Cape Cod

Okay - one more post for today. Last week I took a little break and drove up to my sister-in-law's house on Cape Cod. I wanted one last dose of summer! And I do love the Cape even if I go alone. As it turned out, Jackie's off season renter had just moved back in so I had some company. Her boyfriend, Greg, had recently purchased a 25 foot sailboat and he invited me to sail in Nantucket Sound. When we got out of the harbor, we ran into about 4 foot waves and we really started to pound them - spray breaking over the bow, etc, I thought it was great! But after a few minutes, Greg said that his boat wasn't really meant to take this kind of punishment so we turned around and went back to the harbor where we sailed back and forth in calmer water for a couple of hours. It was a good time!

And so, I got a chance to walk the beach and take a few pictures (I like to watch the sunset from Payne's Creek -here's a shot of it for you). I also saw an old friend who drove down from Boston and we had some good chowder and a chat. So - semi-retired life ain't so bad!

Labor Day Weekend

So just to catch up - over the Labor Day weekend, the entire Veit clan went to a camp up in the Poconos for the weekend. It was very nice and had a lot of activities - swimming, archery, a zip line, etc. To do the zip line, you had to climb a 65 foot pole to a small platform and then jump off! The line carried over a pond. David did the line a couple of times (made me more nervous than him I think!). Grampa Walt and my 6 year old nephews did, too! I chose the safer route of watching and hanging out by the water cooler!

Dave also earned the title Master of Disaster for the weekend. In consecutive days he managed to give me a black eye - an accident at the archery range - and break his sister's finger - via a well tossed football. So for the rest of the weekend, I insisted on a five foot radius from him!

Vicki's finger is healing...

Round 22

I can't believe it's been so long since I have blogged. Guess I've been busy! I will try to post a few today to catch up.

Round 22 was pretty straightforward although again long delays. I think I waited about 2 1/2 hours to meet with Dr. S. The problem was that he had to cover another doctor's patients and some folks evidently had some significant issues he needed to look into. He also mentioned to me that the back up may get worse before it gets better because there is evidently a new regulation that will require the chemo drugs to be mixed under a sterile hood. This means that MSK will have to source the chemicals from the main hospital on 68th street and have them transported to the clinic (where I get treatment) on 53rd street.

As for my treatment, my scans have been stable and the side effects more manageable for the last few cycles. I asked about re-evaluating my treatment plan - but that conversation will have to be at my next session this Thursday. I did tell Dr. S that, as much as I hate saying this - I'm willing to stay the course on treatment and not keep asking him for a break since it seems to be working and I seem to be coping. But I'm hoping he'll say I can take a break anyway...

Round 21

Had chemo again last Thursday. Just the usual fare. My scan from last week came back “stable” so that’s good. Also my CEA level did not change from its current reading of 11. No news is good news! Seems like we are succeeding in turning my cancer into a chronic rather than an acute problem. I have chemo again on September 10 and will ask the doctor about getting a break.

Vicki is Driving!

No, not just driving us crazy! She got her permit yesterday and I let her drive us to the library. She’s very cautious – which is good. These kids are getting so grown up!

Richmond – Part II

Last weekend, Robbie, David and I went to Richmond for a long weekend. It was great to see friends from our time there. David slept over at his buddies’ houses every night. I got to see some of my former Genworth colleagues for breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Good folks - and it was fun to catch up. One has bought a horse farm and has about a dozen young horses on it so I drove out to the countryside to see it. Very nice – even though I don’t know anything about horses. Another was getting married that day but met me for breakfast anyway. Talk about organized! Did you have free time on your wedding morning? I sure didn’t!

Rob and I reminisced about the things in Richmond we really enjoyed. It’s a curious thing that when we lived there, we reminisced about the things we missed in Morristown and now that we’re here, we think about the good qualities of Richmond. I suppose most places to live have their advantages.

Round 20 and Survey results

Ok, so Round 20 is now in the books. Just the usual fair but an exceedingly long wait at the clinic because they were short of chemo nurses. I have the results of the mini-survey from my last entry. It’s not statistically significant but here are the results and thanks to all of you who participated.

79% of you use Facebook or Myspace. Nobody Twitters or uses other services. The remaining 21% do not use a social network (yet!)

83% report that they sign on daily or more than once a day. 8% say weekly and, curiously 8 % say they never go on. This is curious because if 21% say they don’t have a social network account but only 8% say they never go on a network, it implies that there are folks who don’t have accounts but look at social networks anyway.

71% have never written a review about a product or service on-line. 29% have done so occasionally.

These numbers are generally in line with what I have read. I particularly find the recommendation stat interesting. There is a decided minority (usually reported at about 15%) of people who post their reviews, comments or recommendations on products or services they have used. In internet parlance, these folks are referred to as “e-fluencers”. As a group, they can be very powerful in how others decide on a purchase. I certainly read the reviews of others when I’m looking to buy something. But, like most of us, I have never put my own opinion on any website. As such, being an e-fluencer can be a powerful thing. A potential idea this gives me is that if you have a particular expertise in something (perhaps you are an avid knitter or book reader or big game hunter), you could start your own website with your reviews and recommendations. This could later be a sustainable business model as vendors might seek to advertise on your site. There are also more robust ways of making some bucks once you have established your readership. Just an idea for you entrepreneurial types!

Enjoy the weather on these long, warm summer days! BB