A Brief Update

For those of you who have been following along on this journey of mine, you should recognize by now that the photo attached to this particular entry means that this entry is about my health. This is a brief update on what's been happening over the past couple of weeks.

Last week I had several procedures done.  Last Wednesday, my nephrostomy tube was removed and then Thursday of last week I had the stent removed. So for the first time since February 10th, I do not have any tubes sticking out of me or inside of me. 

Today, I received the last of 6 doses of my BCG immunotherapy. Now I'm taking a break from that as well, so the summer is free and clear for me.  BCG will probably start up again sometime in August, but for now, I'm done with surgeries and treatments for my condition.  Now it's time for my immune system to take over and wipe out the remaining cancer cells.

So, hopefully, the next post you read on here will be about geocaching.  I have a short little geocaching road trip planned for the first week in June.  The rest of the summer is going to be devoted to visits to our wonderful granddaughter.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Nicer Weather means Hiking and Geocaching.

This post is about geocaching, so if you're not into that, feel free to leave.  I won't be offended. 

Today, I went on a short hike today to test my stamina and also to scout out a spot for a hide that I've been working on. It was a short hike, but the views were worth the effort as seen by the shot I took from the trail.

One of my goals is to hide quality hides and to hide approximately 2 per month. For obvious health reasons plus weather related issues, I've only been able to hide 6 caches this calendar year, but now that the weather is better and my health is improved I can get back out and hide some more caches. Today was a start.

I found a spot that has a fairly nice view and with the type of camouflage I felt I did a pretty good job of hiding this one in plain sight. I haven't submitted it yet mainly because I want to hike back up there again to test the coordinates and to work on my stamina. Today, I walked about 500 feet further uphill before I turned around and headed back down for the day. I don't want to over do it on the first foray back into hiking.

So tomorrow, I'll head back up there to test the coordinates and see if I can get further up the hill. Oh, and as a public service announcement for those of you hitting the trail - be on the look out. I saw lizards today and unfortunately I found a two and a half foot dead rattlesnake. I much prefer the live variety to the dead one and I know some of you think I'm weird that way, but I'd much rather prefer a snake over any kind of rodent. Needless to say I was a little sad to see this guy at the side of the trail, but he was providing sustenance for other creatures, so it's all a part of the circle of life.

You Do You

Yesterday, I noticed that P.J.'s photo blogging challenge showed up in my Facebook feed and I thought to myself, "Self, this looks like another one where you're not going to have any content to post." I haven't really thought about the photo blogging challenge, or photography in general for several months, mainly because of my health issues, but this month looked particularly doable. I'd taken some shots, many of which I love and I think they all fit the theme of You Do You, since I've been concentrating on getting back to my old self, the one before the cancer diagnosis. 

I haven't got the hiking, camping or traveling parts back in place yet, but that will come, but I've been doing a lot more geocaching lately and fortunately have gotten several visits from my daughter, son-in-law, and of course the granddaughter who just lights up my life right now. So without further ado, I present to you my five shots for the theme You Do You.

1 - 4. Easter and family visits

This post in general is going to be heavy on the cutest little girl in the whole wide world. That's my unbiased opinion, and no matter what I'm sticking to it. My wife and I haven't been able to travel much over the last four or five months due to my health issues so it's been enjoyable to have the kids come to us, so to speak. By the way, if you're not up on what's been going on in my life, you can read about it starting here. There's about four posts in all detailing what's been happening. I'm in the middle of the immunotherapy treatments and I'm very optimistic about the long term prognosis. And as a friend of mine says, so I've got that going for me.

But anyway, the kids have come to us, visiting us for a whirlwind visit right after my birthday and then for a much longer visit before and after Easter. I've always been told that being a grandparent is even better than being a parent and I'm going to have to agree. It's such a joy to hear the pitter patter of little feet running around the house, to hear giggles again and just see the wonderment of a little one as she discovers the world and all there is to explore.

One of the days later in the week, we went down to visit my parents. They met their great granddaughter last summer, but she was very shy toward them. My dad just wanted to hold the baby and wasn't able to last summer, but this time the little one was a little less shy. It took awhile, but we finally got her to sit in his lap. Needless to say, he was in seventh heaven. All it took was a little screen time where they were looking at photos of herself on the phone and she just sat in his lap.

My mom ended up trading stuffed animals with her. The little one is very good about sharing just about anything with anyone, just as long as you give it back pretty quickly. This started over Christmas when I'd ask her for her pacifier. The first couple of times, I'd just take it from her and say, "Thank you!" in a high squeaky voice and then give it back to her. It became a game very quickly and now she'll give you all sorts of things, just as long you give it back fairly quickly afterwards. So that's what my mom was doing there, just playing the game.

One of the other things the little one has really glommed onto is the characters of Winnie the Pooh, particularly Pooh Bear and Tigger. We discovered this sometime in January I believe and so I went on-line and purchased a Pooh Bear for her, which has become her favorite stuffed animal. My wife and her sister had Pooh Bears when they were growing up and we have both of those bears.

As you can see, they were very much loved and have faded over time not nearly as vibrant as the newer Pooh Bear, but they were fun to have around. At one point, my granddaughter decided to have a Council of Pooh Bears. She had an entire meeting with the three of them, telling them in her own monosyllable words what she wanted each one of them to do. She was even dressed the part and I just love the way this particular shot turned out. On a side note, the Pooh Bear with the missing eye, got loved a little bit harder during the week and is now missing that bulbous nose it used to have. Things happen to stuffed animals if they're well loved, and these three will continue to be well loved for many years into the future.

And, as any self respecting grandfather will do, he will take a lot of photos of his grandchildren, particularly ones where he can get them to giggle and laugh in them. In my opinion, the best sound on earth is a tiny human giggling. It's good for the soul and what ails you and we got a lot of that during that week. If you look at this photo long enough, you can hear the giggle emanating from it.

5. Geocaching

And most of my posts would not be complete unless I mentioned geocaching in some form or another. Last week, I contacted my friend NotableFind and asked her if she wanted to go on a geocaching adventure. We decided to each take the train into downtown Los Angeles and meet at Union Station for a geocaching adventure. She's always said she's allergic to Los Angeles and because of the pandemic, I hadn't been there in about three years, so it was high time to take another walking tour of the area.

We walked down Olvera Street, then walked over to Chinatown and then back over to have lunch at Philippe's. She'd never eaten there before, so this was a must stop and the food didn't disappoint. After lunch we decided to walk over to the music center because there was a new virtual geocache that had been set up there in the past couple of months. One of the requirements was to post a photo of ourselves in front of one of the four buildings, so we decided on the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and called it good.

After that we headed back to Union Station to take our respective trains home. I think I overdid it that day because, according to my Fitbit, I walked almost 10 miles that day, way more than I've done in the last couple of months for obvious reasons. My wife and daughter have both said that I don't recognize my own limitations and I agree with them. I've come to be more aware of them. But the day was so fun and I kind of overdid it, because you know, it was fun.

And there you have it: my take on the theme You Do You. As always, please feel free to comment as I won't bite. Also, please check out P.J.'s blog to see how other people interpreted the same theme.