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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 2 April 2007
Latest Update: Sunday, 8 April 2007 1:40 p.m.
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Monday, 2
April 2007
We
had a very encouraging visit with the oncologist this morning in
Greensboro. Fortunately for us they are located on the Winston-Salem
side of Greensboro making it east to access and not all that far to
travel.
After discussing the merits of chemotherapy vs surgery we decided
chemo is the best way to start. Before doing surgery, Dr. Jeffries
recommended a boat load of tests to make sure the plasma cell tumor had
not spread to his lymph nodes or that he had others in or on his body.
By choosing chemo we attack any and all bad cells he may have growing.
I would hate to the evasive mouth surgery and six months down the road
find another tumor we end up having to treat.
The good news will be that Duncan can tolerate the chemo pills and that
it will shrink the existing tumor. We start a ten day round of chemo
along with prednisone on Friday after all the Previcox he now takes for
his hips is out of his body. We also have to wait for the pills to
arrive from the pharmacy where they are compounded based on Duncan's
weight, etc. After ten days he goes back for blood work to see how
things are going. I felt very confident in the vet and the medical
hospital where we took him. After about 40 minutes of consultation they
took Duncan back for blood work. Bob and I sat outside or in the
waiting area until they finished up around 11:30.
After I dropped Bob and Duncan back home I made it work by 12:30 with a
quick stop across the street at the bank and to pick up some food at
the cafeteria. I will be working through lunch the rest of the week to
make up today and the dentist appointment I have Thursday morning.
A high of 80 today, which is very warm for this time of year. I went to
the gym after work. I am going to try to stay awake tonight to watch
the finals of the NCAA. Tip off is not until 9:15.
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Tuesday, 3 April 2007
No update.
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Wednesday, 4 April 2007
The thunderstorms/rain we had forecast for
last night and today did not materialize. A major cold front is to come
through tonight brining lots of wind. Stephanie and I walked last
night. Since the girls are off this week from preschool they came along
in the double stroller for the first time this year.
Tonight after work I had the usual library, pet store/grocery stop. It
was still so warm when I got home I put on shorts. By the time we had
dinner and walked the dogs the temperatures had started to drop a
little. By later tonight it is to drop down into the 40's with high's
tomorrow only in the 50's with some very strong wind gusts, maybe over
40 mph. That will probably be enough to blow all the blooms from the
flowering trees.
Being late for work Monday I am working straight through lunch all week
to make up my time. It makes for a very long day. Other than short
bathroom breaks I work pretty much straight through all day.
Last night I sat up until after 11 finished the Rhys Bowen, Molly
Murphy. Molly takes on a job looking for a New York actor's
supposed sister who was left behind in Ireland when they fled the
county during the famine. For Molly, it means a chance to go back home
to Ireland after fleeing herself, two years ago when she thought she
had murdered the estate owners son when he tried to make untoward
advances on her. She was not sure if there was still a warrant for her
arrest or not. But, she had not intention of going back to her home
county but instead would be looking in a small town near Dublin.
Molly gets into all sorts of trouble on the ship while crossing over
and in even more trouble when she lands on shore. Through a very
unusual string of events she not only finds the missing sister but also
her two younger brothers when she ends up in Dublin. The suspense in
the last 40 pages kept me from stopping until I got to the end.
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Thursday, 5 April 2007
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Week]
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[Wednesday]
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[Saturday]
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Week]
I had a dentist appointment at 8 this morning
for my routine six month cleaning. I was still late by 45 minutes. Even
working through lunch tomorrow I doubt I will get it all made up. I am
also trying to get the Friends newsletter ready to mail out. Usually I
drop it off at the printers while out on my lunch time walk. With no
lunch break I dropped it off last night after work and picked up today
as I came into town from the dentist. I had to run across the street
for stamps too, for both the newsletter and us. With postage going up
next month I only bought enough for us to get by.
The lady who does out labels and keeps the member database lost her
husband last month. She had been trying to deal with that situation so
I hated to call her for labels but had no choice. She said she would
see what she could do if I could wait until the end of the week. I told
her no problem, I would not have time to get it mailed out until this
weekend anyway. She had the labels ready this afternoon but did not
have time to deliver them to the library which is our drop off point.
Instead, I ran by her house on the way home. It is actually only about
fifteen minutes from us.
When I picked them up she had more members than she anticipated when I
talked with her Monday night to get an approximate count for the
printing. Even though I went over on the estimate I am still 15 short.
I have to go to Office Depot tomorrow night on the way to Home Depot to
pick up something else. I can just have them run me 15 more. I always
have extra stamps left over from the previous mailing.
I picked up take out on the way home since I needed to mow the lawn
after dinner. The promised cold front did come through last
night. While the temperatures are not all that bad this evening, 51
degrees, the winds are gusting up to 25 mph at times. Cars are yellow
with pollen. We need a good rain to wash some of this stuff out of the
air and off the trees. We have a freeze warning on for tonight though I
don't see how we can get a freeze when the wind is blowing.
Last night I started a new J. A, Jance. But it is not a Joanna Brady.
Instead, I am reading the first book in the J. P. Beaumont series. She
started writing this series first. Beaumont is set in Seattle, WA. From
the first chapters I read I can tell it is as good as her Joanna Brady
though written with a different "voice". The book starts out with
Beaumont breaking in a new partner on a homicide of a five year old
girl found strangled by her night gown. Suspects include a rather gruff
and sinister leader of the religious cult the mother belongs to.
I am glad tomorrow is Friday. As I said, I am going out to Home Depot
after work. I want to pick up the foyer/hall paints so I can start on
Saturday morning. The top half of the chair rail will be a light beige
and the bottom half a dark brown. The bottom half was the dark blue I
had to prime over.
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Friday, 6 April 2007
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Week]
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Thanks to Malcolm I was not late for work
this morning. I have a fairly old alarm clock. I have it set on a radio
station at a decent but not glaring noise level. For some reason the
darn thing goes between stations or something and when it comes on is
inaudible. At 7:15 this morning Malcolm came over and snouted me in the
face. I thought he was waking me up early so I half opened one eye and
growled "go lay down" then took a quick glance at the clock. I fiddled
with the station dial a second or two and still no sound came out. I
will have to play with it a little to see what is going on. Otherwise I
may have to change to whatever rude noise it makes..beep, buzz, or
whatever. Don't ask me how the dogs know the difference between week
days and weekends but they do. He may have been able to hear the radio
or something else in his head told him I was supposed to be up.
I cut short the usual newspaper reading to eat breakfast and still get
out the door at the usual time. With today being a holiday for most of
the folks downtown there was very little traffic anyway.
After work I ran the necessary errands for my weekend project of painting and preparing the newsletter for mailing.
It is still 51 degrees with very little wind this evening. Tonight we
may get snow showers with temperatures dropping down into the high
20's.
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Saturday, 7 March 2007
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Week]
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As I mentioned back in warm January and
February we would pay for that t-shirt weather. It is just plain cold
today with temperatures low 40's and winds gusting to 24 mph. The paper
said this morning we did get some snow showers late last night.
Whatever we got registered .04 in the rain gauge.
I am finished painting the hall and foyer both above and below the
chair rail. Next up, downstairs to trim the bathroom baseboard, put
another coat of paint on the bathroom door and paint the trim and door
by the stairs.
After I finished above the chair rail I took a lunch break and had the
dogs outside for some playtime. They get pretty antsy having to stay
penned up in the den while I paint. So far, Duncan seems to be acting
his normal self after two doses of the chemo. Since we had to take him
off his hip medicine he has been a little stiff. That should improve
with the prednisone over time.
Dinner tonight at the Chinese restaurant with Paul and Mary.
Last night while I was folding, labeling, and stamping newsletters I
watched Celtic Women. We had recorded it once back in early March
during the local PBS station's fund raiser (we call it begging). They
ran over the alloted time with their interruptions and we missed the
last half hour of the show. Bob recorded it for me again a couple of
weeks ago when they did a rerun. They are a talented group of young
women who put on quit a performance.
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Sunday, 8 April 2007
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Week]
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Week]
I decided late yesterday afternoon the wall
beneath the chair rail needed a second coat. After doing a quick clean
of the bathrooms and running the sweeper I started painting again.
After I finished I started on doors and trim. All the doors in our
house have these recessed panels making them a pain to paint. I painted
the trim and downstairs side of the door going down to the basement and
the foyer side of the front door along with one side of the baseboard
in the foyer. Trim and baseboard painting is tedious. After painting
the outside of one closet door I called it quits for the day.
The trick to painting doors and trim is leaving a clear path to get the dogs in and out of the house while it dries.
I took the dogs out to play a little ball in the back before taking my
shower. It has warmed up a lot since this morning, especially in the
sunshine.
We are going over to Frances and Al's for dinner later this afternoon.
I need to finish folding and stamping the remainder of the newsletters
which I can do this afternoon while I watch the Masters Golf
tournament. I am baking a store bought cheery pie to take for dessert
that needs to go in the oven around 2 so I best get going.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.