Latest News for the Month of
March 2007
Hi Ya'll, March is finally upon us and I am sure our Northern friends are counting the days till the warm spring weather arrives. It has been a miserable and hard winter for many in the USA and some regions are still reporting 3 ft of snow on the ground. All I can say ( with a smile of course ) is thank God for warm Florida temperatures. Can you imagine going to bed and waking up to 11 feet of snow like they did in New York ? Good Golly Miss Molly...... No Thanks. Hang in there my Northern friends as spring is just around the corner.
We had our " Wild Hogs " night and 39 people attended the night out at the movie's. We had 18 bikes slated to ride in procession to the theatre but Mother nature ruined our plans with rain. Still, the movie was great and we all laughed our butts off throughout the flick. Tim Allen, John Travolta, William Macy and Martin Lawrence were amazing together. Their personalities really complimented each other well and it was hilarious to see the stupid antics of William Macy ( Dudley ). If you get the chance go see the movie as you will surely be entertained. After the movie we all went to Golden Corral and had dinner together and shared even more laughs and good times. Over all our get together was a big success.
Speaking of motorcycles, we haven't been riding much lately, mainly on weekends because of the Interferon flu I have been suffering from. I am into some very strong stuff at the moment and most days I do not have the energy to ride so I stay put here at the coach and wait till the weekend when I am not injecting the chemo and I feel better. I also have many days I am taking strong pain killers and it would be ludicrous for me to jump on a bike at that point. The bikes though are running great and we have been enjoying them immensely. The weather here also helps our rides and enjoyment as its been warm and sunny. We are now getting into the 75 - 80 degree weather and it wont be long before the real hot weather hits. The 90 degree days I can do without.
For those wondering what our summer schedule looks like I can tell you for sure that we will be leaving for Bristol the first week of June. After that everything is in the air. We have talked about going back to Australia to see the family and there has been chatter from overseas that Ingrid's Mum may come here to travel with us this summer in the coach. I would love to get back to Oz and see everyone as I miss her family terribly. I haven't seen the nieces and nephews in a long while and I also haven't seen Con for a while either. I always enjoy spending time with him and the rest of the family. Her family treats me like gold and their abundance of love for me always makes me miss them. We haven't decided yet on what we are going to do. We may wait a year to go overseas and park our back sides in Bristol for the summer. Either way we will be making a few short trips together, one being to Michigan to see family and friends and of course several trips to Va to spend time with Ella and the kids. I will post here our plans once we have them figured out.
I myself will probably be making a trip to Bristol in middle to late April to see Dr. Brockmyre, get a couple crowns at the dentist and to get the house squared away for the summer. I have been yearning for Tennessee again and I am really missing the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's especially great in April when the trees bud and the flowers bloom. I will keep everyone posted here as to what my plans will be.
On the health front, I guess all I can say is that its been miserable. I hate to complain and whine but the last supply of Interferon I was shipped has been very potent. I do not remember it ever being so nasty and strong with such horrible side effects. Its been tough dealing with it this time around because it has left me with little to no energy and the sickness and flu like symptoms have been horrible. The one bright spot to all of this is that it seems to be working great on my bone marrow which is the main reason why I take it. I am just looking forward to the day I can stop the injections for a few months and get back to living the life I had before I started this crap.
I am in the process of sprucing up our RV site and will post some pictures once the projects are all done. Since we will be here for at least another year ( probably two years ) we agreed to landscape the site some and we also bought a used utility shed, washer, dryer and freezer. Once I am done with all this work I will post some pictures for all of you to see. I cannot say enough about my neighbors as it seems every time I go to do some small project, the guys come running and take over and allow me to supervise. I haven't had to do much work at all ( thankfully ) and every time I do go to do something, the guys come running and take away my tools. :) I had two friends transplanting palm trees in our side yard for me and they have been busy pruning, moving, digging and doing other things here as well. This resort is filled with great people and I am so happy we are parked here amongst all of them. They have really made my life so much more enjoyable.
I got a smart aleck e-mail from a friend recently reminding me of my birthday on April 4th. It seems he wanted to be sure that I didn't forget I am one year away from the big " 50 ". Just wanted to say thanks. I didn't need the reminder. :)
More nice weather is coming our way here which means more weekend motorcycle rides so I will be sure to include pictures and a description of where we have rode to. I am hoping to be done with the landscaping in two weeks time as well and will post pictures of that. Until then I wish all of you the very best and hope your week goes great for you. Until later, stay healthy and happy and whatever you do keep laughing and smiling.
Opp's, I have been a little slow once again in giving an update haven't I ? Things have been busy here and we just got back from a mini vacation on the other side of Florida. We loaded the coach up and headed to Beverley Beach for a long 3 day weekend. Beverley Beach is located between St. Augustine and Daytona on Highway A1-A. It was a great time and we really enjoyed ourselves. I have put together a picture page for you to check out the scenery and views. ( Click here to go there ).
The winter season here in Florida is starting to end and the snowbirds are starting to pack up and head back North for the summer. Our resort will soon become a ghost town again with a large number of people all planning to leave in the next few weeks. We have set a date of June 1st for ourselves and will be heading home to Bristol at that time. I personally cannot wait as I miss the Mountains of Tennessee.
Ally has signed her letter of intent at the school and will be returning as the head of the Math dept. and will be teaching at the High School in 2007-08. She loves this school, the kids and the staff and was excited to submit her letter to come back for a second year.
We are currently planning a tour of Florida during her spring break and will be heading out to Cape Canaveral. We plan on spending a night in a few selected locations as we drive down the coast on HWY A1-A. For those of you who have never been on this road it is similar to California's coastal highway. Its a beautiful drive that winds down the coast next to the Atlantic. We will take it all the way to Port St. Luce and then cut over to the other side of the State ( Gulf of Mexico ) and stop off in Naples. Then we will drive the Gulf coast back to New Port Richey. It should be a really nice trip and give Ally a chance to see more of Florida. I am very familiar with the Port St. Luce area as I lived there for a brief time back in the 70's. It has exploded since then and is one of the fastest growing areas in the country now.
I went and rode my motorcycle over to the Honda dealer for Saturday morning coffee and doughnuts. We usually sit around with all the other old fart bikers and shoot the breeze. Steve, a friend of mine from Springhill met up with me there with his bike and we took off by ourselves to Bayport. We did stop along the way at a gorgeous park and took some photos. Steve is an amazing photographer and enjoys shooting wildlife. Check out his photos sometime at his website. ( www.pbase.com/hunter58 ).
I have uploaded a few new pictures to my website so check them out as well. ( click here )
G R E A T N E W S !!!!
On the medical front I got some great news Saturday. My recent lab tests came back perfect again. Actually I have not had a good blood count report like this in years, probably since I was diagnosed. My red cells are stable, my platelet levels perfect and my white cells while low, are holding despite the massive doses of chemo. I bumped up the chemo dose to 7 million units a day a few weeks ago and while the side effects are miserable, its really working good. The pain in the bone marrow has been excruciating at times and the flu like symptoms a chore to handle but overall I am happy as a pig in mud over the results. With great test results like this I can now assume that I am back into remission and will be good to go for a while. I cannot tell you how delighted I am over the results. I want to thank all of you that have prayed and been there for me throughout this course of chemo. Obviously your prayers have made a big difference. Thank you gang for caring so much and being there for me.
I will be posting more later. Until then be safe, enjoy and don't forget to laugh and smile allot.
Be Good Ya'll,
Chris