OK enuf already

Did go to VT, got little done except hold a baby who had the exquisite taste to think I was uproarious. I suspect I just looked much more like a baby than anyone else he had seen recently, what with the hairless face and all. Friday AM the beard remains were still scraggly, the hair was looking like a dustball, the mustache was OK, but in a fit of haste I shaved the whole billiard ball. Frankly, I'm glad I'm on this side of the result but if it amuses babies it at least gives me a purpose in life. I do now really look like a poster boy for blood cancer, with little suspicion remaining that I'm just a macho guy with a butch haircut.

What is less fun to live with is the case of gastrointestinal flu I came down with Sat AM in VT. I tried to get my required Prednisone pill down my delicate stomach this AM, and the incredible bitterness of that drug brought everything back up. I did not try to retrieve the pill. The good news is that KW has had oh, at least 2-3 days of NOT being sick.

I also have found that (as predicted) my taste buds have apparently weirded out on account of the chemo. Everything tastes... well, flat. I think the salt receptors in my tongue are what's taken the hit. Tostitos taste like paste. Cheese tastes like better paste, but with the flu cheese is not a great foodstuff. Juice is ok, but it's short on fruitiness.

I tried to visit the VT house with an upbeat and pragmatic attitude, but by Sat. afternoon the memories had got me down. (Hence the visit to the young friends with baby.) By now, Dad would have had the garden rototilled. Pam's perennials are up. She would have been retiring there. With much the furniture moving out, the 10 years of increasing minor neglect of the house from the folks' declining years are visible. Fortunately, our nice new tenant knew and loved Mom and the place, and has a little girl that Mom loved. She's taken the room where Mom's dolls are staged.

I do hate being sick, but am aware I could certainly be sicker. Grateful too for all the many loving friends and family I have.

I may be currently tasteless (well, some would say not just currently) but I have great taste in friends. Especially the salty ones.