In California, parental care

Prunedale, CA

I flew into Monterey airport on Monday night

after a full day of flying.

No issues, and fairly smooth flights.

My Mom & Dad picked me up,

it is nice to see them!

Unfortunately, with my Dad's condition, he no longer drives.

That makes it tough on my Mom, but now that I'm here,

I can be the chauffeur :-)

For those that don't know,

my Father was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer

in July of last year.

In February of this year, that went into remission,

and he was on the road to recovery from chemo treatments.

In May, he started getting the pains back which led to the discovery

of the cancer last year.

After loads of testing, 

they found that the cancer came back, 

and spread to his liver, lungs, and now his brain.

Fortunately, he was well enough to accompany my Mom

on a cruise up the Maine coast in June to celebrate their 58th anniversary.

He has really gone downhill since then.

He was receiving daily radiation treatments (yesterday was his last one).

I went with them to talk to the doctor a bit,

and got a shot of my Dad with his radiation mask :-)

He's a lot thinner,

and he gets very confused at times.

Last night I woke up at 3 am to find him in his skivvies,

sitting at his desk attempting to 'work'.

I got him back to bed, but it's frustrating for all of us.

He has another CT scan on Friday to find out how the radiation worked.

I'm hoping his confusion goes away when the effects wear off.

He goes to his oncologist today, so some questions will be answered then.

I've gotten to see my son, Adam while I'm here too.

He's been a big help here also.

George is doing fine back in Modoc,

getting things done around the RV.

I miss him :-)

Ice Cream Social

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

Last night it was decided to gather together

to celebrate George's birthday,

Cheryl's birthday (on Sunday)

and my departure (on Monday).

A perfect thing to do was an ice cream social!

Each couple brought a half gallon of ice cream,

and their favorite toppings.

Cheryl even made cupcakes,

and David & Janet made a pie!

We all sat around talking for awhile..

Then finally we broke out the ice cream!

Even Lucy enjoyed licking some bowls :-)

We really enjoy the volunteers here.

We're all from different walks of life,

with different RV lifestyles,

but we all get along just great!

This is my last weekend to work the gatehouse with George.

I've found out that my Dad will get palliative care at home soon.

The tumor in his brain is causing some disorientation,

and some comical hallucinations.

My Mom told me yesterday he kept seeing miniature golf carts

on the doctors waiting room floor :-)

I guess you got to keep your humor in this situation.

Next post from California!

Happy birthday, George!!

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

Another week down at the lake!

I want to take the opportunity to wish my lovely husband

a very happy 64th birthday!!

One more year to Medicare baby, woohoo!

He got calls from both his daughter, his son, and granddaughters this morning,

which made him very happy :-)

I'm taking him out for dinner to Macaroni Grill today,

so he can have his favorite dish, spaghetti!

This week we've gotten together with some of the volunteers

and went out for pizza at Michelle's.

We really like their food there!

Still no word from GM, not looking good :-(

The dealer in Florida is trying to get us

a bit more money, which is nice.

We also upgraded our phones this week to the new

Samsung Galaxy 5.

George likes new technology,

and we also switched to the new Edge plan

based on Howard & Linda's post.

It will cost us basically the same, 

and we'll be able to upgrade our phones earlier.

Next Monday the 21st,

I'll be flying home to California again.

My Dad is not doing well at all.

On a recent MRI,

they found two small tumors on his brain.

One is behind his left eye, 

which is causing swelling to the point where his left eye is closed!

He's been in a lot of pain in his stomach again also :-(

He's going through daily radiation treatments for the brain tumor,

and they've stopped the chemo for now.

Please keep them in your prayers, thanks so much!

For now, George will stay in South Carolina,

keeping up our commitment to the COE.

If things go well in California,

I'll fly back before we move on to Amazon.

We should be hearing from them soon as to our start date.

Til next time...

Catching up

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

Was a very busy weekend!

Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th!

We worked on the 4th, at the Lake Springs gatehouse.

George and I are working there for the rest of the summer.

It is a busier gatehouse, on the Georgia side of the lake.

Friday was no exception.

We counted over 1800 people coming in to enjoy!

There were a lot of picnics and bbq's happening.

We saw some fireworks after we got home,

just over the treetops in Modoc.

I find I really enjoy our time off during the week.

Monday is laundry day, and catching up on blogs,

and just relaxing!

This past week we both had eye exams.

Since my insurance was dropped back in November,

we lost our vision insurance as well.

I was down to my last pair of contacts, yikes!

I found a reasonable plan through Davis Vision online,

so we signed up as of July 1st.

Although I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart vision,

that's where we went, due to the convenience.

George got a new prescription, and new glasses.

My left eye prescription went down a notch, and the right eye is the same,

so I ordered a full year of contacts. 

All this for only $189! Not too bad :-)

We're still arguing with GM over the turbo issue.

The dealer in Florida is willing to reimburse us the $250 for the sensor,

but we want the labor too!

Waiting on a call from them to resolve.

I guess it's better than nothing :-(

George and I haven't heard from Amazon as to our start date.

Ideally we'll leave here on the 3rd of September,

staying a couple different places along the way to KY.

We'd like to spend a few days in Knoxville, TN and explore.

We should be hearing from them in a few weeks.

Still enjoying the wildlife around the lake.

Lately a different bird is eating our seed!

Til next time....

enjoy your summer!

Getting some exercise!

Volunteer Village

J. Strom Thurmond Lake

Modoc, SC

We've recently started working another gatehouse.

Another workamper had some medical issues,

and had to go home for a week,

so we took over their gate last weekend.

Lake Springs is a bigger day use park than Clarks Hill.

It can get very busy,

but nothing we can't handle :-)

Yesterday the volunteers were asked to help

prepare one of the loops, Mallard Point,

to be ready for the 4th of July weekend.

A bunch of us took rakes, brooms, and blowers

to clean picnic tables, and rake out pine needles and leaves

from the picnic areas.

Mallard Point is a beautiful loop in Lake Springs with

a nice shelter, observation tower,

and lots of picnic tables and grills.

We really enjoyed working alongside other volunteers,

and the physical work felt good!

After we finished and came home to shower,

George and I decided to go out for some good Mexican food.

We like to try new places,

so I went on Yelp to find something different.

We ended up at Salsa 3,

and the meals were great!

An update on my parents..

they are home today after their cruise on the Maine coast.

They had a great time, but said they'll be glad to be in their own bed!

My Dad is in a lot of pain,

but the pain meds are keeping that at bay.

He goes to the oncologist today to see what's up,

and what is the next step.

Thank you for your continued prayers!