Happy Mother's Day

Apr 19 – May 10 ... Since the last blog update we have celebrated 3 family Birthdays – Denita on the 22nd, Mom on the 24h and Brandon’s on the 8th! Happy Birthday to all!

Dixie made the trip to Seattle with Mom, Dad, Doug and Denita. If we’d had Danny with us it would have been like old times. It was a fun trip all in all. We drove around Seattle a lot. Mom’s doctor visit didn’t reveal anything new but the decision was made to go back on the weekly chemo treatment regime. The doctor did run some more bloods tests to compare the tumor markers. Doug and Denita went back on the train and we stayed a couple of extra days so they could do another biopsy (which was done on her 76th Birthday --- what fun). As of yet we haven’t received the results. Mom has had 2 chemo treatments since we have been home and it feeling more bad side effects from this round. She is very week and tired.

Dixie was home for a week and then went with an old friend (Merlene) to Helena to a “Hair Seminar” that was held on Sun/Mon. Haven’t been to one of those in 20 plus years. It was fun! The weather is slowly improving but we have had some rain. We are still stuck in the 50’s with a few 60’s. Dixie is anxious to plant some flowers & tomatoes but will have to wait another week or so for the nights to warm up. Mike, Dad & a cousin went fishing at Holter Lake this past Tue – they were suppose to come home with fish for dinner but they had no luck. Today on Mother’s Day we attended church and then Mom, Dad, Mike & I and Fran went to brunch. Since the weather was so nice we drove about 20 miles to “First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park”. We toured the visitors center and hike the 3 mile loop up to the top. It was very interesting. We need to get back into ‘hiking shape’ as we are now a little tired out!!!!

A "bad" self portait on our 19th Anniversary

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!!!!!