What the heck is that white stuff?

Yesterday was a little cold and the weather men told us that we might get an inch or two of the white stuff! Ha!  We woke up this morning to about 5 inches on the ground.  It has not let up all day and there is about 10 inches now!  I forgot to plug in my bus but I didn't drive it today.  I had a relief because Curt had an appointment in St George with a VA doctor. We really debated weither to go or not.  We heard that I 15 was closed north of us clear to Cove Fort.  Many slide offs but when we started out it was pretty bad and the wind was bad too.  When we got past Black Ridge the roads were a little better but the wind was worse. We went to the VA down there and headed home asap!  Still snowing! This is really not normal for October.  I plugged in my bus, because I will be driving it tomorrow, and I don't want it not to start.  Well, talking about starting, we have had really horrible luck with cars lately.  My transmission went out before we went to Salt Lake and it just sat in the driveway.  It is now in the shop hopefully getting fixed.  On Thursday last week I took Curt's white truck (newer one) to Cedar.  I had 4 places to go to.  I stopped at the Eye Dr first to get Curt's glasses fixed.  When I came out the truck would not start. Ugh.  I got on my trusty phone and called Google Search (800-466-4411) I gave the computer the name of the Chevy dealer right across the street from where I was.  I talked to the service department and they sent a mechanic over.  He tightened a loose battery cable and tried to start it.  No dice.  He looked at some other stuff and then said that the starter was shot.  Well,  what more?  He was able to bounce the starter around with the key and said not to turn it off until I got home. Swell. I did a drive through at Zions Bank, no problem.  Then on to Walmart.  My whole purpose for going to Cedar was to get dog food.  Sure I wanted to shop around too but I would have to lock my truck up with it running. I didn't feel good about that and besides it was pretty crowded.. I called Natasha (she lived with us for awhile) and she works at Walmart.  I asked her if she could come out and baby sit my truck.  Well, no.  But she did curb service and brought the 40 lb bag of dog food to the curb where I waited.  Didn't know Walmart gave curb service!  Then I called Dominoes Pizza.  Google search again. I pulled up to Dominoes and again got curb service. What a great place to live. So the white truck is in the drive way with no starter.  My van is at the shop getting fixed and we drove the green truck that has over 260 thousand miles  to St. George.  It has a heater. ( Tishanna's car doesn't.) It also has insurance but it isn't licenced.  Oh well or oh hell.  Whatever!  It is STILL snowing. Got to love it!

Kiln

Check out the beautiful sky behind the kiln.  This was taken on The 24th and it was a beautiful day.

Just a great Sunset

Last week I took this picture of the sunset.  It really just kept getting better and better.  I went to the store and when I drove into the parking lot about 5 people were outside taking pictures with their phones! It really was cool. The weather has been very nice this past week.  We could work outside and burn leaves (which are almost all down) I am back driving my bus and just getting back to like in Parowan. Did I mention that we stayed with Denise and Lee while we were in Salt Lake?  They were terrific hosts.  They even shared their dog with us.  Hi Bubba.  No really it was nice to have the dog there.  We missed Clyde a lot so Buddy would come and put his head on our lap just like Clyde.  It was all good.  By the way Buddy is a chocolate Lab and weighs about 150 lbs. I think!

Finishing touches on kiln

We were able to come home on the 19th.  It is so good to be home.  Curt has adjusted very well to not having a triple port sticking out of his chest! And no night time shots.  Yet.  He was able to work more on the kiln and it truely is ALMOST finished.  He is putting on a layer of cement over the top.  Sort of looks like adobe.  Now he need to build some pottery so we can fire it up.  He gets very fatigued and that is very frustrating.  He also hasw to walk slowly and get up slow or he gets dizzy.  On Friday (23) we were in the front yard and I had headed back to the house.  He called to me and told me he was dizzy he was hanging on to the light post.  I looked around just in time to see him fall flat on his face.  He scraped his wrist but was none the worst for wear.  Stuff lije that really bothers him.  Just makes me worry. I know I haven't added to the blog in a while so I will try to catch up.

Good and bad news

The good news on Friday was that we can go home (maybe) on Monday.  He got the port out and they gave him more platelets and the nupegin shot.Then at 2:15 P.M. we saw Dr Zangari. He told Curt that he has a virus that is typical of Chemo patients.  Curt will have to take an antibiotic that I can't even touch.  It has a lot of bad side effects but is the best medicine to treat the virus that Curt has. Dr Zangari told Curt that he would most likely be released Monday to go home.  We really wanted to leave Friday but I guess we will stay till Monday. On Saturday we might take a drive up to Park City while the leaves are still beautiful.

Natasha,(coordinator)Dr.Zangari, and Curt

This was not the best picture but I couldn't get any of them to be still long enough to take a good one.

This is Kathy, and Curt

Kathy is the nurse who took the port out.

Erleen, Natasha, Lorie, and Curt

This was taken right after Curt had the port removed.

Fwd:

Thanksgiving

Just looking ahead a little and we are hoping that all our kids can come for Thanksgiving.  I would really like to have a family picture with 'everyone'!   I think it would be really good for Dad to see the family.  He did draw out for the cow elk hunt, but that will be after the holiday.  He has had several people tell him that they would come help him get his cow but we haven't made any plans yet.  Hopefully he will feel good enough to hunt.

Thank you to all who have kept up on reading the blog.  Your support and love have really kept us going. We have been staying with Denise and Lee Macklin. It has made this stay so much easier!

Ingrafted today

Well, Abby (PA) came by today and told Curt that he had ingrafted.  That is great news!  It means that we can go home soon.  Dr. Zangari will be out of town on Monday and Tuesday so they were able to get an appointment for today at 3:00 P.M.  We are hoping to get the triple lumen out (ports) and be on our way this weekend.  We might have to stay to see a VA Doctor, but maybe that will be soon too. Curt  is feeling really pretty good today.  He still gets tired when he walks a while but is definitely doing better. We went to Lowes yesterday and he drove the little cart around.  That helped a lot but he could loose me quicker too! He is in the BMT clinic right now and will be there until he sees the Dr.  He is hopeful today too. 

platelets

getting platelets

Yesterday Curt's platelet count was low so they gave him some.  It is the yellow bag in the picture.  He also had to get some today so our visit to HCH is a little longer because it takes about an hour to get his antibiotics and platelets.  Curt had a rough day yesterday but seems to be doing better today.  Sometimes the treatment is pretty rough.  Especially when they give him the shot that promotes stem cell growth.  It makes all his joints hurt.   

Out for the day

On Wednesday Curt wanted to go for a ride.  We drove out past Tooele and  found a couple of good spots to walk around.  We went to Horse Shoe Springs and he fished for awhile.  We saw some very big  fish!  I mean REALLY BIG FISH.  When we got back to Lee's house he told us that everyone has been trying to catch those fish.  They just aren't interested in anything we had to offer.  When we got home, Curt was pretty tired.  We had Friday and today off and go back to HCH Sunday. We will be going up there every day for the next week then hopefully get to go home to Parowan. We have been very comfortable here and hope we don't get in the way.  Lee and Denise have been very kind to us and this round has been easier I think because we aren't cooped up so close together in the trailer. 

Fishing at Horse Shoe Springs

Second Round

This is Monday and Curt is getting his second chemo right now.  Tomorrow he will have his second stem cell transplant.   That's the one that I am allergic to so I will stay out of the room and hope I don't have a reaction to the DMSO that they use to  preserve the stem cells in. Everything else is going as planned.  Curt is getting the hiccups all the time and it is hard to sleep sometimes.  Last night he woke up at 3 and didn't get back to sleep until 6.  We were supposed to be up at 6 but my alarm didn't work so when he woke up at 7 we were running late already.

 We are quite settled in at Denise and Lee's house.  Hope they can put up with us for another two weeks at least.  Lee and Curt have a lot in common and even watch the same TV programs. 

 

Sort of good news

Yesterday Curt saw Dr. Zangari.  He told us that most of the cancer is gone, however he still wants Curt to have the second stem  cell transplant.  He is in the infusion room now and they will give him chemo for four days.  On Tuesday they will do the transplant and he will have to come in every day for about 2 to 3 weeks to monitor his progress. When he has completed the transplant process he will see Dr. Zangari again and the good news is that he will get to have the triple lumen port taken out!  Curt was very happy about that.  His spirits are higher and he can see an end to this.  He is already looking forward to going home and getting the new kiln fired up.