Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday, August 8, 2023 8:02 PM

Radiation, Part II


By Tuesday I'm starting to feel the side effects of the radiation in terms of loss of appetite, radiation blisters, some fatigue, and overall weakness.

By Friday I've got into a groove despite the radiation side effects. I've cycled and walked and lifted weights, done the yardwork, trimmed the roses, picked up the delayed radiation blister medicine (that was out of stock everywhere), and worked on the baseball ineup algortihm. I keep forcing myself to eat though many times I don't feel like it. The lost weight hasn't affected my workouts yet, but it might get worse.

On Friday morning I walk for eighty minutes, trim the roses, and mow the front and back lawns. After a shower I read the news and get radiation treatment. At home I force lunch down while watching a wet but drying Belgian Grand Prix qualifying session. Later I relax with the Netflix series "Lucky Hank" and watch some of the Dodgers' game.

Though with trepidation, I start on the road bicycle north on the Los Angeles river trail for a long ride. In the first ten kilometers of the ride I see a fairly large coyote near the bicycle path and I yell at it and try to make some noise. It goes running down to the dirt walking path farther away. I'm feeling decent so I keep on going up to the El Monte dam and turn for home. (I don't think the real name is El Monte dam, but I don't know what else to call it since its in or near the city of El Monte. Usually I could cross over the dam to the other side, but after all of the rain we had this past season the dam is flooded and there is no path across.) I'm making decent progress coming home though I make a quick stop to top off my water bottle just in case. I just keep turning the pedals over and though I'm physically and especially mentall tired, I'm at a good pace. And I'm happy to come home with another 70 kilometers on the road bicycle. As I rehydrate before a shower I have to keep bending over since I feel light-headed. I'm not sure how to get more glucose to the brain since I'm eating as much as I can or want. I relax with the rain-delayed F1 sprint qualifying and sprint race from Spa, Belgium. Later I work on the baseball lineup algorithm and lay on the couch watching events and re-hydrating.

I get in a good mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club and back to home. Today I run into my fourth cousin and I slow down and ride alongside him as we chat for a bit. And then I continue on with a headwind on the first two legs of the ride and a tailwind on the last two legs. At home I weedwack the rosebeds and the sideyard and then get in a cooling shower and note the sun is hazed out today and we finally get some relief from the heatwave that we've had for at least two weeks. I load up on carbs to watch the F1 race from Belgium where various pit strategies and a bit of rain in the middle of the race liven things up. And then I just relax and make it a priority to stay hydrated.

I continue my pattern of walking and cycling early in the morning, a trip for radiation treatment, and then seeing other doctors or running errands afterwards before going home to rest. On Monday its walking and a blah day. However, on the way home from radiation I'm craving a Subway veggie sub for the first time this calendar year. I stop in at my local Subway and the usual manager is there. As I step inside, a homeless man starts yelling and screaming and the manager goes and locks the Subway door from the inside. The homeless man pounds on the door, yelling and screaming, and finally takes leave and calms down. The manager opens the door and the homeless man runs in, grabs a mess of sandwich bags, and throws them all over the sidewalk out front. Then he leaves. I talk with the manager and she says he lives around here but is usually calm and not ranting. I help the Subway workers pick up the bags off the sidewalk and then I order my Subway craving for lunch and dinner. Tuesday sees a good bicycle ride, visits with two doctors who both say I am doing very well with the radiation (i.e., no serious side effects, continued working out, no significant skin surface irritation, and good attitude), and a stop on te way home to eat some salty french fries which I have a craving for. Wednesday is an off day for the legs, but I lift weights, get treated, and then run errands - today buying ice cream to satisfy caloric requirements and a craving. The dietitians say they don't care where the calories come from, just eat more to stop the weight loss I've had.

On Thursday I see that my sleep scores for the last two days are back in the mid 80s according to FitBit, which is what they were before the radiation caused them to plummet to mid 70s or below. I get out the door at 6:10am for a good mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club and back to home. During the ride along the ocean three raccoons scamper across the bike path just in front of me and a fourth decides he/she cannot make it and turns around to hide in a drain pipe until the coast is clear. After a shower I'm watering the carnations in the front yard and the neighbor man, i.e., one of the devil people, is talking with an insurance adjuster sine I see his car has some recent damage. He comes over and says, "I'm getting a divorce. I cheated. It's a combination of the marijuana addiction, alcohol addiction, and bipolar disorder that makes me wants any woman I see." I try to give reassuring words despite the total cluster fu&$ situation that the neighbor has entirely brought on himself. Marijuana addiction? You're going to try that one. When he mentions that he's going to rehab with exercise, meditation, acupuncture, and something else involved, I honestly tell him that exercise and meditation and acupuncture will really help a lot and maybe you two can work it out when you're sober. He hopes so and then he goes back to his insurance adjuster. I finish the radiation and meeting with the dietitian. I tell the dietitian that I realized about a week ago I had very little urine production and now am seeing more as I realized that I needed to hydrate much more. And I tell her that I think I've stabilized my weight downwards and we'll see on Monday's weigh in. Afterwards I drive to the main Long Beach library and return four books and pick up five new books to read. I haven't been to the main library since well before the surgery almost three months ago. On the way home I stop in at Burger King to satisfy my craving for salty french fries. Later I just relax, do some daytime reading, water the roses, and watch some of the Dodgers' game.

I start Friday with a 75 minute walk - being delayed a bit as I run into some neighbors and we walk and talk until our paths diverge. At home I trim the roses and read the news and markets after a cooling shower. Radiation goes smoothly and at home I watch wet/damp/dry practice sessions for MotoGP and Moto2 from England. In the afternoon I watch some Netflix and finish the evening off with deweeding the carnations and the Dodgers' game. 75 min walk, trim roses, radiation, lunch, MotoGP/2 FP2, Netflix, deweed carnations, Dodgers' game.

I start north on the Los Angeles river on the road bicycle and feel strong. I get to the El Monte dam and turn back south. As I eventually approach home I'm feeling so well that I add 10 km to the ride to end up at 80 km - the farthest I've ridden since the surgery in the middle of May. At home I have no brain glucose and for a few minutes during a cooling shower and afterwards I have "that seeing stars effect". After I meditate I help the neighbor install two new cordless phones and scurry back home for lunch and very wet qualifying sessions for MotoGP/2/3. In the afternoon I relax with some Netflix and later in the evening I continue deweeding the carnations and intermittently watch the Dodgers' game. (All of these entrees where I say "watch the Dodgers' game" are really intermitent watching because who can watch a complete baseball game unless you are at the stadium?)

On Sunday I take the road bicycle up to the Whittier Narrows dam and turn back for home. I pick up some cyclists a short way down the river trail and drag them all the way back to Long Beach Blvd. At Long Beach Blvd I put in a surge and drop them even though I'm getting off at Del Amo. A good ride! I watch the MotoGP sprint race from England and later watch a documentary or two. It's a slow day after 80 kilometers on Saturday and 60 kilometers on Sunday on the road bicycle.

On Monday morning I'm out the door before 6am to go walking. I kinda get lost in my thoughts and end up at 85 minutes of walking. Afterwards I trim the roses, grab a cooling shower, and read the news and markets before having radiation session 20 out of a scheduled 30. Back at home I try to help the neighbor set up her new phone and answering machine. She wanted to pay somebody to buy and install two cordless phones, but I helped her pick out the phones and told her I would hook them up. We hooked the phones up on Saturday and now its time for the integrated answering machine. Except when I go over, she can't find the users manual. IU had told her its page 35 of the users manual so put it where you'll remember where it is. But its lost. I go home to eat lunch and watch a wild Moto3 race from England with a brand new winner. I go back over the neighbor's house and she found the users manual in a bottom drawer in the kitchen. Okay. I set it up the machine to ring six times and then she records the message. And I go back home to relax. Accept thta the Interne tcable bushes from the neighbor need trimming so when its cooled off a bit, I go out and climb up on the ladder with the electric hedge trimmers and get the neighbors' bushes cleared away from my Internet cable. I can only reach halfway across the bush, so my half is now a foot or so lower than the neighbrs' side and I really don't care how ugly it looks. They can cut it back if it bothers them.