A Goodbye, Hilarious, and No Birds

Beth and I had a doctor's appointment this week to say goodbye to our primary care physician. We've seen Dr. T for close to 20 years! I'm sitting here thinking of all the things she's walked through with us... you guys go to the doctor, you know! 😊 Dr T is retiring so we made her a card and went in to see her. She asked Beth about Special Olympics during covid, we talked about our health of course, and we talked about our families. I had to hold back the tears as we walked back down the hallway and out of the clinic. She recommended another doctor to us, one that's there in that clinic and I know she'll be good but it won't be the same.

 

Beth got her first vaccine a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately we had to drive 45 minutes to get there! The second one is scheduled for the same place but we're hoping to get it changed to one a little closer to home. Chuck already has both his shots and he did fine, no side affects at all. And I go in for my first dose this Friday. Yep, I'm going to get it! I'm a little nervous... there's so much controversy surrounding it, but mainly it's just because I don't like needles!

 

We went out to lunch with Sharaya and Ally on Sunday and on our way home Beth was watching something on her phone and was laughing so hard! It got Chuck and I to laughing... don't know what she was watching but it was funny, whatever it was!

 

Mrs. Junko has been sitting on the nest a lot lately. I peeked in the other day and it's still just the eggs. No birds yet. You can see how deep the nest is, you have to really get on top of it to see the eggs. It's great protection!

Have you ever had to switch doctors? What was it like for you?

When is the last time you laughed really hard?

Reservations

I don't know if you're like me but I go through seasons, short stages really, of having so much to write about and every day I can't wait to get on here and write! And then other times where I go weeks of not knowing what to write about and not even wanting to turn the computer on... I'm in the latter right now.

Well, what's been happening around here?

I got a covid test this week. I was around someone who was around someone who ended up testing positive. Then the person I was around tested positive so I decided to just get one. I didn't have any symptoms so I wasn't too surprised when it came back negative. But it feels good to know. 

I haven't had the vaccine yet. Honestly I'm a little hesitant. I'm not a big medicine taker. My mom and sisters both take (took) copious amounts of prescription meds and I saw the problems it caused. At one point in her life my mom was on, I think 19 medications. One night I flew down to stay with her because they didn't think she was going to make it through the night. She was delirious and hallucinating. Her doctor told us to just stop all of her meds. If this was the end it wouldn't matter anyway. Wouldn't you know, my mom woke up the next morning perfectly fine! I was shocked to see her sitting up in bed, perfectly okay. So I'm a little concerned about how these vaccines are going to affect people. IF they're going to affect people. What's gonna happen 6 months from now, a year from now. I kind of want to wait and see how people react to it. I'm not against it at all, I'm just... curious.

Let's see... I got my hair cut. I can't tell if it's too short for my taste or if it's just a shock because it was so long before!

 Before (This is natural. It gets kind of frizzy.)

After (Blow dried and straightened.)

 

Umm, what else? Ally and I are going to the Museum of Flight tomorrow! I bought tickets for us back in November but everything shut down a second time and they just refunded my money. So when they opened up again I bought them right away. We're ready to go! I'm so excited! 

Have you had the vaccine? 

Are you have reservations about taking it?

Where are you excited to go that you haven't been in a while?

Saturday Snippets

Had a great time with my sister. We all got in a circle and prayed before she left and as she was pulling away we locked eyes and both began to cry!

I worked hard before she got here to make sure the front garden looked nice and I'm so glad I did!

 

 Chuck and I stopped for lunch after his infusion on Tuesday. Shhhh, we didn't tell anyone!

I'm going to work tomorrow. With Covid regulations our whole staff is working on Sundays now to disinfect the Sanctuary seats, door knobs, bathrooms... after every service. It takes a village!

I hope you're having a great weekend!

He Tried To Get Breakfast To Go

Chuck went back to work last Thursday. He went from not working at all for 2 months, straight into 13 hour days! Two good things though: 1. he's got the stamina to do it and 2. he's racked up enough overtime this week alone to be able to take a short, last minute vacation the first part of August!

  

Taken in 2019  

I officially started back to work last Thursday as well but today the entire staff was there. We had a staff meeting to talk about what things were going to look like the next few weeks and we were sitting so far apart from each other our pastor had to use a microphone! The new normal for 2020.

I looked out the window the other day and saw something laying in the driveway.

Diana used to have a Westie and that's kind of what it reminded me of but when I got closer I could see it was a bird, it looked like a seagull. It was big so I called the Department of Fish and Wildlife but it was the weekend so I was only able to leave a message. 

Then yesterday morning I'm sitting at the table and I hear a huge flock of crows just making the loudest noise, there must have been a dozen or more and I jumped up thinking they were all fighting over the bird.

Instead I saw this:

A bald eagle had picked it up and was trying to fly away with it! The crows all attacked the eagle so it dropped the bird and flew directly toward my window!  

We've lived in this house more than 19 years and this is only the 2nd time I've seen an eagle this close! I kept watching to see if it would come back but it never did. At least not then. When I got up this morning the bird was gone!

We had our first official church service this weekend. We could have 50 in the Sanctuary and 100 outside so the custodians and I worked on Friday to prep everything and get it all ready to take outside on Sunday morning. We had racks of folding chairs and masks and disinfecting wipes and kleenex and trash cans... there was a long list of things we had to comply with. But we did it and it was so good to be back together. Although I use the word 'together' somewhat loosely.

I can't wait for the day when we're ALL in the Sanctuary!

So what are you looking forward to the most once this social distancing ends?

Have you ever seen wildlife up close?

Saturday Snippets

Here in Washington State we are flattening the curve so our governor has created a 4-phase approach to opening the state back up. We're headed into Phase 2 soon.

With everything that's going on in our family we've decided to relax some of the restrictions just between us. Sharaya and Allie came over this week and we played some Mexican Train. 

She won that round!

Allie recently got her own cell phone and during the game I caught her taking a selfie! 

We've been texting a lot with Diana, talking about Chuck's appointments and tests so I finally called her to see if she'd want to fly out. But she was already planning to! So now she flies in tomorrow afternoon. We are all SO excited to see her and to just have the family all together again. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark was recently on TV so Chuck and I turned out the lights and watched it like we were in the theater. It's what we did on our very first date. 💓 It was in 1981 at Grossmont Center in San Diego, back when most theaters only had one screen. We stood in line a long time and when the showing before ours got out, we asked them if they liked it, was it good?!

My mom took this right after we started dating.

Today was Chuck's MRI and he told me that he got to choose the music - Contemporary Christian. He heard WayMaker, Surrounded (This is how we fight our battles) It is Well With My Soul... he was weeping by the time it was over. He said God's presence was so strong in that room! His next appointment is on Tuesday, when we get the results.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers. The Lord heard and answered every single one! Even though we haven't met most of you, we could not do this without you! You have blessed us so much, we're so thankful for all of you!

I Choose...

About a week and a half ago I was cleaning Chuck's incision and noticed what looked like two new satellite nodules just outside the incision site. When we met with the radiologist he believed they were cancerous. And when we met with the surgeon today for a post-op appointment she took biopsies of them both and said there might be a total of seven.

We've learned Chuck has Stage 3 Desmoplastic Melanoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer. He is scheduled for an MRI this Friday to find out if the cancer has spread any more and once we get the results from that we'll be able to figure out the best treatment options.

If I let myself really think about it it becomes overwhelming and scary and I can't think of anything else...

But when I put it in the Lord's hands, when I pour out my heart to Him and remember that my God is so much bigger and greater than cancer, I truly feel better. After all, He hung the moon in the sky and told it to control the ocean tides. He can definitely handle a few rebellious cells in the human body!

So... I choose to be happy.
To just go on living our lives as normal. 
That may change as treatments take over but for now...
I choose happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this weekend. We did drive-through for lunch with Sharaya and Allie (they were in their car) and then we went to the Centennial Trail about 45 minutes from our house. They rode bikes while the 3 of us walked. They came together for a few seconds for a photo then they were off again! It was such a warm day and felt so good to be outside. And there was no one around so no masks!

 How was your weekend? 
Did you try to get together with family?

We Carefully Ventured Outside...

The 3 of us went out this week. We were desperate for some office supplies and needed a tarp for our fire ring. Plus we needed more masks and gloves so in the pouring rain we donned our masks and braved the elements.

We went to Office Max and I think there was one other person in the whole store. Found everything except gloves and masks. 

Then Home Depot, that place was packed! We had to wait in line outside for a few minutes while they monitored how many could go in but there were still a whole lot more people in there then I was comfortable with! The only thing we bought were the tarps.

Then to Safeway for groceries and back home again. Whew! I find myself anxious to get home. 

Beth was finding it hard to breathe in her mask so I ended up going on to Etsy and bought some good homemade masks. I can't wait 'til they come in! 

Then we settled in at home, fixed some hot tea and played Uno.

Have you been out much? 

When you do go out, does it make you nervous?

I think about you often!

Have a wonderful day!

"When This Be Over?"

That's the question Beth has been asking every couple of days lately. We've talked about the virus and how it's making so many people sick. I've demonstrated how when we cough and don't cover our mouths our germs can land on people and things. And that's how people are getting sick. I'm trying to make it simple enough for her to understand without talking to her like she's six.

She misses her friends and asks when she can see them again. I've shown her pictures of them on-line and she'll read some of their posts. Her and Nick text a little but he is SO social, it's hard for her to keep up with him. She enjoys being by herself. 

It's the routine she misses the most.

She doesn't understand the whole streaming thing. We watch our church services on-line and I've pointed to the empty choir loft and told her that no one's there because they're at their own homes watching it on their TV's like we are. She sees it's empty but you can tell she just doesn't quite get it.

When our pastor mentions "...all of you watching from your dining room table or your couch..." she is truly shocked like, "How does he know where we are?"

For years I've written notes for her to do chores around the house: empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, vacuum, etc. and I'm still occasionally doing that but I will admit I've thrown my own routine right out the window and I'm sure that hasn't helped her.

And on Saturday Chuck went back to the hospital. He passed out at home and I called 911. He ended up having a blood transfusion, a CT scan, was seen by a GI specialist... he spent 2 days there and it was all caused by a blocked colon. Just one more thing to upset the routine of life.

 

"When this be over?"  

Saturday Snippets - One in Particular

Our Easter pictures

 

But our official Easter 2020 photo looks like this 😁

We put these together really fast. 

This will be an Easter we'll never forget!

 I caught Beth practicing her guitar earlier this week

 The cherry tree is blooming!

But the real snippet happened today

Chuck passed out this morning and I couldn't keep him conscious. He'd come to and then pass out again. When it happened the 3rd time I called 911. I couldn't see him when I got to the hospital and I was in the waiting room alone and Beth was at home alone so after a couple hours I decided it would be better if I came home. The nurse called and we talked about his cancer meds and dosages and she said he looks much better this evening then he did when he arrived! He's had a blood transfusion, a CT scan plus some other tests - white blood count is high... there's a few things they're still checking on so they're keeping him overnight. He's feeling better and we've been texting. I'm very relieved they're keeping him there. They have the medical expertise that I don't have! What a day!

Have you ever passed out?

Ever stayed overnight in the hospital?

Sunshine, Chalk and Tulips

There are SO many things to be thankful for this week!

I was able to stay at the hospital with Chuck

They didn't find any cancer in his lymph nodes!

His nausea meds are working

Beautiful sunshine this week

Tulips are blooming

Communities are coming together to support one another

Restaurants are still operating to feed hospital staff

Drive by birthdays. Such a fun idea!

Sidewalk chalk messages

Businesses recalibrating their machines to make PPE

Cherry blossoms

Palm trees

Sleeping in

Friends and Family

How are you doing? 

Staying healthy? Staying sane?

What are some good things in your life?

Go to Knit By God's Hand to read more good things!