Radiation and Tea

This has been a quiet week in this blog world. Thank goodness for those of you who make comments! I read and am strengthened by each one. On the other hand the week has been a busy one for me and my family. Last Tuesday I was able to consult with the renal and prostate experts at the Seattle Cancer Alliance. They confirmed that the tumors in my spine were most probably renal cancer. Tuesday evening I began radiation for the spine as well as the prostate. Both treatments seem to be going very well. The spinal radiation frequently causes nausea so I take an anti nausea drug an hour before treatment. My appetite seems to be very good afterward. I am also using pain relievers since the spinal tumors press on the spinal cord and cause pain in my left back and groin. We have been balancing pain relief against side effects. Those are, as so many of you know to well, constipation. That indelicate problem occupied most of my waking thought and anxiety from Wednesday through Friday. All I can say is the line from some ad . . . "what a relief it is! " Saturday Marilyn and I walked with close friends and near in-laws Keith and Eulalah Craswell to Fairhaven for lunch at Marilyn's favorite restaurant, Abbey Garden Tea Room. Marilyn's review is here. I had an herbal tea called Monk's Prayer. It suited me. Then we returned home via the boardwalk out over Bellingham Bay and through Boulevard Park, then along the trail to s long flight of steps that ends at the end of our street. We managed about 3 miles in all. This evening I worked on some important but difficult words for an announcement at Sunday's worship service. Posted by Donel at January 22, 2005 08:37 PM