Alan’s Army

OK, sorry for the wait folks but I have been very busy with work (9 hour budget meeting yesterday for example.)

We could use prayers for Alan’s eyesight right now.  I called the neuro-opthamologist on Monday because I was concerned Alan’s eyesight wasn’t approving.  He set up a visual field test for Alan at JFK in Edison on Tuesday afternoon.  Last night he called and said that the results, for the lack of a better medical term, “sucked.”  He asked us to come in to see him today at 1pm.  He did a bunch of diagnostic stuff, left an “Emergency” message for the neuro-surgeon in Philly to call him back, arranged for another CT scan, and now we sit and wait.

<Sigh>
Other Quick Highlights to catch everyone up.

- The recommended Medical Oncologist in Princeton is not “in-network” so we will stick with Dr. Stadden in Philly.  It means a longer drive once a month for a check-up and bloodwork, but we liked him a lot so it is worth it.  It also keeps us closer to the “brilliant” behind-the-scenes Oncologist with the possible protocol for Alan after radiation.
 
- We saw the Radiation Oncologist at Princeton on Tuesday morning.  He recognized our name as he mentioned he lives in Montgomery and a Gerry Sweeton, who was able to fix things that others said were unfixable, used to work for him.  (Its kinda weirdly odd that we should run across my Dad’s name in the context of Radiation Oncology twelve years after his death caused by cancer.)

- Alan will start radiation and chemo on July 1st.

- He will have a total of 33 radiation treatments 5 days a  week across 6-7 weeks.

- During the course of radiation he will have two chemo pills each day, 7 days a week.

- Schering-Plough has accepted Alan into their “Assistance Program.” We don’t yet know exactly what this means as to how much of the cost they will cover, but after the latest discussion with the Medical Oncologist I calculated that the out-of-pocket for the chemo pills alone could be as much as $100K (yeah, that’s a hundred thousand dollars) over the next 14 months so we will thankfully take anything and everything they can offer him.

So our two weeks of bliss in Maine are down the tubes, but thankfully Ginny’s family will utilize the cabins at Camp so we don’t lose our weeks for next year.  Who knows, maybe we can go for a shorter visit in the fall.

Since we can’t head North, our friends Bob and Kyle Enman are planning to drive down from Maine this weekend to visit and Alan can’t wait to see them.

So, overall Alan is feeling great, the problem is his eyesight.

Thanks all for your continued support and prayers.

God Bless,

Andrew

Yes!  Praise God!

The secondary pathology study of the tumor  shows that both chromosomes are missing!

This mean’s that Alan should better respond to the overall radiation/chemo treatments.

Thanks for your continued support!

Sorry folks, very busy with juggling work and caring for Alan.  I was going to wait until tonight after our Radiation Oncologist visit for an update but I understand some people are very upset and worried due to my “silence.”  I will need to keep it brief as I need to get to work.

Alan is very happy to be home.  He is sleeping well which is an improvement over the last week in the rehab hospital.  He thinks his eyesight might be a little bit better, but its hard to be sure.  He can move around fine physically, he just can’t see, so he needs a guide and needs to go slowly.  So no significant improvement there yet.  We are all adjusting to having a blind Godzilla in the house who needs 24 hour care to prevent him from knocking down walls and killing us all.

During the oppressive heat (101 degrees) on Tuesday we rambled around downtown Philly and saw the surgeon, the radiation oncologist, and the medical oncologist.  We didn’t learn a whole lot except the Surgeon is very happy with where Alan is at and says we should stay away from radiation;  the Radiation Oncologist says Alan needs 6 weeks of radiation then Chemo; and the Medical Oncologist agrees with the Radiation Oncologist.  The Neuro/Oncology summit was to be Tuesday night and they would all discuss Alan’s case with a fourth doctor who is apparently brilliant but kept away from patients due to her demeanor (remind anyone of a TV show?) And then they would inform us of the agreed course of treatment on Wednesday.  Both oncologists are happy to refer us to highly regarded colleagues in Princeton.  Once Amber is out of school on the 20th she will need to bear the burden of daytime caregiver (Although I can work from home when necessary) and I can run Alan to radiation on my lunch hour as it is 4 miles from work to home and about 3 miles from work to the hospital.  So . . . why we visited everyone on Tuesday I’m not sure except the Oncologist did get blood for a baseline on Alan (I’ve got $100 that says the Princeton guy takes blood too.)  Oh yeah, the Surgeon took him off 4 of the 7 prescriptions he was on (I’m glad I only filled them for 10 days) and scoffed at the particular doses of vitamins JFK had prescribed saying “take a multi-vitamin.”

So . . . we have officially gone through stage 1 of scared silly with brain surgery and come out the other side feeling pretty good about things (except his blindness) and have now moved to stage 2 of scared silly with the whole “C” word - Cancer.
 
Yesterday the Oncologist called.  The agreed plan of treatment is pretty much what they had been saying all along.  Alan will have radiation treatments 5 days a week for six weeks starting as soon as possible (oh well, no two weeks vacation to Maine for us this year - although we might take a few days at home just to sleep.)  During that time he will also have a reduced dose (180 mg) of Chemo seven days a week.  The chemo is a pill called Temodar he will simply take at home.  It reportedly has minimal side-affects and they have 80 year old patients using it with no problem (Alan’s particular tumor is very rare and generally only found in people over 70 years old - go figure.)  After radiation he will take an increased dosage for 1 week each month for 6-12 months.

When radiation is done, Alan will go to Philly to see that doctor who doesn’t usually see patients.  A “protocol” for a new chemo drug is opening up in 4-5 weeks.  If Alan meets whatever the criteria is he would go on this protocol instead of the 6-12 months of Temodar.

The other thing we learned on Tuesday is the limitations of Alan’s insurance.  It looks like radiation will be covered.  However, for the medical oncologist they only cover the first $700.  I pretty much suspect we have already burned through that so the monthly visits for checkups and bloodwork will be out-of-pocket.  The real killer is that chemo is not covered at all and without a prescription plan we will be paying the “cash” price for the Temodar.  Even when buying cheaply on-line from Canada, the 180 mg dose costs over $300 per pill so the chemo for the six weeks of radiation will be over $13,000 alone.  The cost for the potential 13.5 months of chemo is $30-40K out-of-pocket — yikes!  The oncologist’s social-worker and Ginny are both working on applying for assistance programs for Alan.  Since he was an hourly worker and currently has zero income, hopefully the drug company will help out with a reduced cost.  Of course if his eyesight doesn’t improve he would likely become eligible for federal Disability and Medicaid.  But let’s hope that doesn’t come to pass — to permanently lose the ability to read, watch TV and movies, and play Disc Golf would be absolutely devestatingly horrible for Alan.  My prayers are that his eyesight greatly improves even if it means I have to use our life-savings for his treatment.  I trust that God’s will be done and He will provide.

So anyway, I’ve got to get to work and then get home to take Alan to a 2:30 appointment with the Radiation Oncologist whose office hours today are in Jamesburg NJ.  Once we know his radiation schedule I will let everyone know so they can modify visiting times at home.  Alan does greatly appreciate visits as they are a very welcome distraction.  Due to the hard work of friends, the back patio is a very nice place for visiting when it’s not 100+ degrees out.

Many thanks from all of us to everyone that has sent food to the house as well.

Please continue to send notes and jokes via email to my address or Alan at bigs@bcdga.com as they are a wonderful blessing to him as well.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers,

Andrew
BTW - again, my apologies on the long wait for an update.

Writing on Saturday about the crazy day that was Friday:

The day started with an email to the neuro-surgeon’s office in Philly telling them about the bizarre events with the doctor in Edison looking for a reason to keep Alan.  10 minutes after my email Ben called to discuss.  He said that they could think of no reason whatsoever why Alan would need a nuclear series done.  He also said that the adjustment to the shunt was a five minute procedure that could easily be done at the office and they were planning to do so on Tuesday.  He agreed that Alan should go home and get acclimated over the weekend rather than lay in the hospital accomplishing nothing for two days.  Ben said he would call the JFK doctor.

So, when we arrived at JFK, they were actually gearing up for him to leave.  A wheelchair, walker, and shower chair were delivered to his room and about 20 minutes after the guy left, Alan’s physical therapist came in and said “that’s not what I ordered - the wheelchair and tub seat are both wrong.” Long story short - it all came home with us and they will swap it on Saturday.

[Station Break - it’s 6:15, the coffee has finished brewing, its already 67 degrees out and the weather people say it will be over 90 degrees today so I’m going to move some mulch while it’s still cooler and everyone else is asleep.]

[1:30pm - OK about 4 of the 5 yards of much are moved, and its now 91 degrees in the shade and humid as all get out.  Time to eat something and sit in the AC for a while.]

So where were we?  Oh yeah, so Alan is all packed and we are ready to go and just waiting on paperwork from the nurses, and the Neuro-opthamologist shows up.  After a lot of hemming and hawing about uncertainties etc. he tells us that he is very concerned about the pressure on Alan’s optics.  He hopes that relieved pressure will help Alan’s sight, but is worried that continued or further pressure will cause permanent loss of sight.  He said he would prefer that Alan’s shunt be adjusted right away and not wait until Tuesday. 

[3:05pm - 93.9 degrees in the shade.  Rest of the mulch is moved.  Another 5 yards is ordered and on its way - oh joy!]

So we told him that the rehab doctor said they couldn’t do a shunt adjustment without a nuclear study and they couldn’t do that until Monday.  He rolled his eyes at that and said “well, OK, could your people in Philly do it?”  So we said “Let’s call them”  So I got Ben on the phone and the Neuro-Opthamologist explained his concern and before you could say “Alan, we are leaving but you can’t go home quite yet” we were on our way to Philly.

We got to Philly at about 2:50 and by 3:10 we were in with Ben who did a simple external,  purely mechanical, procedure with a magnetic disc to increase the flow on Alan’s shunt.  It took about 3 minutes and was so simple that I could easily duplicate it now days later - so why couldn’t JFK do this simple outpatient procedure without keeping him for three days and conducting a nuclear study?

In$urance money, pure and $imple.

So, after thanking Ben for taking care of Alan we took off for home and the pharmacy wars started.  JFK had given us a 3 sheet long med list with 19 items on it to pick up. 
Seven of them turned out to be prescriptions and twelve were hospital code for over the counter items.  I mean really, if you want us to pickup vitamins B-2 and B-6, simply say so.  I spent 1/2 an hour scouring the shelves for Riboflavin and Pyridoxine Hcl.  So, an hour later we finally left with the twelve items plus a blood pressure cuff, and due to their blatant racist favoritism at the pharmacy counter I had to go back at 9:30pm to get the seven prescriptions.  Thankfully I had the foresight to have them just fill for 10 days in case Philly decides to change any meds.  Without a prescription plan the current set of prescriptions are almost $23 a day.  We will type a list and take it to other pharmacies for comparative pricing after Tuesday.

So by about 7pm Friday night Alan was finally home and loving it.  As did we, the dog, cats, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  A pepperoni calzone and his own bed with Angel made Alan happy.

Saturday:

Well, it hit 95 degrees in the shade today.  Its bad enough that we “lost” the month of May somewhere, but now its suddenly August.  Alan reported sleeping much better in his own bed.  He walked next door to Aunt Nancy’s at 10am and she made him waffles and Bacon.  Apparently he also polished off their entire supply of milk.  After ravaging the Curtis village, Godzilla then walked over to his grandparent’s house and visited for a while on the porch.

Neighbor Jack Hunt stopped in with ideas on building the tub support and said hi to Alan.

Andy Beth came by and spent the afternoon visiting with Alan while Ginny cleaned the house that had been ignored for a month.  I shlepped 5 yards of mulch, and Amber did homework.  1/4 inch slabs of Pork Roll (thanks John!) off the grill covered with cheese on fresh hard rolls with ice cold slaw on the side made a yummy dinner.  We watched Jurassic Park as Alan figured the dinosaurs would be big enough on the screen to see. (Only so-so success.)

I came home at twilight after making a run to a different pharmacy for a pill sorter.  Alan gets Meds every 4 hours from 8am to Midnight so a weekly pre-sort seemed the way to go.

Alan had some tylenol today for a slight headache.  His BP was good so he didn’t need the second BP med.  He did a bunch of walking around the house with mostly verbal visual queues only and spent a lot of time outside on the patio.

Everyone went to bed exhausted.  Sorry I never finished the update.

Sunday:

5:50 AM - its already 73 out - 5 degrees hotter than this time yesterday.  Humidity is around 90 percent.  Time to start wheel barrowing mulch again.
8 AM - Woke up Alan and gave him his meds.  He said he slept well.

76.7 degrees already.  Need to do more mulch than start building a tub support with a step and 2×4 upright between the floor and ceiling.

Unless something profound occurs I will likely wait until after the Tuesday visits to the neuro-surgeon, oncologist, and radiation oncologist for the next update.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

Love,

Big Dog

Sorry for no update yesterday - too busy!

Lots of “extras” yesterday.  They took pictures of Alan’s retinas, other visual field tests, and took a bunch of X-rays of his shunt.  Other than that, a standard day of PT etc. 

Alan had a good time visiting with John Shields, a friend from our NYC office, who arrived while we were outside and came upstairs with us while we had dinner with Alan.  After dinner BOB arrived and Ginny and I took off and let BOB tuck Alan in for the night.

—– “We interrupt this Alan’s Army Update for a “Groundhog Report” —–

Many thanks to Sue Langhans and Deenu Shaik for bringing by some flowerbed treatment designed to repel deer, rabbits, and groundhogs.  Interestingly enough, the number one active ingredient is Oil of Cinnamon so the flowerbed smells kinda like Valentine’s Day cinnamon hots.  Hopefully this will prevent more flower damage while I eradicate the little beasts.  (Since we have an 1830 something farmhouse with a real rock foundation we have no choice, we need to get rid of them.)

As reported before, Uncle Brian had provided a Have-a-Heart trap.  I originally baited it with half a pear and placed it near the groundhog track running between the forsythia bush and the hole in the flower bed leading under the front porch.  After several days of no action, (other than Amber seeing a fox sniffing at the trap one morning) I decided to take Linda Rooney’s advice and replaced the pear half with a quartered apple.  I also moved the trap around to the back of the forsythias figuring if it was less out in the open the little buggers might be more likely to “trust the fruit.”  Well, the next morning the trap was sprung, but no groundhog and the apples were untouched.  My theory is that it may have been the huge groundhog (no really, it’s a very big groundhog - looks more like a Corgy than a sod-puppy) and it sprung the trap while it’s butt was still hanging out and it was able to back out of the trap.

So I made sure the apples were situated right against the end wall and reset the trap.  I forgot to check it last night but this morning we had a captive!  Unfortunately it was a pint-sized young groundhog - probably only about 5 lbs.  Well, despite all my thoughts of various ways to dispatch a groundhog once I caught one, I decided that I couldn’t bring myself to kill a little one whose eyes weren’t quite so beady, so I dropped it off at the Sourlands Mountain Preserve.  The last I saw it was sitting in the middle of an acre of grass not making any particular move to head for cover in the woods.  The trap is re-set with fresh apple quarters - hopefully we can catch a big groundhog soon.

—– End of Groundhog Report —–

So today (6/5) we met with a case worker from the NJ Commission on the Blind and Visually Impaired.  She actually had some solid information for us.  Alan’s sight with his right eye is rated at 20/400 and his sight with his left eye is rated only “light perceptive.”  This makes him legally blind as the NJ minimum benchmarks are 20/70 in the good eye for “Visually Impaired” and 20/200 in the good eye for “Legally Blind.”   This designation  opens up a host of services for Alan that can be very helpful.  They will send a number of folks to the house to help teach him mobility skills as well as living skills (cooking, etc.)  Once a doctor clears him to work, and if the eyesight were still an issue, they have intensive work skill courses and services for outfitting a PC with aids etc.

Alan’s quip was “Wow, now that I’m legally blind I can have an affair and become the NY State Governor!”

We will hear more from the Commission next week, hopefully this won’t be a long term thing anyway if his sight improves.

So anyway, Alan may now NOT come home tomorrow.  The substitute case worker called me at about 3pm and said she had setup the “Family meeting” (the one promised over a week ago) with the doctor and therapists for 4pm Friday.  I told her that we expected to be home by that time and she said her understanding was that the  doctor wanted to keep him to next week.  I said “Why?” and  after a lot of back and forth without any compelling reason to keep him she said she needed to speak to the doctor.  She called back and said “because he really needs 24 hour care” and I said “Yes, that’s what we have been training and preparing for” and  “all of his therapists are very happy with him and had nothing negative to say about him coming home tomorrow.” and “regardless, he MUST go to Philly on Tuesday.”  To which she said “OK, I guess he can go home tomorrow as planned.”

So the latest salvo was a phone call from the doctor at around 7pm who said that the radiologist wants to do a nuclear study before an adjustment to the shunt is done.  Oddly enough the ability to do this is for some reason unavailable tomorrow, so Alan will need to stay here until Monday.

Ginny and I can’t help but look at all the empty beds on the BTU and wonder if they really need to keep Alan to help pay the overhead.  The doctor said he will speak to Alan’s surgeon tomorrow to see if they think the study should be done or if further imaging and shunt adjustments can wait until he sees them in Philly on Tuesday.  He said he will call us in the morning.  Any bets on the likely content of that call?  If he says Monday for the test, I will ask him what time and that we will happily drive Alan up for the test.  We just don’t see a benefit of Alan laying in that bed for two more full days when there is no therapy sessions or anything.  We can give him pills, we can feed him, we can escort him to the bathroom.

So, on to happier info - disc golf friends Nick Schneider and Adam Vanderslice came up from Philly to visit Alan this evening.  They had a great time talking disc golf and courses they had all played.  Alan joked that he and Adam could pass notes to one another in Ancient Greek and Nick wouldn’t know what was going on. (Alan and Adam had Greek class together and were both graders for the greek professor at Liberty University.)

So, please pray that the doctor makes decisions based on what is best for Alan not a P & L statement.  Likewise, pray that we don’t assume ulterior motives and accept that which is best for Alan also.  If it means he needs to stay - fine, but if he comes home sooner, so much the better.  Thanks!

Love,

Big Dog

What an unbelievable day.

All the bad stuff is OK now though because Alan is home!!!!!!

Details to follow.

I’m an idiot.  I knew if I started listing visitors that I would leave someone out eventually.  Well, during all the hubbub with mulch, groundhogs, etc. on Sunday I forgot to mention that Aunt Renee had visited Alan on Sunday and he was thrilled to see her.   Renee and Ritchie Sorenson were neighbors of Aunt Nancy and Uncle David when they lived in South Plainfield but have become the fourth Daughter and Son-in-law in our extended family.  They, and their sons Andrew and Roy, are an integral part of the family and are part of the 20+ family members that go on vacation in Maine together each year. 

Throughout his recovery we have been picking up food for Alan at the hospital cafeteria (its better than the standard patient fare.)  Typically they put a scoop of potato salad into the styrofoam bin along with the sandwich.  Alan has steadfastly refused to even try it saying “It’s not Renee’s” every time.  Smart kid - I ate it tonight and it was pretty awful.

Today we had a meeting with the case worker and all of Alan’s therapists.  Basically Alan surrounded by seven women.  (FYI -apparently the one “student” therapist has already solicited Alan’s email address to visit with him when he is home.)  They are all very pleased with Alan’s progress and he will be released to come home on Friday.  His sight is really his limiting factor at this point.  Tomorrow we have family sessions with the therapists to go over things like getting Alan in and out of a car, wheelchair, walker, stairs, shower, etc.

The case worker had already written a referral to Bancroft Neuro-Rehab in Plainsboro for out-patient visits but after today’s meeting she realized that Alan doesn’t need any cognitive work at all, so she is going to look into Princeton Medical Center which is very close to both the office and home and would allow me to easily take Alan during my lunch hour.

The case worker has also setup a meeting with the Commission for the Visually Impaired for Thursday.  They apparently have lots of advice and resources that should be helpful for Alan.

Today they also did another CT scan to see how things are doing in Alan’s noggin.

We went outside this evening and enjoyed the breeze and Joe Bakter, Kurt Kusenko, Pete Toth, and Joe Venanzi all visited from work.  Outside time was up shortly after they arrived so we all went upstairs and gathered around a table in the hall and Ginny and I got sandwiches from the cafe and ate with Alan while the crew did their standard commentary and comedy routine.  Longtime Disc Golf buddy Eric Eichhorst showed up to visit and had so much fun with the crew he told us to let him know if we were doing any  hiring in Marketing.  Eric brought with him a helium get well balloon with a picture of a Barbie-esgue blonde on it that was a gift to Alan from another disc golf friend, Mike Miller.  Apparently Mike had said it was the only way he could “sneak a blonde up to Alan’s room.”

Alan had a great time with the boys and is really looking forward to coming home on Friday.  He and I are both very upset that we won’t be going to Maine this weekend with the crew from Tyler and Sedgley to play in the DDGC and then the special match play challenge between the Bucks County team and the Mainiacs team that Bob and I dreamed up last year.  It’s breaking our hearts to miss the inaugural year and more importantly to miss seeing our dear friends the Enmans, Connells, Gordy and Victor, as well as the rest of the crew at Dragan and Scarborough.

Oh well, we need to be realistic.  Neither Alan nor I would have the energy for the long drive and we need to spend the weekend adjusting the house to make life as easy as possible on Alan and ourselves.  I have a bunch of handles that will need mounting at steps, the tub etc. 
Hopefully the radiation treatment schedule will allow for at least one of our weeks in Maine at the end of June.  If not, we will need to look towards when the radiation treatments end, perhaps in September.

We are still waiting to hear on the second pathology report about the tumor chromosomes.  Perhaps they will know when we return to Philly on the 10th.

In the mean time, thanks for your prayers and continued support - they are certainly felt and most appreciated.

Love,

Big Dog

BOB,

But of course!

I know the Alan’s Army updates are reaching hundreds, perhaps thousands at this point including many church prayer chains.  I am quite sure that Peggy will be lifted up in short order.  Please keep us posted.

Thanks and God Bless,

Big Dog

hey there Big Dog and friends,
hear’s one of the other people in my life with brain cancer that needs your prayers too.
This note is from my mom and I know you don’t know her but I hope you can include Peggy in your prayers.
Thanks and peace,
BOB
 Hi,
 Peggy is my daughter’s best friend. She is 32 yrs old and just graduated as a Medical Assistant in the state of Washington. Her picture is enclosed.  Peggy is a single mom with two sons, AJ who is 11 and Avery who is 9. Peggy home schooled the boys until two years ago when she went to work.  While studying for her Medical Assistant exams Peggy had migraines and the pain brought her to the emergency room one night in mid February. Peggy was told she had a glioblastoma multiforme tumor, which is stage 4 brain cancer.  The 1st crainiotomy was less than 24 hours later. Two weeks later Peggy began 6 weeks of chemo & radiation.   The follow up MRI on May 12th, showed that the tumor did not respond to treatment. In fact it grew much larger than it was originally and spread to an additional part of her brain.
 
 Peggy’s.2nd surgery was May 16th. She did sooo well, and was released Monday, the 19th of May, only to be brought back into the hospital on the 20th with hydroencephalitis (water on the brain). This was treated and she was released on Saturday May 24th….within a few hours of being home, she ran an extremely high fever and had to return to the ER……She now is battling Staff infection in her bone (they did a bone flap on Tues/Wed.) as well as a secondary infection.  
 Please join us in prayer for Peggy and for the small brave circle of friends (including my daughter Heather) who are nursing her through this terribly hard time.
 Peggy is a strong woman with an amazing sense of humor as she battles this disease but she needs Jesus help. Peggy’s friends have asked that we pray for a miracle and complete recovery.  I want to add that we also pray that Peggy will receive the gift of faith and with it the peace that surpasses human understanding.     
  
 Thanks, I will keep you posted.
 Pat

Hi all!

A big day today for Alan. His rehab doctor visited him this morning and told him that the conclusion from Thursday night’s examinations by the opthomologist and neuro-opthomologist is that his optic nerve is swollen. They believe that once the swelling abates, his vision will improve.  This is certainly something we will pray for.

This afternoon Alan went on a grand adventure. His various therapists took him outside in his wheelchair, put him in a car and drove to Dunkin’ Donuts where they had him walk into Dunkin’ Donuts and order himself a strawberry-banana smoothie.

Alan also had a substitute speech therapist today. She told him that the half-hour they were together was her favorite half-hour of her day so far. Alan then quipped, “Of course, at that time it was only 10:30am.”

A sleeper-sofa we ordered back on March 8th is finally arriving tomorrow, and since I need brothers-in-law help to move the old one into the barn, I decided to make a short trip to visit Alan tonight.  I drove Amber and Angel to Edison and we spent Alan’s one-hour “away” time outside. Thankfully the earlier Dunkin’ Donuts run didn’t count against us.

Just before our time to leave, BOB showed up to visit and Ginny reported that Todd Cottrell and Ali Wilkinson also visited with Alan tonight.

Good night all, sleep tight, my head is arching towards the pillow.

Andrew

Sorry, fell asleep again.

Saturday night I went to bed thinking “If it’s sunny in the morning I will start making a dent in the five yards of mulch before going to the hospital.  But if it’s raining, I will start making a dent in Alan’s room in preparation for him coming home.”  So at 8am I was laying in bed trying to convince myself that I could fall back asleep (I can’t actually do that unless I’m sick) when the phone rang and it was Uncle Dan - “You up?  Are you doing the mulch?  I can be there in 20 minutes.”. Well that decided that.  Apparently Dan then called his girls at his ex’s to let them know he wouldn’t be at Sunday School if Nancy dropped them off at the church as usual. 

Dan and I got as far as two of the front yard trees mulched when in pulled Aunt Nancy with Dunkin Donuts and the girls, Emily and Sami. After racing into Amber’s room to wake her up, the girls pitched in on the mulch. With farm-girl Nancy cracking the whip, all five yards of mulch had been distributed and I had placed an order with Agway for a second five yard bale — all by 11 o’clock.  In the process we also filled in the groundhog hole under the porch.

During this time Uncle Brian walked over to deliver some pie that Elsie had made and I told him about the groundhog so he then brought over a have-a-heart trap.  Hearing that groundhogs like sweet things, Sami quickly baited the trap with a Jelly donut.

As we were getting ready to go to the hospital Ginny saw two groundhogs out in the backyard.

Alan had a busy day today with visitors.  Ginny and I got there about 1:30 and shortly thereafter Aunt Dari arrived with a huge box of Philly pretzels.  We nuked a bunch and ate them with spicy brown mustard - yumm!!!  The rest went to the nursing staff.  Then Uncle Dan arrived and after Dari took off we took Alan out for his “hour of freedom.”. While outside, Aunt Nancy arrived with Emily, Sami, and Amber (who had gone to their house after the mulching.)  Alan also took calls from Nan and Bob Enman, our dear friends in Maine.  Three high school friends next showed up - Evan Staats, Brian Bibbo, and Anthony Sitoy bringing along mozzarella sticks from Burger King.  (BTW - had I previously mentioned my discovery that the grille downstairs in the hospital actually has mozzarella sticks? - no more Macy’s runs for Uncle Dan and I!)

Amber and I ordered dinner at the grille and brought it up and we all ate at a table in the hallway outside Alan’s room.  While waiting at the grille, Kit arrived and helped carry the food upstairs.  She also had a disc that all the players at Saturday’s tournament had signed for Alan.  Alan had a great time laughing about shared high school/scouting anecdotes with the boys while eating. 

Alan is feeling pretty good and eating and drinking everything within reach.  His vision is his greatest frustration as it is what is limiting his abilities.  More than once he said “If it wasn’t for my vision I’d be home already.”

BOB couldn’t get out of work on time to visit so he called and spoke with Alan as we packed up to go.  Ginny, Amber, and I left at about 8:20 leaving Uncle Dan with a little bit of time for scripture and prayers with Alan.

We got home and there was five more yards of mulch on the tarp in the driveway, the hole under the porch was dug back out, and the trap had a captive Jelly doughnut.  I covered the mulch, spat in the hole, and re-baited the trap with half a pear.

The trap was still empty this morning — I suppose I should go buy some more petunias to bait it with.

Best to all and thanks for your continued support,

Andrew