Great Weekend With The Kids

We went to Tori's soccer game on Saturday and brought her and Kyle home to spend the weekend with us. They both have electric scooters so they had fun riding them. We have a small electric bike that Kyle loves to ride and Tori decided she wanted to ride it, too. So she hopped on it and rode it great. Guess we will have to buy another one to have here when both kids come over.

We went to the school and rode around the track and played on the play equipment.

We packed a snack and enjoyed eating outdoors.

Tori and I went to see the movie High School Musical 3. It was really cute and Tori was up dancing during a lot of the show! After the movie, she wanted to have our picture taken in one of those picture booths. I hadn't done that since I was in school!It was so much fun to have the kids with us. They are both so good and appreciate all we do for them.

Today I had my CT scan. While I was there, I picked up a copy of the results of my blood test that I had on Thursday . My white blood cell count continues to be very low, at 2.0. It should be between 4.0 - 10.0. My platelets and neutrophils were also low. But my red blood cell count was up a tiny bit. I will meet with my oncologist on Thursday and get my CT results and see what she says about my blood tests.

After my scan, I went to Fern's (a gal in my metastatic support group) house to help her sew on her grandkid's Halloween costumes. She makes costumes each year for them but this year she isn't feeling as well as she should, so she asked for help. It was fun to see her and a few of the other gals. We all brought food and had a great lunch.

On Wednesday, I am planning on going to my support group, since I have missed the last two weeks and on Thursday, I have my oncology appointment.

My brother, Richard, is in the hospital with blood clots in his leg and lung. They have him on blood thinners, so he will probably be there a few days. He is in charge of a big project in Vegas that is happening in about a week, so he is anxious to get out of there!

Hope all of you are having a great week. Love this weather!

Love to you all,

JO

Fun At Devils Lake

I am so lucky to have such an awesome girlfriend, that I attended school with, who shares so many of her things with her friends. Sandy and her husband, recently acquired a beach house on Devils Lake. She invited some of us gals, she went to school with, to spend a few days with her at it. It is four years old and is a fantastic house. I certainly wasn't expecting to stay in such a nice place. This is the front of the house.

This is the back of the house and their dock for their paddle boat and canoe.Sandy, Midge, Mary Etta and myself, went there on Monday. It rained that afternoon so we stayed inside and visited the entire day. Of course, we ate and drank, too! Everyone had their own bedroom since it sleeps 12 and it also has couches to sleep on. This is the awesome bedroom I got to sleep in.

The next day it was beautiful and the sun was shining. People say that the best time to go to the beach is in September and October. Boy, that sure is right. When we walked out of the front door to go for our walk, there were two deer in the yard. Look how close they came to us. They certainly weren't afraid of people. Try not to think about my deer hunting Blog from last week!

When we got home from our walk, Judy and Rita arrived. Again, we visited, ate, drank, and then we went out for dinner at Kyllo's Seafood Restaurant. It is right on the ocean. Great food and view.

Here are pictures of us. I had to put two in since Rita and Sandy took turns taking the pictures. Too bad I don't have a picture of all of us when we were in high school together! Ah, we probably don't look any different!

Thanks, Sandy and all you other gals, for such a fun time. I can't believe we are 60 year old women having fun at a "slumber party," just like we did when we were in high school. This was such a memorable time that I will cherish.

I have my blood tested tomorrow and pick up my drink packets for my CT scan on Monday. I have my 3 month appointment with my oncologist on Thursday.

Hope all of you are having a great week.

Love to you all,

JO

We Have Been A Huntin'

First of all............if anyone doesn't like seeing pictures of a dead deer, don't go any further!

We just got home from our annual family deer hunting trip. We sat up our camp this year in a cow pasture! Usually we are able to stay at the near by RV park but it wasn't open this year so we had to rough it. But we had generators so it wasn't all that bad.

The first two days were very cold and windy....like really windy! But the next three days were nice. Tori slept each night with us so she and I didn't go on the early morning hunts. It was about 23 degrees so we were happy to hear the 4-wheelers take off as we were laying in our cozy bed!

The goal this year was for Kyle (our 11 year old grandson) to get his first deer. For several months, Grandpa (Denny)has had him out practicing his shooting and getting used to his gun. He did a great job hitting the cardboard targets of a deer. But it is so much different when you are aiming at a real deer. But he got one! It was perfect because it was during an afternoon/evening hunt so we were all there.

We were all so excited and jumping up and down and yelling. IF there were any more deer around, they were long gone by now! Here are Kyle with his proud parents, Julie and Scott.
And here is Kyle with his proud grandparents!

Scott also got a deer but Tori and I weren't there since it was during a morning hunt.

The other two grandsons have each gotten a deer, so Kyle was happy to get one. But Dakota has already gotten an elk, so pressure is still on Kyle!

Here are a few pictures I took on our hunting trip. This is Scott, Julie, Kyle and Tori on their way hunting.

Here are Denny, Tori and I on our 4-wheeler.

The kids had fun riding the 4-wheelers around our camp...cow pasture!

Justin took his boys deer hunting up to a cabin, about a two hour walk from our camping spot. Unfortunately, they didn't see many deer. They came "down off the mountain" early on Monday so the kids could spend some time together. Here are the three boys together.(DJ, Dakota, Kyle)
Dakota found a huge "elk shed" and brought it back with him along with about 50 pounds of rocks that he carried on his back in his pack. He and Kyle love rocks. Every year we go to Jim and Charlotte's for a BQ, while hunting on their property. Here are Denny, Charlotte and Justin. Here is a family picture of Scott, Julie, Kyle and Tori. Here we are with Kyle and Tori. I didn't get a good picture of Justin and his boys (darn) but here is one of him in his pickup as they are leaving our campsite.We had a great time on our hunting trip. Kyle should be very proud of getting his first deer. He is anxious to have some pepperoni and jerky made so he can share it with his friends.

I feel very blessed to have felt good enough to go on our annual family deer hunting trip. I am looking forward to another hunting trip next year!!!

Love to you all,

JO

The Biggest Little City In The World

I just spent an hour typing about my trip to Reno and I lost the entire entry! So this isn't going to be as long as it should be.
We left for Reno on Friday and returned home on Monday. Jan, Lynne and I have gone to Reno for many years. Leslie used to be part of our four-some but she died from cancer a couple of years ago. So this year, Tera, Leslie's daughter and Shauna, Lynne's daughter, went with us. We stayed at the Eldorado, which is connected to the Silver Legacy and Circus Circus. So we didn't have to even go outside if we didn't want to. But we went to a few more casinos to "spread our money around."


Jan, Lynne and I played an automated Fish Pond game. We each put in $5 and we played for about two hours. We had more darn fun and I think we caused a commotion. People were waiting for us to get off the machine so they could play it but we weren't about to give up "our" machine.


No one won a lot of money but a couple of the gals won about $100, several different times.

Usually when we are in Reno, we "pig out" and eat lots, but this year, we behaved ourselves. I will have to say though, that we had our fair share of free drinks. We all seemed to like the ones with the whipping cream on top. You know, the low calorie ones!

Tera and Shauna left on Sunday to go home, but when they arrived at the airport, their flight had been cancelled. They were both suppose to be at work on Monday, so they weren't real happy. So all five of us slept in one room. Tera slept on the floor. We had a fun slumber party!

Here we are at the airport right before our flight to Reno. Our pockets are full of money!

Here we are at the casino with our pockets empty!We all had a great time in Reno. I feel so lucky to have been able to go and I hope to go again next year.

I had a follow up appointment today with my primary doctor to talk about my recent blood tests showing my white blood cell count being low. He looked back to 2004 when I was originally diagnosed with cancer, and he said my WBC count has always fluctuated and tends to be low. So he wasn't real concerned about it and said we will monitor it by having monthly blood tests. He said that IF my WBC count would continue to drop (it is now 2.0), my oncologist might want me to have a bone marrow test to see if my cancer has spread to my bone marrow. But he said to not have the test unless it is necessary since it is a painful test. So I am planning on my WBC count staying above 2.0 and I will continue living my life like I have been, by keeping busy and having fun. We have our annual deer hunting trip coming up and a Caribbean cruise in February.

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend.

Love to you all,

JO

Reno - Here We Come!

I am feeling better so I am able to go to Reno for a few days with girlfriends. I plan on taking pictures so I will put them on my blog later.

Thanks for all your concerns for me when I wasn't feeling well. Mary Etta, I loved your card! Thank you.

Hope all of you have a great weekend. It will be raining here and I don't know what the weather will be like in Reno............................but who cares!

Love to you all,

JO