Chemo Date Night

On Monday afternoon, June 3rd, Bonnie and I went to Portland for an evening with Khaled Houseini, the author of "The Kite Runner", in the Newmark Theater downtown Portland. It turned out to be delightful, as evenings with Bonnie usually are, but the nice weather and the witty and inspiring interview with Houseini made this a particularly good one. We checked in at the Hilton across the street from the theater (Thank you SCA for providing all those HHonors points), and then had an excellent dinner on the side walk terrace of The Heathman hotel. The dinner was exquisite. Since my objective is to eat 3000 calories a day, Nouvelle Cuisine was perhaps not the most sensible choice, but it was a fantastic meal in the open air. The next morning I ate a big breakfast that must have added at least 1000 calories and also scored 3 extra muffins from the buffet for lunch (the waitress got a good tip). That put me back on schedule.

We checked in at the Cancer Clinic at 10:30, the Nurse Practitioner checked all my vital signs, and they were all perfect : blood pressure 120/70, 97% oxygen, right temperature, no infections. If it weren't for the cancer (which you cannot see on the outside) I would be the picture of perfect health. I walk with a bit of a limp but do not need a walking stick and the limp will, hopefully, disappear soon.
The chemo infusion process takes about 6 to 7 hours in all, and by 5:30 we headed home. The next session is scheduled in three weeks, but prior to that I should have a CT scan  to check the results of the radiation and chemo treatments on the progress of the cancer.  To check who is winning, go team!

We spent the evening on our terrace enjoying the warm summer evening and had some local Pinot Noir with our nice neighbors. The wine was excellent but we better get some pillows for the teak dining chairs or no one will ever visit us again.