We are now at the Mount Vernon Elks RV Park. It is a nice little park with huge sites. Lots of parking for visitors so come on over! The owner at the other park decided to get "greedy" so we went looking and found this wonderful place and much cheaper.
Ralph had labs and doctors last Monday. His platelets did not drop any lower from chemo - 72 and normal is 150. Doctor assured us they would not find anything abnormal on his CT scan so to quit worrying - these doctors are cautious about what they say so that sounded real good! He goes back on the 17th for labs, doctor, port flush and then they will schedule his CT scan for early June. He is slowly recovering - sleeping less and his hands and feet have less numbness each day.
For those following our refer saga we do believe it is finally fixed after a year. The new doors seem to be sealing now and it is maintaining correct temps, working on gas and even making ice cubes! The remainder of our repairs/replacements will be done at the factory when we go back in Sept.
We are now on our second Samsung home theater system that seems to be working correctly. Now our living room Samsung television is either being repaired or replaced. Cookie loves laying on the bed with us so she loves the new program - with no living room television we go to bed real early! Everyone tells us Samsung is a good product - guess we got the bad batch!
All the rain we did not have last winter has arrived for April and May so far! Sure hope it gets dry and warm again real soon!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Done - At Last
Ralph finished his last chemo treatment today!!!!!! His platlets were low, but since it was his last they went ahead - Yea!! He has to go in next Monday for lab work to make sure his platlets do not drop critically low. His CT scan will be the first part of June!
Rainy day today so he is sleeping. My first week of jury duty resulted in nothing and now have to call in this weekend and hope I am passed for next week.
Now he will begin to recover and should feel better every day!
Rainy day today so he is sleeping. My first week of jury duty resulted in nothing and now have to call in this weekend and hope I am passed for next week.
Now he will begin to recover and should feel better every day!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
More Spring, Travel & Ralph Update
Wow, time has just flown by for us! I was reminded that our blog needed an update (thank you Karen). We have had a beautiful spring, but the showers have now arrived! Yesterday was beautiful so decided to take in the tulip fields along with hundreds of our closest friends - tourists! Here are a couple of pictures.
This whole month will be very crowded here and getting in and out of our RV park will be a challenge. It has changed alot since we were last here in 2001. It is very commercial and they charge for everything now, but people were lined up and willing to pay. Not us - we went where it was free (very few places) and stopped to look at one field where you were allowed to pull over. Those fields are still beautiful with the mountains in the background!
Yes, we will be on the move. We are both ready to "get on the road again". We have decided to use our membership campgrounds in the area that we have paid the dues for rather than continue to pay rent and electric here. Part of our motivation was a healthy rent increase here - we do not mind the owners making a reasonable living but with this increase it appears that they want us to pay for their kids college education and the house they bought in Arizona. So we will move on out and save some money for our trip east. Travel schedule has been updated and once we have confirmed reservations we will post our schedule for going east.
Ralph has 2 treatments left - next one on Monday. The side effects are more intense each time, but manageable with only 2 to go. These will all disappear over time once chemo stops. His oncologist is very pleased with his lab reports and overall health. Once finished with chemo, he will have his port removed - office procedure - and then in 3 months he will have his CT scans and another colonoscopy. Those should all be just fine. He will need to get labs done about every 3 months and sent back here. He also will have a box to use to phone his pacemaker info back every 3 months. It is amazing what they can do now!
We need to do some serious cleaning out and a couple of little projects before we move. Since the basement area is the big one, we are waiting on a few days of no rain and a bit warmer!
This whole month will be very crowded here and getting in and out of our RV park will be a challenge. It has changed alot since we were last here in 2001. It is very commercial and they charge for everything now, but people were lined up and willing to pay. Not us - we went where it was free (very few places) and stopped to look at one field where you were allowed to pull over. Those fields are still beautiful with the mountains in the background!
Yes, we will be on the move. We are both ready to "get on the road again". We have decided to use our membership campgrounds in the area that we have paid the dues for rather than continue to pay rent and electric here. Part of our motivation was a healthy rent increase here - we do not mind the owners making a reasonable living but with this increase it appears that they want us to pay for their kids college education and the house they bought in Arizona. So we will move on out and save some money for our trip east. Travel schedule has been updated and once we have confirmed reservations we will post our schedule for going east.
Ralph has 2 treatments left - next one on Monday. The side effects are more intense each time, but manageable with only 2 to go. These will all disappear over time once chemo stops. His oncologist is very pleased with his lab reports and overall health. Once finished with chemo, he will have his port removed - office procedure - and then in 3 months he will have his CT scans and another colonoscopy. Those should all be just fine. He will need to get labs done about every 3 months and sent back here. He also will have a box to use to phone his pacemaker info back every 3 months. It is amazing what they can do now!
We need to do some serious cleaning out and a couple of little projects before we move. Since the basement area is the big one, we are waiting on a few days of no rain and a bit warmer!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Spring Came Early
Ralph just finished his 8th treatment - just 4 to go!! His doctor is very pleased with his progress. Of course all chemo takes its toll and his particular drugs raise the liver and kidney enzymes, so they are watching those numbers closely. His platelets were low so they stopped his daily aspirin and those popped right back up even a week after chemo when they should be the lowest! They are giving him a white cell boost shot after each chemo now which means there is no worry about a low white cell count. This shot can give some people very bad aches and severe pain, but he gets nothing so they are more willing to just do it each time. He also had his pacemaker check and they reset it to the final number of 60.
We had a beautiful February until today (rain again)! We went walking several days in sun and high 50's. The flowers are blooming and the mountains are spectacular. They are picking the daffodil fields - they pick a certain amount of buds to sell and the rest are left to bloom for the tourists! We have one field next to the RV park so we watch it daily and it won't be long until it will be in full bloom. These pictures were taken Sunday. Each day more and more are in full bloom and soon it will be a sea of yellow!
We found miles of trails around the regional airport here with some beautiful scenery!
The flowering cherries are in full bloom!
We drove out to a park in nearby Anacortes to enjoy looking at the San Juan Islands across the water.
We had forgotten how beautiful spring is here and it started early and will continue for months. The area is known for its daffodil and tulip bloom each spring with many fields in bloom in all colors. They have a Tulip Festival all of April which is when the daffodils and tulips are most likely to bloom. This festival brings thousands and thousands of tourists and the locals hate all of the traffic! The festival will go on, but may be to late for the blooms. The daffodils should be in full bloom in the next week or so and the tulips are already up about 6 inches, so they will follow soon after!
We had a beautiful February until today (rain again)! We went walking several days in sun and high 50's. The flowers are blooming and the mountains are spectacular. They are picking the daffodil fields - they pick a certain amount of buds to sell and the rest are left to bloom for the tourists! We have one field next to the RV park so we watch it daily and it won't be long until it will be in full bloom. These pictures were taken Sunday. Each day more and more are in full bloom and soon it will be a sea of yellow!
We found miles of trails around the regional airport here with some beautiful scenery!
The flowering cherries are in full bloom!
We drove out to a park in nearby Anacortes to enjoy looking at the San Juan Islands across the water.
We had forgotten how beautiful spring is here and it started early and will continue for months. The area is known for its daffodil and tulip bloom each spring with many fields in bloom in all colors. They have a Tulip Festival all of April which is when the daffodils and tulips are most likely to bloom. This festival brings thousands and thousands of tourists and the locals hate all of the traffic! The festival will go on, but may be to late for the blooms. The daffodils should be in full bloom in the next week or so and the tulips are already up about 6 inches, so they will follow soon after!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Short Update
Ralph has finished 1/2 of his chemo treatments, so he is on the downhill side with 6 to go! He has very few side effects - fatigue and tingling/numbness in his fingers and nose which gets worse with each treatment but will go away when he is done. His oncology doctor is very happy with his treatment and how well he is doing.
We have had a beautiful January. It will be the warmest on record with very little rain - sent it all south to California. Long range forecast is for more warm and dry days!
We have had a beautiful January. It will be the warmest on record with very little rain - sent it all south to California. Long range forecast is for more warm and dry days!
Friday, January 8, 2010
New Toy
With all the emissions "junk" on the truck, it is not good to use it for a daily driver which is exactly what we have been doing. In talking to a mechanic it eventually would require thousands in repairs. If we were moving every two weeks the truck would be fine, but since we are stuck here it is not getting "cleaned out" properly. We also should have our lot in Pahrump soon and we would need a car there also. I really wanted a Mazda Miata and we looked but decided it was not very practical to carry much of anything. So then we looked at inexpensive 4 door coupes and just couldn't get excited about them or the price. So we made one last stop at the Mazda dealership and mentioned really wanting a Miata. They showed us this 2004 Tiburon GT that they had taken on a trade. It was a one owner car and they knew the previous owner very well. It looks brand new inside and out and low mileage. It is an automatic which Ralph did not like and it is red which I did not like, but other than that it had everything else we wanted and then some! And it actually has a lot of space since the back seats fold down. They had put new brakes and tires on it. So Ralph gave them a a very low price that we were willing to pay, never thinking they would take it. They did so here is our new toy - it is so much fun to drive!
So with a new toy, of course we had to go somewhere. Up the Skagit River (east), the eagles winter where the salmon spawn. Many years ago when I went up there were eagles everywhere you looked. It was quite a sight. Ralph had never seen this so off we went on a scarce sunny day here. The mountains were beautiful with new snow.
It was a beautiful drive and lots of fun with the "toy". We had a nice picnic lunch and Cookie enjoyed spending time with us and "reading a new newspaper" at each stop. But, you guessed it, not an eagle to be found. There were many disappointed people that had only come up to see the eagles, but we were happy to see blue skies, beautiful mountains and have a fun drive!
So with a new toy, of course we had to go somewhere. Up the Skagit River (east), the eagles winter where the salmon spawn. Many years ago when I went up there were eagles everywhere you looked. It was quite a sight. Ralph had never seen this so off we went on a scarce sunny day here. The mountains were beautiful with new snow.
It was a beautiful drive and lots of fun with the "toy". We had a nice picnic lunch and Cookie enjoyed spending time with us and "reading a new newspaper" at each stop. But, you guessed it, not an eagle to be found. There were many disappointed people that had only come up to see the eagles, but we were happy to see blue skies, beautiful mountains and have a fun drive!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Last of 2009
Time got away from us and haven't updated this since Thanksgiving. We had a great holiday season. The Wed. before Christmas we had dinner with Sarah and Adrian. The next day Karen, David and baby Zoe came to visit. Our time spent with all of them is very special. Of course Zoe is as cute as can be and busy crawling everywhere - her preferred method of travel. She is so good natured and happy except when it is nap time! Looks like she will be a lefty - sure prefers that hand for everything!
Ralph had his 4th treatment this past Monday - 1/3 done! He still gets very tired for a few days. His hands and nose have tingling and numbness and this is accumulative so each time it is worse. This is also made worse by cold. He can't drink anything cold as it constricts his throat so we set out glasses of water to warm up for him. Today he has to get a white cell boost shot as his white cell count has been dropping slowly and this will get it back up quickly.
We also saw his cardiologist and his pacemaker was set to 70 and in Feb. they will set it for the final time to 60. They adjusted some of his medications and he does not have to see this doctor again until June. He just has to visit the Device Center every 3 months for a pacemaker check.
Things are looking up finally and there is light at the end of the tunnel! Even winter here has not been to bad so far. Last week was beautiful clear blue skies with white mountains, but very cold! It was the second real cold weather we have had but we stay nice and warm in our little home on wheels! One of the effects of chemo is being cold, so Ralph has acquired some warmer clothes and stays bundled up most of the time! This week is warmer and of course that means wet again!
Ralph had his 4th treatment this past Monday - 1/3 done! He still gets very tired for a few days. His hands and nose have tingling and numbness and this is accumulative so each time it is worse. This is also made worse by cold. He can't drink anything cold as it constricts his throat so we set out glasses of water to warm up for him. Today he has to get a white cell boost shot as his white cell count has been dropping slowly and this will get it back up quickly.
We also saw his cardiologist and his pacemaker was set to 70 and in Feb. they will set it for the final time to 60. They adjusted some of his medications and he does not have to see this doctor again until June. He just has to visit the Device Center every 3 months for a pacemaker check.
Things are looking up finally and there is light at the end of the tunnel! Even winter here has not been to bad so far. Last week was beautiful clear blue skies with white mountains, but very cold! It was the second real cold weather we have had but we stay nice and warm in our little home on wheels! One of the effects of chemo is being cold, so Ralph has acquired some warmer clothes and stays bundled up most of the time! This week is warmer and of course that means wet again!
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