The Cat Scan result was good.

Somehow the CAT scan got organized in the nick of time. Our Oncologist appointment was Tuesday morning early, and I had the last scan of the day on Monday. Phew! We can now confirm that the improvement in well being that was taking place was confirmed by the scan.  The results showed positively that the tumors have stopped growing and some have even shrunk. The previously collapsed lung continued to deploy and there has been no additional fluid build up in the lung. The current regimen of chemo will continue for another two to three times after which yet another scan should confirm if a lighter mix of chemo should be sufficient to keep tumor growth at bay.

Texting in the oncologist's office.
Notice the new
2013 US Open golf outfit. Who knows I may
be using it one of these days. 

The insurance company is going to have a fit with all these scans, because the oncologist is planning an MRI of my head to check if the small tumor in the brain is shrinking as well or has to be removed with a non invasive gamma knife: they zap your head and that's it.
This is all very good news and it obviously adds some more time to this beautiful life. The oncologist carefully answered "I hope so" when we suggested this should add one to two years. But what the heck, some survive 5 or more years and my permit to park on the reserved spaces for disabled people is good until January 2020.

Family Visits

Summer Picnics

In the past two weeks we enjoyed family visits. Tammo and Aafke arrived on Saturday, after visiting their daughters in Colorado. Sara and Josh and the grand-kids joined us on Sunday. We had a stretch of unusually good summer weather and everyone was playing outside, pic-nicking or looking for gold coins the gnomes had left for us. No-one has, as yet, swum in the lake though  Alexandra has had both legs dunked in to test the temperature of the lake. 

In Lake Oswego and in front of the Dutch Brothers' Coffee House.  

Hendrik Jan and Tine arrived the following Monday on the direct flight from Amsterdam. They had some delay at customs and an off airport car rental, but managed to make it to the house for beer time. 

It does not happen very often that all three brothers end up in the same place at the same time, so we were determined to get a photo record of this event in front of the Dutch Brothers’ Coffee House. The chance of getting all three brothers to flash a smile at the same time is about as good as winning the Mega Millions jackpot. Even the “Group Photo” app couldn't fix this. With or without the smiles, we had a fun time and were glad that we had the chance to be together

Stone Cliff Inn

Tammo and Hendrik Jan provided some free labor in the yard and with the help of my new Easter Chainsaw (it is yellow and I thought it was customary in rural Oregon to give each other chainsaws for Easter, so I bought one), fallen trees and dead bushes were cleared away, even though some of them were underneath a hornets nest. Hendrik Jan got stung, but the work continued. Thank you, the view of the lake has greatly improved.

Tammo and Aafke left on Thursday while Hendrik Jan and Tine explored the Oregon Cascades together. Fortunately the nice summer weather continued after a bit of rain and they experienced Crater Lake in full sunshine.

Gardening Outfit?

Jacqueline honored us by arriving Friday for a Father’s day visit. I asked her if that included a Father-Daughter activity in the yard and she responded that she had indeed brought her gardening outfit. I never knew Lululemon made gardening outfits.

On Sunday, we drove to Hillsboro for a Father's Day lunch with Sara and the opening of Peter Rabbit, a musical in which our granddaughter Alexandra had an important role. She was of course spectacular, and we enjoyed the play very much. This was followed by Alice in Wonderland for older kids, in which our granddaughter did not star. It was very well done but one and a half hours of sitting was bit of a challenge for our behinds considering a 55 minute drive home. 

When no news really is good news.

After Barend's post on Wednesday relating tales of theater, meals and a day of chemotherapy everything has fallen quiet.  This is due, not to a lack of energy or feeling bad, in fact, the opposite is true.  Barend is driving his "sissy wagon" again, with no difficulty, thus regaining his freedom from me and the family vehicle.  

The struggle with nausea after chemo was greatly diminished this time due to precautionary medicating and the addition of a new drug minimizing stomach acid.

The result is fairly miraculous, the garden gnomes have had someone to look after them and the rabbit down the hole at the top of the road has new visiting bears.  Lots of preparation has gone into setting up the yard to take advantage of our miraculous week of summer weather.  We have family coming to stay, so we want to make the most of our beautiful surroundings.  Barend hung the hammock we received from Santa

We have been taking our afternoon rest time on the lawn and then adding drinks to make it cocktail time.  All the hours are 'Happy Hour' and the consumption of alcohol is severely limited for one member of this family and I take longer than one hour with my wine consumption.  This is also the chosen location for after dinner coffee 

So folks, if you don't see us on this blog, you know the no news really is good news!

 

Chemo Date Night

On Monday afternoon, June 3rd, Bonnie and I went to Portland for an evening with Khaled Houseini, the author of "The Kite Runner", in the Newmark Theater downtown Portland. It turned out to be delightful, as evenings with Bonnie usually are, but the nice weather and the witty and inspiring interview with Houseini made this a particularly good one. We checked in at the Hilton across the street from the theater (Thank you SCA for providing all those HHonors points), and then had an excellent dinner on the side walk terrace of The Heathman hotel. The dinner was exquisite. Since my objective is to eat 3000 calories a day, Nouvelle Cuisine was perhaps not the most sensible choice, but it was a fantastic meal in the open air. The next morning I ate a big breakfast that must have added at least 1000 calories and also scored 3 extra muffins from the buffet for lunch (the waitress got a good tip). That put me back on schedule.

We checked in at the Cancer Clinic at 10:30, the Nurse Practitioner checked all my vital signs, and they were all perfect : blood pressure 120/70, 97% oxygen, right temperature, no infections. If it weren't for the cancer (which you cannot see on the outside) I would be the picture of perfect health. I walk with a bit of a limp but do not need a walking stick and the limp will, hopefully, disappear soon.
The chemo infusion process takes about 6 to 7 hours in all, and by 5:30 we headed home. The next session is scheduled in three weeks, but prior to that I should have a CT scan  to check the results of the radiation and chemo treatments on the progress of the cancer.  To check who is winning, go team!

We spent the evening on our terrace enjoying the warm summer evening and had some local Pinot Noir with our nice neighbors. The wine was excellent but we better get some pillows for the teak dining chairs or no one will ever visit us again.