2014, August 7 Another Bend in the Road

We will be heading to LA again this weekend for treatment #11 of 15-or possibly even more.

 Yesterday, we had to see an ophthalmologist in The Dalles to check Leland's eyes.  He has Macular Degeneration in both of them now.He can see well enough to drive and do most things, but his central vision is markedly deteriorated.  In fact his vision is very poor in his right eye; 20/200- better in the left 20/50 but still not great.  His eyes have been weepy, red and crusty on the edges, and quite uncomfortable, most likely a side effect of his treatments.  He was given some drops and an antibiotic ointment, which has not had much of an effect yet, but perhaps in a day or two it will.  We are hoping so.

In other news, we sold the house this week.  We had asked God to open and close doors for us;  for His will to be done, and also for this to be a blessing for any potential buyer. We met our buyers today for the first time, and it is a perfect match!  They love our home, and plan to keep up the yard and garden and all the flowers.  We chatted like old friends, showed them some of the details of the plumbing and drip watering systems, and how to clean the glass window in the wood stove with a damp paper towel and ashes which works better than anything else we ever tried.  Thanks, Norm, for the tip : )

We spent last week after chemo on Monday in Yakima camping with Norm and Judy, Del and Chuck, Lorrance and Judy, after which we all went to the old home place in Redmond for family reunion. Nick and Jan keep the yard in great shape, and it was great to leave the dust of the campground for the clean green of the yard.  The best part however, was all the family who were there, getting to visit and catch up on each other's lives.

We came home on Monday and Mark's family came to visit.  They were wonderful, giving us a great kickstart to our clearing out of too much stuff and beginning the packing. We plan to keep at it every day we are home, and hopefully to have most of it done within a couple of weeks. We are hoping to find a new place quickly, and move straight from here to there.  This is such a huge change, and so far from what we planned when we moved here, it is a little difficult to adjust, but we absolutely believe God is leading, so that does help calm the anxiety and the second guessing. It is a relief to know we will not have to deal with all the undone outside work  any more, that we will have a place small enough to care for, be closer to medical facilities and closer to Mark and Tina, Cherilyn and Todd and of course our darling grandsons.

Yesterday on the way home from The Dalles, Leland pulled off the road to check something on the car, opened the door only to have the howling wind grab it out of his hands and slam it so far open that it bent the hinge and did other damage.  Fortunately, he could close it; but when we took it to a body shop today, we were told the bill will be $200 to fix it properly!  That is a few seconds we wish we could do over!

I plan on posting again after this next trip.  We are hoping to have answers to several questions  regarding prognosis and post chemo plans, which I will share here.