Shenandoah National Park.Washington D.C. July 2016

July did not bring good news regarding my health.  Scans are done, generally, every three months and this time, we were shown that there was significant "disease progression" that showed up.  I'd been on the drug, Temodar for a few years. Three weeks of radiation was strongly recommended so, while the radiation oncologist and his team came up with my radiation plan, we headed for an already organized trip to Washington, D.C., where we rented a car and headed 75 miles east to Shenandoah National Park.  There are lots of hiking trails, but we went for the 105 mile Skyline Drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  There are 75 overlooks with views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west or the rolling Piedmont to the east.  There are deer, black bear, and wild turkey in this area. We saw them all.  We were just driving into the park and spotted this black bear wandering through the forest!!

The below picture was one of the many viewpoints we stopped at.

There was a young lady at one of the viewpoints waiting for the perfect sunset picture so we asked her to take our photo.

And here was the bear we spotted as we were leaving the park.

We then drove through Virginia to visit some historical Civil War sites and then headed to D.C. so Larry could participate in a meeting that brought us to D.C. in the first place.  We visited D.C. for our first time in June of 2016 and very much enjoyed the trip.  We found that a little over one year later, for whatever reason, we weren't able to get as close to the White House as we had before.  And this was before Trump moved in...

 Larry had only one meeting while there so we had a bit of free time allowing us to visit the Holocaust museum and to book a tour of the Capital the next day before we flew home.  We dealt with scaffolding, etc., as they were still refurbishing in preparation of the 2017 inauguration.  It was still a great experience. 

We returned home and the following day, I began the three weeks of radiation treatment (with weekends off).  September allowed for a road trip through Colorado fall colors - beautiful!

Larry's November birthday brought friends to Carefree to help us celebrate (l-r) Mike, Michelle, Larry, Sue, Allison and Brian.

Nephew, Jim, returned home for his first time from his first semester at West Point.  He is doing well by the way.  We're all extremely proud of him.  I lost my hair as a result of the radiation treatment in July.  My hair didn't start coming back until late December!  I was prepared for it to not return at all so am thrilled with the fact that it is returning at all so will take the slow progress.

December began a new cancer treatment at Mayo.  The doctors had determined  a new cancer had creeped into the picture (along side the previously diagnosed type of cancer I'd been treated for with a variety of oral chemo drugs since November 2011) and the chosen treatment was to stop the oral chemotherapy drug I had been taking (essentially not treating that cancer) and begin immunotherapy.  One hears about the cost of drugs, well, this treatment, before an insurance adjustment, cost $36,000 per treatment!!!!!!!!.  The treatment plan was to receive the infusion every three weeks!!  I began in December.

Christmas allowed for Jim to return home for a three week break after a successful first semester.  Our sister, Jackie, came to Phoenix to celebrate Christmas with us. 

February brought Larry's mom to Carefree for a four week stay.  We were able to travel to Carlsbad, CA, where she has a time share on the coast for a one week stay.  Very relaxing!

Larry's brother, Wayne and his daughter Sophi from Portland, OR, came over President's holiday and I failed to get one single picture!!

Virginia and Dennis have been down from Lake Havasu a couple of times for a quick visit.  We always love seeing her smiling face!

Wyoming friend, John, was passing through and stopped by for a visit  in February.  I have to give him credit for the super cool Javalina picture he took.

Niece, Crystal and husband Doug, came for a visit in March.  Their visit allowed for our first time this year to be able to sit by the fire pit.  Mike and Sue came up to see Crystal and Doug - thanks for the fire pit picture Sue!

Friends, Barb and Pat Doyle, their son, Mike and friend, Buster, from Rapid City, SD, came for a visit in late March.

Next out of town visitor is Larry's sister, Linda.  Glad to be feeling like I do so I can return to blogging!