Going with the Flow

It has been one week since the initial round of chemotherapy for Dad and he’s survived it with no ill effects other than with my annoyance at how perky he’s been due to the Prednisone. For the moment he has more energy than I do despite the end of that particular course. We’ll see if that pattern holds up deeper into the treatment schedule.

While the battle with cancer continues, it is the siege by forces of winter that has occupied a great deal of our time, energy, and attention the last several days. Local wood pellet shortages combined with an aerial attack of snow resulted in our being forced to fortify our position. Hunkering down has nothing to do with problems getting the car up the driveway despite what the propaganda arm of the forces of tyrannical Jack Frost claim.

We choose to walk up and down the steep drive because we like it that way, it strengthens our legs, and boosts morale. Despite word that another wave of snow approaches for a blizzardkrieg attack on Thursday, we remain undaunted. Not even cabin fever can diminish our strength. We will prevail!

What do you mean a line of snowmen has been sighted behind drifts to the West? Ready the bags of ice melt! Hair dryers at the ready! Don’t fire until you see the blacks of their eyes…

Last night we started limited weight training for Dad, hampered by the permanently severed shoulder muscle in the right deltoid. I may have to do some research to see if there are any pectoral exercises that don’t use the delts for support since he can’t even do a simple bench press. Flies are also a no go, removing that option.

Keeping a watchful eye on Dad has been difficult. Running around with him on service calls has knocked me out as far as doing anything else. Much of my free time is spent resting if not sleeping. Now that he’s a week out from the therapy, I’ll start cutting him loose for low impact work while still going along when something heavy needs to be moved.

Daily weight lifting hasn’t been very daily the last couple of weeks. Every two to three days has been all I can manage and that needs to change. My hopes are that things will settle down enough into something approximating the former routine as events progress. There is no question it has allowed me to do more during this crisis.

One of these days I’ll get to writing around the amazing and painful wrist roller that I’m now using at the end of workouts. Weak wrists are a problem that it addresses, however it feels like my hands are being rebuilt inside out without anesthesia. Oh and that’s well after the exercise. No pain, no gain, right?

So far so good with nothing dramatic to report is the gist of this report. That’s a welcome change.