Happy Independence Day

The days are flying by!

We are still waiting for summer here in the East. It is no long monsoon season, so it has gotten a little better, but an article in the Post two weeks ago read "Seattle called, they want their weather back". Since I had just returned from Seattle where we enjoyed a beautiful weekend for Rachel's graduation, I didn't think that was very funny! Today it didn't actually rain, but it was overcast and 68 degrees! On the fifth of July!

Seems like I have been busier than ever. I have been doing some volunteering, I got together with a couple buddies and established an alumni group here in DC for graduates from Cal Maritime (crazy, I know!) I found out a branch of my gym has an awesome pool so I have been going there and sometimes I get some work done at the office. Plus I have been trying to get to some of the outdoor events that are everywhere here in the summer: concerts, festivals and even made it to the twilight polo match that I have wanted to get to for a couple years. Even made it to Clara Barton's house! Bert has been out West for the last 3 weeks, fishing up a storm, so I have been on my own, and I haven't been spending much time at home.

Last week my coworker Jen and I traveled to visit some members. We went to Chicago, IL and LeClaire, Iowa. We spent two days sailing from LeClaire to Dubuque. We had a great time, learned a ton about the Mississippi River, and even more about Mayflies. We had the luck (?) to see a massive hatch of these bugs. We saw trees that had so many of these Mayflies that the weight of the bugs broke the branches off the trees! We swept, hosed, and used blowers to try to get them off. They tell me when they get really bad, they have to use a snowplow on Interstate 80 to remove the dead bugs. They only live for 24 hours, and the good news is they don't bite or sting! I was supposed to get home Thursday night, but due to storms I got stranded in NYC overnight. Spent a lovely evening in Flushing NY and finally got home at noon on Friday. That was a bummer because it was a holiday for us. Since it was cloudy and cool anyway, I went to the office when I got in.

Yesterday I started the day at the Aquatic Gardens and took some fun photos. It was nice in the morning, sunshine and everything!
And then I went to the Mall for the fireworks. Since it was just me, even though I got there long after the crowd settled in, I managed to wiggle up to my favorite spot to hear the music and be right under the rockets! The camera phone doesn't do them justice!

Hope you all had a great holiday too.

wow!

How could it be 2 months since I have posted anything? At first is was because I had seen almost everyoon that reads this, but now even my trip to Seattle/Portland was a month ago! So, as you can tell, I am feeling fine, because I have not held still long enough to post anthing. Since I got back from the west coast, I made a quick trip to Cape Cod for a meeting, and since then have not been anywhere for work, which is weird enough. But, I will fix that, as I am off for Savannah on Tuesday. Bert and I had a weekend get away to Wayneboro, VA, for a flyfishing show. Mostly work has been really busy, I wrote a new security plan for my members, and getting it approved and then implementing it has kept me hopping. When not working I have been in the garden trying to keep up with the crazy growth of everything after the 3 inches of rain we have had since the first of May. Some amazing thunder storms too! It looks great out there, the deer have had so much to eat that they have left my hostas alone for once. I have been learning to use my blackberry and I have also been knitting for our little Peanut, both of which keep me from opening up my laptop and home in the evening, so then I dont check in with my blog. I know, excuses, excuses. Enjoyed a low key Mother's day, enjoying brunch with some friends in Occaquan. Bert had to work, so we ended up sitting on the deck outside the restuarant, since it is right on the Occaquan River.

As for health, things are going good. I went to see the Doc when I got home from out West, and she said I don't even have to come in and see her until July. I told her I won't know what to do with my free time! I keep on going to the chemo lab to reveive one drug now, Herceptin, but there are no side effects, not like chemo, so it is no big deal. I went and got a heart scan and a bone scan 2 weeks ago, and they said both look good, with no damage from the chemo. I even have a little fuzz on my hair again, even though I stand in front of the mirror and stare wistfully at my face, wishing for lashes and eyebrows! I got desperate today and did some research on the internet: 60 to 90 days to grow back lashes it says, so I guess I will be wistful for a while longer.

So, trying to get out and about, during the nice weather we have had, before it gets too awful hot. Won't be long now, we have already had a 92 degree weekend, when Ann Marie was here. We have had pretty good visitors, with Ann Marie and David (although that was a little too exciting, you can ask David about that!) and Steve Wid is here for work 2 weeks a month now. And now we find out that we will have family here too, as Gail and Steve are being transferred here in September. We are excited for the company!! But, that doesn't mean the rest of you can't come visit too! Hint hint!

March 22

Its been a long two weeks since the last post. And is it a good thing that that was my last round of chemo. Its predictable that it was the worst one, because we know the effect is cumulative, but this was a rough one, or else I am losing the ability to ignore it. I even had to take 3 days of sick leave, probably more than I have taken the last 3 months (except of course those spa days I had in December while I laid around the hospital). I came home from work on Wedn. after my chemo on Monday, and took a 2 hour nap, then I got up at 8 pm, back to bed at midnight, and slept until 2 pm the next day! Friday and Saturday were still crappy, sleeping most of the time. Then Sunday and Monday I wasn't sleeping, but had all those text book side effects: nausea, etc. Ick. All these doses, never had this reaction. Got back to myself a little bit in time to go on a road trip with my co-worker Jen. We were in Yorktown on Wednesday at a trainging class, and then Thursday we were on the Eastern shore at CG Industry day. Yesterday it was a nice spring day, and I woke up feeling much better, and starting to be my own self. Worked in the garden, and that was nice. Today, Bert had the day off too, so we broke out our bikes and headed to the mall. We didn't ride long, I didn't want to get 5 miles from the car and decide I didn't have the energy to get back, so we parked just south of the Thomas Jefferson memorial, and then rode around Potomac Park. The Cherry Blossom Festival starts next Saturday, and the trees are going to be beautiful and right on schedule, I think. There was just a pink blush today, but you can see how awesome they will be. Actually my first time to visit TJ, had not been there before, believe it or not. Always go to FDR, never TJ. The bike ride went well, I got back to the car in good shape and we rode a couple miles all together. I did come home and take a nap, but nothing wrong with that. I blamed the fresh air!

Another busy week, off to Boston for a Tuesday meeting and Seattle for a Wednesday meeting, and home on Thursday. Whew!

Spring has sprung here!

Well, clearly I have been too busy again, because I am behind in my posting.

I got my 5th round of chemo on the 13th, and the next week felt pretty poopy. Drug myself out on the holiday to go to the Smithsonian with our friend Wid and Bert, but was tired and had no appetite the rest of the week.

We had a no-notice adventure at the end of the week, however. It started on the 18th, when I found out our friends had rented a house for a week at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and invited us to come join them for the weekend. It seemed like a crazy idea until I found out that it was going to snow again in DC, so Friday night we jumped in the car and away we went. Stayed in Kitty Hawk Friday night, and got up Saturday morning to go to the Wright Brothers memorial, where Bert got invited to play with the model Wright Flyer with the docent. He was pretty excited! We had just been to the Smithsonian on Monday and saw the real plane, so it was fun to go to Kitty Hawk and see the spot. And all in the same week. Then we went to see the lighthouse. The rest of the weekend was lazy: sitting in the hot tub and eating good food and had a little birthday celebration with my friends. Bert tried to do a little fishing, and I went for a walk on the beach, but it was pretty cold and windy. We did sit and watch porpoise out the window, and the sun shone the whole time, so what could be better, knowing we were missing a grey, wet weekend at home. We took Monday off, and had a nice drive home.

Wednesday the 25th I was in Long Island for a meeting, flew up and flew back at the end of the day. And, of course, celebrated my birthday on Thursday. I nice gift from my girls, and Bert had found a new Belgium restaurant in Alexandria, and we had a really nice dinner there. Then John and Jen took me out for lunch the next day to celebrate, so I managed to stretch the celebration into almost a whole week!

Sunday, March 1st I was scheduled to fly to Nashville. I woke that morning to my phone ringing at 8 am. Delta airlines, never good. Found out they had cancelled my 5 pm flight, and rescheduled it for 5 pm Monday. Since my meeting started at noon on Monday, knew that wasn't going to work, so thru clothes into my suitcase, and headed for the airport. After a couple hours of running between terminals, and sweet talking every agent at 3 airlines, I got them to put me on a flight at 3 pm, and arrived in Nashville after the snow there had stopped and before it started in DC. Got home Wednesday night to see the 6 inches on the ground that I had missed! Man, that worked out good. By Thursday it was 55 degrees, and by Saturday, 75! Thursday night I had to drive up to New Jersey for a meeting at Statue Cruises. It was a beautiful day, and the meeting was held in the historic train station in Jersey City, owned by the national Parks Service and restore to serve as the departure point for cruises to the Statue and Ellis island. A beautiful view, even though it is the back of Lady Liberty.

I enjoyed a nice weekend of 70+ degree weather, and everyone is fooling ourselves that spring has arrived. I am certain we will still get spanked for enjoying it, but it was a great weekend. I got a little gardening done, and got invited to a party at the neighbors on Sunday! Yea! Real neighbors, not an empty house owned by the bank next door any more.

Today I sit at the infusion lab getting my LAST dose of chemo! Hurray for me. I will still have to come every three weeks to get my super drug, Herceptin, but it has no side effects, so I will get hair and my energy back and not loose my taste buds any more! Yeah!

happy day after Valentines Day to all!

Thanks to everyone who sent all the nice Valentines Cards and emails. I am afraid was I not so on the ball as all of you, and am lucky I remembered my husband! We have been living pretty quietly around here, and it seems when I am not at work, I am stretched out on the sofa. I have made a point of calling a couple friends and doing dinner since I had not really done that since before December. Too dang cold to get excited about much of anything else. Every time we try, the weather is just too cold. Had a a couple days last week that jumped to the 70's, but of course those were work days, so no one took advantage of them, but we wish they were back! I did a business trip to Williamsburg and it was warm driving down, but dropping by the time I got there, and snowing when I got up in the morning. I did enjoy a nice drive from there over to the Shenandoah Valley, snow covered but sunny, where we had our annual staff retreat. We stay at this little 1740 inn, and usually enjoy a walk to the river while we are there, but this year it was 9 degrees when we got up, and all we did was work. Told you we have been boring.

5th round of chemo this Thursday, only one more to go. Seems like the fatigue gets me a little earlier each round now, and lasts a little longer. Bert and I went up to Annapolis this morning, and went to a Fly tieing show. I had plans to do some touring in Annapolis while we were there, but after the show, we went and had a nice lunch, and I was done, ready for a nap. Bert bought us a cute box of cupcakes, and we headed home. One of these days we will actually go tour the capitol in Annapolis, since we have yet to do that. Such a cute little town, with so much history. Today our friend Steve Wid is here for a visit, and tomorrow we hope to do some touring, maybe a quick trip to Charlottesville.

So, again, feeling OK other than slow, and some annoying little side effects that are always different. A royal case of hives this week that laid me low, mostly because I didn't want to be seen with big red splotches on my face! But, hope to be feeling myself again by the end of April, just in time for a trip Seattle bound!

Good week, but I am sick of winter!

Trying not to complain about the cold, because some of you have had it much worse than us, but damn, it is time for a break. After the freezing inauguration, which Bert and I watch from the comfort of our cozy restaurant, we got a tease on Friday, it was a fabulous 55 when I came home from work, but now it was right back to 24 yesterday and this morning, and when the wind blows, whooey! Kept me in the house yesterday doing chores, and I am loosing enthusiasm for a planned trip downtown this afternoon too! Its a shame because it looks sunny and pretty out, but not! Doctor week last week too, saw the Oncologist on Wednesday and then Chemo of Thursday. No problems this week, went back to work after finishing chemo at 1 pm, and even made it to the gym three times last week. Lots of big projects at work right now, so been putting in some extra hours around the doctor's appts. So, feeling good, other than the cold toes!

Happy 3 day weekend

Well, as you can tell, I got busy again. After the new year started, the office was buzzing getting ready for our convention. I was saving up my energy for the work-fest that is the convention. Flew to San Francisco on the 5th, and worked 12-hour days every day until the 12th. Managed to see a bunch of family in spite of the full days. Nice Friday night dinner in SF with my Mom and Sis, and they joined me Saturday morning for a nice brunch cruise on SF bay. The weather was amazing there, and the air was crystal clear when we were out on the boat. Nice escapism for all of us that have been living in a deep freeze. Lucy and Josie came and took me to dinner and I even got to see cousin Marianne, which was a complete surprise. Our convention was a huge success, but when we got home, we all agreed that we felt like we had a bad hangover!

And was I sorry to leave behind that sunny 75 degree weather. It wasn't too bad when I got home (32!) but by Friday it was down to 9. I had a meeting at one of our operators down on the Potomac, and it was BITTER out on their dock. Our meeting was a 7 AM. Wow. Saturday we got up, dressed and out early and went to the mall at Tyson's Corner, becuase it was the warmest thing we could think of to do. Every family in the area seemed to have the same idea, there were kids everywhere. We have now warmed back up to 32 again, but the cold kept me away from the inaugeral concert yesterday afternoon. I listened to it on the radio, and was very disappointed that I did not go. But between the 1 mile walk to get there, and the cold weather, it is easy to talk yourself into other activites. I will be watching the inaugeration from someplace warm tomorrow too!

This afternoon Bert and I are going to volunteer at an event in DC to pack goodie bags for military folks overseas. Part of the new Prez's volunteer initiative. The DC Mayor called for 15,000 people to come to the stadium for this project, and claim we will be working in a heated tent, so we are going to go and see if we can help.

Went to see the surgeon for my last visit on Friday. She cleared me for full activity, and I don't have to go back. I celebrated by going back to the gym yesterday. The 25 minutes that I used to think nothing of on the elliptical kicked my butt, so I will have to get working on that, but then I went for a swim, which felt great. Not much stamina there either, swam about 500 yards, but it felt good, and I was happy to have pretty good arm motion. I won't be doing a crawl, front or back, for a while, that was a bit too much.

Gotta go put on six layers of clothes to go outside!

Happy New Year!

Well, what a busy two weeks and a great holiday we have had!

Rachel decided not to go home after I got home from the hospital, so we got to have her around for a nice long stay. She managed to visit some friends here in DC, and helped me get ready for the holiday, and we even made it to work a couple of days. I continued to get IV antibiotic until the 16th, when they determined that I was all better, and we were done with the daily trip to the doctors office. On the 18th, the surgeon got rid of the last drain, and I was 100% and ready to go on vacation, the only condition that she gave me was not to drive all the way to Massachusetts. No problem there. Rachel left for NYC on Thursday, hoping to find Michael and spend some time with some friends in the big city. United airlines managed to get Michael to NY only 24 hours late, and he and Rae headed to the Kings for a couple days. Bert and I left on Sunday morning. It was cold, and we had had freezing rain overnight, but the roads were clear and we had a good drive to Connecticut, after a slight detour to my Dad's home town, and a drive by of my grandparents house when I was a kid. Amazing that I drove right to it.

Monday morning was cold, 11 degrees, but again the sun was out, and we were all on our way. I know you NW'ers are all saying to yourself "11 degrees, big deal" since you have us WAY beat on shitty weather, since we haven't even had snow on the ground here yet in DC.

We stopped in Essex, CT for lunch at a fabulous place some friends had taken me last year for lunch. The Griswold Inn has been providing meals and operated as an Inn for some 300 years, and has the best collection of American maritime art on the walls. Very cool place. We arrived at Cape Cod at the end of the day, and instantly fell in love with our house we had chosen. It was perfect for our holiday, and Bert took us out first thing Tuesday morning and we got a perfect little Christmas tree (or two!) and got them decorated and the stocking hung, and we were ready! We just needed Michal and Jason!

We went on Tuesday night and had a great dinner with Michael's grandparents. We really enjoyed visiting with them.

Christmas Eve we went into Boston for a visit to Quincy Market and the Boston back bay, and then off to the airport, where Alaska Air managed better than United, since Michal and Jason arrived only a couple hours late. Then we went back downtown where we found Meghan (our other adopted daughter) for a nice dinner at a restaurant on the historic Long Wharf in Boston. The restaurant was located in the warehouse where John Hancock had his office. Very cool, and not a bad dinner either!

Christmas Day was great fun, with the 7 of us together, and then joined by Bert's brother Chris and his family, and a visit from Michael's Grandparents again, we had a full house and a very festive day. The weather was dry, sunny and cold, but we did all go for a walk on the beach, but we didn't stay long!

Friday we drove to the end of the cape to Provincetown, and Saturday, in spite of the fact that it had now started raining, and Meghan had to go home to NY, we toured Boston and had a great day. Sunday we decided to be lazy, partly because Michael had to leave to go to his parents, so the boys spent the day watching football and girls snuck out for a little therapy shopping (it had been days!) and then Chris and gang returned, and we had a lobster dinner par excellance!

That dinner was so good we wish we had gotten lobster every night!

Monday we were up and out early and headed to NYC. Arrived in the late afternoon, and by the end of the day we had walked our little feeties of and seen a ton of stuff, in spite of the fact that the city was a mad house and full of tourists. 2 1/2 hour wait to go up the Empire State building, so needless to say we had to save that for another trip. Bert and I dropped the kids off at Meg's in Brooklyn at 11:30 and then we headed for New Jersey, since I had to be back to go to the doctor's the next day. We just drove long enough to be sure we were out of traffic Tuesday morning. So, now I am back in the routine, labs Tuesday afternoon, and chemo yesterday.

But as you can tell by everything we have done lately, I am feeling dang good. It was great to feel good on our trip, and missing my dose of chemo because of the surgery was the silver lining of the horrible start to the month, since I had no weird chemo side effects during our trip.

Hope you all had as great a holiday as we did!

Sunday at home

See what happens...the minute I am not trapped in a hospital, I start getting busy and forget to blog!

It has been a great 4 days home. I am getting a little tired of driving to the doctor's office every day, but I am not complaining! Beats the alternative. So, I get up every morning and drive to the office, get a 30 minute IV, let the nurse poke me and see if things look better, and then I am out again. Went to the surgeons on Friday, and she is happy with progress. Will see her again tomorrow and hope she will pull a hose or two out. Maybe.

Rachel has decided not to go home, since she was coming back on the 18th for the holiday anyway. So she has been my partner in crime all week. She and Bert put up some outdoor decorations for me while I was at my Saturday appt. so that was nice. Our little house looks cute with Christmas lights around the garage and front windows. We were looking pretty humbug around here, except for what Bert and Rae have done. She and I managed to get a couple errands done this week so that we have something for us to open Christmas morning. I still have to come home most days and take a little nap, but generally I am feeling pretty good and getting back to myself. Going to try to do a 1/2 day at the office tomorrow, will see if I make it!

Home again!

Thanks to Rachel, the doctors released Beth yesterday evening and she is thrilled to be in her own bed again. You'll recognize this picture as they assumed the position. With continuing treatment, she is making good progress on the infection.

-Bert

Jail break!

One by one, the five doctors have come by and signed off to let me go home. After the whole cardio uproar yesterday, today I woke up to have the technician standing over my bed. At 7:30 am I was already down stairs getting an EKG and doppler scan of my heart. I could see the little flaps flapping and the muscle working, but I couldn't tell if it was doing good or doing bad, so quit watching. But then the cardio guy came and said my heart muscle was beautiful and perfect, and that that little "incident" after surgery was because I was dehydrated. Duh! So, we are sitting waiting for the surgeon, who is the last one, and then we are outta here! Good thing we stayed, because the beautiful roses that Bert had ordered for delivery yesterday for our anniversary finally arrived, as well as the cutest Christmas arrangement from Mary and Alan B. Will post pictures as soon as we get home, which we hope is SOON!

Back in a room after a long day

Hey All! Everything with the surgery went fine. Mom had a low heart rate during recovery which means cardiology and pulmonary doctors got involved. Mom's trying to set a world record in doctors! After waiting all day for a room (we'll spare you the story), she finally got a room in the Heart Center, with a window and everything. Her roommate in oncology was sorry to see her go! The update is: surgeon was very happy with what she saw and was able to sew up the wound, infectious diseases doctor is happy and put mom down to one dose of antibiotics a day, which means she can probably just visit the doctors office to continue treatment for the infection. All this means once the cardiologists are happy (which requires a few more tests) Mom might be able to go home! We are hoping for tomorrow after her noon antibiotic treatment, but we are not getting our hearts sent on it.

Today is mom and dad's anniversary - 29 years in sickness and in health! Happy Anniversary Bert and Beth!

BTW Rachel's phone is dead, so try Mom's cell or Dad's cell to reach us. Thanks for all the phone calls and love, we hope to be out of this soon!

-Rachel

Mom's in Recovery

Dad and Rachel just got the news that Mom is in recovery and awake. The doctors said they were able to successfully remove the implant. Dad and Rachel are hoping to see her soon. Now they just need to kill that infection!

Rachel's in DC!

Here is a cute photo I got today from Dad's bad camera phone. Snug as two bugs in a rug!

Michal

Off to Surgery!

Guest blogger Rachel here. Mom just got wheeled off to the surgical floor. A few hours and the offending alien should be removed.

-Rachel and Dad

how a week can seem like a month

A week ago today, all this fun began. And here I am, no better off. There was a brief hope this morning that I would go home, but it was just fleeting.
The Drs. decided that I need to stay here where they can see me every day. Said if I go home, it could start to go the wrong way, and I would not notice in time. We even got so far as to have at home nurses scheduled.
My gut tells me that I am destined for surgery to remove the implant, maybe even Monday. They called in an infectious disease specialist Thursday, and he says that the staph infection that I have has probably coated the implant, and while it might get better, probably won't go away. I am ready to get rid of it now! Enough is enough for the sake of vanity.

Rachel bought a plane ticket and is arriving tonight, so that will be nice, although I feel guilty about taking her away from home, again!

I did get a new room---much quieter! 974 now. That other roommate was too much to take. The nurses decided she was the reason I had a headache, and moved me! Once they decided I was moving, it was amazing how much activity started happening. Three nurses just took all the furniture from each room, and moved it to the other room, bed and all, and I was in my new room in about 5 minutes! This roommate is going home tonight after dinner, and I may try to get the nurses to move me again, so I can score a window! I feel like I have been living in a curtained cave, plus the window side of the room gets the lion share of the space. Amazing the things you have time to time to analyze when you lay here!

day four, tihe fun continues

Wish I had something brilliant and entertaining to relay to everyone, but there is nothing less interesting than my day today was. Went back to sleep after breakfast, woke up in time for lunch. Spent the afternoon reading, doing a little work, and trying to ignore my roommate's incessant bitching and complaining! At least she goes to the lab all morning for treatment, so I have a little relief. Dr. came by this evening and says that improvement continues, but not very fast. My doctors are going to put their heads together tomorrow and see if I can continue treatment from home, and if they can they will let me go home. Otherwise, I will continue to stay here. Leftover chinese made my day. More fun tomorrow!

still here....

Day two, oops no its three already. You know what they say about when you are having fun.

The doctors all say that I am making progress, but it is slow, so now they are saying they think I can go home on Thursday. They got me all agitated today, because my hand and arm were swollen, so the nurses ordered a ultrasound to see if I had a blood clot. Luckily, it was a false alarm, instead they think I just could not absorb the IV fluid fast enough, and that was causing the swelling. They managed to get me all upset in the process, but my fabulous hubby made me feel better by bringing me a chopped olive sandwich for lunch, and a fabulous dinner from the outside world. Chinese take out never tasted so good after 3 days of blah hospital food. And I have both left over for tomorrow.

Tucking in early for the night: more news tomorrow.

The holiday started out good, but didn't end so well

We were up and out early on our big adventure to Warm Springs, VA on Wednesday morning, with a cooler full of roast turkey, stuffing and a fresh loaf of Bert's home made bread on board! We stopped in Saunton, VA, home of Woodrow Wilson, and went for a little walking tour on the way. Then, not much farther along, we stopped for a turkey sandwich picnic, nice, but pretty chilly at 39 degrees. Arrived at our little cabin about 3 and jumped into our fishing gear and hit the river.

I am pretty sure that it was too cold for the little fishies, cause we didn't see any that day.

We went into town and had a nice dinner, (it was cold there too!) and we really enjoyed our little cabin, which was called Swiggle. Here is a picture of the cabin, and the view we had out the window. As you see, threats of rain and snow never materialized. The farm was great and we are ready to go back in summer and swim in the swimming hole and play in a canoe.

Thursday am Bert got up and headed down to the river, but came back not too much later, since he found that the river was frozen over! So we jumped in the car and drove to the dam on the river where the water was much warmer. By the time we got back to the cabin, unfortunately, I was starting to not feel too sharp, and the dreaded surgical drain had gone and fallen out! But, we kept on with our plan to have our nice holiday dinner at the Homestead. The place was unbelievable, built in 1766, is so large, we had trouble finding the ballroom where our buffet was scheduled. Check out the web site: http://www.thehomestead.com/. All their holiday decorations were up, many many lights in trees down the drive and in the front and back of the property. Very old Virginia. The buffet was unbelievable, and while I went for traditional choices (turkey and corn bread stuffing) Bert enjoyed roast duck, venison stew, prime rib, etc etc. The dessert table was the hardest choice! Here is a recreation of the hotel in gingerbread!

So, then the bad part. After dinner, instead of going back to our cabin, I decided that we had to go home becausee I wasn't feeling too sharp. So we drove all the way back, arriving about 1 AM. Friday and Saturday I felt crappy, and didn't get off the coach, sleeping off and on. By Saturday night, I had developed a fever, and the rule for all chemo patients means that a fever means a trip to the ER. So, at 11 PM Saturday, we jumped in the car and drove to the Fairfax Hospital ER, scene of a previous HORRIBLE visit where poor Bert, Rachel and Marianne sat with me for 6 hours. That visit was 4 years ago, but I was still mad about it. This time, I didn't even get a chance to sit down, before I was whisked back and plopped on a gurney. And, right now it is 6 PM on Monday, and I am still here, in a room, not still in the ER!, watching antibiotic drip into the IV and hoping my infection goes away! And now I have been here longer than I was here for the original surgery! Dang.

Tomorrow I think they will decide if I am either well enough to go home or if the implant has to come out. I give it 50/50 right now! So cross your fingers, say your prayers, rub your crystals, kneel in front of your pyramid, you choose, but send me good thoughts that this infection is going, going gone by tomorrow.

Was supposed to go to NOLA today, so that was the final insult, having to cancel my ticket at the last minute, after missing so many other meetings and trips. And I was so ready for warm weather and Cafe du Monde!

So, screwed up our holiday, screwed up my trip to NOLA, and am trapped in a hospital that feeds you fried chicken and collard greens for dinner! Egads.

My last photo is from the spot that Bert and I fished on Thanksgiving Day. And remember, this was the warm spot.

Hope everyone had an uneventful holiday weekend, compared to us! That kind of excitement nobody needs.

Forgot to tell you that our CFR fundraiser was a huge success. Plus it was a pretty dang good party. A couple weeks before our event the landlord at our office (the party was in the atrium of our building) tore out the fountain. Bad timing. But we filled the hole with pink and purple balloons and the pink kayak floated on top - pretty dang cute. No own in the Brehm family won the kayak, darn, but the guy at Emotion Kayaks has offered to help me get one later. whoohoo. Thanks to all who bought raffle tickets and auction items and helped out.