A Journey South...and North

Regular readers will remember that a very good friend, Steve, has been behind me every step of the way down this journey. We first met in Babe Ruth Baseball, a sport he knew how to play and I just dabbled at between golf tournaments in high school. Later, Steve came to his senses and learned how to play the gentleman's game. If anyone asked how often we've played together, that would be hard to assess. He was in the foursome with me when I broke my arm, and took me to the hospital because he's an athletic trainer. He played one of the first rounds back, at Pacific Grove Golf Links, just so he could say "I didn't think you'd ever play again" over and over. He made it a point to call every other week, through 24 chemotherapy treatments, just to make sure that I wasn't too tough on myself.

This past weekend, when Judy had friends to meet in Phoenix, I also went south to play golf with Steve. We have so much fun together on the course that it is hard to include others...but Judy played on Saturday when we were joined by another really fascinating young man. We had a great time, then played again on Sunday. Between laughs, sips of Coors Light, and attempts at concentration, he could say things like "you might want to think about moving the ball back an inch or two, those new irons are short because they are too far forward." It may not seem like a lot to non-golfers, every inch in stance makes a difference...but only someone who has watched me play as much as Steve would notice.

Judy and I stayed in a marvelous resort, courtesy of Nate's new job. We used a "parents discount" which allowed us to enjoy a $300 per night room at $85. It was actually too bad we were so busy with other plans, it would have been nice to simply sit out on the patio and read. The weather was perfect, at 88 degrees during the day, cooling off at night. We returned home to an inch of rain overnight and less than 60 degrees at Tuesday's warmest.

Tomorrow, we journey north to Seattle to confirm my treatment plans and see what the "cancer center experts" have to say. I'm confident they'll simply agree, and I'll go through with the radiation beads next week. There aren't really a lot of other options in the literature, I'm sure my oncologist is up-to-date. I'll sleep better knowing that we've made good decisions to this point, and have built an appropriate plan.

Both trips are great! Giving Stevie a hard time, and simply sharing thoughts about what's going on made me mentally stronger. Learning from the specialists in Seattle will help my physical well-being, because we'll continue on course next week.

It is hard to define the level of importance for either trip, but I certainly know which one I'll enjoy the most when I take it again!