Wednesday, December 30, 2015

It's Been A Whole Week

DeBary, FL.

68 deg. some fog, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy skies with some morning fog. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.


It's been a whole week since I've posted, so I thought I'd better fill you in on what's been happening around here.

Christmas Eve, Laura, Lindsey, Ashley, Chris and Anna did come here to the house. They brought presents and added them to the ones that were already under the tree. After H and H, (Hugs and Handshakes), everyone filled a plate with the great snack/finger food that Linda had prepared. Then, after talking for awhile and enjoying the food, it was time to open the presents.

It seemed like everyone enjoyed the presents they received and soon everyone was back at the table enjoying still more food. ;-)

Christmas morning, Jim and Linda took Lila and slowly drove over to Laura an Lindsey's. (It was quite foggy). Once there, they enjoyed a great breakfast that Ashley and Laura had put together.

The highlights of the breakfast was the French Toast Casserole that Ashley put together and the bacon smokey bites that Anna made. From what I can understand, the casserole tasted just like French Toast, but was baked in the oven as a casserole. I also understand that both food items were really good!!! :-)  Along with those items there were other common breakfast items to enjoy.

After visiting for a little while, Jim and Linda returned here to the house and spent the rest of Christmas day relaxing and watching TV.

Nothing much else happened until yesterday when Jim and Linda headed over to the Florida Hospital for Jim's Pet Scan. Jim had to be there by 9:45 and after filling out a bunch of forms, finally was taken back to the Scan area around 10:30.

The scan wasn't bad, but Jim became quite uncomfortable laying still for 35 minutes on that narrow, hard bed-like thing that moved him back a forth through the scanner. Including the prep, the whole procedure took about 2 hours,

Being that Jim hadn't been able to eat anything since the previous day, he was very hungry after the scan, so Lila took he and Linda over to the Bob Evans Restaurant where they enjoyed a very nice meal. :-)

Today, Jim gets to spend the day worrying about the results of the Scan and then tomorrow morning, he gets to go to see Dr. Saferali to hopefully get the results. :-O  Hopefully Jim will find enough to do today to keep his mind busy, so he doesn't worry too much.


A Point to Ponder :  “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

Woof!!!



Wednesday, December 23, 2015

More Doctors, Jim Has A Problem and Plans For Christmas Eve

DeBary, Fl.

73 deg., 93% humidity, overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.

The weather around here has been very strange this year. We've had temperatures way above normal and the weather guesser are saying that we may set a new record high on Christmas day!!


I have some news on the health front. Friday, Jim and Linda went to see Dr. Saferali, the oncologist. She checked Jim over and looked at the blood test that Jim received a week or so ago. Most everything looked good on it. Then she suggested a PET Scan to get a better view of the "small mass" that the x-rays and CAT scan had found.

Jim now has an appointment for the scan on the 29th of December with a follow up visit with Dr. Saferali on the morning of the 31st.

Saturday, Jim started having some breathing problems and on Sunday they were much worse. Any time he would try to do anything but sit or lie down, he was very short of breath. Jim suspected that the inhaler medication that Dr. Mathura had given him, on Monday, was causing the problem, so he quit using it and just used the emergency inhaler that the doctor had originally prescribed for him on Jim's first appointment.

Monday, Jim called the doctor's office and an appointment was made for yesterday morning. By yesterday morning, Jim was doing a little better and he and Linda headed over to the office.

It appears as though Jim was right as Dr. Mathura changed the type of inhaler and now this morning, Jim seems to be doing quite a bit better, after just a single use of the inhaler, yesterday.

On Sunday, Lindsey's parents, (Marv and Inez) had their Christmas dinner, but being that Jim was having the breathing problem and feeling so crummy, he and Linda didn't go. :-(

So,  ,  ,  ,  unless things change, the plan right now is for Laura, Lindsey, Ashley, Chris and Anna to come over here to the house on Christmas Eve to exchange presents. Linda has been gathering a bunch of  "snack food"  for everyone to enjoy. It should be a fun evening with family. :-)

Christmas day, I really don't know what's going on yet. I'm sure I'll find out sometime today.

I probably won't be posting until after Christmas, so Jim, Linda and I would like to wish all of you a very Marry Christmas. Hope all of you have a great day!!!!!


Did you know that  HANGING stockings out comes from the Dutch custom of leaving shoes packed with food for St Nicholas's donkeys. He would leave small gifts in return.

Woof!!! 


Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Bringing You Up-To-Date

DeBary, FL.

85 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast =  High around 85F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20%. Wednesday Night,  partly cloudy skies. Low 66F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.


Still don't have a lot of answers about Jim 's health problem, but I thought I'd better bring you up-to-date on what we do know and what's been happening.

Jim had another appointment with his primary care doctor, (Dr. Mathura), Monday. He went over the results of the blood tests, x-rays and the CT scans previously taken.

Nothing really surprising there. Jim had suspected that he had the beginnings of Emphysema, (which he has), and the "mass" that was detected. was as the doctor had told Jim and Linda on the phone.  The doctor gave Jim a sample inhaler to see if that would help him with his coughing and shortness of breath, and so far, it has seemed to help.

Jim and Linda have decided to use the same Oncologist that Linda used for her cancer treatment, (Dr. Saferali), since they both really like her and trust her treatment procedures.  The Pulmonary doctor's appointment won't be until January 5th though, so we'll have to see what happens there.

Also on Monday, (in the afternoon), Linda had an appointment with her surgeon's PA over in Daytona. Again everything went well and the PA doesn't expect any unusual reports from the test that she preformed. :-)

So,  ,  ,  ,  that brings us up-to-date. Maybe after meeting with Dr. Saferali on Friday, I'll have some more news, but who knows. Right now it seems like it's just a "hurry up and wait game"!!!!    :-(

OH, just one more thing. both Linda and Jim have really been enjoying driving Lila around town instead of Big RED.  Big RED is good at towing, but not so good and negotiating parking lots that are now designed for small cars. Also, Lila seems to be getting great gas mileage, so that helps on the financial end. :-)

A Point to Ponder:  “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”
E. Joseph Cossman

Woof!!!


Monday, December 7, 2015

Catching Up

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 72F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.


Well, let's see!!! When I last posted, it was Thanksgiving and Jim and Linda were getting ready to head over to Lindsey's parent's house for dinner. They had a great meal with turkey, ham and all the "trimin's" and lots of excellent deserts. they must have had a good time talking with Lindsey's family too, because it was late afternoon by the time they returned. :-)

Saturday evening,  Jim and Linda headed over to Gram's Kitchen where they both had nice meals. It was their first visit to Gram's since we've been back here and it didn't seem like much had changed since spring.

Monday was grocery shopping day. Lots of groceries were purchased at Winn Dixie.

Thursday, Linda had an  appointment with her cancer doctor, (Dr. Saferali). She had a blood test and everything looked good. Linda's next appointment with her will be sometime next spring. :-)

Friday finally came and by a little after 9:00, Jim was having the CT scan. Everything went smooth but by noon, Dr. Mathura had called and was telling Jim that there definitely was spot on Jim's lung that he called a "small mass". After explaining things to both Jim and Linda he said that he would call a pulmonary doctor and a cancer doctor and have them call the first of this week to set up appointments. :-(

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  that's where we are right now. not good news, but I suppose it could be worse. They're not even sure if it is cancer or not, so I'm thinking that a biopsy will be required before any treatment is done.

Even before we left here this last spring, Jim and Linda have been talking about getting a small car for Linda to drive and to use down here in FL. Well, Jim's been doing a lot of research online and he found one that he thought would do the job. So, Saturday morning he and Linda headed down to Sanford to take a look to see what it looked like.

To make a long story short, they ended up buying it. It's a 2014 Hyundai Accent sedan that has 35,000+ miles on it. It's still has some of the factory warranty left on it and seems to be in really good condition.

Here's a couple photos of it sitting in the driveway here at the double-wide in DeBary.

Introducing, "Lila"


Yesterday morning, Laura and Lindsey came over and helped Jim and Linda put up their Christmas decorations. Jim had set up the tree, but no decorations had been put on it before they arrived. It has become kind of a "tradition" for Laura, (and sometimes Lindsey) to come over and help decorate. Linda usually puts out some snacks and they all seem to have a good time decorating. :-)

Here's a photo of the decorated tree.


Don't know what's going to happen now. I guess we'll just have to wait until those doctors call. Today,  This morning Linda has an appointment with Dr. Bernard, (her retina doctor down here in FL), to see how her eyes are doing. She's hoping that she won't have to have any of those injections.


A Quote to Ponder:   “In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip.”
Daniel L. Reardon

Woof!!!