Leaves, leaves, leaves!

There was a whole lot of leaf rakin', blowin', and pilin' going on at the two Dorrell residences today...also all over the neighborhood. That pile that Woody is standing behind is absolutely huge...wide and long and tall...about lost a couple of grandchildren in it (just kidding!). Although, yesterday there was a cell phone lost in it. The pile that is pictured in the bottom left snakes along from in front of Nathan's house down to our driveway (well, there is a space where a car can park...as seen at the top...the pile about hides the car! That's a lot of leaves!!!!!!!! Nathan is enjoying Woody's last year's Christmas present (a leaf blower)...but, it is still a tremendous amount of leaves and a LOT of work. And, the trouble is that in a couple of days the yards will be covered again...probably just in a day...as you can see, some of the trees have just barely started losing their leaves! Woody raked a little up close to the house getting some leaves out of that garden. Graham and Abigail really got busy in their front yard...raking leaves onto a plastic sheet and then dragging them to the road. Kathy used the blower in their back yard while Nathan pulled big loads of leaves to the road on a plastic sheet. I guess most everyone except the very youngest and me worked a bit in the leaves. I did pick up some gardening tools and put them in the garage...and picked a few leaves out of a couple of my plants...so guess I had a "hand" in the leaves too! At a point the children "took a break" and proceeded to tunnel through the leaves in front of our house...it was funny to see them disappear and then pop up again. I'll bet their bath water was dirty tonight! Joy and Graham came in to play for a while in our house. Graham was sneezing...wonder why!!!! Abigail went back to her house to clean her bike with my spray bottle (for misting flowers) and then came to pick up her brother and sister on the Barbie battery powered 4-wheeler! Been a lively day! Lots of work and lots of playing!

Woody really hasn't felt the best today. He got up early, had trouble taking his morning chemo pills but finally got them down (today he only had to take five in the morning instead of eleven!). He went to the library and got apples at the fruit market. He took care of Joy and Elijah while the rest of Nathan's family went on a short bike ride. He and I took a walk this afternoon. We walked around the perimeter (read that as a BIG block) of the neighborhood that is next to ours and also around our block. He has read, watched football and library DVDs this afternoon and evening, and just rested. And, he got his evening pills down...so now he just has one more day of taking chemo pills for this cycle! I made another of our favorite soups this morning...Spicy Vegetable-Beef.

Cycle 5, Day 5

This is a view from our front porch...the oaks are absolutely beautiful. But, boy, you should see the leaves...they have been raked and blown lots of times this Fall, but they keep falling and covering up the yard again and again and again! Some of the oaks won't drop their last leaf till the new ones come on in the Spring.

Woody once again didn't have the best night...he had trouble going to sleep. When he finally fell asleep, he only slept about four hours. He did say that his pain seems less this evening. He will (at least he says that he will) take pain pills if the pain interferes with his sleep.

He got up early, took two pills, went to work, took his 9 chemo drug pills, walked at lunch, came home, took 4 more chemo pills, and has relaxed the rest of the evening in his recliner. He just has two more days of taking pills for this cycle...Sunday evening, when he will be through taking them, can't come quickly enough for him!

Cycle 5, Day 4

Woody got up early and started taking pills! He went to work, took more pills, didn't walk at lunch, came home, took more pills and has been relaxing and reading this evening. At this point in the day he has taken 18 pills. Tomorrow will end having to take so many pills for this cycle. He has taken a few extra pills today, as he has had some pain so took some Ibuprofen. He said that he had some trouble sleeping last night due to pain. I think that he is trying to lessen the pain before trying to get to sleep tonight.

I took the picture of this bull on one of our trips to and from Vanderbilt. When he looked at me, it looked like he only had one horn. Then when he turned away, I saw that the other horn was facing backwards.

Coming or Going?

Some days it is just hard to know if you are coming or going, as these two miniature donkeys illustrate!

Woody got up early, took two pills, went to work, took nine more pills, worked, walked at lunch, came home after work to relax, took four more pills a little while ago, and now has another day of taking drug study pills behind him for this fifth cycle. He told me that he took it easy on his walk at lunch today. He says he's not feeling bad...just not feeling exactly his best! This evening he has been reading and trying not to think about pills! I have filled in the blanks in his drug study diary for today and have his pills all ready for the morning.

Waiting...Watching...Wondering...Will he be zapped?

These turkey buzzards are just watching to see if Woody will be down for the count due to his Zometa treatment! But they were foiled...he has felt pretty good today...not at all like he did with the treatment last month. We saw this tree full of buzzards on our way to Vanderbilt yesterday. Quite a sight to see so many at once.

Woody got up early...though he overslept slightly...so he slept well last night after his long day at Vanderbilt. He went to work, didn't walk at lunch due to the rain, came home and has relaxed for the rest of the evening. Ida's rains kept us from walking this evening.

He has managed to finish his 2nd day of pills for this 5th cycle...definitely not easy for him...but two days down!!!!

Cycle 5, Day 1

It has been a very "Golden Day!" Both in the golden color outside and also in the golden moment inside Vanderbilt when we got good news from Woody's latest scan. All his "hot spots" of melanoma were stable except for one that had grown just the tiniest percentage. All his lab work looked good too. So...Dr. Sosman signed the papers for Woody to continue on to the fifth cycle of the chemo drug study.

We left home around 6:30am and Woody was signed in at Vanderbilt by 8:30am. And things started rolling right away. He had his lab work finished before his appointment time. He was called back to Dr. Sosman's inner waiting area prior to his appointment time. He saw Dr. Sosman right about the time of his appointment. He did have a needle biopsy of a place on his right calf that wasn't part of the expected appointments. Woody had tried to point this place out to Dr. Sosman at an appointment some time back, but at that time neither of them could find it. This time Dr. Sosman was able to find it and said that he would order a needle biopsy, if Woody was willing...which Woody was. It did hurt! But he survived! As soon as we were through with that, we headed to the chemo infusion area to get registered for his Zometa treatment. He was taken back quickly there...but then it took a very loooong time for the Zometa to get to Woody from the pharmacy. He took his anti-nausea pill around 12:15pm and took his first pills for day 1 of this cycle around 12:45pm, while he was in the "Zometa chair." He signed several forms for the research nurse also while waiting on the Zometa (forms were for possible reimbursement by the drug company for mileage). Finally the Zometa arrived and it got underway. We got away from the chemo infusion room about 1:30pm--the time we were supposed to be there for his Zometa treatment. Oh, and the protocol has changed for the fifth cycle...he no longer has to have lab work done an hour after taking the first chemo dose of the cycle. Nice to have that dropped from the regimen. It took a bit longer than usual to get our car...but we were underway for the trip home by 2pm. And, we got home around 4pm...we did stop several places to take pictures on the way home. The above picture being one of them. A lot of leaves have dropped...but it is still gorgeous...as I said at the beginning of the blog...very golden!

Woody decided not to walk this evening...it has been a loooong day. But I decided to venture out and walk around the block on my own...as we rarely see dogs on our block...well, would you believe...there was one tonight!!!!!!!!! The owner was there, but the dog still came out to greet me, much to my dismay. But I survived...but decided against my first inclination...to walk around a second time!

Tomorrow night I will report on how he does with the Zometa treatment...hopefully he won't feel as zapped as he did the last time.

Cycle 4 Completed!

This is day 28 of Cycle 4 of Woody's chemo drug study...so four months behind him...now to find out what is ahead for him! We will find our tomorrow what is in the immediate future. We will head out dark and early...although, since the time has changed, it won't be as dark as our trip four weeks ago...and, hopefully it won't be raining!

Today has been a pretty typical Sunday. We got up and went to Sunday School. Woody taught his 6th and 7th grade boys. We came home, changed clothes, ate some lunch, and then went on a walk through one of the near-by neighborhoods...not a long walk today. Woody has read and watched football most of the afternoon and evening.

I titled today's blog collage: "November Flowers." We took all these flower pictures yesterday on our long walk. The red rose was a bit of a challenge as the wind was blowing...I would get it in focus and it would move out of the picture. I finally got an almost sharp picture of the rose in the corner of the frame. We were surprised to see azaleas blooming in November...and also a bit surprised to see hydrangeas. So...take time to smell the November flowers!

I think that I have everything packed up that we need to take to Vanderbilt tomorrow...pill bottles, diary sheet, anti-nausea medicine...and then of course I have to have reading material to help pass the time (oh, and camera and lenses!). Woody's first appointment is at 8:55am (labs) and the last at 1:30 pm (Zometa treatment) with seeing Dr. Sosman and the research nurse/s sandwiched in between...and lots of waiting on lab results, pharmacy, etc. We hope to once again get to Vandy prior to the first appointment time to try to get "the show on the road!" I'll report tomorrow night as to how our day goes.