My treatments have been regularly scheduled between 0530 to 0730 hrs each day. It's nice to get it done so I don't have to worry about it the rest of the day. I usually go to the gym right afterwards. That's if I don't talk myself out of it on the way over. I've been doing pretty good though, I run about two and a half miles on the treadmill then work out with the weights. I can only do so much with the weight lifting due to my shoulder that I injured during the Police Academy about twelve years ago. It used to only hurt me every once and a while but now it's constant. Just another thing I've got to get fixed after all this is done.
As far as side affects, they are pretty much the same as I reported a couple of weeks ago. However, I did notice a dramatic restriction in my urine flow in my fourth week. I've been taking Advil for my shoulder so the Doctor told me to up the dosage to 1200 mg's per day. This seems to have helped. I'm trying to avoid having to take Flomax if at all possible. I also have found out that I can not eat certain foods because they will make me sick. During my fifth week visit to the Doctor he said the side affects will be pretty much stabalized at this point,and will subside quickly after the treatments are completed. In other words, the side affects I have now will most likely be the same and not increase during the remainder of treatments. However, my nurse said I will feel more fatigued in the later stages of the treatment. This however can usually be combated by exercising.
As far as the rest of the plumbing(If you know what I'm talking about),it seems to be functioning as normal with the exception of a little burning sensation. The Doc said all those side affects will be gone after the treatments.
I met a newbie from Phoenix last week. His name is Paul and I can relate to him more than the others because he is closer to my age. I am still the youngest in the group though, and that was confirmed at last week's support group meeting when the director asked for a show of hands of the different age groups. I was the only one under 50 and was given a round of applause. Gee! I felt so Special! They wanted to give me a balloon but I quickly refused. Ha!
Here's a joke that came up in a group meeting a couple of weeks ago.
"Do you know why the Radiation Techs at Loma Linda have better than 20/20 vision?"
"Because they have Hind Sight!"
Get it? Balloons, HIND (Rearend) sight. Oh never mind!
So what did I do other than playing with balloons?
Well let's see. Last weekend Jeanette came to visit and we spent the weekend in San Diego. The weather was awesome!.
We couldn't check into the hotel until 4 PM so we went to Old Town and had lunch at Fred's Mexican Cantina. I had two fish tacos and a couple margauritas. I forgot what Jeanette had, but we were both stuffed and we were supposed to meet an old Air Force buddy and his wife for dinner later that evening so we walked around the Old Town shops for a while. We then drove over to Mission Bay Beach and had a gander at the Pacific Ocean. That water was Cold! But that didn't stop people from going in. Burrrr!
Probably not a good idea to wear a "Remember the Alamo" T-Shirt at a Mexican restaurant and an Air Force hat in a Navy town. But it makes me feel so ALIVE!
My lovely wife Jeanette
No way am I getting in that water! Talk about major shrinkage!
After checking in at the hotel we met my friend Alex and his wife Joanie for dinner at Sea Port Village. I was stationed with Alex at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. I hadn't seen Alex in over ten years when I ran into him at Luke AFB, AZ. during a commissary run. Ever since then we kept in contact by E-Mail.
We all had a nice dinner and a good time reminiscing and catching up on what has transpired in our lives for the past ten years. After dinner we walked around Seaport Village and took in the views of the city and the harbor. While walking around Seaport Village I ran into a co-worker there. I thought, Wow! What a small world to run into somebody you work with 400 miles away from home. I then remembered that half of all Arizonans are in San Diego during the summertime anyway so chances are pretty good you'll run into somebody you know. So what happens in San Diego will not always stay in San Diego if you're a Zoney (San Diego slang for people from Arizona). Good thing I didn't get into a drunken brawl with a bunch of Navy Squids yelling, "Remember The Alamo!"
(Just to set the record straight. I am not from Texas, I have no grudges against people from Mexico, and I got the T-shirt in San Antonio from Dick's Last Resort, which is a rowdy bar and grill, and "Hell I can't even remember my name" is printed underneath, "Remember The Alamo!?" As far as Navy Squids, well that's a whole other chapter there.)
Now that I have that disclaimer out of the way!
Alex and Joanie
The next day we went to Sea World. We spent the whole day there and I was Dawg tired afterwards, plus my bum foot was killing me. Dang! I think I'm getting old!
I hadn't been to Sea World since I came back from Desert Storm in 91 and they were letting military in for free. They had a few new things there but everything else was pretty much the same.
I really appreciated their respect to military folks. They are doing the same thing they did in 91 and letting active duty military and their families in for free. They also had a nice tribute to all the military past and present before the Shamu show. It was very touching.
Jeanette's most favorite part of the whole park.
Week Five
Tuesday I went to the March AFB Museum. It was a pretty cool museum with lot's of airplanes on display. They even had an SR 71. It's right next to the flightline so you can watch various aircraft take off and land from March AFB. There were two KC-135's and a C-17 doing touch and go sorties all day so it was fun watching them along with veiwing all the aircraft on display. There's also a hangar with displays from March's history dating back to WW I. I particularly enjoyed the armament display since I was a Munitions Specialist in the Air Force. It brought back some memories.
This is a dummy B-61 Nuclear Weapon. I loaded these on ejection racks and delivered them to B-52 alert birds on special trailers back in the day. The box on wheels was the typical tool box that the SAC LSC (Load Standardization Crews)would use mainly for load competitions throughout the Strategic Air Command.
The yellow can is a .50 caliber ammo can that we would fill with about 475 rounds of .50 caliber APIT. Those cans are the reason I have back problems today. When fully loaded they were very awkward to lift. I hated them!
Aim 9 Missile
.Mk-82 500 lb bomb with MK-15 retarding fin. I built and delivered many of these
B-52D, BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fellow) We had a different version of what BUFF meant.
And of course Thursday was my birthday so I treated myself to a nice lunch and paid for it later. I was sick for the rest of the night. But it was so good going down!
Until next Time, Adios Amigos!
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