Happy Spring!

     It's really only February - but it's 75 degrees outside! We got home from NY last night and the grass needs to be mowed! All the flowers and trees think that it's April!
     We took my sister, Susan, up to the hometown. She found her birth sister and birth mother so we went to meet them! Her birth mother has dementia so it was a good visit but without any answered questions. We were moral support. Plus we got to have a semi family reunion.
     Brian has one more infusion and a CT scan to see where we are. If his cancer is still stable they are gonna let him have a break from treatments. We are torn about that. We have been going every two weeks for a year now and we realize that the immunotherapy is working. We don't want to stop but we know that it is hard on his body and a break would be smart. We will continue to trust the doctor and know that he has our best interest at heart. Prayers about that are very welcome!
     With that said, we can soon travel for more extended periods of time! Watch out world - here we come! After our Gatlinburg trip in late October, we drove to Madeira Beach, Florida and spent two weeks with my Dad and step-mom! We got home just in time for Thanksgiving! We then took my Mom to NY in mid December to see family and friends. That was her Christmas present. We spent most of January remodeling the garage to have a workshop and storage area, as well as, a stage for a band! Did I mention that we are probably too old to be hanging drywall and building walls?! Jeesh! What a job. We are not finished yet but it is looking good! February was the trip to NY to meet birth family. Next is Hot Springs for a bit of crystal mining! Then we are spending two weeks in Treasure Island, Florida! That brings us up to early April!! Our next already scheduled trip is for Brian's 40th class reunion in August!
     I am sooooo glad I retired when I did! I don't have time to work!

 

 building a wall...lol

first sheet of drywall

my sweet boy when I lost him

one of his Valentine gifts

Vermosa....champagne and cider

Green Mts, Vermont

   

The Smoky Mountains in the Fall!

     We spent Halloween in Gatlinburg! We've been helping Maggie and the kids for a few weeks and we decided to run away from home! We sent the grandkids Halloween cards with money and we hit the road! The colors were beautiful and we drove to Clingman's Dome and Newfound Gap. Had a lovely picnic at the Chimneys and played in the river. Did the Roaring Forks motorway and stopped at Eli's Mill. Found a quaint little seafood bar off the beaten track and had oysters, shrimp, and too much to drink! A wonderful time!! We decided to ride the aerial tram to Ober Gatlinburg and we took the skylift to the very top of the mountain. Then we rode the Alpine Slide down to the bottom! I won! Brian said he was being a gentleman! :-)

October Already!?

     Hi and Happy Fall, ya'll! It has been unusually warm...still in the upper 80's most days! It doesn't feel like Fall or Halloween at all! We are buying mums and pumpkins and apple cider anyway. We will also be decorating the house for Halloween.
      There have not been any new travels as Brian has been feeling quite exhausted and weak. We even had to take an ambulance ride and spent the day at Vanderbilt!  I tease him that he sure knows how to show a girl a good time! The Dr. let him go ahead with his Nivolumab treatment even though it's wearing him down. The plan is to continue infusions every two weeks until March. He'll have another CT scan next month to see if it's all still working. Say an extra prayer for him, please!
     Our nephew, Andrew, got married Oct. 1st! Lots of family flew in to celebrate...and then they wouldn't go home! LOL! They really had a good time visiting and eating and visiting some more. Brian felt good enough to play a couple of songs at the wedding and then gave us a short concert the day everyone was leaving.
    Our next long adventure is going to be early November in Florida on the Gulf side. We are meeting my dad and step-mom for a two week vacation at the beach! We will be staying at a new place on Redington Beach. We are looking forward to being in Florida again. We may look for a retirement home while we are there!
     I tried to add a couple of pictures but something isn't working right! I'll come back later and try again.

Endless Summer!

    Everyone went back to school....except for me!! Yay! I loooove being retired! We have traveled all over the place! We have been to Chattanooga, Charleston,  New York, Cape Cod, & Arkansas! We have reservations in Florida in November. Our nephew is getting married in a couple of weeks and we are entertaining company from New York and Tennessee and Florida. Add Brian's immunotherapy every two weeks and we don't have time to work! Lol! More later!

Summertime!

Wow! What a crazy ride! I have officially retired! I got my LAST paycheck (GULP!) this month and now my pension kicks in. Kinda scary, but we have everything worked out.We have been SO busy since school got out in May. Family came to celebrate our niece's graduation and we enjoyed a four day weekend at the lake. In June we met brother and sister-in-law in Gatlinburg. We enjoyed rest and relaxation and family for five wonderful days in a secluded mountain cabin! Early July found us in Chattanooga for a long weekend. We saw Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, we rode the Incline! We spent one whole day enjoying the Tennessee Aquarium including the River Gorge boat ride and the IMAX theater! Wow, what a busy few days! We celebrated grandkids birthdays and went on several day trips to state parks. Our next event is Charleston, SC later this week. Then we will stop to do some gem mining on the way home. We are headed to Troy and then on to Cape Cod in late August. We will follow that up with a quick turn-around to Hot Springs to meet Texas and NY family! Whew!
Brian had another episode on Memorial Day that sent him to the hospital again for several days. We finally got to see the Endocrinologist so hopefully we have all that under control now. He is almost finished with his second round of immunotherapy! He sees the dermatologist tomorrow and has his last infusion on Tuesday. Then we have to set up CT scans and an MRI. The hope is that the melanoma continues to shrink and no new ones appear. Prayers are welcome!

Ruby Falls

Smoky Mtns.

Chattanooga Choo Choo!

Almost Retired!

     Sooooo this is the last month of my teaching career! Sometimes I have mixed feelings about that - but mostly I'm pretty happy and excited! Education is getting absolutely ridiculous and there is no joy in it anymore. Testing, testing, testing! It's time for me to go!
    On another note: Brian started having really bad headaches from the immunotherapy. He got three doses of the combo drugs and then ended up in the hospital! They decided to discontinue the combo drugs and switch him to just the single drug. Nivolumab is the newest and best treatment for his kind of cancer. So he will have a CT scan on Sunday May 15th and then start infusions of that on the 17th. We had hoped to finish all four treatments but it was too risky. The Dr. says that three treatments with the "vigorous auto-immune response" had very good results. I guess the CT scan will show the truth. Regardless, he will start the Opdivo on the 17th.

Vanderbilt Emergency Room

     Our niece, Shelby. graduates on May 20th and a whole bunch of family is coming in to celebrate. We will have a weekend at Dale Hollow Lake! It will be great to see everyone. It should be a great weekend!
     Last Tuesday was my retirement reception at the Central Office! I got a certificate and a marble apple. My friend Kitty is retiring, too! We started together and are finishing up together!

Director of schools, me, Asst. Director

Sad Day

     Today Brian lost his mother to a sudden illness. She got the flu and her lungs just couldn't handle it. We flew to NY on Wednesday when we got the news that she was sick and going into ICU. Brian had an MRI that day and we got the call on the way home from Nashville. We got plane tickets and packed in an hour and a half. We got to Troy at 12:30 am and went straight to the hospital. She never knew we were there. She never regained consiousness and was on a ventilator. The difficult decision was made to take her off life support today and she passed away peacefully. We had to come home to see the oncologist tomorrow. We will return to NY for the services as soon as they are set.