April 6, 2008

Well, we just finished a family weekend with all our children and grandchildren in town. There were 18 of us and it was noisy but fun. Our daughter Cassie planned many of the activities for Saturday and we were never bored. We did manage to take a family picture. We laughed a lot and Joe managed to stay up the whole day except for one short nap.
We talked to the oncologist Friday and the results of the cat scan showed there are no new sites. The tumors in the liver and lungs are still there and the one big one in the liver is quite large (12 cm x12cm x 6 cm) but that is not much change from the last time. Joe has no pain now and is working hard to gain back some strength so he can pay golf in a month. He did two big days of outside house chores getting ready for the kids this weekend. He cleaned our fish pond and set up the patio and believe it or not, we were able to sit on it Saturday with a temp of about 62. It was great to be outside even for just a bit. We took lots of pictures and laughed a lot playing couples newly-wed type games and fought a lot playing family feud from a DVD. All in all it was a memorable weekend. Cassie had each of the grandchildren write down what they liked about Grandpa and me and she read them at dinner. We only get a chance to have everyone together about once or twice a year and this was very special. Karen also had her boyfriend Mark with her this weekend and if the family picture gets on here, he is the tallest one at 6'5".
Joe will have another blood test tomorrow. Last week's bilirubin only went down to 4.2 and the doctor would like it below 3 before he starts any chemo but if it levels off or starts going up he may reconsider. As I said before normal is 1 so he is getting there. His whites of his eyes are finally getting back to white.
We are grateful for all the good times this weekend and for all the blessings God has given us in our family. Our parents gave us good models for family traditions and we're happy to be able to continue them. God bless you all and have a wonderful week. Mary Anne