Wednesday, April 11, 2012

BACK TO THE SALT MINES

This expression refers to prisoners in both Imperial and Communist Russia being sent to Siberia to work in the salt mines.  Mr. FOG wonders about the “back” in the phrase since presumably Siberia is a one-way trip with no holidays.  In any event, it was time to go back for more cancer treatments.  After such a good time in New Orleans, it was hard for the Laird.  Dutifully, he returned back to Atlanta on Monday April 2, for Chemo #4, and Mr. FOG as you will soon learn, went off on his own.  Hence no postings on the Blog for a little over a week, so we have a lot of ground to cover. But the good news is that Chemo #4 was not the going back to the Siberian salt mines as we thought it would be.  Instead Chemo #4 was almost  like a visit to a Balck Sea resort in the Crimea, although admittedly FOG has not been to one. 
City of New Orleans    His Lordship returned to Atlanta by air for Chemo #4, and Mr. FOG decided this was a good time to see his sister in Chicago for the Easter holiday.  He had missed spending the Christmas holiday with her, and Easter seemed a good second choice.  Amtrak’s “City of New Orleans”, named for the Guthrie song with the same name and which Mr. FOG has always liked, provided direct service from the Big Easy to the Windy City.  Mr. FOG decided that this is the way he would travel.  In hindsight, the decision was OK, with some caveats. To get the full effect, listen to song as you read the blog by doing a cut and paste in another window.  See if you too would not be tempted to sample this fading piece of Americana.




The New Orleans Amtrak station is in the downtown next to Superdome and co-located with the bus station.  Although, it makes sense to have transportation centers close to one another, as is done in Europe, Mr. FOG wondered if the train passengers would also be the bus passengers?   Was Mr. FOG traveling on a glorified train/bus immortalized in a song???  Probably so, he thought, after looking over the passengers in the train waiting room.  The clientele was a mix of Greyhound bus patrons, middle class families with children, presumably people as FOG liking the Guthrie song, and a higher number of people with disabilities.  Also no identification was required for FOG to get his boarding pass.  Mr. FOG, who is against government control, now seemed to think that there should be the requirement that identification be shown to board the train.  Those that can’t fly, on the run from the law, etc. take the bus or the train he thought.





The train had five or six cars and the cars had two levels. Nice, some of the supersonic jets have two levels.  The older car and the last on the train, was assigned to FOG and his fellow travelers originating in New Orleans.  The bottom level mainly had the baggage, the rest rooms, and some seats for those unable to climb the stairs to the second level.  The upper level allowed for a panoramic view, and the seats were much more comfortable than those in airplanes or busses.  The seats were spaced very far apart, allowing them to recline considerably and raise one’s legs to be almost supine.  There were two or three more similar cars, but newer ones, and were to be used by patrons boarding along the way.  Mr. FOG had the aisle seat and Mr. FOG’s traveling companion with a bad case of halitosis, had the window seat.  Fortunately the train also had an observation lounge car, with partial dome allowing panoramic views of the countryside, and also allowing FOG escapes from his seat. While the seats in observation car were not as comfortable as his assigned seat, the viewing of the evolving landscapes was very nice.  The observation car also had a snack bar and tables on its lower level.  Beers were over priced according to fellow traveler heading to Detroit for a funeral after a change of trains in Chicago.  

There was also a “dining” car which should have been called a “diner” car.  No linen table cloths here. It was more like a road side diner set up in trailer and moving along the road, or in this case the tracks.  Mr. FOG had hoped for a little more of the Orient Express, but it was better than the cattle cars used to transport refugees and political prisoners to Siberia.  The diner car offered decent meals and the service personnel were nice.

Mr. FOG never saw the sleeping compartment car.  He did get reports from a fellow diner that he would have slept better on the seat.  The bottom bunk was OK, but the top bunk apparently was not.  The sleeping compartments were too pricey for what they were and FOG decided he could semi-sleep in his train seat.  After the top bunk report, FOG was OK with his decision not to pay more and just go with the seat and the bad breath seat mate.


The trip takes about 19 hours and generally follows the Mississippi River before striking though the agricultural heartland of Illinois.  It was a long trip, but most of it was during the night.  A day trip, would have been better, capitalizing on the reason one would take the train, but Mr. FOG could not control Amtrak’s schedule. The Louisiana portion of the journey was scenic showing off the state’s Lake Pontchartrain and marsh and swamp scenery.  The state of Mississippi came next, and the towns we passed bespoke of a better life of yesteryear as abandoned buildings were seen in most of the towns we passed.  Fellow passengers were nice to one another, sharing tables and stories to make the trip pass by. FOG saw a cat fish farm.  Travelers getting on the train along the way in Mississippi and Tennessee were people one would see at a bus station.  They were going from Jackson Mississippi or Yazoo City to Memphis or all the way to Chicago.  They nearly filled the other two newer train cars.    No reports about the life and economy along the train tracks of Tennessee and Kentucky, since it was too dark to see.  Central Illinois however, was doing well, with clean, kept up towns and sweeping fields that may soon have rows of corn.

 
Chicago’s Union Station was the end of line.  It was nice to be in Chicago again with tulips greeting pedestrians and the city’s beautiful architecture.  With almost no luggage Mr. FOG waked to the car rental place close to Marriott’s Blackstone hotel where he had stayed before and got his rental car to make his way to his sister’s assisted living abode to spend a few days with her during the Easter holiday.



The Old Folk’s Home    Challenged by a very bad case of rheumatoid arthritis, Mr. FOG’s sister had to move to an assisted living facility.  The facility has a mix of permanent residents and casual stayers who are receiving rehabilitation from knee or hip operations and the like.  It is a very nice old folk’s home.  They have activities, eat off china, have nice dining rooms with servers, have a beauty and ice cream parlors, a pond with seasonal swans, and several communal rooms for activities, reading, watching television and the like.    While it is a nice place, and the staff is very nice to Mr. FOG’s sister, it is not like being at home.  The many old people dealing with a variety of afflictions, is a constant reminder that if one’s health fails, this is where you would go, if lucky.  Better to stay healthy and be at home.  Still, when you can’t take care of yourself any more, this is a good place to go.  

Some pictures taken during Mr. FOG’s stay show a singing comedian group that came to entertain, and the Easter Bunny—really the activities director in one of her alter egos—visiting with Mr. FOG’s Chicago family.  Not pictured was a very nice Seder meal we had on Friday.

Chemo #4   Mario’s chemo #4 has been relatively uneventful and will hopefully stay that way.  The treatment protocol was the same as the previous three, but less traumatic.   Mario returned home and was actually feeling well.  When Mr. FOG returned from Chicago, his Lordship looked about as well, perhaps better than he did in New Orleans.  A visit to the oncologist confirmed the obvious; his white and red blood cell counts were in the very good range.  Weight was about 220 and his temperature was also normal. 

We have no explanation why he is doing so well.  FOG questioned if in fact Mario had received chemo poisons.   Mario’s doctor noted that he started Chemo #4 much stronger by having postponed of the treatment by two weeks.  Also a reduction in the cancer may also produce less side effects from the chemotherapy.  Hence less post chemo side effects.  Still a third possibility not discussed with Mario’s oncologist is that all the prayers are working and he is overcoming the cancer and handling the chemo treatments better.  Absent a clear scientific reason why he is in such good health so soon after a chemo treatment, God and prayer will get the credit in the Blog.  While his white blood cells could still drop, we are hoping he will stay well until Chemo treatment #5 now scheduled for April 23.


Given the good health of the Laird, there was no reason for Mr. FOG to stay and baby sit healthy Laird.  Although Mr. FOG was tempted to stay and enjoy the refrigerator full of food Nurse Sherry had bought and the premium cable of Vinings Mountain Castle, Mr. FOG chose to go home to his Ugly/Pretty Cat.  Leaving the Laird in Nurse Sherry’s hands, Mr. FOG headed to Asheville for this unexpected chance to get back home.  Before leaving, he took a picture of the cards, gifts, and bunny that had been received while he was away.  Hopefully your card is pictured.  If not, it is entirely Mr. FOG’s fault.

Mario and Sherry again wanted to express on how appreciative they are of your prayers and well-wishes.  I am hopeful the couple has seen the worst, and while they have a ways to go, things may actually be getting better.  Let’s see how Mario reacts to the next Chemo.








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