Merry Christmas

We were hoping we would know something by now, but I guess it will wait until our follow-up with Dr. Ball on Jan 2nd. In the meantime, Gil is still healing. His wound looks pretty good - it's been a little red and swollen lately as the stitches are adsorbing; He overdid it a bit over the holidays - between church services, hugs, carrying gifts and all, it has left him a little sore.

We had a nice Christmas down at the folks in Pt. Charlotte. Mom & Dad helped us out with a room at Banana Bay waterfront motel - a really nice motel on the water (for sale if anyone is interested in an investment!). It was a little crowded for three of us (Danielle, Gil and I) and 2 dogs, but it wasn't bad. We got there around 11pm Christmas eve after leaving church services in Tampa around 9pm. It was Snoopy's first long overnight trip, so he was a little anxious that first night. It was fun sneaking them up to Mom & Dad's Christmas day! Sally and Brian were there (my brother & sister). I don't think we have had had Christmas together in about 13 years.That was pretty nice...brings back a lot of memories...not a single 'chubbas' comment...kind of glad, kind of missed it.

When we went to dinner, we fenced the dogs in the bathroom...Snoopy escaped and Merlyn was in complete panic by the time we got back. He may have hurt himself trying to escape as he was very tired and not willing to jump or use steps after; poor pup.

The next morning we went to iHop. OK, the night before, Gil & I said 9am, then Mom called after we were back in the room with news she made reservations for 9:15am. So in the morning, I got a little antsy, so we left just before 9am getting there at like...9:01, and they were already there. I laughed when I saw their car! I come by my 'antsy'-ness naturally.  Then, at breakfast, my brother and sister shot me with their straw wrappers. Classic. And as if that weren't enough - when Gil got his drink, he shot me with his too. He actually got a high five from my brother and a "good man" from my sister. *sigh*

Well time to get back at it until New Years; house cleaning, bookkeeping, hair cut, vet appt....yay.


Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year.

oh, funny little side note, for those of you who get the joke. I am not pregnant - yay mental-pause!

Surgery...

6:54 Sun is rising Gil was taken into surgery. We've been told the lymph nodes go pretty deep so they have to put him deep asleep. We're a little worried because of arteries, nerves & stuff that seem to be on the left side of the neck.

There's a massive blizzard sweeping the North and Mid-West, we're still reeling from the school shooting in Conn., and the world is rumored to end tomorrow...the end of the Myan calendar...and kids a re getting crazy at school.

7:45 Dr. Hood just came out and let me know they are done. Only took one large node for biopsy; the rest are too deep to get to easily. We may have preliminary results in a few days, although his follow up with Dr Ball is Jan. 2nd. I've been given a 'script for pain meds but not gone back to see him yet.

10:29 We're home. I was able to go to recovery about at 8am; took him about 20 minutes or so to 'wake up' - it's like having the memory of a 3 year old - you could say  or do anything, he won't remember a few minutes later. Sad and entertaining all at the same time. Stopped at Sam's to get his pain meds, made a quick call to work while waiting. Left poor Gil in the car - he thought I'd left him for good! :(  But he's home now and recovering; only dealing with a sore neck so far. Good times!

Hurry up & wait

Gil went to an Ear, Nose & Throat Dr. Tuesday to have his tonsil biopsied, but, as quirky as Gil is, it just turns out he has an unusually large tonsil and it wasn't worth biopsy-ing. We all know he's an unusual guy!

So...we still need to know what we are dealing with. Gil went back to Dr. Ball, after the ENT called wanting to schedule a surgery before contact dr. Ball....as Gil says, he came to this dance with her, so he's gonna stick with her. We thought we had a surgery appt. for Thursday, Dec. 6th, but evidently there was a misunderstanding and it was just a regular appt. (for...?...unknown).

We finally have an appt. set; Gil will have surgery on his neck for biopsy & possibly more on Dec. 20th at 6:15 am. Then we will celebrate our 21st anniversary...if the world doesn't end!

Almost 7 years

So, it's 8:30pm 2 days before Thanksgiving and Gil is in Tampa practicing for an upcoming concert. Earlier today we went to a follow-up Dr. appointment...

A few weeks ago Gil told me about a lump he felt on the left side of his neck. It was kind of small and hard, but after his history, it's pretty scary. He knew he had a follow up with his oncologist coming up; had to make a quick visit to his general Dr. first for a referral (yes, a referral to see the Dr. he's been seeing for about 6 years now). She felt the lump and it was off for a CT scan (11/16) and that brings us back to the follow-up earlier today. From what she said there was not question about the cancer being back, but more a question of what type - carcinoma or lymphoma. One is at his tonsil and several deep in the neck. So he is scheduled to see an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist (11/27)for his biopsy, in hopes they can biopsy it without surgery. On Dec. 7th we'll find out what we are dealing with and how they plan to treat it.

so what's next?

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BTW - we also have a new exchange student living with us - Danielle of Norway. There was some sort of issue with the family she was originally with, so now she is staying with us for the remainder of the school year.  I think that puts us around 20 some kids!

Nikola - from macedonia * Alex laGuardia - Spain  * MeSung - Korea * Cedric, Pierre, Laurant - France * Julian - Spain * Alex Barandarin - Spain * Jung Gu - Korea * Takayoshi & Yasushi - Japan * Guillermo - Spain * Shannon - Family * Miate - Spain * Shalma - Shannon's friend * Andrea - Spain * Axier - Spain * Jason Yeung - Hong Kong - 3 (school) years * David - family (on & off for ?? years) * Paloma -Spain * Maria -Spain * Danielle Kirkpatrick - Norway

have we missed anyone??