Put Him on the Phone!

Those were the words that Lola Elliott Hugh used during a phone conversation with Joe the first week of August.  The reason, I was having as they put it, a “hissy fit” over the wedding plans and preparations.   Why you ask, because the wedding which was now being planned from afar by Lola was, in my opinion at that moment, getting way to big and out of control.  When Joe and I first spoke of going up to Connecticut to do this, in my mind’s eye I had pictured going to the courthouse or town hall, wherever one gets a license in the State of Connecticut and after getting the license, having a Justice of the Peace or whatever town/county/city official could legally perform a marriage, take care of it dressed in our finest shorts & flip-flops and we’d be done in 10-15 minutes and on our way to enjoy a couple of days visiting with Rob and Lola.  However, apparently my mind’s eye was blind to the fact that Lola had a different set of plans.  First, after we had informed them that we wanted to come up in August and get married, Rob and Lola had been very excited and Lola had said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything”.  Good, right?  So I thought she would make sure where we needed to go, who we needed to see and they would be our witnesses.  Well she did all those things but she had more in mind than a simple ceremony on the steps of a courthouse.   
To read the full LONG post, click here

The End of this Chemo Cycle

Today, Joe completed his most recent cycle of Chemo treatment.   Even though I was there it went by pretty quickly and according to plan.  At least the doctor's appointment part.  His appointment was for 8am and when they called him back at 8:20am, they realized that they had not scheduled him for lab work.  That is a BIG OOPS, since he can't have his chemo treatments if blood work has not been done and the results are not in for the doctor to call in the chemo infusion prescription.  So after having vitals taken, Joe returned to me in the waiting room until they called him back for labs and then to an exam room.  Joe (and I) have agreed to be part of another study being done at Duke, so for the next little bit, his doctor's appointments will be recorded (audio).  Since I am in there and might speak (I always talk), I had to sign off on the agreement as well.  So just before Leigh Howard came in, the lady handling the study came in and quietly placed the recording device on the table.  We were all on our best behavior since we knew we were being recorded.  Regardless, Joe got a good report and we were out of there by 9:20am.  Joe went on up to chemo and I went on to work.  Since his lab work had been done so late, he had to wait until around 10:15am before he was called to the back for the infusion, but even then he had to wait another 30 minutes or so before the chemo prescription was sent up to the center.

Next week he will have his CT scan on Thursday (Sept. 8) and then will begin his next 3 week cycle of chemo treatments on September 12th.  The doctor's appointments are already set and they are all at 7:00am, which even though is extremely early, are preferable to later in the day when things really start to get backed up.  Being local does have it's advantages.

Today before I left, I snapped this photo of the new Duke Cancer Center and the hospital expansion.  The building on the left hand side of the photo is the cancer center which is set to open in early 2012.  The expansion to the hospital, if I am correct, is set for completion the following year.

Thank you to everyone for your calls, emails, letters and prayers.  Joe and I both take great comfort in all the warm wishes we have received.

Irene came calling......but I guess we didn't answer the door.

Irene came calling Friday night moving a wedding from Wilmington to Raleigh at PGUMC and Joe played for it.   Slight rain was falling in both Raleigh & Durham throughout and by the time we got home, the streets and ground were nice and damp.  Overnight we had a few showers as the outer bands of Irene came and went.  According to the weather reports we only got between 1/2 and an 1 inch of rain.  Most of that must have fallen overnight as during the day it was only a steady sprinkle.  The wind however really started to pick up in the early afternoon as Irene moved along the Albemarle sound.

We pretty much stayed in all day and ordered pizza for lunch.  We finally gave up on watching hurricane coverage on TV about 3:30 and started watching things we had on the DVR.    Our power here only flickered off once around noon unlike some other areas of Durham & Raleigh who lost power due to downed trees, blown transformers, etc.

In the mail today we received our certified copies of our marriage certificate from Connecticut.  Now we have something else to put in the safety deposit box, since we tend to misplace things a lot around here.  All in all it's been a nice quiet Saturday for us.  Of course, as I type this, the wind and rain have gotten up stronger than it has been all day long.  Oh well, guess it's nap time.  We both hope that everyone stays safe and dry while Hurricane Irene moves up the U.S. coastline, especially Rob & Lola in CT.

The Scan That Was....Not Meant To Be.

We had reported last week that Joe was to have a CT scan tomorrow, August 25, to see the status of the tumor.  At this weeks Oncology appointment at Duke, Joe spoke with Leigh Howard about what he thought was his understanding of when she wanted it to occur and when the person at the check-out had scheduled it.  Apparently there was some miscommunication between all parties and Leigh does not want the scan done until after this cycle of chemo.  Therefore, the scan will not take place tomorrow but rather will be sometime late in the week of Labor Day or the following week, which will be his "week off" from chemo.  Although anxious to find out if the tumor has shrunken, grown, spread or remained the same, we'll just have to be patient for a little bit longer.  However, patience is a virtue of which I have very little.  But as the saying goes, "no news is good news" so we are going to do our best to adopt that attitude, at least until after Labor Day.

Thank you to everyone who has expressed congratulations to Joe and me.  We are most appreciative.  As always, continued thanks for your good wishes, prayers and postive thoughts.

A Few More Details On Our Joyous Trip To Connecticut

As our families and some of our friends know, this past week's trip to Connecticut was more than just a casual vacation.  The main purpose of the trip was for me and Joe to get married.  With Joe's health issues, we had kept it under wraps just in case we were not able to make the trip.  But Joe has been doing so well, we made the trip up on Wednesday night, got our license on Thursday and on Friday, August 19, 2011 at 2:30pm, Joe and I were married at the First Church of Christ, Congregational in Glastonbury, CT.  The ceremony was officiated by Rev. Kate Vanderzee-Glidden and Rev. John Merz.  Our wedding planner extraordinaire was Lola Elliott Hugh, ably assisted by her husband and Joe's former college roommate, Rob Hugh.  The entire trip seems like a dream now as we packed so much into such a short time.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that Joe and I would be able to have such an incredibly wonderful wedding.  From start to finish everything was beautiful, heartfelt and exactly how I now know it was meant to be.  The music provided by pianist & organist Angela Salcedo along with vocalists Christopher Stone and Joel Garcia was some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.  There are no words to express our gratitude to Lola, Rob, Kate, John, Angela, Chris, and Joel.  We even had Lola's mother, Bert Elliott there to be our honorary mother at the ceremony.  Each and everyone of them made the moment more special than we could have imagined.  Soon we will have a video of the ceremony and hope to share it with all our friends, family and loved ones.  For now, there are some photos to the right of this post in three (3) different categories: Pre-Wedding & Rehearsal, Wedding, and After the Wedding in East Haddem, CT at the Bishopsgate Inn and the Goodspeed Opera House.  Joe and I went up for a simple wedding, and what we got was simple, beautiful and moments in our lives that neither of us will ever forget.   Thank you to everyone mentioned above but especially to Rob & Lola for being such great friends and planning every moment to make it special for us.  We love you.

If you do look at the photos, please remember that you can make each one bigger by just clicking on the photo.  One day soon, I'll tell some of the more hilarious moments that we had on the trip

A Great Week, Mostly in Connecticut

Sorry for the lack of activity this week but no need to worry, all is excellent! Joe is doing great. He has been "keeping up" and hasn't tired himself out at all. We left for Connecticut on Wednesday after I got off of work and fly back home this evening. We have had a wonderful time here and have thoroughly enjoyed the time with Rob and Lola. Rob was a college roommate of Joe's and the three of them have been friends for 30+ years. We have been promising to come up for the last 13 years and now seemed to be the perfect time. Live today, don't put things off! We will have lots of stories and photos to share later but now I only have my iPad and loading photos from it onto the site just doesn't work. Once home, I'll get them on the PC and upload some. Regardless, we have had an INCREDIBLE time and are forever indebted to Rob and the amazingly creative and organized Lola.

Thanks to everyone's continued prayers and thoughts.

Much A Do About Nothing

Actually, that's not quite accurate. It's more like "Little A Do About Nothing". That's what this week has been like. No doctors appointments, no fevers, no serious fatigue, no nothing, nada, zip, zilch! Joe has spent his week having lunch with assorted friends that he hasn't had the chance to see lately, playing with their children, meeting other friends for assorted frozen desserts and generally just enjoying himself. Me, I've been working. Not that I am complaining. It's been nice to have a normal week for a change. This weekend we will be attending the NCGLFF at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham and hopefully Saturday morning I can get the lawn...errr weeds mowed. The weeds seem to be the only thing that has been heat tolerant.

I did find this greet link for the recent " Relay for Life" that PGUMC recently took part in. Read about their wonderful cintribution to this wonderful cause. PGUMC RELAY FOR LIFE
Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for Joe and keeps sending positive thoughts his way.

I Sure Did Miss the Duke Clinic Today.......NOT!

I wasn't able to go with Joe today so I can only report on his oncology and chemo appointments second hand.  Apparently he got his blood work and chemo appointment done in record time and even was up in chemo starting his infusion 15 minutes before his appointment time.  If I didn't know better I would think there is a conspiracy going on.  When I'm with him we run 2 hours late, when I'm not, he get's out early. Apparently his oncology appointment was uneventful even though he has gained 3 lbs (YEA!).  However, up in the chemo infusion center they had trouble getting a vein to use and had to stab him 3 times before getting it right.  His arm has some nice purple on it.  He is supposed to be using his moist heating pad on his arms on a regular basis to help the veins, but hasn't been doing it.  Maybe after today, he will do what he is supposed to do instead of just laying around watching TV.

Next week is his off week so he will have his next chemo appointment on Monday Aug. 22 and have a CT scan on Aug. 25 to see what the status of his tumor is.  Until then I guess there will be a lot more lounging on the sofa.  The post below this one is an article that was on WRAL.com today about the construction and opening of the new Duke Cancer Clinic.  It will be nice to see it done next February and get to use the new spacious facility.

Duke aims for $235M cancer center to be welcoming

Durham, N.C. — The shaky economy hasn't slowed down recent hospital construction in the Triangle. The new Duke Cancer Center will open in February as the biggest project of all.  The $235 million center will bring all elements of outpatient cancer care together under one roof.  "We'll do a better job at integrating (services), but we will also have more space to provide those services," said Tracey Gosselin, an associate chief nursing officer in oncology.

The Duke Cancer Center is designed to be more welcoming for both patients and their families. It will alleviate patients' complaints that chemotherapy infusion rooms are too small, leaving 10 to 15 square feet per patient.  "In the new area, we're going to see 100 square feet per patient," Gosselin said.  Patients will have the option of being closer to each other for conversation, or they can choose more privacy. Patients lying down for radiation treatments can stare up an animated view of a starry sky.  People in waiting areas can watch TV or wait in other areas designed for less noise.  The new cancer center will let patients' relatives take a break without going far from their loved one. "Leaving now means that you're still in the building. The cafe is there, the resource center, our shop, our quiet room," Gosselin said.  Even the spacious lobby is designed to be welcoming.  "The area itself will be a very nice, hospitality kind of feeling as you come in to get your treatment," construction director Shawn Subasic said.  The construction places Duke University Medical Center in a better position to serve an expected 21 percent increase in new cancer cases as baby boomers age.

The hospital is recruiting new nurses, more faculty and staff in a variety of supportive care services, such as social workers, dietitians and cancer counselors. A new pharmacy and mammography suite will also need workers.  The Duke Cancer Center is part of the new Duke Medicine Pavilion, scheduled to open in two years. The nearly $600 million project will offer 160 intensive and intermediate care rooms and 16 more operating rooms.