Bud Baker
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Posts posted by Bud Baker
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Welcome, Mary. This time just after diagnosis is the scariest. I had stage II squamous cell, and I'm still cancer free 2 1/2 years after the surgery, so it's definitely doable. Keep us updated on what's happening and how you're doing.
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I had my scans on Monday and my followup with the oncologist today. The results are NED, so I've now been cancer free for 2 1/2 years. I'm graduating to yearly scans, now.
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Good morning, everyone!
It was HOT when I got up this morning, and the forecast for this afternoon is HOT. There won't be any ride to work today. Rose and I are leaving for the VA hospital shortly.
Enjoy the antiques, KW Judy. Have a great day, all!
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Eric, Rose is doing well. She's just sore. I repair CNC machinery, mostly lathes, drills, and machining centers. I'm supposed to be an electronics technician, but more often, I'm a mechanic. A lot of the work is too physical for an old f*rt with a bad back. That's why I tend to whine about my back here occasionally.
KW Judy, you got a lot done in a short time. My day tomorrow won't quite go that way at the VA hospital. I have an 11:30 am appointment with my oncologist. You would think that I would be able to work part of the day, but it doesn't quite work out.
I need to have blood taken at the lab, two hours before the onc appointment, so the lab can finish the blood work and the onc can check that along with my scans. But, there's always a large number of people waiting to have blood taken. An hour wait there is not uncommon. So, I'll need to be there at 8:30 am.
But, if you arrive any time after 7:00 am, the parking lot is incredibly full. You have to park the better part of a mile away, and walk or take a parking lot shuttle. So, I'll need to be there at 8:00.
That's right at rush hour, and it's an hour drive from home, even when it's not rush hour, so I'll need to leave home at 6:30 am, or shortly thereafter.
Everyone gets the 11:30 appointment, so you don't really get to see the doctor then. 12:00 or 12:30 is more likely. If scans and bloodwork are good, the doctor visit won't take long. I'll be out by 12:45. Grab some lunch, and it's 1:15. An hour drive to work would get me there at 2:15. I get off at 3:30, so there's really no point in making the drive to work.
And that's how I kill an entire day with my followup appointment. Plus, tomorrow after the appointment, Rose and I are stopping at a credit union on the way home. We're closing bank accounts and moving things to a credit union. Banks just aren't a very good deal these days.
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 78 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high for this afternoon is 99 degrees, and that combined with high humidity that will push the heat index over 105 has caused them to issue a heat advisory. It sounds like a great day to work in an unairconditioned machine shop, ride a bike home, and mow the front yard.
Have a great day, all!
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Best wishes for a great scan!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 80 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high for today is 97.
I really overdid it at work with my back yesterday, another reminder of why I need to retire from this work. Then, just like I had good sense, I rode home and mowed the back yard.
After I showered, I was thinking of nothing except how much I needed to get off my feet, only to realize that Rose wasn't up to cooking dinner, I would need to do it. So, I prepared our fancy chili dog dinner, and finally got to sit down.
My back is still talking to me this morning. I need an easier day at work, and some zombie time in my recliner this evening.
Pretty much everyone hardly uses their boat, MI Judy. I'm the exception to that rule. Have a great day, all!
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Glad you're better, Deborah!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 80 degrees with a stiff south wind and lots of humidity as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 98.
Daughter Linda took Rose to the hospital since I had an appointment at the same time. They got home just about the same time I did. Rose was thinking she'd go back to work on Thursday, but the doctor did more cutting than she thought he would, so we'll see about that.
I have my followup appointment on Friday, so I'll get results then. Meanwhile, it's back to the grind. Hope you get your car and DVD issues worked out, Judy.
Have a great day, all!
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I vote for listening to your pcp and oncs, Judy. If they don't see enough to call it bad, I'm thinking that's good.
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Good morning, everyone!
The clouds are gone and it looks like we're back to just plain sunny and hot for a while here. It was 78 degrees when I got up this morning, and the forecast high is 98.
I didn't ride to work, since I need to take off early. In a couple of hours, Rose will be headed to Fort Worth for more reconstructive surgery and I'll be headed to Dallas for scans, so we both get to spend the rest of the day as medical patients.
Have a great day, all!
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I think the "short weekly goals" idea is an excellent approach. Best wishes for you both.
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Good afternoon, everyone!
I did a 70 mile club ride yesterday that followed the route that the annual Tour de Goatneck charity ride will take three weeks from now. It's a hilly route starts in Cleburne and makes a loop west through Glen Rose. It has some great scenery and the hills certainly give me a workout. It was cloudy and very humid yesterday, but didn't rain until after the ride.
This morning, Rose and I went crappie fishing. We brought home enough for dinner for us, and for Rose's sister, who is joining us for dinner and a swim.
It finally cleared up today, 96 degrees and sunny, but with all the water on the ground, it is very humid, so seems even hotter.
Have a great day, all!
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Wow, very nice, Eric!
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Wow, great photos, Eric! We're all going to want to make a Scotland trip.
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No problem, Eric. As my official first moderator duty, I did a merge.
Until my lung cancer diagnosis, my worst health issue was two bad discs in my lower back. That's why I never even considered an upright bike when I climbed onto a bicycle for the first time as an adult in 2004. I couldn't even sit on a bar stool for very long without back pain.
My back has improved quite a bit since then (lost weight and regular core muscle exercises will do that). So, I probably could ride an upright bike ok now. But, I love my recumbents and don't plan on ever going back to upright bikes.
Recumbents are, indeed, very comfortable. They tend to be slower going up hills (you can't generate quite as much power in a reclined position, can't stand on the pedals, and are pretty much limited to using your legs, unable to recruit other muscles to help like you can on an upright), but their aerodynamics make them faster on flats and downhills, so just like other bikes, the main thing that determines how fast one is, is the engine.
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Don't feel like the lone ranger, Kim. Lots of people just blindly follow what a doctor says, without asking anything. That was one of the more frustrating things I ran into when I was trying to give support by phone. So many people just don't realize how much difference knowledge and advocating for yourself can make. Your family is lucky to have you doing it for them.
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Good morning, everyone! TGIF!
It was 74 degrees and cloudy when I got up this morning. Forecast high is 87. We're still under a flash flood watch, so I decided to take a day off the bike and drive to work.
Eric, the Tour de France comes on the Versus channel here. It's great coverage. With the time difference, though, live coverage starts in the morning, so I just record it and watch after I get home. I barely watch any television, but pay for a couple hundred channels, one of the things I may have to cut back on when I retire.
I hope the scans went well, KW Judy! Have a great Friday, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 76 degrees and cloudy as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 86 degrees with an 80 percent chance of rain, and we're under a flash flood watch.
I don't usually ride with that dire a forecast, but they're calling for the same thing tomorrow, it wasn't raining when I got up, and I really want to get my miles, so I got on my bike and rode. We'll see how it goes on the way home. This is really unlike July around here.
I hope you weren't stuck beside the road too long, KW Judy. Eric, I'm also taking time to watch a sporting event right now, one of the few I watch, the Tour de France. Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 73 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast calls for a high of 88. The 30 percent chance of storms became a 60 percent chance after I got to work, and an 80 percent chance tomorrow. Yesterday afternoon, it was pouring at 2:00, but had quit and pretty much dried out by the time I rode home at 3:30.
All this rain is unusual for us here in July. I feel like I'm living in the dog days of summer in Atlanta, rather than July in Texas.
I know what you mean about the tent camping, Donny. We did a lot of it when our kids were young, and it was fun, but I got my fill of it then. These days, when I go fishing, I just make one day trips closer to home, and skip the camping.
Let us know how the support group meeting goes, Eric. Have a great day, all!
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Welcome, Sharon, but sorry you need to be here. I'll look forward to hearing more from you.
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 74 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 92. It's another humid day, with a 30 percent chance of rain.
The crappie fishing at Lake Granbury was tougher yesterday than it has been, but daughter Marie and I managed to bring home enough for dinner.
I zombied out in front of the tv the rest of the day, and today it's back to the grind. Have a great day, all!
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I hope everyone had a good 4th. It was a busy day around here. The wind blew so hard that I didn't stay on Lake Benbrook long this morning. After having showers all week, it was finally a dry day, so I mowed the lawn. As soon as I had finished, showered, and caught up on the Tour de France, it was pool party time.
Tomorrow morning is a Lake Granbury trip with my daughter. She's at a basball game tonight, and the crappie seem to bite best at mid day, so we won't be headed out too early.
Have a great holiday Monday, all!
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Good evening, everyone!
Eric, the pool isn't mine, it's a community pool, run by the home owners association here. There is a separate pool for very small children, complete with water cannon and other toys. It's pretty nice. I'm thinking the only thing better than your own swimming pool is one that's kept up by someone else. MI Judy, I hope your puppy did well in the boat, today.
I completed my 200k ride today, 125 miles, total. It was the local randonneuring club's annual 4th of July weekend brevet, but this year's ride had something extra. At mile 65, the 20 or so riders stopped at a small country church 5 miles west of Covington, and had a short ceremony where good friends Steve and Peggy, who recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, renewed their vows. Afterward, there was cake, fruit, and other snacks served.
The entire ride, there were heavy clouds that looked like could turn loose rain any minute, but we got 120 miles with no more than sprinkles. The last 5 miles, though, I rode in a downpour.
Here is the poem Steve and Peggy asked me to read at the ceremony:
What can I say, in a positive way? How can I sway you to come out and play,
On a lean, clean machine in a beautiful scene? Who of you will dare to put wind in your hair,
Rain in your face and leave never a trace, of having ever been there?
When it's all said and done, what makes cycling fun? Is it better in winter, or in the hot sun?
Do you like warm wherever you go? Or when your tires go "crunch" in the snow?
Do you like racing with crowds that cheer? Or touring along with a bird's song in your ear?
I can ride for hours by beautiful flowers. Mile after mile with bugs in my smile.
I find rolling hills to be so sublime, and even the hardest, mountainous climb! Can you tell why my heart pines,
For quiet country roads with Burma Shave signs? Sometimes I get a thrill from "screaming down hills",
Or a fog covered road laced with daffodils. It's easy to see what it all means to me.
I've seen places and faces as fine as can be. Often at night, stars so bright,
I ride with my love in the pale moonlight, past farms with cows and stacks of hay.
Crickets and frogs cheer us on our way. We ride in the morning and then at sunsets,
And know that this is as good as it gets. Not even flat tires can alter our mood.
When I'm tired I dine on the best tasting food. What can I do to get through to you?
Why should you ride? I haven't a clue. Sometimes after long rides in a group we might sit,
And all with agree, "IT FEELS SO GOOD WHEN WE ARE DONE."
The bride and groom:
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in INTRODUCE YOURSELF!
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Welcome, Butch. Best wishes for your mother. Let us know how she does.