Our Salish Aire: Cancer therapy in Seattle

June 1, 2020

Hmmm a bad pattern is developing when I notice my goal of a once a month post to the blog keeps slipping and each post begins with a “gee, it’s been a long time since I posted note”. Let’s just start with a summary note and then we’ll go back and cover each topic in detail. First we loved our time in Moss Landing (despite a minor pandemic) where I started my cancer treatment and then we had a glass-smooth sail up the coast to Washington and finally we are currently nestled in Elliot Bay Marina in Seattle while I get my daily radiation zapping and, Oh! we bought a brand new truck and camping trailer.

So back to Moss Landing in California where we arrived about the time the Covid-19 pandemic was really starting to clarify that it planned to dominate the history of the world if something wasn’t done and soon. The something that was done was to tell pretty much everyone in the country to stay home so that we humans could slow the spread of the virus long enough for our medical systems and pretty much every other system could catch up. Being in California (where they seem to do everything in excess – example: I dare you to spend a single day without seeing a notification that something is “known by the State of California to cause cancer” (although I didn’t see any stickers on the redwood trees –yet!)) we got daily notices via the emergency broadcast network on our cellphones telling us to stay home. Driving up the coast (when you live on a boat your home is where you are so if you are in your car you are home – right?) state beaches were all closed (which made walking to the beach near the boat a delight with no cars on the entry road so Jarvis got some off-leash time) but county beaches were open in the county where we were with plenty of signs reminding folks to use “social distancing” to help slow the spread of the virus. Since you couldn’t park in any of the park parking lots folks parked on the roads and walked into the parks (which was allowed) until we got closer to Half Moon Bay south of San Francisco and there the County had coned off every pull out along the highway and the police were out in force writing tickets. A big problem was that the State of California had decided that a pandemic makes people not need to rest or pee. Truckers pulled off where they could to get legally and physiologically mandated breaks and redwood trees hid folks trying to empty bladders with some privacy. That said, I am grateful that the west coast governors jumped in and did the best they could think of in the face of a huge unknown as it has become apparent that it worked (or at least has worked so far). We are not seeing the bodies stacked like cord-wood such as we see on TV from Italy and The Bronx but instead my inside sources tell me the hospitals are running with plenty of beds available and the Covid case numbers have been kept to a dull roar. Hopefully there will be a really good review of what was done and what could have been done and notes will be kept for the next pandemic. That review may come to the conclusion that we did way more than needed (and could have had a lot less economic devastation) or that every action taken was appropriate. In any case only time will tell how this whole pandemic thing plays out. (As of this writing here in Washington, restaurants are serving food to-go and are working on making plans for opening dining rooms to limited customers, parks are open for day use (and overnight camping as of today) and in general folks are out and about but using masks and social distancing as each person deems appropriate.)

Enough said about the pandemic except to remind future readers that at this moment in history it is a big deal that is ever-present in our daily lives affecting everything from walks in the park, to shopping, to going to church (not yet – we still attend on-line) and politics.

Back to Moss Landing and California. While the state was in lockdown our movements by private car were not challenged. Since we had never really visited Central California before we would often load Jarvis and a picnic in the Prius and head out to explore a new direction. On several occasions we visited smaller redwood parks and loved the solitude. We drove up to Half-Moon Bay to see what the marina and anchorage looked like in case we decided to harbor hop all of the way back to Puget Sound. We drove down the central valley and started to understand how much of our nation’s food supply comes from this part of the world. We visited the amazing sand dunes and beaches of Monterey Bay (we never did feel ready to go diving after my sepsis caused me concern about my lung health). In general we really got to appreciate how varied the landscape is from one end of the state to the other when we finally really checked out the middle where we had only rushed through on past visits.

Looking out over Elkhorn Slough (AKA Moss Landing Estuary)

Kayaking with the sea otters in Elkhorn Slough

Jarvis checking out the wildlife in Elkhorn Slough

Sea otters frolicking in Elkhorn Slough

Visiting the coast redwoods

We drove the coast highways and had beaches to ourselves

We both loved the colors of the ice plant flowers

Clarice was elated to learn we were in the "Artichoke Center of The World"

Yes, the artichoke plants were almost as tall as The Woman Who Loves Artichokes

We saw signs for Pinnacles National Park so we drove up to the back gate
(closed because of the pandemic) and this is what we saw after a lovely drive.

Selfie along the Big Sur coast.

Clarice, Norman, Jeremy and Jarvis Gregory on Gregory Way in Beverly Hills.

On our arrival in Moss Landing, Clarice noted that there was a marine work yard about a mile from us and that the weather was such this far south that we could potentially get our needed haul-out done several months earlier than in Puget Sound. Since we were expecting to stay in Moss Landing until at least April it made good sense if the yard could accommodate us. The yard was able to operate fully 2 days a week despite the Covid-19 restrictions so they hauled us on one Tuesday and splashed us 7 days later. They had a funny (to us) quirk in their pricing in that if you brought your own paint in they would add $100/gallon to cover the lost revenue to them. Since the paint was on special in Washington we bought the 5 gallons we would need and expected it to be a savings despite the $100 surcharge. Once we hauled out we offered that we would hire their crew to prep the bottom of the boat (a job we really don’t like to do) if they would waive the paint fee – they agreed and we were happy to watch a young man do a very nice job while we got other work done. In the end the total fees were less than we had budgeted for. While the boat was out we painted the bottom, did some work that required pulling the wing engine shaft, and changed out covers over our through-hull fittings to a type we can open under water. We stayed on the boat while it was in the yard and were happy that we had gotten everything we needed to done and wouldn’t have to take “valuable” good weather time up north.

Salish Aire showing off her new bottom paint

In the last post we wrote about our very challenging ride north to Moss Landing from Puerto Vallarta. We had been advised to sit tight and stay south of Point Medocino California (a bit north of San Francisco) until April when we were likely to get a break in the weather along the west coast. Every day we would pull down weather charts for the Pacific Ocean and no matter what the general trend there were be a localized patch of ugly weather from just north of us up to just past Point Medocino. We watched storm after storm track across from Asia and then finally we saw the fabled Pacific High Pressure zone start to form for the summer over the northern Pacific which then started to push the storms north to BC Canada and beyond. We looked at several options for harbor hopping if we could just get past Point Medocino then we could duck into Humbolt Bay and wait for an opening from there north. That was the plan until we saw a pattern develop that suggested we might be able to make it all of the way from Moss Landing to Port Angelas Washington in a single run if the forecasts held true. This raised the question of how long we were willing to be at sea with just the two of us. Our previous record was 3 days and we were exhausted on our final day. Going the full distance would require 5 nights and 6 days at sea without stopping. April 16^th arrived with low clouds and light winds and we left Moss Landing looking to make a night passing of The Point when winds should be lightest. The weather improved every day until when we got to our no-go (stop in Humbolt Bay) or go-for-it decision point. We both agreed that we might not see quite this good of an opening for some time so we adjusted our course from near coast (where there are commonly some favorable currents and more favorable winds in the area of San Francisco) to a straight line to Cape Flattery, Washington. It was like Poseidon had decided that we needed to be reminded of why it can be fun to be at sea as the winds abated further every day and the seas got smoother until when we turned the corner into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on April 20^th the water was so smooth that we could see the surface easily with just starlight to guide us. We caught a very favorable tide into the Strait and were kept awake through the night with more boat traffic than we had seen since San Francisco arriving at the dock at Port Angeles at 07:30 the next morning.

As we approached the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca about 9 PM
(The mountains in the distance are on Vancouver Island in Canada)

Taking Jarvis for a bike ride to a little pocket park in Everett, Wa

On our way to Seattle we took a side trip to Liberty Bay (AKA Poulsbo)
where we anchored next to Nordhavn 62 "Roxia"

Seattle from Elliott Bay Marina

So here’s the update on the “cancer thing”: If there is a good thing about the Covid-19 restrictions it is that it has made doctors’ offices very un-busy. I contacted my Kaiser radiation oncology department in Seattle and let them know that I expected to be available to start radiation sooner than we had previously indicated as a boating rendezvous previously planned had been cancelled. Their office indicated that the Radiation Oncologist wanted me to weaken the cancer cells with two anti-androgen drugs for at least a month prior to starting radiation. I offered to contact a Kaiser doctor locally and see if he or she would start the therapy under the Seattle guidance and was given a go ahead but told due to the separation of Kaiser Puget Sound and Kaiser Northern California this hadn’t worked well in the past. A few phone calls later and I was scheduled to get my liver lab test checked that very afternoon and an injection (good for 4 months) and pills the next morning. After leaving Port Angeles we moved into some good friends’ slip in Everett very near where we had moored for the first 3 years we lived on Salish Aire. Further planning with the radiation oncology department indicated we would start the process of getting radiation on May 18^th so shortly before that date we moved south to Seattle where we had been graciously offered an open slip for a very reasonable price by the Seattle Nordhavn dealer. Today I completed #5 of 20 radiation sessions and we expect to stay here in Elliot Bay until my therapy is completed at which time we have arranged for a slip in Olympia at the southern tip of the Salish Sea.

The huge machine that zaps me every morning with high energy xrays.

To end the blog entry on a more upbeat note, we have purchased a truck and trailer so that we can chase the sun during the northwest winters. The truck is a ½ ton diesel Ford pickup with plenty of room for dog and grandkids to ride and it pulls the trailer easily. The trailer is a 2004 Airstream 25 ft that we felt we got at a very good price. We have spent the past two weekends fixing up the trailer while camping in my sister’s back yard and grandson’s mother’s mountain property. In general the trailer has provided an excellent diversion while we are pretty much stuck on the dock and I am physically dragging with the radiation therapy sessions.