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May 13, 2022

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Happy Friday the thirteenth!

It's been another busy week. So busy, in fact, that I have been delayed a day or two posting the Journal.

We spent Mother's Day in West Salem to celebrate the day. Jason fixed us fish and chips (halibut and tuna which he had caught). One of our granddaughters made a chocolate cake with strawberries on top to celebrate our birthdays (Leslie, Jaysa and Jason) and I received two hanging baskets for my yard. That way, when I look upon them I can remember my family all year round! It was nice to have all my daughters and granddaughters together on this special day.

On Monday, we had to spend the night in a hotel so we could have a meeting with Dave's oncologist to discuss his future chemo treatments. Since his PSA level is continuing to drop, she is still going to wait on a new radiation injection treatment that she has planned. She will wait until he finishes all ten chemo treatments. Waiting isn't much of an issue - the new treatment is being held up because of a lack of supply anyway. Anyway, we got to the VA hospital at 7:30 a.m. in time to grab a quick breakfast and to find out where we were to meet the doctor for our 8 a.m. meeting. First, we went to the 6th floor where Dave has his chemo and they sent us to the first floor, Area A. While waiting down there, we were told to go to Area D, which was down the hall, turn right and then turn right again. While waiting in Area D, we were told to go back to Area A! My goodness, we sure got our exercise! We finally got to see the doctor around 8:20 a.m. There wasn't much to the appointment; she commented on the PSA numbers and physically checked him over. More on that down below. After our appointment, we immediately turned around and headed back home as our granddaughter Jadyn was in town to spend another two days working on her camper van project.

We headed back into VA on Thursday evening (once again staying in a VA provided motel) because the doctor - after examining him - wanted Dave to have a CAT scan. And that's the reason the Journal is late this week. Dave received a phone call Thursday afternoon, telling him he had to be at the "Imaging Lab" at the VA hospital in Portland in two-and-a-half hours! It's a two-plus hour drive in traffic. No one had bothered to tell us anything, so we had to throw some things in a suitcase and head for VA. We didn't know where we were supposed to go because they hadn't sent the promised instructions and hotel location. Earlier, they had told him that his appointment would be at the only time available - 0-dark-thirty on Friday morning. That's the same day he was scheduled for a chemo treatment at 12 noon. So we were very surprised to hear that he was scheduled on Thursday evening instead of Friday a.m. And even more surprised to hear that we barely had enough time to get there. Ordinarily, the VA has been great in making sure we know where and at what time we have appointments, but they dropped the ball this time. Needless to say, we were in Portland Thursday afternoon and evening (when we planned to be working on the Journal) and most of the day Friday.

As I said, our granddaughter Ashtin, is driving back to Florida with her husband on Saturday. Austin is in the Air Force and has been in Bahrain since November. This week, he flew back to Portland where Ashtin has been living with her folks while he was in the Middle East. We did get a chance to see them one last time before they leave tomorrow. They joined us for breakfast at "The Original Pancake House" Friday morning. We had a very nice visit and had a chance to chat more than we have since before their wedding last summer.

Also this week, we had a meeting where a bunch of us "rebels" have joined the struggle against other "rebels" who have been opposing development in our town. A developer has been trying for over two years to build a motel, fish processing business and a small village in a part of Wheeler that is now nothing but a piece of waterfront property that attracts vagrants, illegal campers and Scotchbroom. Several of us want to see the property developed and we are doing what we can to counter the negative comments. We are having a city council meeting next week and a hearing on May 24th. Anyway, we wanted to encourage each other to write our own testimony and deliver it at the hearing, so we met to make sure we were all together for the achievement of those goals. Stay tuned!

Dave bought a used golf cart this week. He has so much difficulty walking that he has had to get in his car to drive between driveways and buildings at our place. He's so weak from the chemotherapy that it's just been too hard for him to walk up and down the hill. He gets very short of breath when he climbs that hill and besides, we are afraid that he is going to fall. So, the golf cart. He got a very nice deal on it through Jason and it looks like it won't need any maintenance on it for a while.

Meanwhile, we had two days of spring-like weather earlier this week. The sun came out and no showers, so I did some weeding around the flower beds. I can only work for an hour before I have to stop and rest, so it takes me a while to accomplish anything. (Maybe I need my own set of wheels!). I have also been trying to grow some vegetable seeds inside under a lamp. I have tried to plant pea seeds twice and those darn critters have been eating them! I decided that if I put starters out they might have a chance, but there is always the slugs to contend with! So I have vegetable starts and flowers in the green house waiting for warmer weather. We had frost warnings a few times this week so it isn't safe to put anything out. It's the middle of May and we're still waiting for the usual warm weather (for this time of year) to get here.

Well, that's all I got. So everyone take care!