Pepe Le P-EEEWWW!

Well when we were off living it up in Nashville one of our kids got the bright idea of wrestling a skunk. We got home and the entire house smelled like crazy. They totally reeked up the couch in the formal living room. We had to use an entire bottle of Febreeze and air out the house for three days straight with fans to circulate the air better befor the funk was finally gone.

The strange thing is that none of the kids smelled like a skunk so we can only assume that they chased one into the house but didn't succeed in catching him.

Boot Scootin Boogie

Well this month we're off to Nashville. My mom was there for a conference and we hadn't seen her in 6 years so we decided to fly up there. At this point I hadn't come up with the idea of surprising Jerry with the trip to Vegas for our anniversary yet.

Nashville was pretty nice. Very green and scenic. We stayed at the Opryland Hotel which is beyond massive. Depending on which side of the hotel your room is on it is a .25 to .5 mile walk from the paarking lot to your room. The hotel itself is pretty nice and you never have to leave with all of the restaurants and shops, but I definately would recomend to anyone with a disability to stay somewhere else. It wasn't very handicap accessible and navigating a wheelchair would be next to impossible! They don't even often a shuttle service to the parking lot or around the exterior of the hotel to the different wings. Valet parking is the parking closest to the hotel but it costs $18.00 per day before tip. Yikes!

If you are ever at the Opryland resort and Conference Center stop into Findley's Pub and see James Pendergrast-The Boys of County Nashville. They are a great Irish Folk Band. Pick up their CD while you're there, there is a great mix of Irish Folk Music and not the common stuff everyone always plays.

We ate at the Aquarium which was cool. It's like you're eating underwater. I took alot of pictures. Our favorite fish is the picture of the one that looks like he has a white stripe on his back at the base of his fin. He tilts from side to side as he swims and looks like he'll tip over. We call him the Drunken Fish. They also had a tank in the mall were you could feed Stingrays. It smelled kind of bad, but it was pretty neat having them eating out of your hand.

Looks Like We Made It....

YIPPEEE!!! Well after 30 long years, I finally got to see the "Sex God" live. We finally "Made It Through The Rain" to sunny Las Vegas to see BARRY! Yes, I mean Barry Manilow. Absolutely awesome!!! Jerry doesn't even care for Barry that much but he was shaking his tushie at the Copacabana. It took 5 years of trying to get to Vegas without something coming up, but it was definately worth it to be there the same time as Barry. It was the best show EVER!! It was a great first post-chemo weekend getaway. We're already hoping to go back and see him again.

As if seeing Barry for our Anniversary on St Patrick's day wasn't cool enough, we also went to the Bellagio's art exhibit and amongst other reknowned artist, we were able to see 2 of Van Gogh's paintings up close and personal. Being able to see his use of color and massive use of paint in his strokes was amazing!

Gobble, Gobble!!

Since Jerry's brother finished OCS and moved the girls and mom out to Pensacola, we decided there was no sense in doing Thanksgiving for just the 2 of us, so we slept until 3:00!

I started a new job working for the CFO of the San Antonio Housing Authority on November 7. We're getting ready to start a new project for FEMA to find housing for the remaining Katrina Evacuees in San Antonio, about 2,000 families still in shelters. It sounds like we're going to get pretty busy in order to meet the January 7 deadline.

It's been awhile!!!

I haven't updated in a while, but everything is great. Have been working pretty hard over the last few months at work and other projects around the house. I just completed a 2 year employment contract with Titan Ins and am now looking for my next working adventure. I am looking forward to learning some new things.

Jerry is doing great. He transferred to a field position so he has a case load now, but he is home nights and weekends for the first time ever since we've known each other. It took some getting used too seeing each other all the time, but it has worked out pretty good.

Overall we can't really complain.

Grossly Negative...

My rost recent PET Scan has come back Grossly Negative (don't you love that in every arena other than Medicine negative is bad, but in Medicine you always want to be Negative). One thing I learned from my PET Scan is that my Ureter isn't in the right place. Instead of coming straight down, mine verves off on the left and takes a little road trip. Nothing big, just a curious side note. The only thing going on is that my Liver hasn't returned to normal like it should. My levels have come down since my Jaundice last June that led to them finding the Hodgkin's. Jaundice isn't usually associated with Hodgkin's so the 2 events really fall into the lucky coincidence category. Over the last few years, my PCP (a brilliant Dr named Denoia, who is retiring from practice to go into research unfortunately) has run so many Liver tests on me because my levels were always going up and down. So now Dr. Guzley says if they haven't gone down more on my next visit, June 30, I'll have to go see a GI Specialist. Sometimes you just want to say, Geesh!, haven't I been through enough.

Greetings!

Just a quick post to let everyone know I'm doing great! Here are some pics we took yesterday. Yes, I have some hair!

Pics of Me & Bonnie, Jerry and Courtney

Surgery is Over!!

I had my Port-a-Cath taken out today. A lot of people asked me what the port under my skin in the pictures from last July/August looked like. Well, some people may think it's a little sick, but I kept it after it was removed this morning (don't worry it's been cleaned and sterilized). It was attached to my chest wall and had a tube attached that ran into my Subclavian vein to feed into the Superior Vena Cava. I just took a picture of the top view, but it is about 1/2 inch thick.

Below is a website that explains the Port-a-Cath
http://www.breastcancer.org/tre_sys_chemo_ports.html
It really is a simple procedure. I was awake when they inserted it (kinda). I was out cold for the removal.

Happy Easter!

This has certalinly been an interesting week. Out of the blue I got an Email from one of my 2 best friends from Junior High! We ended up talking for about 2 hours on the phone. I don't think I've spent that much time on the phone with a friend since High School. This led to an Email from my other best friend from Junior High. I've bumped into Laura a couple of times around town over the last decade, but her Husband and I never got along, so we didn't really talk. Lisa I hadn't seen or talked to in 15-16 years. It was definately weird going through old memories that I hadn't thought of in years, but it was way cool (for lack of a better description).

Monday morning I have my final surgery to remove my Medi-Port and stop taking Coumadin, then I will be as back to normal as possible. Yipee!!

We're just having a ham dinner at the house with my Mother-In-Law and Grandmother today. The twins are at their Mother's until later this evening. Hope everyone has a great Easter!!

This is the week

I go for my first post-cancer follow up visit with my Hematologist on Thursday. Hopefully he'll say it is OK to have my final procedure, surgery to remove my Medi-Port, and I'll be able to go off Coumadin. It's the only med I'm still taking. If he clears me I'll be able to go to the gym and drop all the extra pounds the steroids made me gain. From the 50 I initially lost before Cancer, the steroids put 20 back on. I suppose it could have been worse, but I'm looking forward to getting at least back to where I was when I started Chemo. Of course I was still trying to lose 15 pounds when Chemo started. Figures I'd fall into the Cancer group that gains weight with their drugs instead of loosing it.

Thanks to everyone for all your phone calls and emails of support. I'll let you know what happens after I see my Doc on Thursday.