Loooooooong Day!

We got to NIH a little before 10 and he headed straight to the lab. That got taken care of and we went upstairs to the clinic to leave the discs that have his Tullahoma X-rays and Scans on them. That way his team will have them before we see them tomorrow. He has been MRI'd and scanned from head to toe...just about. He has had quite a bit of knee pain today and was very glad to finally get to the hotel a little after 5pm. Tomorrow morning he will be having a PET scan and then see the doctors in clinic tomorrow afternoon. At the moment we are just glad to be ensconced in our hotel on Pooks Hill in Bethesda! I can't help but wonder what we will learn tomorrow and what the plans will be! Time will tell! No picture tonight. We decided to leave the laptop in the car...one less thing to carry when we shuttled to the hotel.

1,794 Posts Later!

Five years ago this date I began this blog to keep family and friends updated on Woody and his treatments for Melanoma. At the time I never dreamed that I would still be blogging five years from that date! I am very thankful that Woody is still here to blog about! At the time that I started blogging he was expected to live less than a year. Lots of water has gone under the bridge in those five years! Lately I have pretty much just posted drivel...but here we are once again facing a big question mark as to what we will be facing...and, I am once again getting ready to update folks on what is found out/decided about the tumor that is on his leg. We had a fairly uneventful trip today. As you can see by the first picture it registered -10F during our drive this morning. You can see that the water seeping out of the crevices looked quite lovely along the road as we traveled. The weather was good the whole trip...just very cold. The highest outside temp that the car registered today was 18F. Pretty cold! We were quite comfortable in the car...Woody kept his side of the car at the temp he wanted and I kept mine where I was comfortable. Tonight's picture shows us one of our mysteries of the day...I didn't know that I was taking a picture of it at the time! One of us turned on the emergency flashers...I think that it was probably me...but we aren't for sure. Well, once they were turned on we had no idea how to shut them off. I grabbed the iPad and tried to search the car manual. All we could find in the manual was to push the button on the control panel. Well, we did not know what that button looked like...nor what was considered the instrument panel. We pulled off at a rest stop and continued to search for the elusive button! Woody had me change seats with him and see if I could find it. Finally in desperation I decided to call Nathan and see if he had any idea where it might be. Well, when Kathy answered the phone, a light came on in my head and I realized that I had seen the triangular emergency symbol somewhere that day...and there it was in between the vents in the center of the dashboard. We now know that what I pictured in tonight's blog is the instrument panel...and that rectangle with the red triangle on it is the button one presses for the flashers to turn on! I don't think that we will forget where that button is again! I'm sure that it added at least 15 minutes onto our trip! But we got underway once again and about 12 hours after we started we pulled into our hotel. It's good to be here. We will get up and have breakfast here and then head on down the road to NIH. Woody gets to eat this time as the instructions say that he can't eat anything after noon. The good Lord willin' I'll be posting from Pooks Hill in Bethesda, MD tomorrow night.

It's Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Cold!

I took this photo of the thermometer a little after 9am this morning. As you can see out the window, we didn't get but a dusting and the roads seem to be okay. We didn't get the snow and ice that was predicted, but we definitely got the plummeting temperatures. Weather Bug is reporting that it is 5 degrees at the Tullahoma airport as I write this. They are predicting that it will get down to 2 before morning's light! That means that it will probably be very cold as we head off dark and early. The trip looks more like a reality today...suitcases laying open...mostly full...hotel reservations made for the next two nights...piles of items to take next to the garage door. Looking like a trip is close at hand! Woody headed over to the neighbor grandchildren this morning to take care of them while Kathy and Nathan went for her OB appointment. All is well with the mommy and the babe...just playing the waiting game for a few more weeks. I joined them and helped some with school work and then listened to some of them read after Kathy and Nathan returned. After lunch Woody and I made a quick trip to the church library for Woody to get a book. Then the rest of the day has been about getting ready. Woody has been working on getting the dishes in the kitchen washed and the counters cleared and cleaned off. I have been working at the packing. I will say that I "think" that all clothes are in the suitcases. I'm going to go over my list one more time after I finish blogging. We are taking two suitcases...one that we will take into the hotels with us and one that is our "just in case" suitcase. I have packed some extra clothes "just in case" they have us staying longer. I figure that if I am prepared for a longer stay it probably won't happen! Well, the good Lord willin', I will be blogging from Fairfax, VA tomorrow night.

Ready, Aim...

Is this picture cute or what!?! Alex passed down two St. Louis Cardinal caps that he had outgrown. He intended one for Graham and one for Elijah. Well, Elijah was interested in other things and the hat got set aside...to be picked up by Isaac. Isaac put it on backwards and proceeded to pick up both of Elijah's Nerf suction cup dart guns and started making a shooting noise. Such a cute age! Well, I guess you can say that today we have done a bit of getting ready for our NIH trip. Woody started out the morning running a couple of errands and then he came back and got me before he went to WalMart. On the way home from WalMart I actually drove. We made a stop at the library. I got a couple of books for the trip. Later in the afternoon, I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up two of my prescriptions...that was the first time that I drove the car with no one else with me. I guess we will eventually get used to it. I think, though, that we will run out of windshield cleaning solution if we don't stop turning that feature on when we shift the car into Park, Reverse, or Drive! We have both customized the driver's seat so when we use our key to open the door the seat and the mirrors will go to where we have set them...if this really works it will be so nice! Nathan and family did a lot for us today. Graham and Nathan took all the aluminum cans out of our garage and took them to the recycle place. We have been collecting aluminum cans for years for the Foreign mission offering that is taken up in Southern Baptist churches at Christmas time...the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Woody's Royal Ambassador boys started this way of "earning" money for this offering many, many years ago. Our house has been the designated drop-off spot for those in our church who participate in recycling cans for Lottie Moon. After they got all the cans out then they moved everything to the front or to the sides of the garage and then Graham swept the garage floor. This gave us room to put our car in the garage...it is quite a tight squeeze...you should have heard all the warning beeps on the car that the car or something was too close to the car...but Woody managed to get it in. This way there won't be frost on the windows when we head off to church early in the morning. The other kids raked the leaves out of our front gardens and then later Nathan blew them to the edge of our yard. Nice to have such thoughtful neighbors. One of the things that I did at WalMart was buy a new suitcase. For years we have used Nathan and Kathy's light-weight suitcases when we go to NIH. These suitcases had seen many places in the U.S. and the world over the years and they had seen better days. So we were in need of a new suitcase to share between the houses and I felt that it was our turn to provide at least one! So we now have a suitcase for me to pack in. I did get the travel neck pillow made last night so that got put in the car this morning. I am sitting here with my fleece jacket on my lap...it needs a bit of mending...another job to get done before the trip. We are now weather watching...that Arctic Freeze that the news is talking about is supposed to reach us. It is supposed to start with rain here and then the temperatures are to plummet and then it will turn to snow and we are supposed to get at least a small accumulation...probably with ice under the snow. The high temperature on Monday is supposed to only be 11 degrees. So probably not a lot of melting will happen. So the question arises then...will roads be negotiable on Tuesday morning! When NIH called about appointments Woody told them we would be there weather permitting...wondering now if the weather is going to permit! Well, off to mend a coat and clear a bed so I can start laying things out that we need to pack. My list of "to takes" is growing. Woody got some snack food when he shopped today...that is always one step closer to being ready to go! Woody did walk four miles this afternoon.

Newly Licensed!

Big news in the Dorrell and Proctor households today...Alex got his driver's license! We signed over our red 1996 Taurus to them so now he has wheels when he needs them. He's the first of our grandchildren to become a licensed driver. We had a nice visit with Melany and Alex. They stayed through lunch. Then they headed back to Murfreesboro with Melany in the lead...Alex's first solo drive! Late this afternoon Woody went for his 4-mile walk. This morning I got up and put our lunch in the oven to cook. Not long after Melany and Alex got here, the neighbor Dorrell's started drifting over. Aunt Melany brought more rubber bands for the looms she had given them for Christmas. They are making bracelets and necklaces right and left! Some of the bands she brought today were glow in the dark...so some time was spent going in and out of the downstairs bathroom to check to see if they glowed. I have a new magazine sorting job...one of my friends is moving and she decided that she wasn't going to move all her sewing magazines so she brought a stack of ones that I don't have over to me! I'm not sure that getting rid of the Christmas magazines makes up for the ones that I added today! The ones she gave me gives me a more complete set of this particular magazine. They are good references for techniques plus they have lots of good patterns in them for the children. I will enjoy looking through them before I add them to the ones that I have. I keep saying to myself that I "need" to do something to get ready for our trip that is looming ahead of us...but so far all I have done is think about it...and I did do wash when I thought that we were going this week...so that is one job that won't be too huge as I will probably only need to do one or two small loads. I am planning to make a new travel neck pillow for the new car...the old one is looking pretty decrepit. I found the fabric that I want to make the new one from so I think that I will go cut it out...maybe even sew around it so I can get it turned and stuffed and ready for the trip...that would be doing "something" to get ready! This cold weather has made me not want to do much except to stay inside, lounge around and try to keep warm.

A Tutu for January 2!

Here's the tutu that Joy made for Esther for Christmas. Didn't Joy do a great job! I'm hearing the wind outside and just looked out the window and can see snowflakes floating in the light provided by the street light. The day started out rainy...Woody took his four-mile walk in the rain this morning. It is already down to 19...looks like it is going to be a cold one! I have done about as little as possible today. I have had a sinus/allergy problem the last couple days...so a good time to sort through things and do a lot of sitting. Today I completed an alphabetical list of features/items on our new car along with page numbers in the manual. I will put the page into the manual and when we need to find out something, hopefully, we will be able to turn to a corresponding page and find out what we need to know. Perhaps this won't be necessary...but at least it familiarized me with the features! I also finished going through the Christmas magazines that I had saved over the years. I have really enjoyed looking through them during the Christmas season, but I have decided that I will throw most of them away. I think that I have kept two magazines and also saved a few pages that I tore out. That was a job that was able to be done in my recliner with music or a TV show playing on my iPad. I do feel some better so maybe I'll move around and actually accomplish a couple of things tomorrow! As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day!" Woody received word today that his book is going to the printer...what a lot of work over the last months (really years) that represents...more details forthcoming!

Training for the New Year!

First picture of 2014--Isaac, our little "Compost Boy In-Training!" Goosey (Woody) invited Isaac over to play again this morning. They read a little and also attempted to play Hide and Seek. The moment that Goosey calls out "ready or not," Isaac comes running out of his hiding place laughing hysterically and runs straight to Goosey! Before he went home he wanted to go outside and Goosey asked him if he wanted to take the compost out to the compost pile and Goosey got a "yes." Isaac went out to empty the compost yesterday with Goosey too. I guess he is going to follow in his big brother Graham's footsteps and be our future Compost Boy! Along with training to be a Compost Boy, Isaac continues to bring his potty with him when he comes to visit as he is in "Potty Bootcamp" at the moment! So lots of training for the New Year for Isaac! We have had a rather low-key day. I have done close to nothing. I have sat in the new car for a little while trying to figure out just what it does and how it does whatever it does. I will say that I am a "read the manual" type of person and manuals aren't written to be read these days...or so this one seems! I have been watching short video clips as to how to work specific things in the car...perhaps those are a bit more helpful...but not all the time! The problem is trying to figure out just what features we have and just learning about them and not every option/feature that Ford offers...unfortunately the manual and video clips deal with all options/features...very confusing! Woody took a four-mile walk this afternoon. He is now downstairs watching a movie. I did manage to sort through all of 2013's photos before midnight last night. So that goal was accomplished. I almost always am awake still at midnight. I was reading last night and I remember looking at the clock and saw that it was 11:45pm and the next thing I knew it was 1am...oops I guess I was an hour late at seeing in 2014!