The world has changed...

OK, now on to the small and large changes that have happened over the last few weeks.

As you all likely have experienced, the world is not what it used to be - since COVID-19 took hold. The first real change for me was that in-person classes at the university were cancelled on Friday the 13th. I had planned to stay home on the Friday (no classes that day), but I am kind of annoyed that I didn't get to fully enjoy the realization that I had taught my last class (potentially forever). One other annoyance was the fact that Wendy and I were planning to go on a trip once classes ended. This was to be just the two of us, potentially to Ireland, mostly to relax and see somewhere we have never been. We want to travel before I can't travel any more. Well, it appears the whole world has stopped travelling for now.

Thanks world, I am most definitely NOT impressed.

One small change for me is that I bought some new glasses. My old ones had a scratch that irritated me. Normally, it takes me weeks to narrow down the choices before I select the right ones. This time it was different. Wendy and I went to a place in Ancaster (Hanley's) and it took us barely a few minutes to find the right ones! No comparison shopping needed. These glasses fit all my requirements except the price, but since these are likely my last pair, why not splurge a little? Other than having a wider area of prescription in the middle to see through (don't have to turn my head as much to see clearly), I think they are cool because the arms are mounted sideways. All I can see when they are on and I look to the side is a very narrow strip of titanium instead of a wide arm. Much less distracting. Another cool feature is that the frame around the lenses is actually semi-transparent. Odd, but fun in a strange way.

Picked these glasses up on Friday the 13th

I also went to the grocery store one last time as the beginnings of hoarding started around here. Couldn't find toilet paper or hand sanitizer (the hoarding items of choice), but I did find these interesting cereals.

Wendy decided to do some more cooking (unusual in itself, as many of you know). She has been getting more into making food when I am not so interesting in cooking. That seems to have been happening a lot lately, although this was partly due to the difficulties that I have had with swallowing as a result of the radiation I had in February. My appetite and desire to cook has improved slowly over the past month.

The COVID-19 restrictions really hit home, and so did the whole family. Adam returned from North Bay for his reading week, Parker's in-person classes ended, Wendy started working from home, and Sally's experiments slowed down then stopped and she started working at home. Our evenings have included watching the news (there is only one story on, all day long!), playing Canasta, etc.

I have had some time to clean up my stained glass area and I re-engaged with the big project I have been working on (dragging my feet on...) for several years. I want to get this one done while I have the energy to do it. It is a custom-created northern Ontario scene (64" wide, but likely will be split into two panels).

We also taught Sally how to play Mahjong! It was actually quite fun to play and a little easier than Canasta.

As for my work, I have now become a virtual professor. In the past two weeks I have quickly learned how to use Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, Google Hangouts, and Zoom. I spend quite a bit of my time staring into a webcam. It isn't the same as sitting in a room with my students, but it is all we can do right now. Since I am at quite a high risk of getting COVID-19 (I have a few pre-existing health conditions), I am sticking at home as much as I can.

One exception to staying indoors is for Wendy and I to take Maddy for a walk. I suspect that what is really happening is that Wendy is taking her husband for a walk. Increased restrictions have even closed the local playground and the nearby rail trail. Can't even go hiking as the nice weather starts to become more frequent.

Wendy had to cancel the monthly cleaning crew that comes to the house, and she moved her piano lessons to a web meeting. Here she is with her piano teacher - on her iPad, which is hanging off the cardboard box on the chair where the teacher usually sits, weighted down by old anatomy books. Hey, it works!

Yesterday (March 27th), our crocuses bloomed and made it unmistakable that spring is now here. Too bad we can't fully enjoy it.

Another thing that happened yesterday was that I received the report and images from the MRI that I had on Tuesday this week. Aside from the risk of going out in public and going to a hospital during a pandemic, the scan was worth it. As an aside, there was lots of parking at the hospital and it was almost deserted inside once I got through the screening at the door.

The MRI report suggests that there has been no major changes since the last time I had imaging done. I seem to have healed well from the radiation damage to the top of my lungs, but the images show that I still have radiation-induced inflammation (likely) around my esophagus, which would explain why I continue to have difficulty swallowing. I will have a CT scan in mid April to check again, but it is clear that we have made considerable progress in regards to the tumour in my neck. Just for fun, I have included one image from the MRI series (I have access online). I chose this image mostly because I thought looked relatively easy to interpret (nose to the left, you may be able to figure out what most of the structures are). You may be able to see that there is no massive tumour taking over my neck. I call that progress. (Wendy says she likes my cerebellum...)

For those interested in the details, this is a sagittal T2-weighted image.

Aside from the few minor changes mentioned above, things are pretty much normal around here. 😉