiful blue tree.

My ankle weights don't fasten right, so I made the exciting purchase of new pair.

Natty wanted to look around more; the photo below is of Mary, Margaret and me resting on a bench.

This morning I went to a good yoga class with Diane, followed by coffee.

I had an afternoon appointment with a dermatologist who used liquid nitrogen to freeze between six to eight (I lost count) precancerous spots. This was not fun.

The yoga instructor had said to drink plenty of water; I was going to ask if drinking strong coffee counted.

I am trying to save money, and I am afraid I spend too much on coffee. Still, my face burned. I needed to stay awake for the hour-and-a-half drive home in the dark. Two good reasons to splurge.

So I stopped at Starbucks and headed home.

Downhill uphill

Thursday I woke to find dog poop and vomit all over the dining room rug and even streaked across the wood floor. Joe and I cleaned it up. The rug is already ruined because Maddie chewed the edges, but it was usable; now it will need some heavy-duty cleaning.

I had to head to Dana-Farber, so Joe took Maddie to the vet. She got a shot and pills to slow her digestive system, and she came home with easier-to-digest dog food. She never got a diagnosis, because her stool sample showed no sign of worms and she checked out normal for everything else. Maybe she ate something. She seems fine now.

I knew I'd be late for my appointment, but I was even later than I thought. The traffic on Route 9 into Boston was bumper-to-bumper, and the "Boston drivers" seemed to be out in full force. I called Melissa to say I'd be late. By the time I got there, I was exhausted.

My hematocrit had fallen to 25.7, which seemed odd to me because I felt so energetic a couple of days earlier walking around Newport with Ben, and I still felt OK. White count was normal at 9.1 and pokey platelets were 72. (Better than single digits, but I keep wondering what happened to 100?)

My blood pressure was way high, and my sodium, at 124, was still low. (Normal = 135-145.)

Glucose was lower (164) but still high (normal is 65-105), and liver function was slightly elevated again. They put me back on Glipizide to lower the glucose, increased my bp medicine, Atenelol, from 50 mgs. a day to 75, and increased my salt tabs from two to three a day.

Arrrrrggggghhhhhh! Too much to keep track of. I've been demoted from going every other week to going weekly, so I have another appointment Thursday.

It was far from a terrible visit, but still frustrating.

Things went uphill from there, luckily. I had a lovely "al fresco" dinner at my friend Margaret and her husband Nick's house, where we had delicious crusty salmon on the grill. From Needham, Margaret drove me to Diane's in nearby Newton. I left my car at Margaret's, necessitating a car swap the next day, but Margaret said I looked too tired to drive. It's nice to be looked after.

I spent the night in Newton, and the next day, Diane drove her son, Sam, and me to the house they just bought on Cape Cod. It's in Wellfleet on what they call the Outer Cape. David caught up with us later.

There was a celebratory air, since it was my first visit to the house. The plan called for me to stay until tonight, drive back with them to Newton, then drive home. It was a longish driving day – two hours to Newton and an hour-and-a-half to South Hadley – but there was very little traffic, and it worked out perfectly. The house was beautiful, and we managed a good sampling of our Wellfleet favorites: pond, bay, ocean, town and ice cream, as well as walking alongside the beautiful marshes and enjoying dinner in and dinner out.

More on the Wellfleet weekend tomorrow.