The Scan and The Results

DeBary, FL.

87 deg. clear, NW wind @ 3 mph.

Forecast = tonight, Partly cloudy skies. Low near 65F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.



Tuesday, Lila took Jim and Linda over to the same place where Jim had his radiation treatments so that he could get a PET Scan. The scan went off without a hitch and in about 2 hours, they were on their way back here to the house.

Today, they again headed over to Dr. Graham's office to talk to Dr. Graham to learn about the scan results. This last 24 hours has been quite stressful, wondering weather or not the cancer is gone or not.

The appointment was at 10:00, but of course, Jim and Linda didn't get in to see him until about 10:30. :-( When he came in, he informed Jim and Linda that the scan still showed something in the lung, but he said that he didn't agree with the diagonis of the person that wrote the report.

The spot where the tumor was, showed no tumor at all, but there was another spot lower in the lung that the person who wrote the report thought might be a problem. Well, Dr. Graham, showed Jim and Linda the scan pictures that were on his computer, and proceeded to explain why he didn't agree!!

The spot lower in the lung was not solid, but rather spotty on hazy in the photo. He explained that if it was cancer, it would be a solid spot and not spotty and hazy. In stead, he thinks that what it shows is scar tissue that was caused by the high doses of radiation that Jim recieved. He also believes that if it were cancer, it would show up where the orginal tumor was located and not way down in the bottom part of the lung.

So,  ,  ,  ,  , his diagnosis is that the cancer is gone and he expects that in the next PET Scan, to be done this fall, will show that he is correct. :-)

Oh, and also, he doesn't have a problem with us heading North for the summer and seeing him when we return in  October or November!! ;-) 


Did you know that  Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia who started Mother's Day celebrations also filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop the over- commercialisation of Mother's Day? She lost her fight. Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done.

Woof!!!

Catching Up and Getting Ready For The 4th

Rantoul, IL.

62 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

We've dried out some since my last post. We've still had some rain from time to time, but it's been smaller amounts and the ground has pretty much soaked it up without getting too soggy. There seems to still be a few areas here in the CG but hopefully we won't get too much more rain so that those spots dry out for the "sold out" 4th of July holiday weekend.

Not a whole lot has happened since I've last posted. Jim and Linda went out to eat one evening at the Blue Star Restaurant over in Fisher. They've done laundry, gone grocery shopping and went to Thomasboro to pick up their mail, but other than than, just normal everyday stuff.

Oh, and Jim has been "dumpster diving" again. ;-)  This time he retrieved a nice looking water hose that had lost one of it's fittings. So, he went to ACE, bought a new fitting for $3.79 and now he has a nice 25' hose to use either while camping or back at the double-wide in Florida. It's a blue colored hose that has a white lining inside that was made for drinking water, but he'll probably just use it for general hose use, unless he decides to run some bleach through it, and then it will be safe for drinking water.  

Friday morning, Linda has an appointment with her retinaologist. She's already starting to worry about what he will find. She really doesn't like getting those injections and is hoping that they won't be necessary this time.

Then, Friday evening, Rantoul is having their 4th of July fireworks display. It's over at the airport area, so we should be able to see most of it from right here in the park.  No plans for the rest of the weekend, but there'll be lots of folks and probably quite a few kids to "people watch" here in the CG. :-)

Did you know that Illinois set new rainfall records for June this year?

The old record for June was 8.27 inches set in 1902.
The current 9.37 inches beats the old record by 1.10 inches.
The current 9.37 inches is 5.17 inches above the June average of 4.20 inches.
The current 9.37 inches make this the second wettest month in Illinois history.
Only September 1926 was a wetter month at 9.62 inches.

Woof!!!

Eye Doctor Appointment and Plans To Decorate

DeBary, FL.

54 deg. partly cloudy, NW wind @ 7 mph.
Forecast = Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 65F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.

Thanks to all the folks who commented, called or e-mailed Linda to congratulate her on the scan results. It means so much to her to know that so many of you care. :-)

Yesterday, (after a couple more days of anxiety),  Linda had an appointment with a new eye doctor. Dr. Gandhi from Illinois had given Linda his name and suggested that she make an appointment with him to see if she needed any further treatments to her eyes.

The appointment was for 9:00 AM with instructions to come in a little early to fill out paperwork, so Jim and Linda left here about 8:30 and headed over to his office, which is only about 10 minutes from here. Once there and after filling out a whole bunch of forms, she finally got in to see Dr. Barnard.

The Dr. said that the right eye was doing fine, (the one that Dr. Gandhi was treating), but from the scan of Linda's eyes, he noticed some problems with her other eye, that he recommended being taken care of. So, Linda had an injection in that eye. :-(

This was not good news to Linda. Her left eye is her "good" eye, (the one with almost no diabetic damage), and she had not had any problems with that eye since way back in 2002. :-(

Anyway, the injection procedure went well, but she did have a lot of discomfort yesterday afternoon and evening. Hopefully after sleeping, it will feel better today and she'll be able to have a good day.

Speaking of today. I think that Laura is coming over today to help Jim and Linda decorate the Christmas tree and put up a few other decorations. (It's become kind of a tradition for her to come over to help). It shouldn't take too long as they don't put up a whole lot of stuff, but they usually have a good time doing it. :-)

Did you know that Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850?

Woof!!!

First Radiation Therapy Treatment.

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 81F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.

Linda was real nervous as Big RED pulled out of the driveway a little after 9:00 yesterday morning. You see, they were on the way to Linda's first radiation therapy treatment, and again, there was the unknown of just what to expect. :-(

By the time they got over to the Radiation Oncology area of the Florida Hospital in Orange City, Big RED said that he thought she might have been feeling a little better though. Once inside everything moved quickly and soon Linda was whisked away into the treatment room.

In about 20 minutes, she was back to where Jim was waiting for her.

From what I gather, everything went smoothly and it wasn't as bad as Linda had envisioned. In fact, by a little before 10:00 Big RED was backing into the driveway. :-) Once back in the house, both she and Jim relaxed for awhile, ate some lunch and then, about 12:15, headed over to the chemo place for another saline transfusion.

While this procedure was being done, Jim went to Publix, bought some groceries and then came back here to the house and put them away. A few minutes after 4:00, Linda called and told Jim that they were just about finished with the transfusion, so Jim headed over there to pick her up.

On the way back here, they stopped at the Lotus Garden and picked up some Chinese food for dinner.

Laura and Lindsey stopped by for a little while in the evening. (Laura wanted to hear all about Linda's first radiation treatment). Then the rest of the evening was spent watching TV.

Today, Linda will have her 2nd radiation treatment at 11:40. From what I understand, this will be the time that Linda will go in every day. She'll also see the doctor, (Dr. Graham), today, and the nurse told Linda that she would probably be seeing him every Tuesday.

I know some of this is probably real boring for many of you, but there are a few people, including some of Jim and Linda's kids that want to know all about the procedures that Linda is going through. Plus, I'm thinking that some day, Jim or Linda may want to look back on just what happened and when, so I'm trying to document the procedures here.

Thank you for your patience. I'll try to get back to some more interesting things soon.

A Point to Ponder : Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

Woof!!!

Prescriptions, A Hat For Linda and Ashley Saves The Day

DeBary, FL.

59 deg. overcast, NE wind @2 mph.
Forecast = Sun and clouds mixed. High 71F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday morning, Linda was pretty sore from the surgery, so Jim headed to Walgreen's to get Linda's regular prescriptions refilled and pick up a few other items. He would have had to wait for at least an hour for them to have the prescriptions ready, so he told them he'd come back later.

One of the things he found while roaming around in Walgreen's, was a turbine type head covering that the ladies wear after they've washed their hair. Jim though it may make a nice head covering for Linda after she lost her hair, so he bought her one.

From Walgreen's, he headed over to Winn Dixie, (which is just across the street), and picked up some essentials before coming back here to the house.

When he got back here to the house, he showed Linda the head covering, and she was thrilled to death!!! :-) She thought it was just great, and said that she thought she'd wear it a lot.  

After lunch, Jim went back to Walgreen's and picked up most of the prescriptions. I say "most" because again, they didn't have enough of one of the meds, so now today, (Monday), he'll need to go back again! :-(

By Saturday evening, Linda was feeling better and she asked Jim what he thought about going out to eat someplace? She was also thinking about Ashley coming Sunday morning to shave her head, and said that she'd like to go out to eat before that happened.

So, about 4:30 they took CLT and headed over to Gram's Kitchen and had their Prime Rib Special!!! Both of them were still talking about how good the steak was when they returned and it made my mouth water as Linda was wrapping up the leftovers to put into the fridge and freezer! .-)

Sunday morning, (about 11:00), Ashley came over took care of Linda's hair. By this time, the hair was starting to come out by the handful so Linda was glad that she had made plans to get it removed. Ashley was very caring but yet  professional and in just a short time, it was done.

After finishing, Ashley stayed and talked for awhile and then headed to one of her friends house for lunch.

Linda wants to thank Ashley so much for the way she handled the whole thing. Because of the way she went about it, she kept it from being the traumatic experience that Linda was dreading.

Thank you so much, Ashley!!!!!!!

A Point to Ponder :  Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.

Finally Another Appointment and Noises From The Kitchen

DeBary, FL.

72 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 88F. Winds from the ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Linda and Laura going to Daytona the other day to get the records sent over to the original doctor that Laura and then Linda had contacted, paid off.

He went over the files and decided that he would see Linda to determine if, or what type of surgery will be performed. The results for the biopsy have not returned yet, but by viewing the other doctor's notes and test results, he seems to think that surgery will more than likely be necessary regardless of the biopsy results.

So, an appointment has been made for 8:30 AM on the 1st of October, with a "new patient orientation" the day before, on the 30th of September.

Linda has very mixed feelings. She wants to get this problem taken care of, but of course, is nervous about the whole procedure to correct the problem.

In the meantime, the doctor's office e-mailed her a whole packet forms to fill out and information about the doctor, the hospital and directions to the different places that Linda and Jim will have to go. They even included a map of the facilities!!

I've heard a noise coming from the refrigerator in the kitchen for quite some time now. It comes and goes, but lately has been getting louder and more frequent. I guess Jim has been hearing the noise also, but being that there was so much else going on, just kind of ignored it.

In the last few days, the noise has gotten noticeably worse and  yesterday morning, I saw Jim checking it out. He's pretty sure that the noise is coming from  one of those little fan motors that circulate the cold air throughout the inside of the fridge.

So, what to do? Well, He and Linda talked it over yesterday and decided that if this refrigerator was larger and a nicer one with an icemaker, they would have called a repair man to come and repair it. But, since they really don't like this one much, they decided to see what they could find to replace it.

Over in Orange City, there's an appliance store called John's Appliance, so they headed over there yesterday afternoon. John's sells all the major brands and also sells scratch and dent appliances at reduced prices. After talking to Dan, the salesman, and telling him what the size limitations were, he showed them a few different units that would fit into the space in the kitchen. Jim asked if they had any scratch and dent models that would fit in the space? Dan showed them what was available and soon they were making a deal on a nice 21 cubic foot GE refrigerator that has a very small dent in the door down towards the bottom.

Today, they'll be delivering the refrigerator and picking up the old one. They're supposed to be here between 11:30 and 12:30.  

This wasn't an expense that they had counted on, but when they bought this house, they new there would be some expenses, so they set money aside for things like this.  It's a good thing that they did.

Did you know that on this date in 1876 - Melville R. Bissell patented the carpet sweeper?

Woof!!!

Dishes, Clouds and Butterflies

DeBary, FL.

74 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 97F. Winds less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Long time readers will remember when Jim and Linda went up to Naperville, IL. to see Linda's sister, Nancy, and to pick up some dishes that Linda had left with her for safe keeping. Nancy e-mailed the other day and wondered if they had survived the trip down here in one piece?  Well, in the photo below, you can see that they all made it without even a chip, and that's something, taking in consideration that they had to have bounced around some in the back of CLT on some of those really rough roads that we traveled on the way down here.

Linda's dishes on display, on the shelves and in the cabinets. (metal tray in the middle is not part of the set).

Yesterday morning, as Jim was having his coffee out in the Florida Room, the sun was coming up and he noticed how it was illuminating some storm clouds up to the North of here, so he got out his camera and took this photo.

Morning sun illuminating storm clouds

The last few days, there has been a lot of activity around one of the bushes out in front of our house. It seems like every time I look out of the window, I see these butterflies flitting around the bush. Jim saw them too, so again, he grabbed the camera and took a few photos.

There's one in the photo below, (you can click on the photos to enlarge them) can you spot it?

Here's a close-up of the butterfly on one of the flowers.

Linda did some laundry yesterday, and both she and Jim have been working on getting more things put away and organized. 

Oh, and Jim called "The Antenna Guys" who put up one of the neighbor's TV antenna, across the street, when we were here in the spring. He's going to be here early Thursday morning, (before Linda has to go to the doctor), and talk to Jim, and then, if Jim agrees, he'll probably put up the antenna that same day, even though Jim and Linda won't be here. 

Then, he'll come back another day, and finish the installation. (Any inside stuff that needs to be done). 

Speaking of the doctor, Linda is getting very nervous about going on Thursday. Again, it's the fear of the unknown. Not knowing what the diagnosis will be and what will actually have to be done to fix her problem. :-(  I know that she wants to get all of this taken care of as soon as possible, but at the same time she's worrying about getting the house ready before she has any procedures. 

Hopefully, soon, questions will be answered and everything will get taken care of.

Did you know that there are about 24,000 species of butterflies?

Woof!!!