October - a productive month

I was home for one week after my return from NIH. The chemo - Velcade, twice a week for two weeks and one week off - kept me pretty much home-based. But I still managed to get in some flying: a day trip to a fly-in at Wenatchee, WA, some instrument practice, and my FAA required biennial Flight Review.
On the 12th Mary Catherine and I flew (Airlines) to Oakland. We stayed in Berkeley with Peter and Patty (the friends whose daughter had the Ethiopian wedding last month), while I attended the ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) annual meeting in SF. Had a nice sunset bicycle ride in the Berkeley hills with Peter. MC had a successful Trunk Show of her jewelry attended by 16 of Patty's friends. We had a couple of interesting dining experiences: Incanto's, featuring "local and seasonal food" and whose chef had recently competed on the Iron Chef TV show, and Addis, an Ethiopian restaurant - with the newly weds.
Home for four days and then off to Sun Valley for a one week Locums assignment. Fall is supposed to be "Slack Time" there, but it was busy in the OR! Enjoyed the daily commute via their bike trail on the folding bike I travel with; sunny, crisp high dessert air! Had a superb dinner with our former Sandpoint friends, the Kittleson's.
It was nice having the weekend at home between my one week assignments. Caught the tail end of Bram's visit. Got in some good hiking with him. Sarah's fiance, Ethan was also in town, and I took him and a friend for a scenic Fall flight. Then off to Auburn, WA for the second week of work. Despite a busy OR schedule I was able to squeeze in the first two doses of my 2nd chemo cycle at a local Oncology clinic. Fortunately I tolerate Velcade well, and it doesn't interfere with my work.
Midweek I got the results of the lab drawn at the end of the first cycle. The IgA had dropped from 690 to 486. Moving in the right direction, but not as dramatic a drop as we saw back in 2006. So, as previously planned, the steroid, decadron, was added as a single dose on the days I receive the Velcade. I'm not having any significant side effects from that either. The next lab will be when I return to NIH December 3rd.
If you ever listen to "This American Life" on NPR, they recently (October 12th) re-broadcasted a remarkable show #218 from 2002 titled "Act V" documenting the redemptive effects of drama - specifically violent convicts performing Hamlet in prison! An amazing piece, well worth downloading from their archives. http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx#10