dragonsblog

No, I didn't take a trip to Wales or Scotland. This is one of the many nice Chicago Park District buildings; this particular one is near the Waveland Golf Course along the lakefront. The open area in front of it is actually softball fields. As I rode by on the Lakefront Trail today I saw the guy on the right walking his huge Great Dane in front of it and thought it was a cool picture.

It was another cool, sunny day along the lake today, following two days of clouds and rain. This image was taken near Montrose Harbor looking south toward the city.

And here's a nice view of the skyline looking out through the entrance to Montrose Harbor.

The previous post was a test of audioblogger to make sure it worked. It was Thanksgiving Day morning and nice to get outside. Claudia and I went to Paul and Sandy's in Crystal Lake to enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with the extended family, 17 of us in total. We went for a brisk walk in the neighborhood after dinner, too. It was great to see everybody, and special thanks to all the cooks!

Lisa holds Margaret's hand away from her face so Claudia can get a picture of her with Kim and Lisa at the dinner table.

Here's a nice web page about Claudia's school garden on the Chicago NeighborSpace website. Good job, Claudia!

I couldn't bring myself to ride in to work a second time last week, in part because the weather was gloomy & wet. Same story today except no rain, just some wind, and I decided riding might not be the best way to beat the cold I felt coming on (though some times it is). The rest of the week really starts to look like winter: below freezing, snow, blah.

I did get out for a 30-mile ride on Saturday on the North Branch Trail, which was nice. I always enjoy riding through fallen leaves on any trail through the woods. I saw two very healthy, very tame whitetail does grazing in the parks. One was chased off into the woods by a zealous, unleashed dog. It was good to hear birds singing, too, free from the background din of the city.

I was cold on that ride, but comfortable as long as I was expending some effort. My toes & fingers got a bit numb after 20 miles or so of wind. On Sunday I was a lethargic slug and watched a show on Shackleton's voyage and "Touching The Void" on PBS. Between those two shows I decided I would try never to complain about cold or extreme effort ever again.

"Touching The Void" is about 2 crazy Brits who made an insane climb of a 21,000-foot Andean peak. One of them fell into a crevasse, climbed out, dragged himself down an entire glacier and across a moraine to base camp over the span of over 4 days, the whole time without water or food and with his tibia rammed half way up the center of his femur! Did I mention this all happened above 16,000 feet and in severe alpine weather conditions? The guy lost 1/3 of his body weight and it took 2 years and 12 surgeries for him to recover. Ouch!

A friend is undergoing a family struggle with cancer and asked me for my experiences and advice, so I thought it might make a good dragonsblog post. I am more than happy to share my "story" with anyone who wants to hear, especially if they think it may be of help to them.

I try not to make a big deal about my cancer experience because I feel I was very fortunate. I was very young and strong, caught it fairly early, had expert medical care and insurance, and enjoyed wonderful support from family, friends, and even my employer. I'm currently celebrating the 15th anniversary of my cancer ordeal.

I do absolutely believe in the power of our thoughts to influence the incredible healing capacity of our bodies, in part because I think the opposite is so obvious--that so many people seem to suffer physical pain because of unhealthy thoughts. In fact, I have always suspected that my cancer may have been "seeded" by an episode in my life that hurt me deeply emotionally. But as is the case for almost all cancer, the cause is never certain and mine could have been caused by anything from dental x-rays to bad soft drinks. And I have a substantial family history of cancer on my father's side--my grandmother and all her siblings succumbed to cancer.

I was 24 when I felt a lump behind my jaw, below my left ear. I brought it up as an "item" during a physical exam a couple months after I first felt it. At the time I was living in Iowa City, which has three excellent hospitals including the University of Iowa Medical Center, a tertiary medical care center for the whole state of Iowa. By chance, the doctor I had chosen for my physical was in an office right next to another doctor whose specialty was head and neck cancers (an otolaryngologist), Dr. Guy E. McFarland, M.D. The doctor immediately suspected I had a carcinoma in my parotid gland and referred me to Dr. McFarland who, incidentally, had recently published a paper on parotid cancers. The visit with Dr. McFarland a couple days later agreed with the initial doctor's suspicions and I immediately scheduled a biopsy of the tumor at Mercy Hospital.

I was no stranger to hospitals and scars, so I didn't expect it to be too traumatic. My sister was living in Iowa City at the time so she went with me to the hospital and I asked Marcie's parents to come too. They were much more distraught about the whole situation than I was, perhaps due to a certain level of naiveté on my part. The surgery was a bit tricky because it was in the area of the nerves that control all the facial muscles, but I had full confidence in the reputation of my surgeon, Dr. McFarland.

It was a bit of a shock when the analysis of the biopsy revealed that the tumor was a highly active sqaumous-cell carcinoma so further treatment would be required. Being young and relatively strong, I opted for further surgery rather than chemo or radiation treatment. I figured I could recover from surgery but chemo or radiation could cause more issues over the full span of my life. The recovery from surgery did last longer than expected because it took a good sixth months before I got most of my energy back, and probably a year before I was back to normal, so to speak.

The good news is that the surgery was effective and I have had no recurrences. My recovery was assisted by an incredible outpouring of support from family and friends, and even old friends and people I had never even met. Even the staff at the hospital was exceptional in their support. I still feel I owe a debt to everyone who helped me through that time in my life.

So, again, I'm not sure my story is all that inspirational or helpful because I really didn't endure as much suffering during my treatment and recovery as many cancer victims. Obviously, it has influenced who I am and the way I live, making the value of every day more apparent, yet I still need to remind myself! Maybe that's the ultimate secret of battling cancer, to focus on what it gives us rather than what it threatens to take away? Focus on the joy of every day we have!

The ride home last night was a bit more of a challenge since the wind didn't die down and just shifted so it was pretty much straight in my face. We don't have hills in Chicago, just wind. It's like going uphill all the way home--a good workout.

Today is gorgeous; crispy clear again and just a bit of wind across the lake. Instead of riding I loaded up a backpack with old magazines, put on my hiking boots and went for a hike on a stretch of the shoreline covered with uneven rocks and concrete between Montrose and Foster beaches. The point is mostly to give my body some practice with uneven footing under load, which is important for our backpacking in New Zealand next month because we will be doing some off-trail hiking.

Backpacking in New Mexico last summer reminded me of how I have to keep my ankles and knees in shape for uneven footing. Of course it's easy to twist an ankle if they are weak, but my knees get sore and swell up like pumpkins if they are strained too much. Hopefully that can be avoided in NZ.

Went to Garfield Park Conservatory again today for the annual GreenNet potluck with Claudia and three of her students, which was fun. I just noticed the GreenNet website has several images of Claudia's school garden, students and co-workers.

Another nice ride in to work this morning on the lakefront trail, though a bit windier, chillier--in the 30's F, northeast wind. The ride home this evening could be more interesting, into the wind in the dark. Hopefully the winds will calm a bit, because when they come down the lake like today they can bite. One can even get wet on some sections of the trail!

The lake was quite agitated this morning. (Video - 3MB AVI file)

We're getting pumped for our trip to New Zealand next month. If you're interested, the company that we are taking our camping trip with in NZ is "Hiking New Zealand". We signed up for the "Secret South Safari." Be sure to check out the photo gallery of other people's websites who have gone on their tours, and of course their other tours, hikes, etc. I thought Uncle Pat might enjoy the "Footsteps of Scott and Shackleton" expedition.

It was a beautiful weekend in Chicago. The big news is Claudia accepted an award from the mayor on Saturday for the school's garden! It was for 2nd place in their region in the school category of the Mayor's Annual Landscaping Awards. I felt so proud of her because the description of the garden that they read (which I assume was written by Claudia) during the presentation described how the garden integrated the school with the community and facilitated teaching, and then Claudia walked up to accept it accompanied by 2 students and a parent, and she was the only one in the school category to do so! We're supposed to get a picture of all of them with the mayor, so I'll post it on the website when we do.

The awards were presented in the Horticulture Hall at the Garfield Park Conservatory which is really a wonderful oasis in the city, filled with beautiful plants from around the world. I especially enjoy the tropical displays in the fern and aroid rooms, including some wonderful, big vanilla orchid plants that always have lovely yellow blooms on them. I definitely must visit there more often in the middle of winter.

No baby buffalos, though, just koi in the ponds and a squirrel running around in the fern room.