Carpe Diem

I think Judy and I have done well over the years making the opportunity to travel, attend concerts, etc.   I especially enjoy surprising her or doing some spur of the moment thing.

Months ago friend Tom had invited us to see Billy Joel at Safeco Field in Seattle.  After my cancer diagnosis, my first reaction was to tell him, no I couldn’t make it.  Then I thought why not, I wanted to see Tom and Susan, knew I’d enjoy the concert and thought I could work it out with the chemo schedule.  Last Thursday my chemo was deferred due to low platelet count.  Initially I was bummed but then realized we could stay in Seattle the whole weekend and celebrate Judy’s birthday there.

And so we did, having a fantastic weekend.  Took the train to King Street Station and Tom was better than Uber, transporting us around.  We always enjoy Seattle, being my birthplace I somehow feel a connection. The concert was awesome, we shared a great visit with Tom and Susan, celebrated Judy’s birthday at Ivar’s, sailed the ferry to Bainbridge and got home about 11 PM Sunday.  Another great chapter in our memory book.

60 Minutes icon Morley Safer just died, barely a week after retirement. I’ve had friends and acquaintances that put off too many things till retirement and didn’t live to see the day.

I’ve shared with some of you that if I knew how long I have, would this be how I spend my time?  I have no crystal ball, no knowledge of the future. Neither do you.  So, cancer or not, I’d encourage you to seize the day and enjoy your life now.  Judy and I love the Disney series Phineas and Ferb, here is their take on Carpe Diem: Phineas and Freb Carpe Diem

Yesterday I had my 5th round of chemo.  They had to back off the dosage of my Oxaliplatin because my neutrophils (related to white blood cells) count was low.  I’m reluctant to change anything I hope will kill this dragon but Doc knows best. Just a part of the process.  I’m feeling fine on day 2, pretty much same as before, some tingling fingers, shakiness and a bit fatigued.  Most of that goes away by day 4 after treatment.