Month: June 2024

10 June 2024

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I have a great set of friends. A lot of people contacted me after yesterday’s post. My old shipmate on the Reliance, Chip, called. We both have medical issues and we try to keep up with each other. Joel, of course called, as did Judith and Chris. Minnie Jean filled me in on Charles’ recovery from radiation and sent me kind words. I talked to my cousin Jimmie and cousin Jo. All tried to cheer me up and it worked. Thanks for being there for me!

It was an early morning for me to make an 8:15 am check in with the Orthopedic Institute to see Dr. Mills. With traffic on I-95, it took almost 45 minutes to get there. They did an additional set of x-rays. Dr. Mills had a student in with him and he asked if it was OK to use it as a teaching moment. Duh!

There are two ligaments (bone to bone) associated with my injury. The first is from the fibula to the calcaneus (anterior calcaneofibular ligament (ACFL). The second is from the fibula to the talus bone (anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL). Almost certainly, the CFL is either partially or completely torn and there’s a good possibility the ATFL is also torn. The only way to tell is to do an MRI.

The reason Dr. Mills thinks this is part of the fibula broke away and that’s generally 100% the tearing of the CFL when a bone breaks away.

I called central scheduling and the earliest MRI is July 1st. I went ahead and got that scheduled. Once done, I’ll go back for an MRI consult with Dr. Mills. I really like him and how he handled the student. I learned probably as much as the student did. I used to know all the bones at one time but that was 50 years ago.

I was told to mention the boot as too small. The nurse told me my insurance only covers one boot a year and the insurance would charge me around $400. She suggested I go to Amazon and order it for around $40-50. That’s next on my list.

It looks like physical therapy will be a way of life for me for quite some time.

My friends Holley and Jim returned from their cruise ill. Yet, they were more worried about me than themselves. Typical. Hopefully they will recover quickly.

Yesterday, I contacted my niece Ashley and she has agreed to take the forms from the Veterans Administration (VA) to my brother and get them filled out. That takes some pressure off me. My brother and his wife need some help and the VA has the potential to take a lot of stress off them.

Looks like I got finished with one procedure (cancer) and picked up another.

Stay tuned!

9 June 2024

As most of you have deduced, I’ve not been myself the last few days. Partly, I just don’t feel well. Then there’s the depression – apparently a gene from my Mother’s side of the family. It seems it’s the least little thing that kicks off my depression.

I had no sooner written and posted the blog about my cardiologist visit and how I texted my oncologist, that the oncologist texted me back.

Here’s the text I sent my oncologist.

“This is Fred Searcy. I met with Dr. Tepper, my cardiologist this morning. He already had access to everything. His recommendation is to stop the Herceptin treatment for good. His opinion is, even if my left ventricular ejection fraction does go up with the next echocardiogram/MUGA scan, it will simply go down with the next Herceptin treatment. He suggested you might have an alternative to Herceptin. If you would like to discuss this, he said give him a call at ‭***-***-****. He has restarted me on 50mg of Losartin to ease the stress on my heart and plans to add another drug after a few weeks of the Losartin.”

Here’s the reply from my oncologist.

“All sounds good to me”

My response.

“What’s next? A new medication?”

His response.

“Nothing else”

He could have been really busy when he texted me or not remembered my problem but his responses pretty much floored me. I don’t know where I stand. Do I go in for an echocardiogram like he wanted scheduled? I assume no more Herceptin treatments (4 left) but his response made me think I don’t have any other options. Trust me, I’m not complaining about the Herceptin treatments stopping. Has he dumped me as a patient? I have so many questions.

In any case, I’ll approach the Nurse Navigator and ask her to ask around as to what I should do.

Why this caused me to get depressed, I have no idea. I spent most of yesterday in bed and as you probably noticed, did not post a blog.

I forced myself out of bed this morning for my shortest morning walk and even cut that a little short for 0.9 miles. I still don’t feel well and I’m still a little depressed but I think the walk did me good. I just don’t have any energy and really have no interest in doing anything. I’m sure this will pass and I’ll be back to my usual self before too long.

On the walk this morning I passed by a vine that had a wonderful aroma.

This is a jasmine species of tropical Asia. That’s what so interesting about Florida – you can find plants from all over the world here. The aroma was very much jasmine-like. It’s still one of my favorite aromas.

Stay tuned!

7 June 2024

Sigh! I met with the cardiologist this morning, Dr. Tepper, and he threw me a curve when he recommended I come off Herceptin completely. His reasoning is even if I stop Herceptin for a while and an echocardiogram shows my left ventricle ejection fraction improves, the next Herceptin treatment will simply cause the ejection fraction to decrease again. I apparently don’t react well to Herceptin.

He’s restarted me on 50 mg of Losartin to ease the stress on my heart. He says there’s nothing to repair any damage but we can at least reduce the stress. I’ll be on that for 1 month and then he intends to add one more drug for my heart after some time on Losartin.

He did offer to recommend me to a friend of his that has more expertise with the drug Herceptin and the heart, but honestly, I think he will tell me the same thing as Dr. Tepper. I go in for blood work for Dr. Tepper in two weeks and a follow up visit in 1 month.

I texted Dr. Velez, my oncologist, the information from Dr. Tepper and told him to call him if he wanted to discuss it. I have no idea what Dr. Velez will say. Dr. Tepper suggested there may be an alternative to Herceptin.

All I know is I’m tired of all this. I feel like I’ve been hit with a quadruple whammy from being put on insulin, having to fool with continuous glucose monitors, the Herceptin problem and the ankle problem. The ankle, by the way, is Monday’s doctor visit to find out if I need surgery.

Life sometimes gets to be too much. I would like to get in the Jeep and travel somewhere far away in the woods and stay there for a couple of months. Since I’m probably physically incapable of sleeping in a tent anymore, I prefer a luxurious cabin on a lake. Let me know if you know of one.

By the by, my new wallet came in and I think I’m gonna like it. It certainly is thinner but that’s because it only has the capability of holding 6 credit/id cards. I had to carefully select which ones to include and left all the others in my old wallet. I figure the next time I visit a national park, I can always pull out the lifetime national park pass and put it in the new wallet.

In the immortal words of Willie Nelson,

“Well I gotta get drunk and I sure do dread it
‘Cause I know just what I’m gonna do
I’ll start to spend my money callin’ everybody honey
And wind up singin’ the blues

I’ll spend my whole paycheck on some old wreck
And brother I can name you a few
Well I gotta get drunk and I sure do dread it
‘Cause I know just what I’m gonna do”

Stay tuned!

4 June 2024

It was a day full of surprises. I’ll start with the medical. I had a 10:15 am appointment with Dr. Velez, my oncologist. After being taken back to the exam room his nurse eventually came in and asked me about the cancellation for the Herceptin treatment. I told her I didn’t think it was cancelled, just scheduled after my visit with Dr. Velez. She then went through her computer wondering why Velez cancelled the Herceptin.

It then dawned on me she wasn’t knowledgeable about the echocardiogram showing I had reduced left ventricular flow. When I pointed that out to her, she said, yes, that must be the reason. They always cancelled Herceptin if there was any problem with the heart, she said.

That told me two things: Velez actually reads the charts way before he walks in the door and he was taking the echocardiogram report seriously.

Danielle kept trying to tell me it was transitory and that as soon as the heart showed a better flow rate I’d be back on Herceptin. She tried to put me at ease and asked me questions about how I’m doing but was totally uninterested as she typed away on her computer. She did look up on occasion to seem interested in what I was saying.

Dr. Velez was running late but after he came in, he started immediately with asking how I’ve been, any swelling of the ankles, shortness of breath, palpitations – all signs of heart failure. He examined my ankles, checked my lungs and heart with his stethoscope, and did some kind of exam of my shoulders.

The long and short of it is I am to undergo a MUGA scan again – that’s where they inject you with the radioactive isotope and trace the blood flow through the heart. I was given a CD of both previous echocardiograms to give to my cardiologist, Dr. Tepper on Friday. Herceptin will be stopped until my heart shows improvement. That means, when it does start showing improvement, I’ll start the treatment again. I have four more to do. This pushes my calendar back yet again.

He had blood drawn for a Signatera test to see if breast cancer cells are in the blood stream, and to check my blood chemistry. The last two have come back negative.

The second part of the day wasn’t a surprise. Reyes Landscaping showed up early this morning. I wasn’t expecting them until the afternoon but apparently they had several jobs in my neighborhood. I asked him the price since I was heading to Holy Cross and he said the same as last year.

When I pulled into the drive, the yard looked amazing. I took some before and after photos.

Not only did they clean out all the heliconias which I haven’t had the energy to do, they cleaned the pool of debris from all the sawing! The price was $600 and I gave the two workers of his $100 to share. It was worth every penny. I no longer have coconut canon balls for hurricane season.

What was a surprise was the city picked up bulk trash today even though it wasn’t supposed to be collected until tomorrow. I don’t know what would have happened it the tree crew didn’t get here this morning.

And since I know you are not tired of looking at plant photos, this was in a friend’s yard on my walk.

It’s called spinach tree for a reason. You can eat the leaves. There is a related species of the genus Cnidoscolus that I wouldn’t recommend you eat, C. stimulosus or bull nettle. It injects you with a toxin that causes an intense burning sensation. Both belong to the family Euphorbiaceae (think poinsettias). The flowers of bull nettle and spinach tree look very similar.

So, there were a few surprises, a few set backs, some progress made.

Stay tuned!

3 June 2024

It was really nice this morning on my walk along Riverland Road. The temp was 75°F and the humidity wasn’t terrible. I managed 1.4 miles. I seem to be stuck on that mileage.

Along the way, I photographed another bromeliad. It’s the genus Aechmea. I have no idea as to species. There are numerous species in mostly tropical and subtropical areas around the globe.

This is a pretty large plant with lots of space to hatch mosquitoes.

On my way to Riverland and on my way back, I noticed a real nice fragrance in the air. Of course I searched for it and found blooms on the Ackee tree (Blighia sapida) named after Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. I know I’ve shown you the fruit.

The flowers are tiny and very fragrant and really perfumed the morning air.

The fruit, when ripe is edible but when not ripe is poisonous. I don’t think I’ll tempt fate when the flowers produce fruit. As you might guess, most of the flowers drop off and only a few in this cluster will produce the fruit.

Most of the rest of the morning was waiting for time to go see Dr. Wu, the neurologist. This was simply a 6 month check up he requested and he asked a few questions, I told him about my fall, and he said come back on an “as needed” basis which is fine with me.

Yesterday evening I got a craving for chocolate cake. The recipe I wanted was for a chocolate bundt cake but I didn’t have two ingredients: sour cream and semi-sweet chocolate morsels. After leaving the doctor’s office, I headed to Publix and picked up the missing items. I just finished with the cake about 30 minutes ago.

I have no idea where this craving came from. As you can see from the photo, I already had a plate out to taste test it. It meets with seal of approval. It’s perfectly moist. I added a little espresso powder to the chocolate mix to bring out the chocolate flavor.

Tonight, Barbara, Joel, Keith and I are headed to Jalisco’s for Mexican food. Barb was great with bringing me food from there after recovering from my operations. I remember the food as being a cut above most Mexican restaurants in the area.

I have an appointment with Dr. Velez around 10 tomorrow and then go right next door to get a Herceptin infusion.

Sears has rescheduled the installation of the glass oven door for tomorrow even though the door is not here. I rescheduled it for Thursday but unless it comes Wednesday, I’ll reschedule again. Seems like they could figure this out but maybe that’s why Sear’s went out of business.

Stay tuned!

2 June 2024

The Devil beat his wife today. At least that what we used to say when it poured down rain and the sun was shining at the same time. Technically, it’s called a sun shower and is more likely a saying in the Southern U.S. The important point here is that it rained!

On my walk this morning (1.5 miles) I noticed all the shrubs, herbs, and even some trees had shriveled leaves. That means they are trying to reduce surface area to retain water. We were virtually in a drought here. The good news is we are predicted to have rain for the next week. Our “rainy” season is about 15 days late so far.

On the walk, I met Nicole with her boxer. She told me she had just been thinking about me and Rocky back in the day. We chatted for a while and then we headed different directions. She and Stephen are headed for the Keys this week in spite of the wind and the rain.

Just before I met up with Nicole, I spotted a plant in Pete’s yard that took me back many years.

This is the plant from which we get castor oil – the bane of my early childhood. Even though it is called a bean, it does not belong to the bean family, instead, it belongs to the Euphorb family, Euphorbiaceae – think crotons and plants that look like cacti but are not. The castor seed contains anywhere from 40-60% oil rich in triglycerides. It also contains small amount of ricin, a deadly toxin. Whatever you do, don’t chew the seeds. There’s enough ricin to poison you. Of course, ricin can be weaponized and if exposed to enough, death can be as soon as 3 days.

It’s an attractive plant and it would often escape from peoples’ yards and you could find it growing in waste places and open fields when I was a kid. It’s not a good idea to plant these, in my opinion because young kids could mistakenly open the capsule and chew the bean.

Next week is pretty crazy. I have the neurologist on Monday as well as dinner with friends, Tuesday is an infusion of Herceptin and meeting with Dr. Velez, Wednesday is physical therapy, and Friday is my cardiologist and perhaps the replacement of my cracked glass on the inside of my oven. Thursday is my only respite. Oh well, another old saying is idle hands is the devil’s workshop.

Stay tuned.

1 June 2024

Welcome to Hurricane Season (and I don’t mean the University of Miami football team). It’ll be an interesting 6 months.

There has been a momentous development in my recovery from breast cancer! I managed to trim my finger nails the way I used to for the first time in over 6 months! I no longer have to place the clippers on a table top, maneuver my nail under the clipper and then press down with my opposite thumb. Can trimming my toe nails be far behind?

It’s been a breezy day and this morning’s walk was really nice. I managed 1.4 miles this morning and got to have conversations with Ivan and Gigi and Chris and Tucker.

As you know by now, today is wash day and clean house day. However, before I attempted any of that, I had to head to Publix to pick up two prescriptions. It seems stopping by a pharmacy is a daily occurrence.

Once back, I tackled changing the linen on the bed, starting the first of two washes, and began to clean a little around the house. A little after noon, John arrived with two subs from Boulevard Subs. They are a favorite of his and after eating half of one for lunch, they have become a favorite of mine. They are much better than Publix or Subway.

On my walk this morning I came across an unusual bromeliad. It’s called Flaming Torch and I think you can see why.

Florida is rich is bromeliads with 16 native species and 2 native hybrids. That doesn’t include pineapples which people plant the top from when they purchase a pineapple. Probably the most well known bromeliad is Spanish Moss (Tillandsia useneiodes). The flowers in the photo of Flaming torch are just beginning to open at the top of the spike and really don’t look too much like flowers. What they don’t have in flower appeal they make up in color appeal. It’s native to South America and the Caribbean and obviously has been brought into the states.

Most bromeliads, like Spanish Moss, are epiphytes (growing on another plant) and yes, Spanish Moss does produce flowers. The pineapple is said to be terrestrial but I never plant them in soil around the house. I just put them in an empty flower pot and it seems to like that just fine.

If you notice the leaves, they are designed to catch water and detritus from anything above them. Because they do retain water at the base of the leaves, mosquitoes love laying their eggs in the water. If you have bromeliads in your yard, you certainly are going to have mosquitoes. You can combat them by spraying a little cooking oil down into the leaves which breaks the surface tension of the water and drowns the mosquito larvae.

I have no plans Sunday except my morning walk, breakfast, and then goofing off.

Stay tuned!