A Day in the Life

It's been too long since I've posted something.  It's not that I haven't written anything, it's that I haven't written anything I like.  Today's post is simply about what happened to me today, and not an over-ambitious attempt at making the next literary masterpiece.  It does help that today was interesting and involved cars.

Anyhow, today was the first good-ish day I've had since completing the infusions for my current cycle of chemo last week.  If you follow me on Facebook, you've seen all the whining about every little bit of malaise I've been feeling, when in fact I'm handling chemo rather well by chemotherapy standards.  Basically that means I haven't been to the ER or been on the phone with my doctor unexpectedly.

Today I had one goal: Go to the pharmacy and get some drugs.  So out into the garage, hop into the Prius and... nothing.  Deader than a door nail.  Looks like the 12 volt battery went dead.  Without that, it can't boot the car and turn on the high voltage battery to start the engine.

Now here is where I go off on a long tangent about modern cars, except that if this is an automotive themed post it really isn't a tangent, is it?  The 12 volt battery in the Prius is located under the hatchback.  This isn't a bad idea in itself, except the hatch release is electrically operated.  You can't get direct access to the battery unless the battery is working.  Brilliant!

There is a connection to jump start the car under the hood.  But the car is parked nose-first in the garage, and with a dead battery it's impossible to take it out of park and roll it out into the driveway.  Brilliant!  Where's my battery charger?  (which basically means three laps of the house looking for it)

Hook up the battery charger and... nothing.  Hmm, why isn't this working?  Where's my multi-meter? (another three laps of the house) Oh rats, the batteries leaked and that's not working.  It's bad enough cancer treatments have removed all testosterone from my body.  My masculinity is hanging by a thread, and I really need to be able to competently deal with a dead battery or it will be the last straw leading to my man card being revoked.  Don't you realize how serious this situation is?  I'm supposed to be a car guy!

Where are my jumper cables? (add three more laps, my step count is going to be really good today!)  I'll take a battery out of another car if I need to.  No, wait, the cables are just long enough to reach the battery in my Mustang parked on the other side of the garage.  Literally not an extra inch of length to spare.  And we're off to the pharmacy!

Hey, why is the interior light on?  Ah, that must explain the dead battery.  Wow, accidentally leave the interior light on, and you can't get anything out from under your hatchback without a jump start.  Have I already mentioned the brilliant design decisions in modern cars?  I'm an old fashioned guy.  The Mustang has a simple old fashioned switch in the door.  If the door is open the interior light is on.  Close the door the light goes off immediately.  If the battery is dead you can just put it in neutral and easily roll the car.  Better yet, if you have a hill, roll a few feet and pop the clutch.  But I digress, I was on my way to the pharmacy.

The Prius is an exceptional car for drive-throughs.  The gas engine turns off when you enter the parking lot, and stays off while you drive through the parking lot, though the drive through, and doesn't restart until it's time to accelerate back onto the main road.  Some people refer to it as "golf cart mode".  I own a Prius because I live in Massachusetts and traffic sucks.  It's sucks worse with a stick shift.  It sucks the most when it's snowing and you're stuck in traffic with a rear drive stick shift.  Fishtailing every time you drive forward a car length at the stop sign gets old pretty quick.

I've digressed again, but now I'm at the window and pay a $40 copay for about $5000 worth of drugs.  That's not an exaggeration, and that's for just one of six cancer specific drugs I'm currently on.  Cancer isn't cheap, or at least it isn't cheap for my insurance company.  Some cancer survivors go through all the same crap I've been going through and have to deal with bankruptcy as well.  But my insurance has been fantastic so far, so one less thing for me to worry about.

And back home.  I must say, the adrenaline rush of a dead battery sure pushes the side effects away for a while.  I'm feeling pretty good and it's not cold and rainy today.  I think I'll take the Mustang out for the first time in weeks and find a place to walk in the woods.  The Midstate Trail should do nicely.

The black flies were out, but with a bit of wind they weren't too bad.  I do miss my long hair.  When taken out of a ponytail, it provided excellent defense against all sorts of flying and biting insects.  But it's a cool day, I was wearing a hat for most of it.  When going uphill, I'd overheat and take the hat off.  I'm not use to the feeling of wind blowing directly on a sweaty scalp.

It was a very slow walk with a very high heart rate and lots of heavy breathing.  My lack of hair is a reminder that my lungs and digestive system are faring about as well as my follicles.  In other words, not very well at all.  But I'm enjoying the outdoors with nobody else on the trail, which was the goal of this particular exercise (pun intended).

And as usual, I found myself a mile deep in the woods and getting a bit tired and sore.  Well, calling for help is't a great option so I'll have to keep walking until I get back to to the car.  Historically, the best way for me to complete a 10 mile run is to get myself 5 miles from home without a cell phone.  It virtually guarantees the run will be completed.

A Mustang isn't the most comfortable car for a body full of bones and joints damaged by cancer and inflamed by exercise, but again, I find myself in a position where there is no great alternative.  In truth it wasn't that bad.  Sitting is a lot more comfortable for me than it was after my original diagnosis in 2018.  Most of my current pain is caused by my urinary stent, and one of the drugs I picked up today will help with that.

And now I'm wrapping up my day writing this post.  I'm pushing myself a bit, because I'd really like to crash on the couch and fall asleep in front of the TV.  It's been a great day.  More was accomplished today than in the entire preceding week, and I didn't actually do that much.  Tomorrow's goal is to take a bunch of trash, recyclables, and a couple gallons of used motor oil to the town transfer station.

Between the severe cancer diagnoses and disability applications, I frequently get asked if I'm able to complete the "activities of daily living" (ADL).  They are asking if I'm able to dress myself, bath myself, and prepare meals.  My wife handles the meal preparations, so my personal ADL list includes routine car service like oil changes, taking trash to the transfer station, and of course, occasionally getting out a chainsaw and cutting up a downed tree on the property.  I'm very happy to say that I've accomplished a full day's worth of ADLs in the month of April.