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| BJ and Holly at Christmas Party |
Well, It has been over a year since I posted on this blog. I tried to keep up and tried to catch up but when I was diagnosed with Cancer last year it became too overwhelming. I finally decided that I would just have to let Facebook be my record of last year and I would go on from here. Suffice it to say that I got Multiple Myeloma and thanks to the Lord and a good Oncologist, Carl Grey of Utah Hematology and Onology and many prayers of my family and friends I am in remission and hopefully for another 20 years but maybe not. I went through chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant and many blessings to achieve this and I presently only take a bone infusion of Zometa to strengthen my bones.
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| Max and Cieli |
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| Kyle, Brinlie, Maren, and Gauge |
In the mean time Larry has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and he also has three blockages so he needs to have a triple bypass sometime soon. He was blessed that he could wait for a while as we had planned to move here to San Antonio to help Nathan but on Thursday we will see his primary care doctor her in the San Antonio VA to find out what they want to do about his surgery.
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| Maren, Gauge, Landon |
We left last Monday to come to San Antonio to live with Nathan. We got a U Haul and traveled to Green River that night after stopping to have lunch with Mom at her assisted living center. It took us until about noon to leave Kaysville that day despite trying to pack most of our stuff on Saturday. We also had a Christmas party the night before with our children in Utah and had a good time. We stayed at a Super 8 but didn't take much in because it was bitter cold with wind. But the motel was okay.
The next day we traveled to Albuquerque and stayed in another Super 8 but this one was not so good. Larry had to take oxygen with him and they could not find a little machine. They seemed to think that we would be okay if we just asked someone to help us get it in as it weighed over 100 lbs and Larry could not lift that. In Green River the hotel attendant helped us get it in but they would not do that here. They also did not have any luggage racks to put it on to bring it in so Larry just used his cpap that night. They heater went off in the night and they said that the only things they could do was give us another room but Larry was asleep then so I did not op for that. Every time we called them for help with something they
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| Kirsten |
said, I am sorry but I cannot help you." Needless to say we were very frustrated when we left that morning. When we stopped for the night we vowed to go to a higher end hotel.
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| We had barbecue! |
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| Heather |
We got to San Angelo that night and stayed in a Hampton Inn. Larry kept reciting the things they provided that the other did not so I think he may finally be converted to paying more for a hotel room. It was so good to just have a heated room that night because again it was bitter cold with a wind blowing and it took all our strength to unload the things we needed and just get them to the room.
The next morning we woke up to the same bitter cold wind. It was 32 with a wind chill factor and it was bitter. But we counted our blessings that we were not in Kaysville that morning because the same arctic front had Kaysville at 16 with a wind chill factor of 7. We left about 10:30 a.m and traveled to San Antonio arriving there about 3:00 p.m with only a stop for lunch. The Woodlake ward sent about 6 people to help us unload. When we got to Nathan's we realized that we had brought too much and that it would not all fit in his apartment so we brought in what we thought we would need and Larry took some of the people to U haul storage and rented a unit for the rest of it. That night we realized that the bathroom supplies had been sent to storage but we were able to go get them the next day.
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| Hailee |
Thursday evening was Maggie's seventh birthday so Nathan had the kids for that and for his usual Thursday time from 6:00 p.m until 8:00 p.m.. So we went to get the kids at 6:00 p.m. Maggie wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A so we went there for dinner and the kids had fun playing in the fun house and reading while Nathan spent the whole time talking to us. I couldn't believe that he was talking so much but he was and it was good to have him want to talk. After a while we took the kids to Nathan's apartment so they could open some of the days of a Lego advent calendar that he had for them. They really seemed to enjoy that.
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| Max, Ryker, Cieli, Holly, Brinlie, Michelle, Heather, Landon, Kyle, Erick |
Friday we went to storage to get things that we knew that we needed while Nathan was at the gym. Then we all went to the VA. Larry had to get some blood draws and sign in at San Antonio and Nathan had to go to Prosthetics about something. Larry also decided to get a hair cut there. Then we took Nathan home and we went to the long awaited HEB to get some groceries especially 1905 Vanilla ice cream that we love. It was not disappointing.
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| BJ, Kallise, Ellie, Taylor, Maren |
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| Ethan and Daniel |
Saturday morning we went to WalMart to get some things that Nathan wanted to get there to make jerkey and parsnip fries. Larry got really tired (and his chest started to hurt he tells me today) so I finished with Nathan while he rested. When we first got there I had to go to the restroom so I told them I would find them. I had forgotten my phone and later I found out that Larry had forgotten his also so after I looked for them for 20 minutes I decided to sit down at the front entrance and let them come to me. It eventually worked but that is when I went with Nathan and Larry sat there and waited for us. If he had told me he was having chest pains I would have left immediately and taken him to the emergency room but he didn't tell me. We went home and watched a couple of movies with Nathan and he put his oxygen on and he got feeling better.
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| Kyle, Brinlie, Grandpa Larry |
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| Visiting Mom before leaving |
Nathan wanted to show me how to make the jerky his way so we spent time in the afternoon cutting up the turkey and making the marinade to get it ready for the next day when he will put it on to dry it.
Today was a warm day considering the last few. It was supposed to get to 67 today. We went to church at 9:00 a.m. I already had the chance to substitute in the nursery for an hour. It was fun to see all my old friends at the ward and they were excited to see me. Many of them liked my new short grey hair. It kind of felt like coming home again.
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| Our car and the U-Haul we pulled |
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| The Texas border sign |
This afternoon we put the turkey on furnace filters and then attached it to a fan. It is supposed to be dry by morning. Then we watched the movie Winn Dixie with Nathan. Now we are doing our own thing. It feels good to be back in San Antonio.
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| Making the jerky with a fan and furnace filters |
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| We pulled the bunk out so we could walk around it |
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| Our room at Nathan's the day we moved in |
