October Sunday

Woody went to the early church service and taught his Sunday School Class.  I, on the other hand, stayed home as I didn't think that everyone needed to hear me bark.  I really am doing much better...the allergy symptoms have moved right through all the stages and now I mainly have a cough.  I have taken it easy today.  I am on a mission to get my photos sorted...once again I have left that job for too long...so now have so very many to sort through.  It is fun, though, as I get to be reminded how much the children have grown over this year...especially Isaac.  It is just amazing how much a baby grows in his first year!  While sorting the pictures on my laptop, I have listened to Vanity Fair on my iPad.  I can now say that I am beyond the half-way point...what a long book! I am presently listening to chapter 37 and there are 67! And, these are not short chapters! Woody went for a two mile walk after he returned from church. Then this afternoon he went to the Deacon's meeting. And, this evening he went to the evening church service. He has watched a library DVD, done some reading, and watched some sporting events on TV. The barn in tonight's photo was just down the road after we left the Montpelier grounds.

Settling In...again!

It's strange how being away for five days seems to put me into a time warp...and it is hard to get settled back into routine again.  On top of being away and not feeling great, I've pretty much just puttered around with a little of this and a little of that.  I have just about got the suitcase unpacked...still a couple of things in it.  But do have all the clothes out and in piles "to be washed."  I have done one load and it is now in the drier.  When I go back downstairs...perhaps...I'll take the next load with me.  I have also worked some with the photos that I took on the trip (not as many this time as I usually take...one reason...the weather wasn't the greatest...and, another...I slept through most of the return trip thanks to Benadryl...so not much snapping of photos out the car window while speeding by things at 70 mph!  Tonight's photo is one of the ones that I snapped out the car window on our first day out...lots of low lying clouds over the Blue Ridge Mountains...rather picturesque!  I also posted a few photos (one being the one above) on FaceBook today...something that I don't usually do since I post a photo here each night.  But I was trying out a way to upload photos from my iPad and then decided to upload a few from my laptop to see how it is done with FaceBook these days.  I am still barking (coughing)...just sort of feel crummy...I have that "big head" feeling that I get when I have allergy and sinus problems.  I did make a pot of chili this evening...hoping that it will be good for what ails me.  Plus it has gotten a bit chilly here so it just felt like it was time for our first pot of chili of the season. And, it does taste good.

Woody got up and walked seven miles.  Then later in the morning he walked to the library.  And, then in the late afternoon he walked four miles.  I guess he is trying to make for all the walking that he missed while we were away. He has watched some TV...football, a library DVD, etc. and he has read.  So I guess all-in-all one can say that we are settling back into a routine after being away.

Home...again!

We left around 6:30 am (Eastern time) and pulled into our driveway a little before noon (Central time). I can't tell you much about the trip as I would guess that I slept about 4/5 of it!  Benadryl will do that to me.  I haven't really felt awake much of the day.  As soon as we got home, I pulled out the second loaf of rye bread so it could thaw to be used for Reuben sandwiches this evening.  Woody went to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping mid afternoon.  He just got back from a five mile walk.  He said that he had missed his walks this week.

Tonight's pictures give you a couple views of Montpelier, James and Dolley Madison's home.  We really enjoyed our tour.  We plan to go back someday and tour around the grounds on a day that it isn't raining like it was on Tuesday.  At least it stopped raining long enough for me to get several photos of the outside.  There is quite a bit of exploring that can be done around grounds, but the weather just wasn't conducive to much exploring!  You can see that the leaves hadn't changed color much.  I have a photo in the book that I bought about Montpelier that shows the trees behind the house just a riot of fall color...just a bit too early in October for much color to be showing...just a tinge.

Halfway Home!

We are halfway home on the highway and with Woody's melanoma tumors.  We got great news from Woody's research team...the tumors that they are watching continue to shrink! (Around 50% smaller than prior to his procedure.) Praising God for that good news.

I have been sneezing my head off, coughing, blowing my nose, etc. since a little after I blogged last night.  I am quite allergic to feathers and I had requested a feather-free room.  When we headed into our room the feather pillows were being replaced with those filled with poly-fill.  Well, I didn't think anymore about it till I got to sniffling an hour or so after we checked in.  Well, probably an hour after that I decided to flop on the bed...and it dawned on me...since I was continuing to get worse allergy symptoms...that perhaps they had neglected to remove the down comforter inside the duvet...sure enough!  I called the desk and they said that they would take care of it right away.  So I left and went downstairs to sit in the waiting room till it was finished.  Well, I went back up 30-45 minutes later and the task was taken care of.  BUT...there was enough feather dander (or whatever) and I continued to get worse.  I woke up in the middle of the night and took a shower...got dressed and headed downstairs to finish out the night reading in the lobby.  I quizzed Woody about how they had changed out the comforter...they took out the feather comforter...but used the same duvet cover...ummmmmmm...not a good plan!  I talked to them at the desk this morning and told them that they needed to reeducate their housekeeping staff.  When we told her how it had been done...she said that the duvet cover and down filler should have been taken out intact and then a blanket brought for the bed.  The way it was done probably had particles from the feathers floating around in the air, a few hours ago Woody stopped and we got Benadryl...so with that and my usual allergy meds...perhaps...I will be doing better soon!  I have hated coughing and sneezing and blowing all day at NIH...a place where just about everyone is avoiding germs.  I'm sure that many wondered what I was doing there today!


We headed to NIH on the first shuttle (6:30am) of the day...just wanted to get away from hotel. This is a hotel that we had stayed at numerous times and had never had problems before when I requested a feather-free room.  Anyway, we got things underway for the voucher.  Our research nurse hadn't put in okay for two nights in a hotel...so had to go through a few loops for that...but did manage.  Woody picked up the check right after the clinic time.  We met Woody's new female Fellow.  she seems very nice...she is our fourth Fellow...they rotate every six months. she talked to us and thenthe head doc came in and talked and then we were out of there.  I stopped at the desk to get the next appointment making process rolling (she'll email us the dates and time).  He will go back in four months...we had hoped that perhaps another month or so would have separated us for appointments...but not yet.  We were on the road a little before 3pm (Eastern time).  We stopped a little after 9pm and are staying where we consider the halfway point between NIH and home.

Ensconced on Pooks Hill...once again!

Everything pretty much has gone like clockwork today.  We got up early and headed out a little before six due to there being fog...and trying to get ahead of morning rush hour traffic on the beltway.  The fog was there, but above car level...so didn't cause a visibility problem.  We were driving into the gate at NIH by 6:30am...they seem to be opening the gates earlier which helped us tremendously.  We parked in perfect spot...just opposite the door we go into.  We headed straight to the lab and Woody was the third of the morning to get his lab work done.  Then we settled into some comfortable chairs and waited for 9am to roll around. I read and dozed a bit.  Then we headed upstairs to the CT waiting area.  Woody was pretty quickly called to get his "drink" and then it wasn't all that long till he was called back...that was the end of "quick."  He found out after he got back to the waiting are that they had had an emergency that morning so were way behind.  He finally showed up back in the waiting area where I was a little before noon.  We then decided to eat in the cafeteria there and decide if we wanted to head out in the car and give up our good parking space.  We finally decided to just wait out our time at NIH till we could take a shuttle and check in at the hotel.  Woody was very pleased to find out that his creatinine level was at a good level once again...and they stressed that he needed to drink a LOT...so we stayed there...close to a bathroom...and he was good and drank!  The time went by quickly...reading and talking to patients.  Tomorrow we will check out from here and head back to NIH on the shuttle.  Once there I will turn in reimbursement vouchers.  He already picked up his medication...so that got done during our wait today.  Then we will wait till it is time for the clinic after lunch.  As soon as we see the research team and they are finished with us we will get back on the road and head back toward TN. So I will be blogging somewhere between Bethesda and Tullahoma tomorrow night.

Rain...Rain...And More Rain!

We got up and had breakfast at our hotel and then headed out in a pretty good rain to figure out where we were to meet up with our tour guide for the behind the scenes tour of Montpelier.  Our tour was great and we learned lots and it was good to walk where James and Dolley Madison walked!  We left the Montpelier grounds around noon.  Then we stopped for lunch...well, Woody got something for our car to eat first...some oil.  After lunch we wended our way over to I-66 and then on to Fairfax, VA.  We got to the hotel a little before 3pm and checked in and we are  now ensconced here for the night.  We'll leave dark and early and head to Bethesda, MD and National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Woody has lab work and a CT scan and then we will be on our own for the rest of the day.  Tomorrow night the plans are to be in the hotel on Pooks Hill.  It has rained off and on most of the day.  I notice that it is getting foggy...hope that fog isn't a problem in the morning.

The Good Lord Willin'???

We wondered for a while if the good Lord was willin' for us to head off on this trip.  We got underway a little after 5am and we realized about 35 min. into the trip that we needed to turn around as the car was having problems...like it couldn't shift out of a gear.  So we headed back and unloaded the green Taurus and loaded up our red Taurus (the one that we prefer not to take long trips in). The only problem that we have had with it so far is that the odometer decided to stop recording mileage...and thus the tripometer didn't work either...one of the things that we like to keep up with...at least the car is still moving forward!  It did rain for a good part of the first of our trip...but finally tapered off.  We have arrived in Orange, VA.  Woody had the router mapped out so we would go past Montpelier before we got to our hotel and we are in a great place...it is just four miles away from us.  So we are going to relax this evening, then get up in the morning and have breakfast here at the hotel and then head on for our tour/s of Montpelier.  When finished at Montpelier we will head toward Fairfax, VA.  Now to sit back and wait for Dancing With the Stars.  We're very thankful to be here safely!