Monday, June 30, 2008

Meet the family

Since I have mentioned many of my family it’s probably time to show you a picture of us all. This is a picture of Mom and Dad’s wedding day. The wedding was performed at our church, St. John’s United Church of Christ in Catonsville. We’re standing in the portico of Overhills Mansion. The picture was taken from inside the main entrance of this 1897 grand home.

After our congregation decided to move to Baltimore County from Baltimore City they purchased this 33 acre estate and used the mansion to serve as a church until we built the new church building. But more on all of that in anther story.

I remember thinking, I have never seen my mother more beautiful in this blue dress, or dad more handsome. All of us are dressed in our best clothes as we start off our lives together.

Back row: Steve, Dad, Mom, Charlotte, Chris
Front row: Barry, Chuck, Tina, Terry

Steve is the oldest and currently lives in Manchester, Maryland with his wife Debbie. Steve is the one who rode down on his motorcycle several weeks ago to visit. Dad is retired from both the Baltimore County Police Department and the Amtrak Police Department, having served 20 years with each organization. Mom did a heck of a job of raising such a large family. Mom and Dad are still living in the house that we grew up in. Charlotte is third oldest and lives in Atlanta with her husband Andrew and her family. She does mission work and is currently in Liberia. She has traveled between the United States and Liberia for a number of years. My sister Chris lives in Catonsville, the same town as my parents, and has just completed 38 years with the federal government. She has purchased a motor home and has chosen to take a well deserved retirement. She and mom drove down in the motor home several weeks ago for a visit.

In the next row is me. I am the middle child, currently living in Jacksonville with Rick, my partner of seventeen years. Next to me is Chuck the next to the youngest. Chuck is currently living in Florida. My sister Tina is six months younger than me so that puts her fifth in age. (Keep in mind, we're a combined family.) Tina currently lives in Westminster Maryland not far from McDaniel College, my alma mater. Tina was down recently for a visit. My youngest brother Terry works for the State of Maryland and resides with Mom and Dad.

Thanks to Chris for sending me this photo last year. It is a treasured keepsake.

Family drive to Southern Maryland

I believe I have mentioned before that I grew up in a large family that was the result of a second marriage for my mother and a second marriage for my step father.

Dad’s father, Pap Pap Schuhart, was originally from Southern Maryland – the Chaptico area. That is about two hours south of Baltimore. A couple times a year we would drive down for the day to visit relatives that still lived in the area. We would all pile into the station wagon – all nine of us – playing games along the way – the alphabet game, the license plate game, I-see-something. Now of course, kids can’t get in a car without a DVD, an iPod, or a cell phone.

Along the way we would watch for familiar sights. One in particular was the Wigwam Bakery. This bakery had a glass teepee out front lined with neon tubes. We never stopped but we always watched for it along the way. And of course, there were all the old motor lodge motels slowly falling into disrepair over the years – some advertising air conditioning, some advertising TV. They always had interesting names and we would watch for them each time. I think there was a Martha Washington hotel and of course others just named after local cities.

Aunt Lena lived in an old farmhouse and was a cousin of Pap Pap’s. Cousin Lottie was her daughter and lived in a newer home built on the farm. Cousin Lottie still lives there. The farm is no longer active and she will be celebrating her 91st birthday this year. When the farm was active they grew tobacco, corn, and beans. It also had a chicken house. It was the chickens that fascinated us. We couldn’t wait to get there, get some of the feed corn for the chickens, rub those kernels off and throw them through the fence to those birds. Of course, after a while our hands were completely blistered. We never learned and did it every time.

Growing up in Baltimore city and then Baltimore county, this much land was a luxury. We would run around all day long, walking through the fields, swinging on the swing, playing tag and just enjoying all this fresh air.

Aunt Lena would cook huge country meals. Of course chicken was likely to be featured at each of them. And at the end of the day we would drive home exhausted but invigorated from a day in the country.

Wheelchair Ramp update

The wheelchair ramp has been built and installed. Given the way our house is sited, it was determined putting the ramp in the back garden would work best. A twenty-eight inch rise to the deck across the back of the house required a twenty-eight foot ramp of two fourteen foot sections with a landing and turn halfway up. The ramp will take me to the deck and allow me to wheel over to the double doors into the house.



Alan Curran, who has done a number of maintenance and repair jobs around our home, painting rooms, painting and repairing porches and decks, built the ramp. Alan donated his labor in building the ramp. We are both extremely grateful for his generosity. We're also grateful it was completed by the promised date even though we had rain most of last week.



In the "small world" area, Chris, the carpenter assisting Alan ended up giving up fishing on Sunday to assist with the ramp. He mentioned this to his girlfriend. Out of the blue, she asks "is this for Rick and Barry?". It turns out Chris' girlfriend is our dry cleaner over by Rick's former office. We were likely their best customers.



Now that the ramp is complete, the home assessment can be scheduled. Rick will pick me up in our car with the wheelchair I'll be using when I get home. Staff from the rehab facility will accompany to assess the appropriateness of the house for my return. The home visit should take place this week.



--

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Outer Banks

For three years in the early 80s three groups of friends and I went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to an area called Duck. Each year we rented a different home on the ocean and we had anywhere from six to ten people.

The first year we rented the cottage from Phil Tigan who was Assistant Director at ISD. We went Labor Day weekend which started the tradition. We were two houses back from the oceanfront but still with beautiful views of the ocean. We toured the area going to Kill Devil Hills. We enjoyed the local grocery store, the Mucky Duck, and enjoyed the company of good friends. We spent some time during the week exploring lighthouses. We knew there was one more lighthouse at Ocracoke Island. We got up very early one morning to take the three hour one way drive. When there, we discovered a breakfast place with the best damn coffee in the world. It became an annual pilgrimage to go back for that coffee.

One of the idiosyncrasies of this house was a sliding screen door out onto one of the decks that was difficult to tell if it was open or closed – at least for me. I must have walked into that door five times. Luckily it didn’t get bent too badly. We finally had to put a marker on the door so I could tell if it was open or closed.

That first year two members of our party were not able to stay the whole week because college classes were starting. They were going to leave late at night and unfortunately had spent the entire week not getting gas. So late in the evening we’re siphoning gas from one of our cars to the other so they’d at least have the opportunity to get to a gas station. Jim offered Brian some milk to coat his stomach in case he accidentally swallowed some gas. Brian, not understanding the intention said, “No thanks, I’m not thirsty.” We used the house hose which we had to cut and they were successfully on their way.

The second year we had a different group and a different home. A picture of the group is included here.



Back row: Jim, Mark who I have known since second grade, Judy, Barry – no comments on hair and glasses please
Front row: Dave and Joan who now have a family in Ellicott city and just returned from the Outer Banks this evening from their annual multigenerational family vacation, Nancy a friend of Mark’s, Kathy, and John.

One evening we were all in particularly good spirits and perhaps ended up making a little more noise than was appropriate. More on that later. We also discovered by accident why the tarheels are called the tarheels. It took us some time to get the tar out of the bathtub that accidentally got tracked in.

We would usually do group dinners with everyone sharing in the cooking and cleanup responsibilities. This particular year, one of our group had brought a frozen turkey. Unfortunately the evening we were to have the turkey the thawing of same bird had not yet begun. We gamely moved forward with the dinner slicing off cooked pieces of the turkey as we could and continued cooking that bird throughout the evening. We had a lot of cheese and crackers, stuffing with too much onion in it, and luckily no one ended up with salmonella poisoning.

The third year we had a smaller group and were closer to the ocean. You remember from the year two I mentioned that there would be more about the evening that we partied a little louder than we should have. When we arrived at check in, the real estate agent said, “Well, Mr. Whiteley, we had some complaints from your neighbors last year about the noise. Please be more careful this year.” We were mortified. They hadn’t said anything on our way out the previous year but waited a whole year to mention it to us at check-in.

I remember this particular house had a guest book, a bottle of wine, and a note from the owner Millie. We had friends who were going to be arriving late so we looked at the phone, and gave them the number on it in case they had problems finding the house. Our guests did arrive late and said that they had had difficulty finding the place. We indicated that we had been home all evening waiting for a call and they said, “Well, the number you gave us isn’t the right number.” We checked and the number they had was the one on the phone. We called the number ourselves and got an entirely different person. So in our note in the guest book saying that had enjoyed the vacation we included a section saying, “Millie, Millie, Millie, why is the number on the phone not the number of the phone?” We never did find out what the number was.

It was an election year and we were having a discussion around politics. We were trying to recall who George McGovern’s running mate had been in a presidential election and it was quite late at night. It was of course befoe the Internet and none of us could recall the information. We finally realized that even that late at night the public libraries in Hawaii would be open. So, we called the public library in Hawaii to ask and got the answer to our question. It was Sargent Shriver. Since all of us in attendance were Marylanders we were quite embarrassed that we didn’t recall that his running mate was in fact from Maryland.

Several of those that went on these various trips have continued vacationing in the Outer Banks to this day. So we started a fine tradition of memories with wonderful friends.

Most of our time would center around playing games, taking long wonderful naps, walking on the beach at night, and enjoying the amazing phosphorescence that would literally set the beach and the ocean aglow. Since there were so few houses in the area, it was almost as if you had a private beach. We would do sing-alongs, “You Are My Sunshine” being a particular favorite. None of us are good singers but it always sounded very good to us. We stopped taking flashlights on the beach walks for two reasons - to see the phosphorescence and with the flashlights we could see all the crabs on the beach. Somehow it was better not knowing that you were about to have your toe nibbled by a crab. This was of course before the area got built up and the stars at night would be magnificent. We could see the Milky Way and felt like we could see the world.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Second round of chemotherapy complete

Friday night I completed my second round of chemotherapy. Once again, I was fortunate that there were no adverse side effects. I'll see the oncologist on July 16th to see if it has had the desired result.
--

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Hooked on cruises

In 2006, our friends Jim and Craig suggested that we all take a cruise. The final group ended up being Jim and Craig, our friends Steve and Ben previously mentioned in the blog, Kristie, a friend of Jim and Craig’s from New Orleans, and Patricia, a friend from Jacksonville. A nice sized group – not too large and not too small. Now Rick had been on a cruise before but I had not. We weren’t sure that this was the type of vacation that we might enjoy, but given the group of people that we would be sailing with we knew it would be fun. We started planning months in advance and I kept a detailed notebook of all the plans. Of course, all my other friends were making fun of me for this but quite often would check with me for details.

We decided to sail on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas departing from Port Canaveral – about 2 ½- 3 hours from Jacksonville. The itinerary was their western Caribbean offering - Port Canaveral, Florida; Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; Port Canaveral, Florida.

All of us selected different activities that we wanted to participate in. Now this may come as a surprise to many people. But Rick and I love parasailing. So in Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private island, Rick and I did the parasail. In Ocho Rios we just wandered around the shopping area. We did a Nautilus submarine excursion in Grand Cayman.

In Cozumel we decided to go to the Mayan ruins at Tulum which border the Caribbean. Steve and Ben accompanied us on this particular excursion. Inside the city proper it was extremely hot but once you went to the edge that borders the Caribbean the view was spectacular and a cool breeze would blow over you.
Barry, Rick, Ben, Steve

Since this was the first cruise Rick and I had taken together we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We loved every minute of it. Our balcony cabin was perfectly situated. The Mariner of the Seas is a magnificent ship. The food was amazing. Incredibly enough, even though the average is to gain one pound per day I didn’t gain an ounce. I made sure that every day I walked the ship vigorously exploring all the different areas.

Of course the volume of activities they offer is infinite. One of the highlights of this particular cruise is a game similar to the Newlywed Game where they have three couples – a newlywed couple, a couple married about 25 years, and a couple married 50 years. You could not make up the answers that these people gave to the questions. It’s amazing how expensive Bingo can become on a cruise ship and how quickly those games move. You’re playing multiple cards at a time and you’re playing for high stakes money which adds to the pressure. And of course you’re always just one square away when someone else yells “bingo!” I don’t know how the women in those bingo parlors do it.

We all gathered for meals. Everyone did their own thing the rest of the time. Rick in particular enjoys an afternoon nap so on day two Ben started to ask if I had thrown Rick overboard because Rick hadn’t been seen in the afternoons yet. Walking the decks late at night was particularly beautiful – looking at the stars, feeling the ocean breeze just blowing over you. We often got into very spirited games of Uno with rules that never seemed to be printed on the box. I don’t recall winning but one game and that must have been a fluke.

Seven days passed much too quickly. Following is a photo of the happy cruisers. Seldom have I seen a group shot where everyone looks their best. It was a wonderful vacation that enabled us to share a lot of quality time with some very good friends. And while we have taken subsequent cruises, you never forget your first time.


Steve, Jim, Ben
Rick, Patricia Barry
Craig, Kristie

Friday, June 27, 2008

TGIF

It should be a restful weekend. Therapy today was a repeat of yesterday. At the end of the session, Manny, one of my therapists played the guitar and sang songs. Manny is Filipino, relatively short (I tower over him at 5 10 1/2") and a decided Elvis fan. That did add a new dimension to "You ain't nothing but a hound dog" for me but he did a great job and everyone appreciated his performance.

--
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

A great photo of Rick

A letter and photo arrived the other day from Peter Camp, Rick and Wendy’s cousin. The Camps, Aunt Polly and Uncle Nelson, lived in Connecticut where Aunt Polly still resides. Before the family started vacationing in Old Lyme they would go to Cape Cod and rent a cottage for the week on the bay side of the Cape. Ted, Rick and Wendy’s dad, was an avid sailor and had a wooden sailboat that they would use on the water. Uncle Nelson always had a camera around his neck and in this particular camera he used Kodachrome color slide film.



Apparently this particular type of slide film fades very little with time so the picture you are seeing here is of Rick at Cape Cod when he was probably seven or eight years old. I took this picture of the photo with my phone camera. The colors are so brilliant in the original photo Peter sent that I didn’t recognize at first that this wasn’t a professional, current photograph. So thank you, Peter, for sharing this priceless memory. Rick and I will treasure this photo.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

A cavalcade of ID badges

Over the years working in the Ascension Health facilities, many hospitals would issue us ID badges. Since we often would have return visits it was easier to hold onto them and not get a new one every time. Over the course of 29 years I had quite a collection. I decided to put them on the bulletin board in my office in St. Louis. Most of them are standard ID badges, some from hospitals that are no longer part of Ascension Health.

(Click the photo for a larger image,)

Many have photos that are absolutely horrible images of me. A couple bear mentioning. There are two badges from St. Mary’s Milwaukee because on the first badge the word Information was spelled wrong. On one of my badges from St. Thomas in Nashville – a blue engraved one – they wanted our titles. At the time my title was principal consultant and I told them, “principal with a P A L” to be sure it was spelled properly. Lo and behold the next day my badge arrived and is says Barry Whiteley, PAL, Hospital Information Systems. They did redo it but I still have that one. One of the badges was an access badge to the Advanced Development Center for CGE&Y in Chicago. This is where the OmniBuyer implementations were developed. It is quite possibly the worst photo ever taken. All of us look like munchkins on our photo badges.

On my last ISD badge, the photo was a reasonable likeness but the coloring was off and I always looked like I had a bad case of jaundice.

My current Ascension Health badge actually has the best ID photo ever taken of me. Thank you, Alicia.

A number of my Daughters of Charity service pins are also on the board. These pins were issued every five years.

My original ID did not have a photo on it. But if it had, it would have been the following picture because sometimes that’s how long I feel I have been with the organization.

Cafeteria food

When you traveled as much as I did for work, you ate a lot of hospital cafeteria food. It was always interesting to me to see what each had to offer and sometimes the food was quite good. When I first started traveling to St. Vincent's Jacksonville, the food was amazing. I remember ordering blueberry pancakes one morning and was asked how many I wanted. Thinking they would be the size you make at home, I said three. Turns out the pancakes were huge. I left it at one.

Providence Hospital in Mobile, Al makes a mean fried chicken. It's as good as any you would get anywhere else

One time at Good Samaritan in Pottsville there was a item I had not seen before. When I was told it was a dumpling filled with potato filling in butter and onions I thought, well, that sounds interesting. I was about to have my first pierogie. It was not my last.

Seton Medical Center, Austin, Tx, introduced me to the best breakfast burritos I'd ever had. Someone would set up a cart outside the office building where Purchasing was located. If they were gone when I arrived in the morning it would be a disappointing day.

St. Vincent's in Birmingham celebrated National Pickle week one time with a pickle bar. I love pickles and was very surprised to find watermelon pickles included in the selection.

I was at Providence Hospital, Washington, D.C. and was pleased to find they actually had scrapple for breakfast and well as old fashioned pork sausage. They also make a heck of a cheese steak.

I know that my very favorite hospital cafeteria food was from Columbia-St. Mary's in Milwaukee. I'm ashamed to admit I would even check before a trip there to find out if it was the right food cycle week to be able to have "Tater Tot Casserole". A basic ground beef, cheese, tater tots, onion, cream of mushroom soup mixture topped with more tater tots crisped on top. Yum. I miss it already.

--

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Physical therapy

In therapy today mostly repeats of previous activities. I did move to 4 pound weights for the upper body exercises. I had been using 3 pounds prior to this. Two pound weights are being attached to my left leg for leg lifts. The right leg continues to lag. I am not able to lift it without assistance.

Some medicine ball throwing and catching and some spirited balloon badminton for reaction and stretch rounded out the day.
--
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

An Ormond Beach Icon

For the most part, Rick and Wendy grew up in Ormond Beach just above Daytona Beach. For Rick's 45th birthday, Rick, Nonnie (Rick and Wendy's Mom) and I decided to go to Julian's Restaurant for dinner. www.juliansrest.com. When you walk into the restaurant, you feel like you have walked into the 60's. The overall feel of the place is Polynesian. There is a lounge singer at an organ and you would almost think it was Sherri North. It would not be a stretch to see Don Ho stroll by.

The menu is pure 60's also. Shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, prime rib and Chicken Supreme.

The web site indicates the restaurant has been open for 35 years with the same manager.

Mai Tais with an umbrella are likely ordered regularly. It was an interesting step back in time.

--
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Monkey update

Well, the Hess Shoe story generated a bit of discussion with my family. Some of them thought it was a shoe store, like me. Others remember it as a barber shop. Well, it turns out it was both. Hmmm...shoes and a cut anyone?
--

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

PT update

Today in addition to previous exercises, I was able to take four small steps We had not attempted any walking in a while, so this was encouraging. My transfers from bed to chair and back via a "sliding board" are becoming second nature. When using a sliding board, one end of a board is placed under your leg, the other end is placed on the target surface and you slide from one surface to the other. You then remove the board. Think of a temporary bridge from one place to another.
--

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Chemotherapy / Physical Therapy Update

Once again, no negative reaction to chemotherapy. I slept well last night and felt strong in physical therapy.

In physical therapy today I continued standing practice and was able to stand for 3 minutes 45 seconds today. I did twenty minutes on the mechanical bike for arms and my regular weight routine. I did manual foot bicycling today – this is the same piece of equipment that is used for arm biking – a set of pedals and a stand – but this is the first time that I had done any leg or foot biking that was not mechanically assisted. I was able to apply forward and backward rotational pressure with both legs equally. It was not only the left leg driving. The right leg was also participating. So while the right leg continues to lag, there is function there.

The last new exercise was to remove my legs from the wheelchair foot rests and to move myself across the floor in the chair with my legs. I was able to do this easily in reverse with both legs on tile. This of course would involve placing the foot on the floor and pushing backwards. Moving forward I’m currently only able to do with the left leg. Digging the heel on the floor, pulling forward, stopping and repeating so as not to let momentum move me but make my legs move me. I currently cannot move forward with my right leg.

My blood pressure continues to be perfect every time it is taken. My sugar is well controlled and blood work continues to be normal.

On the streets where I used to live

While I really have never changed careers, I used to satisfy any wanderlust need I may have had by moving on a semi-regular basis – at least in Baltimore. From 1979 to 1991 I lived in five different places.

Blogmaster Nancy was one of my roommates in my first and second apartments. My first apartment was in Catonsville actually around the corner from my parents’ house in an older development with no air conditioning. The original rent in 1979 was $205 per month including heat. My second apartment with Nancy was in Anne Arundel County. It was in a much more modern complex with air conditioning, swimming pool and a slightly higher price tag.

The third was my first venture into Ellicott City but not in the historic district.

The fourth apartment is one of the most interesting places that I have ever lived. Blogmaster Jim was my roommate. We lived on the second and third floor of a storefront building on Main Street in historic Ellicott City. At one point this building had been a hotel and each of the three floors had a ground level exit because it was built into the side of a steep hill.

Moving day was quite interesting. Many historic districts offer permit parking to residents. Ellicott City did not. Luckily my good friends the Heasleys were willing to help me move. We had to park the moving truck in a parking lot two blocks from the building. Furniture was carried down the railroad tracks, over Main Street and behind three other buildings to get to 8016 Main Street. Now those are good friends.

Our apartment was the seventh and eighth windows from the right in this photo - above the space between the two red cars.
Here is the railroad bridge. The moving van was parked on the other end of the building to the right. We carried the furniture along the railroad tracks, over the bridge, down a narrow passageway behind the building, and into the apartment.


The apartment was one room wide. The second floor of the building was our main floor. There was an entrance from Main Street that would take us up a narrow flight of stairs with a sharp turn at the top. Our first floor consisted of a small living room, small dining room and a kitchen. There was a dishwasher that we always used for storage. The deck out the back went into what could euphemistically be called a garden. A staircase in the dining room plus a staircase on the deck would take you to the third floor where there were actually three bedrooms and a bath. The center one had a skylight and no window and the deck on the back also opened onto ground level. It was quaint, it was charming, and it was fun.

The first morning we discovered that the train tracks were still active. At 6:00 a train goes rumbling by vibrating the 18 inch thick granite walls much to our surprise. It’s amazing, though, how quickly you learn not to hear a 6 a.m. train.

Downtown historic Ellicott City has always been an extremely active area. There were many restaurants within walking distance. There was Leidig’s Bakery and since I now lived just down the street from Leidig’s I was the designated donut picker upper for the office. People always insisted on Leidig’s donuts.

The Patapsco River flowed just next door and in 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes wreaked destruction on Ellicott City. The high water mark is still tacked to a telephone pole. The water level would have reached the second floor for our building.

Parking was always an issue. We could never park on the street for more than two hours at a time. If we were lucky, we’d be able to grab a spot on the street just as the parking enforcement time expired for the evening or we’d have to park in one of the three public parking lots. One was one block away, one was two blocks away, and one halfway up Main Street which was quite a haul with groceries.

Jim and Connie threw me a surprise 30th birthday party in Ellicott City. The apartment was crammed with friends and there was a huge pile of gifts. Who could help but be excited by a huge pile of gifts? Now in these days I was a bit of a clothes horse. My tiny closet was jammed with suits and shirts for work because at this time our dress code literally required “impeccable suits and dresses” and we used to joke that ISD stood for that. The back of my closet door had a tie rack on it with ties arranged by color – probably numbering over 100. Jim actually used to jokingly give tours of my ties when some of his friends would come over.

Back to the party. As I looked through the pile of gifts of all different shapes and sizes I started opening them. Much to my surprise the first package contained a tie but the package did not look like it. And it was difficult to maintain a look of “Oh how nice, what a lovely tie” because it was certainly not to my taste. As I opened the second gift Barry starts to catch on. Again, no indication of what’s inside but there is in fact yet another ugly tie in the package. Not only had they managed to pull off a surprise party with absolutely no inkling of what was going on but they managed to pull a practical joke on me. Each tie was uglier than the last. We turned it into a contest. Many of these ties had come from the closets of the fathers of the guests and had to be returned because they were being worn. Some came from thrift shops but the winner came from Marlene Langdon, the mother of one of my friends, Tracy, who is now living in Tucson. Marlene managed to find a tie that was brown velour that when tied looked like you had a huge fist at your throat. The party was a huge hit and one of the most memorable birthday parties I have ever had.

Moving out was just as interesting as moving in. I was to be moving to the Carriage House on the grounds of the church – more later on that. As I was coming down the stairs from the bedroom level for the last time, I made the mistake of thinking “Oh, let me just roll this bag of clothes down the steps and it will land safely at the bottom.” Instead it took a bad bounce on the way down the steps and punched a big hole in the wallboard. Luckily Jim’s brother was quite adept at fixing this sort of thing and it was not a problem at inspection time.

Jim was in the apartment for several months longer. As we were doing final cleanup I’m walking down the stairs and Jim turns around and notices that the bottom of the box I’m carrying is ready to collapse. Unfortunately in this box is the remainder of the can of paint that was used to repair the hole in the wall that I had created. And, no, I was not at the bottom of the steps. I was near the top. This can of paint, of course, flies open, throwing paint all over the non-white stairwell which we then cleaned up madly with anything we could find. One thing I do recall was that there was a blue sports jacket in the box which mopped up some of the paint quite well. In the meantime Jim and I are collapsing in hysterics but we managed to get the stairwell back in order. Life in E.C. was never a dull moment.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Local oddities

Each city has it's own quirks and oddities. Baltimore has more than it's share, I'm sure. One I remember very clearly was in the Hess Shoe Store located in Edmondson Village. Most shoe store windows would feature shoes, of course. Not so here. Instead of shoes, live monkeys were featured. Of course, what child didn't want to go to THAT store for shoes. We'd stand there and watch them swing and play all over that window

Any oddities where you live?

--
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Physical therapy update

Today in therapy, many of the usual exercises and a few additional ones. I practiced standing again and this time I stood for the first time for 2 min 53 seconds and the second time for 2 minutes 46 seconds. We also did an exercise like knee dips. From a standing position I would bend my knees, bend my elbows, and then pull myself back up to a standing position. I was able to do two sets of ten. We also did some medicine ball exercises sitting on the edge of a platform practicing balance, the medicine ball being thrown to me and thrown back. This was to test balance and reaction. A twist was added. When I would catch the ball I would pivot as far as possible to the left or right and from that position throw the ball back to the therapist. In another new one today a patient table would be placed in front of me. The therapist would place their foot at a given position. I would push the table to that point to test my ability to extend and bend over. They would move their foot further away to see how far I could bend and extend. The last was a new Wii game called Boxing Training. For those of you that recall with horror Dodge ball from elementary school, what this really resembled was someone throwing a ball at you and you needed to react to duck it. Unfortunately I felt like I was back in elementary school. I was hit more times than I was missed. At one point multiple balls were being thrown at a time. That was the end of therapy today.

Chemotherapy starts tonight

My second course of chemotherapy will begin this evening and continue for five nights. 300 mg of Temodar in the hopes that it will continue to shrink the tumors as the first course appears to have done. There was no noticeable adverse reaction to my first course so anticipating the same this time.

Teamwork

Throughout my career I worked with a number of teams, each usually associated with a different software product. The first team that I worked with was the COMMS team. COMMS was an acronym for Community Online Materials Management System. It was the first online system that had been developed by our organization and was already under development when I started. My first manager was Steve Boehk who is also still working for Ascension Health. After Steve moved from Project Leader to Technical Services, a new implementation team was formed. What I learned from that initial development team proved invaluable in my future career. So hats off to Steve for being such a great manager and teacher.

After the software team completed programming and testing we moved into implementation in the Daughters of Charity hospitals that were part of the Northeast and Southeast Provinces. This new implementation team consisted of Howard Allen, myself, Mary Ann Corkran, now a CIO at Johns Hopkins University (I still keep in touch with Mary Ann), and Kathy Egner. We spent several years implementing the system in thirteen hospitals. We got to know each other so well and traveled together so often and dined together so much that people began to assume we were two married couples. At one point in time it had been determined that I had spent more of Mary Ann’s wedding anniversaries with her than her husband Rich. When I was talking to Mary Ann the other day, she started to relay a story to me that I immediately recalled. We were in Binghamton, New York at the Holiday Inn Arena downtown. It had been a very long day and we had stopped at the hotel lounge. I never really was much of a drinker but I suppose that evening I may have had one too many. We must have gone through multiple bowls of Tostitos which both Mary Ann and I specifically recalled and at one time I looked up and Howard, Mary Ann and Kathy were staring at me in horror. Apparently I had been laughing and had thrown my head back, hit it on the corner of a brick wall, and didn’t feel a thing. We all called it an evening after that.

In another memorable situation it turned out that one of the original development programmers had a bit more of a sense of humor than any of us knew. Before Rosie left the organization she had been working on a particular function that required a high level of difficulty to complete appropriately. Before she left I asked her assurances that this was completed. Rosie assured me that it was. A week later I was looking at the code and noticed that she had inserted a comment that said, “And then a miracle occurs.” She had in fact not completed the code. I was left with the responsibility of creating that miracle in Assembler Level Macro Code where our largest program had to be 16K or under. Yes, that does say K. But Rosie wasn’t done yet. We got a phone call one day from one of our users complaining about an error message that had come up on the screen. We said, “What message are you talking about?” and she said, “The turkey message.” We said, “The turkey message?” Normally when you want to relay an error to a user you use the politest language possible. Rosie had decided that this particular error would be so egregious that the message said, “You can’t do that, you turkey.” We had to remove that message immediately but it lives on in infamy.

My next team was my Baltimore MedSeries4 team. This consisted of Dave Galloway, George Walker, Bill Manwarring, and myself. By this time I was managing two teams, the COMMS team and the MedSeries4 team. The four of us were installing MedSeries4 in the same facilities where we had previously installed COMMS. In Pottsville, Pennsylvania we went to the same diner every morning. The server would see us pull up and within minutes of walking in the door our orders were already on the table because we had the same thing for breakfast every day. We often fell into the trap in the evenings of saying, “Oh we’ll get out in time for dinner. Let’s not go to the cafeteria.” Of course we never did and we’d end up eating out of the snack machines – usually cheese crackers. After a while for some reason we started referring to the cheese crackers as turkey sandwiches. But not everyone caught on. One evening Dave said, “I’m about to go get some turkey sandwiches, anybody want any?” And Bill pipes up, “You know I don’t get it. You say that every night and you always come back with cheese crackers.” Bills energy level would wane quickly as the week wore on. Both of these teams would work so hard and learn so much in those times that I know they have all progressed to excellent careers.

Perhaps the largest and most diverse team that I have worked with is the team that grew from two people in 1990 to nine people by the time I transitioned to supply Chain in 2007. This was the MedSeries4 team for the East Central Province, later combined with the OmniBuyer implementation team.

Back row: Jan Clark, Barry, Jim Hook, Linda Clemmer, Cindy Hawes
Front row: Maddie Vecchi, Cathy Riley, Scott Culiver

COMMS had been installed in the Daughters of Charity East Central province also but was going to be replaced by MedSeries4 as it had been in the Northeast and Southeast. Jim Hook and I began that process in 1990. At the time I was living in Baltimore, Jim was in Evansville, Indiana and we would travel to the various sites to do the implementations. As our support base grew, Maddie Vecchi joined us in 1994. Maddie lived in Salt Lake City. Over the years we added Jan Clark now in Bend, Oregon, and Cathy Riley from Salt Lake. Maddie, Jan and Cathy were all from the MedSeries4 organization so they were a perfect fit for our team. In 2001 Ascension Health Supply Chain reviewed their data requirements for products and contract analysis and embarked on a project to put an Internet-based requisitioning/workflow system as an overlay in all Ascension Health facilities. The product was OmniBuyer and our team became the implementation team for the product across the country. We added Scott Culiver, Linda Clemmer, and Cindy Hawes all in Evansville. All three of these individuals transitioned from other positions in ISD to join the team. A few years ago Tarun Gulati, now in Chicago, also joined our team. Unfortunately Tarun is not in the team picture that is featured at the top of this section.

Please note, all four time zones of the United States are represented on this team. I believe there may still be team members that have not met in person. Of all the teams I have worked with, my proudest professional moments have been with this incredible group of people. Juggling twenty-four hour on-call for multiple systems for nearly every Ascension facility across the country, handling support issues for well over ten thousand users, developing new processes and procedures, this team never failed to step up to a challenge and continues to do so to this day.

Shortly after we were transitioned from Ascension Health ISD to CSC, I did not feel fulfilled in my role as a CSC manager. I went to my manager Sondra Schoenbaum and asked if there was some sort of solution we could determine. Scott had significant previous management experience. We were able to affect a trade in jobs. Scott became my manager and took over the management of this outstanding team of people.

I do have many amusing stories about this team but I will list those separately because there are too many and God knows this has gone on long enough. I realize that this is a very long entry but nothing of value is completed in a vacuum. I wanted to acknowledge and thank all of those team members over the years that I have worked with and that have had such a significant impact on my career. I pray I have had an impact on theirs.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Just about the biggest dog I've ever seen

I was visiting with my sister, Tina today when someone walks in the door that I recognize, but somehow seemed out of place. It was one of night shift nurses, Lisa. She was dressed in casual clothes and was accompanied by the largest dog I think I have ever seem.

Jackson, her Labrador/Great Dane mix is five years old, pure black, and weighs one hundred fifty eight pounds. Even with my bed raised, he was taller than the bed. He appeared to be the size of a small horse. He was also very gentle and like nearly every dog on earth, just wanted some love.
--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry
http://www.mobylo.com/emv/

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Regional foods

Every region of the country has its own specialty food products. You don’t really realize it, though until you move away. Some of the things that I discovered were uniquely Baltimore or at least mid-Atlantic were Utz potato chips, Old Bay seafood seasoning (now available nationwide), Tastykakes (a local Hostess snack cakes type product, my favorite being Butterscotch Krimpets, Peanut Butter Tandy Takes, and the fruit pies), G&M crab cakes (now available online), and Berger cookies – imagine a large vanilla wafer slathered in chocolate fudge frosting (also now available online). But the penultimate is Rheb’s candies. Whenever I would return to Baltimore I would stock up on these goodies to take back to Jacksonville.

Surprisingly enough, a few months ago, I found Tastykakes in our local Publix. A month later, they were in the clearance section. Regional foods truly are regional. Another time in Chicago on a sub shop delivery menu under desserts it listed “Tastykakes available.” I was surprised to see that. But back to Rheb’s.

When I started working for the Daughters of Charity Eastern Cooperative Services Information Systems Division, the building was located on the grounds of St. Agnes hospital, a member of Ascension Health. Luckily it was about two years before I knew Rheb’s was across the street. The factory is still located in the original building, the basement of a row house. The candies are still made by hand and when you go in the store you can buy prepackaged or you can select every single piece you want to put in that box. And the selection is huge.

They are legendary for their lines out the door at holidays. They used to have to cut off guaranteed Christmas orders by Labor Day. And if you braved the line at the holidays it could take hours to get your order and when the chocolate ran out the store was closed. It was not unusual for people to place orders of twenty to thirty pounds, particularly at Christmas. A gift of Rheb’s meant you went to some effort.

The longevity of the employees is legendary. The last time I was in the store in December 2007 the daughter of the original owner was still working behind the counter. For the longest time it was cash or check only but they now have a web site and will ship, weather permitting. If it is too warm they will refuse to ship so as not to compromise the quality of the product.

I have often taken Rheb’s across the country as gifts. Many people feel that it is better than Mrs. Sees and other nationally known specialty brands. Since they’re currently not shipping due to the warm weather, I can’t even confirm the price but I believe that it is around $15 per pound. Best chocolate bargain in the country.

This topic of regional foods came up because I have had so many recent visitors from Baltimore. Many of these products have found their way to my room and just as quickly, unfortunately, have had to go home. Before they were sent home I did savor and sample them and shared them with my guests and visitors. But temptation is just too great. As a diabetic, my glucose levels are carefully monitored.

Since I have traveled around the country so much to our various facilities I have sampled some of your regional products. What are the ones that are dear to your hearts?

Cleo and Tootsie

I realized I had forgotten to put a picture of Cleo and Tootsie, Wendy’s goldens. These are the goldens that the staff are referring to as the Bush’s Baked Bean dogs. Both very gentle dogs. Simon gets along with them very well but Margo gets a jealous streak once in a while. Cleo is on the left and Tootsie on the right. (Click the photo for a larger version.)

Friday, June 20, 2008

Weekend visitor and a classic story

My sister, Tina, arrived for a weekend visit this afternoon from Baltimore. We had a great evening of visiting and reminiscing. One of the funniest stories I have about Tina is about the wedding ceremony for her second marriage. I was flying in from a business trip and would just make it in time to the wedding. A friend was picking me up at the airport. This same friend often dropped me off. Like many airports, Baltimore-Washington International Airport has arrivals on the lower level and departures above. Imagine a long shot view of me on the lower level wondering where my ride is and my ride on the upper level wondering where their passenger was. Of course, there were no cell phones in those days. We finally figured out what happened, I got picked up and whisked off to the wedding just in time to see the bride and groom coming back down the aisle.



The reception was going to be a BBQ at Tina's home. It took Tina a very long time to get to the party. I just assumed she got held up with pictures or something.



The next week, I'm shopping at the Giant grocery store (store name not size). As I'm checking out, I notice something very unusual a few checkouts away and commented on it to the cashier. She remarked "That's nothing. You should have been here last week. A woman in a wedding dress with twin flower girls (my nieces Jessica and Vicki) was in line buying hot dog and hamburger buns".



I finally figured out at that moment why it took Tina so long to get to the party. :)

--

Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry

http://www.mobylo.com/emv/



Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Garden sign

It seems appropriate to put this note on the blog just after the pictures of the garden have been posted. Grandmother Cronise had a garden sign in her garden near what we always called the "Ice Plant". I have no clue what that plant really was. Mom had one in her garden in the roses. There was one at our church at the entrance to what used to be a formal garden that became a Meditation Garden and where Easter Sunrise services would be held. I never seemed to find the perfect one for our garden. This past year, I was working on a project at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. I was able to get together with two of my dear friends in Baltimore, Jim, our blogmaster and Connie from my church in Baltimore. My 50th birthday was this past year and we decided to celebrate. We went to the Inner Harbor for dinner then went to see a Baltimore Christmas tradition, the Christmas lights on one block of row homes in Hampden. Each home on the block is covered roof to sidewalk with lights, extensive decorations and music fills the streets. Afterwards, we stopped at Connie's house for dessert. Connie gave me a package and I opened it up. It was the garden sign. I was so moved, I literally broke down into tears. I didn't realize I must have mentioned to Connie I couldn't find one I wanted. Before anyone asks, I'm ashamed to say it never occurred to me to look on the web. Duh. Jim remarked to Connie, "I think he likes it". The sign is in the back garden by the stone wall that Rick and I actually helped build. Whenever I see the sign, I think of Grandmother, Mom, our church and now Connie. The sign reads:

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth
--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry

http://www.mobylo.com/emv/


Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Cassie and Cricket

When Mom and my sister Chris came for their visit earlier this week, Cassie and Cricket came along. Here is a picture of these two beautiful Shelties. Cassie is on the left, Cricket on the right. Cassie does have two different colors eyes. Chris does pet therapy at two nursing homes in Baltimore and also takes them to Port Discovery Childrens Museum.

--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry
http://www.mobylo.com/emv/

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Margo and Simon

I have been remiss in getting some a photo of Margo and Simon on the blog. They have been mentioned repeatedly but many of you have never seen them. Margo (the cocker spaniel) is named for the Bette Davis character Margo Channing from "All About Eve". We sometimes think Miss Davis' imperious temperament may be in Margo. Simon (the beagle) is named that just because we liked the name. They are both four years old with Margo being just a few months older.

Like most brothers and sisters, they both love and torture each other at times.

They both provide such joy in our lives even when Margo won't go out in the rain or when Simon decides to do a beagle bark much too early in the morning. (Click on any of the pictures for a larger version.)




Thursday, June 19, 2008

Care planning meeting

Rick and I attended my care plan/discharge meeting today. At this meeting all those involved in your care discuss progress or issues. The social worker is there, the nurse is there, and of course the therapist. They indicated that they feel that there is still opportunity for improvement, that they have seen definite progress and that they feel that I am putting forth appropriate effort.

With the insurance company approving continued rehab on a weekly basis it’s always possible that I could actually have 48 hours notice that it will be time to go home. To that end, we have scheduled a home assessment for next week assuming we’re able to get a ramp constructed in time. This visit would entail Rick picking me up in our car and going over to the house. Rehab center staff would be with us and they would asses the appropriateness of the house layout.

Rick and I had the opportunity at the care planning meeting to ask any questions that we had and the staff was able to provide all the answers that we needed.

Physical therapy update

In physical therapy today we did some standing in the parallel bars. The first time I was able to stand for one minute and forty-two seconds, and the second time for a minute and fifty seconds. The intent is to get the legs used to bearing weight and to not use the arms too much to support yourself.

For my weight exercises I was able to move up from 2 lb to 3 lb weights. I know that doesn’t sound like much but they seem pleased with progress.

The therapists feel that my upper body strength is improving but combining the therapy does make for an exhausting afternoon.

On the street where we live

While Jim was visiting this weekend he took pictures of the house, the gardens and our general neighborhood. Jacksonville is a beautiful city to live in and Rick and I are fortunate to live in a historic district called Avondale. The neighborhood is architecturally diverse, dating to the 1920s. After having lived in a building across the street from the first railroad terminus in the country in Ellicott City, Maryland - a town dating back to the late 1700’s - a house built in 1924 that is considered historic kind of amuses me. Our particular home is an American style bungalow that Rick originally purchased for the wrap-around porch and the enormous live oak in the back yard. It took me a number of years to translate northern gardening to Florida gardening but both Grandmother and Mom instilled a love of flowers and gardening in me. Each year as I plant our gardens I think of theirs. A few photos follow of the house with some focus on the gardens. The hydrangea on the corner is over twenty-five years old.

There have been times when I went crazy planting the front gardens – one year planting 450 four-inch impatiens in an intricate pattern. While beautiful, I will never do that again. This year I planted borders of red and purple miniature pentas, multiple shades of geraniums with spreading pentas behind them.

(Note: Click any of the following photos for a larger view.)






Here are some photos that show our back yard.




Around the corner from our house are the shoppes of Avondale. The shoppes include six different restaurants including one of our favorites, the Fox, which is just an old-fashioned diner with wonderful food. If you’re not there in time on the weekends you’ll be in a line of 15-20 people waiting to get in.

Another is The Brick which has the closest to Maryland crab cakes that I have found in Jacksonville. The remaining shoppes are a mix that appeal to the ladies who lunch or those looking or something unique from a local specialty shop.




The St. John’s River is a few blocks from our home but and many of the streets have direct access to it. These shots were taken from Edgewood Avenue which is a gracious larger cross street with a park-like median. At the river’s edge you are able to see downtown Jacksonville.




Over the recent years downtown has experienced a bit of revitalization with a number of condo and apartment towers being built and a few shots of downtown are included. All of this is just to give you a sense of where we live.



Mom and Chris update

I just received a call a little while ago that my mother and sister Chris did make it safely home from their motor home trip to visit me.

Canine visitation

I may be setting a record for canine visitors. So far I've had Margo and Simon (our cocker and beagle), Toostie and Cleo (Wendy's goldens), Spurrier (Michelle's pug). Cassie and Cricket (my sister Chris' Shelties) and now Chin and Bruder (Chuck and Ron's Shih Tzu and standard Schnauzer). Nine canines so far and counting. I know a few more will be here soon for a visit also. All have been well behaved and certainly have brightened my days. WOOF!!!!
--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry
http://www.mobylo.com/emv/

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

A message from Rick

Barry is correct. We will make the most of each day. A wheelchair ramp is being planned for easy access to the house. It will be built in the back garden area. We think that is an appropriate location so Barry can enjoy the garden as he enters and exits the house. Also, it will provide him the opportunity to make certain I am keeping the garden in shape!

I had a nice visit with Barry's mom and sister Chris. I understand where Barry gets his strength and courage. I am so proud of Barry's determination to gain as much mobility and independence as possible. He takes his PT seriously and I know he will reach his maximum medical improvement soon.

Each one of you has been a Godsend with your prayers and good wishes. Barry is truly blessed to have you in his life.

Rick

Mom and Chris

Mom and my sister Chris will start their trip back to Baltimore tomorrow. Chris has two Shelties, Cassie and Cricket. I think they have visited everyone in the rehab center and on several instances requests for visits for particular rooms were conveyed.

Margo and Simon have not been around lots of other dogs, so it was a great surprise (and relief) when all four played together beautifully. Whew


--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Appointment with the oncologist

I did have my appointment with the oncologist this morning despite being stopped by CSX freight trains twice on the way. I had a stop in the lab first for blood work where every reading was perfect. Typically when I go to a physician’s office I have a really bad case of white coat syndrome and my blood pressure is usually elevated. When I take it at home, it’s fine. When the physician’s assistant took my blood pressure today it was 110/70 so I was in a relatively calm state of mind.

My oncologist is the regional melanoma specialist and we’ve always had a very open, honest and frank relationship. As Dr. Guthrie examined me he determined that there had been some shrinking of the lymph nodes that had originally been of concern. The four day chemotherapy regimen that I followed earlier appears to have had some positive effect. My oncologist does feel, given the other circumstances that I’m dealing with - the rehab, that continuing the chemotherapy regimen is the most appropriate option for me and I concur.

When I first was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in 2006 I knew there was a possibility that it could recur and that I would not experience a normal life span. That does now appear to be more of a likelihood. Cures for melanoma that have entered other body systems are rare. The fact that the chemotherapy will be of some benefit does not mean that it is likely to be a cure.

During the appointment Rick was with me as well as a co-worker of Rick’s, Dr. Reuben Brigety. Reuben has been an excellent resource to us, helping us with questions. At the conclusion of the exam I did ask Dr. Guthrie, if the Temodar continues to be successful, what time frame am I likely looking at. His straightforward answer was nine to twelve months.

After the appointment as I was waiting for the transport van to take me back to the rehab center, Rick and I were sitting in the lobby of the medical building for about twenty minutes. I am not on this journey alone. Rick is being as strong for me as I am attempting to be strong for him.

Let me be clear, this does not mean that Barry is giving up. This does not mean that Barry is going to stop fighting this. What it does mean is that Barry needs to understand the parameters that now surround his life.

I continue to draw incredible strength from all the emails, phone calls, blog comments, and cards. Those of you that know me well, particularly in the Supply Chain office, know that in the True Colors personality profile I am high green (very data driven) and dealing with this in a green fashion is the only way that makes sense to me.

While this is certainly not the news I had hoped to receive, it is the news I expected to receive. My sense of humor is still intact. My zest and joy for life is here and not going anywhere. Each day is going to be lived to the fullest.

There certainly have been positive elements to this journey. I have had the opportunity to truly discover how many lives I have touched even when I was not aware of it. I have developed an inner peace that I didn’t realize was possible. I also always feel as if I am surrounded by the thoughts and prayers of all of you that are part of this journey with me.

Physical therapy update

I have now been assigned to different physical therapists, Manny and Rachel. My occupational and physical therapy will be combined into an afternoon session. So now I have the luxury of staying in bed until lunch if I choose.

Today I did some standing with the parallel bars. Both Manny and Rachel are Filipino. It’s unusual for me to be called tall but both of them said, “How tall are you?” I said, “I’m five ten and a half. I’m not that tall.” But they said, “You’re taller than we are.”

One of the exercises was doing sit-ups. I had to laugh because I could never do sit-ups when I was healthy. These were modified sit-ups with cushions under the back to try to strengthen the abdominal muscles. I did some additional leg exercises, too, and my therapy session this afternoon was probably about three hours.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Therapy today

I had three therapy sessions today and am more tired today than usual. What was added today was something called the standing table. This device is designed to cause you to stand without you having to exert your own effort. It’s almost like a mini-elevator. The focus is to get your legs used to being in a standing position again. So they roll my chair up to it, literally put a winch under my butt, lift me to a standing position, and I hold onto the table top. I did this for two different five-minute sessions. Even though I didn’t think I was exerting effort, it did in fact tire my legs.

Mom and Chris today

Each time Chris enters the facility with her shelties Cassie and Cricket she has met with requests to go to specific rooms. These are two very well behaved dogs. They did have the opportunity today to meet and play with Margo and Simon. Margo is always cautious meeting new dogs. Rick was very surprised that all four dogs got along famously playing well together in the back yard.

Mom and Chris spent a comfortable evening in Chris’s motor home and visited me this evening. We had a great time telling old stories and I’ll see them again tomorrow evening. Not sure what specific plans they have for the day tomorrow.

Aunt Naomi as Mae West

I had mentioned in an earlier post that Aunt Naomi had sent a picture of herself as Mae West. I thought it would be interesting for eveyone to include a copy of it here. Click the image for a larger version.

I love New York

I’ve always had a bit of a love affair with New York City, and I’ll get into a lot more detail about trips to New York Rick and I have taken over the years.

My initial trip to New York was when I was still in high school in 1975. A friend of Tracy and mine, Joe, had family in New York, his grandmother and his aunt. Joe invited Tracey and me to accompany him on the train to New York for the weekend. Mom and Dad said “Yes,” and I was ecstatic. When we arrived in New York, Joe took us all over the city by subway. We went to the Bronx Zoo, we saw all the major sights, but the thing I remember the most was seeing my first Broadway Show. It was at the Palace Theatre. It was called “Goodtime Charlie” and starred Joel Gray and Carol Reinking in her Broadway debut as Joan of Arc.

As we were standing in the theater lobby, I remember looking around and, much to our surprise, we see “the other Mrs. Jones.” In our high school, the mother of one of our friends, Cathy Jones, worked there, but there was also another Mrs. Jones who worked in the office. So it was a bit of a surprise in the middle of a crowded theater to find someone that we knew. After seeing that show, I was hooked.

I visited New York many other times for sightseeing. Once in college, my art history class went to New York for the day. We of course went to all of the museums and several of us decided to stop in a restaurant for dinner before heading back on the bus. After we were seated and saw the prices on the menu, we had to discreetly stand up and leave the restaurant. After all, we were all on college students’ budget. We ended up eating, much to my chagrin, at Tad’s Steakhouse. Any of you who have ever been to New York know that it probably would have been better if we had gone to McDonald’s.

Years later, another friend of ours, Kas, worked for NBC News. I was working at our hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Kas and I arranged an evening on the town. We got tickets to “Gypsy” with Tyne Daily the night before she received the Tony Award in 1990. We had dinner at a Manhattan restaurant, and then went to the Carlisle Hotel to hear Bobby Short. It was the quintessentially perfect New York evening.

Subequently, Rick and I have been to New York many, many times, but those stories will be saved for another entry.

Monday, June 16, 2008

We now interrupt the regularly scheduled blog entry...

As I was talking to Jim this evening dictating tonight’s blog entry I happened to notice a dog leash coming in the door. It was low to the ground and I’m thinking, “Who in the world is bringing a dog into my room at 8:30 at night?” Well it turns out my mother and my sister drove from Baltimore this morning in my sister’s new motor home to surprise me with a visit. I had no clue they were even thinking about coming down. Mom had told me she was going to be in West Virginia for a couple of days at their cabin. The two dogs are my sister Chris’s shelties that she often takes to nursing facilities as therapy dogs. It was wonderful to see both Mom and Chris. We had a nice visit for about an hour and they’ll be here for several days.

Just in case anyone is wondering, members of my family do actually drive regular vehicles since so far we’ve had a visit from a motorcycle and a motor home.

Sorry tonight’s entry is so short, but Jim and I will pick up with my original plan tomorrow.

Physical therapy and upcoming appointments

Physical therapy

This morning in the continuation of upper body exercises a new twist was when Deb indicated we were going to the parallel bars. I was a little confused because morning is more occupational therapy and afternoon is physical therapy concentrating on legs. What we ended up doing was practicing standing. I was able to push myself out of the chair and transfer my hands to the parallel bars which were a little higher. On the first attempt I was able to stand for 40 seconds. On the second attempt I was able to stand for 60 seconds. My right leg continues to lag behind the left. Locking the knee in place is part of the difficulty.

In afternoon therapy, I continued practicing transfers with and without a sliding board (a board that serves as a bridge from one surface to another. You slide your body from bed to chair, chair to bed). Non sliding board transfers involve standing pivoting and sitting. I also used the Omnicycle again. The right leg which I am concentrating on with the bike went from 16% effort to 22% effort so I am continuing to see some incremental improvement in the right leg.


Important appointments and meetings this week

I do have a doctor appointment on Wednesday with my oncologist. It is anticipated that we will be discussing treatment plans for the melanoma and details of the most recent PET scan. On Thursday, Rick and I will be meeting with the rehab center staff to get an overall evaluation of progress since my arrival. They call it a discharge planning meeting which of course concerned me at first until we realized exactly what the meeting entails.

Results of both the oncology appointment and the planning meeting will be discussed on the web later in the week.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Weekend physical therapy

I don't have scheduled therapy on the weekend, but each of my therapists has suggested exercises I can do unassisted. Light weights allow me to continue to improve upper body strength. A better understanding of the muscles that need the most improvement in my legs help me to target them specifically. I'm certain many of my guests this weekend didn't realize I was exercising my legs while they were visiting.
--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry

Surrounded by love

What a weekend. I literally felt as if I was surrounded by love all weekend. Between two wonderful friends Jim and Jim coming to visit from Baltimore, Rick bringing Margo and Simon for a visit Saturday, visits from Chuck and Ron, Mike and Mike, Steve and Ben and Leslie (a former St. Vincent's Jacksonville colleague going back 28 years) it was a busy weekend here. More emails, blog comments, cards and phone calls added to the busy weekend. And every bit of it felt great. I continue to be humbled by the outpouring of support and encouragement and strengthened by it. My thanks to all for your prayers.
--
Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry

Saturday, June 14, 2008

A funny Birthday Card

Grandmother Cronise sent so many cards that one year my birthday card was signed "Katherine Cronise" but was also signed (Grandmother) after she realized what she had done. We laughed about that for a LONG time.

--

Sent via Empower HTML Mail Viewer For BlackBerry

A ministry of cards

Early this morning I was going through all the cards that I have received over the past few weeks. There are literally more than I can count. It reminded me of a tribute that someone paid to Grandmother Cronise after she passed. Grandmother would send cards to people in church for birthdays, get-well, all different kinds of occasions. About two months after Grandmother’s funeral, one of the church members had something published in our monthly church newsletter. He made the comment that for the rest of his life his birthday would not be the same because for as many years as he could remember he had received a birthday card from my grandmother. In this small way she had touched this man’s heart with this simple gesture. As I look through all the cards again today, I thank you again for your words of strength, humor, compassion, and encouragement.

A day of visitors

Jim and Jim arrived from Baltimore last night. Their arrival into Jacksonville was slightly marred by late arrival at the gate and a valet at the hotel who hit their car. Luckily the damage is minor and the hotel, of course, it taking responsibility for it. A great day of reminiscing and visiting and picture gathering to start putting some more pictures out on the blog.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Therapy

This morning in PT the upper body strengthening continues. In chair push ups I was able to do full arm extension on 14 of 15 attempts. I have never been able to do even three before.

I also have some additional exercises that I can do on the weekend so the time is more productive.

Margo and Simon

Rick brought in a picture of Margo and Simon for me to have at my bedside. Already staff are asking about them. One of the social workers the other day mentioned that she also had a beagle. Incredibly enough, she got hers from the same breeder where we found Simon. It will be interesting to see if they resemble each other.

This weekend

Two friends are coming down from Baltimore to visit this weekend. Jim (blogmaster) and Jim (not blogmaster). It will be great to see them again.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Thursday therapy

Radiation today was my final radiation treatment. I received a certificate suitable for framing indicating that I had completed a radiation treatment program at Baptist Medical Center. There are also three tiny tattooed dots somewhere on my chest that indicate the parameters of treatment.

Therapy this morning included using the Wii. I did all the regular therapy so this was a welcome diversion. This afternoon I was on the parallel bars again. I went down the bars twice. The therapist did a lot of leg work today but none on the omnicycle. He also showed me some exercises that I can do on weekends when therapy does not take place.

When I came back from the morning session I discovered that my mattress had been replaced by an air controlled mattress to assist in healing the bedsores which are progressing well.

It's official

On Thursday June 26 Rick is officially retiring. He has worked for the state of Florida for over 30 years and has decided that this is an appropriate time to retire to devote efforts to my recovery and my care. He was at the office today cleaning and packing up, talking to staff. I know he’ll be sorely missed there but greatly welcomed at home. Rick is 59 and so he could have continued to work for a number of years but has chosen the path that he feels is most appropriate.

Bush's Baked Beans

So far there have been five dogs to visit – Margo and Simon of course, Spurrier, a pug belonging to one of our friends Michelle, and of course Wendy’s two goldens. Whenever Rick comes in to visit, people ask, “Where’s the Bush’s Baked Bean dogs?” Of the five dogs, the goldens are the ones that the staff remembers.

Visiting Westminster

Last weekend, blogmaster Jim and my sister Tina both happened to attend a graduation ceremony at McDaniel College – my alma mater. It was hotter than hell due to the unfortunate ineffectiveness of the air handlers. I was texting Jim during the graduation and I told him “Quick, get out of there, get to Hoffman’s.” which reminded me of a visit that I made to Westminster Memorial Day 2007 while working on a project at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. I toured the college campus, met blogmaster Jim, blogmaster Nancy, and one of my college roommates, Rolf, at Maggie’s in Westminster for lunch. It’s one of those restaurants that we college students used to go to when we had some extra money to spare, which of course we never did. The photograph that was taken at lunch that day did not flatter us to the point that I would post it on the web. We then stopped at Hoffman’s which is a quintessential ice cream parlor. I hadn’t been to Hoffman’s since graduation my senior year of college and when we walked back in it was as if nothing had changed. My favorite was always the peanut butter ripple and it was still the best damn peanut butter ripple I have ever had.

Before meeting for lunch I had taken the opportunity to go to Emmitsburg to visit the Provincial grounds of the Daughters of Charity, Southeast Province. This is one of the sponsoring organizations of Ascension Health and the place where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton founded her ministry in the United States. The grounds are beautiful, peaceful and tranquil. The original buildings that were there during Mother Seton’s time, while restored and moved, are still in place. I was even able to visit with Sister Camilla Harent, D.C., one of the sisters that I have known my entire time with the organization. I had inquired after her at the Provincial House. They said she was on site that day but they weren’t quite sure where she was. As I was touring I headed toward the gift shop. There was a sister inside in full habit with her back to me. As she turned around I saw immediately it was Sister Camilla. We had a pleasant visit.