Great News today!!!

I know it's been a long time since I've up-dated the blog...But here's the best news...
Today Keith had a colonoscopy and the results were GREAT...he's clean and the doc. says he doesn't have to have another one for 2 years! Keith is SO relieved....me too.
So, now we have 10 days before we head out to Chesapeake, Oct. 3rd. It's been so long since we've been in the RV, and there's so much to get prepared...but we're going to do our best to get it all done!
By Nov. 1st we'll pull into Peace River Florida....Hopefully, we'll see lots of you RVers who we've missed so much.
Thanks EVERYONE for your prayers....God has been so very good to us:)
SEE YA....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY #66 KEITH -

LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!! Here he is at Shady Maple enjoying his birthday meal. We saw Dr. DeVos in March 21st.. He was so pleased with Keith's progress/healing that he doesn't want to see Keith for 3 months!!! AGAIN, Happy Birthday Keith:)

LEATHER JACKET

This is a GREAT story. Keith has LOVED his leather jacket. Ever since he bought it, he's faithfully put mink oil and once in awhile water repellent on it. He mentioned many years ago that he needed to start looking for a new jacket. He looked and looked, but NOTHING came close to this Members Only jacket. We even had a tailor fix his jacket. A few weeks ago when he was starting to feel better, I asked if he thought he felt up to a little shopping trip to look for a new jacket. We drove to 4 stores and that was all he could handle. I told him when we got home I'd go on line and see what I could find. In no time I found the Members Only site with all their new line of jackets. Another site came up - Vintage 80's Leather Jackets...!!!! sure enough I found jackets EXACTLY like the one he was wearing. Took about a 1/2 hour to fine one in his size, only worn twice, and for 1/3 the cost of his orig. jacket! I asked him how long he had that old jacket. He thought awhile and said, I think maybe 20 years.. WELL, it was more like 30 years.Ha. To Keith's credit, he really takes care of his leather coats. We bought this jacket and it came 6 days later. It was llike Christmas for Keith. He was smiling from ear to ear. It gave me GREAT JOY to see him with another jacket EXACTLY like the one he had. We joke that at 95 years old, we'll have to start looking for another one! He is truly a HAPPY CAMPER:)

Visit with OLD FRIENDS

Back on March 11th, Keith and I made our regular trip to Albertus PA to start the RV which is in storage. We discovered that it wasn't much further to go visit our dear old friends in Quakertown, Pa. Keith and Terry go WAY back and Jackie (Candy) and I have been friends since they got married a few years after we did. Oh, it was so good to see them again.

Terry and Candy raise Cavilier's...This little guy is only 1 month old....so cute!

These 3 puppies were just so cute and friendly. They are about 2 months old.

AND this is Mama with her newly born pups. AHHHHH

Back in his JEANS again!!!

SO SORRY THIS PHOTO IS BLURRED:( BUT, on Monday Feb. 28th Keith came down the stairs so happy to show that he was BACK IN HIS JEANS.... He was so tired of wearing lounge pants. Said he thought about burning them.Ha.

Mom's 83rd Birthday!!!

Sunday Feb. 27th Mom celebrated her 83rd birthday. I took her to Shady Maple on Monday at noon time...It was such a special time tog. She was wearing the gold locket that my Dad gave her 64 years ago..the week after I was born...It has a baby photo of me and a photo of my dad...How special to have worn it that day:)
As we enjoyed our meal...she talked about her grandparents on her dad's side of the family. I learned new things about the family and have written them down so I don't forget and can pass this on to the boys. I know I am very blessed to have my Mom. So many of you know her and know that she sure doesn't look her age...she just keeps going and going like the energizer bunny:) Love you Mom Happy Birthday!!!

Sat. 2/26/2011 - Keith's coming home today!!!

Wow, Keith just called at 7 a.m. He'll be released sometime this morning or today for sure!!! Doc. DeVos just keeps saying how amazing Keith is...BUT, we know that it's God who is amazing...HE keeps showing us HIS favor over and over again and...we are very thankful for that.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT...IT HAS MEANT MORE THAN YOU KNOW:)
We LOVE you ALL Marie

Thurs. Feb. 24th, 2011 - Surgery Day

Arrived at the hosp. at 6:30...Keith was taken to the OR at 8....out at 10:30.. I talked with the Dr. at that time and he was so pleased to tell me that everything went so well...AGAIN. This is such good news:) Keith was in his room at 1 p.m....was eating at 1;30. He had pain so they gave him a shot and he wanted me to come home. One of his favorite nurses from Dec. was with him and promised me she'd keep an eye on him til 7:30 when her shift ends. She said he must be doing good because they don't usually give any liquids til hours after surgery...and Keith was doing just fine with the broth, soda, tea, jello, - don't worry, he was not eating all this...he was taking his time:) He can have another shot in 2 hours...and I'm sure he'll take it.
He's in room 313 at the Reading Hosp.
God is good all the time...all the time God it Good:)

Wed. Feb. 23, 2011 - Surgery tomorrow

Tues. we were at the hosp. at 9 a.m. and back home at 11. The test went off without a hitch this time!

We just called and were told to be at the hosp. at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. Keith's surgery will be at 8 a.m.

I might be at the hospital most of the day, but I'll do an up-date when I get home....
Needless to say...Keith is all packed and ready to go!

Monday Feb. 21 - NO TEST DONE!!!!

We arrived for our 11 a.m. appt... Keith came out to the waiting room after only being there 15 min... He just looked at me and said..We have to come back tomorrow at 9 a.m.!!!! THEY FORGOT THAT HE IS ALLERGIC TO THE DYE...So, we left the hosp. - drove to the pharmacy to get the pills he has to take every 6 hours til one hour before the tests are done. IF we knew they were going to do a test that needed the dye we would have reminded them...BUT WE DIDN"T... We believe that the surg. can still be done on Thurs. if the tests are done today.

I"LL KEEP YOU POSTED!!

MY BIRTHDAY!

WHAT A DAY!!! A RECORD HIGH OF 71 DEGREES!!! AND A FREE MEAL AT SHADY MAPLE!!
AND...IT'S NOW 15 YEARS OF BEING CANCER FREE - YEAH BABY... CELEBRATE!!!
Keith and I met my girlfriend, Hetty, at Shady at 1 p.m.. It was after 4 when we left!!! but we had such a good time and when I'm with Hetty, well, we just never run out of things to talk about... The celebration will continue for at least another week...Having friends come today from DE. - John, Steve and Di are coming on Monday night - Lunch with Mindy on Tues. Then I'll have to wait til after Keith's surg. to continue ... Keith did great at Shady...but he was ready for a rest when we got home.. I understand that the chemo takes your strength away and it takes a LONG TIME to get back... I am seeing that in Keith. He is so anxious for Thurs to get here!
THANKS for ALL the birthday wishes everyone.

Visit from Texas

Last Tues night Andy flew in from TX and stayed with us til Thurs. before moving on to other friends. Yest. he came for lunch and spent the afternoon before we had to say our good byes:( This was such a great boost for Keith. I think you can see on their faces, they are truly best friends or as they say, BROTHERS for life. Please don't make it 2 more years before we see you again Andy. You know we love you!!!!

The last time Andy was here John was only 6 months old....My how different this visit was. John just had the best time with Andy... Of course Andy gave John a match box car sooooo they are friends for life too!

Andy swears that Brad just keeps growing...and couldn't believe that he's been teaching for 10 years.. I am so sorry I didn't get a photo with Steve and Diana ...they were here too. Vivien was not feeling well - we really missed her.

Keith's Next/Last Surgery Date

This morning we were to see Dr. DeVos. He is so pleased with Keith and how he's healing. So, he set up the reversal surgery for next Thurs the 24th! Wow, this is earlier than we thought, but we're not complaining....
He will be in the hosp. for about 3-4 days and then have another 6 weeks of recovery.
NOW, last night at midnight Keith passed a kidney stone...believe it or not he had NO PAIN! This was a big surprise...but might explain all the back pain he had starting several weeks ago. Keith thought he hurt himself because the pain in his back was right where he had his surg. years ago. We now think it was the stone moving.
Who knows....but the stone is now passed.:)
The photo above is Papa and John watching John's favorite video...Thomas the Train!
p.s. Keith now weighs 167 lbs. I think he's looking very good, but he's missing lots of muscle...so we'll have to work on that!
Thanks in advance for all your prayers....I'll keep the blog up-to-date after the surg. next week.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY... Love to all.

Wed. Feb.2, 2011 - Keith Up-Date

We will be seeing Dr. DeVos again on Valentines Day. At that time he will tell us when the reversal surgery date will be in March...probably the middle of March. At our last visit he said he agrees that Keith shouldn't have the 5FU Chemo ...and even tho he could do the reversal surgery in 8 weeks which would be Feb. 16th, he'd suggest waiting for the 12 weeks to make sure Keith has plenty of time to heal before going thru more surg. We agreed.
Keith couldn't be more anxious to get this over with:)
On Sunday morning Jan. 23rd, Keith woke with back pain...like he used to get before his back surg. He couldn't figure out what he did because he's been so very careful not to lift anything. At any rate, it took 10 days til he had no pain. He's fine now and will soon begin to exercise so his back will regain muscle strength.
We've been dealing with the storms which continue to come about every 3 to 4 days!
This morning we have about 3 inches of ice on everything. Fortunately, so far we have electric.
We are thankful we don't have to go anywhere....just stay inside....stay warm...and stay well:)

Sunday Jan. 16, 2011

Back in 1951, 60 years ago, my Dad built the home they raised 5 children and still live there today. Above is a photo of Mom's stove and the last pie she baked in it! BECAUSE........

She said good bye to her orig. 60 year old GE stove....which she loved! And take a look at the flooring..it's orig. too... SOOOOOOO

Last Wed. they had new flooring put down....and it looks GREAT! They are so pleased and Dad is still remaking about how it was installed in ONE piece - no seams!!!

And..here's Mom...next to the new GE stove , delivered Thurs.- standing on her new kitchen floor! We've all told her how proud we are of her - willing to learn how to use this new stove. Change is not always easy...but she made up her mind that she wants to learn. By the way, do any of you remember the style of the table and chairs?...they're orig. too...Mom really took care of her kitchen. TONS of GREAT FOOD has come out of this kitchen...Dad ALWAYS says....SHE'S THE BEST COOK!!! We ALL know this is true... Love you Mom. p.s..I was 4 years old when we moved into this house.... before this we lived on my mom's parents farm.

Computer Troubles!!! Thurs. Jan. 13, 2011

O.K... IF you don't hear from me for awhile it's because my computer is giving me problems....I might have to get a new one....and right now I'm trying to safe and back up everything I can...
PLEASE feel free to call us if you don't get an up-date on Keith for next week. We see the surgeon on Wed...

Monday Jan.10 2011 - More Answered Prayer:)

This morning we saw the head oncologist at the Reading Hospital. Just as all the other doctors, he is so very pleased with Keith's results and after talking with us for about 30 min....he told Keith he'd see him in Aug. for a follow up!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! We are so thankful and as we left the hospital we felt like kicking up our heels! No more chemo!!!!
Next Wed. we go back to the surgeon to find out about the reversal surgery for the ostomy.
There are no words to tell you just how joyful we feel...
Next Tues. the 18th Keith and I will celebrate 42 years of marriage...This celebration will be very special.
Thanks again for all the prayers....GOD HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO US!...AGAIN HE HAS SHOWN US HIS FAVOR...

Up-date on Keith

It's been 3 weeks since Keith's surgery! He weighed himself yest. and finally gained a little over a pound. After the surgery the scale seems to go down, down, down.. Now after 3 weeks, he's still taking one pain pill in the morning and that seems to do the trick for the day. He rests a lot...not necessarily sleeps during the day, but rests on the recliner. Yest. he went out to the mail box and a few days ago he took down the bows from the window boxes; just little things....then he's back to the chair. I can see his energy level getting better each day and hope that these next few weeks are a "come back" time. The visiting nurses will come on Tues. for the next 2 weeks.
In the last week Keith has ENJOYED a small V&S Chicken Cheese Steak and Wendy's ....Now he's asking for pizza....The one thing he really misses is SALADS, so the nurses said to start out very slowly with lettuce on a sandwich but to be sure to chew everything thoroughly.. So far so good!
We've borrowed Brad and Viviens Jack LaLanne Juicer and that has really helped with all the foods that Keith couldn't eat if it weren't juiced. Everyday we're juicing and I'm sure that's helping to boost his system...
By the way, thanks to everyone for the phone calls....he loves hearing from you:)

John's Big Boy Bed

New Years Day we enjoyed having John for breakfast and lunch - right up til his nap time. Steve and Di were busy taking down John's crib and putting up the new bed....This is a special photo...It's the same bed, in the same room Keith had as he was growing up.

John was checking out the new bed before his nap....

What a good little boy! Off to sleep he goes.

Diana is a REAL CAPITALS fan....and was watching the game on t.v....THE CAPS WON!!! Don't they look happy? I love this photo!

Visit with Dr. DeVos

Monday Dec. 27th - We saw Dr. DeVos at 1 p.m. (thankfully, the roads were clear and dry by 11 a.m.) He took the remaining staples out and told Keith how pleased he is with how everything looks....and again told us all about the surgery and what he DIDN"T find:) We will be seeing Dr. DeVos for a total of 13 more times...about every 2-3 months for check ups. They follow you very closely for the first 2 years. Thank goodness we think so very highly of Dr DeVos...he's a GREAT GUY!
He assured Keith that he needs to continue to stay well, get lots of rest and get stronger.
Our next appt. is with the head of oncology, Dr. Leasure, on Jan 10th. After what Keith experienced with the chemo before, he's not looking forward to what might be suggested. He will have some tough decisions to make after that appt.
I'll keep you posted:)