Alleviating Clotting Concerns Reason for Return Visit to Shands for Tests

 Late afternoon today Melissa came back to me, woke me up from my nap, and declared she was driving me to Shands Hospital toundergo an ultrasound and a ct-scan to rule out the risk o blood clots appearingas side effects of some of my brain cancer treatments.  Later in the evening I would be building up exercise steps while watching baseball on our MLB channel.  Later on I recall getting a reasonably good night's sleep.   A couple of good friends met us at the UF Health Neuromedicine building on Archer Road to consult with my neurooncologist, Dr. Serendipity Rinonos, and her nurse practitioner.Although the additional tests took place in a hectic setting and I felt  little roughhandled by thet ech who efficiently and competently performed the ultrasound, the result seemed reassuring to me.  Life for me happens one day at a time and I intend to live it that way.And I stand grateful to God and Melissa for looking after me...

Confirmed in Opposition to Trump and his Acolytes

 In late 2020 a crazy pro-Trump molestation conspiracy theory group calling itself QAnon grabbed news headlines, and I was treated once or twice following the presidential election to a group of those die-hard kuckoos waving at me as I carefully and slowly drove past them on Gainesville' sNW 39th Avenue, past the gentrified bunch of stores there, including Starbucks, called Magnolia Parke.  During the past five electoral opportunities when Donald Trump's name was on the ballot against other candidates, I never voted for him...yet HillaryClinton(2016), Joe Biden (2020), Chris Christie [2024] an Kamala Harris in the2024 general election received my enthusiastic votes...I would have been happy with any of them as my president.  As for Trump's suck-up acolytes...beginning with JD Vance, who I believe wants to sell out Ukraine to imperial Russia,and continuing with Pete Hegseth..I can easily confirm to the reader that I'll never vote for them, not even for dogcatcher. I know that my single, one vote on election day has about the same effect on outcomes as a drop of water in the ocean. I think that right now, DJT should be incarcerated for his 34-count felony convictions, receiving excellent medical care and security at taxpayer expense with all of the power he now exerts permanently removed. I also believe that past reported assassination attempts on him were fake, contrived hoaxes and that he successfully milked their media coverage to create a false public image about himself as a kind of folk hero.  Well, that worked: at large, people are susceptible, gullible schmucks.  But I can still love them despite my frustration, can't I?  Yet they voted for him for president. May God in His mercy look out for my fellow Americans in spite of themsselves...

Storm, exercise, Steps,Baseball Commentary Over"Stepping"

 I regularly exercise indoors, in air conditioning on my living room floor, doingrock-running. By this way my heart rate gradually climbs over 90 beats per minute, reaching a low "zone one" of cardiovascular stress that physicians recommend to their patients for walking and light physical exertion.  Yesterday I earned a little more than 23K (23,000) steps training this way while watching TV, usually major league  baseball games, half-inning by half-inning.  MyFitbit watch has an annoying tendency to reset the step total to zero every few hours..and whenI've already done a few thousand steps, I try to remember to write down that number; I have credit for 2511 so far today.  Last night Gainesville had a tremendous thunderstorm that went on for hours..before today's meteorological activity I observed the clouds build up while sitting with sweet Melissa and Peewee Daisy on the back porch.  Maybe later today I'll be able to enjoy sitting outside some more with them.Yesterday evening I watched some baseball on the baseball channel we're subscribed to. I enjoyed the game but not the commentary during the final innings. The dude who thought he had all the important opinions came across  as cynical, hypercritical and disrespectful to both the game of baseball and to me as a fan who, ironically, has never played it.  Maybe if this continues I'll use the "mute" `button more.  More games are on tap today and into the evening:enjoy...

This is Memorial Day weekend, so with it I would like to honor Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in times of conflict to protect our blessed freedoms.  None of us, myself included, will live within our mortal bodies forever on this Earth.  Those who bravely sacrificed their precious lives for our sake are especially worthy of our respect and honor. May GOD bless them all...

Slowness in Fitness Recovery Tied In with Cancer Prognosis Uncertainty

My path to return to my previous level of cardiovascular fitness, as evidenced by my participation and finishing times in a number of long-distance races, has recently been slow, irregular and halting...causing some discouragement.  On Depot parkrun 5K Saturday mornings, I gradually increased my number of laps finished and, on April 25th, managed to walk the whole course.  But I only got through a single lap of their last race, feeling a bit too tired to go the whole distance on that one.  A couple of hours ago today I walked...at a reasonable pace...around my own neighborhood block.  On the backstretch homeward I would deliberately start some very brief, slow jogging.  This helped me gain some confidence about running.  Sometime around sunset today I'd like to try some slow running across our back yard, and see how long i can manage the effort.  i realize that i am being daily reminded of my medical status, and that the struggle to make progress...or even overcome...treatments for this unfortunate brain cancer condition is fraught with concerns about their effectiveness, and possible side effects.  I know that it's probably a good idea to be bold with my athletic training, and one of these weeks I'm going to let go at a Parkrun event and try running for as long as I am able to manage it...maybe this coming Saturday will work that way: if I tire out too quickly, I should be able to hobble over to Melissa and the car.  I don't like this cancer role in life i've been consigned to for a while.  I do know that my life...and my eventual passing through and beyond it...are in my Lord's loving and powerful arms...He brought me in and He's carrying me through it all!  I'd still like to be able to frame my own Earthly future in terms of relations with Melissa, family and friends, and athletic and intellectual pursuits.  And I'm still interested in what's going on in the world!  I can't properly boast about tomorrow(read the Book of James Chapter 4), or about the future in a personal, worldly sense...only God has the power to determine it all.  So instead, to the degree that uncertainty still maintains a vital role on this Earth,,.  I'll hedge my comments about the future with 'if the Lord tarries", recognizing that His timing is the correct timing...

The Beautiful Mind, a Beautiful Day, Medical Matters

One of my all-time favorite movies is the 2001 semi-fictional biographical thriller A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe as John Naah, the Novel laureate (Nash really won that award) for economics who went through a serious protracted trial with his schizophrenia.  His"friend"of many years, a hallucination, was Charles Herman, played on screen by Paul Bettany.  The way the film portrays this character...one moment he's invisible and the next he's right up in your face...made a formidable impression on me.  If something like this happened to me, I would be very upset about what was going on in my mind...especially if there were a pattern of repetition to the phenomenon. How could I bring this experience up in conversation, possibly risking in the process being called crazy? In the Bible, following the resurrection of Jesus, his disciples were walking around, largely despondent and discouraged. Suddenly the risen Lord would appear to them out of thin air,  this being the part of the text that threw me back a bit.  I will need to be careful about what I observe in life and how to process and react to it.  I do know that, as far as I can discern, my home is relatively secure with any intruders unlikely to make an unwelcome appearance. So the only feasible alternative is...

Today I went with Melissa to consult with her physician's assistant dealing with the oncology following her 2024 cancer treatment and what the future plans are regarding appointments and procedures.  Also, we went to UF Health at the Oaks Mall where I had a lab blood draw and provided a urine sample.  We're dealing with this cancer ordeal arm in arm, loving and supporting each other through it all. I'm praying for complete healing, acknowledging the Lord's supremacy in everything.  Right now it's April 20th, 2026...let's see where the calendar takes us...

Up Early, Am-Way Presentation, Medical Visit, Later Plans

 Jane came to be one of my sweetheart wife Melissa's good friends in the 1990s.  She always had a sweet and gentle disposition.  One morning Jane invited me to attend a "recruitment" meeting regarding a multi-level marketing project called Am-Way, to which I complied and was shocked by its aggressive nature.  Turns out  that, starting out, I would be on the bottom, under other Am-Way members.  Over time my sales and recruitment efforts would pay off in my gradual elevation and enrichment, and my wealth and reknown had the potential of becoming possibly legendary, like that of "the" Bubba Pratt, the company's star multi-millionaire.  The not-so-subtle dig at those who choose not to engage with Am-Way is that they are hum-drum losers who are missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime...why, I could be off somewhere ice-fishing with my big-shot mentor instead of working shifts on the clock!  Ron, one of my former USPS co-workers who was eventually fired for insubordination, used to even insult me and colleague Rick about our so-called dead-end jobs.  I always believed that being a postal service clerk was an honorable undertaking, and over the years appreciated the respect and esteeem directed my way for consistently showing up and properly performing my duties.   Melissa and I both demurred on Jane's offer, but God blessed our humble little lives just the same...we still enjoyed that trip to Dahlonega, Georgia.  I never was very materialistic about wanting "stuff", and for me spending money was something I felt some caution about avoiding building up too much financial debt. Now it's nearly 3:30 on Wednesday morning, and I have an 11:00 appointment to see my prostate cancer oncologist at UF Health Davis Cancer Pavilion. After brewing some coffee I ran in place for 8 minutes and see myself extending that "run" a while longer.  Well, I still have that horrid Joshua Khan Shadow Magic book and want to read a little bit further into it before I lay it down in disgust.  Protagonist boy Thorn is always fighting and offending people, and the narrative never seems to have any "down" moments for folks to just get together and talk things out.  Let's see, I think I'll post today's article, shut down the computer, and head on back.  Good morning, all...   

Early Rising, Good Saturday Morning

 Once again I got up early, this time between 3 and 4.  I ran in place for six minutes and listened to Jim Rohn's podcast against seeking others' approval and overexplaining.  The morning alarm should sound at five, and later on I'd like to go to Depot Park with Melissa to walk one or two laps there without expectations of receiving a finishing time.  Then I want to return home and rest some, without sacrificing the rest of the day.  Some self-imrovement podcasts on YouTube sound promising, and a little more cuddly (with Daisy Peewee) time will fit the bill nicely.  Thank you God for you presence in my heart and life, and I have much to be grateful for...

Staying Active Through the Fatigue

 I wrote yesterday about my experience of putting together a late Sunday afternoon 4.8-mile neighborhood walk at a brisk (for me) pace.  But since I wasn't keeping up a four-mph pace throughout it, I wouldn't have come anywhere near surviving the established, required pace in Stephen King's (pseudonym Richard Bachman) 1979 early dystopian novel The Long Walk.  In spite of being a bit slower, I was feeling some fatigue as I went through the course.  I don't want to feel that my level of physical fitness is set in a state of decline, so this morning I did some "rock-running" exercise while listening in on foreign language podcasts...that went well.  Now it's past four in the afternoon and I'm back from radiation therapy, having just eaten "for dinner" an Arby's cheddar and beef classic sandwich along with an apple turnover.  I still feel a lot of energy and could do with some more exercise.  Maybe I'll try the rest of the foreign languages and watch a YouTube Rob Dial episode with Russian subtitles.  We're probably expecting some rainfall in our moderately-drought-stricken area in the coming hours, but that's all right since I'm home for the night.  All thanks and gratitude to the Lord, in whose hands I am always and who carries me each and every day.  And my deep love for my wonderful, dear Melissa...