Tuesday August 26, 2008

Hi Family and Friends,
Good news. Praise God for our answered prayers. Dr. Suh called tonight with the results of the cat scan and it show no progression of the disease. No new areas and no growth. We are thrilled because we thought with the ascites increasing, that the tumors were growing. We will bask in this news for awhile. We have our 44th wedding anniversary this Friday and are happy to be able to celebrate it together. Our son Michael comes to Chicago tomorrow and will take the res sportscar back tohis wife Heidi on Friday. Joe had a lot of fun with it but it ready to give it back. Thanks so much Heidi for fulfilling a dream of his. No more chemo until the 4th so hope all will be quiet on this front until then. Love to you all and God bless you. prayers work. With God, nothing is impossible. Mary Anne

August 20, 2008

Hi Friends,
Well, the fishing trip was a success. No health problems and a good time was had by all. The weather was perfect, the fishing was fair. In the first fifteen minutes of fishing Joe caught a large 8 1/2 pound bass. He said if he didn't catch another fish all trip he would be happy. They did manage to have a fish dinner one night and everyone loved it. Joe cooked breakfast every morning while Michael took the boys fishing. The cabin is rustic and the mice thought they owned it but after killing 12 of them they had a little more peace. They were glad they had mosquito nets to sleep under. They came home happy, tired and grubby. Saturday morning Joe shaved his beard off and that was a good thing. I guess telling him he looked like my Dad with it helped him make the decision not to keep it. We are home now and although he still doesn't have his queasy stomach back his ascites is really bad. He has doubles the diuretic but it hasn't done the trick. he goes to Dr. Suh tomorrow for chemo so we will see what he says about it. Thanks for all your prayers that the trip was uneventful. Even tho they didn't need the satellite phone Michael used it to tell us they were OK several times. The girls and Heidi and I had a good time in Ohio just relaxing reading and some shopping. It was the most time we have spend with Marianne and Matthew, our two oldest grandchildren,in a very long time, and it was terrific. Marianne leaves for her first year of college tomorrow. We will be home for several weeks and then out to Phoenix to visit Karen again after Labor Day. Love to you all and God Bless. Mary Anne

August 7,2008

Hi Friends,
We have had a good almost two weeks since I blogged last. Joe has had no queasiness for the past week and more energy. He had chemo yesterday but a smaller dose because his platelets were low. His ascites has returned so Dr. suh put him on Lasix instead of the mile diuretic so it will act fast but not keep him going all night and disrupt his sleep. His feel and ankle swelling has come down nicely.
Tomorrow we leave for Ohio with two grandchildren Marianne and Matthew and we go to Michael and Heidi's house for the weekend. Sunday Joe Mike Matthew and Connor head to Canada to fish from Monday til Friday. It is in Perry Sound on a remote lake with only one cabin. They will fly in in a small plane and hopefully just relax and fish to their hearts content. The lake has Northern and bass. They will take a satellite phone with them just in case but things seem pretty stable right now. We will be back home on Saturday the 16th, in time to sing in church on Sunday. Please pray for now health problems during this trip. It will be the first fishing trip with the two grandsons age 15 and 11. The summer is quickly going by but we have filled it with lots of good times and memories and lots of laughter. Joe's perennial garden has flourished and the rabbits seem to have left it for greener pastures. Today is our oldest daughter Cassie's birthday and tomorrow is Kevin's so we are going to Cassie's tonight to celebrate. Joe has been growing his beard for the last week and a half for this trip and he looks a little grubby in my eyes but he thinks he looks tough. All in the eye of the beholder I guess. Love to all of you and God Bless. Mary Anne