Friends
It's been a year and a half since I've used this blog but it's time to update it. The reason? We're about to take off to Europe (Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany) for 9 weeks. It's going to be unusual in that we'll be using just our smart phones and leaving the computer behind so text will be on the terse side.
So what's happened in the past 18 or so months? Lots. First there was our second winter in Gold Canyon. Interesting and relaxing for us but it'd probably bore the reader between golf scores, pool team stats, hike reports, minutes of Healthy Eating Group meetings and the like. That would take us to April 2014. That's when life got a bit more interesting.
We got to Michigan in time for Mother's day in May. We stopped in for our annual med checks and that's when the world turned upside down. I had a PSA (prostate something something - the important word here is prostate) of 13, up from the normal 5 or so from 2 years earlier. A biopsy was indicated and duly performed. Bad news. Not only did it show cancer but a fairly active form, ready to spread. Aw crap! The Urologist was ready to start cutting immediately but my lovely wife found a prostate cancer support group meeting at Sparrow hospital. A very good liaison nurse (Deb Batterbee, praise be her name) navigated us into an expert panel. The doctors recommended radiation and hormone therapy, reasoning that even after removal of prostate the cancer was advanced enough to require radiating the area anyway. Fine, how long will that take? Oh, past the end of October. October, maybe November in Michigan? Wait a minute, it's cold by then and we live in a 5th wheel trailer. Once again, Liz sprang into action. Sparrow has a counterpart in Phoenix that could get us in. Suddenly we were on the road with a vengeance. 5 days from Michigan to Arizona. First quandary: granted, it's cold in Michigan in November. It's hot in Arizona in July, especially Phoenix. There's a compromise. While hormone treatment started immediately, the start of radiation was a little more leisurely, starting in September to allow the hormone treatment to take hold and do setup and tests. So we didn't really have to be near Phoenix until then so long as we kept appointments about every three weeks. There's a part of Arizona that sticks up far enough to not broil in the summer sun in its northeast called the Mogollon Rim. We had already heard of a town called Show Low (interesting history, look it up) and a nice RV park called Juniper Ridge. It certainly was nice. Even had its own golf course. In order to make the game more interesting and somewhat more friendly to windows they use a type of golf ball called a Point 5 (was called Cayman). Half the weight of a regular ball it flies about half as far and floats. Our trailer was right on the course so we could take off on the third hole and finish off on two. To add to the attraction, this area is subject to a summer monsoon so every afternoon we at least saw rain clouds or had a nice cool rain. In short, a nice green place.
Radiation treatments started in September so there was no real choice but to return to Gold Canyon. We didn't quite miss the worst of the heat. 100-115 most afternoons. Spent a lot of time in the pool. Put something over 1,000 miles on the truck driving back and forth from radiation treatments. After a few weeks the radiation irritated my bladder and intestines enough to keep me near a john. Towards the end of the series we discovered I'd developed a lactose intolerance. Sigh, no more milk for me.
To keep herself busy, Liz began planning a European trip. Now we get to live her plans. Just for variety we left Gold Canyon the first of February and investigated California. We spent a few days near Temecula and then came to Gold Village Palms in Hemet. It's convenient to San Diego and Los Angeles and close to lots of other tourist attractions. Here, take a look.
That's not all we did, but we need to finish packing. See you overseas!
It's been a year and a half since I've used this blog but it's time to update it. The reason? We're about to take off to Europe (Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany) for 9 weeks. It's going to be unusual in that we'll be using just our smart phones and leaving the computer behind so text will be on the terse side.
So what's happened in the past 18 or so months? Lots. First there was our second winter in Gold Canyon. Interesting and relaxing for us but it'd probably bore the reader between golf scores, pool team stats, hike reports, minutes of Healthy Eating Group meetings and the like. That would take us to April 2014. That's when life got a bit more interesting.
We got to Michigan in time for Mother's day in May. We stopped in for our annual med checks and that's when the world turned upside down. I had a PSA (prostate something something - the important word here is prostate) of 13, up from the normal 5 or so from 2 years earlier. A biopsy was indicated and duly performed. Bad news. Not only did it show cancer but a fairly active form, ready to spread. Aw crap! The Urologist was ready to start cutting immediately but my lovely wife found a prostate cancer support group meeting at Sparrow hospital. A very good liaison nurse (Deb Batterbee, praise be her name) navigated us into an expert panel. The doctors recommended radiation and hormone therapy, reasoning that even after removal of prostate the cancer was advanced enough to require radiating the area anyway. Fine, how long will that take? Oh, past the end of October. October, maybe November in Michigan? Wait a minute, it's cold by then and we live in a 5th wheel trailer. Once again, Liz sprang into action. Sparrow has a counterpart in Phoenix that could get us in. Suddenly we were on the road with a vengeance. 5 days from Michigan to Arizona. First quandary: granted, it's cold in Michigan in November. It's hot in Arizona in July, especially Phoenix. There's a compromise. While hormone treatment started immediately, the start of radiation was a little more leisurely, starting in September to allow the hormone treatment to take hold and do setup and tests. So we didn't really have to be near Phoenix until then so long as we kept appointments about every three weeks. There's a part of Arizona that sticks up far enough to not broil in the summer sun in its northeast called the Mogollon Rim. We had already heard of a town called Show Low (interesting history, look it up) and a nice RV park called Juniper Ridge. It certainly was nice. Even had its own golf course. In order to make the game more interesting and somewhat more friendly to windows they use a type of golf ball called a Point 5 (was called Cayman). Half the weight of a regular ball it flies about half as far and floats. Our trailer was right on the course so we could take off on the third hole and finish off on two. To add to the attraction, this area is subject to a summer monsoon so every afternoon we at least saw rain clouds or had a nice cool rain. In short, a nice green place.
Radiation treatments started in September so there was no real choice but to return to Gold Canyon. We didn't quite miss the worst of the heat. 100-115 most afternoons. Spent a lot of time in the pool. Put something over 1,000 miles on the truck driving back and forth from radiation treatments. After a few weeks the radiation irritated my bladder and intestines enough to keep me near a john. Towards the end of the series we discovered I'd developed a lactose intolerance. Sigh, no more milk for me.
To keep herself busy, Liz began planning a European trip. Now we get to live her plans. Just for variety we left Gold Canyon the first of February and investigated California. We spent a few days near Temecula and then came to Gold Village Palms in Hemet. It's convenient to San Diego and Los Angeles and close to lots of other tourist attractions. Here, take a look.
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| Welded metal sculptures near Temecula. Ricardo A. Breceeda, sculptor. |
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| Landmark house overlooking Palm Springs. Modernism Week is celebrated annually in February. |
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| Starting a hike. Wednesday hiking group in Golden Village Palms is much like in Gold Canyon. |
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| Polar Bear, San Diego Zoo. |
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| More San Diego Zoo. |
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| Dirt track races in Perris. |
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| The old mission, San Juan Capistrano. Mostly destroyed by earthquake. |
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| Swallow nests. We missed the return by a few days. |
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| Altar at San Juan Capistrano mission. |
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| Bells, San Juan |
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| Getty Museum |
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| Migs at March AFB museum |
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| A car show at Golden Village Palms. There are lots of hot rodders around and they love to show off their cars. |
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| Golden Era golf course. The hills in the background recently slid, rendering part of the 8th hole unusable and causing the state to condemn several homes between the course and the hills. |
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| Getty Museum |
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| And more Getty museum |
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| Part of golf course at Sunnylands AKA Camp David West. |
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| Liz took a tour of Sunnylands. This is as close to the house as they allow you to photograph. |
What a treat! I'm looking forward to more blogs as you travel!
ReplyDeleteGreat seeing your blog again. Bon voyage. Looking forward to hearing all about it.
ReplyDelete