Wednesday, December 30th

Had a big night last night, thanks to Andy and Carole's brother, Jim. I went to the Purdue vs. Iowa basketball game, and got to see the Boilermakers pull one out. It was exhausting, but worth it, and lots of fun.

I got to meet Coach Keady - in spite of the scowl he always seems to have on his face, he's a really nice guy. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Saturday, December 26th

The company started arriving last Tuesday evening with nieces Lisa and Christine along with my nephew Chris. It was a nice surprise (Lisa and Chris are from LA and Christine is from Chicago). They left Wednesday afternoon (after we enjoyed DQ chocolate malts!) to return to Chicago and Ailene, Jan, Ryan, and Tyler arrived on Wednesday evening. Brian smoked ribs for dinner on Christmas Eve and with the addition of Andy and Tory we had a full house when Santa arrived. We all had a wonderful Christmas and I got everything I wanted and more. Carole made a Crown Roast for dinner and we were all well fed too.

I hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well. Thank you to all my visitors and to everyone for their thoughts and prayers!

Sunday, December 20th

The Bengals lost again today. Hope they can pull one out next week against the Chiefs.
 I forgot to mention in my last update, thanks to the finance group in Palo Alto for the tower of goodies from Harry and David's - it included everything from mixed nuts, to smoked salmon, to baklava, to moose munch - all good stuff. Also, thanks to Marilyn for being the one to always drop things off at my house. I really appreciate it!

Here's a copy of Jeff and Cathy's Christmas card. Interesting tree, huh?

Saturday, December 19th

 It's been kind of a rough week for me. We started by trying a steroid taper, which seemed to cause me to weaken, so Dr. Carlisle decided to take the steroid back where it was to start with. That seems to be helping a little bit, but I don't feel like I'm back where I was before the taper.
I did make it to Genencor today to take a shower. It felt awesome! Carole, Andy and Tory helped move me inside, and guarded the door while I was showering. The handheld shower head worked great, BP. Thanks!
I got another nice surprise from my Genencor family today - a card with more signatures on it than I've ever seen on one card, along with more money in it as well. Thanks to everyone. The money will be put to good use. You're such a great work family. I could never ask for anything more than you've given me. There aren't words to express my appreciation.
Brian will arrive tomorrow around noon. It will be good to have him here for a a week and a half. Before my next posting, I'll try to scan a copy of Jeff's Christmas card. It's pretty amusing.
Thanks again for your card, thoughts and prayers. I'm convinced they all help! 

Sunday, December 13th

We know the answer to Who Dey?  It's the Vikings. Today's Bengals game was ugly. Last night's Purdue game was a good one - especially when you consider it was on Alabama's home court. It was a great finish by Robbie Hummell and Chris Kramer!
Today was a good day. I got a couple of good naps and Carole got some great help from neighbors getting the driveway cleared off. Here's a picture of the work crew. You saved Carole's back!

Thanks to Steve, Mary, Mike and Norma!

Nice clean driveway, huh?

We also had some good freinds over for brunch.

  Curt, Karen, Kathy and Dick

  Paul, Sherry. CA, Curt, Karen, Cathy  and Dick

Everybody brought great food!♠♠

 In my last update, I forgot to mention that we got a chance to "Skype" with Jeff for about 15 minutes yesterday. We kind of got scolded for mentioning where he was deployed - we're not supposed to do that - so Carole went in and removed the reference from my previous blog update. I guess we learned our lesson. He's working long hours - 15 - 16 hours/day, 7 days/week. He says war doesn't take any days off, so he seems okay with it. It's nice to be able to use this technology to communicate with him!

Thursday, December 10th

We had quite a blizzard yeaterday! At least 12" of snow along with 50 MPH winds. It left quite a mess outside. We had one window upstairs that apparently wasn't all the way up that blew in on a bed - luckily it didn't break and Carole was able to lock it back in place. Carole's outside right now removing snow from the end of the driveway. I'm sure she's cold.
My babysitter for the day just arrived, so I'm being cared for.
I forgot to mention on my last update that I was able to go to Genencor last Sunday, and use their handicap accessible shower - I don't have one on the ground floor of my house, so it felt great. Special thanks to Andy and Carole for helping me move around, I couldn't do it without them!

Sunday, December 6th

It was a pretty good weekend. The Bengals won again - Who Dey! The Boilermaker basketball team also won again. Both are playing very well. I hope they both continue to do so.
We got a chance to Skype with Jeff for about 15 minutes yesterday. It's pretty amazing technology that works halfway around the world. Both picture and voice were working without much delay. He's currently in Iraq and staying very busy working a lot of hours.
I'm still able to move around in the wheelchair with help from Carole or Andy, but unless somebody helps me stand up, I'm stuck.
Tonight I finish another round of chemo pills. As usual, the constipation is really uncomfortable. I go back to the Dr. at U of IH&C for a long day on New Year's Eve. I'm not looking forward to that day - It starts with an MRI in the morning, then finishes with an appointment with Dr. Carlisle at 4:00 PM.
Please don't be disappointed if you don't get a Christmas card from Carole and me this year. I'm not sure sending them will be something that fits on Carole's schedule, and I'm sure it's not on mine. We do love to hear from everyone, and wish you all happy holidays.