leave the house every day.

New Year's intention setting: I will leave the house every day, even if it's just to go to the store. Today was New Year's Day and I walked in the freezing wind on the icy sidewalk to the closed library. The cafe was closed as well. I returned my books and trudged back home. Yesterday I walked to a restaurant to have brunch with Rosemary and Arun. It was a mile each way. It was not quite as cold as today but it was a strenuous hike. Tomorrow is Friday so I need to put out my recycling--containers in the entry way are full. I also need to break down the boxes on the table so I can start the new year with a clean surface.

Quest CCNY Lifelong Learning Community

 Inspired by my mother's experiences with lifelong learning at the Fromm Institute I searched "lifelong learning" and "continuing education" and stumbled across the Quest Lifelong Learning Community in the Bowery of Manhattan. I contacted them and they invited me to observe a class and then to come in for an interview. I found that I could take the J subway from Chauncey station to the end of the line at Broad Street and then just walk a few blocks to the Cunard Building on 25 Broadway.On the seventh floor there is a little cluster of classrooms, an auditorium, a lunchroom and some administrative rooms. My intake interview was very thorough and friendly. All the classes are taught by volunteers from the community of about 700 members. i've been to a couple of classes and some guest lectures by people from PBS and a Broadway critics show.  There was also a new members lunch with Q an A by committee chairs about how the organization works. You can drop in on any class, no need to register for the entire term. From discussion participation by the members it's clear that the folks are all very interesting. There is a Spanish conversation time at lunch and a French one as well. I have to keep my expectations low so I'm not disappointed but it's the most interaction I've had with people in years. 

Yearly mammogram

 I had a mammogram and ultrasound on my left breast. All clear! I also saw my breast surgeon. He's very petite and very handsome. He always shakes my hand and talks to me in a very reassuring way. Our appointment lasted all of five minutes and I paid $165 for my share. I have my next appointment in a year and it's in my schedule. Some time next spring i'll have another brain MRI and maybe some follow-up spine MRIs. I can't remember if they are in April or not.

I'm in the process of planning a December set of trips: to SF and then to MN with Rosemary. I sent Nancy a text asking if the dates we have tentatively decided on would work for her. I'll try to visit TJ in October or November.  Delta gave me a $200 coupon  that's good for a year since I've racked up so many frequent flyer miles by using my AmEx card for everything. I have enough miles to probably pay for my flights. 

To treat myself I got a new pair of Acorn slippers; the old ones are disintegrating on me. I also ordered a new Bagallini cross-body bag because the blue one I've been using every day is filthy and shabby. I got a black one so it won't show the dirt and i will not put it on the ground any more. 

I got my yearly deposit from my IRA so now I'm flush with cash. I just bought myself the two things that were on my list and I don't need anything else. I got a free microwave from Rosemary and Arun and I've been using it to heat up my beans and soups.  

Falls and Medical Guardian device

 It's spring and I finally hung up my down jackets. I had my quarterly MRI for the brain and it continues to be good. The next one will be in six months. My latest health issue has been falls. I was going into the subway station a few weeks ago and I tripped at the bottom of some wet metal stairs and fell on my knees. I yelled in pain and wasn't able to get up by myself. Some kind people helped me up from the puddle I had fallen into. I was bruised and sore but nothing was broken so I continued on my way to meet my friend at Sahadi's deli to buy Aleppo pepper and have lunch. I was wet and dirty from the muddy puddle but able to walk. The next day however I was really sore. I told my AlAnon sponsor and she suggested that I get a panic button. I realized that I had been so anxious about my mother getting and using one but it had never crossed my mind to get one for myself. 

So I went online and ordered a Medical Guardian button pendant. It came in the mail promptly. I paid for a year's subscription to get the discount. It's not cheap but if I'm going to do this, I need to make the commitment to wearing it all the time. I have fallen several times in the last few years and I'm fortunate that the worst injury I had was a sprained wrist in Spain. At least three times I fell and hit my face hard. I'm so lucky I didn't break any facial bones.

Since my fall I have taken the subway several times. I am very consciously holding the handrail as I go up and down the stairs. I've been wearing the button pendant all the time, in bed and around the house as well as outside. I need to set up the lockbox with the set of keys I had made so that the EMTs can get in if I fall in the house and can't get up. So far all of my falls have been tripping over my own feet or over uneven pavement where I haven't picked up my feet, and not from loss of consciousness. I also fell trying to put on my pants standing up so now I sit on the bed.

More scans, more findings

I have an appointment with my primary care physician this afternoon. I will not forget this time!

Follow-up scans show that my brain surgery site is good and the smaller tumor is not growing. A spine MRI showed some nodules in my lungs and liver, so I had a CT scan for my lungs and an abdominal MRI for my liver. The lung nodules are very small so the recommendation is just to follow up with scans to monitor them. Same with the liver lesions. I also have a pancreatic cyst--more monitoring. So it looks as if I'll continue to have MRIs every three months for a while. I have a page full of notes to share with Dr. Clinton to fill her in on the past year. I guess if you do enough scans they find stuff. I'm feeling well. The main after-effect of all this and the medication is fatigue when I walk, but I have no other side effects of concern. Some very mild hot flashes from time to time but tolerable.

It's getting colder--highs in the mid-forties. I'll wear my down jacket. I have to walk about 20 minutes to the clinic.  I'll stop on the way home to get cat food since I'm a cat-sitter now.

 

Baseline MRIs for brain tumor

 The brain and spine MRIs were postponed again for machine maintenance but I finally got them done a week ago. The follow-up consultation with the neuro-oncologist confirmed that all is well. There's still a little edema around the radiation site but that's apparently to be expected and looks normal. The little baby tumor that is being observed is still just sitting there. He showed me the images from the last three procedures so I could see that it is not in a dangerous spot and is not getting bigger. I'll go in for another set in three months.

 The whole experience of going in to get the MRIs and then the follow-up consult was a lot about the subway ride and the waiting. But I rewarded myself with a box of raspberries when I got back to my cat-sitting gig and now I'm watching the Olympics on Peacock. I bought a small table fan to add a closer breeze because the standing fan is in the bedroom and its breeze doesn't quite make it to my chair. Now I'm feeling comfortable with both fans. Life in NYC without an air conditioner; there was a heat advisory yesterday and an air quality advisory today so watching Olympic coverage seemed like the thing to do.

I cooked some baby green lima beans from Rancho Gordo with sage and garlic. Today I also did a little grocery shopping and got some cherries, pasta and sauce, yogurt, milk for cereal, and some pouches with rice and pasta side dishes to try out. I still have some gai lan and mushrooms I got at H-mart a while back that I don't want to go to waste. Baking potatoes. I'm good for carbs but I forgot to get salads. I can do that tomorrow. My favorite local grocery store burned down!

FRUIT PARLOR GOTO|

Manten sushi: 26-course Sushi Omakase for only $50

Trip to Japan and Korea

 

In spite of the anxiety about scheduling my mastectomy we were able to go on our scheduled trip to Tokyo and Seoul in December (and I had the surgery on my return). The whole thing was wonderful. In Tokyo, we stayed at a little hotel near where Rosemary will do her residency this coming fall. We tromped around and did some visits to new neighborhoods and old. Ate wonderful food, including a return to Fruit Parlor Goto

and the oden restaurant Otafuku

Rosemary had some friends in town so we met up with them and went to an amazing sushi restaurant called Manten. Seventeen or eighteen small plates all of outstanding  quality. Best sushi I have ever had.  

We flew to Seoul and spent nine days there. Our hanok style hotel was lovely--our room had a balcony overlooking a garden. We stayed in the Bukchon neighborhood and enjoyed tromping around looking for restaurants and cafes. We went to many of the museums I had already seen when I was there by myself but I was glad to go back.

The food was great. We had barbeque a couple of times.

It was cold but I had my  puffy coat which was plenty warm.  We walked every day until my energy gave out, and sometimes Rosemary would go out on her own while I rested at the hotel.

Aftermath

 The radiosurgery was tedious  but uneventful.  I had to dose up with benadryl to prevent an allergic reaction to the iodide contrast dye. Every stage of the check-in inolved hurry up and wait. The actual radiation was a little uncomfortable because of the mask, but it didn't hurt. Now I have finished with active treatment for both the breast cancer and the unrelated brain tumor --surgeries and radiation-- except that I must take an aromatase inhibitor medication called anastrozole for seven years. So far the only side effects seem to be the occasional hot flash (which could also be just a response to the hot weather we're having, and some fatigue when I get out for a walk. Because of the weather I have been laying low and hunkering down in front of my fan. I went to the store today to get coffee filters and a few other things. I can only get the filters at the organic deli and they have lactaid but only whole milk. I will go to the other store in a few days to get salads and fruit. I stopped drinking as much because my PET scan showed a fatty liver. No more daily beer. I have still been having a drink about once a week when i go to a restaurant or sometimes I'll get a tall one for home. I have been having ice cream because they have been putting it on sale at my market. 

 

I was supposed to have two MRIs last week for the brain follow-up but they didn't authorize them in time. We rescheduled and I called my insurance company and they said it takes fourteen calendar days. Today I got copies of the authorization letters in my mail. They authorized the brain and all three segments of the spine. As far as I know, they only need to do the cervical spine but we shall see. Rosemary offered to go with me but there's really nothing for her to do except wait a long time so I told her no need. She may be out of town any way because she's going to Spain to see her yaya who was in the hospital and has had to move into a residencia. No more living on her own. At least in Spain it is affordable. When my sister and I were starting to look for a similar housing situation for mom it was hideously expensive. In the end we did not need it--she went so fast. 

It has been a little strange to be done with the active phase of treatment. I've been a little bit emotional after being so distracted by the logistics of traveling to clinics and getting procedures done for all these months. The MRIs coming up are to see if the tumor that was removed is growing back and if the little baby tumor they left behind is growing bigger. Then I will have more MRIs in August for the breast surgery follow-up. I am left to be more or less anxious about scans in between time.