Arizona Trip

I apologize for the long absence from blogging while we were away, but there has been nothing dramatic to report on the medical front.  However, I haven't been feeling too well off-and-on lately, with recurring bouts of diarrhea.  The day we were to leave for Arizona was one of those days, and I contemplated calling Dr. Paba-Prada for advice before we left.  However, I recalled the strategy often used by my good friend, Bob, over the years, whose mantra was, "I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission".  We went as scheduled, and it turned out to be the right decision.  Fortunately, by the next day I felt fine, and we had a great time in Scottsdale, AZ.  The symptoms did return, but after a subsequent call to Paba-Prada, she suggested Imodium OTC (that's Over the Counter for those of you who are averse to TLAs), and it has been under control since.

Cardinal rule of diarrhea:  Never, ever contemplate farting.

While in Scottsdale, we attended the Barrett-Jackson car show/auction.  What a hoot that was!  The picture is of a 2012 Lamborghini Aventador, which lists for $425,000.  However, the Penske rep informed me that there is a 2-3 year wait list and the final price will be $600-700K!  There were some great old cars, and watching the auction was a lot of fun...Gretchen even enjoyed it.

We then headed up to Sedona, AZ on Saturday.  What a beautiful spot!  Aside from its incomparable beauty, Sedona is noted for its spiritual connections and vortexes (I will refrain from using the plural 'vortices' to avoid appearing pedantic).  We hiked to the Boynton Canyon Vortex.  Gretchen felt the energy from the vortex immediately.  As for me...nada, zilch. nothing.  I must be spiritually challenged.  It was nice and peaceful though.  

We bought a book from an MIT grad purporting to give a scientific explanation of the vortexes.  After reading some mumbo jumbo about string theory and 10 dimensions, I didn't feel any further enlightened.  However, something seems to go on around them.  The Juniper trees in the vicinity of vortexes grow with twisted trunks and limbs, a phenomenon we were told doesn't happen any place else.  Here is a picture of the "twisted sisters", two junipers near two of the vortexes.  We saw these on our Broken Arrow Pink Jeep tour, which we highly recommend if you visit Sedona.

While in Sedona, we visited a Bhuddist Stupa or shrine.  One is supposed to walk around it three times clockwise while meditating or offering prayers.  Gretchen, who cheerfully admits to being somewhat dyslexic, started in the wrong direction.  I quickly turned her around before she could undo an untold amount of goodwill at the site.  ;-)  There were hundreds of prayer flags around the Stupa, and I noticed one of them with some writing on it.  As I looked closer, it said, "I pray for those with cancer and other illnesses, that they may be healed".  Wow!

We had a wonderful trip.  It was a relaxing and renewing getaway, well-timed to prepare us for the uncertainties and rocky road of stem cell transplantation that we may about to encounter.