Latest News for the Month of
April 2007
Hey ya'll. Its a new month so a new page is in order.
It's been a great week so far and a busy one at that. The birthday festivities went off without a hitch and though I am one year older I do not feel any different. :) Bruce took me to lunch last week and we had a good time riding our motorcycles over to Mike's Dockside restaurant. As always we spent our time laughing and joking through lunch. Ally, Bruce and I all rode our bikes to " Bike night " at Hooters for my birthday dinner and we had a great time looking over all the nice bikes. Of course the food and girls were great as well. :) But the highlight for my birthday was having my Grand daughter call me and sing Happy Birthday to me over the phone. That brought a few tears to my eyes. I cannot wait to get back home to see her. :)
I gathered up the neighbors, a guy with a tractor and together we were able to get our shed moved from one site close by us to our site. Instead of buying a new shed we decided to buy one from a couple who are leaving the resort. Made it much cheaper versus a new one and we also got a washer, dryer and freezer included in the deal as well. It's going to make it so nice to be able to do our laundry here versus heading off to the club house.
We have been having a Friday pot luck lately with our biker group and that is always fun. They are a great bunch of people and provide us with alot of laughs. They are also alot of fun to ride with as all of them are great riders. I will miss everyone when they leave soon for the summer months. I am going to try and talk them into riding their bikes to a nice park this coming Friday and have a picnic there. Its a gorgeous park with nice landscaping and would make a nice place to sit back and enjoy ones company while also getting to ride our bikes together.
Ally and I took a ride out to Bayport on our bikes and took the scenic road there and back. It was so peaceful as there was little traffic and the tropical foliage makes the riding pleasurable. It was cool though as we got hit with the cold front that many Northerners got this last week. We put our leathers on and it made the trip comfortable for us both. We stopped off at a popular biker place to eat and what is seated next to us ? Three drunk women. They were loud, obnoxious and a general pain in the ass so we moved further down the deck and sat alone where we could enjoy our food. The older I get the less patience I have for drunks. Overall though the afternoon was fun and the ride enjoyable.
On the health front, I am doing good. I am heading back to the lab for another round of lab tests this week and hopefully I will once again get another glowing report. I have been pretty wore out lately and my energy levels have been dropping off earlier in the day ( more then normal anyways ) making it harder to get anything done. Seems I just get started on a project and then I start getting tired. That is common with lower blood levels and the chemo med's. Overall though I am feeling decent and cannot complain.
I have updated the latest photos page with more photos ( click here ) so be sure to check out the latest and greatest photo shots. If you missed some of last months news you can read that here ( click here ). I will be posting more later. Until then be safe, enjoy and don't forget to laugh and smile allot.
Happy Easter Everyone,
Chris
Hey gang. Just wanted to update the news section and let you know what all is happening ( very little). Life has seemed to just mosey on by here and things have been going great. Ally was on spring break for 10 days and we planned a 500 mile trip with the coach traveling throughout both coast's in Florida but the weather turned yucky. There is nothing worse then paying high lease fees at a resort only to sit and watch it rain. So we stayed here at our resort and got a few things done on the landscaping and the shed. We also snuck in some motorcycle rides in between the periods of rain.
On the health front, I have felt pretty good and enjoyed being off chemo for the 10 days. I wanted to feel good during Ally's vacation so I didn't inject any of the Interferon, but I paid a bad price for it. With a lapse in memory and not thinking I injected my normal amount of Interferon ( 7 mu ) Sunday night and after taking such a long break from it I was hit with really nasty side effects. I felt real bad because Ally had to teach school the next day ( it was her first day back from Spring Break ) and she got very little sleep. I convulsed, ached, was in pain, burning up with fevers then convulsing again with the chills most of the night. Sleeping pills and Percocet did little to create some sleep or alleviate the pain and sickness. But I made it through it and felt much better the next day. I had another bad night ( last night ) after injecting and this morning hasn't been pleasant either, but as they taught us in the Marine Corp, suck it up and get on with it. :) The plan is to stay on the INF through April ( and maybe into May ) then come off it until I leave remission again. I am hoping for an 8 month break before my bone marrow starts revolting again and I have to restart chemo. I just want to enjoy this summer and fall without the sickness of the drug.
Did ya'll get your taxes done and in on time ? Guess what ? I filed another extension. That is two in the last three years. :) I hate doing taxes as does Ally and its always a " you do them this year.......No you do them " thing between the two of us. It went right down to the filing deadline so I filed for an extension. It's no biggie but the IRS has some money they owe us and I would have liked to get it into our account to gain some interest versus the Government getting it. Oh well, our fault. I just may finish off our taxes next year early. Then again I may file another bloody extension. :)
I still am getting allot of e-mails and phone calls from friends and family and I wanted to thank you. They have kept my spirits up, made me laugh and kept my mind in a happy mode while battling the chemo. My airline pilot friends seem to be on the ball with providing allot of laughter. Their off the wall comments, back handed statements, pictures and anecdotes for life that they send keep me in stitches this winter. Thanks Bob, Steve T, Steve V, Jay and of course my Bristol Marine Corp helo buddy who has the unbearable task of holding down the fort at our house in Bristol.
I updated the latest pictures section. I haven't put many pictures on this website of Ella lately so thought I better get some updates. Click here to view the new pictures. I also included photos from our recent biker cookout.
I hope everyone is getting along well, is in good spirits, healthy and full of life and ready for spring. Which brings me to my next question. When is spring going to arrive in the North ? Snow in Michigan in April ? Good Golly Miss Molly, ya'll better start contacting Mother Nature and demanding better service ( and weather ).
Wow. What a busy weekend this has been. Lindy flew down to Florida to pick up his new Bus and then came up to the resort to stay with us for the weekend while I went over everything on the coach. Kim and Ella flew down Saturday night so we got to spend time with Ella Bear. What a joy that was for us both as we really missed her badly. We missed all three of them so seeing them was great. Ella is chatting up a storm and I do not think the girl takes many breaths between words. :) She is now at that fun stage and is hilarious to interact with. The girl so smart she can come up with the dangdest things when talking. She kept us in stitches.
Lin's new Bus ( 2004 ) is identical to mine ( except colors ) but is called an Endeavor. It's a gorgeous coach and I know they will have years of fun traveling in it. They left for their home in Virginia on Monday and were taking their time getting home. I feel good about the coach knowing that I went over it real well and took care of a few items that needed attention. It was ready for the road when it left here. Click here for a picture of the " Ella Bus ".
We got to spend allot of time talking and catching up on things and had dinner out twice. Of course what kind of father would I be if I didn't take my son to his favorite restaurant. I myself hate this place but I managed to put on a good show and made him feel like I enjoyed the surroundings. :) Click here for our picture.
I am pretty exhausted as its been so busy and I had to do some crawling under and on top of Lin's coach. It wore me out pretty good, but it was worth every bit of pain I felt. I think I was as excited about Lindy getting this new bus as he was. :) I was pretty sad to see them head back for home.
I have been a bad boy in the test department. I still have not made it in for a round of blood tests. I plan on doing it this week and get it done and over with. I am anxious to see where my latest blood counts are at.
I hope this finds all of you enjoying the warm weather that is starting to hit ya'll in the north. For many of you its been a real LONG winter I am sure. I will be posting more later. Until then be safe and get out there and enjoy the sunny spring days. Do not forget to laugh and smile allot too.
My very best to you all,
Chris