Exercise

     Still feeling good after my chemo infusion.  So far Mighty Mouse has treated me well but hopefully not the cancer cells.  The drop in the cancer marker is cetainly a good sign.  Today I was throwing a ball against a wall and my arm felt much stronger than in the past, almost like normal.  For a long while I felt my throwing was pretty lame.  With luck tomorrow, I'll get to do a little biking, as it's supposed to get into the 50's and I can see if there's any change in my legs.
     Linda's recent fall reminded me of two memories from 10 to 20 years ago on East Market Street in Philly.  One time a little old woman was walking towards me on the sidewalk.  Just as she got to me she tripped and I automatically reached out my arm and caught her and prevented her fall.  I asked her if she was okay but she just stared at me.  I walked on but turned around and she was still standing there staring at me.  I can still picture her stare.  The second incident involved a little old man who I always think of as Littleoldman from Mel Brook's shrink in "High Anxiety."  I was walking at a good pace when he passed me.  I picked up my pace because I don't like being passed.  When I caught up with him, he told me I was a fast walker.  I acknowledged that he was too.  Actually, in my neighborhood, sometimes when I went to work, there would be a little (another one) young Asian woman who walked very fast and I generally couldn't keep up with her.  This is unusual for me, especially when I'm trying hard to keep up.
     I assume walking steps is good exercise.  It occurred to me the other day that if I have to change my pouch four times overnight, which does happen sometimes, I do the steps from the third floor to the second floor bathroom where I usually change.  With 13 steps in the flight, that means 104 steps total; so at least I'm getting some benefit from these overnight jaunts even if I'm walking slowly.
     After we left Jeff on Monday, we went to a new near to Jeff lunch place Smokin Bettys that a friend had recommended and had some good barbecue brisket and ribs.  It's probably too messy to have Linda bring it to the hospital when I start chemo again with all day infusions but the Reading Market is also close by with many lunch options.
     Last week I picked up a brisket sandwich at Linda's somewhat new and favorite deli Schlessingers.  The sandwich was almost as good as Attman's in Baltimore, which I have spoken about previously.  Now I have to try its corned beef.  I don't think anyone will match for me Baltimore's Miller's hot dogs.  An earlier store at the same location as Schlessingers had an incline from the sidewalk, about 10 to 15 feet to the store.  When Rachel was little she (or maybe it was just me) liked to be given one big push up the slight hill in her stroller and then roll back down on her own.  The same day I was at Schlessingers and many other days, I pass the clock in the sidewalk at 17th & Chestnut which Rachel liked to walk on when she was little.  It is completely covered in hard plastic but no longer maintained as it was when Bonwit Teller was the store at that location.
     Lastly, I saw the Penn - Ryder wrestling match on Sunday, which Penn, whose rank has fallen to 32, beat 48th ranked Ryder 22 to 9.  2 of Penn's 3 ranked wrestlers are seniors; so next year shouldn't be as good a year for Penn as this year and the top matches with Cornell and Lehigh are away matches; but I expect to be there next year to see the home matches.  Also, I walked home from the Palestra after the match in a record for me of 11 minutes.  I usually take about 13 minutes.  I had to keep reminding myself to walk quickly as it's easy to fall into my routine pace.
    
Elkan - Wednesday evening