I love summer food.

I'm drooling. Excuse me.

Easiest post ever. Summer food. Tomatoes, fresh bread, a little goat cheese spread with roasted vegetables on top. Pickled peaches and fresh gazpacho. Do you want recipes? Really, because these things almost don’t have recipes but I will try.

Gazpacho

• Haul out the food processor and add the following
• one peeled cucumber, 3 large tomatoes, a clove or two of garlic, handful of parsley,cilantro or basil,hot pepper if you want heat. (seed the pepper first unless you have a huge tolerance for HEAT)
• Blend this with 1 and 1/2 cup tomato juice or V8 and the juice of a lemon, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1/2 cup good olive oil, salt and pepper.
• You may also throw in a few slices of good bread to thicken up the soup.
• Now blend this up and chill. It only gets better as it sits.
• If the mood strikes you be creative. Throw in an avocado or replace tomato juice with a spicy version. I have been known to use Rotell Tomatoes as well.
• Garnish with a little sour cream or yogurt,chopped tomatoes and cucumber.

You will feel so light and shiny after eating your gazpacho it will amaze (or annoy ) all around you.

Grilled Vegetable Topping for bread

• slice up peppers, onions,eggplant, mushrooms, and summer squash. Make the pieces large so you aren’t trying to fish them out of the grill grates all night.
• Toss the vegetables with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Then heat the grill and cook til tender. Turn pieces as they get a nice charred mark  on each side.
• That is it. I serve this at room temperature with slices of good bread smeared with a goat cheese spread.
• Fantastic!!!!

Pickled Peaches.

I am going to try to say this in as few words as possible. Ready..

• peaches, 6,peeled. sliced and put in a bowl
• dressing,2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar,salt,2 tablespoons sugar,small shake of cinnamon,nutmeg and ginger
• mix
• Done (26 word recipe)

 

I am expecting you to all go out and do likewise now. Go…Grill… be happy it will make me happy!

Chauncy

Chauncy 1996-2009

We are so sad to say that we lost our 14 year old Lhasa, Chauncy this morning to what appears to have been a stroke. Chauncy was a sweet, funny,quirky and sometimes stuborn little guy. We loved him. We will miss his Ewok impressions and Chewbaca noises as well as his sweet companionship. His lifelong friend Max is searching for him. I’m not sure what he will do with out his best bud.We love you Chauncy, you are missed already. We are so privileged to have loved and raised you all these years.

 

Hair Today, Gone….

You know the old joke right? Or maybe that was Hare today,Goon Tomorrow anyways….

 here are my chemo/radiation hair loss thoughts for the day.

10 ways to hold on to your hair as long as possible when it is falling out by the handfuls.

1. Never actually wash your hair. (Your drains will appreciate this.)

2. No hats,hoods,do rags,caps or turbans (yet).

3. Leave the windows up in the car so the wind doesn’t  blow your hair off.

4. Pat your hair down rather than brush it, thus creating a loose hair hat of your own hair.

5. Never lean your head back against a head rest or couch pillow. You risk creating something akin to a stuffed animal or a taxidermist project if you do.

6. Rotate your sleeping position to increase more even hair loss.

7. Refrain from vehemently opposing any topic if doing so includes vigorous head shaking.

8. Leap away from your spouse when they appear to be about to run their fingers through your speedily waning locks.

9. Gently remove glasses and headphones for least amount of follicle pullage.

 10. Did I mention never wash your hair?

Time to go vacuum the bed and search for the lint roller.

 

Next post: 10 cool new projects,including recycled hair “hat” and how to spin your own yarn from chemo/radiation hair loss.

You have to laugh or cry, I choose laughing. It also keeps the hair balls from collecting at the back of your throat. “ack..ack”

Furby is that you?

 

What if….

What if we live each day,each hour, focused in on what is happening right then?

What if we love those around us  with no fear of going broke,running out or being found on empty?

What if we approached each event, each doctor appointment, each scan review,each new treatment,each good news/bad news with the same emotional energy. Taking all news as “what it is now” and go on from there?

What if we see the joy of learning something new and risk not being particularly good at it?

What if I don’t make the bed today, paint and it really sucks, sing out of tune? What if I  find out that the Hokey Pokey is really what it is all about?

No really, I’m asking you, What if?

27 Years! What a Blessing!

June 19,1982. What a happy start to a happy life together.

Today marks 27 years of marriage for Bob and I. What a blessing it has been.

Older,wiser and more in love.

Because…

Because it’s summer….

Because Erin and “the ring” were visiting last week….

Because I love my friend Carol and she gave me this recipe years ago……

Because we needed to eat the zucchini before it turned into something unrecognizable in the back of the vegetable crisper…..

Because Bob came right out and told me to write about something other than him….

Because of this I give you Zucchini Pancakes.

This recipe will take care of any over abundance of summer squash in your garden or refrigerator. But save the baseball bat sized ones for some summer-time pranks or as a gift for your least favorite neighbor. 

       Zucchini Pancakes

• Grate 2 or 3 medium sized zucchini.
• Place the grated squash in a colander and salt lightly.
• Allow this to sit for 20 minutes or so to extract some of the extra liquid.
• Give the zucchini a good squeeze with the back of a wooden spoon. This will greatly improve the constancy of the pancakes. Place drained zucchini in a large mixing bowl.

 

 

• Finely chop an onion and add to the zucchini.
• Chop a small handful of fresh mint and throw that in the bowl as well.

look closely, it's there

• Add 1/2 cup of flour and 2 eggs. 
• Now crumble in 4 oz. of feta cheese and give the whole thing a good stir. 

 

Add eggs carefully, don't get any on "the ring"

 

• 
•  Haul out your favorite iron skillet or frying pan and add a little olive oil.
• Spoon out 1/4 cup or so of batter into a medium hot pan and cook each side for approximately 4 minutes or until the pancakes are brown and cooked through.
• Keep pancakes warm in the oven until you have finished the batch.
• Now slice up a beautiful tomato, still warm from the garden, throw on a couple  ears of corn and you have summer on a plate. I like to top each pancake with a bit of plain yogurt or sour cream. Fantastic.

 

 

a toast to zucchini pancakes!

 

 

 

 

here's dinner

•  
  

  perfect summer dinner

   

•  Note: While you might not have a brand spanking new engagement ring to wear while making these, you will still enjoy the process. Just be glad you don’t have an obnoxious mother that makes you flash your ring for every shot in her blog. It can get old.

Yet another short and to the point

I’m sorry, I am having the hardest time sitting down and writing. It isn’t that things are going so badly or that I am frantically going from one thing to the next. It is more of a transition issue. A switch of gears or a change of direction that has me unfocused.  I am like a dog that needs to turn around,turn around…….turn around till it finds the “just right spot” to settle in. I have yet to force a routine  on my day. It will happen. We work around Bob’s daily radiation treatments and now that school is actually over I can start to think of this as summer.

Bob has made the rounds with all the main players in this cancer treatment. Everything has switched gears so seamlessly. The treatments so far have been fine and the steroids he is taking to reduce brain swelling seem to be taking away some of his symptoms without poor side effects. We are realistic and know the effects of the whole brain radiation is cumulative and  he will mostly likely be more fatigued and uncomfortable as the days go on. But for now, all is well and we are enjoying our time together.

Love and peace to all. We have been touched and helped by all the support people have sent our way.

Short and to the point

We had a productive appointment with the radiologist and she suggested the same course of action as the doctors at NIH. So today Bob will start Whole Brain Radiation and will continue that for 10 treatments over the next 2 weeks. Then they will wait 1 to 2 weeks before performing a few Gamma Knife procedures. The hope is that the radiation will shrink all tumors particularly the one in the brain stem. The brain stem tumor needs to be smaller before it would be possible to do gamma knife safely on it. So 10:00 am this morning Bob is off for his full time job in cancer treatments. Retirement is nothing like they promised in the brochure. I mean where is the gold watch and bingo?

 More later when I have time to really think before writing. A skill that takes some major concentration on my part.

Thank you all for your love,support and prayers!

Update on the “Bob Front”

Sounds like I am about to give a weather report but I think I will forgo donning my bright jacket and clicker thing and just give you the news.

The latest new is that the TIL trial and treatment has been put on hold as it appears that Bob has more immediate things to deal with before he can continue. The MRI scans show 5 tumors in his brain. These have to be dealt with before he can continue with the other treatment. So the TIL cells have been put back in the freezer for later use.

So Good News/Bad News. Which do you want first?

Bad New? Yeah let’s get that out of the way.

• He now has 5 melanoma tumors of varying sizes in his brain, the worst of which is one that is in his brain stem.
• It’s hard to switch gears this fast. But speed is important in this case
• We have to start wading through the insurance mire again. Oh, $@#$! One of the many wonderful things about clinical trials is that they pay for everything. No insurance is needed. So it is back to fighting dealing with the insurance for what is in network and what is not.

Now for the Good News.

• There seems to be a clear cut path that we need to take. The next step is Whole Brain Radiation and possible Cyber Knife (which is really a type of radiation but much more focused in what area it hits.) Bob has an appointment with a radiation oncologist on Monday.
• Bob can receive these treatments in Asheville so we can be in the comfort of home while dealing with this process. And there is no place like home. The food is better here and you don’t have to wear those awkward hospital gowns.
• He is feeling well and once the shock of having to switch in mid stream settled in, he began  to feel strong and ready to move on to the next path before him. (Though he is frequently really pissed off by the whole thing, sometimes that can work for you.)
• Friends and support are near by. Our children are coming down this weekend and we will enjoy spending time with family.
• We feel loved, supported, and held closely in the hollow of the Holy One’s hand.

This is a song that goes through my head over and over. Sometimes we don’t need to know where we are going and we don’t even have to like where we are going or how we will get there, the comfort is in trusting that heaven knows.

WOYAYA
 

We are going, heaven knows where we are going,
We’ll know we’re there.
We will get there, heaven knows how we will get there,
We know we will.

It will be hard we know
And the road will be muddy and rough,
But we’ll get there, heaven knows how we will get there,
We know we will.

We are going, heaven knows where we are going,
We’ll know we’re there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1QM3_fguB8

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New word for the day “Scanxiety”

Scanxiety (def) To worry over what upcoming scans might reveal. Usually a waste of energy for results will be what they will be and no amount of worrying will change it. Prayer on the other hand has been known to help.

 

Today is scan day. Bob has a MRI and a CT scan this morning and an appointment with the trial doctors and team this afternoon.  The scanxiety is a bit high (more for me than Bob as I tend to be the worrier in this family) due to the fact that he has been with out treatment of any kind for 8 weeks or so. We assume that the cancer has progressed but our prayer and hope is that it has generally stayed in the same areas. The progression from the lungs, neck and scalp (and oh don’t for get the buttocks) could be a deal breaker for this protocol. So we wait and see and move on from there

We had a uneventful drive from home and are settled in. I am at the family lodge which is just across the street from Bob’s room at NCI. On the days of no treatment he can stay with me. They take great care of you here and we feel strong and ready to tackle the tough stuff.