This is for Alison!

When Alison visited us a couple of months ago she got to see the newly planted garden. I promised to post photos as it grows along. So here is what it looks like this evening.There is a overall garden shot and then a peek at the tomatoes which are producing heavily but just starting to ripen. And there is a photo of one of the red shouldered hawk chicks in the oak tree next to the garden. I think the hawk family is responsible for very little squirrel damage in the garden so far. Hope where ever you are your Spring is going well and a big shout out to Alison and Randall in the Pacific Northwest on their sailboat Tregoning. Wendy

Doctors and Elephants

Hi there everyone, This morning Michael and I went into MD Anderson for an appointment with Dr. Constantino regarding the information from the last scans. Those were a CAT scan with contrast and a bone scan. The nurse for Dr. Constantino had read for me the radiologist's report so I was kind of expecting mixed news with some bad. Well that is why I am not a medical professional! Actually it looks like most everything that was seen in the original scans is either the same or has improved from treatment. The only challenge is we are comparing apples to oranges as one of the major initial scans was a PET and we don't have a repeat of that one. So we are going to stay the course we are on and in a couple of months redo the CAT scan and the bone scan to be able to compare apples to apples. Simultaneously and while much less scientific I do get to report that yesterday I swam for the first time in weeks and was very glad to be able to swim with no pain. I had done pulls previously (arms only) but yesterday I was able to do the full stroke and had no problem and even better I was able to switch to breast stroke and use a frog kick with no pain at all. That is a huge improvement because just 6 weeks ago I couldn't do it at all. I was so happy I was practically in tears when I left the training center. Yea! Okay now to the other part of my post title: After we left the hospital Michael and I drove down to the National Elephant Center (check it out at www.nationalelephantcenter.org)in Fellsmere, Florida. I went to take a look at how much space they have to grow browse for the elephants. We got the tour from John Lehnhardt and Jeff Bolling and I was very impressed. The team there has done a great job getting ready to establish the Center. The first barn is completed and they have functionally 4 paddocks on top of the 6 stalls in the barn. I am attaching some photos. Check the tractor in the shot of the barn to give you a scale for how big this structure is. Very cool that we could go help out with the browse production side.

An early morning

Hi everyone, I hope you had a lovely Easter yesterday. He is risen! This morning I was up and on the road early for an early appointment at the hospital. Starting the next round of big scans. I have a CAT scan first followed by. Nuclear bone scan. This is the first opportunity for the doctors to see the treatment impacts on the cancer mets. My instinct is that the results will show improvement. Those of you who see me regularly know that I am no longer limping and that movement is easier. This weekend my sister Cindy came from Boston to celebrate our birthdays together just like when we were children. It has been great hanging out with her and our family. Yesterday Dad barbecued his famous ribs and we ate like royalty. Dad really has the touch with ribs! Just wanted to let you know what is going on. Stay tuned for results from the scans soon. Blessings Wendy