Mid-Winter in Anchorage

It's been a rocky, icy January and February with no new snow and hard, icy surfaces on sidewalks and roads.  Unpleasant walking and not much to ski on, which was okay, because Brian was still getting well and giving himself shots twice a day to get his blood thin enough to not worry about new blood clots.  We got good news that the clots in his lungs were gone about the end of January, but he still had extensive clotting in his legs.  He saw a hematologist at the beginning of February and a cardiologist on 2/11, and it seems the only issue is keeping on the Coumadin for a matter of months - and taking a few more blood tests once he's been off the shots for two weeks to make sure there is no genetic reason that he got the pulmonary emboli to begin with.  He was finally cleared to stop the shots on Wednesday this week, and that was a welcome relief - now the black and blue marks on his stomach, where he's been having his shots for two months, can heal up and fade away!

We went to a wine tasting with Diane and Carl at Crush - a short walk from our house, which is always useful for wine tasting.  It's one of my favorite places, and it was a nice afternoon.

And . . . a trip to San Diego for Brian!  That was welcome too, a little sun and warmth and getting away from the routine here of NOT skiing and not feeling that great.  Brian's niece Suzanne had a birthday, and his two sisters went out so Brian flew down to meet them.  They do look like they had a good time! A whale watch, wine tasting, and pizza birthday party!  Brian had his extra tough thigh-high compression socks for the flight, but I think he bared his legs for the southern California days!

Coming back, we've continued to have good news about Brian's health. And he had another trip on Valentine's Day - to the boat in Whittier this time - it had to come out of the water for the surveyor for insurance purposes.  A winter day in Whittier can be pretty, but it wouldn't be for everyone!

And this weekend, two months after we trucked to the emergency room and this all started, we skied this weekend!  Oh, so nice to be outside again and moving!  It was really great today, 19 degrees and beautiful sunshine.  We still don't have much new snow, but Brian found some good trails on the other side of town that must have gotten a bit more snow than we got closer to our house.  The trails were actually in great shape.  And we're due to have temperatures in the high teens and low twenties and light snow at different times this week - that should be good news.  And . . . we were able to see a few of the dog teams practicing for Fur Rondy races - Fur Rondy starts next week - the big celebration here in Anchorage leading up to the Iditarod!  More about that in a week or two!