View of Space Needle from our hotel room

View of Lake Union from the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

Happy Anniversary to us!

Mar 22 – Apr 18 ...Another month goes by. We made the trip to Seattle for Mom’s doctor appt but didn’t find out much. The doctor ran some more tests and told us to come back in three weeks once he was back from vacation. We ended up staying 4 nights. We had dinner with Micheala, Adriana & Dillon one night and visited some of Mom’s cousins & a friend in Graham. Our hotel was across the street from the Space Needle so the view was good. We made a quick trip to Pike’s Place Market but that was about it. On the way back we overnighted with Aunt Shirley in Seeley Lake. Life since then has been pretty routine. The weather is improving so we got out patio all set up and even fired up the bar-b-que grill a couple of times. The weekend of the 4th we went with Mom & Dad out to the farm for a visit with Denita and family. We took in a couple of Tyler’s basketball games while there. We had a nice anniversary dinner on the 7th at Dante’s and took a drive on the river road and saw a beautiful sunset. Easter weekend Denita and family came to Great Falls. We hosted a bar-b-que for the family on Sat. and we had a lovely dinner at Doug & Frans on Sunday. Danny and Lexi were suppose to come up from Calif. but unfortunately were not able to.
Dixie, Doug & Denita will be driving with Mom & Dad to Seattle on Monday for Mom’s appt on Tuesday, Apr 21. We hope to determine what treatment Mom will receive at that time. Mike will stay home this time and hold down the fort! He also intends to get the motorhome ready as we are anxious to go somewhere with it soon! At this time it is uncertain how long we will be in Seattle.

Mike at "Showdown". We watched the skiers come down this run. It was pretty windy and cool so Mom didn't think much of the idea of going outside for a photo - so I had to settle for 'Mike'.

March came in like a lamb!

Mar 1 – 21 ... Our March weather has been pretty nice with just a few days of cold temps. Today (21st) it is 65 degrees and we are heading out for a bike ride. On the 15th we took Mom and Dad and drove out to Showdown, a nearby ski mountain. We enjoyed watching the down hill skiers.
Mom’s doctor decided that she should go out to Seattle to see another doctor for a consultation. We leave tomorrow for an appointment on the 24th at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The cancer clinic here is affiliated with them. We are hoping for a new treatment plan and a little more info on her type of cancer. Dixie has been working for Fran doing the medical billing while Doug and her are on vacation. It gives her something to do with her time. Mike goes to the gym and messes around at the motorhome to occupy his time! We did have a scare with Mom – she had some fluid removed from her abdomen area one day and that evening she had went into insulin shock. Her blood sugar took a dive (for the first time ever – normally it is very high). We ended up called the paramedics and they gave her a glucose IV which brought her back around! We know now what symptoms to look for.
Also this month we attended a few more basketball games. This weekend we took in some of the Charlie Russell Western Art show. That brought people from several states to our city. Tomorrow we will drive to Moses Lake, WA and then arrive in Seattle on Monday. We plan to be there until Thu. where we will visit some friends and family in addition to the doctor appointment!

More February in Montana!

Feb 9 – 28 .... We’ve kept busy the remainder of Feb. We attended a few basketball games (Levi’s and Jades). Dixie joined “Curves” and Mike continues to go to his gym. Dixie has been working for Fran and will fill in for her while Doug and her go on vacation. They plan to be gone from the end of Feb for 3-4 weeks. Dixie continues to go with Mom to her cancer doctor appointments weekly. She had a CT scan on the 20th which showed that the tumor has not gotten any smaller. That was very disappointing news. The doctor feels that the chemo has not really been helping so he is referring her to a cancer center in Seattle that they are affiliated with. We are waiting to hear when that appointment will be. Brother Doug had to have surgery this month to remove a kidney stone, then had a blockage in the stent (it was not a fun time for him!). The weather has been back and forth – most days have been pretty nice 30’s-50’s with a few snow days thrown in. We are ending Feb with snow and some cold days. We are just about ready for spring!!!!!

Sunset on Laguna Beach

On the patio of a 3rd floor condo overlooking Laguna Beach

A view of Lake Mead from Callville Bay

The end of our California Trip!

Jan 27 – Feb 8...On Tue., the 27th we drove around 60 miles from Danny’s to Aunt Marge’s in Riverside. We stayed with her until Fri. We walked, shopped, had a lunch and dinner out, went to a ‘happy hour’ party at some neighbors and picked some delicious grapefruit and oranges at Dons. We also enjoyed some ‘down’ time reading a book on the patio watching the golfers go by. On Friday it was time to move on – this time just 15 miles to Corona to visit Sandy & Buster (Mike’s sister). While there we all went to the movie “Last Chance Harvey” which we really enjoyed. Our niece and family came over for dinner. We had fun playing with the kids (3,4 & 7). Sunday we attended church with them then drove 50 miles to Laguna Beach. Marge and Don were at their time-share condo, which was on the 3rd floor with the patio looking out to the ocean. We enjoyed the Super Bowl there and stayed for 2 nights. It was great to see the ocean again and soak up some sun! On Tue., the 3rd it was time to head north. On our first day’s drive we detoured around Las Vegas and saw Lake Mead. That evening we overnighted in Mesquite, NV (390 miles). The next day’s drive was just over 500 miles with an overnight in Idaho Falls, ID. The last day (Thur) was only 360 miles so we made it to our condo by 2pm. We had great weather for the whole trip and thankfully the snow was pretty much gone when we arrived home! On Fri. we got back in the car (with Dad & Mom) and drove about 80 miles to Levi’s basketball game in Box Elder (which they won). Sat. & Sun. was back to normal...the gym, church and the family up for dinner.