Post Thanksgiving, Christmas and 2012 Arrives...

We're learning to enjoy the benefits associated with living in a metropolitan area.  Festivities began with a friends' Christmas along with a Sue and Susie birthday celebration gathering at our home on the 10th followed closely by meeting a group of friends at the Desert Botanical Gardens for the winter luminario display.  Oh, yes, and I began a new chemo treatment in the form of a pill!

Susie (left) and Sue - The Birthday Girls!

Back Row (l-r) Barb, Michelle, Jackie, Susie and Allison

Front Row:  Sue & Jayne

The night of December 23rd took Larry, me, brother Jim and nephew Jimmy to a Bob Seger concert - Jimmy's first concert!  We had a great time -- Bob was excellent!

Christmas Eve took us to Jim and Liz's home for a birthday brunch.

We then stopped at the home of friends Allison and Brian where we met up with Mike and Sue for another birthday celebration.

Christmas Day brought Jim and Liz and Jimmy to our home for dinner.

Larry enjoyed some extra days off between Christmas and New Year's allowing us an opportunity for a  leisurely drive to Bartlett Lake only about 30 minutes from our home.

Larry started his new position with Freeport officially in August but was just moved into an office before Christmas.  Since he now has space for more books, we delivered a load on one of his days off allowing me an opportunity to see where he spends his work days!

Welcoming 2012 brought friends to our home to celebrate complete with an awesome falling star!!!  Maria and Michael (see previous post mentioning that Michael was our ring-bearer!), both former Chadronites, were able to join us.

Since moving to our Carefree home, we've fished a baby rattlesnake out of the pool, watched deer across the way while relaxing on the back porch, watched (and have heard regularly at night) a pack of coyotes as they make their way wherever they are going, enjoyed a variety of birds and most recently observed a herd of Javelina as they fed just outside our yard. 

I was very pleasantly surprised one evening with a visit from former Calama expat neighbor Odessa and her son Nolan.

Our most recent visitors were Tammy and Corey (and kids) who were expat neighbors from Chile who are still in Chile but enjoying an opportunity to visit the U.S.  Our mutual Central/Safford/Thatcher friends Becky and Marty (and kids) traveled to Phoenix allowing us to gather - what a treat!  Mike and Sue brought Harper up for a visit too!

(L-R) Tammy, Sue (with granddaughter Harper), and Becky

Alex, 5-year-old son of Tammy and Corey, was beside himself to utilize a swimming pool and was determined to give it a try -- he didn't last long.

So, the time since Thanksgiving and our trip to Portland and Vancouver has gone fast.  Christmas was a joy in our new home and we are thankful and blessed to have dear friends and family so near and welcome visitors ANY time they are able to make it our way. 

The new chemo treatment in the form of a pill is going very well (because I feel great!) but scans will tell the true story.  I'm scheduled for PET and MRI scans on February 6, and we'll learn the results of those on the 7th.  I realize feeling  good isn't an indicator as to if the drug is working or not but what the heck -- I'm going to keep a mindset that it is a reflection that the drug is doing its job and doing it well!!  You're going to see me in a picture soon, maybe even by the next post, without a scarf.  This new drug therapy only affects those nasty cancer cells and their ability to reproduce which means it is allowing my hair to slowly but surely grow back.  I've heard several stories of how hair comes back different after chemo - mine appears to be as fine and thin as it always was - just grayer!  Nonetheless, I'm very much looking forward to not wearing a scarf.

Several members from the Todd side of the family (Nebraska and Portland) are traveling this way beginning the end of this week providing me with plenty of photo fuel for the next blog

We're wishing you all health and happiness in 2012!!! 

Gosh, It's Almost Christmas! and 2012!!

Well, as my last post indicated, we did drive north to see Arizona fall colors but darned if I can find any of the photos I took.  They weren't spectacular but it was an enjoyable thing to be able to do.  Although, as I think about it, we did experience fall weather and colors in Chile in March so I'll post a picture from that time instead!

Nothing like a smokin' volcano to enhance a fall colors picture!

We were able to see Virginia's sons, Michael (Alaina) and Jesse (Chelsea) sometime soon after my last post.  It was a short but enjoyable visit.  Michael was our ring bearer, hmmm, nearly 30 years ago.  I'll have to include a photo from that time too!

Larry, Alaina, Michael, Chelsey, and Jesse Paul.

Ah, he was such a sweet little guy.  That is mom Virginia, my maid-of-honor, on his other side.

After a long, hot Arizona summer, we finally experienced some real weather so had to record that.  We started with rain and ended up with hail creating the cool snow effect.  We've also been visited by a Cardinal -- wish my camera had better zoom.

We met up with friends on the east side of metro Phoenix at the Superstition Mountain park - such a pretty area.

And then Larry's birthday came along.  Friends and family came out to help us celebrate him getting another year older...and wiser!

Below is Larry, Jimmy (I am suppose to refer to him as Jim), Liz and brother Jim.  I'm so looking forward to having hair again someday....

And so, we moved on from Larry's birthday to Thanksgiving with Mike and Sue's family.  The weather, good food and opportunity to spend the day with this special family certainly did make us feel thankful!

Mike and his brother Steve cut all the meat off the turkey and kept it in a roaster until we were ready to eat - love it that the guys take care of the food!

Gotta love it when we get to sit outside to have the Thanksgiving meal.

Mike's brother Steve baked the majority of the pies as well -- homemade crust -- delish!

Glad I grabbed this generational photo:  Sue, Harper, Carly and Sue's mom Dagny (visiting from Iowa.)

And the evening ended with a firepit -- great end to a great day!  Thanks for the invite Mike and Sue and thanks to all of their family for sharing the day with us.

The following day, we arrived at the airport bright and early for a flight to Portland, OR, for a very short visit with Larry's brother Wayne and daughter Sophi. 

Wayne and Sophi have this beautiful huge tree in their front yard -- just so photogenic!

And loved this shot of Mt. Hood.

 

Our stay ended too quickly so we grabbed a group photo as they dropped us off at the airport for our flight to Vancouver, BC.

We were off for Vancouver where we met up that evening with friends Maria Gracia and husband Dave.  Maria Gracia and son Jeremy have appeared in posts from our Chile days.  We met up with them in Antofagasta (2009 and 2010) when they visited Maria Gracia's family.

Did I mention that Dave is a great cook!! 

Our remaining days in Vancouver were spent with Larry working and me being able to walk downtown Vancouver enjoying the brisk weather and Christmas decorations. 

These photos are for Virginia!  A mini tour of downtown Vancouver.

We returned from Vancouver and brought some chilly weather with us.  We had to cover or plants due to freeze warnings.  I won't bore you with a picture of a plant covered - just sharing.

I did get a early Christmas present though and will share a photo of that.  I've been wanting one for quite some time and circumstances allowed me to get one (i.e., gift card for purchase of new television that appeared in earlier post) so we went for it. 

It is sort of a present for Larry too because it means I'll bake English Muffin Bread again.  Haven't made that since our days in Chile (April). 

We've decorated for Christmas and are looking forward to our first Christmas in the U.S. in three years.

This is a first though, to have two trees which is nothing compared to my two sister-in-laws (Liz and Linda).  However, different for me.  I filled Christmas tree #2 with ornaments Sue has been gifting us with over the years -- now that's a lot of ornament gifting!

I'll end with a report from my recent appointment with Dr. Paripati.  I had four chemotherapy treatments.  Scans were done after the second treatment which showed "disease as stable" meaning the spots on the liver weren't getting smaller but weren't getting bigger either.  Dr. Paripati wanted to follow through with four treatments and then ordered scans again.  Scans again showed "disease as stable."  Following the scans done after the 2nd chemo treatment, Dr. Paripati sent off tissue samples from the tumor removed during surgery for molecular analysis.  The resulting report suggested chemotherapy drugs that have not yet been approved by the FDA which means they are all in trial studies and insurance will not cover the associated cost.  As a result, Dr. Paripati wants me to begin a new chemo treatment therapy (sort of cutting edge) in the form of a pill called Afinitor which was approved by the FDA earlier this year.  Afinitor is an mTOR inhibitor which means that it stops cancer cells from making new cancer cells and also cuts off the blood supply to the cancer to slow down the growth and spread.  I'll take the pill daily and after three weeks, Dr. Paripati will order blood work to see what white and red blood cells are doing (they will be affected as though this was "traditional" chemo) and also cholesterol and blood sugar levels as trial studies of this drug indicate those levels can increase.  Dr. Paripati said I'll be on this form of chemo indefinately.  I'll start taking the pill next Monday.  Wish us all luck!  Thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts.  Feliz Navidad!!