What's All the BrewHaHa?

If Karen put the photo up, you are looking at her cooling her wort. Today she brewed her first batch of beer, a cream ale. What she is doing in the photo is stirring the wort(hot beer)while it is in the snowbank. The trick is to cool it quickly. We hit upon the trick of dropping a bag of ice in the wort while it is in the snow and it seems to work pretty well. We'll have a better idea of how well it worked in a couple of weeks when we get to taste the Irish Stout that we bottled yesterday. Waiting is difficult. With two cases waiting in one closet and 5 gallons working in the other I guess we are closet brewers.

BrewHaHa is also a tongue in cheek reference to the brouhaha we have gone through with oncologists of late. Friday we journeyed to Fargo to me with Dr. Gross, the oncologist who will be overseeing what is left of my chemo treatments; and maybe the follow-up as well. We learned more from him in a few minutes than we learned from Dr. S., in the past six months.

First of all, Dr. Gross read my file. He told me I could be considered "cured" because of the great response we got from the chemo/radiation that I went through this past summer. "Cured". That has a damn fine ring to it. Between the treatments and my surgery I am cured.

When we touched on side effects, especially the acne-like skin problems he said, "Oh yeah, that's the 5 FU". What? I always felt that my chemo was the cause because I didn't have the bad skin till chemo started but Dr. Gross said that was the cause. Dr. S. just wanted to refer me to a dermatologist.

We addressed the lack of my libido(what a word) and Dr. Gross said the chemo I am getting lowers my testosterone. That goes a long way to explaining things to us and gives us reassurance and hope that when I am done with chemo and this stuff clears my system, I will be returning to my old self. I should get more energy, regain muscle mass and chase Karen around all the time.

Another interesting thing Dr. Gross told us is that apparently Dr. S has a history of not doing well when his authority is challenged. Dr. S has "fired" patients who buck him. I am glad we beat him to the punch and got rid of him first. Karen and I will probably be sending Roger Maris and Meritcare a letter detailing our experience and questioning the ability of Dr. S. to treat chronically ill patients effectively with his attitude, lack of compassion, and hubris, (I like that word).

We left our LONG visit with Dr. Gross feeling uplifted, hopeful and a need by both of us to shed some tears of relief. Instead we went to Nicole's and had fine desserts and a small glass of port to celebrate the good news.

That's the short version of the brouhaha, that will go well from now on. And the other brewhaha? Maybe you'll have to drop by and find out for yourselves.

Peace and love from Whiskey Jack Flats, where the snow is falling.
Mike