Hi there

I know it's been awhile since I posted, and I even have some things to talk about.

This past week I had my last three-month checkup with my oncologist, with bloodwork and a chest X-ray a few days beforehand. All were OK! I will see her next in December. The six-month checkups will continue for three years, I think -- until I am five years out -- and then it will just be once a year until I reach 10 years out. I still have a mammogram coming up Tuesday and then a visit with my surgeon the week after that. My oncologist did recommend I get an MRI in conjunction with mammograms from now on, as new research recommends for women with a high risk of breast cancer. I plan to ask my surgeon about this, but I can probably guess what she will say, since she and my oncologist work pretty closely. I'll have to go to Wichita to get it done, because there are some requirements for that they can't meet here.

Anyway, not much more than that has really been going on. Today I kind of wasted much of the day playing a new game I found, Bowmaster, kind of a defend your castle/capture the flag type game. I got to level 20, and it's not real fast-paced game, so you can guess how much time I wasted. But I redeemed myself somewhat, when during a break from the game, I saw on a local Web site that the local Habitat for Humanity was having regular build days for the house they're building here for a family on Fridays and Saturdays. It's the group's first house, and they've had some trouble getting the volunteer work going. There was just a small crew there -- the husband/father of the family getting the house, a married couple and then an older guy. They were all pretty nice, and I got to pound a few nails, help put together a corner piece for the framing, and help put up a couple pieces of framing for the garage. It was kind of fun, and a good way to spend the afternoon. My wrist can really feel the effects of the pounding, though.

Tomorrow will probably be some mowing, and more reading. Yesterday, I finished up The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. I liked it OK enough, but it took awhile to get into. I didn't know before reading it that it takes place in an alternate reality, so I spent the first couple of chapters wondering what the heck was going on. Then it took a few chapters to get my mind wrapped around that concept. But once I settled in, it was OK, if not maybe a bit too long.

Now I'm reading something a bit lighter, a mystery ba David Rosenfelt called Play Dead. I passed it over once or twice already at the library, because I wasn't sure how I'd handle a story involving dogs, but I'm enjoying it, really.

It's getting late, and I've already spent more than enough time on the computer today, so time to say goodnight.