Wednesday 9-27-2006

Well, I equalled my record from the previous week with 6 trips to the bathroom during the night. Between breathing, sweating, and peeing I dropped about 8 pounds of water down to about 165. I got up with Eva and ate my Cheerios as she drank her coffee. It has been a bit of a reversal in the morning. When I was working I would just give her a kiss while she was sleeping and then be out the door with my Eggos. When I started chemo, she would kiss me just as I was getting up on her way out the door. And since I have been on the roids, we sort of get up and have a bit of time together (if I am not up 2 hours earlier).

It was my father's day off so he headed up to the apartment. We were thinking about a hike or a museum but then I remembered an outing Eva and my father went on while I was working that sounded like fun. We went horseback riding in Griffith park. It was a blast. My father brought a couple of hats up to get into it a bit. One of us got to be the cowboy, the other one got the be the lifeguard. Yes, we are a couple of dorky guys. We went out of Sunset ranch, which is just below the Hollywood sign, and ended up riding all the way to the top of Mount Hollywood. When we got to the ranch we sort of chatted it up with one of the hands and while we were signing the waivers we saw the young woman who we thought was going to be our guide. This young blond strolled over in a halter top with a semi transparent leopard print covering and facial piercings that matched the jewelry she had woven into some curls of her hair (just for the record, she was cute but Eva had her hands down). She sort of changed the idea of the horseback adventure I had preconceived in my mind. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she was unable to guide that day as she had to go to court to contest a jaywalking ticket (yes, jaywalking, and yes, she was inside the lines, the cop's story was that the "don't walk" hand had already appeared before she entered the street) .

Here is a shot of my Father and me at the top of Mount Hollywood.

Our guide ended up being her boyfriend, Kevin. He was a nice guy, from Milwaukee, worked on computers until his laptop was stolen out of his car (welcome to LA), and has been riding since about February. He really was a good guide except for when I gave him my camera to take a few shots of my dad and me, he seemed to be more interested capturing the hills and ravens. The noble steed my father was riding was named Blue, and my ride was Shakespeare. It was warm on the trails but there was a breeze in the hills and it was just a lot of fun to be on a horse. From the top of Mount Hollywood you could see Downtown, Westwood, and Burbank back in the valley. It was a little hazy but we still enjoyed the view.

My dad and I had a good time trying to photo each other and it added a little excitement to the ride. I got a shot of him "riding wild" and then I handed off the camera. My dad kept trying to get in front of me to get more than just a horse's ass but Shakespeare would not let Blue by. He kept boxing him out. As Blue would speed up, Shakespeare would just pick it up, too. Eventually, Shakespeare was distracted and Blue got by. Obviously, my father and I are expert wranglers. I feel that Shakespeare and I sort had an understanding. He knew the way, I was OK with the way, I would nudge him a bit here and there, and he kept it mellow. I had not been on a horse in probably 10 years but felt pretty comfortable by the end. It was pretty fun when he got up to a trot as he was boxing blue out. It still amazes me that we went horseback riding in the hills adjacent to a city of 3 million people. The learning curve in LA can be pretty steep, but with a little effort, you can do almost anything here. Here is one of the many shots of the horse's ass. Giddy-up.

After the ride, we got In'N'Out and my dad dropped me back at the apartment. It was just a wonderful time with my father. I hung out the rest of the afternoon and ended up crashing at about 7pm on the couch. At 9:30pm I got up for my last 2 Xelolda before my week off (Xeloda/5Fu is sort of in its own 3 week on, 1 week off cycle) and ate a little dinner. The day after went pretty well. There were some moments with a little nausea but I still got a fair amount of food down. I have not crapped in a couple days but am just glad that there has not been any diarrhea (which can mean bad things).

A little after 10, Eva and I heard a chopper outside that was sticking around a little longer than the usual drop off at Cedars. We went up to the roof and saw the police helicopter with the spotlight shining down on the streets within the hospital complex. There were a bunch of cop cars blocking off the streets, too. After a few minutes the chopper took off west and the cars all followed. We went down and watched the conclusion of the chase on the news. It was quite the LA experience for Eva as this sort of thing is a little rare in Switzerland.

-TN