Y'all done good! I'm no longer pouting and Judith's no longer crying. I'm sure the latter has nothing at all to do with Buddy and Jacob's arrival in Texas. Wow, the family's all together now (well, except for her pooch JD, back at home, no doubt running around with...Sadie is it?) So anyway, they celebrated in style at Massa's.



You know, I worked on this picture for a long time, but that still doesn't look like Buddy. *g* Laugh if you will, but I'm so tired tonight that it took me a while to figure out why there were 4 people in the picture but Buddy wasn't one of them...

Regardless, they had a great time celebrating Judith's birthday (did I mention that it was her 44th?)



She really should be 45 by now since she celebrated yesterday as well at a restaurant which shall remain nameless since no one, not even the manager who collects bottles has ever been allowed to take one home before. The tears worked, though, and she got one for her beautiful birthday rose.



By the way, I blurred out the restaurant name so don't even try to make out the Truluck's name, okay?

Well, well, well...

Over 100 people have viewed this blog since I broke the news about Judith's 44th birthday . I'm soooooo sad that only 2 people left her comments on just how old she's getting! (and one was MOM!)

:: sniff ::

C'mon, y'all! You can do better than that! It just takes a second to leave an annoymous annoying comment. I think I'll go off and pout until there are a few more comments. Yeah, that's it. I'm withholding info on Chase's boost radiation treatment and Buddy and Jacob's weekend trip - no more boring blogs until at least 5 people leave a comment! We can't have Judith's 44th birthday ignored!

Pssst! Mom, Karen, Memaw - I may need your help to spam the comments...

A new friend! Actually, two new friends!
Eva (who put together the song/photo montage I linked to a couple days ago) came to the apartment today to meet Judith and Chase. They had a good time at lunch (even if it was interupted several times by Judith's rude family member's phone calls - guilty!)

Then later, Judith figured out how to stop the dog upstairs from whining all evening - the owner brought Zenji down to visit!



Cute puppy, and with some warm furniture (i.e. laps) to sit on - no whining! I think this will work out very well.

Psst! Thursday's Judith's birthday! Let's all jump out and say "Surprise!"

Okay, that won't really work here. Sooo....

Happy Birthday, Judith!

15 down, 5 to go!

Midterms time...so this is just about all Judith saw of Chase today:



It's been a while since I was in college, but seven 5+ page papers? assigned by one teacher? due within 30 hours of assignment? Am I missing something here? like reality? At least he didn't blow off his radiation treatment like he threatened (I would threaten bodily harm if he had!) For all I know he's still sitting in that chair typing away right now, at 2 points off per hour past deadline. I sure hope I got some misinformation, 'cause that just ain't right!

Judith had an "interesting" day as well. Tired from the joys of apartment life (i.e. a neighbor's new puppy whining late into the evening), she nonetheless headed off to school to tutor - only to find the classes out on a field trip. So now she knows what it's like on the other side of the equation, having previously forgotten to alert parent volunteers about special days. Oops!

Judith's also been busily traipsing up and down the stairs to the laundry room, getting sheets washed and everything ready for Buddy and Jacob's visit this weekend. She gets to do it all again next week because Mom and I finally got our tickets to go down for Chase's last 2 days - coming up fast! I don't know quite how we'll fit everything in; Mom wants to visit the space center, the Houston SPCA (because they helped with Katrina animals), the Parasol Project, and be at the Proton center for the ceremonial banging of the gong after Chase's final treatment on Friday, the 23rd. Since Mom generally travels at about the speed of sound, I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

14 down, 6 to go!

A couple of pictures from the weekend. Apparently the Globetrotters' game was the only time Judith was allowed along...





While Chase and friends went out and drove (i.e. got lost) all over Houston, Judith was taken shopping by Debbie. She's now the proud owner of a pair of Texas cowboy boots. Not her first pair of cowboy boots, but the first in, oh, 30 years, I'd guess.

Uncle Mitch co-wrote a song for Chase a while back (I think the lyrics have been posted before), but now a friend of his, Eva, has put together a montage with the song and photos on her myspace page (scroll down). It's very good - check it out!

12 down, 8 to go!

This space intentionally left blank.

I would have a blog here, but someone hasn't called me back, even though she said she would.

Yesterday.

:: insert whiny voice :: Mommmm! Judith's ignoring me! :: whiny voice off ::

Chase's friends have arrived in Houston - and what a smile. Was he really afraid they wouldn't recognize him? Naw, he was just being silly. Your limo awaits...


Here's one Ashleigh took on the plane:


Too cute.

So tonight they're out on the town, with only the occasional "Mom, I'm lost" phone call. *g*

Back to knitting that sock monkey dress for Judith... Shhhhh!

Griffin and Ashleigh should be at the airport by now and will arrive in Houston around 8PM, just in time for a late dinner with Chase - and without his Mom!?! How could he do that??? What will she do??? All alone in the apartment with nothing but a pint of Ben & Jerry's to keep her company. Oh wait, that would be me.

Chase got his bloodwork done today, but when I talked to him, he actually seemed rather chipper, so I'm not too worried. His friends will keep him busy (and if I know Griffin, laughing), so the break will be good. The weather in Houston's not to bad, and it beats what we had up here today. It sure was cold and rather drafty in my house today. Having work done on your house is ever so much fun!

So to keep warm, I've taken up knitting. My first project was going to be this, but Judith said she wouldn't wear it. So I'm starting out doing afghan squares for a group Warm Up America project. I think Judith should do a square too, don't you?

I was going to have so much fun with this post, but just like last time, Judith shut me down. I can't make fun of her. Okay.

Judith went to a local school to volunteer her time. I think boredom's really setting in about now. She was asked if she'd like to tutor some kids in math, and she said "That's my favorite subject!"

:: snerk ::

Oops, did I say that out loud?

But as long as it's an elementary school, I'm sure those kids will be fine. ;-). They don't get into percentages until later, right?

The good news is - Chase is halfway through his radiation treatments! More good news - the cables arrived and both computers are now connected to the internet. The bad news is, Chase is just not feeling well today. Some bloodwork, etc. is scheduled for tomorrow (hey, why not today???) At any rate, I do hope he perks up before Griffin and Ashleigh fly down tomorrow for the weekend!

10 down, 10 to go!

Not much happening today. I tried to eek out some more details about radiation treatments from Chase, but the monosyllabic answers meant he really needed to get his homework done before the Carolina/Duke game - and Carolina won, so I'm sure he's happier tonight.

Judith seemed entranced with what she was told were Purple Martins flying around, roosting in trees, and hanging out on the power lines. I tried to find out if they were indeed Martins, but I haven't gotten too far.

My bird book is for Eastern US, and Texas is decidedly...not Eastern. Everything I've seen on the web so far says that Martins hang out in huge flocks in TX in July prior to flying to South America for the winter.

Scout reports indicate they're just now starting to trickle in to TX on their way back for the summer. Since I saw these flocks back when I was in Houston in January, I'm even less convinced they're Martins.

This survey from last winter has a list of high population birds in Houston, and I'm wondering if these are the more boring starlings?

Aaaand I've wasted an hour of my life and about a minute and a half of yours - sorry!

9 down, 11 to go - Thursday's the half way point!

One more treatment completed, but the bad news is that Chase's computer still won't work. But Judith's will, so at least I know it isn't my router. Whew! Calling Geek Squad! Um, wait. I just checked their prices. Nevermind... How 'bout IBM's Lenovo support pages? Hmmm... I hope these links aren't still dead in the morning. No warm fuzzies from Lenovo. Well, Chase, if your computer didn't come with phone support, you must know a computer geek or two at school. Or send me an airline ticket!

Some pics from last weekend:

At Emeril's Restaurant

In Jackson Square

And at a Mardi Gras parade!

8 down, 12 to go! Why that's...2/5ths done!

It's still Monday somewhere, right?

They had a great weekend, and now they're back in Houston, away from family and friends again. :: wipes tear ::

I'm a bit worried because Chase says Judith's sick. Then again, I shouldn't be too worried since she had enough energy to stop and shop at the Tanger Outlet Mall on their way from New Orleans to Houston today. They enjoyed that so much they almost missed his treatment appointment! Well, between that and the traffic, I suppose.

Chase called me tonight and I thought he was going to regale me with a weekend's worth of stories for the blog, but no. He called because the internet is down. Again. And trying to remote troubleshoot makes me feel like pulling a Catbert. So, trying to make my life and theirs both easier, I ordered a 75' and a 25' ethernet cable - look for the DHL truck on Thursday! Please make it work.

If the cable modem's not up by Thursday, we're gonna see if "smooothoperator's" router is within 75' of Chase's bedroom window ;-).

7 down, 13 to go! Hey Chase, you're over 1/3 of the way through!

I so love North Carolina snow. See?

Here today:



Gone tomorrow:



Well, actually, here Thursday, gone Friday, but you know what I mean. And look what popped up from under that snow at Mom's house:



Buddy's brother is the baseball coach at Tulane, so Chase, Judith, Buddy, and about a hundred or so more enjoyed a party at their house tonight, and many, many more will be enjoying Alumni weekend in New Orleans.

See ya Monday!

Yes, it snowed, and no, Mom didn't make it to Greensboro today, but thankfully, friends of the family lined up to hover over Jacob (and the dog) until Mom can get there tomorrow. I'm sure Jacob is tha-rilled to find out that she's decided to stay over until Monday since Buddy doesn't get in until midnight on Sunday. Better cancel that party, Jacob! She's tough...just ask your Mom!

Judith and Chase made it to New Orleans, and will have a great time with Buddy, Rick, and family. I'm pretty sure they'll watch some sports. I hear there's some sort of big game this weekend?

Judith snapped a picture of this map at the Proton center. It's a little fuzzy, but if you squint just right, you'll see all the pins marking the home cities Proton center patients. There are pins all over the US and scattered around the world, but they're thickest in TX, of course.



One more treatment under his, um, skull, so:
6 down, 14 to go!

Nope, not happy hour here, but I sure got an earful of Judith's "whine"...

Hang on, this gets complicated. Mom's driving to Greensboro tomorrow to take care of Jacob and JD (the dog) so Buddy can fly to New Orleans and Judith and Chase can drive from Houston to see him and his brother's family. But there's a catch. It's supposed to snow/sleet/rain here tomorrow morning. Maybe it'll warm up by noon so Mom can head on over. Maybe it won't. So Judith's whinin...er, concerned that things won't work out. She and Chase really, really need a break and Chase has even agreed to skip Friday's appointment to drive to Houston Thursday night (which means adding a day onto the end, ack!)

So while most in central NC are looking hopefully toward the sky for snow, I suppose I should be on Judith's side and hope for a quick warm up. :: sigh ::

Some convenient circumstance forced Judith to go shopping, but the Target checker apparently put some of her items in someone else's bag. Not good! They're also having very frequent internet connectivity problems. Rough day.

At least Chase's treatment went well!

5 down, 15 to go!

Favor Request from Uncle Mitch.....

"Soli Deo Gloria" is Moving Up The Indie Heaven Radio Charts

Hey y'all

I know that many of you have benn "Giving God The Glory" for Chase's recovery as much as I have.

I'm writing to ask you to vote for "Soli Deo Gloria" (latin for: To God Alone Be the Glory) on Indie Heaven. The song was produced and performed by Micah Tapp.

If you'd like to vote, click on banner below and then..............




Visit Indieheaven Today!


Click on the radio tower
Scroll down to around #76 (or lower hopefully) or so
Find and Click on song title: "Soli Deo Gloria"
Scroll up to my picture at the top (holding Krispy Kreme Donuts)
Click on your choice of stars to rate the song and help it climb (5 stars is great, 1 not so great!)

Judith's favorite song: December Rain is also there at around #45 if you would like to vote for it during the same visit. It is listed under my co-wrtier's name : Eva Wilson

If a song reaches the top 40, it will be listed in the CRW magazine - a Christian Radio magazine that goes out to every Christian radio station in the US. Many radio DJs visit IndieHeaven's site, listen to the music on the IH radio, and contact the artist for a copy to play on their station.

You can vote 1 time/day from a single IP address. (So if you have both work and home computers, you can actually vote twice.) It will be carried on the chart for 90 days.

Thank you for taking the time to listen. :)

Mitch

No news is good news.

Treatment went faster today - just an hour! And every day it seems, they're asked to report earlier. Tomorrow they have to be there by 3:15. Soon they'll have to get up before noon! Heh. Finally, someone in the family who sleeps later than I do!

I guess it's pretty boring in the treatment room, and he reports the radiation smells awful. He doesn't think cologne will help because it comes from within. He can't chew gum because he can't move. Maybe some of these breath strips right before treatment?

It's so boring he's also had plenty of time to count the light beams. There are 21 zaps on one side of his head, then they swap the acrylic forms and brass shields and do 21 on the other side. I guess he can't count the spine stuff unless they prop up a mirror for him.

Hey, if anyone at UNC Hospital is reading this, can you puh-lease get records to send his first MRI? Thankyouverymuch.

And Chase, if I hear that you've groaned and called Judith a loser again for taking pics, this lovely picture of your favorite local restaurant's sign will be replaced by the picture of your messy room.

Or worse. Capisce?



4 down, 16 to go!

Nothing much to report. Go to the proton center, slog through another treatment... At least he's feeling better today and Judith didn't have to drag him kicking and screaming.

Judith sent me a picture of Chase's room, but it looks, of course, like a teenager lives there, so I won't embarrass anyone with that one.

Here's one of him doing schoolwork (or surfing the net, whatever), with the lunch his mom lovingly made for him (which looks just like the lunches Mom used to make for us!)



Here's the waiting area of the Proton Center. The glass area's ground level, and the room's about 2 stories down. Most of the time when Judith's waiting out Chase's treatment, it's just as empty as this picture shows.



A few tidbits from their brochure:

Construction spanned 3 years - 1 to build, and 2 to install and test the equipment.

Two-thirds of the facility was constructed below ground level (yeah, see above picture). In some areas, eight foot concrete walls were constructed for radiation protection.

Before excavation, 85 million gallons of water were removed from the ground (no info on how, dangit)

A 20-story building could be built with the amount of concrete poured for this building. (missing info - how big a footprint for this building?)

When equipment weighing more than 1,600 tons arrived from Hitachi City, Japan at the Port of Houston, it took a 31 truck caravan to bring it to the construction site.

3 down, 17 to go!

Zofran is your friend. Or at least it's Chase's friend. I thought this Proton stuff wasn't supposed to cause nausea, but he was feeling it yesterday. Chemo went smoother than this?!? I tried to tell Judith it was that hot dog she gave him, but she swears it wasn't, so he's back on the meds. Nothing new for poor Chase...

At least they both had a good day today. Social creatures that they are, they very much enjoyed visiting Debbie at her home in Sugarland (and Chase really enjoyed the XBox Live her two sons had set up). Judith met Carol, one more link in the "friend of a friend of a sister-in-law of a friend" connection (did I get that right?) that led Judith and Chase to Debbie. It would be cool to someday get a picture of the whole chain in one place, but I'd probably have to burn a lot of frequent flyer miles to make that work. Or get very proficient with Photoshop.

Chase also seems to have made a local connection at Rice University. So far they're just facebook chatters, but they're trying to go see a movie or something sort of college like. It would be nice if he had some local college games to go to, and some friends to hang out with, so go Chase! But don't forget your Mom!

W00T! for reaching 10,000 visitors! Sitemeter's been running up to 2 days behind lately, so I didn't think I'd actually be able to see who hit the magic number, but if I'm reading it right, I think our lucky winner was Memaw!

Now off to think up a prize...

Judith and I had some "creative differences" over blog content, so I'm pouting.
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There. I'm done.

Yesterday's radiation session didn't go too smoothly. The machine quit part way through! That doesn't give me warm fuzzies... The technicians sent him out to the lobby to brood while they poked and prodded, rebooted and whatnot. If he couldn't finish the day's treatment, he'd have to add another one on at the end - oh NO! Finally it came back online and he got to finish. Whew! So off they went to celebrate at Chuy's (one of my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants from our year in TX).

Today there's no treatment, so he gets to do homework instead of seeing this guy (Dr. Woo):



Tomorrow they'll visit Angel Debbie's church and have lunch with her. Then back to the grind on Monday.

2 down, 18 to go!