Winter Onboard in Annapolis
—Blogpost written by Bob
Monday, March 14
Brrrrr! It was cold outside again with temperatures down to about freezing, quite a change from the past week! The high for the day was expected to be only 46 degrees and rain was expected for pretty much of the remainder of the week.
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Today, I started my third week of radiation treatments. Each treatment takes about ten to fifteen minutes. Prior to the treatment, the two technicians scan my abdomen by x-ray for proper preparation (empty bowels and full bladder). The treatment is started immediately following the x-ray scan of my abdomen (if all is OK). If my preparation is not OK (which was the case once) the process is stopped and corrections are made (either using the toilet or drinking more water whichever is applicable).
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| This is where I show up for my radiation treatments at 11:40 AM every weekday. There is a special entrance and a special portion of the parking lot reserved for radiation oncology patients so that the process is quick and efficient. |
The actual machine administering the radiation is quite futuristic in appearance. It silently maneuvers around the patient's body and applies the programmed amount of radiation--the exact same amount every time. The radiation technicians are behind a thick lead door watching monitors during the process (which gives the patient a real shot of confidence about the machine's safety).
Today, after my treatment, we came back to the boat for lunch (Maggie's very tasty beef stroganoff, leftovers from a couple days ago). Even though it was still cold outside (and the tide was very low as result of the northerly winds we experienced during the last couple days), the enclosed cockpit was nice and warm.
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I finished reading the history of Mexico book I described earlier and started reading Michener's Mexico, however I really don't like historical fiction (I like to call it "hysterical" fiction). I'm not sure if I will finish this book or not--it's an interesting storyline but I don't like knowing what is fiction and what is the truth. We'll see if I finish this book or not...
Tuesday, March 15
This morning was overcast and relatively warm (mid 40's). I did my usual prep for my radiation treatment which was beginning to be a (bad) habit--I can't wait until it's over! (According to one of my oncology technicians, my fatigue will get more severe as my treatments continue. I guess this is because my body tries to fight the effects of the radiation as well as the cancer,)
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Yesterday, Maggie bought a bunch of baby stuff (at a nearby consignment shop) for her new granddaughter (who is not yet born). All the baby stuff is taking up valuable space in the back seat of our car, which is driving me crazy (I realize it's a short trip to crazy for me!).
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| The back seat of our Prius after Maggie's little shopping spree for baby stuff. |
After my treatment we returned to the boat for lunch. We called Lola inside and closed up the boat because it felt cold and damp outside—you might even call it dank. The wind had increased to about 15 knots out of the southeast, adding to the chilly condition outside. The boat was nice and toasty inside with both oil-filled radiators running on their low settings.
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| Our lunch consisted of Maggie's delicious chicken with broccoli slaw. |
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| Greg and Hillary of Kinetic Kennons |
Their You-Tube videos provide a lot of insight into various places in Mexico. (Clicking on this link will take you to their most recent YouTube video.) And try out their coffee!
Wednesday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day)
Besides being St. Patrick's Day it is also "hump day" (remember the camel in the ad?). The temperature overnight and into today was in the 40's and it rained lightly overnight. However it didn't feel cold and damp like yesterday.
After my radiation treatment we stopped for lunch at Italian Market and had pizza! From there we went to Annapolis Seafood Market where we picked up some salmon fillets and some fresh mussels for today's Happy Hour.
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| Some fish that were just hanging out (on ice) at Annapolis Seafood Market. |
As it turned out we didn't do anything Irish today. We didn't drink any green beer or sing Irish songs. I did get a lot done on my "to do" list in the afternoon, making waypoints for our upcoming trip to Castle Harbor Marina, etc.
Thursday, March 18
The rain started overnight and continued into the day--it was expected. Today was one of those “rainy days” that I like—with a nice steady (but light) rain and a moderate temperature. I had a pretty big list of “to do” items for the day, all of them inside jobs. One of the first jobs on my list was to replace a burned out electrical plug on one of our extension cords and an adaptor, both of which enables me to use a shore power cord for one of our oil-filled radiators. We stopped by Fawcetts on my way home from my radiation treatment to pick up the needed parts.
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| The burned out 110-volt plug on an extension cord leading to one of our oil-filled radiators. (I think we had this radiator set too high!) |
The plug was easy to change out and I simply needed to replace the adaptor.
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Next on my "to do" list was setting up electricity for our new slip. Contrary to most marinas, our new marina (Castle Harbor Marina on Kent Island) requires us to setup an account with the power company (in this case, Delmarva Power) and pay them directly. At this time of year, we wouldn't want to get to our new slip and have no electricity, that's for sure. (Nights are still cold sometimes in March.)
That's all for this blogpost. Stay tuned for more activities during our last full week in Annapolis...
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