A bit of vomiting

I apologize for being so graphic about my dad's physical state. Oftentimes that is simply the easiest way to describe what's going on. He has been having occasional bouts of vomiting. It is nothing like what was happening in the fall, but my mom and I would like to see that these get under control sooner rather than later. We don't want to see things get as bad as they were before.

Hopefully, there will be some information from the next CT scan that will explain the vomiting. Possibly adding another stint will relieve my dad's vomiting again.

Puppies?

Around Easter my mom bred her dog Tilly with a Bichon Frisé. The Bichon is owned by my mom's sister Mary, and his name is Gus. Tilly is a Bichon-poodle mix. But, before the dogs could breed it was determined that they should tie the knot. (Personally, I thought that the whole idea was a little odd. Since I couldn't see that it would hurt anything, I did attend.) Below is a picture from the nuptial ceremony that took place on February 17.



If pregnant, Tilly is expected to give birth around Memorial Day.

p.s. This posting was created at my mother's suggestion. :-)

Update for the New Year

I know it has been a while since my last posting. But, I'm happy to report that in this case no news is good news. So, here is some of what you all missed.

My family and I enjoyed a Door County Christmas with my parents and my brother Michael. We all had a nice time despite some poor planning which left us scrounging for dinner on Christmas Eve. Below is a picture of the house during our Christmas stay.



The new year brought another dream come true for my parents. Over the years my parents have acquired many do-it-yourself skills. Some of these skills were learned while completing various home improvement and remodeling projects, and others came during the building of the house in Door County. It was their dream to share their skills by helping those unable to do this type of work for themselves.

My dad read in a newspaper about a group of people from Door County who having been doing Hurricane Karina recovery work. So, he and my mom started planning a trip to the Gulf Coast, and they invited my 13-year-old son, Rhys, along. Rhys readily accepted their invitation. The trip took place in mid-January between chemotherapy treatments. My mom's account of the trip is included below.

Sorry for the length of this but we have been very busy. You can read it in shifts.

We just returned from a two week ride to a warmer climate. Phil, our grandson, Rhys and I went south. What started out as a few day visit to some old and dear friends of ours, ended up in a two week adventure.

Pete and Pat have been friends since Phil and I have been dating. Pete and Phil went to high school together and we often double dated. Phil was in Pete's wedding and Pete was in our wedding. They both got drafted at the same time and both ended up being stationed in Germany. Pat and I both went to live with our husbands in Germany. A few years after they returned Pete and Pat moved out of state and we have been planning on visiting them ever since. When Phil made the suggestion this time, we just went.

Another one of our dreams was that after we finished our house we wanted to use our tools and knowledge to work on habitat homes or some similar project. A Door County group had been written up in the local newspaper for the work they have been doing for the Katrina victims so Phil gave them a call and found out when there next project was going on. Lucky us they were going down right after Phil's chemo treatment. We then asked Rhys if he wanted to go volunteer with the Door County Katrina Relief Project (you can read about them in the Brett Favre article in Sports Illustrated). Rhys said yes and so we then made a phone call to his other grandparents in North Carolina and asked if they wanted to meet us somewhere. Charlotte was on our minds, because Phil had a friend from work that moved there and he was thinking of stopping by to see her. So the trip was planned. Leave Wauwatosa, stop at Phil's brothers in Beloit and head south to New Orleans and Kiln Mississippi. Then from there go to South Carolina and North Carolina and then back home.

We left after Phil's chemo and had a late lunch with his brother and sister in law in Beloit. It was great to see them and their remodeled kitchen. Then we spent the night in a motel. On the second day we went to see Graceland. It was really neat. Another night in a motel and then on to New Orleans. We spent some time in the French Quarter and then drove down to the area where the storm destruction was the worse. The devestation down there is overwhelming two and 1/2 years later. Although there is money to help build the corrupt government and the politics make it impossible for people to get anything done.

We then drove to Kiln where the base camp for the Door County Relief Project is. The people who own the Broke Spoke Bar (the only thing in Kiln, MS, other than the gas station and the church) fed us and offered their driveway to the group for their base camp. The first night we stayed in a trailer with some other people but the only bathroom was outside and Phil was concerned that he would keep the others up with his constant running to the bathroom. The next day the Relief Project put us in a hotel for the rest of our stay.

We worked on two houses one we painted the outside. It was a very warm Sunday and it felt good to be outside. It was just Rhys, Phil and I and it was only the touch up work. We finished in about three hours and Rhys worked very hard. The house had to be gutted and the back half rebuilt after trees fell on it and water got inside. The owner was a single teacher with two children and she still had no kitchen sink or counters. She was just grateful to be out of her FIMA trailer because 20% of her students were still in theirs and there were many in her neighborhood.

The second house we worked on was one that was rebuilt. Some of it had been done by contractors and some by volunteers. The man had insurance but it left him about 100,000 dollars short of rebuilding it with out volunteers. His mother is 90 and lives with him. He has been paying his mortgage and home owner, water and wind insurance since Katrina plus rent on a place that his mother and him are living in. If he does not pay for the insurance and mortgage he will not get re-insured when the house is finished. In this house we had a crew of about 11 or 12 to drywall the entire house. Some of the crew were old and some were young. Some had disabilities like Phil and could only cut or measure and some were strong and knew exactly what they were doing. It was a great crew. Rhys worked hard like a trooper and screwed in a lot of sheets of drywall along with many other tasks. P.S. he also helped get rid of any extra candy bars or cookies that were left at the end of the day.

In the evening we would go to the Broke Spoke for supper. We got some southern cooking and the Favre's hang out there. Rhys was able to get his picture taken with Bonita Favre and hang out a little with her grandchildren. She also signed the shirt he was wearing that said he was a Door County Golf Coast Relief worker. It says "Bonita Favre, #4's mom". It made his day.


We left there on Thurs and went to see the Aquarium in Atlanta, really neat, and then went on to see Pete and Pat in Anderson, SC. They took us on a side trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and wow that was something else. A privately owned mansion completed in 1895 with 250 rooms and 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, 33 guest and family bedrooms on 125,000 acres of land. Ninety rooms are opened for viewing and it is amazing.

After leaving there we went to another hotel and stayed with Rhys's other grandparents and went to a transportation museum just south of Charlotte. That was neat but some of the train exhibits were outside and it was only in the 30's, unusually cold for that time of year. After that we went to see the race car track in Charlotte and went on to see Renee and Herby. Renee worked with Phil at Rexnord. We watched the Packer game and spent the night visiting before leaving for home in the morning.

On the way home we stopped to spend the night in Georgetown, Kentucky. In the morning we toured the Toyota plant and that was something else. Very automated and very neat. Also they have an incentive plan that if you come to work on time and don't call in sick they have a big party for you at the end of the year and bring in big name singers or performers. They put your name in a hat and give away 11-15 new cars. (pretty good incentive) Finally, we stopped at the Indianapolis Speedway so Rhys could see what it was like.

Now we are home and it is very cold. Phil did very well on the trip. He did some of the driving. Due to his confusion and memory problems (chemo brain) we put on a few extra miles. Our friend gave us a GPS to use on the trip and that helped a lot (thanks Rich). Generally, we are great map readers and Phil always remembers his way back to the hotels or the way he is going. He spent at least 10 hours reading the maps and making notes before we left. (His obsessions are a little annoying but I am learning to live with them.) The confusion and memory problems and his inability to use high level brain functions frustrate both of us. Maybe me more than him because I don't always tell him that he made a mistake anymore because it just upsets him. Also because he is the male, people keep giving him directions about what we are doing and where we are going and then he does not remember and so we are left to figure it out for our selves.

All and all the trip fulfilled another one of our dreams and was very good. Rhys was a great help at the work site, with the maps and the GPS. He helped move luggage in and out of the car and he has a great memory which helped when over heard people talking to Phil or watched the roads as to which way we came.

Thanks to all our friends who spent time with us and opened their homes to us on the trip.

Judy