The End of Summer

This week brought us an early start of the Fall with the remnants of a Typhoon causing storm winds and dumping tons of rain across the Pacific Northwest. It was also the first time the lighter one-drug maintenance chemo had been scheduled. Prior to infusion, the Oncologist reviewed the CT scan which was done the previous week. The results were encouraging and showed that the tumors had not increased and neither had the amount of fluid in the lungs. It confirmed previous scans showing the effectiveness of the cancer drugs. The infusion itself was much easier to take and much shorter: we were out of the hospital before noon and the only downside to that was that we missed out on Sara’s lunch visit to the hospital.

While the medical results are remarkable, Robin’s visit to Oregon easily surpassed that. He made a quick and very much appreciated visit to Portland as part of a whirlwind tour across the USA that included Portland Oregon and Portland Maine. We attended the same college and lived in the same Brussels neighborhood. The last time we were together must have been some 20 years ago. We had one and half day to catch up on what has happened in all that time. We also stopped by to visit Sara who knows Robin from her formative years in Belgium. Well..... Belgium definitely, formative maybe.

Robin, Sara and two grand kids.

The time was limited but we managed to see some of Portland, visit the house on the lake, and have a nice dinner in town next to the theater where we had tickets for a concert of Opera highlights. When it was time to move from dessert to the theater Bonnie discovered that the performance I booked was in a totally different venue but a quick taxi ride got us seated on time. Oops, another senior moment. We all stayed downtown for the night, and Robin was off early the next day for a flight to Boston.