Sliced, Diced, Pumped & Shot

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

11/4/23

 

Aloha Ohana ---

 

Karen's Mohs surgery on Oahu went very well. As you probably know, this technique involves removing the offending cancerous thingy, then immediately examining it carefully to see if all of the nastiness has been removed.  If not, more "slicing & dicing" (my attempt at a dark humorous way to refer to surgery) is performed right then.  Karen was lucky and the surgeon got it all in one slice.  There were people in the waiting room, though, who were up to four rounds of this -- each time requires waiting for a half hour or so for the tissue examination. The surgeon advised Karen against stitches because the skin on her leg is too thin to hold them, so the quarter-sized hole is open at the moment.  She's supposed to keep the initial bandage on for a week (!) before changing it and applying two kinds of antibiotic. No pool time for a couple of weeks.

 

It was interesting to travel the way we did.  No luggage -- I used my backpack and Karen used a large purse.  We had our boarding passes in our phones, so we headed right through TSA and to the gate, then didn't have to fight for overhead bin space because our stuff fit beneath the seats in front of us.  When we

Our Outfits for Ethiopia

got to Honolulu, we walked out the terminal door and within a few minutes caught the bus to Waikiki, which went right by our hotel.  The next morning we took an Uber to the doctor's office, and another one afterwards to the upscale Ala Moana Shopping Center, where we had lunch and spent the afternoon shopping until it was time to take the bus (which stops right at the mall) back to the airport for our return flight.  Since we were only gone about a day, we drove ourselves to the airport and parked in the long term lot, which in Kona is an easy walk from the terminal. Whole trip was 36 hours, max.  We enjoyed seeing Honolulu and Waikiki.  It's been several years since we were there and we were impressed by infrastructure improvements and by some of the striking architecture in the downtown and Waikiki areas.  Plenty of tourists, but it didn't seem overrun.

No golf this week, partly because of Karen's surgery, but also because she hosted a book club meeting yesterday which involved a fair amount of cleaning and house prep.  However, on Thursday we went to Planet Fitness for a full workout.  I even upped my weights slightly and increased my reps on some of the machines.  I was particularly focused on the back and core muscles.  There are about four machines that target these muscles in different ways.  My sacroiliac problem seems to be waning at the moment, but I figured the exercise was still a good idea.  We rewarded ourselves with a Vietnamese Lemon Grass Chicken sandwich on the beach.

Today we have appointments to get the latest Covid/Flu vaccinations.  I decided to do the combo and get it over with.  Some friends who have had the shots experienced pretty vigorous reactions, so I anticipate some down time later today and tomorrow.  We'll see.

Ok, that's it from here for the week.  Enjoy what's left of your good weather, and get set for the holiday merchandising blitz.