Not Looking Forward to Monday

     Monday should be a long day at Jeff with lab tests, a meeting with Littman, my new chemo protocol plus my favorite monthly needle.  It is expected that I will be getting two hours of saline fluids before and after the chemo.  If I'm not too wiped out, I will try to leave a short blog message Monday night.    
     In my last blog I mentioned getting Linda her favorite Chinese food.  We have been getting barbecued spare ribs from the same restaurant, The Imperial, for about 40 years as their ribs are the closest to the delicious Boston Chinese spare ribs that Linda grew up on.  One time at least 35 years ago, we were changing planes in Boston (probably from Canada) to come to Philly and Linda's Mom was going to join us and come to Philly.  Linda asked her to bring ribs to the airport.  She initially refused as a silly Linda request; but when Linda told her I wanted them, she had Linda's brother stop on the way to the airport to bring us ribs, which we quickly devoured before our flight.  By the way, we always appreciated the rare visits from Linda's Mom, as well as our visits to see her, as she was one of the nicest people ever.  Linda's father was a different story but I won't get into that.
     The other day when I was walking around Ritt Square, 11 bike cops came riding up the street.  It's common to see two bike cops together and occasionally 3 or 4 but never a group like this.  They seemed to be having a good time; it must be the best police job except when you have to risk your life.
     Today, for the first time, I did three continuous fast laps around the Square but was disappointed that none broke the 6 minute barrier which I've broken several times in the past.  The total distance for all three is only a little more than a mile, perhaps a mile and a quarter.  I need to check the distance with my bike odometer.
     A recent Cornell study states that 44% of social security recipients, 43% of unemployment benefit recipients, and 40% of Medicare recipients claim they "have not used a government program."  How can our democracy be effective when so many people live in a fantasy world?
     I was speaking with a pancreatic cancer survivor a couple of days ago; and while he was in very good spirits, he has endured much more than I have.  I've learned that a successful Whipple operation, where presumably all of the tumor is removed, is no guarantee of a long life and can have onerous follow up treatment.  While I wasn't eligible for the Whipple once they opened me up, the fact that I was in a situation where a Whipple could be considered meant that my cancer was a lot milder than those who aren't even close to Whipple consideration.
     Have a good holiday weekend.  Jeff is a normal day on Monday.

Elkan - Saturday night