Scattered Thoughts . . .

I haven't been writing much about my own health and Systemic Mastocytosis lately other than an occasional quick update about a bad night or lousy day here and there. Sheila's health and her breast cancer has been pushed to the forefront over the past month and a half and rightfully so. Also, I've been writing more about more pleasant things such as hobbies, home renovations and the grandkids rather than my own health. The downside of not mentioning my own health problems is that people assume that no news is good news. That line of thinking, however, is rarely correct and it is not correct this time either. For instance, we just experienced a week of weather in the 90s with high humidity and unbelievably stagnant air. Well... to be honest, this sort of weather is like being in hell for me.  My health cannot handle climates above 80 degrees... indoors, outdoors, anywhere. So, without getting into specifics, I had a rather lousy week of poor health. It got so bad this

Yesterday was a long and exhausting day which began as w e headed northward to the hospital in the morning for a relatively grueling day in Radiation Oncology. We both seemed a bit exhausted right from the get-go yesterday so we knew we were in for a fairly rough day. We managed to get the hospital visit and a few errands out of the way with little difficulty though. The appointment started with making a mold for Sheila so she could/would remain perfectly still during her radiation treatments. I wasn't allowed in the room for this so I have no photos even though this is one of the things I definitely wanted to capture in photos because it is rarely seen. Unfortunately, I was told I needed to remain in the waiting room for this part of the appointment which I found quite disappointing and a bit frustrating. This diversion in the waiting room allowed me to catch up on some reading while struggling to stay awake. In hindsight, I should have just taken a nap in the waiting room!  

We were back at the hospital today dealing with all the fun that cancer entails once again. On the positive side, I somehow managed to get an entire fairly comfortable waiting room to myself as Sheila did her thing with one of her doctors.  I think Sheila's day, overall, was good... it was a bit emotional for her... but, in the big scheme of things, it was a relatively good day.  Today, Sheila met with a new member of her medical team and this doctor is one from my own medical team.  We really do spend far too much time in hospitals... ...and, we're only just getting started this time around. Sheila and her doc as they were hunting me down... A fairly comfortable and, since I was alone the entire time, a rather private waiting room.

I put together a short video this morning for Lukey. Lukey enjoys watching train videos whenever he visits us and this video is definitely something he'd enjoy! Another reason for video of a new locomotive is that watching a video playback of anything shows flaws you might have missed in real life. This is especially true with small models and old eyes... it is much easier to see the small details on a video if the video is done correctly. So, I pulled out a camera and attempted some video. Between projects, medical appointments and periods of poor health, I'm putting together a long test track (among many other things) which will run along the wall like a shelf in the back room. This test track will allow me to work on locomotives every now and then when I have time and when I feel up to it. This test track will also provide me with a great way to program my locomotives as well. The track is 12 feet long so it is sufficiently long enough to run from end to end while sti