2013 July 25 Clinic visit and Phoenix

This busy month has been flying by. A wonderful Sabbath afternoon visit with our nephew Ryan, his wife Shanna and their darling little boy Asher, was a delight. They are on their way to assignment in Alaska-a real switch from southern Texas!

Mark and Tina were here the same weekend, so we were all able to visit with Ryan, Shanna, Kathy and Dan, Kevin and Charles, as well as Kathy's brother and sister-in-law. We enjoyed Mark and Tina's visit, and appreciated Grant's help as Leland finished the retaining wall in front of the garage.  It looks great;  now to find some deer resistant plants for full sun-

That same week, we took Grant home on Tuesday evening, then went to Cher and Todds so we could care for Phoenix for two days, as the regular day care provider was on vacation.  We enjoyed every minute of our time with him.  He is so much fun, smiling, laughing, learning to grasp small things-including his toes.  Of course we have lots of pictures!

Sunday evening of this week, we were off to Seattle again.  We spent the evening with Chaunda at Dash Point Park on the Sound.  It was beautiful, and she had fixed a lovely picnic.




 Then it was off to the hotel, and Leland's appointment on Monday morning.  His blood work looked good, except for a small rise in his PSA, which did not worry Dr. Chen, but it did worry me!  He said it could be a difference in machines, as we had had it done at Portland Adventist last week while we were there.  Dr. Chen ordered another PSA done to confirm, and on their equipment, the PSA showed a drop to 4.3!  That does not seem like much from 4.71, but we celebrate every drop in that number! Especially after a long conversation with Dr. Chen regarding  the next step if the PSA continued to rise.  Another drug, or possibly chemo again. I am so very glad we are not facing that just yet.

We left Seattle for Portland and another day of caring for Phoenix.  What a pleasure and a privilege it is to be able to spend time with him.  We love every moment.

Leland just finished making a new small cupboard for our trailer.  He spent a lot of hours on it, which I will really appreciate when it is time to load up for our trip in a week or so.

We will be gone most of the month of August, so I will not be posting here until we return, and have gone to the next appointment on the 22nd.  We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the family reunion on the second weekend.