Lucky Enough!

We had a terrific but short w-e in Asheville. We met Miriam and Alex for dinner downtown Friday night since they were in town for a conference. We met up at our favorite Indian place, Mela, on Lexington Ave, where the curried prawn dish and chicken kebobs were just excellent.

Sat Holly and I did our Beaver lake run, drenched in sweat from the unusually warm April weather. We had planned to spread the wood chips/mulch that the tree guys had left us last week, but it was too warm after we finished all the mowing and other yardwork that needed to be done. Fortunately, the Asheville house only needs to be mowed every 2 weeks, and we can usually get to it easily in 45 mins or so. But neither of us is used to the heat yet, and we had made plans to meet up with friends for a chicken liver potluck at 5pm. We had concoted this elaborate schedule of meet ups and carpooling so that we could get 9 different people to Donna W's house w/o overloading her small driveway. Part of the goal was to save gas and see Jo's new condo, which turned out to be quite an open, sun-bathed place facing the mtns. It made me think of that T shirt I've seen a time or two in Asheville that says, "If you're lucky enough to live in the mtns, you're lucky enough." Jo is lucky for sure with that great view and light filled space right down from the VA hospital and I-40. She moved out of her Black Mtn, perched on the edge of the cliff, cabin and now lives where she can actually negotiate the roads if we have bad weather. Good move.

And yes, we really did go to a party where the main dish was fried chicken livers, Maggi, who is from Mississippi, and Donna W, who is from Arkansas, made them as well as Johnny cakes. Brought me back to childhood for sure. I don't like chicken livers, fried or otherwise, but I did try them again just to make sure. I liked the quiche alot, and the famous salad with homemade dressing that Donna Z was kind enough to make for me. Donna W let me have some of her sweet bubba plant (it suckers..), and we viewed the photos from their recent trip to the Swamp-lest anyone think that all we do is eat. It is almost true, of course, but we do try to canoe or hike or camp while we're out enjoying the food together.

Sunday Holly and I got that big mulch pile of wood chips spread in front of the driveway. Holly found a deal on small azaleas so we planted those near the rock wall. Voila, a new garden and less grass to mow.

Today (Monday) was one of those procedure days for me. This afternoon, I had my quarterly bone marrow biopsy & blood tests with Tanya and Dr Long at the bone marrow transplant clinic. I'll know those results in a few days, though my blood counts were fine. First thing in the morning, I had a colonoscopy and fortunately that came back normal too. We had returned from Asheville early on Sunday because I had to drink that liquid prep that cleans out your bowels. Happy to have all of that unpleasantness over for another 10 yrs. Yuck!

At the clinic today, everyone kept asking me how it is to be back at work. Well let me tell you, it is so nice to be back at work and to be preoccupied (or occupied) with the flow of the day and other people's problems. I feel like my cancer time was a kind of retirement preview. I got to experiment with my time to see what I'd enjoy doing but also got to return to all of the meaningful and rewarding aspects of my work. Unlike most people, I know how special it is to wake up and enjoy all the spring trees in bloom, how fortunate I am to work with good colleagues, and how unusual it is to have not one but two great communities of friends with whom to share good food & laughter. To that end, I've had my retirement "lite" but I'm thrilled to be able to work at something equally fun. We should all be so lucky!

Photos: the chicken liver dinner at Donna & Maggi's house

Tree's T3 Trek

We had a magnificent time during our celebratory hike over the w-e. Friday the gang from the Triangle started arriving just as Holly and I settled into the house after our own 3 hour drive. Laurie and Julia arrived with their dog Ely after hiking part of the Mtn to Sea trail in Asheville earlier in the day. Marty, who came alone on this trip, arrived courtesy of Sandy and Amy and their panopoly of high tech gear & clothes for the hike. Everyone got fast to work unloading coolers and boxes of hiking stuff. We ate lots of yummy cheese that Marty had gotten from Trader Joe's while Julia and Laurie grilled delicious salmon (actually caught in Alaska by Laurie's twin sister I think). We had plenty of good eats to use as carbo loading as everyone pitched in with salad, Guglhupf rolls, cookies and homemade beer.

The hike went off without a hitch. First, we actually did get up early enough to have doughnuts & coffee (thanks Holly!) before we left at 8am for the Parkway where we met up with Susan, Ellen, Jan, Patti and Ann. We shuttled 7 folks (& Ely) up in my Volvo and the other group did their shuttle separately. We had cars stashed at the halfway point for those who wanted to hike a shorter piece or in case someone turned an ankle. The weather was about 43F at the start but hit the upper 70's with lots of blue skies and sunshine by lunchtime. It could not have been better weather, really. We all ate lunch together, and seven of us continued on to the end of our route at Sleepy Gap. Sandy's feet were a bit tender by the end, but all in all, we fared quite well. I didn't hear anyone complain much, especially once we got the pizza pie and potluck dinner going later that night. A few friends joined in who hadn't been able to hike with us and that was very special too. Again everyone pitched in and made it a delicious banquet. We had appetizers, pizza pie, various salads, chicken enchiladas, cookies, 3 cakes, and ice cream. And we had a selection of microbrews from a couple of the local breweries too.

It really was fun to have so many friends doing a physical feat to fete my good health & recovery. We had a great time and the event went off flawlessly. I have to thank everyone for pitching in with ideas, planning, food, flexibility, and enthusiasm.

Sunday the gang from the Triangle packed up and hauled out of town. We had a low key day and went to the Sourwood Inn for dinner since Kacia Duncan, the chef, was making her fabulous Country Captain dish. I know that we did alot of physical activity over the w-e, but we did alot of eating too. Fortunately, I had a great 2 hour run on Monday hitting the long course I usually run and the mtn across the way as well.

Holly and I are planning to run a half-marathon to celebrate again just the two of us. I usually do the Sunset Stampede, a 10 mile run up Sunset mtn in Asheville, but we'll be in Kansas for her niece's wedding this year. We are trying to decide on a course that will allow us to see a fun place and have a terrific run. We'll find something-maybe Chicago with 19,999 other silly fools.

Photos-with my new smaller, sleeker Canon camera: (a) the twelve folks at the start of the hike, (b) the seven of us with enough time to go the whole distance, (c) me at the Sourwood Inn dining room about to mange on (d) Country Captain made lovingly by chef Kacia Duncan

Tree's Terrific Treadmill to Trail Trek

Way back when I was still getting over the last few slugs of poison, err I mean chemo, our pal Julia had the idea to plan an event that we could use to celebrate being healthy and one that we could use to challenge ourselves. We decided to do a hike along the Shut In Ridge Trail which is a beautiful hike that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway from the French Broad River in Asheville south to Mt Pisgah some 17 miles away. It was originally a trail that Vanderbilt used to get from his enormous estate to a hunting cabin he owned near the summit of the mtn (truth be told, he owned all of that land). I chose the route because I had done the 17 mile race that is held on the mtn each November and knew that it would be a tough but doable kedge.

Now that the w-e for the event is finally here, Holly and I have been frantically emailing people back and forth about start times and car shuttles. We have run almost the entire route to scout out overlooks and parking spots and get a feel for the trail. But we haven't done the whole thing in one fell swoop yet; that will be this w-e, with friends from the Triangle & Asheville joining us for the event and/or the potluck afterwards. I had so, so much support during the whole cancer ordeal; now they are getting up early and risking tenderfeet to help me celebrate being back to health again. I'll be smiling with gratitude all the way.

Here is Holly's email announcement about the Trek:

> Hi everyone,
>
> April is around the corner and we're gearing up to have a beautiful hike in the mountains soon. We'd love you to join us. You can choose to hike anywhere from 0 to 17 miles. We're planning on a 12mile hike ourselves, but we can carpool to accommodate various pick up spots for shorter distances depending on interest.
>
> We're planning to leave our house at 7am on Saturday (Sunday will be the rain date). Bring water and lunch and appropriate wear for the weather (check www.wlos.com if you want local forecasts). It's usually a bit cooler and windier on the ridge.
>
> We'll host supper at our house at 7pm on Saturday. We'll provide pizza. Please bring a beverage, dessert or salad if you'd like to contribute something. We'll probably pick up a couple of growlers of local brew.

I expect that we will be tired and hungry by the end. But it sure beats chemo.

Photos: from last w-e's trip with Susan and Donna to Greenville SC to tour the Thomas Creek brewery, the Art Museum and the goats at the Carl Sandburg place

thanks to you & no thanks to you

We are getting a nice gentle rain here in Hillsborough so Holly and I have decided to stay in the Triangle area this weekend and work on the yard. We have woefully little grass after the big drought of the past 2 years, so this is an opportunity to reseed and fertilize. Also, we are planning to head out to one of the big landscape places for bushes, shrubs and trees to pick out some items for the open space behind the Hillsborough house. For the longest time, we had a big open lot behind us and only 3 or 4 other houses in the neighborhood. Now that space is partially occupied by a jungle gym for the kids and well, let's just say we aren't alone anymore either. About half of the lots have houses and there are many more families now. We want to enjoy our screened porch and backyard with a little privacy. Thus the trip to load up on bushes and trees. The sooner we get those carbon containing organic pieces in the ground, the sooner we'll have a screen of sorts.

As I've said before, I've managed to slip back into my old life again, especially at work. Primary care medicine has a way of taking over and before you know it, you're worrying about other people's lumps and bumps instead of your own. I have begun to notice a bit more chaos and urgency in the lives of my patients as they lose their jobs or have to pawn things to get much needed medical tests or dental work done. No sooner do I pat myself on the back for a job well done with one patient that I have to live with the frustration of not helping another. Yesterday I saw a woman back who I had diagnosed with a big stomach wall hernia that bulged and pouched every time she sat up. She seemed reassured several weeks ago when I sent her on to the surgeon to have it repaired. He had faxed me a form to complete giving her "medical clearance" for the surgery since she has diabetes and a few other medical issues. (Surgeons who are quite capable of deciding for themselves if they should operate have gotten into the habit of asking the medical doctor to "clear" the patient for surgery and anesthesia to limit their own liability if something happens during the procedure. I hate that they don't think for themselves and instead rely on our evaluation, though they don't pay us for it). Anyway, I had ordered a heart stress test on her, and it came back abnormal with areas of her heart not getting enough circulation. I referred her on to a cardiologist who will have to do a catheterization and likely stent one or more of her arteries. When she came back to see me yesterday, her comment was "I don't know when I'll be getting this original thing fixed but thanks to you, I have to get my heart situated first." I felt good, I have to say, because there are 900, 000 some odd heart attacks each year, and maybe she would have been 900,001.

On the other hand, I had this guy as my last patient who has HIV and gets his care from the UNC infectious disease clinic. He came in because we were the ones to pick up his HIV back in May of 2005, and he feels puny from his HIV medicines. He was upset because he is losing weight, the HIV meds make him feel bad, and other meds they gave him didn't heal his mouth ulcers or shingles when he got those. I tried to explain that his immune system is poor, but he just didn't get it (it is called human immunodeficiency virus afterall). This is a tough discussion even in english and doing it with my so-so spanish is near impossible. Round and round we went, him expressing his desire to be treated by us and me explaining that he needs the specialty care at UNC. Finally he gave up and took my prescription for weight gain. But I felt like he could just as easily have walked out muttering under his breath, "and no thanks to you." Well it gave the day that you win one, you lose one kind of feel. I think you can imagine it.

Today's photo: my desk area at the Drew clinic where I work