shoot, did it again

Again, I have waited too long to post on here so now I have multiple incongruous thoughts and topics floating about in my head to successfully meld into one cohesive post.

First, it would seem highly callous to speak of anything before mentioning my Dad's status.

My dad had cancer, I'm not always the most talkative individual so some people have mentioned not knowing that. Recently it has returned. The return was something we were warned of, but still dreaded, and of course hoped to side-step. But alas, he has a mass in his stomach that is more than three inches. I am unsure if the three inches refer to girth or footprint, but either way it sounds big to me. Masses are considered in a whole new category once they reach 4 and a half inches or so and tend to start interfering more with the body's normal operations and functions. Dad has been praying and pondering, and as his new oncologist asked what he wanted to do, he answered he was ready to start treating it now instead of just waiting to see if it got bigger.

That was Wednesday of last week, and by Friday he was hooked up to a four hour drip of a newer medication called... something that sounds like Roxil(sp?) If you are a medic, you can tut tut in your mind as I screw up all of the lingo. They administer the first dose slowly to watch for the body to react to it adversely; common reactions include shakes and tremors as well as nausea. Dad, true to form, didn't have any side effects, except for really not enjoying a four hour hospital bed ride. I got the impression that the four hours would be reduced in the future, but need to clarify. I do know that he will get the dose once per week for one month and then they will see if it is doing, or has done it's job.

This drug attaches itself to the protein of the cancer cell and then kills it off. Roxil(sp?) does not have some of the more well-known side effects stereotypically associated with chemotherapy. If needed, next month could include a more traditional chemo cocktail, hair loss and vomiting included at no extra charge.

Speaking of charge, the hospital Mom and Dad are working with is a for-profit private hospital. Therefore they have great stuff available, but Mom and Dad are now on a fixed income of course. We are blessed that they qualified for some financial breaks and whatsits that I would mess up the details of if I tried to get specific. I am violently opposed to socialized medicine because I feel the quality of care regresses, but in today's world I would have been very sad if my father had to choose which cancer treatment he could have afforded instead of which cancer treatment was the best for him. It is a conundrum.

So, Dad is doing good after one treatment, to summarize.

It feels odd to move on to a different topic, especially one that is light hearted, but it kind of relates to Pops. Dad used to scuba dive, I was pretty young when he stopped, but I remembering thinking it would be cool to do, and now, a mere decade or three later I have been given the chance to flip in his fin steps.

A large group of family will be going on a cruise in February and we are lucky enough to have had some financial assistance making it possible to go. Plus last time we flew to Michigan to visit my family we voluntarily got "bumped" and received the coveted free voucher payment, making it even possible to go on the cruise without having to starve ourselves or not buy gas to be able to afford the airfare.

So for Christmas I received a scuba surprise from a couple of different sources that included lessons and the equipment one cannot rent. I am very excited. Last week was my first week of class, we met twice. Our first class was classroom only and included a lot of paperwork. The second class was half in the classroom again, and half in the water!

I am not always a daredevil and would not classify myself as an adrenaline junky, though compared to Kristen I look likethe next Evil Kanevil. But I am also pretty even tempered, I don't panic very often, so I was surprised to find my heart rate increasing as I sat on the bottom of the pool going through exercises of intentionally removing your mask, causing the nose to be unprotected, or intentionally "losing" your regulator and how to find it, clear it, and get breathing again. I did it all, but am man enough to admit to a little rise in blood pressure. I hadn't expected to react that way, even though it was subtle. I had thought to try to encourage Kristen to take the classes, something she has been opposed to. I wont be forcing the issue anymore, she was right. She was stressed to tears trying to sit on, yes just sit, on a wave-runner. I can't imagine someone trying to get her to stay underwater and then taking away her oxygen supply... well I can imagine it... it would be at least very entertaining.

The worse part of class number two were "laps". We were informed as we got to the pool that we had to do ten laps. Yes, 10. Luckily we did them wearing our fins, but it was still about 9 and a half times more of a work out than I have had in a very long time. Many people had done ten while I was finishing 6... and after I finished 8 no one really questioned me if I had actually done 10... Hey, if you're not going to ask....

We also were wearing masks and snorkels, which sounds nifty, except for the fact that we were doing laps perpendicular to the normal lanes, that still had up the floating barriers, so we had to go underneath all of those, while out of breath from the workout. I had one panic moment I'll admit to as my snorkel got hung up on one of the lines. I'm not sure what happened, but all I knew was that I was snagged, and wasn't getting air. I'll also admit to a little flailing and a contortion or two.

Sitting on the bottom of the pool was cool, but swimming along the bottom into the deep end of the diving area felt like scuba for the first time, it was pretty cool. I am quite excited.

We'll leave off there for now.. so many other thoughts... so little time...