My Blog Reflection
When you're through changing, you're through.
Bruce Barton
August 16, 2025
Once back from the trip to Michigan and Indiana it is pretty clear we will not be traveling much until January. Under this field study I'm involved in I have an appointment every two weeks. The first of each month I get a Radium 223 injection, blood work, and a scan. Two weeks later I get more blood work, a full-body bone scan, a pet scan, and an oncologist visit. Not all of this was explained when I signed up for the study but hopefully it is doing some good for me and hopefully for those in the future.
That being said the blog may be a little boring for a few months. LOL
August 17, 2025:
I bake Biscotti from time to time. For my birthday Annie and Adam bought me a "Biscotti Pan". I had never baked Biscotti in a pan before, always used a cookie sheet.
It is too hot today to do anything outside so I decided to bake a batch using the pan. I also decided that I wanted to try using honey in the place of sugar for this batch. I also used "Pizza Flour" we had on hand, to use it up, rather than ""All Purpose Flour". I followed the recipe I use for baking the Biscotti on a cookie sheet. After getting started I wondered if I should have looked for a different baking method when using a pan.
Here is a picture of the batter in the pan. I used parchment paper in the pan because with Biscotti you have to bake it, let it cool, slice it, turn it over, and bake it again for a short time. There would be no way of doing that without the parchment paper. It took a little doing to get the batter even throughout the pan. It is very sticky to work with.
Here is a picture after the first bake. It raised much higher than usual, more like cake. It was probably the pizza dough.
After the second bake I spread the pieces out and let them cool and dry out a little. Once that occurred I stored them for eating.
These slices are much taller than normal, more like a cake. Part of it was too much dough for the size of the pan. This batch definitely had a different texture and taste. It could be the honey, or the pizza dough, or both. This batch is "okay" but not how we like our Biscotti. I am going to research to see if there is a different methodology for baking in a pan. I'm also going to use the correct flour and sugar for the next batch. LOL
August 19, 2025:
In the morning I went out to the storage shed to do a little maintenance on Homer and run the generator. I do not like him to set for months without starting the generator and we last used him in May because my treatments interfered with campouts with our RV group. I pulled Homer half out of the shed so the generator exhaust would not blow inside the building. After several long tries the generator finally started. I hate ethanol but the generator draws its fuel out of the main gas tank so I'm stuck with it.
After the generator ran for five minutes it settled in at 112 volts. At that time the only load was the converter, which was charging the house batteries at 13.3 volts. I turned on the AC and the voltage stayed at 112 volts. I would have liked it a little higher but I could live with that. I let the AC run while I put in four new LED tail light bulbs and replaced the kitchen sink sprayer nozzle, which had failed once again. If this sink sprayer nozzle fails I'm going to replace the entire kitchen sink faucet with something more modern and dependable.
The generator put out 112 volts for an hour with the AC on high. I shut down the AC and let the generator cool down for five minutes. It was then putting out 120 volts. I'm happy with that.
I backed Homer back into the shed. Hopefully we will get to take him on a short trip soon between treatments as the weather cools.
August 20, 2025:
Lately I have been riding my scooter down to the Park Center each morning to walk because daughter Alexa has my car while her car is getting repaired. On the way home I took a milestone picture of the odometer. All "7"s. 7,777.7 miles on a scooter is a lot. I've had it for ten years and ride it regularly. It is the very first vehicle I bought in my life that was BRAND NEW. It is a Yamaha and has operated flawlessly. All I've ever had to do was change the oil. It may be ready for some new tires soon. I'm sure that won't be cheap. I don't know that I could get the back wheel off so I may have to take it somewhere for new tires.
The "bone enhancement agent" infusion that I had to have before I could start my new Radium treatment program, caused a major reaction. I was fine the rest of the day after the infusion but the next morning I woke up in complete back muscle spasms, a totally numb left thigh, and severe stabbing pains in my left leg. I ended up at the ER on Sunday morning because I couldn't take the pain any longer. I was given muscle relaxers, pain killers, and scanned to make sure nothing in my back broke or cracked during the night causing the pain. The pills helped my back but did nothing for the left thigh. On Monday my oncologist ordered an MRI. It took almost two weeks to get one scheduled.
Today I finally got the MRI at the "Center for Advanced Medicine" in South County. I never had an MRI before that I recall. They warned me that the MRI of my back would take a long time. It was 2.5 hours of laying on my back without moving while the machine made all kinds of loud noises. It was grueling. For the last half hour they injected me with dye for contrast. Because of that, or due to the long time laying still on my back, the left thigh started up with severe shooting pains. I just had to grit my teeth to get through it. I didn't want to delay things by starting over in any way. Ihope they find the cause of this pain and that I never have to do such an MRI again in my lifetime.
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