Random Ramblings Through the Years: December 2020

Well, Layla's expression says it all here!!!!! This year had such promise in the beginning! Ken was about to be done with the bone Dr. I had a trip to Orlando planned with the kids. Then I had 4 weeks in Hawaii reserved for Ken and me. What I didn't plan for was Ken being diagnosed with Glioblastoma and a pandemic being released on the world! It's been a rough year!!!!


1-8-2020

Now that I thought Ken's Dr's appointments were going to be slowing down, I decided to get checked out by a couple Dr's myself. Had to go to a GP so I could get my meds renewed. And I decided it was time to go to the dermatologist since I did have a melanoma several year ago. The check went very well. In fact, I asked about some age spots on my face and he said, "I can freeze those off." I thought, really????, why didn't any of the other dermatologists mention that when I asked---instead of selling me $125 worth of Vit.C cream that did nothing?! I was a little concerned at first when the spots just got darker. But then they peeled and my skin hasn't looked this good in 40 years! He didn't even charge me for it. I was told insurance wouldn't pay for this appointment, but 10 months later I got a credit card reimbursement for it!


1-23-2020 shortly after freezing some spots on my face

Layla seems to have developed my love for fishies. So when Angie suggested we all go to the Atlanta Aquarium, I was quick to say yes. At first Layla was rather scared and clingy. But it didn't take long for her to realize they couldn't hurt her, then it was hard to draw her away from them.


1-24-2020 atlanta aquarium

Feb started out with our 5th week of the year vacation to Orange Lake Resort in Orlando. Layla's first trip to visit the Mouse!!!!! They were hyping it up to her for quite awhile. I don't know who was more excited---her, me, Angie and Josh????? So on Feb. 1st we all, except for Ken who was at Angie's house watching Micky, took off in their car for our 7 or 8 hour drive to Orlando. Not a bad ride. Even Layla did really well.

Even Carol and Darrel flew to Orlando.

Angie made reservations for us all to have breakfast with a bunch of Disney characters. Layla was pretty scared at first, but the characters were so good that she got over it by the end of breakfast. Then we spent a wonderful day in Animal Kingdom. Next day we rode the water shuttles from Downtown Disney to one of the resorts and chilled out most the day. Had plans to go see the manatees one day and to go to Magic Kingdom another day.

Unfortunately, our trip was cut short. On our 3rd night there, I got a call in the middle of the night from Angie---so I thought. It was 3:30 am, so I thought she butt dialed me. I missed answering it the first time, but it rang again. It turned out to be Ken. He was calling through Angie's Alexa. He was dog sitting, but fell and couldn't get up (he says it was a controlled slide). I woke Angie up and she called the EMS in Cobb while I stayed on my phone with Ken and they sent fire and rescue out to him. Fortunately we had left the back gate and door unlocked. We went back to sleep only to be woke up at 7 by Alexa again. He actually slid down again right after the firemen left and didn't want to call us back right away. So we got ahold of EMS again and they got him up again. At that time I started looking for a flight back. Before I even got it booked (20 minutes later), Ken was calling again---fell a 3rd time. That time we told EMS to take him to Kennestone Hospital and I was on my way. I arrived at ATL about noon and downloaded the Uber app to my phone and called an Uber. I was surprised that the 55 minute ride to the kids' house was only $55. My car was there, so that's where I had him take me. Then I jumped in my car and headed to the hospital. When I got there, the Dr. had the bad news. In fact, the Dr. had already talked to Angie and Angie had talked to Tim. The CT scan showed a mass in Ken's brain. They did an MRI and the Dr. confirmed that it was the worst kind of brain cancer---Glioblastoma. It was about a 3x4cm mass. He didn't want to do surgery until the Plavix was out of his system. So Ken rested in the hospital for a week before surgery. During that time, the kids cut there trip short by a couple days. In fact, Josh's Mom ended up in the hospital there in Orlando on the same morning that Ken did here. Her heart was acting up and they thought she may have had a stroke, but apparently it was more likely a severe panic attack. She was released later that day and they all went to Magic Kingdom the next day. No since wasting all the money they spent on the tickets when Ken was in a holding pattern. They got home a couple days before his surgery. Tim came down, too. Followed a couple days later by Faith. We all stayed at Angie and Josh's.

One of the days we even woke up to some snow!!!! Layla's first snow.


2-8-2020

Surgery day finally came. Ken was understandably apprehensive about it. The Neurologist gave him a survival rate of 12-18 months with treatment and 3-6 without any treatment. So he was wanting to do whatever he could to stick around.

2-11-2020

His surgery went well. The Dr. said he got over 90% gross total resection. Afterwards, Angie and I got to see him for 20 minutes or so before they sent us away and took him to a room. I was relieved to see how good he looked. He was even talking and appeared like nothing had happened.

The days that followed didn't go as well. He got left side inattention and it got worse as they lowered the steroids.

2-13-2020

He had quite the incision. Staples stayed in for another 7-10 days.

2-13-2020

He hardly ate and I did start worrying. He wasn't able to get up or even transfer to a wheelchair by himself.

2-14-2020

He had dropped his phone in the toilet at the kids' house, so Tim went out and got him a new phone. Thought he'd want a flip phone like he had before, but he had so much trouble with it that I ended up exchanging it for a smart phone similar to mine and adding it to Tim and Faith's account. He did pretty good with it after we got him a popring for it so he could use his left hand to stable it.

2-20-2020

Ken's brother Bill, and Lena and Christina and her family came down to see him.

2-22-2020

Ken even asked for a Catholic priest to come so he could have confession and the eucarist. And celebrations like Ash Wednesday. But they quit coming as the Covid virus started to spread.

2-26-2020

Tim and Faith stayed for 10 days, then came back every couple weeks after that for long weekends.

2-29-2020

Layla loved coming to visit Grandpa! Grandpa sure looked forward to her coming.

2-29-2020

Ken's room was really nice for a hospital.

2-29-2020

When the kids were in town, I'd stay at Angie and JOsh's with them all. Here Tim's playing around with one of Angie's hobbies---paper cutting.

2-29-2020

Still recovering. The surgeon kept hoping Ken would get strong enough that he would be admitted to intensive PT there at the hospital. But he wasn't doing too well. He even started increasing his steroids again.

2-29-2020

Tim made a bunch of glove animals for Layla and Ken to share. Who knew in just a couple weeks those gloves would be so hard to get---along with toilet paper and hand sanitizer!!!

3-1-2020

All the while Ken stayed in really great spirits!

3-1-2020

After 4 weeks in the hospital, Dr. Benedict couldn't put off discharging Ken any longer. So I had to find a sub-acute rehab center for him (I think it's just a fancy name for nursing home). The one across from the hospital seemed pretty nice when i toured it. So I made the decision to have him go there. With his need for radiation treatments and lots of transportation, not a lot of places would take him.

3-2-2020

The first night was a nightmare! He had a roomy and the room was tiny. His roomy was nice, but had the tv on all night and they both swore the ac was on. When I showed up the next day he said he had to get dressed because PT would get mad at him if he wasn't ready when they came for him. So I helped him get ready. First time he wore clothes in a month.

3-3-2020

He, and I, had a melt down that day. He begged me to take him home. I went to the manager in tears. She was so empathetic. Offered to put Ken in a private room and even put a day bed in it for me. And get Ken a bigger bed. So we decided to give it another try. Things were MUCH better after that. Still found the nurses to be a bit standoffish, but the PT workers and the other staff members were great. I even found out I could go to lunch or dinner with Ken in one of their little dining rooms. Who knew how much I'd enjoy that---and that those few times would be the last times we would "eat out at a restaurant" for the whole year!!!!

3-3-2020

I can't imagine if this all happened a month later---after the shut down!!!!

3-4-2020

Layla really loved playing there with Grandpa.

3-5-2020

Brother Rick and Sue came for a visit. They even had a really nice family room that was seldom used. We would often go there, too, to just hang out with the kids.

3-5-2020

Behind Ken's room was a neat little courtyard, too. When the weather was nice, we would go out there for fresh air.

3-6-2020

Layla would regularly put holy water on Grandpa's head and even comb his hair.

3-6-2020

Grandpa especially liked how she would always snuggle with him.

3-6-2020

Hanging out in the family room again. They even had a fireplace and tv there---and a much nicer bathroom then the one in his room.

3-6-2020

I think Layla also liked coming because she knew Grandpa would always have some goodies for her---like pudding, or fruit, or french fries, ... .

3-7-2020

Some nice days we spent quite a bit of time in the courtyard.

3-8-2020

Ken also had PT, OT, and speech therapy (more a cognitive type of workout since his speech wasn't affected) 5 days a week for about 45 minutes with each therapy. They were amazing. Tanner had him up and transferring to a wheel chair within a couple days. After 10 days or so he was up and walking!

3-9-2020

They even provided transportation to the hospital for Dr. appointments. He had one with the radiologist first. I showed up to go with him to find out it was canceled. Even the ride showed up. 2 days later he had an appointment with the chemo Dr. Dr. Klass was amazed and so excited to see how well he was doing. She was surprised to hear Dr. Davies had canceled his appointment and immediately called him to make him see Ken. Davies had expected Ken to still be bedridden like he was for the whole 4 weeks in the hospital, but agreed to see him that same day. With that, his treatment schedule for radiation and chemo was set to start the next week or so. Right after getting his radiation mask made.

3-9-2020

Back in Signature, Ken continued to work hard and walked more and more every day.

3-10-2020

OT Dr. Depok helped Ken learn to get up and use his left arm. The speech therapist tried to work with Ken on organization, but that was pretty much a fail. Ken wasn't interested in that at all. But they were all really great guys.

3-10-2020

Last picture before the home was shut down. Covid was spreading really fast now and the first death in Ga. actually happened in the hospital he had just spent a month in before his 3 weeks here. Knowing how things spread in nursing homes, I started working on getting Ken out of there as soon as possible. It would take almost a week, but he managed to get out before Covid hit there (and it did hit hard there).

3-10-2020

Meanwhile, Tim decided it was time to get us out of Mo. and clean out the Graybrooke house. So he flew to St. Louis and rented a 24' truck and brought a bunch of stuff here to us---like our bedroom set, spare bedroom set, piano, Ken's tool box, our dining room set, and assorted boxes of stuff.

3-13-2020

Even though the home was locked down, they did have a "clean" room where they allowed visitors to come to about 10 minutes at a time for a couple days, so we got to visit him there once before that was shut down, too. Here we're waiting for our turn.

3-14-2020

in the little room during our short visit.

3-14-2020

The kids still working on unloading and unpacking our stuff.

3-15-2020

our first meal in our dining room? Turns out we use this room a LOT now. More then we ever used our dining room in St. Louis!

3-16-2020

Had to sell some of the stuff we already had to make room for our St. Louis stuff. Here goes the one thing we bought new--the fouton. We also sold the diningroom set that Angie got us in Florida and the entertainment center since we don't use one here. Sad to see the Florida items go!

3-16-2020

Since we were locked out of the home, Angie and Layla would sometimes sneak over to the hospital parking lot when Ken started his radiation appt---like this time when he was getting his mask made.

3-16-2020

Looking towards the hospital from the home. I figured if the transportation didn't work out, I could wheel him over in his wheelchair. But transportation worked out fine. Even though he only ended up needed it a couple times.

3-18-2020 first radiation treatment

Ken modeling his mask

3-19-2020

The day finally came that he got discharged from the home. I had arranged for a hospital bed to be delivered to home (in case radiation knocked him out like they said it would) and we were anxious to see if he'd be able to get in and out of our Edge SUV. Turned out to be no problem. Which was great since I was able to continue taking him to his appointments.

3-20-2020 leaving Signature Healthcare!!!!

Angie started doing regular dinners at their house. Usually it's Sunday with home made pizza. But we'd also have an occassional breakfast or dinner especially when the LaBeaume kids are in town and staying there.

3-27-2020

Angie also hired a photographer and had family pictures taken of us all in their back yard.

3-28-2020

Back at home, things went well. Ken even had PT a couple times a week. They said OT was going to come, too, but never did.

4-1-2020

But Roe got Ken up and going and even walking with his cane for awhile. He continued with PT for about 4 months, then they said he didn't need it anymore. Too bad, that made him get up and exercise at least 2x a week.

4-8-2020 walking with his cane

Easter came and Layla was so excited

4-12-2020

They even had an egg hunt for her in their front yard.

4-12-2020

This was also the time we had to get serious about wearing masks whenever we went anywhere, so a friend of mine in Illinois made us masks---including a little one for Layla.

4-14-2020

The weekend before Ken's final radiation treatments, we all took off to the N. Georgia mountains to a cabin in the woods. They had been closed down because of covid and we were the first to stay in the place once they were allowed to reopen, so we felt safe.

4-20-2020

Layla and I really enjoyed the hottub!

4-2020 ellijah

Faith wasn't able to make it, but Tim made it down. It was a fun weekend.

4-23-2020 ellijah

Ken's 6 weeks of radiation and chemo went by rather quickly! And he never had any bad reactions to either! The Dr's were amazed!

4-28-2020 last day of radiation

Ringing the bell---but not really able to walk on his own, just stood there with the wheelchair to the side

4-28-2020

A-Day---she doesn't know the importance of this day yet, but we continue to celebrate it! She just knows she gets ice cream then.

5-11-2020 A-day

The kids decided it was time to go back to St. Louis and work on cleaning out the Graybrooke house some more. Since Ken was done with treatments and feeling good, we decided to go , too. I managed to drive the whole way without a problem. I'm surprised I can do it now when I couldn't do it 5 years ago. I attribute the C-pap machine to making this possible for me.

5-15-2020

Even though the kids have been there already and we had also done some work last year, the house was still a MESS. How could we let it get to this! This is the basement, but the whole basement became a place to store old junk.

5-17-2020

The kids did have a few fun moments through the working.

5-17-2020

Tim ordered a 40 yard dumpster and it only took them 3 days to completely fill it. Plus there was still a lot of stuff left.

5-18-2020

More of the junk waiting for next time.

5-19-2020

Bill threw an impromptu dinner for Ken. It was nice seeing all the family---or most of them. I guess I should say this is the last time we ate out in 2020, and not the lunchroom at the home. It's also when we met up with Bill's friend who is a realtor and talked about getting both houses on the market.

5-19-2020

Heading back to Georgia. It was a very short trip---which ended up being the last time we'll probably ever see Graybrooke Lane!

5-20-2020

Back in Georgia it was time for his baseline MRI. This one was clear. 3 more months until the next one.

5-22-2020 baseline MRI

By now the pool had warmed up into the upper 70s and it was getting used a lot! My little buddy was always ready to join me in the pool

5-24-2020

Then she would cuddle with Grandpa who would warm her up.

5-24-2020

The kids even brought back the grill and Ken grilled a couple of times with the help of the kids.

5-25-2020

Ken finally got in the pool. The handicap chair worked great, although it's in need of replacing of the plastic seat and back.

5-30-2020 Ken's first time in pool

A great Memorial weekend had by all.

5-30-2020

Then came some really sad news. We knew Mike had been sick for awhile. Ken didn't go see him because he was so sick. Turned out he had cancer, too. Ken and he talked every day for the past several years. His daughters called Ken and got him to convince Mike to go to the hospital. He did, but by then the cancer was too bad and he didn't want to die alone in the hospital. So he got discharged and died 2 nights later at home with family by his side. (picture from a Christmas eve at our house on Graybrooke many years ago)

6-5-2020 Mike dies

Now it was time for Ken to start using an Optune hat. It was a pretty complex device. I had to shave Ken's head every 2 or 3 days and apply new arrays. Then arrange the cords so they weren't always in his way. The TTF device had to be carried around every where. It would set off alarms now and then---especially in the middle of the night. But we had high hopes that it would help keep the cancer away. Supposedly it can help prolong life 5 months or so. It's really not known if it works or not, but it's worth a try.

6-9-2020 optune start

We told Ben we were putting the Duchesne house on the market and he quickly got out---never to speak to us or Josh and Angie again. We were renting it to him for way under market value ($650/month instead of at least $950/month). He left it a big mess! The Realtor said her family would get it sale ready for about $500. So we said go for it. they had quite the job in front of them, but did a good job. Even painted the whole inside as well as thoroughly cleaning it. Ben even left junk like a mattress and stuff in the basement that we had to get Bill to get rid of. But they got it cleaned up in a weekend and on the market shortly after that.

6-14-2020 Duchesne being cleaned

Back in Ga., Angie had reserved 2 condos at a Wyndham in Panama City Beach and we met them down there for 4 nights. Stopped at Providence Canyon on the way.

6-17-2020 providence canyon

Loved being at the beach!!!! Loved getting in the Gulf. Even Layla loved the water---but was still not excited about the sand.

6-18-2020

While there, the Duchesne house went on the market and had lots of buyers go through it. Got 3 offers in 2 days. Ken wanted to go with the cash offer, so we did Docu-sign stuff while on vacation.

6-19-2020

Still had time to enjoy the water, but had a lot of negotiating to do with the house. They had an inspector come through and then countered with $70000 instead of $75000. Originally I asked the Realtor if we needed to build in a cushion and she said no, they always sell for what they ask for it. I guess we could have gone to one of the other 2 offers, but decided to take their counter and be done with it. One down, one to go.

6-19-2020

Cheers---to the house being sold! and to Ken's and my 45th anniversary.

6-20-2020

The view from our rooms was outstanding! Sure hated to leave.

6-21-2020

But at least I have water at home! And the LaBeaume kids came down for another visit.

6-26-2020

Then the kids all headed back up to St. Louis to finish cleaning out the Graybrooke house. We didn't go this time. They got another 20 yard dumpster which they quickly filled. Angie and Josh also took our 5x8' trailer there and took loads of stuff to donate and a load of stuff back here--the Pram, table saw, file cabinets, more boxes of stuff ... . They even had a picnic on the front lawn before someone came and picked up the table and chairs.

7-4-2020

Finally done!!!!! The pool table stayed. But everything else was removed.

7-4-2020

Almost made me want to keep the house and start over!

7-4-2020

I still can't believe how cheap we had to sell it for. Apparently since it's twice the size of other houses in the area, it doesn't have comps. Plus it did need a lot of work. Not in these 2 rooms, though.

7-4-2020

The original oven still worked! But the kitchen needs a lot of work.

7-4-2020

the back yard always drained into the basement when it rained hard. I can think of some ways that might have stopped that, like terracing the hill, but we never really cared. The patio needed replacing, too, but we only used it to let the dogs in and out since who wants to look at the condos behind us. The family room needed a lot of work---floors replaced and paneling gone, maybe modernizing the brick fireplace. Bathrooms needed renovating. At least the wood floors were in good shape except for half of the master bathroom which needs refinishing.

7-4-2020

Done!!!! I always dreaded having to go through this process. At least they made this part easy. Soon it was on the market (with a $5000 cushion---$120,000). I feel that's quite a price for 3600sq' of space including the basement. It does need work, but the bones are good. It did need about $2000 foundation work, but that was disclosed and an estimate provided. It had LOTS of people go through it. Most were looking for something to put lipstick on and rent it out, so investors weren't interested in it. One did put in an offer, but after their inspector told them it needed $75000 worth of work!, they backed out. Then we lowered the price $5000 and got interest from people who wanted it to fix up for themselves. We went with the non-FHA loan. After their inspection, they said the roof had hail damage and could we get insurance to replace it. We were selling it as-is, but I figured why not ask Farmers. Much to my surprise, they did cover it 100% even though it was 25 years old! So I got a roofer and got it done during the 2 months of waiting for closing.

7-4-2020

Back at home, Ken had a scary day where he couldn't get out of bed and was delirious and breathing really hard. With the kids' urging, I called EMS. They took him back to Kennestone hospital. This time no visitors were allowed due to Covid still. He ended up spending a couple nights there with a UTI that caused a total system bad reaction. He was pretty tired for a couple weeks after that, but ok.

7-15-2020 UTI

Even able to enjoy to pool some more.

7-18-2020

and bar b q.

7-25-2020

and eat!

7-25-2020

I had a little excitement myself! After being attacked by yellow jackets when I was in 1st grade and being told I'm allegic to them, I wasn't sure what was going to happen this time when I was attacked by 6 or 7 of them while mowing the back hill of our yard. They got my face, arm, and legs for 6 or 7 stings. I thought about going to the local hospital, then figured with covid I might be better off calling EMS if I had a reaction. Only reaction I ended up having was swelling and severe itching the next few days.

7-28-2020 yellow jacket attack

We had Layla over a lot. Anything to keep Ken's spirits high. One time I even decided to have her help make cookies. Her first time making cookies. She's such a great little helper!

8-1-2020 making cookies with Layla

Finally it was time to get another MRI. Fortunately it was clear again.

8-13-2020 MRI

More Layla time. She often got me to take her to the little park by our house. A perfect place to take her! Nice little playground and a nice wooded walk to a big pond with ducks and geese.

8-18-2020 Mt Tabor

She often had breakfast with us, too. If it was just the 3 of us, this was her dining set up.

8-25-2020

With Covid, not only were schools closed still, but sports weren't allowing spectators. So they sold cardboard cutouts and the money went to a charity. So the kids decided we should all do that. After the season, they sent the cutouts to us.

8-27-2020

Layla loves going out to our back yard! It's a perfect place for her to ride her tricycle and run like Turbo (one of her favorite characters right now). She also likes watering the flowers and feeding the birds. Grandpa even helped sometimes.

9-7-2020

Every time the kids would come down from Knoxville, they asked for chores to do for us. This time we had Tim secure the dishwasher to the cabinet. One time we had him and Angie replace the toilet in the master bathroom. Later we had Tim replace the kitchen faucet. Another time he and Angie replaced a bunch of decorative stones on the front on the house. Layla even helped.

9-7-2020 dishwasher secured.

And we'd spend a lot of time in the pool and eating.

9-7-2020

I found a pretty neat garden near Angie's house, so on a couple occasions I took Layla there.

9-11-2020

Usually when we'd go over for Sunday Social, Layla would help her mom make pizza---usually by playing with the left over dough. But this time she got to make her own little pizza.

9-13-2020 laylas first pizza

Ken and his buddy in our back yard

9-21-2020 bucket heads

Closing day for the Graybrooke house finally came. Good bye Graybrooke! I have a lot of really great memories from here! Not only did I go to high school when I lived here, but I raised our family here.

9-22-2020 Graybrooke sales

50 years ago---when Mom and Dad purchased the house.

8-1970

Time for another trip to a beach! this time we drove and met them in Destin at a 4 bedroom Wyndham condo. I was pleasantly surprised how much Ken got out, too.

9-28-2020

They had handicap accessible parks by the beach. Ken would hang out under cover while we played on the beach a bit.

9-28-2020

this time Layla even played in the sand! First time!!!!

9-28-2020

and we played in the water while Ken hung out on the boardwalk and pavillion. For some reason, silly Layla liked to call these big waves "food trucks".

9-28-2020

She really did great in the water. Even on her own with the Puddle Jumper on.

9-28-2020

The Destin Wyndham was right by a boardwalk. Lots of neat little shops and restaurants there. Although with Covid, we didn't eat at any of them.

9-29-2020 kids anniversary

walking along the boardwalk.

9-29-2020

And, yes, we got to listen to the presidential debate between Trump and Biden.

9-29-2020

Layla loved looking out from the patio. Even took her little puppy statue whom she named Pacos.

9-29-2020

We went to the beach a couple days. Loved the white sand!

9-30-2020

and we sported our masks in indoor public areas.

9-30-2020

except when we were in places like this shuttle boat and noone else was around.

9-30-2020

You can just feel her absorbing all the new sites

9-30-2020

The Wyndham had it's own beach. Noone was there, but the water was really dirty---clear, but brown, like tea.

9-30-2020

Back at home and back to chilling in our back yard with the kids.

10-4-2020

Tim and Faith have warmed their way into Layla's heart, too. And vice versa.

10-4-2020

Before we sold the Mo. house, we had applied for absentee ballots. Didn't think it would take so long to get them, so not sure if we were legal to vote, but we did. How i hate election years!!!! How appropriate for it to be this year, too!

10-6-2020

Now that the Mo. houses are sold, we had to change our residency. First---to the drivers dept. to get new drivers licenses. Then to get the cars registered in Ga. Then to get the cars insured in Ga. And our insurances to Ga. plans. Then to contact everyone and more to legally change our address. Every time I thought I was done with all the paper work, something else would come up. Eventually, I even lost my Passport. Ended up reapplying for one later---wonder if I'll get it (more confusion with my "child born of American parents abroad" form?)

10-13-2020

Back at home, we continue to enjoy Layla's visits.

10-15-2020

I even took Layla to a nearby waterfall. She seems to enjoy them as much as I do

10-15-2020 High Shoals

After waiting for Ken's disability form from the chemo Dr., we finally went and got our new Ga. car licenses---and a handicapped placard.

10-20-2020

We're really enjoying all the visits from the LaBeaume kids!!! Or should I say the Knoxville Zombies?

10-23-2020

Tim replacing the faucet. So nice haven't someone who will do some work around here!

10-23-2020

Even played Candy Land with the kids. I miss the days of Mexican Train Dominos!!!

10-23-2020

The pool finally cooled off to about 60. Time to take the salt generator off and put the place holder pipe in it's place.

10-28-2020

Our cute little ghost on Halloween.

10-31-2020

On one of the really nice Fall days, we got Ken to go to the Gibbs Gardens with Angie and Layla and me. He sat in the courtyard area and enjoyed the fresh air while we wandered around a bit.

11-6-2020 Gibbs

selfie time at Gibbs.

11-6-2020 Gibbs Gardens

On Nov. 9th Ken had another MRI. Unfortunately that one showed new tumor growth (about 1x 1.5cm). At that time the radiation Dr. said he didn't see any need to continue wearing the Optune device. So we discontinued that. The surgeon recommended against surgery since it took him so long to recover from it last time and visitors aren't allowed in the hospital. Ken didn't want that. So cyber radiation was suggested, which he got. Along with another mask. The chemo Dr. said the chemo wasn't working,either, so recommended Avastin infusions (to kill blood supply to the cancer). She also had him go to a vascular surgeon and get a port put in.

Time for the kids to visit again. Tim dug out the train for Ken and put it together for him.

11-14-2020

Here the kids are putting the loose stones back on the front wall.

11-15-2020

Thanksgiving! Guess we should still be thankful. We have a great family and support system.

11-26-2020

Angie even made us matching bracelets for Team Kenny.

11-26-2020

Time for another family group picture.

11-26-2020

and another---with our cardboard cutouts.

11-27-2020

already Layla's 3rd birthday!!!! Angie had us all over for a pancake cake and breakfast for Layla.

11-29-2020

Ken's brother Bill even drove down and spent the day with us---then turned around and headed back.

11-29-2020

Layla had a great birthday

11-29-2020

Angie even hired a neighbor girl, Rapunzel, to come celebrate with her.

11-29-2020

selfie---funny how we almost all wore blue. NOt even planned.

11-29-2020

another picture of Layla and her pancake.

11-29-2020

Ken at the 2nd of his 5 cyber knife treatments.

12-2-2020

after the 5th cyber knife he started Avastin. Doesn't seem to have affected him any. Seems strange he can take all these heavy duty meds and have no ill effects. Now he's to have the Avastin infusions every 2 weeks as long as it seems to help.

12-9-2020

mom watching down on us.

12-9-2020

Time for Layla's 3 year old check up. She has caught up on her growth from being a 5 week premie. She's so smart and sweet. Talks up a storm and loves to run and hop. She is so compassionate and helpful. Such a delight!

12-9-2020

Gerry and Brenda even came down for a one day visit while Tim and Faith were down. We've even been using Mom's china for dinners when we eat at the dining room table now. So nice to have a room where both leaves will fit in the table and we can sit 10 adults comfortably.

12-12-2020

Gotta include a photo of Layla and Santa.

12-12-2020

Breakfast on paper plates

12-12-2020

When they were down for Thanksgiving, we put Faith to work decorating our tree and house. She did a great job. Ken sporting his Christmas spirit.

12-25-2020

Over to the kids house for presents! It was another great Christmas. The kids went in together and got us some much needed knives, block knife holder, and cutting board (and not cheap ones like I buy!). Layla got a ton of stuff, all of which she was so excited to play with.