May 12th – Now that the weather has become hotter, the frogs have invaded our uncovered pool and they are insanely loud the entire night. I can’t sleep without earplugs. Spectrum is also being difficult in terms of customer service. Typical ISP company. A lot more decluttering of my old clothes that mom wanted to keep for Wilton (she seems to have a hoarding problem).
May 13th – Dr. Peereboom called today to discuss the possibility of progression appearing on his most recent MRI. We will hold off on starting the clinical trial shot and wait two more weeks for another MRI to confirm whether it is pseudo-progression (imaging artifacts or inflammation from radiation treatment) or real progression. I spend most of the day researching 2022 fall classes and thinking about a potential thesis topic, and I then spent the evening with a high school friend cooking some Korean BBQ. It was definitely good, but the stuff at home is on another level, since my great uncle honestly could start his own restaurant with his skills.
May 14th – Dad started feeling more of a headache and nausea today, which wasn’t better after an afternoon nap. Pain maybe level 2 of 10. It could be either because he spent too much time outside doing yard work yesterday or because he stopped dexamethasone (a steroid) on Thursday. Everyone’s nerves are on edge after what happened previously, and we’re prepared to go to the ER tomorrow. Unfortunate that it’s still the weekend. Today was the DSO spring concert—congrats Kimberly and all!
May 15th – We got some dexamethasone in the morning and after he ate it at lunch and had an afternoon nap, he was back to normal—in fact, normal enough to drag me out to learn how to change the disk rotors and brake pads for my mom’s car. We also set up new internet today with a monthly discount courtesy of the Affordable Connectivity Program. Full lunar eclipse tonight and I got to take a picture!
May 16th – My piano tuner came in today for a long overdue tuning. I also work on fixing some tool batteries my dad says no longer charge correctly. At $200 a pack, it’s certainly worth my time to do so.
May 17th – Really putting my engineering degree to use today, since I spent a lot of time successfully fixing another busted $100 battery pack. (In this battery project journey, I’ve truly discovered how dedicated some people can be towards such niche applications, and I truly appreciate that level of enthusiasm since without it, there’s no way I would’ve been able to fix mine!) My great aunt dropped her last pair of glasses today and we’ll need to help her get her first eye exam in the US tomorrow.
May 18th – Dad feels more tired than normal in the evening, presumably from his landscaping endeavors. Wilton forgot that he didn’t have chamber rehearsal after school today and subsequently forgot to ride the bus this afternoon, so I had to go pick him up.
May 19th – After finding the cause of his recent headaches, the doctor prescribed dad another 30 days of dexamethasone. In other news, I’ve now fixed two tool batteries that my dad’s given me this past week, with one more to go! There’s truly something satisfying about hacking Dyson’s battery management PCB to beat the planned obsolescence built into it to save up to $400 from going in the landfill. Even though my dad’s medical issues are still the most pressing matter, my mom’s never been in the best of health either, since she has complained about multiple health issues over the years which have progressively worsened. As such, she also went to Cleveland today to get a lung CT scan and some groceries from our Asian market. Another unfortunate piece of news came this morning when I received a call from the water inspector with the full report for our water quality test. Needless to say, I was a little shocked and upset when he told me that the level of arsenic was found to be 14μg/L, which exceeded the EPA guideline of <10μg/L. The problem isn’t that we found arsenic in the water, as groundwater in this part of the U.S. has naturally occurring arsenic, but the worst part is that we’ve been drinking the water since we moved to our house in December 2014, and it’s probably known to most that arsenic is a carcinogen. This is why you don’t cheap out on things like this—if your house uses well water and you’re not already doing annual testing, you should probably start. (Municipal water systems already have testing regulations in place and the reports are usually always public).
May 20th – Wilton finished his semester of chamber music with his final concert this evening:
May 21st – Dad cut his finger while sharpening the chainsaw, and because of the blood thinner, it took a lot longer to clot than usual. We also went to a barbeque with family friends this evening. Sucks without people my age there, so of course I took the opportunity to get some practice in (thank god for asian families always having a piano in the house amirite).
May 22nd – Instead of opting for a home water treatment system, we’re just going to get a water cooler and buy water jugs. Arsenic is only dangerous when ingested and can’t be absorbed through the skin, meaning that bathing, washing, and other uses besides drinking and cooking are fine. Plus, we get rid of the possibility of other untested contaminants in our well water when we opt for water jugs. It’s not any extra hassle beyond remembering to bring our jug with us when we go to the store. Also funnily enough, I found a research article written by Dartmouth faculty while looking at potential treatment options.
May 23rd – Had lunch with another close HS friend, Yuhan, who I just found out was going to Korea next Wednesday, and the last time I saw him was before I left for college, so of course we had to catch up a long while. Too bad the restaurant we originally planned on going to was closed during their listed opening hours. As part of my gardening responsibilities, I have to trap chipmunks that eat our plants. Caught 3 today.
May 24th – Another thing I’ve learned I won’t miss is mowing the lawn. Imagine spending so much time and energy keeping such a pristine grassy lawn only for it to grow back to knee height filled with weeds in three weeks. Repeat ad nauseum. Regardless, I was still coerced into whacking weeds with an ever-shrinking high-velocity string-twirler (weedwhacker) and mowing the lawn while balancing the mower precariously next to our backyard pond. Nevertheless, I succeeded in not killing myself or any of the equipment I was using for my first time doing so.
May 25th – Another day spent in Cleveland. With an MRI in the morning and a doctor’s visit in the afternoon, it doesn’t make sense to go back home in the two hours of spare time we have, so we opted for some lakefront views instead. Medically speaking, his most recent MRI comes back stable and looking positive, according to Dr. Peereboom, meaning that we’ll go ahead with the clinical trial as planned. I came back to pick up an old hobby for the first time in a few years.
May 26th – I took him to see our new family doctor today after we switched insurances and our old doctor was no longer available. It’s important to establish consistent relations with them as stuff like filling prescriptions and general health concerns can all go through them instead of always going through a specialist. We plan to taper him off of dexamethasone, the steroid he’s been taking since the surgery back in February (since it interferes with immune responses and there are other painkillers available which don’t do so—it’s necessary for the clinical trial which is an immunotherapy after all). The headaches he experienced back on May 18th were apparently withdrawal symptoms, not anything related to what the dexamethasone was doing.
May 27th – I spent the day with high school friends, as most of them are back visiting family before they’re off to their miscellaneous summer adventures. Enjoy assorted food pics (not all from today) below:
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column] [/et_pb_row] [/et_pb_section]
nice eggos!!
yaaaaaa we found that storebought pastry sheets are pretty good too