Friday, October 27, 2006

Some things don't require extra comments

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Sign

Sign posted outside each of the Raquetball Courts in the Gym:

"Wearing of safety eyewear is mandatory at all times in court"

What's interesting: It's written in braille.


????????

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Just an update



Who's got the prettiest daughter in the world? Damn right. I do. :)

She had hair when she was born, and lots of it. Everyone told us it would fall out. Ok, three months later, this is what she looks like. No sign of falling out and it's getting longer.

As you can tell, "Tiny Baby" isn't so tiny anymore. She turned 3 months old last week. We're trying to come up with a new nickname for her, but it's not coming very easily. "Baby Girl" is already used in my family and the original Baby Girl isn't willing to give up (or even share) that name. Not even for her cousin that's 11 years her junior. I don't blame her. I wouldn't have appreciated another "Bubba" being brought into the family. (Yes.. My Family nickname, on my Mom's side, is Bubba.) People have given us ideas for a nickname, but none of them are really sticking with us right now. My aunt mentioned using "tadpole." #1 Mom has a problem with using the name of something that grows up to be a frog, so that's not going to work either. Sooner or later, something that encompasses her personality or something significant to her will pop up and we'll use that. I'm in no rush for my daughter to go by a nickname anyway. #1 Mom and I put way too much thought and time into picking out her name to go by a nickname right now. Her initials are "ASH", so I figure she will go by Ash at one time or another in her life.

No more real news on my sister. Everything I mentioned in the last write up is still the same, except she has had the final drain tube removed along with the rest of her stitches.. She has her Oncologist appointment this week, so we will know the schedule of chemo later this week. So, more on that after she sees him.

I do have a slight scuba related note: I just finished my home study for my Rescue Diver course. Scuba Steve will take me through the paces over the next few weeks and if all goes well, I will get my Rescue Diver certification soon. We are also planning a trip to Florida soon. If it goes well, I will have pictures and a write-up of that on the website after we get back.

Until my next entry, I'll leave you with this thought: Watch a Quizno's commercial next time it's on TV. At the end, they go "mm, mm, mm, mm, mm...Toasty." If you listen, they actually do 5 "M's." But the print on the screen only has 4 "M's" printed with the word Toasty. If you say it 5 times, you need to print 5 M's. That has always bugged me. I'll bet you never even noticed. I bet you will now. :)

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Where have you been????



That's the question I've gotten a couple of times. Considering there aren't many people that read this blog, only a couple of questions am I ever going to get anyway. :)

Alright, here's the deal. We've been having family issues going on and I wasn't ready to actively discuss it. Since I couldn't write in my blog without mentioning it, I decided not to write anything at all. Maybe not the best choice, but the one I made none-the-less. I probably won't make that same decision again.

The issues: My sister, Leslie, if you recall from this page, had breast cancer back in 2002. She went through the chemo, radiation and a lumpectomy to rid herself of the disease. Everything was good for 4 years...Until this year. She went for her 6 month mammogram and they noticed a lump in her other breast. After a few days, they biopsied and found it to be the same type (invasive ductal carcinoma) that she had 4 years ago. It was in the opposite breast and we found out, later on, that it was a "second primary site" and not a mastasized cancer. (Meaning, it wasn't left over cancer from the last time that had traveled through her body and ended up showing in the other breast. It was a new showing of the same type) It was a very large roller coaster of emotions for her and all the family. In the past weeks, she has had her biopsy and then had a double mastectomy. At only 39 years old, that wasn't an easy decision to come by, but considering the past, the chances of it coming back, and maybe not surviving a third attack, it was a decision she made pretty readily. So, she is back home recuperating from the surgery. During the surgery, they noticed that the tracer dye they use to trace out the cancer showed up in one of her lymph nodes. So, they pulled out 17 and that one was the only one that was infected. So, another bit of good news came our way.

Since she's been diagnosed, Leslie has had an outpouring of support from her friends, her family and her Church. Since she's been home from the hospital, they haven't had to cook a meal (breakfast, lunch or supper) in over a week and a half. We all appreciate all the support and concern from everyone around..

The latest update: The Doc has given Leslie a "clean bill of health." She is starting to move around almost normally and she has started her rehab on her right arm. She will start her chemotherapy in the next few weeks. With the lymph node new, they are saying no radiation will be necessary this time. We'll know for 100% later on after the chemo is finished.


As I said before, we appriciate all the help, concern and thoughts since Leslie has been diagnosed. We appreciate it if you would keep her and her family in your thoughts.

Now that I've done this, I'll be writing more often in this, so stay tuned..