Breaking the Funny Bone

Well this has nothing to do with health or cancer, but is certainly good for some laughs and is a lot more fun than discussions of either one of those, anyway.

So... during the Ranch Rodeo at our County Fair last night, this fine fellow decided to ride his bronc wearing a green wig, a stuffed bikini top and NO shirt, along with a pillow stuffed with feathers behind his saddle. They tore open the pillow so feathers flew everywhere during the ride, as you can imagine, and he was carrying a real-live cap gun which he used indiscriminately in an apparent attempt to put out the stars. It was all wild and crazy action, so the photo is a bit blurred and doesn't do justice at all to the flying feathers and the crazy grin on his face, but should still give you an idea.
Dave was watching and he agrees with us, Monte, you and Jeff oughta try THIS if you need a point increase next time you ride the broncs.
In case you're wondering, yes he won. Blew all the competition away, actually, even though he'd drawn nearly the poorest bucking horse we saw that night. Proves it's all in the show, I guess... =)

Down the Hatch!

Well maybe it's not really considered 'down the hatch', since the chemo went in a vein and I didn't swallow it, but anyway, it's in and I'm doing fine. We had to drive to Casper for this dose, since the nurses here are on vacation. To be quite truthful, that was a pain in the neck, but being a nurse myself, I can't begrudge these girls some time off. They have no backup and have to have their own sanity time, that's for sure!

For the next few days I'm determined to lay low in hopes that the puny days last far less than they did the previous time. Luckily for me, I've got folks all over the place who are willing to spoil me. =) Thanks to all of you who've called, prayed and written, remembering us and supporting us. As always, your encouragements are good for the soul.

We've been having fun lately. Here's some proof.

Here's Andy enjoying an evening, Sam doing his 'lovey' thing. He has to share in every moment we slow down long enough for him to be next to us.

Playing with the big girls...

Smiling after our canoe trip...

The canoeing party... (We floated down the Wind River from the Wedding of the Waters near the town of Thermopolis. It was the grandest thing!!!!!!!!!!!!)

And rescuing hawks. This has a cool story with it. We found this little guy because the dogs were trying to kill it (GRRRR!). He's just a wee baby and he didn't even know how to defend himself, so just sat there and took it while they bit through his wing. (GRRRR again!). We put him up in this tree and although it looks like it here, he was so young he didn't do well holding his weight up, standing on his legs. He preferred to nestle down into a small space like the nest he was used to. (We couldn't figure this out - thought maybe he had a damaged leg or something- but the bird rescue lady said this was the reason.) We worried and fretted over him the whole day until we finally heard back from her, saying she'd gotten home and would take him. She's getting him all fixed up, even though she thought he was dead when she first pulled him out of the carrier we brought him in. Every one of us is now ready to be a falconer and/or get our wildlife care permit, because it was a neat experience. He was so sweet and responsive to us.

On a Saturday

I'm feeling so good lately, I thought I'd get out another post before the next dose of chemo on Wednesday. I've been doing yard work and gardening and cleaning and laundry. It is such a relief to feel normal!


Andy's on a bit of a break between 1st and 2nd cuttings so this is how we spent our evening last night. We just bought Bess and Tess from an old gentleman who got teary-eyed at the thought of selling them. He's had them since they were colts, but the time had come to sell. And we just fell in love with them. It's been a dream of Andy's to have a team, to use them for feeding in the winters and hay rides and just plain good times. And these girls are perfect. They are so gentle and beautiful and already broke to drive. (And we asked the old gentleman to come out and show us the ropes a few times, just so he doesn't have to let go of them completely right away. He said, "I think that'll do me more good than it will you or the horses".)


So this is Bess:

And this is Tess:
And here are Bess and Tess in action. They did fabulously, wonderfully well for the first time out in an unfamiliar place pulling a different wagon than they're used to, with us novices holding the reins. It was an awesome evening jaunt, so now we're planning hay rides and campfires and Andy even mentioned farming with them, but let's all hope he was joking. =)

Decision made and tickets bought

We're going to both. We kept hearing that idea from interested folks and decided, why not? Both hospitals are on U.S. News and World Report's new list of Best Hospitals in America for cancer (MD Anderson made it to #1), so I'll be getting great, new info from great docs.

Both appts are a few days apart so we fly from one to the other, then back home to the land of haying. It'll be a couple weeks after chemo, so hopefully I'll be feeling fairly perky by then. If not, Andy gets to push me through airports in a wheelchair, the lucky guy. The whole 'in sickness and in health" clause in the ol' marriage contract is getting tested minute by minute in our household. *smile* ( ...I should add here that he's had to do the wheelchair thing a lot already and doesn't seem to mind a bit. We just have a grand old time and I get to feel spoiled.)

Sure enough...

Dr Jones' friend has come through! The folks at MD Anderson Cancer Center phoned, made an appointment, told me all the info I needed, how long I could expect to stay, numbers for hotels and discount rates for patients and shuttle information. They told me what paperwork to bring and gave me numbers to call if I needed help or had questions.

And, unfortunately for the UCSF folks, this is in direct contrast to the way they did things. I had to make all the original phone calls myself, wait days to hear from them because they wanted to check with my doc and see my records first. Then when I did talk to them, their accents were so strong, I was forced to use the most basic of English to prevent them misunderstanding me and had to listen with all my might to have half a clue what they said back to me. So...

Now I'm in a quandary. My wonderful doctor wants to send me to CA to a doc whom she respects and can communicate with as far as treatment plans in future, but MD Anderson is now calling and I'm impressed with their customer service. *sigh* But as many of you mentioned in the last post (and Beth, I love your dream! Have you had a vision of who won so I know where to go?) it's probably good to have two places to choose from versus nowhere to go.

Important info: my gene test came back negative!!!! What does this mean? Well, it means I did NOT inherit some mutant gene that causes me to get lots of cancers and my sis and bro don't have to worry about also carrying this evil gene. Please, everyone, join me in cheers of relief - we finally got good news about something!!

And more important info: I'm over 2 weeks out of my chemo dose and my hair's still on! Check it out... cool, eh??

Oh and how about this?! Only in Wyoming might a bride pile her wedding party into the back of a pick-up truck and run through a drive-up liquor after her wedding:

Breaking news

California appointment at UCSF (Univ of CA, San Fransisco) is officially scheduled for August 10th. Yes a month away, but we have now been reminded numerous times that most cancer patients first fail Doxil therapy (the chemo I'm currently on) before seeking a referral from a specialist of this caliber. SO: on one hand I'm ahead of the game; on another I may find that my problems are taken lightly until (or IF - what a nice, smiley thought) I do fail this current treatment.

Pessimists out there: try not to dwell on the irony that one must be nigh unto death before the "cool" docs see you. It really just means there are a whole lot of really sick folks out there and unfortunately they more than fill the dockets of these famous doctors.

Another bit of news:
our Dr Jones here in town has a friend he went to med school with who is now practicing oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He telephoned her, reviewed my case with her and now they are requesting my records as well. SO... I may be having to pick and choose who to see, but this is exactly what I was wanting: for my case to get lots of 'big-wig' attention.

And just because I like to add photos to make these posts more fun, here's Andy with one of our little ones:

In response to some fun comments...

Shucks! Callie you're never going to want to come see us again if you think our mosquitoes are so big we have to shoot them with guns! Think of it like a water-spray gun that hoses them down. It's down-right FUN.

And Cassidy's right - - we have great pets. Don't really know how we lucked out (especially with the cats), but they are all absolutely splendid. If you so much as stop to take a breath, both the dogs and cats are climbing all over you, cats purring their hearts out. The other day I leaned over with my elbows on a rail of the fence and two of our cats climbed onto my back and settled in for naps. So there I was, stuck at a 90-degree angle, looking through the fence, trying to keep my back flat as possible so as not to disturb them. That is, until I realized how insane that was... =)

And then there are the outhouse stories. We've only got one bathroom, so the outhouse occasionally gets called into service. Well, the dogs circle it the whole time, hoping you're okay, whining at you, saying they'll save you if you fall in. PLUS ... there's a hole in the back wall through which the horses sniff at you and the cats climb in and contentedly plop down on your bare lap to purr and snooze. Yes I'm serious. Splinters on the bottom side, soft furry, purry cat on the top... hmmm, nice balance, eh?

Want to come visit? Between going hunting for mosquitoes and using the pet-friendly outhouse, it's a Wonderful Wild West experience. =)

The Little Things

We've been spraying for mosquitoes - wanting to take back our yard from the beasts this summer - and it's working!! But Andy's been unable to spray lately since he's working 22 hours out of 24, so Tiff and I decided to take on the task ourselves. Other than taking 45 minutes to get the thing set up and running, we did pretty good. Here's Tiff dressed for the job:

No health changes. Just being nice and lazy and soaking up the air conditioning. Other than getting worn out easily when hard work is forced upon me (bet everyone wishes they could say that and get away with it), I feel quite spiffy. And the cats do too.

Today (7/7) is my Grandma's 88th birthday. So if you know her and feel like writing or calling, you should do it. Gramp's 88th was last week, so you could tell him Happy Day too. ... Because if you look this cheerful at age 88, you say 'bring on the birthdays!" =)

Life in the Slow Lane

Everyone keeps asking if I've looked into MD Anderson Cancer center in Houston so I asked my doctor if she'd called them about me. She did, BUT... this is what she says:
They might be the mecca for patients with bad cancers and cutting edge research, but she was not at all impressed with them. They basically said there's nothing better they can do for me than the current 'normal protocol' [read: the Doxil I'm currently getting] so I should just stay in Wyoming. They were very, very negative about any promising new studies or help they could offer, and she was furious on my behalf - she's an absolute delight as a physician - so will not send me there. She absolutely refuses because she doesn't feel they would do their best by me, doesn't feel they'd offer much hope or new options.

On the other hand, the doctor she knows in San Fransisco said he'd love to see me, has tried many things on other patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, new combinations of old drugs and etc. As a rule, he evaluates and assesses there in CA, then allows the treatment regimen to be carried out in the patient's hometown, and that, of course, is a huge benefit for us folks who live thousands of miles away. Plus she has a good rapport with him, can call him at any time with questions or for new ideas. So as soon as San Fransisco receives my chart by fax they will call me to set up an appointment. Also reassuring is that he would start with what we're doing now... Doxil every 28 days. So even if I can't get in right away, I've already started what he'd recommend first.

I thought I'd post these photos of Snelling life lately.
First the new stack wagon which has saved us many headaches:
Andy giving us the thumb's up as he makes another round:

Another sunset from home:

And enjoying cousin company at the park: