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Again, I am just resting, so it is hard to find a story to share.

Today, working backward, was the annual (or so) special for Doctor Who. Jodie Whittaker is leaving the role, the first woman to play the Doctor, and there is still no information on the next Doctor. This is her full last episode, and thus I could not miss it.

I was expecting something great. I had some trouble loving today’s episode as I have seen much better work for the year-end with Matt Smith’s Doctor doing the best one, I think Christmas Carol. But, Peter Capaldi’s Last Christmas is creepy, and I remember on its release being scared and happy at the same time–this is considered the best one by more official sources. The one today was not even close in quality to these shows. Not sure what will be the future of Doctor Who. Corwin commented that their budget must have been cut when watching the episode. Not great.

Today, I read a bit of the rules to play a solo role-playing game, Thousand Year Old Vampire. I have had a physical copy of the game for some time. I was hoping to try it one of these days while I am just sitting around.

Before this, I taught Corwin how to play The Lost Ruins of Arnak, a fav board game of mine. Corwin scored well for his first game, but, as usual with this game, a play gets you to understand the process but not a win. However, Corwin did like the game, and it played fast and took less than 90 minutes to play.

The game is themed on a 1920s Hollywood version of archeology. The mechanics are a well-balanced mix of deck building, resource discovery and management, and a racing board to score most points (representing your research and capturing vital knowledge to discover the lost city’s secrets before your competition beats you to publish). Also, The theme is not too abstract, so you can imagine putting on a hat and whip and digging to find the secrets of Arnak!

I bought some replacement parts this holiday for the game while recovering, and they were delivered before Christmas. So my new coins and tiny compasses got their first use today. I was happy to finally replace the paper coins (I like the feel of metal coins when I play a board game), and I liked the look of the tiny compasses stacked in your resources (representing maps and location information). Cool!

This is the first game I have played since the surgery, and I was happy to not become fatigued while setting up or playing the game.

Dinner was grilled cheese (cheddar) on white bread. Something simple. Of course, I used the pan Rev. Wolff sent me and fried the sandwiches in butter. I cover the pan with a lid and add a bit of water to let the hot steam (remember steam is over 212F) heat the sandwich through and melt the cheese. Cut into quarters; it makes a nice bite.

Before dinner, I called the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center to see how Susie was doing. They told me she was doing fine, and I asked them to say to her a Happy New Year from me. They were a bit stressed; they are short-staffed (like everywhere), but they usually lean on the weekends and holidays.

I am afraid before this, I bored Corwin with the first Pirate of the Caribbean movie. I wanted to see if it was still good. I still liked it.

I also edited a Howard story today. I was feeling up to some mental work, so I corrected a few typos in the first story; it is always a surprise to find more typos as I wrote it on a plane back in 2017. My last edit for this story, not surprising, was early 2021. Apparently, I had some spare time last New Year’s weekend.

The first and last Howard stories are done, I think. There are four other stories I will have to fix up. I started a new story based on my time in New York City and hope to find the energy to finish it.

I got dressed in the afternoon, not wanting another day where I did not get dressed.

Before that, I had leftover lasagna from Rajesh, an excellent late lunch. Of course, Italian-styled food is always better the next day. Rajesh had suggested it needed more salt, but, as Corwin and Mariah can attest, I never cook with salt, and my food always needs salt. So for me, it was perfect.

I had slept until about 9:30, missing my usual wake-up at 4ish to take more painkillers.

Moving to the previous day, still going backward, I managed to sleep on New Year’s Eve after midnight, about 2ish. The locals like to set off loud illegal fireworks for the Year-End. The house was not quite shaking with explosions, but one or two did startle me–it was a lot of pyrotechnics.

I went to bed before the year changed and read more about Mexican Vampires. I love the book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Certain Dark Things (English). I showered just before bed and changed into sleeping clothing. I had to be careful as I staggered a bit. I kept my hand on the new hand bars in the new shower!

I managed to not dress the whole day, and Rajesh from Nike brought me lasagna for dinner, plus a dessert from B.J. Brewhouse (a giant cookie with ice cream). Before that,  I felt the exhaustion from my surgery and just sat in my chair and took it very slowly.

Lunch was leftover spaghetti and meat sauce from the previous order from GrubHub, and it too was better the second reheat.

I was up late after 10AM, with the 4AM wake-up for pain killers needed.

Today no story as I am tired again. I have spent Wednesday and Thursday not doing much and still being tired.

Zoraida visited Susie on Wednesday, and then we connected by FaceTime. Susie is looking better and managing a few words. I called the nurses on Thursday, and Susie had a busy day getting up and moved to the dining table twice.

After ten, I get up late; I don’t dress until near 4PM as I do not want to burn up all my strength in the morning. I overdid it a few times. I am now trying to go slow and let the healing happen. It is boring.

I have found a new channel on YouTube, Armchair Historian, that seems to do an excellent job on WW2 items, an exciting mix of graphics and voice-over. I also found some more Nerd of the Rings items too. Recommended reading or really a library for the Tolkien fan. The channel did strongly recommend the somewhat recently published The Children of Hurin, and I remember having trouble putting that down on a plane. I would recommend it if you have not read it and liked Lord of the Rings or just need a bit more Middle Earth after enjoying the movies.

Yesterday Ingrid, now retired from Nike, sent me dinner from GrubHub. That was very kind of her.

Dan Gray brought some cookies and other goodies today.

Rajesh, from Nike, dropped off some more wound care items for me.

I watched the rest of the show Hawkeye on Disney+ and cannot recommend this Marvel special more. Set in New York City now for Christmas, it was better than some recent movies, and seeing NYC again and reading the signs behind the actors to see where they are was a treat. Again, recommended.

I also watched Into The Woods. While well done, I would skip it.

I finished the Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft mash-up book. It is a page-turner for me, I thought it better this time, but I will not likely do the following two books anytime soon. So I am instead trying another book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Certain Dark Things (English).

I sit in my chair, usually Susie’s, and rest. I fatigue easily. My thinking is better but still not near the top of my game, so less writing and more naps.

The blogger Violet Blue sent me a nice note today (@violetblue). I have followed her for a few years now. I discovered her just as we entered the pandemic and have been a Patreon support. She may not be your cup of tea, but I keep up with her and life in San Francisco these last few years of chaos.

Sorry if this is just lists. I wanted to write something tonight and hope I will be more awake soon.

I was too tired the last two days to blog. It takes a lot to spend 90 minutes writing and thinking while being clear and keeping the reader’s interest. So forgive me for skipping the last two days. Instead, I will just hit a few memories from these last two days.

Actually, Monday was a tranquil day with me just taking it very slow and trying not to have anything go wrong. I find getting showered and dressed with wound care makes me tired. So I delayed that until after 4PM. I am never that late getting dressed, but it seemed the right thing to do on Monday.

The Smith contacted me on Monday, and we used Disney’s watchgroup and phones to share the experience of the movie Enchanto. Kat is here in Oregon, staying with her parents’ home for the holidays. So we had a professional artist with us in our virtual shared experience.

Enchanto is a south-of-the-border modern fairy tale about a family that is saved by a miracle. They are given a magical candle that creates for them a magic house and hidden valley that protects them. Each family member is given a gift and a magical room. The music and art are bright. However, there are a few sadder songs that I just loved, one a whispered that is slight but powerful.

We liked it, but David did point out that the thread of the story gets lost near the end. A song then explores the ending and brings the movie back, but I agree with David it was a fumble, but the game was not lost. I will not flash any spoilers and recommend you enjoy the movie, especially the slower songs.

Changing subjects, I am reading the book Rev. Wolff sent me. I have read it on my Kindle before, but I thought I should try it again since I had a copy. The author freely, often too freely for my tastes, mixes H.P. Lovecraft horror and the Sherlock Holmes gas-light times. Holmes and Watson are presented as darker, more troubled versions of Doyle’s characters. Last time, being a fan of Holmes, I did not like the rewrite of Holmes–but now, re-reading it, I can see it works better than I thought. So I am more forgiving of The Cthulhu Casebooks – Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows, the second read. Thanks, Lord Protector Wolff.

The snow on Monday prevented anyone from seeing Susie. I did call to check that she was OK. I always have my phone nearby.

Tuesday was a hard day. I was picked up by Les Hopkins in their silver Air Volvo and headed to Portland. I was already tired from dressing, wound care, and all that. We left early because of the weather and arrived an hour earlier. We parked on the street using the Parking Kittie app available in Portland. It is a well-put-together app that lets you buy parking with great ease. However, you are limited to four hours in one spot.

We walked two blocks to Starbucks near the Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital campus and had coffee, and I had a tiny scone. We chatted until it was time for my appointment. Les waited in his Air Volvo while I headed to the docs.

The doc was on call, and my appointment overran the unscheduled events. I waited an hour. The drain was removed, with there are no issues. Just the application of a heating pad was recommended.

Les gets me home, and I rest. I am almost staggering. I take a nap and read some more. The book is hard to put down, even when I know what will happen.

Dinner is provided by Rajesh from Nike. He and Jenny arranged for delivery; I have lemon rice and coconut rice for dinner. It was terrific, and I overate.

I have some challenges that are best not described here. I am fatigued when Cowin and I watch one of his favorite Japanese 1980s animated SciFi, Appleseed. The show is voiced over in English but was initially done in Japanese; oddly, the setting is a futuristic English-speaking city (?). So when the computer screen flashes a warning, it is spelled “Red Alart.” So that is a new thing, “it is a ‘Red Alart’,” is a new saying here.

I slept the moment the light went out, no “Red Alart” all night.

It was a more challenging day now that the healing had started. I also decided I needed to stay home and rest a bit. So I slept into 8ish and did not write the blog until much later in the day.

I will update here that I got the pathology reports, and it looks like the colon cancer had invaded three lymph nodes out of the 35 taken. The tumor was significant and obvious life-threatening and needed to go. I will meet with the docs next year on the care options. It is mostly a very, well, to me, interesting statical model of care vs. risk vs. treatment (and risk of therapy) that must now be explored. It will be comforting to me to see the numbers.

It is a Sunday, so there is little in calls and medical planning. Susie has no visitors today as some folks are exposed to Covid-19, and we have snow.

I spend the day feeling off and trying to just find my way. I have a slow breakfast-lunch of canned peaches and yogurt. I watched the Dan Brown Angels and Devils movie on my Apple. I also discovered that the mic has failed when doing a Zoom meeting with the church folks; I am part of a small group that meets after service. So I did not attend the snow-reduced service. I understand that about sixty folks did attend for Christmas Eve–a record for these Covid times. Everyone is masked, and most keep social distances (it is hard to resist seeing a friend missed for two years now).

The pain is controlled, and I am careful to take my meds on time, with painkillers and anti-inflammatories being taken together every six hours (I usually wake near 4AM for the night dose).

I dress late, and it requires care and wound care. It wears me out. I rest and nap a bit, and the snow starts while I sleep. I then finally wrote the Christmas 2021 blog. A few tears.

Dinner is Grubhub Italian from Pastaghetti ordering chicken parmigiana for myself with spaghetti in a marinara sauce. I am surprised at how hungry I am.

The Expanse is in its last season, and I do enjoy the show. I am behind two episodes, so I watch those while eating dinner.

I dress for bed, slightly complex due to the skin issues and the drain. Details are best left out. I finally slept about 4ish.

I slept poorly and was up early at 7ish to get ready to face the new world with my post-surgery person. I was also hopeful that I was able to see Susie this Christmas Saturday. So I tried to go a bit slow and had a lighter breakfast of canned peaches and yogurt. So this would be lunch/breakfast for me.

The pain mostly in one place is controlled, and I was able to write the Christmas Eve blog, do emails, and be productive that morning.

I managed to dress after a shower and wound care. But, I was then tired. It is tough to get ready and then be done for the day. I managed to rally. Zoraida and I had planned this weeks ago, and we wanted to see Susie on Christmas Day.

So Les and Zoraida, in their Air Volvo (XC 60), picked me up, granted me the passenger seat, which I managed without too much discomfort. However, the right side incision can be painful and oddly feels more like a burn than a sharp pain can be awoken by standing up and sitting down. So I try to limit those movement options.

We reached the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center room 44A without issue. Susie was happy to see me, and I was so delighted that we managed to have another Christmas, every so short together; it took weeks of planning. So all we wanted was to be together on Christmas 2021, and that single goal was reached. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.

Back to the house via Hopkins’s Air Volvo! Rest and pain killers. I am asleep soon.

I planned the evening dinner. I got a bag of dried pasta and a bottled sauce from Elephant’s Deli in  Portland. Water boiling and pasta made. I also make a pork chop (frozen from Schwann’s defrosted in the pasta water) fried in light butter with a few spices. Perfect.

I finished a movie, Suicide Squad 2; I started on Christmas Eve and went to bed. Unfortunately, sleep is hard to find. Skin issues still.

I am so happy to reach Christmas 2021 with Susie. Thank you for all your support!

Sorry, this blog is so late. I am fatigued, and all the events are calling in their markers. I need to rest now.