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!

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!

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!

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!!!!!