If I Fell

Alicia and Grandpa (John)

This is one of those days when the title of my post does have a double meaning. It is the first real ballad that John Lennon wrote in early 1964, and was included on the U.K. version of A Hard Day's Night and the U.S. album Something New. John and Paul harmonize beautifully just after the songs begins.   It's a love song that John later said was loosely based on his own life.   I hope you enjoy the simplicity and sincerity that comes out in the tune. 

Alan, Cathy and I together

On the flip-side, Yvonne and I made a little trip to Oregon for our Niece Alicia's wedding this past Tuesday and Wednesday. My sister Cathy was very happy as her only daughter looked beautiful at a great outside location called Bridal Veil Lakes in the Columbia Gorge.  My brother Alan and his wife Mary and my Dad and his wife Alice all met up for the event...  We traveled to Bend on Thursday to buy some new bicycles and spend a few days there riding our bikes.  On our first ride after checking into a bed and breakfast there seemed to be some negative karma as we ran into curbs, low tire pressure, dead ends, etc.  I said, "enough of this," let's get back and walk around instead. A block from our room I missed a big chuck hole and took a good fall on my new bike.  I tore up my knee pretty good, and luckily some passers by stopped to help.  After a good cleaning at the local hospital we decided to cut our losses and began an early exit towards home.   Now I just have to let the skin grow back for a few weeks.  My weekend progressed with a visit to our new Enumclaw Hospital Saturday for what turned out to be intestinal issues (I thought it might be spleen problems.) After a C.T. scan I received a clean bill of health- at least my blood counts were almost normal.  I can't swim for probably a month, which will take some getting used to, but there are always alternatives like walking and bicycling if I promise to be more careful!
To Edie and my new east coast family, your greetings and support have made any of these little bumps go by so much more easily, I am in awe of the support and can't wait to meet as many of you as possible!      

"It's not unusual"

I already used the Beatles' "I've just seen a face" for one of my blog titles, so for today's post I included a little ditty from 1965; Tom Jones and "It's not unusual"- one of my favorite happy songs.   I am happy, I hope you are too.
When one goes through a life saving procedure like a bone marrow transplant there are a lot of ups and downs, emotions, and changes.   When I first decided to go with the procedure I tried to use my siblings as donors, but my sister Cathy had just been diagnosed with ALS and my brother Alan was not a match.   My next option was finding an unrelated donor from the pool of over a million people worldwide who have signed up to possibly help people like me.   The folks at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance found a few donors, at crunch time there was only one who was a 100% match, and willing to donate.   I had the procedure May 14, 2010 and was told that after a year my donor could contact me if she wanted to, but not until then.   After about 6 months I received a very nice almost-anonymous card from her, but the communication was minus identifying facts.   We communicated incommunicado back and forth until I relapsed early in 2011, and told her I was looking at a second transplant.  I was very worried that the possible new donor would be less than good news for my current donor after her sacrifice.   As we now know, the second transplant did not occur...   After my "birthday" I signed off to provide details about me to my donor, and hoped she would identify herself as well.  A few weeks ago we discovered each others names, and other information!   She lives in Massachusetts, is about the same age as me, and has a great life with a husband and grown children.   We are now friends on Facebook, (if I ever figure out how to use it) and I hope to be able to personally thank her in the very near future.   Meeting someone over a computer is still not quite the same as in real life!   I can't tell you how just being alive with hope for the future feels when you know the person who helped save your life.   I can say that there are many patients among the 1500 or so adults who are diagnosed with ALL each year who never find a donor, are too sick for a transplant, or just don't qualify for the procedure. Their situation is not quite as hopeful unfortunately.

So, here's to my identified Donor, I hope she reads today's post and maybe even comments. But no pressure!   

"Sadie's Excellent Adventure"

We decided to take a mini road trip to the Chelan area, then on to Omak this past weekend. We thought long and hard about taking Sadie with us, as she can be a bit of a burden when it comes to her separation anxiety or special needs.   We thought camping would be a good way to get away and spend time with our buddy.   Day one was fine, we were able to get a good spot at Beebe Bridge park near our property and the City of Chelan.   Sadie had the columbia river just steps away, dogs all around, and just enough rope to sniff to her heart's content.   We decided to go see Ken and Robin up in Manson, maybe pick some berries, sample some wine, etc.   We were fortunate to be able to visit Ken and Robin and take in their fantastic Lake Chelan views with Sadie who was very hopeful she would be jumping in... The Wardstrom's got to meet Sexy Sadie!   But everything else on our list was compromised- too much barking, no dog friendly wineries (one sort of)...So we drove to the east end of the lake, found the small city park and hit the water.   Sadie was confused- (she didn't know all of the lake's driftwood ends up on the rocks!)  She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw more sticks than even her eyes could handle!  I am sure she thought, which stick to grab and swim after?  In Sadie's world, the stick is all important to the swim.   Any size is fine, even mini logs.   Sure enough she bit into a soggy log that weighed at least forty pounds and wanted me to throw it- I did and am still paying the price today.   We dried up and spent a nice evening camping and trying to sleep.   In the morning we were off to find good cherries and eventually make it to Omak.   Sadie was fine with the always moving Dymerski's, she just asked for an open window from time to time.   When we finally made it to God's country, Sadie had found Nirvana.

Linda and Butch live up in the hills outside of Omak and their spread comes complete with two house dogs, four sled dogs (Alaskan Husky) and I think four Mules.  We were warned about snakes and quite frankly, I was hoping to see one.   Sadie was initiated into the pack with an aggressive hello, how ya doing? from boydog (sled dog) but quickly submitted and then fit right in.   She hiked, swam, and just hung out playing with her new friends for an afternoon and evening.  The next morning she got to go swimming a second time.   SHE WAS IN HEAVEN.   On the road out we stopped at Green Lake, a beautiful low mountain lake with clean water and an ideal setting.   Alas, time was short and we had to head south to Ellensburg to see our son Mikhael in his element.   Sadie noticeably became depressed at the loss of her play time weekend.   The long drive was somber, Sadie made some grunts that sounded an awful lot like "there has to be more."   We made it to the bachelor pad and to everyone's surprise, there was a new friend there.   His name was Dakota, a chocolate lab/pit bull mix resembling Sadie.   They played while we went out to lunch and were out of energy when we returned.

In a dog's life I am sure there are memorable moments, they remember the route home for example.   We often tell our dog that today isn't a Sadie day when we head out to work, or appointments and outside she goes for the day.   This weekend was my tribute to my dog for sure, and a to-do has been checked off the list.   Live Happy-

The Warmth of The Sun

Enjoying a brew outside before the shave

Here in the good ole USA The Beach Boys were exploding on the scene as early as 1962, similarly to The Beatles in the U.K.   Brian Wilson and Mike Love, cousins and band mates wrote a lot of the early Beach Boys songs like The Warmth of The Sun.   Brian was the quiet genius who came up with melodies and as the group progressed he became the producer and innovator who shied away from touring and playing.   All the while the group came up with several hits and became America's Band.   My first foray into the Beach Boys was as a result of my Uncle Michael in 1972.   I remember visiting Michael and seeing a bunch of albums featuring clean cut young men wearing stripped shirts.   The shirts made the difference!   After acrimonious relationships, a lot of drug use, Brian Wilson's mental health issues being over medicated or ??? and more band member changes than you can shake a stick at The Beach Boys are officially still around minus Brian.   There is a rumor that the original members still alive might perform at a 50th anniversary reunion still continue, but to date has not occurred.   I am hopeful...

Had a good visit with Dr. Senecal yesterday, he is decreasing my visits to every three weeks for now.   I still have some Graft Vs. Host Disease, mouth sores and decreasing skin rashes. My "spots" seem to be fading, but are still noticeable.   My fatigue and weakness issues are also improving- not as fast as I'd like but allowing me to walk more and ride a real bicycle in this nice weather.   So all in all things are looking up.   Unusually for us, the weather is near perfect 75-80 for the next week, and the forecast for the rest of the summer is about the same.   Our niece Alicia is getting married in two weeks in what should be a beautiful outdoor Oregon setting.   We will visit with family, then venture to Bend Oregon for a mini vacation in Central Oregon's outdoor mecca.   (Even bought some new Specialized Crosstrail Bikes.)   I have been busy getting things done in my early retirement days, Dad and Alice were here last week and we were able to see the Atlanta Braves (2X) complete the sweep of the still surprising Mariners.   Our Suburu is now outfitted with a hitch to carry our bike rack, and we might be able to go camping this coming weekend.   Live happy, get out there and enjoy the summer if you can!

Shaved for summer