Old Friends

Ann and Jim have been friends for ages.We don't get together often enough, but when we do it's non-stop catching up and planning ahead. Jim has become a wonderful photographer and we spent a pleasant evening looking at his current landscapes from around the high mountains and lakes where they live in Colorado. We also looked at photos from backpacking trips going back many years. Many memories were evoked and discussed. 

Ann is a historian and teaches History at the University of Oklahoma so they also have a house in the flatlands of Norman Oklahoma where Ann lives most of the academic year. We were talking about our parent's histories and education and on all the unanswered questions we had about relatives who are no longer with us to be asked questions. She commented that some things can never be answered but some research might reveal some other answers. We made a date to meet on Zoom and do some research together next month.

On a less salubrious note, I feel that my journey through dermatology land is becoming more tortuous as I try to assert myself more about my treatment. I'm trying to get down the outlines of what has developed just for my own record. I wasn't at all happy with having to wait a month to have this aggressive carcinoma on my elbow excised so I called and left a message on Monday about getting it moved up somehow. They didn't call back so I called again yesterday and said that anybody who could do it sooner would be ok with me. They gave me an appointment with a Dr Abboud on May 30th. Today as we were sitting in Trail House with Jim and Ann they called me back and said because it was so big (something I had been pointing out to them all along, although I'm sure the biopsy provides a record) Dr. Abboud didn't want to do it and referred me to Dr Peng, the wonder boy MOHS specialist with the red sneakers. I now have an appointment with him on June 3rd. I'm not excited about going and sitting around their dreary waiting room with a bunch of other people all with temporary bandages awaiting word of whether they have to go back for another pass, but it's probably the right decision because it's a more controlled surgery. 

I can't help noting that Agent Orange and the Federal government, to whom we have recently and very grudgingly sent a rather large sum of money in taxes has just retroactively withdrawn several large fire suppression grants awarded to the state of California between 2020 and 2023.

The weather continues warm and just about perfect. I think it's wine time.