NORTHERN MINNESOTA IS FREEKING COLD!!!!!!!!!!!

So much has happened since the last time I posted that it may take me awhile to catch up. And then again I may not......

After the great news from the results of the PET scan in September my doctor gave me some time off ... two and a half weeks to be exact and we took a trip out east. I had two treatments of Cycle 4 and then we left Missouri on the 28th of Sept. We went to Tunica Mississippi and had planned to stay for a couple days. Tunica is a small gambling town with about 8 Casinos and is about a half hour south of Memphis Tennessee. Now I have never been much of a gambler... I can go to the Casino and watch someone else play and be completly content for quite a while. BUT... I found this one machine called Lucky Lemmings and got hooked. LOL I still don't ever gamble any more than $40. We stayed there having a good time between the gambling and trying all the Buffets and then were planning to head out to Memphis where we were going to meet up with our friends from Oklahoma. After checking out prices of RV campgrounds in Memphis we realized it would be better to stay in Tunica and drive to Memphis. We spent two days driving up to Memphis going to Graceland, Beale Street and to the dog races and driving back to Tunica to be able to try out each and everyone of the 8 Casinos.. When it was time to meet up with our friends we then moved to a very nice campground in Memphis right on the river and met up with Kenneth and Verna. We spent about three days there and watched Barges go up and down the river at all times of the day and night. That was really a fun experience. Our first adventure after we retired was spent watching Barges in Iowa on our way to Nebraska. I didnt realize how interesting that could be. Something I never would have even thought of in my younger days. It not only takes getting older but also when you know your days may be numbered you tend to appreciate things and see them in a whole different light. We then took off for Nashville, bummed around there for a couple days touring Music City Hall of Fame and various other places and hoping to be able to get tickets for The Grand Ole Opry. We were lucky to get great tickets for Saturday night and saw Trace Atkins, Taylor Swift and Dolly Parton, along with several other Nashville old timers. It was a great show and we surely enjoyed it. Then it was off to Gatlinberg Tennessee and the Great Smokies. Jerry and I love Gatlinberg so I was super excited and feeling like a kid in a candy store. We took a train ride up into the Smokies which was alot of fun and the trees were just starting to change so it was a georgous site. We also took a ride on the Blue Ridge Skyway which is supposed to be the most beautiful ride in the states according to all the RV books. The Skyway goes from North Carolina to DC. However we knew we didnt want to take the Motor Home on that road especially seeing as how the speed limit is only 45 miles an hour and its quite curvy. Not alot of drop offs like when we went to Sedona AZ but still a bit scary for driving the Motor Home. So we just took about a 50 mile drive and enjoyed the views and the colors. It was georgous. Kinda felt like you could not be much closer to heaven.

The day before we were scheduled to leave to head back to Missouri for me to start my next cycle of treatment we got a call from my mom that my dad was not doing well and the Nurse had called to tell her to get the family together. We left but did not make it home before my dad passed away. We have been here since and are still helping my mom get all the legal things sorted out. Its getting colder and I'm freezing. We have the Motor Home parked next to her house and we stay in it at night as we dont have TV in the house. If worse comes to worse we will have to winterize the Motor Home and move into the house and get her TV hooked up I guess. You know I cant live without the TV and my reality programs. LOL My mom is doing very well and I have been getting my treatments in Duluth since we have been here. I will have treatment number three of Cycle 5 on Tuesday and then will have a week off. The doctor here wants to see if I could get just Avastin and not Taxol next cycle as my Neuropathy is very severe. My hands are numb on the palms all the time and my feet are numb also so that it is hard for me to walk at times. I also have two toenails that are about to fall off and my fingernails are also affected from the Chemo and at times are very sensitive as the cells are dying under the nails. I am hopeful that I will not loose any of them. As far as strength and stamina I am doing very well. God allows me to wake up every day and keep on fighting.

Jerry has been wonderful helping with my mom and all the upkeep on the house. You know how it is with a house. There is always something that needs fixing. Oh yeah.. its that way when you have a Motor Home too.

Hopefully I will keep up with blogging better from now on..
Keep me in your prayers... its working
Thanks
Chele