Thanksgiving Day and Beyond

We had a wonderful day at our daughter's house in Bothell. Her husband, David helped in the kitchen and baby Zoe stole the show! Our other daughter Sarah and her husband Adrian and David's parents and grandmother were there. Adrian was on kitchen duty also - those 2 guys can sure cook some good stuff! Sarah was not feeling well so she stayed away from everyone. Karen had worked a 12 hour shift until 7am, but after a couple of hours of sleep she was also in the kitchen cooking. We had a delicious meal with very special family! What a great day! That is the first time we have had a holiday with them since 2000 as we have been on the road in many different places for the holidays. Zoe is hand feeding herself and she loved the cranberries in her mouth and all over her head!! Thank you kids for making it a very special day!!!!

Friday Ralph's cousins and good friends Tom and Linda came up for their monthly visit. We always have lunch out so this time it was Mexican. Then we decided to join the crowd at Costco and Best Buy as each of us was looking for something. Costso wasn't to bad, but Best Buy was a "zoo"! Nothing we wanted here so off to Bellingham on another adventure. Found one of the "wanted" items there. What a fun day and we look forward to December's visit!

Yesterday we cooked our Thanksgiving dinner so we could have left-overs. Our new oven is much bigger so we were able to do the turkey in it instead of the convection. We even stuffed it this year and boy was that good! We decided that we had stuffed turkeys all the time until just a few years ago when someone decided it was not good, and we are still alive so we were going for it! Now we will have turkey dinners for the week - yum yum!!!

A great holiday and thanks to all of you!!!

1 Down - 11 To Go

His first chemo started Mon. morning and ended this afternoon. They start everything at the infusion lab - takes about 4 hours and then he gets a portable pump "to go" in a pack so he can go anywhere with it. After 46 hours, a home health person comes to our place and disconnects him. He had no side effects until today when he has been a bit tired, but our allergies are going"crazy" and we both feel "blah" today so may not have been the chemo! He had a couple of seconds of nausea and took a pill, but that was it! Tomorrow he goes in for a white blood cell boost shot - it is only $4,000 for one shot! Thank goodness for medicare! That will make him ache all over and some tell us that it is the worst of all the treatment. According to the doctor, our bone marrow is very lazy about making new white cells so after the first few treatments he will get this shot. Then his bone marrow will be awake and when chemo comes will go to work and won't need an alarm shot any more. Guess that is why you ache with the flu - it is the bone marrow getting busy to make new healthy cells to get you well! Friday we go to the cardiology device clinic to check his pacemaker and get further instructions. Tuesday is a followup with his surgeon - we are going to teach him which side pacemakers go in! After the surgeon, off to oncology for labs and meeting with his doctor there. Keeps us busy with appointments!

We are starting with our third wind storm this week. The first one brought down a large limb that was hanging over us. Our luck has changed - it went between us and the rig next door missing all of us by inches. If it had hit us it would have totaled our rig and killed us if we were in the rear. The tree belonged to the home behind us and for the 2nd storm they had ropes to get it to fall back there. It stayed up and it was taken down yesterday. The first 2 storms had winds of 30 to 50 with gusts to 70. Tonights storm is supposed to be worse. Another night of rock n roll! And another storm on Saturday. Enough!!!!!

His Heart Is Fixed

Permanently we hope! He had a pacemaker put in and an AV node ablation done yesterday and had to stay overnight at his favorite "hotel"! The "hotel" is like coming home we know so many of the staff and they all come to say hi! He is now home with his pacemaker set at 80 to 110. They had to start high since his heart was used to fast - go to slow at first and it will rebel. Then in about a month they will start slowing it down over several months. His chemo was put off until Monday as his oncologist wanted his heart rate normal! So there is light at the end of the tunnel! Meanwhile, we have had 3 times the normal rain for Nov. and 10 degrees below normal. Figures, since we are here! We were about ready to build an ark, but we got a break yesterday, more rain and wind last night and then fairly nice today until tonight. Maybe snow tonight...... And they say it is supposed to be dryer and warmer than normal.....waiting.....

We Have A Plan - FINALLY

After another 4 days in the hospital with his heart stopping for up to 4.2 seconds several times a minute, they lowered all his meds and since the doctor to fix the problem was on vacation (yep there is only one EP doctor) they sent him home with a Holter Monitor for 24 hours and lowered his meds some more. This past week he had the monitor again for 24 hours and his heart is still "pausing" and his heart rate is high - surprise with the lower meds! Friday we met with the EP doctor and this week he will have a pacemaker put in followed by an ablation of the AV node. We will know Monday the exact day and time. The atrium will still be in a-fib and can do anything it wants, but can no longer control the ventricle - that is the pacemakers job! He will be on warfarin the rest of his life, but not all the other meds that make him so sleepy. Then the following Monday, Nov. 16 he will start chemo. His oncologist did not want to start chemo until his heart was done so the "heart boys" have run out of time and it has to be done this week! Yea!!!! We are getting used to the rain. At least at this RV park we have a nice patio, gravel parking and paved roads, so no mud to track inside. They have added gravel to the parking area for us, so it is nice and thick and the water does not stay on top. They clean up all the leaves every day on the roads and grass - an endless job right now! They even take out the propane tanks, fill them and put them back in for us for the price of the propane - what a deal. Good thing since after his pacemaker placement he can't raise his arms over his shoulder or lift more than 10 lbs. for 2 months. The lengths he goes to to get out of doing anything!!!!!