Everything Fred – Part 125

I haven’t tried it yet but I got almost 1 gallon of magic broth from yesterday’s eight hour session. I hated I had to throw the chicken away but it would have taken me years to pull the chicken from the mixture. It had boiled down to just fibers. That was the point, I guess, to get the marrow from the chicken bones.

As you can see, I’ll need to skim the fat off the top and later today I’ll warm some up and have a cup of broth. I’ll need it. I’ve already had an episode of diarrhea this morning and my stomach is making noises now.

I did my walk this morning (1.3 miles) and I knew about half way through I would not be doing yoga or swimming this morning. I was doing good to finish the walk. I’ve got enough stuff to keep me busy today, anyway. I need to pack my bag for tomorrow’s infusion. I stuff a shoulder bag with cookies, a sandwich, ginger ale, and sliced apples. And, of course, Tootsie Rolls that I pass out to the nurses (and me). I’ve yet to get out of the infusion center before 2:30 or 3 pm and I get hungry. They will provide sandwiches and cookies and juices but I can afford to bring my own.

Apple also sent me the box I’ll need to do a trade in on my iPad. I need to wipe the old iPad, box it up and take it to the UPS store. I’ll do that later this afternoon when I go in for my Covid booster. I also forgot to get coconut water yesterday during my grocery shopping so I’ll need to get that. It turns out I like the taste well enough.

There are already some things I like about the new iPad. First, you don’t have the fingerprint issue with the new one. The new one uses facial recognition. I found the fingerprint function on the old one very frustrating and often had to resort to typing the code in manually. There’s a distinct difference in resolution. I normally am not one to be able to notice different resolutions, hues, colors, etc. but the image on the new iPad is much sharper.

By the way, I did make a Coke float for dessert last night. I have a large glass tumbler that holds four scoops of vanilla ice cream and I always use regular Coke for the Coke float. There’s just something about that combination that works for me. I’m not sure but I think the first one I ever had was at Dan Ott’s drug store in Morton. They had an old fashioned soda fountain in the front of the store and would make floats, milkshakes, banana splits, and sundaes. I miss the old soda fountains.

Ott’s was smart enough to put the comic book racks just down from the soda fountain. As kids, we would order something from the fountain and then go back and sit in the booths and read comics for free. Rarely did anyone purchase a comic book and often they were a little ragged from multiple readings. Ott’s knew they made more money from the soda fountain than comic book sales and lets the kids read them for free.

Speaking of soda fountains, when I was stationed in Corpus Christi on the CGC Reliance, on liberty I would go into town to one of the larger drug stores and get a chocolate malt at their soda fountain. The malt was the real thing. That added chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, milk, and malt powder. They topped it off with whipped cream and a cherry on top. One of those was like having a 5 course meal. They were delicious! I don’t remember having malts before that but I’m sure I must have. Lester’s Diner in Fort Lauderdale doesn’t have malts but they make a mean vanilla shake.

Now that I think about it, I have Bluebell Dutch chocolate ice cream and plenty of milk. Maybe I’ll get some malt powder today and make myself a chocolate malt for dessert tonight. I figure as much diarrhea I’ve had, the lack of stamina, and just plain malaise, I deserve to treat myself. Memo to self: pick up some whipped cream. I already have Maraschino cherries!

I have a session scheduled with Apple tonight at 9 pm to go over the new features of the iPad Pro. Apparently, the one-on-one comes free of charge with the purchase.

Which brings me to my next issue. I’ve noticed lately that when I walk in the early morning, just at dawn, I can’t see as well as I once did. I’ve also noticed that when I sit at the counter in the kitchen that it seems lights are dimmer (they’re not). When I walk Riverland early in the morning I noticed glare much more pronounced in headlights of cars that I meet. I can only assume that means cataract surgery is not too far off for me. My ophthalmologist has been warning me about this for years and it might be time. I’m not sure how that will work with chemo.

I met two neighbors on the walk this morning: Stacey with her dog Bear and Katy. Both asked about how I’m doing and about the chemo. This really is a good neighborhood where everyone watches out for everyone else. The temperature was decent but the humidity was in the low 90’s. We are still scheduled for a week of rain so it’s good I got the walk in early today.

Stay tuned!