hugs... surgery? ugh.. have you thought about acupuncture? Insurance doesn't pay for that but I get one almost once a month for my back issues. My partner - after seeing some results i had - he started going to her also....

Hey All,

I'm sorry I've been missing in action.  I've been in and out of the hospital for the last week because of my low blood and low iron. They finally found an iron infusion that seems to stay in my system...imagine that. So, they gave me a big boost Sunday, kept me in the hospital most of yesterday, and today I can get my next dose outpatient...I have six more doses to go.  

As you all know, I've been preparing for surgery and the hematologists was working to get my iron level up.  It had dropped to 3, which was dangerously low and nothing worked.  The first few times of giving me the iron infusions, my immune system, which is so damn good, went on attack and I had a major reaction and for some reason the iron only raised my level one percentage and then it dropped again...then my heart began palpating and I began passing out and my bones were hurting so much that I couldn't even be touched...it was nuts.  They rushed me from the oncology clinic (where the hematologists works) to the nearest hospital and I spent the next several days in intensive care.  Now they have an iron infusion that works and that won't cause a reaction but I've had to move my surgery date to the middle of November. By then, they think I will have enough iron to make the adequate amount of RBCs....geeze!  

We closed on our house before all the medical crap, and the contractors have gutted it and Kenny says the original little house has some good qualities, so we are leaving it but putting new floors and walls but we are adding about a thousand square feet to the front and west side...I refuse to live in a small space ever again. By the time I get to go down and take a look, the added space will have floors and walls and maybe cabinets in the new kitchen.  I've picked all the appliances out and the cabinets.  I am still hoping that I get to tile the back drop around the kitchen but who knows. If not me, my friend will do it. 

B: An egg

L: Shrimp with spinach 

D: Fish with brocolli

Snacks: cheese

Yes, I am bulking up on the protein. LOL...

I hope you guys are all doing well.  

Hi Yvonne

Just reading posts now.  I have been buried under suitcases that need to be unpacked and laundry that needs to be washed.  I have also been going to doctors daily.  It is that time of year.  Checkups with everyone.  All good.

Hope your weekend was a good one

Hi Yvonne,

I envy you your temps.  We had a cold front come through on Friday and got all the way down to 75....whoopee.  Went to the Kemah boardwalk yesterday trying to walk around before we get back into the 80's or 90's.  I am dying here.

My mother had COPD which is just another name for infezema.

I know I spelled that wrong but brain is not working at the moment.  The killer is she never smoked.  My dad smoked the occasional pipe and in his younger day the occasional cigar but we were exposed to second hand smoke rarely if ever.

Hope your dad will be ok for a long time to come.

A year after I hurt my knee, I got a call from the insurance company's worker's comp division, offering me a settlement for future claims against the company concerning my knee. I would get $8,000-plus in the settlement. I thought it was a good deal.

At one point, I thought about buying a house in Aberdeen, South Dakota. I even looked around at a few small houses and went to some open houses. But after a run-in with the then-managing editor, I decided I didn't want to spend my whole life in Aberdeen. I just had that feeling I would probably be moving on. Turns out the managing editor was moving on instead. But I knew I would eventually be going elsewhere.

So, let's see, what could I spend this on? If I had been smart, I would have taken that money and gotten a new car. Because a year later, I needed a new car. But instead, I looked to have some fun.

I booked a cruise and tour to Alaska instead. This would a trip I would never take otherwise. And it proved to be one of the best times of my life.

I went on a Princess cruise-tour. I had a one-week cruise planned from Vancouver, B.C., to Seward, Alaska, followed by a one-week land tour with a two-day stay in Kenai, Alaska, then up to Anchorage, Denali and Fairbanks.

Not long before my trip was set to take off, my right knee started to swell and hurt. My orthopedic doctor advised me just to take two ibuprofen four times a day. Well, this turned out not to be a good solution but I did as I was told. He told me I had no further damage to the knee at least.

The closest airport out of which I could fly was Bismarck, North Dakota, so I drove up there the night before my flight and stayed at a motel, leaving my car there. Then I left early in the morning for my flight the next day.

I had never cruised before, so the ship was an eye-opener. The only boats on which I had been were ferries and nothing like this. I couldn't afford a single room, so I had accepted to be paired with a roommate. I lucked out with this one. My roomie was a 50-ish woman who had been a Cuban refugee in the 60s when Fidel Castro came to power. She had worked for a doctor who knew something was going to happen and got out, also getting out the woman and her family. We had different dining times, so we barely saw each other. When we did, we had some things in common. We got along very well.

The 7-day cruise took us up the Inside Passage, where I saw massive glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park, totem poles, and eagles in Ketchikan, the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau as well as the folksy hospital of the Alaskan capital city. We saw humpback whales breaching in the ocean during one chilly morning when a naturalist came onboard.

In Glacier Bay, I saw massive glaciers thundering off into the water as they calved. The sight was awe-inspiring.

I took an airplane ride over one of the glaciers in Skagway. I wanted to do a helicopter tour, but I was deemed too overweight. The airplane ride was my second choice and even then, it was iffy.

The pilot had to balance the plane so I was put in the back. It was very windy as we went high over the glacier field and it wasn't long before I barfed up the lun*****luded in our tour (the tour also included a float trip to see eagles). The woman next to me snickered, but then the rest of the plane started to upchuck their meals, too, and it wasn't long before she also vomited. It was karma.

The plane tour was cut short because of the windy conditions and we headed back to solid ground.

On to Seward, and most people headed to buses for flights home. I took a tour of the city and visited a sled dog kennel and heard how a couple trained the dogs for runs and competitions.

Then it was on to the Princess Kenai Lodge, a wonderful two-day respite. I had a cabin in the woods with a wood-burning stove for chilly nights. I could get a van ride up to the hot tub on the hill or down to the river to walk along the river among the trees.

The next day, I did a cruise on to Kenai Fjords National Park to see sea lions, whales and other sea life and more glaciers. The water was so choppy everyone experienced motion sickness often during the journey. The crew told the passengers to stay seated and not to go inside the restrooms because that would make the motion sickness worse. But there was one person who didn't listen and locked himself in the restroom. Bad move: The crew had to break down the door to get him out. The rest of us ate crackers and drank 7-Up to calm our queasy stomachs.

On the way to Anchorage the next day, we stopped at more glaciers along the way. We spent the night in Anchorage before boarding a train the next morning for Denali National Park.

The glass-domed rail cars allowed the passengers to see everything along the route without any obstruction. We got to Denali late in the evening and into our rooms at the lodge.

Our tour through Denali the following day included a trip through the park where we saw caribou and other wildlife. Then I took a power boat trip on a river to see more wildlife and more eagles. I think I saw more eagles in Alaska than I ever will see again in my lifetime.

Then we got back on the train again, going to Fairbanks for two days of sightseeing. We took a sternwheeler along the Chena and Tanana rivers. One of the highlights was stopping for a visit at the sled dog camp of Iditarod winner Susan Butcher and her husband, David Monson.

Monson was a native of Roslyn, South Dakota, so I tried to get an interview with the two of them. When we stopped at the camp, I talked to Monson and gave him the phone number of the hotel and my room number. I had a chance to go to a salmon bake that evening and didn't go, expecting a call. Monson never called.

We also went to a gold mine and panned for gold, keeping what we were able to find. I still have some small flakes in a locket on a gold chain. Then we saw the oil pipeline.

The trip ended with an early morning flight out, with a stop in Denver and then back to Bismarck. It was one of the best vacations. I was tired when I got back to the hotel in Bismarck to rest for the drive home to Aberdeen.

Someday I want to go back. But at least I've seen it once. And every now and then, I pull it up with photographs and memories.