Trying Again

Apparently I am not a very good blogger.... way too long since I last updated. It's not that I don't think about posting.. I "write" lots of posts in my head, just never put them in my text box.

Here goes:

Things my Mom taught me (part 1):

Nearly everything I know about baseball I learned from my mom- Mom was a diehard Baltimore Orioles fan. We started following the Birds from Spring exhibition games on the radio. To this day I believe baseball play-by-play is better on the radio then watching a game on TV. My Orioles were Boog Powell at first base, Davey Johnson at 2nd, Mark Belanger at shortstop and Brook Robinson at third. Frank Robinson, Paul Blair and Don Buford in the outfield and Andy Etchebarren and Elrod Hendricks catching one amazing pitching staff that included Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally (who along with Pat Dobson made for four 20 game winners in the '71 regular season. Three years straight (69, 70 and 71) the O's were in the World Series- Losing to the Mets, beating the Reds and losing to the Pirates. I remember going out into our yard and crying after the the O's lost in '71.

A year or so later a big envelope addressed to me arrived in the mail- it was an autographed picture of Boog Powell- " to Stephanie, good luck to you and your Denton Demons softball team- John "Boog" Powell -Mom met Joe Hamper an executive with the Orioles at party at a neighbors and told him about her daughter who played first base and idolized Boog Powell.

I played first base from 4th grade to high school to college and womens fast pitch leagues. Now that I'm over 50 I've settled for intramural slow pitch... still playing first base.

Mayan Astronomy

IMG_1858
Originally uploaded by geosteph

Our trip to Chichen Itza was one of the highlights of our Cancun vacation. The temples, the athletic stadiums and carvings reflected the Mayans the brutality of the civilization as well as their fascination with the heavens and the night sky. This is a photo of a large Mayan observatory at Chichen Itza. The Mayans documented solar cycles, lunar cycles and tracked the movement of the stars and planets.

The world of what if?

I am not the most regular blogger...

In December my mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 gastric cancer. She is an amazingly active and vibrant 70 year old-- working at a day care center, gardening, always busy, and seemingly very healthy. Or not as it turns out. After several test and procedures to determine the primary tumor, her oncologists (at Hopkins and Easton Memorial Hospital) decided on a course of chemotherapy. She began chemo in February. The results were good... her cancer indicators fell and her tumors shrank. She was able to maintain a healthy weight and a positive outlook.

Then the cancer became resistant to the poison designed to kill it. Now she is on new chemo, more toxic than the last-- causing neuropathy in her hands, legs and feet. One of the tumors/swollen lymph nodes is pushing against her kidney- causing the kidney to swell.

On Friday I went to see the urologist with her. He was great. Explained the two options for dealing with the time that the kidney could become blocked. Discussed the pros and cons of each option and assured mom that now was not the time for either. Time now to see if the new chemo will shrink the tumors and relieve the pressure.

During the discussion, mom explained to the urologist how her cancer was discovered. She explained that in 2007 she had her gall bladder removed. And a couple of year latter, she started vomiting from time to time for no apparent reason. Her primary care provider noticed a knot in her abdomen and diagnosed a hernia -- probably the result of the gall bladder surgery. The the "hernia" has actually a tumor-

And the the "what if" ... The urologist asked if the gall bladder was tested? He said there is a rare form of cancer related to the gall bladder --- he was concerned. And mom and I wonder if the tests were done and if this could have been caught and treated early.