All Done, again

So, it was brought to my attention that I had failed to actually write a final blog note about the outcome of the trip this year.  Yikes!  My bad - I am sorry.  I had posted on FB and emails, but no blog.  Part of the reason is that as times change, I have no idea who still hits the blog, versus the other means of communication.  I like the blog, 'cause I get to talk longer, and as anyone who knows me can attest, I like to talk!  Here's a picture of my new friend, George.  He and I talked for a while outside of Jimmy John's Subs - the best JJ's anywhere, by the way.  They had 12 workers at lunch, to make sure no one had to wait!

So, the outcome this year is "status quo."  No changes.  Nothing new to report.  Dee Dee still has just over 20 tumors in her stomach, they are stable and unchanged, and there is nothing else anywhere else. An outright miraculous cure would be the best news imaginable  but this is the next-best thing, and we'll take it quite happily.  She will have some tests done in NC next year, and back to Mayo in 2015.

After all the tests and procedures, Dee Dee always feels poorly for a few days, and this year has been similar.  I think the biopsies always make her feel sore and "off," and when she eats it hurts for a few days.  Thankfully, that is beginning to ease up a good bit.

When we left for the airport Wednesday, she was pretty rocky.  The agent at the American desk announced that our flight had been cancelled just as I began to check in; this was the last American flight of the day.  Dee Dee somehow physically shrank into herself as she heard the announcement; I told the nice lady that she could not have uttered anything worse at that moment!  The only other airline in Rochester is Delta.  They had one flight 30 minutes later than our original, and it took us to Twin Cities instead of Chicago, but they got us on that flight and we got home at about the same time we were scheduled originally.

Why tell that story?  Because God is good, you prayed, and in things both large and small, He smiled on us this trip.  Dee Dee would even say that the snow was a blessing, and she laughed greatly at the thought of me standing in the middle of the streets of Rochester, in a blizzard, taking pictures and talking to strangers.  My theory is a stranger is just someone I haven't met, YET.  And, how else are you gonna get pictures of snow-covered streets without standing in the middle of those same streets?

Thank you all so much for your concern, your love and your prayers.  The community of believers is remarkable, and the opportunity to serve as hands and feet and eyes and ears in the body of Christ is amazing.  Thank you all for standing in the gap with us!


Tony, for Dee Dee as well