Bud Baker

Wow, 8 years! Big congrats, Cindy!

Good morning, everyone! It was 70 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 100. I checked the 10 day forecast, and it's exactly the same forecast for all 10 days: low 0f 70, high of 100, no rain. I hadn't even made it out of Crowley this morning when a car pulled up beside me and the driver said, "Your taillight isn't on and blinking like it usually is." I had forgotten to turn it on. I have lots of guardian angels these days.........LOL. KW Judy, good luck with chemo and I hope Stan gets the oxygen thing handled for you. Lillian, that's kind of what happened here. We had the coolest May I ever remember, then it instantly went to pushing 100 degrees every day. Has anyone considered just handcuffing Annette's nephew and Sally together for a couple of months to see if they keep each other out of trouble? Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 70 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 100. We do have a slight chance of rain this evening, but I'm not counting on it. This is the time of year where we can get the strange phenomenon of rain on the weather radar, but nothing on the ground because it's all evaporating before it gets to the ground because of the heat. KW Judy, good luck today. It sounds like it will be a long day. I hope the tests go well and you can get your oxygen replaced with something more portable. MI Judy, I know what you mean about sleeping next to freight train snoring. Rose's has reached the point that I think she needs to be checked for sleep apnea. Time to get back to work. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! The low temperature for the day here this morning was 71 degrees. Forecast high is 98. The forecasts start to get a bit monotonous here this time of year. I ended up with a little over 127 miles on my ride yesterday. It was a lot hillier route than I expected, and I got wiped out from the heat and hills. It ended up being one of those days where I was just turning the pedals and trying to finish. In case that didn't tire me out enough, I then went out drinking and dancing with Rose until the wee hours of the night. I'm thinking I'm just going to zombie out in front of the computer and tv today. KW Judy, it sounds like that Seattle walk is going to be an awesome gathering. I bet you'll really enjoy the trip if you go. Annette, so sorry your nephew merry-go-round just keeps on going. I think you're right about stress; I think it has a lot more to do with health than most of us want to know. I hope you keep working toward a long term solution to these issues, one that easier on you. You deserve a lot less stress in your life than this. Eric, it sounds like the walk went great. Alan, glad the storms missed you. There's just been way too much damage from storms this year. Lillian, I hope the storms in your area don't do any serious damage near you. Have a great Sunday, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 68 degrees when I got up this morning. Forecast high is 99. I drove to work again and I'm about to leave for the next doctor appointment. This one is with my oncologist. He'll do blood work and get my annual scan scheduled. I think I really should have skipped these few hours of work this morning and done a bike ride instead. Then, I could have had blood pressure fun at the clinic. As much as I ride, my blood pressure is pretty low anyway, and if I do a good hard ride on a hot morning and dehydrate myself a bit more before an appointment, I can put up blood pressure numbers like 101 over 61 or something like that. It always throws off the nurses. They scratch their heads, take it again, recheck my drug list and such. (Hey, in a doctor's office, you have to take fun where you can find it, right?) Great to see you posting, KW Judy, but sorry you still have to do oxygen. I hope it gets better soon. Did you get more rain, Sara? How about you, Bruce? It's still too much in one place and not enough in another. It looks like we're starting to move into the hot, dry summer weather here. Tomorrow, I'll be joining some faster friends on a 200k ride on a 99 degree day. It should be fun. I'm still hoping for another slower rider or two to join us. If not, I'll be wheezing for all I'm worth all day. Have a great day, all!

What great news! Big congrats!

Good morning, everyone! It was 71 degrees when I got up this morning. Forecast high is 98. There was no bike ride to work for me this morning. I drove, and I'll be leaving in a half hour for my six month (3,700 mile?) checkup with my primary care doctor. MI Judy, great to hear that your husband has a job offer he's ready to accept, although I can appreciate how much he likely enjoyed staying home and annoying you. I'm certainly looking forward to spending more time annoying Rose after I retire. That's too funny, Sara, and a reminder of how we get our perspectives adjusted. That correct attitude will serve you well. It sounds like that Seattle event will be a blast. Sorry I won't be there. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 74 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 96. And it's really been humid this week. I replaced a broken tail light on my boat trailer, and replaced the bulb on the other tail light on it after I got home from work yesterday. I figured a hot garage project was just as good as sitting in my hot living room. The air conditioning man showed up a little later and got it fixed, so I now have a cool house again. I ended up with just over 700 miles on the bike in May. I need to do that much or more all of these summer months. KW Judy, so sorry to read about MJ. I hope that's the end of your family tragedies for a long time, and I hope you continue to improve and shake this pneumonia. Annette, I don't know how you continue to put up with all you're going through. I can tell you flat out that I couldn't do it. Lillian, wow that's really cool for June. We had a cooler than usual May this year, but it's definitely hot here now. Alan and Ron, good to see both of you post in the Air over the weekend. We'd like to see more of you both here. Bruce, I know what you mean about the rain, and where it is and isn't. We keep having flash flood warnings in parts of Texas while other parts are still having one of the worst droughts in a long time. Sara, I wish I could have seen you throw out the first pitch. That would have been awesome to watch. I hope you give us a good report on it. Time for me to get back to work. Hello to all those I missed. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 73 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 91. My commuting miles won't be very good this week. Yesterday was a holiday and I have doctor appointments both Thursday and Friday, so I'll only be riding to work today and tomorrow. Eric, if you're going to be tracking your weight, you can expect to see some fluctuations up and down. I weigh at the same time every day (it's part of my morning ritual when I first get up), then I average it for each week. That gives you a number that's more meaningful than just watching it jump up and down each day. There are lots of online places where you can record and track your weight. Some of them even have graphic tickers you can use in your signature in forums like this and such. The tickers show your starting weight, where you are now, and what your goal is. Stuff like that does help some people to stay motivated when they're trying to lose weight. I just record mine in the online cycling mileage log I use. Have a great day, all!

Good afternoon, everyone! It was 75 degrees when I got up this morning. It's 93 now. The wind is gusting to over 30 mph, just like it seems to have been doing every day this entire spring. I've never seen a spring this consistently windy. I went out and bought a window unit air conditioner Saturday evening. Rose and I had been threatening to get one for years. We've noticed from our occasional motel stays that we both like the steady hum of a nearby air conditioner. Ever since the kids left, we've considered getting a window unit and programming the thermostat for the rest of the house to let it get warmer at night. With our central unit down for a few days, this seemed like a good time to try one. Saturday evening, even with doors and windows open and fans running, it was 87 degrees in my living room. Eric, I forgot to answer your question about Lake Benbrook. Yes, it's the closest lake to me and yes, I do fish it some. But, it's a tough fishing lake with a lot of wide open water that gets really rough on windy days. I have a friend who knows it well, and I'm wanting to make some trips with him to learn it better, but it's been so windy that he hasn't been on the lake much this spring. I decided to just take a day off fighting the wind yesterday, and Rose and I stayed home, watched tv, and zombied out. This morning, I got up and went fishing at Lake Worth. Most of the fish I caught were small, and the wind made it a battle to fish. I still enjoyed the day. Lake Worth is another close lake, and I really haven't crappie fished it much. It's easier to fish on a really windy day than most spots I know, but it would be nice to catch more. It's back to the salt mine tomorrow. Have a great Memorial Day evening, all!

Katie, I had a strange happening when I tried to log in, too. My normal bookmark, which was set for http://www.lungevity.org/l_community/index.php, only took me to the main LUNGevity page. After I navigated my way from the main page to the forum, I noticed that "www." was missing from that old link. I went ahead and made the change in my bookmark, but maybe it was just a temporary routing issue somewhere.

Good afternoon, everyone! It was 73 degrees when I got up this morning. It's closing in on 100 degrees now. I did the Burleson Honey Tour ride this morning. The wind was brutal for the first part of the ride, then the hills slowed me coming back. I finished the ride with a 17.3 mph average, not that great for me for this route, a reminder that I'm still dragging around an extra five pounds. By the time I rode home it was almost noon. I was seriously hot and sweaty, so of course the air conditioner at home had died. It looks like I need a new compressor. If the compressor is still under warranty (iffy, it has to be close to five years old, the warranty length for a Carrier), it will be several days before I get that handled and get a new one. Maybe I'll go shop for a window unit this evening (at least the store would be air conditioned). I hadn't done one of these charity rides since last summer. They're fun, but different. I'm slower than most of the friends I ride with, but these rides end up with lots of riders who don't really ride that much, so I'm always one of the stronger riders. I did the 60 mile loop. The last 10 miles or so of that route is also the end of the 30 and 50 mile routes, so I was catching lots of the slower riders. There are always riders sitting under shade trees, and other riders walking their bikes up hills, especially on a hot day like this. There always seems to be lots of riders who are surprised to see an old guy on a recumbent passing them while climbing a hill. If they only knew...... Have a great day, all!

Congrats, Stephanie! Stable is great!

Good morning, everyone! It was 64 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 96, as our south wind returns. I'm planning on doing a charity ride tomorrow, the Burleson Honey Tour. It's only 5 or 6 miles from my house to the ride start, so I'll just ride to the start. I should have a LUNGevity cycling jersery to wear for these rides. Sara, that's way cool, getting to throw out the first pitch at a Royals game. I hope you feel better soon. Dawn, great to see you in the Air! I love a good summer 100 degree day, if I'm doing a bike ride or fishing. I can't say I'm quite as thrilled about working in this un-airconditioned machine shop on those days. I need to join Eric on the retirement roll call. KW Judy, we don't like to hear about pneumonia, but it's great to hear that you're getting better. Have a great Friday, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 58 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 83. It will indeed be a long weekend for me. Rose is working Monday, though, so it will probably just be fishing or riding for me on that day. She has five in-home patients now. She's going to have to stop cutting hair soon, I think. Sorry about your pool expense, Paulette. Maybe I'll gripe about my HOA dues a little less now; they do pay for our community pool. I'll bet your son will love doing that ride-along, Katie. I would have been thrilled to do it at that age. Sorry to hear about all your unexpected expenses, Lillian. I will start to get used to living on less in July, when I begin contributing the maximum allowed to my 401K for the rest of my working days. Riding the bike will help. I put a lot fewer miles on my truck these days, and stop at fewer stores. But I still have spending habits that will need to shrink before I retire. Bruce and Ginny, good to see you both in the Air. How many days a week do you golf, Ginny? Annette, it's supposed to get hot here soon, too. I'll enjoy 58 degree mornings like this morning while I can. Good luck at the doctor's office, KW Judy. Have a great day, all!

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Good morning, everyone! It was 71 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 92. We had lots of storms around yesterday evening. The storm sirens sounded in Crowley, but everything missed us to the north. It sounds like Oklahoma and Kansas got it worse than us. Did this round of storms miss you, Sara? Eric, before I bought a bicycle, I bought a stationary bike. I really had a hard time putting in much time on it. Even in front of a tv, it was seriously boring to me. Stephanie, glad you made it home ok. KW Judy, good luck with your doctor appointment tomorrow. Paulette, you probably kept me from being the oldest in DC.......LOL. But hey, considering the threat we've faced, I think we should brag about our age rather than be bothered by it. Have a great day, all!

Annette, glad your mother is better. Don't feel bad about the weekend. It was a no-win situation for you. If you had gone and your mother got worse, you would feel even lousier right now. We love your humor on your cheery days, but still want to hear from you in the Air on your tough days, too. I'm sending long distance hugs. Sara, welcome to the Air! I'm in north Texas and the weather radar I watch only shows as far north as south Kansas, but I have indeed seen lots of storms there lately. Sorry to hear about your storm damage. At least we're not having anything like Joplin, MO. It's hard to believe how bad this year's storms have been. We had a fierce thunderstorm here at noon yesterday, with lots of hail, but not a drop of rain fell at my house, just 12 miles to the south. Good luck with your chemo. I hope you have great success with it.

Good morning, everyone! It was 75 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 92. We still have a chance of storms today, then the rain is supposed to be over for a while. KW Judy, I think Stephanie spent the week in DC, ahead of the survivor event. I'm not sure if she's home yet or not. There weren't any age requirements for the event. We just didn't end up with any really old far...........err, I mean, elderly survivors. Lillian, yes, little dogs do have a tendency to get spoiled, and Pixie is no exception. I told Rose we should have named her Polly, the way she likes to sit on my shoulder like a parrot. Katie, I think Pixie would really look cute in a LUNGevity t-shirt. We should probably take her to this year's walk. It's too quiet in here. Where is everyone? It's really time we had some new posters in the Air to keep us regulars in line. Have a great day, all!

This actually has nothing to do with lung cancer, but I would think it could certainly end up finding a place among treatments for it. Here's a link to the article. For the first time, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have identified a human lung stem cell that is self-renewing and capable of forming and integrating multiple biological structures of the lung including bronchioles, alveoli and pulmonary vessels. This research is published in the May 12, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "This research describes, for the first time, a true human lung stem cell. The discovery of this stem cell has the potential to offer those who suffer from chronic lung diseases a totally novel treatment option by regenerating or repairing damaged areas of the lung," said Piero Anversa, MD, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and corresponding author. Using lung tissue from surgical samples, researchers identified and isolated the human lung stem cell and tested the functionality of the stem cell both in vitro and in vivo. Once the stem cell was isolated, researchers demonstrated in vitro that the cell was capable of dividing both into new stem cells and also into cells that would grow into various types of lung tissue. Next, researchers injected the stem cell into mice with damaged lungs. The injected stem cells differentiated into new bronchioles, alveoli and pulmonary vessel cells which not only formed new lung tissue, but also integrated structurally to the existing lung tissue in the mice. The researchers define this cell as truly "stem" because it fulfills the three categories necessary to fall under stem cell categorization: first, the cell renews itself; second, it forms into many different types of lung cells; and third, it is transmissible, meaning that after a mouse was injected with the stem cells and responded by generating new tissue, researchers were then able to isolate the stem cell in the treated mouse, and use that cell in a new mouse with the same results. "These are the critical first steps in developing clinical treatments for those with lung disease for which no therapies exist. Further research is needed, but we are excited about the impact this discovery could have on our ability to regenerate or recreate new lung tissues to replace damaged areas of the lungs," said Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Medicine at BWH and co-author.

Eric, Jerrold Dash is a rare lung cancer patient who ended up with transplanted lungs, and an even rarer lung cancer patient who's survived for years with transplanted lungs. You can read his blog here. He's not very active on the blog these days, but if you'll look at the early years on it, his story is there. Because of his unusual story, he also gets quite a bit of media attention. The most recent coverage I've seen is here. I'd already met Jerrold because he, like me, has been a survivor speaker at the DFW walk. Does anyone remember this photo of Pixie that I posted just a couple of weeks after we got her? It's been over a year since then, and she's grown a lot, but she still considers herself a shoulder dog. Here's what I usually look like when I'm on my computer.

Welcome, Heather! It's great to see you here and it was great meeting you in DC! I think you've done a great job of bouncing back from everything you've been through, and Judy is right. We need more young perspectives like yours around here, a reminder to everyone that lung cancer sometimes doesn't care about age.

Good morning, everyone! It was 73 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 89. It's humid and windy, with a chance of storms again. I really enjoyed the DC trip. It was great getting to meet people I know from here, as well as other survivors. I always enjoy seeing Jerrold Dash again, too. His story of survival with transplanted lungs is so incredible. Of course, there are lots of incredible stories to be heard from that group of survivors, and I really enjoyed visiting with everyone. It also gives you a great feeling about the future of LUNGevity, after learning more its workings and plans. I hope I get to participate in more things like this. Annette, we missed you, but understood that you needed to stay close to home. KW Judy, glad to hear you're out of the hospital, but sorry you had to bring oxygen along. I hope it's only for a short while. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It's 76 degrees outside right now. Forecast high is 83. It's windy and humid and storms are on their way. There will be no bike ride today. I'm headed for the airport in a little while. I had wanted to put in some extra miles on the way home yesterday, but my legs were tired, the wind was fierce, and there was a dishwasher at home waiting to be installed. So, I rode straight home, installed the dishwasher, and started packing. I couldn't seem to get my Indiana Jones hat in my suitcase without smashing it though, dangit. Oh well... Eric, bass boats have bow (front) mounted electric trolling motors. These can be either hand or foot steered motors (mine is foot control). They make precision boat positioning while you're fishing so easy that they helped revolutionize bass tournament fishing. They work great for crappie fishing, too. My boat's main battery that starts the outboard motor and runs the accessories is much like a car battery, but my boat also has two deep cycle batteries for the trolling motor, batteries that are bigger than most automotive batteries. Some of the largest bass boats actually have 36 volt trollling motors that are run by three batteries. Trolling motors take a beating, and the eight year old one that I'm retiring needed replaced. I was still fishing bass tournaments the first three years I used it. I should get better life out of this next motor, easier paced crappie fisherman that I am now. I hope your oxygen levels improve soon and you're able to escape the hospital, KW Judy. Well, it's off to the airport. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 71 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 86. It's another humid, cloudy, windy day, but the storms are supposed to hold off until tomorrow. It will be a tough ride home against the wind, though. I bought both a dishwasher and a trolling motor yesterday evening, and ended up getting a great deal on both. We went to a nearby Sears appliance showroom for the dishwasher, but ended up getting so aggravated at them that we left the salesman at the cash register and drove down the block to a Best Buy. There, we found a demo model of the exact same dishwasher for $60 less, and there were no insurmountable delivery problems; we loaded it in the truck and took it home then. I had found the trolling motor on craigslist. It turned out to belong to a guy who does an area television fishing show. He pulled it off his brand new boat, replacing it with larger trolling motor. So it was brand new, but I bought it for less than half of what a new one would cost. Now I have some installations to do. Have a great day, all!