Weekends come and go

Friday-Sunday, July 3-5: Back to the boat we go. I doze most of the way there, with a pillow on my lap to hold Geronimo. My abdomen feels sore, and although he's only 18 pounds, I don't want him resting directly on top of me. Friday we walk the docks a little bit, I talk with some of our boating friends. Most of them by now have heard the news.

Saturday morning another super-cramp seizes me. Through the haze of pain, I hear Dayton on the phone, calling the clinic. He talks with the doctor on call, Dr. S. She suggests upping the dose of Vicidin to one every 4 hours. I don't want to do this. I only take it at night because it makes me feel like a zombie during the day. I don't want three weeks of being a zombie. But I take the pill, at least for the morning, and I eventually relax into sleep. We don't take the boat out of the marina. Although Dr. S confirmed that there really is nothing the emergency room can do, we want to stay close to shore. And that is such a strange thing - knowing that there is nothing an emergency room can do for me.

Sunday is great day! I feel fine, I go walking with Geronimo, I go swimming. It is so strange, this disease. I am so grateful for a good day. I cherish every minute.

We stay over on Sunday night, and go into Galena for breakfast on Monday. Dr. B calls while we are eating, but the phone doesn't ring through. I call him when we get back to the boat. He heard about Dayton's call on Saturday, and wants to know how I'm doing. I tell him about the bad pains, and how Sunday was fine. Dayton had told the doc on Saturday that he wanted to take me up to the Mayo Clinic emergency room and insist they keep me until I'm fixed. Dr B says that won't work, they are just as swamped as everybody else, and I'm not considered an emergency case to them. To us, sure, it's an emergency. But in the whole scheme of things, it's a slow growing, self-contained cancer. It's good to know I'm not an emergency case, but oh, it is so hard to wait.

I do just fine until we get home, then I cramp up again. But it's mild, probably having more to do with sitting in one position for two hours than anything else. Next time, we'll stop halfway so I can get out and walk a little bit.