My oldest grandson and his family paid us a visit last week end. What a great time we had even with masks and no hugging! Here are some pictures to commemorate the weekend. It was wonderful to spend quality time with Matt, Janelle, Winter, and Holly.
Jackie and I and our two children (Nancy was 6 and Chris was 4) took a trip to Yosemite in 1953. Nancy can still remember the napkin on the waiter's arm at the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room.
We ate at the best table in the room. (It was quiet at the time) Under the window at the other end. We had a perfect view of the Yosemite Falls. This spot was way over my pay scale. I received the lunch due to some foul up over our reservation.
That night was more like our speed. Our motel room was a tent with a wooden floor. A local young man of the Awahnechee Tribe was our bell hop.
We had our own wooden stove. We each had a cot.
This is the view you see when you first enter the valley. through the entrance tunnel. It is followed by some other views of the Yosemite Park.
The last photo is of the firefall. Everyone on the Valley floor would yell "let the fire fall!" Up on Glacier Point people would push the coals from a very large fire over the edge. Everyone would cheer. It was quite a sight. They have stopped this practice due to global warming.
Had company. Old friends from Upsey Downsey Road in Farmerville came Saturday. Went home Sunday. We had a great visit in spite of the short time. I love Rhonda and Michael. Have known then for a long time. Rhonda had a Birthday on Saturday. She spent most of the day driving to visit Franklinton. I am so glad she did.
Saturday Rhonda, Michael, and I went to a local steak house. They both kept saying that they had the best steak of their lifetime. They know steak.
Sunday the three of us went to the Abita Springs Art Show and Farmers Market. It was a beautiful day. Hurricanes all gone. Not much got to us. Here is a pic of Rhonda and Michael under the entrance arch to the Farmer's Market.
I am so excited. Some Prunepickers are coming to visit us. In my world a Prunepicker is a native born Californian. I think this group fits that description. I will treat them that way anyhow. My oldest grandson Matt Wrock, his wife Janelle, and their girls will be here November 6 for a three day visit.
Here is a pic of the Wrocks from eight years ago in 2012. The Wrocks visited Jackie and I in Chimacum. That is the World Famous Chimacum Cafe in the background.
Here is a pic from five years ago in 1990. You may recall that year was my 90th Birthday. My daughter Nancy Wright, husband Bob and her four children were spending a week on Orcas Island (San Juan Islands). I was so happy that they invited me. They even had a birthday cake!
Good looking Prunepickers don't you think?
I really looking forward to their visit. I am also looking forward to a visit next week end by Rhonda and Michael Ray. Oh Boy! it is so exciting living in Franklinton.
The State of Louisiana is too good to me. They recently replaced my old Drivers License with a brand new Identification Card. Here is a picture of my new card. Isn't it nice looking?
OK that is enough silliness from me. The true story is that when I went to correct my address on my Drivers License I flunked the eye exam. My Drivers License was taken and I was given the Identification Card. I have had a Drivers License for 80 years. It was a real traumatic experience to realize that I do not have one anymore. Look at that picture. Doesn't it look like the picture of a dead man? I felt like one or a prisoner. I spent a night agonizing and feeling so terrible. Driving and the freedom driving gives you has been a huge part of my world. The realization that freedom was over shook me up.
(Me to myself) Oh come on you big baby. Be thankful for how lucky you were to have had a drivers license for 80 years! Now straighten up and carry on.
My good friends Richard and Cheryl Maxwell have loaned me their powered wheel chair. They had it for touring castles. I needed it for daily trips to my daughter's house. The trip involves going up a ramp. Castle touring is slow right now so the Maxwell's have loaned me the chair. They even delivered it to me! The delivery took an eight hour drive. From Ruston to Franklinton and back. I am so grateful to them. To be truthful I am more than a little proud of their kind act of friendship. We also had a great visit.
I wrote my previous blog based on my interpretation of what had happened to my body. I was wrong.The Lung Cancer had shrunk, not died. I sincerely apologize for the error. I wish that I had been right. I thought that I had better check with Dr Edward Mannina, Radiation Oncologist. We did not kill the Lung Cancer, we shrank it to a size that allowed me to breathe. To kill the cancer would take 6 or 7 weeks radiation treatments, plus chemo therapy, plus maybe surgery. Dr Mannina assured me that the cure would be much harder on me than the alternative. He advised me that I had less than a year to live and to enjoy it as much as I can.
I am going home any day now and the VA is scheduled to furnish me hospice care. I am looking forward to many months of happy memories.
I am so very sorry for this mixup!
May 19, 2020 I had a pain in my left chest. Turns out that the pain was the birth announcement of my lung cancer, altho at the time I thought that the pain was from a heart attack. Went to ER. After several sortes into the world of medical marvels the lung cancer was accidentally found. Here the lung cancer can be seen attached to the left wall if my left lung. It is the little thing on the lung wall on the right and is just beginning to grow.
Poor little guy only lived for three or four months before we took him out with radiation. In that time he nearly took me out. He grew and nearly filled the entry to the upper lobe of my left lung. And the upper lobe of my left lung. That growth really hurt my breathing. I was really miserable.
On August 7, 2020 the first of five radiation treatments was done. Carefully aimed.
After the first treatment I immediately could breath better. And I have continued to improve. Today (August 27) after two weeks of rehab I will be going home next week. Almost back to normal.
It has been an interesting experience. I do not recommend it. I can almost name the period of most growth of the cancer. Every day for five weeks it got harder to breath. I was so breathless. Three ER visits and check in to hospital in the middle of the night. I can breathe good now but I run out of wind fast. Any extended exertion can lay me up resting for hours before I feel normal.
