Joe and Roland And Louise Coming To Visit

DeBary, FL.

64 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. High of 88F. Winds from the ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

Linda is still doing well. Still sore and pretty weak, but she says that it seems like all of that is improving as time goes by.

I don't know just when, but Joe, from Virginia Beach is coming to see Linda today. I know he's been worried about his mother and has been trying to find a time when he could come down here. I'll know more a little later on, but I'm thinking it'll be sometime this evening before he gets here.

Linda can hardly wait to see him!!! ;-)

Also, Roland and Louise are planning on stopping by today. They're on their way down to their home in Frostpoof, FL for the winter and are planning to swing by here. Louise is going to call this morning and tell Linda and Jim when they'll be arriving. If you remember, they were going to come up to Rantoul for a visit. Then, just before they got there, we had to come down here for Linda's surgery, so we didn't get to see them. :-( 

Linda and Jim are really looking forward to seeing them too.

Laura stopped by for awhile yesterday. While she was here, she found out that Marv, (Lindsey's father), is having some medical problems and was going to the doctor.

I hope he's going to be OK.

Oh!!! With all that's been going on, I almost forgot that today is Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!!!!

Did you know that the owl is a popular Halloween image? In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant someone was about to die.

35 Hours

DeBary, FL.

64 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 84F. Winds from the NE at 10 to 15 mph.

Monday evening, Jim called Linda at the hospital to see how she was doing and to say good-night to her. Then, around 6:30, yesterday morning, Linda called Jim. Nothing special, she was awake and just wanted to talk to him. She told him that she was doing well and had a pretty restful night. (As good as you can have in a hospital). It was decided that there was no reason for Jim to hurry over there because the doctor hadn't been in yet and it didn't sound like anything was going to happen until the afternoon.

So, a little after 9:00, Jim took CLT and headed back to the hospital. After arriving and getting CLT parked, he took a couple photos of the part of the facility where Linda was.

This is the sign out front, that you see from the road.

When you turn in next to the above sign, this is the view of the "Fountain Building".

The patient drop-off and pick-up area,

The view looking back towards the road from the pick-up drop-off area.

Once up to Linda's room and giving her h and k, (hugs and kisses), Linda told him that it sounded like she would be able to go home sometime after lunch. :-)  Of course, Laura was there with Linda and helped Linda fill Jim in on what all had happened during the time Jim was here at the house.

Then, after talking for awhile, he took a few photos out of her room's window. Her room was on the 7th floor and facing East, so there were some nice views of Daytona Beach. If you click on the photos to enlarge them, you should even be able to see the ocean on the horizon.

After lunch, Linda was told that she'd be able to go home and by about 2:00, Laura was helping her get dressed and soon after, CLT was bringing her back here to the house.

Laura came back here also and helped Jim get Linda into the house and get settled in her recliner. Then, she stayed with Linda while Jim went to Walgreen's to pick up a new prescription for Linda.

After Jim returned, Laura headed for home to get some much needed rest and spend time with Lindsey.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  In an approximately 35 hour time period, Linda left for the hospital, had major surgery and was able to return back home!!! If they had not been able to operate, using the robotic procedure, she would have had to stay in the hospital much longer.   She seems to be doing well. She had a restful night and seems to be feeling pretty good this morning. She's still sore, but that's to be expected. She also has quite a few restrictions about what she can do for the next few weeks and months, but the doctor doesn't foresee any problems.

In 2 weeks Linda will go back to the doctor's office and then it will be decided if any further treatment will be needed.

Again, Linda and Jim want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. It has meant so much, just knowing that there were so many people sending good thoughts and prayers this way.

And, of course, both Linda and Jim want to thank Laura. She has been so much help. She has made everything so much easier for Linda and Jim and her nursing skills and knowledge have been invaluable.

Thank You, everyone!!!!!

Did you know that on this date in 1945, the first ballpoint pens to be made commercially went on sale at Gimbels Department Store in New York at the price of $12.50 each?

I'm sure glad Linda's home and doing well!!!!! :-)

Woof!!!!!

a

The Waiting Is Over and Linda's Surgery

DeBary, FL.

70 deg. clear, N. wind @ 4 mph.
Forecast tonight = Clear. Low of 63F. Winds from the NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

I'm posting this on Monday evening so that all of you get the news as soon as possible.

In the middle of the night, (3:50 AM Monday morning), I heard Jim and Linda's alarm clock beeping in the bedroom and soon Jim came out and started getting ready to leave. Soon after, Linda came out and then about 4:20, Jim and Linda waked out of the house, got into CLT (Cute Little Truck), and headed to the Bob Evans Restaurant parking lot, where they had made plans to meet up with Laura at 4:30.

As soon as Laura arrived, they headed , (with Laura leading the way), to the Halifax hospital in  Daytona Beach. CLT says that they got there about 5:00 and were in plenty of time for Linda's 5:15 appointment.

In just a short time, they had Linda in a room and were prepping her for surgery. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30, but there were some delays, and it was almost 8:30 when they began.

The surgery went well and they were able to do the daVinci  Robotic method, which means that they didn't have to make a large incision. The surgery did not go real smoothly though and the procedure took about 4 hours.

I won't go into the details here, but in the end, the results were very good and she came through the surgery with flying colors!!!! ;-)  By 3:30 in the afternoon, she was eating broth and Jello, and drinking liquids.

Jim said that she is sore, but doesn't have severe pain. Her vitals are all good, and if she can tolerate solid food and continues to improve, she should be coming home tomorrow!!!!! :-)  She's in good spirits and was joking around with Jim, Laura and the nurse.

About 5:30 Linda started getting tired, so Jim gave her h and k, (hugs and kisses), and came back here to the house. Laura will stay the night. They have an extra bed in the room for someone to sleep on and they actually encourage family to stay.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  the surgery went well, even though it did take a long time. Linda is doing well and hopefully she'll get to come home tomorrow. In about 2 weeks she'll have an appointment with Dr. Molpus, (the surgeon), any further treatments or procedures will be discussed and then in about 6 to 8 weeks, additional procedures/treatments will start if required.

And,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  the waiting is over!!!! :-)

Linda and Jim want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. They were of great help and are very much appreciated.

Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!

Did you know that the harder you concentrate on falling asleep, the less likely you are to fall asleep?

Woof!!!!

The Time Is Near and An Emotional Rollercoaster

DeBary, FL.

54 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Clear. High of 81F. Winds from the NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

The time is near. By 5:15 AM tomorrow, Linda will be at  the Halifax Hospital, getting prepped  for surgery. I don't know exactly what time her surgery is scheduled for, but I do know that Dr. Molpus has the surgery room reserved for 4 hours. That doesn't mean that the operation will take 4 hours, but the room is available in case it should take that long.

This last week has been an emotional rollercoaster. There were times when things were going along just fine and then something would happen and it seemed like a major crisis. :-(  Most things were not really that big of a deal, but seemed immense at the time.

One of the more major things that happened was that CLT's battery decided to die. Friday evening, Jim and Linda were going out to eat and when Jim tried to start CLT's engine, the starter wouldn't turn the engine over enough to start.

So, yesterday morning, Jim got out his little battery charger and hooked it up to the battery. While he was waiting for it to possibly charge up the battery enough to get CLT started, Ray, from across the street, saw that Jim was having problems and brought his larger charger, (with a boost feature), over and in no time, CLT's engine was running. :-)

After thanking Ray for helping, Jim took CLT and went to Auto Zone, where they checked the battery. It was bad, and since it was an Auto Zone battery and had a little bit of warranty left, Jim purchased a new one. One nice thing about going to Auto Zone is that when you go there for charging/battery problems, they will test the whole system and then, if you purchase a battery, they install it for you at no additional charge. :-)

Now, this whole thing turned out to be something that was fairly easily taken care of, but Friday evening it seemed huge!!

Today, Linda has to drink about a gallon of stuff to get her insides cleaned out. She's not looking forward to that at all, but I think Laura will be coming over to be with her. She can't eat anything solid all day and after midnight, she can't even drink anything. Then tomorrow morning, Linda and Jim will have to leave here about 4:30 to get to the hospital by 5:15. :-(

Laura will be at the hospital with Jim, so they'll have each other for company while they wait. :-)

Oh, Jim was fooling around with the clock yesterday to make sure the alarm worked. He said that he can't remember the last time he set the alarm.

I don't know when I'll be posting next, but I'll let you know how the surgery went as soon as I can.

 Did you know that in 2012,  about 1,638,910 new cancer cases were diagnosed?

Woof!!!!

Thanks Ray!!!!

Pre-op Visit, da Vinci and Waiting Again

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. clear, N. wind @ 5 mph.
Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 77F. Winds from the NNE at 10 to 15 mph.

Tuesday afternoon, Laura swung by, picked up Linda and took her over to Daytona Beach to the doctor's office for all the pre-operation stuff. Much of the time was spent on telling Linda what she needed to do and couldn't do before the surgery. Then, just before they left to come back here, Dr. Molpus, (the surgeon), came in and talked to Linda and Laura.

They will be doing a full hysterectomy and he told her that he was optimistic about the possibility of doing the  da Vinci Robotic Surgery on her which would shorten the recovery period considerably. He also told her that he was quite sure some Radiation Therapy would be necessary, following the surgery.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  now we wait again. Linda has to be at Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach at 5:30 AM on Monday morning. If everything goes according to plan and the doctor can do the da Vinci Robotic Surgery on her, she will only be in the hospital for one night and will be able to come back home sometime Tuesday. If there are complications and the standard surgery is necessary, the hospital stay will be for 3 or 4 days with a much longer recovery period.

Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Linda took CLT and went back to Walgreen's to pick up all of the prescriptions plus a new one that Linda had received from the surgeons office on Tuesday. Then, after taking afternoon naps, for dinner, they went to Steak & Shake.

Did you know that on this date in1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent when Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmitted a telegram to U.S. President Lincoln?
    

Getting Shot While At Walgreen's

DeBary, FL.

72 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon. Fog early. High of 93F. Winds less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Not much happening the last few days. Both Linda and Jim have been trying to stay busy so they watched quite a bit of football on TV Sunday and then went to Walgreen's yesterday to get prescriptions refilled and get shot.

No, No!!!! Nothing bad, they got their flu shots for the upcoming flu season. :-)

While they were at Walgreen's, they picked up some other needed items before coming back here to the house. They were busy at the pharmacy and would have had to wait quite awhile, so sometime today, they'll go back and pick the prescriptions up.

For dinner, Linda called the local Chinese Restaurant, (the Lotus Garden), and ordered a carry-out meal. The restaurant is only about a mile from here and both Jim and Linda say the food is good.

This afternoon, Linda and Laura will be heading over to the doctor's office in Daytona Beach to get all the details about what Linda can and can't do before her surgery next Monday. They'll also get instructions and information about where to go and what will be happing that day.

While they're doing that, Jim has some things he wants to try to get done around here. We'll see how that goes though, the forecast is for a pretty hot afternoon, (90 + degrees), with possible T-storms.

Did you know that on this date in 1939, the first televised pro football game was telecast from New York?  Brooklyn defeated Philadelphia 23-14.

Woof!!!

Mike And Family Stop By

DeBary FL.

74 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy this morning with a chance of rain, then a chance of a thunderstorm in in the afternoon. High of 91F. Winds from the NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Mike called about 10:30 yesterday morning and said that they were about to leave their hotel down by Disney World. He also said that Dillon had been running a slight fever from time to time and at one point he had that rash again. :-(  But,  ,  ,  ,  it was decided that they would swing by here anyway and that Dillon would stay in the car with someone, and not come inside of the house or get too close to Linda.

So, that's what they did. At first, Gina stayed in the car with Dillon and then after awhile, Susan, (Gina's mother), stayed with him.

Soon though, Dillon started getting very upset that he couldn't come inside, so everyone except Linda went outside. Jim talked to Dillon and explained that Linda was also sick and that she had to go to the hospital soon. But, she couldn't go there to get better if she had a fever or a rash.

He seemed to understand, and soon there was a smile on his face as Jim asked him all about the things he had seen and done at Disney World. ;-)

They were here for about an hour and just before they left, Jim took these 2 photos of them. The first one is of Savanna, Dillon and Brenna. Dillon is holding his birthday card that Jim had given him, and was proudly wearing the hat that he had gotten at Disney. And, of course, they all were wearing their Disney shirts. ;-)

Mike and Gina got in on this photo.

So, it was a short visit, but at least they got to come. Mike, Gina, Susan and the girls got to see the inside of the house and hopefully Dillon had a good time with "Grandpa" even though he didn't get to come inside.

Not much happened the rest of the day. Jim and Linda did go to Bob Evans to have breakfast for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.

Did you know that Disney World opened October 1, 1971 and is the most visited attraction in the world, with attendance of 52.5 million annually?

Boy!!!! It was sure good to see Mike and his family again. :-)

Woof!!!

Guess Who's Coming To Lunch? and An Accident

DeBary, FL.

67 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast =

Partly cloudy. Fog early. High of 93F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday, Jim called Mike to let him know how Linda was doing and to ask about Dillon. Guess what he found out? Mike told Jim that Dillon evidently didn't have Chickenpox because all the spots were gone and his fever was also down to normal.

Wow!!! That means that Mike and his family can stop by here Saturday on the way back up to North Carolina!!!!

Of course, with 3 children, things can happen, but it sure looks like this is doable. ;-)

So, the plan is for Mike, Gina, Susan, (Gina's Mother), and the kids to stop by here around noon on Saturday for lunch, and then continue their trip from here after seeing the house and visiting for awhile.

The house is still in pretty good shape, so a little straightening up a quick dusting and a vacuuming of the floors is really all that will be needed.

Today, there's nothing planned except to get the house ready and go to Winn Dixie to pick up a few items for lunch tomorrow. I kind of doubt if Linda will go along to the grocery store since she's still quite sore from the exam the other day.

Oh, one more thing.

Jim got an e-mail from Bev. You long time readers will remember that Bev is Denny's wife,.(part of the Illinois Bunch), She said that Denny had had an accident with his Gold Wing Motorcycle. Denny is OK with just some soreness and road rash, but Denise his adult daughter who was riding with him, did not fare so well. She's in the hospital with 7 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, 7 stitches in her elbow and quite a bit of road rash. Bev said that while they were going around a curve the bike hit some wet pavement and went down, sending them and the bike into a guard rail.

Denny feels really bad that Denise got hurt, but it could have been worse. Thankfully they were wearing helmets, (Denise's was destroyed), and were dressed properly.

Our thoughts and prayers are heading their way and we're hoping for a speedy recovery for Denise.

Did you know that today is "National Chocolate Cupcake Day"?

Woof!!!

Getting Ready and The Exam

DeBary, FL.

70 deg. overcast, NW breeze @ 2 mph.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon. High of 90F. Winds from the ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

After 12:00 AM on Monday, Linda wasn't allowed to eat any solid food and then at 9:00 AM she had to drink a couple bottles of some liquid that was prescribed by the doctor which caused her to spend the rest of the day in the bathroom. :-(   Laura came by and spent most of the day with her and helped her get things like Jello, clear broth, and apple juice to eat/drink. Being that Linda is diabetic, this nourishment had to be balanced out with the correct amount of insulin so that her blood sugar didn't go too high or too low.

While this was going on inside of the house, Jim was out in the shop/shed taking down old pegboard. After removing the old stuff, he headed over to Home Depot and bought some new pegboard to put back up. From Home Depot, he went to Harbor Freight and bought a bunch of pegboard hooks, then went to Ron's Hardware and bought some screws to fasten the pegboard to the wall of the shed.

On the way to Ron's, he drove through the Orange City RV Park, where we used to stay for the winters until they raised their prices 3 or 4 years ago. As he was driving through the park, he saw Joe, (who was the maintenance man at Orange City RV Resort for years), and stopped and talked to him for awhile.

Joe's health is failing. He has severe heart problems, (2 open heart surgeries already), and just lately, he's  developed kidney problems. He's in good spirits though and Jim said that it seemed like he really enjoyed talking to him for awhile.

On the way back here, Jim went to the 4 B's Restaurant here in DeBary. They're only open for breakfast and lunch, so Jim and Linda can't go there for dinner, which is a shame because their food is really good.

From the 4 B's, Jim came back here and proceeded to install the new pegboard on the shop wall and hang up some of the tools etc. that he wants up there.

Yesterday was Linda's appointment to have the "Exam under anesthesia" preformed at Halifax in Daytona Beach. She was directed to be there at noon with the exam to be preformed around 1:30, so around 11:15 Laura swung by and picked up Linda and Jim and took them over there.

After some "prepping" and answering a whole bunch of questions, Linda was taken to the "Holding" room where she waited until the doctor was finished with another patient.

Everything went will with the exam. The doctor came into the waiting room and talked to Jim and Laura after the procedure and told them that as far as he could tell, the tumor was contained within the female organs and was cautiously optimistic that a hysterectomy would solve the problem. Of course, there will be more biopsies taken at the time of surgery and that will tell the whole story.

So,  ,  ,  ,  Linda is doing fine. She's sore from the exam, but that's to be expected. Next Tuesday, she'll go to the doctors office for some more pre-op stuff and then will have surgery on the 28th of October.

Again, Linda and Jim want to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers sent this way. They are of great help and very much appreciated.

Thank You!!!!!!

Did you know that on this date in 1928 - Marvin Pipkin received a patent for the frosted electric light bulb?

Woof!!!

The Best Laid Plans

DeBary, FL.

67 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. High of 86F. Winds from the North at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

Well, the best laid plans just don't work out sometimes.

About 9:30 yesterday morning, Mike called from Northern Florida, (where they had spent the night), and informed Jim that Dillon had come down with what looks like chickenpox!!!! He was running a slight fever and had spots on his body that were itching him. :-O

What a bummer!!!!!!!!!

Normally, Jim and Linda would have said to come on here anyway, but being that Linda has all those medical procedures set up, plus probable surgery, it was decided that it would be best if Mike and his family wouldn't stop by on their way to Disney World. :-( 

So, instead of being with family, the day was spent doing a few things around the house, going to the grocery store and watching football on TV.

It was very disappointing that they weren't able to come, but I really feel sorry for Dillon. He just turned 6 on Saturday, and I'm sure he was really looking forward to Disney World. :-(

Did you know that Chickenpox has been observed in other primates, including chimpanzees and gorillas?

Woof!!!

Getting Ready For Company

DeBary, FL.

64 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Clear. High of 88F. Winds from the North at 5 to 15 mph.

After cleaning up the Florida room, Jim spent quite a bit of the morning out in the storage shed/shop, yesterday morning.

I'm having a little trouble deciding what I want to call it. Up to now, it's definitely just been a storage shed, but now since Jim has been working on it, it's starting to look more like a small workshop. But, the washer and dryer are out there too, so maybe it should be the laundry room.

Decisions!!! Decisions!!!

The afternoon was spent with Jim and Linda cleaning/straightening up the house, doing a load of laundry and taking naps. ;-) Then for dinner, they took CLT and headed over to the Perkins Restaurant in Orange City.

This morning, Jim will do some final vacuuming so the house looks presentable when Mike, Gina and the kids get here this afternoon.

I don't know for sure, but the other day, Linda mentioned that she thought that Gina's mother, Susan, may be coming along on this trip too. I don't remember meeting her but I'll be sure to welcome her and behave if she is along with them. ;-)

I don't want to make a bad impression!!

Did you know that on this date in 1792, the cornerstone of the Executive Mansion was laid in Washington, DC. The building became known as the White House in 1818.

Woof!!!

PET Scan and Company Coming Sunday

DeBary, FL.

63 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Clear. High of 86F. Winds from the NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Just a couple things to keep you up to date.

Linda had the PET scan yesterday morning. She said that it really wasn't too bad, but took a long time, (about an hour and a half), because they had to inject some sort of dye/tracer into her blood stream and then wait for it to circulate throughout her body before they did the scan.

While she was having the test, Jim went to the Bob Evans Restaurant and had some biscuits and gravy. While he was there, Mike called from N. Carolina to find out if it was still OK for he and his family to stop by on Sunday.

Jim gave him directions on how to best get here to the house and Mike said that it would be sometime Sunday afternoon when they got here. He said that they would only be able to stay an hour or two because they have reservations down in Orlando for Sunday night and they want to get settled in before it got too late and the kids got too tired.

I['m sure glad that they'll be stopping by. It's been way too long since I've seen them. ;-)

After Linda was finished with the PET scan, Jim took her to the Perkins Restaurant so that she could get something to eat. She wasn't allowed to eat anything except a few crackers before the test so she was really hungry. While she was eating breakfast, Jim had a piece of apple pie.

No big plans for today. The house needs some TLC before Mike, Gina and the kids get here on Sunday. The weather has turned really nice here. The humidity has dropped way down and the temperatures are in the 80's instead of the 90's, so Jim may cook something on the grill for dinner.

If you'd like to learn more about the PET scan you can click on this link.  PET Scan It and the links off of that site should give you all the info you ever wanted to know about the procedure. (It's all way over my head!!!)  :-O

Did you know that there are about 2 billion $1 bills in circulation?

Woof!!!

Tests And Procedures and Company Coming?

DeBary, FL.

63 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Clear in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 86F. Winds from the North at 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday, Laura swung by and picked up Linda and took her over to the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach for her chest x-ray, EKG and blood test. It took all afternoon and they didn't get back here until dinner time.

Linda said that the tests weren't too bad, but the waiting between them was not much fun.

On the way back, they stopped and picked up a couple burgers from Burger King so that Linda and Jim would have something to eat with out a bunch of preparation.

While Linda and Laura were gone, Jim took CLT and headed over to the storage yard to check on Bobbie T.  I feel kind of sorry for her. It was so crazy when we came down here that she was just parked over in the storage area without being cleaned up inside or out. CLT says that she still has some bug spatters on the front of her and I know that nothing inside was cleaned.   She seems to be doing fine though and Jim spent a couple of hours over there, exercising the generator and doing some cleaning inside of her.

Hopefully Jim will be able to get back over there soon and do more cleaning.

Yesterday, Linda did some laundry and Jim tried to stay busy by doing some re-organizing out in the shop/storage shed.

Today, Linda has to go to the Florida Hospital in Orange City for that PET Scan. Her appointment is for 10:15, but was asked to be there by 9:45, (probably to fill out paperwork). Other than that, I don't think there are any other plans.

Oh, we may be getting company! Jim and Linda's son Mike, Gina and the kids may be stopping by this weekend. They're heading down to the "attractions" (Disney World etc.) in Orlando for a vacation and when Jim last talked to Mike, he said that they'd like to stop by to see Linda and Jim and see the house.

I hope they can, since we couldn't make it to their place in North Carolina this fall.

A Point to Ponder: Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.

Woof!!!

I Forgot and Waiting

DeBary, FL.

72 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with a chance of rain, then thunderstorms and rain showers in the afternoon. High of 90F. Winds from the ESE at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.


Really hasn't been much to post about. In the last post, I forgot to tell you that this next Tuesday, Linda has to go over to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach to have some x-rays and some blood drawn.

Right now, it's wait, wait, wait, so nothing much has gotten done around here. Linda did a couple loads of laundry. As she was doing the first one, the washer quit. It went through the wash cycle but then wouldn't drain. Jim called an appliance repair service and they came the next day and found that it was only the lid switch that had broken, so it was a quick, fairly inexpensive fix.

The freezer door gasket on the new refrigerator has been leaking air into the freezer compartment, so Jim called GE. They sent a repairman out Friday and he worked on it, but by Saturday morning, the frost was reforming again. He tried to call GE but of course they don't make appointments on the weekend, so he'll have to call again Monday.

The freezer is keeping everything frozen, but there is a frost build-up along the bottom of the door.

Thursday evening, Jim and Linda went to Gram's Kitchen for dinner. Linda had breakfast and Jim had their chicken pot pie. Then Friday evening, Jim cooked some burgers on the grill.

Well, I guess that all I have to report. The "unknown" is wearing on both Linda and Jim. Hopefully in a couple weeks, they'll know more.

Did you know that George Washington is the only man whose birthday is a legal holiday in every state of the U.S?

Woof!!!

The Doctor Visit and Some Dates Are Set

DeBary, FL.

67 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 88F. Winds from the NE at 10 to 15 mph.

About 7:30 yesterday morning, Laura stopped by and picked up Linda and Jim to go to the doctor in Daytona Beach. The traffic wasn't too bad and they were over there in plenty of time to make Linda's 8:30 appointment.

After arriving, there was the usual paperwork and then after some waiting, Linda, Laura and Jim finally met Dr. Molpus, the Gynecologist/Oncologist.

Linda Laura and Jim were very impressed with him as he very carefully explained everything that he knew from looking at the tests and the other doctor's reports. He then explained what procedures he thinks are necessary.

This is what I know so far.

On the 10th of October, Linda will go in to the Florida Hospital, here in Orange City and have what they're calling a PET scan. From what I can understand, it's a procedure where you go into this tunnel thing and they scan your whole body.

On the 15th of October, Dr. Molpus will do an "Exam under anesthesia" at Halifax in Daytona Beach. At this time, he will do a thorough exam to try to determine the extent of the tumor to decide exactly what procedures will be necessary. It should be an outpatient procedure and if everything goes as planned, Linda will not have to stay overnight.

On Oct 22nd, Linda will have to go to Dr. Molpus office for some kind pre surgery thing, I'm not sure what is all involved.

Then, on the 28th of October, surgery is scheduled at the Halifax Medical Center. The 28th is the first date that the operating room and Dr. Molpus will both be available.

Now, if on the 15th, the doctor should find that only radiation and chemo are needed, the surgery would be canceled, but at this time he really thinks surgery will be necessary.

So, ,  ,  ,  ,  that what I know. Both Linda and Jim are relieved that things are starting to happen, but of course, there's still the unknown of  just how large the tumor is and if it has spread at all. The scan and the exam on the 15th should tell the story.

Both Linda and Jim would like to thank everyone who has sent best wishes and prayers Linda's way. It really does mean a lot.

Thank You!!!!

Did you know that on this date in 1950 - "Peanuts," the comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz, was published for the first time in seven newspapers?

Woof!!!

Orientation Yesterday and First Appointment Today

DeBary, FL.

72 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. High of 88F. Winds from the NE at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

Laura stopped by and picked up Linda and Jim around 12:00 and took them over to the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach. Laura works in the same building that the "New Patient Orientation" was, so she knew exactly where to go.

It would have been a very long walk for Linda so one of the hospital volunteers wheeled Linda to the meeting room in a wheelchair. The orientation was strictly for cancer patients and the different speakers told all about all the services that were available as well as who to call if there are any questions about treatments or procedures.

Both Linda and Jim were pleased with the orientation and were glad that they went.

Today, Linda has an 8:30 AM appointment with the Gynecologist/Oncologist doctor. She's hoping that after seeing him that she will have some answers and an appointment for any needed medical procedures.

Yesterday as they were going to the Orientation, Laura told Linda and Jim that she would be able to take them back over to the hospital this morning. She has to work tonight, but figures that she can get some sleep this afternoon before she has to go in.

Is Laura great or what????? That will take a lot of pressure off of both Linda and Jim as far as getting there on time, especially since the appointment is so early and it's going to be about an hour drive over there with the morning traffic.

Thanks again, Laura!!!! :-)

If they come back with any information/news, I'll be sure to let you know in tomorrow's post.

Did you know that on this date in 1908 - The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford? The purchase price of the car was $850.

Woof!!!