Hopkins (Day 1)

Got up at 4AM to finish getting stuff ready for our trip to Johns Hopkins. We're so used to having everything with us wherever we go, it's strange having to pack to stay in a hotel. Gonna miss our "house", bed, and babies (cats).

We left at 6AM to meet Bobby's parents at their place in Houston, DE. We left our car at their site, as we're riding with them.

When we got to Baltimore, we went straight to Hopkins. We ended up being there about 6 1/2 hours. We walked all over different parts of their outpatient center for Bob's various tests - bloodwork, EKG, pulmonary function test, ABG's, and chest CT. We also met with Dr. Yung who talked with us close to an hour reviewing tests from Nanticoke (Seaford), today's pulmonary function test results, and what he plans to do tomorrow. He was very thorough and explained everything clearly. At this point, he's thinking it's a stage II, maybe stage III, non small cell cancer. He also thinks that a stint won't be necessary but he wouldn't know for sure till he does the bronchoscope tomorrow. We should have all the results after the procedure is done, as they do/get some of the biopsy results right in the OR.

Day done, we headed over to the hotel, got checked in and went up to our room. Bob was worn out from the day's events, so he opted to climb into bed to take a nap. So we set out to look for a place where we could get something to eat. The hotel's restaurant was way overpriced and didn't look that great. So we set out on foot. We ended up finding "O'Shea's pub", a nice Irish place. We sat down at the bar, ordered food for all of us (to take back to the hotel), and both of us had a pint of Guinness while we waited for the food.

Food in hand, we walked back to the hotel where we all ate a good meal together, watched some TV, and then drifted off to sleep.

Trip to Hopkins tomorrow

Shelly worked until 4:30PM today. When she got home, she worked out on the Wii Fit for about 35 minutes and then we had dinner. We then worked on getting everything together for our trip to Johns Hopkins with Bobby's parents tomorrow. Praying for good results.

Music, Beer and Food

Our friend Cliff surprised Bobby this afternoon by dropping by for a visit. Shelly was working but somehow they were able to have a good time together anyway, LOL ;-) Music, Beer and Food was in order! I beautiful day for a mini cookout with friends!

Shelly had a busy, busy 12 hours at work today. She visited for about 30 minutes, enjoying the burgers and chicken that Bobby had cooked on the grill before heading off to bed, as she is working again tomorrow.

Shopping, Church, & Visit

Bobby had been inviting his sister Michelle to church for the last few weeks and she finally agreed to go with us today. So we're going to meet her and Alexis (her daughter) in Salisbury and have her follow us to the church.

We've continued to look for a Wii Fit (unsuccessfully) over the last few days. We decided to go to Salisbury early to try the Target and Wal-Mart before church. No luck. We had extra time to kill, so we picked up a Sunday newspaper to look thru the ads until it was time to meet Michelle. While looking at the Circuit City ad, we saw they had Wii Fits advertised. So we called Michelle and asked her to meet us there instead. We arrived there 5 minutes before they opened with only five people in line in front of us to get in the store. When the doors opened, we went in and right over to the counter where they had the Wii Fits. Well, they only had 5 and all of the five people in front of us bought one! You'd think if they ran an ad, they'd have more, but they said that's all they were getting.

So we left and headed to church with Michelle and Alexis in tow. It was a good service, even though we were missing the preacher, Brent Brady, and about 17 members of the congregation. They had flown down to Slidell, LA for the week to work with IDES, building a house for a deserving family. We'll just have to get Michelle and Alexis to come back next week, when everyone will be back.

After church, we went our separate ways. We decided to hit a few more stores looking for a Wii Fit. 1st: Toys R Us ("No") and then we went to two more stores. Since they were both in the same shopping center, Bobby went into GameStop ("No"), while Shelly checked the Best Buy. When Shelly entered the store, one of the sales guys asked me how she was. She responded that she was "good, but would be much better if she had a Wii Fit". He said, "Let me call my manager". Next thing she knew, the manager comes out and walks her to the back of the store where he has a Wii Fit waiting for her! Seems as though they weren't supposed to put them out for sale till next Sunday, but they were making an exception for Shelly.

So we got out Wii Fit and went happily on our way. Couldn't go straight home, as we had made plans to visit our friend Cliff Handy for a few hours today. We made a couple more stops along the way, once at the flea market (to look for Wii games and have lunch) and again at our storage shed to check on our "stuff". It's still there and would be nice to have a yard sale right there, but doubt the storage company would like that idea.

We then headed to Cliff's to catch up with each other. Had a nice visit, but couldn't stay too long, as Shelly's working tomorrow. So we went back home. Got the Wii Fit setup and Shelly did 30 minutes of exercises while Bobby made dinner. A little relaxation and then it was off to bed.

Wii, Insurance, and errands

Finished filling out our required forms to get our vehicle(s) and full-timers insurance changed over to South Dakota. We then drove to Seaford to pick up our fridge fan we had ordered and then to our CPA to pick up our Change Of Address forms we need to send to DE and the IRS. Next we stopped at the Post Office to mail all of the above. One last stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before heading back home.

Forgot to mention, we finally got to play with the Wii this morning. First, we setup our profiles, and then did some bowling and tennis. Shelly's arms are already sore from the tennis. Shelly works the next two days, and then it's off to Johns Hopkins on Weds with Bobby's parents.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Arlene! Today is Bobby's mom's birthday. We drove up to Houston, DE to meet Bobby's parents at their place. Once again, we forgot our camera, so no pictures. We rode up to Dover with them to go out to dinner at Shuckers Pier 13, a seafood restaurant. Bobby got Clam Strips, Shelly got Crab Cakes, and Bob and Arlene got the Prime Rib. All the food was okay, but nothing outstanding. Dinner consumed, Shelly had the waitress surprise Arlene (& everyone else) with a slice of cheesecake and a "Happy Birthday" serenade by the wait staff. We all ended up eating it though, as Arlene hadn't planned for desert.

Arlene then drove us around Dover to various places where we went in looking for a Wii console and Wii Fit. We finally found a Wii at Wal-Mart (after making more stops then we could count). The hard part will be trying to find a Wii Fit, as it's only been out a few months and stores sell them as fast as they get them in.

After one of our last stops, a doctor from Johns Hopkins called and talked to Bob. He wants him to come over next Weds for tests and then plans to do a stint placement surgery (to keep the lung inflated) the next day. So we'll plan on spending at least a few days over there in Baltimore, MD.

Our shopping done, we headed back to the coach, as Shelly is scheduled to work the next two days.

Doctor visit and another emergency

Went to Seaford to meet Bobby's parents at Bob's doctor office to get the results of his PET scan. Well, it's a mass but they still cannot say what kind of cancer it is, though the doctor believes it's likely to be stage 3 Squamous cell lung cancer. He's going to make some phone calls to try to get Bob into Johns Hopkins or another large cancer facility ASAP.

After the appointment, we stopped by an RV place to order a fridge fan (to help circulate air inside our fridge) and then met Bobby's parents at Applebee's for lunch. While there, Arlene (Bobby's mother), received a phone call that her brother-in-law, Ernie (Bobby's uncle), was being admitted to the hospital and would be receiving emergency dialysis.

So, when we finished lunch, we headed over to the hospital to see Ernie. He seemed okay, just a bit tired (he was receiving his dialysis at the time).

Our first visit complete, we headed home for dinner as well as letting Clay and Teri know about Ernie and Bob's test results.

Church and Shopping

Started off the day going to church and then stopped by Food Lion to grocery shop before heading home. We basically relaxed the rest of the day as well as visited with Teri and Clay before the day ended.

Day with Bobby's Parents (Houston, DE)

Got up early this morning to head up to Houston, DE to spend the day with Bobby's parents, Bob & Arlene. We called them around 8:30AM when we were only 10 minutes away. Since there wasn't enough room at their site for our car, Bob met us up at the office to leave the car and take us over to their site.

We exchanged hugs and conversation for a while and then Arlene and Shelly drove to Food Lion to pick-up Scrapple and eggs to cook for breakfast.

It was good to have some scrapple again, though it's not all that good for you.

Breakfast done, Bob got out the Nintendo Wii for us all to play with. I think we spent a few hours bowling, playing tennis, skiing, yoga, and much more. It was a lot of fun, so much so, a Wii may be in our future. It is certainly a more physically active way to play video games. Shelly really had fun and got a good workout with the "hula hoops".

Playtime over we kicked back and talked until it was time for dinner.

Arlene cooked up chicken breasts with tomatoes and broccoli.

We enjoyed the food with glasses of red wine. Few more hours of relaxing and then it was time to head back home (7:30PM) before it started getting dark. It was a GREAT day!

We had a good ride back home, and we were glad we did it while it was still light out, as we saw 2-3 dozen deer along the way!

Bob had a PET scan done Wednesday, and has an appointment with the cancer doctor Monday for the results. Hopefully, the news will be good.

Thank You so much for all the well wishes and prayers from our readers!

Hair & Family Get-Together

Shelly drove over to Seaford to get her hair cut and colored with Tina, her hairdresser for more than ten years. Makes it good to be back. That done, she stopped to pick up some drinks, as there is a planned family get-together tonight. She then returned back to the coach, had a snack and then cut Bobby's hair.

By the time that was done, it was time to head over to Kim (Bobby's cousin) & Ken's house for the family get-together.

We were having a big dinner with each other because Chad (another cousin of Bobby's) and his wife Kristin were visiting from South Carolina with their 2 month old baby girl, Reese Addison.

(Aunt Debbie with baby Reese)

(Bobby's cousin Kim with baby Reese)

Most everyone took turns holding her, especially her Grandpa (Jeff).

We had a smorgasbord of food, including: steamed crabs, corn on the cob, fried chicken, hot dogs and baked beans, coleslaw, cheese & crackers, and watermelon. Can you say "stuffed"!?

(Our niece Alexis)

(Bobby's sister Michelle and mother)

(Bobby's father)

I think we all ate a little more than we should have, but it was all good. It was good to see so many family members. We got there around 6:30PM and didn't leave until after 10PM with all the socializing going on.

(Bobby's sister Michelle with Shelly)

(Aunt Debbie and Uncle Ernie)

(Bobby's father)

A good time was had by all and we enjoyed all the catching up.

Shelly's 1st day

Shelly went in and worked 12hrs on a new floor in the hospital. The nurses/staff had only been on the floor about a week, so everything was pretty new to them as well.

She had a pretty busy, but good day. When she got home, Bobby had made a nice dinner of blackened Salmon, baked potatoes, and greens. Nice way to end the day.

Appointments

Time to catch up on some appointments. First, was Shelly's annual eye exam and contact lens check. All good! No change in her prescription. From there Shelly was off to the dentist for an exam and cleaning. Since she had some time to kill between appointments, she had lunch at a local pizza place, as well as a pedicure (not at the pizza place, LOL). Seems as though a few of her fillings are showing their age and need to be replaced. So she setup two appointments to have them done.

Eyes and teeth all checked out, she headed over to visit with her sister, Judy. Had a good time, and even enjoyed some dinner (corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots -Yum!) and ice cream cake for desert. She ended up leaving rather quickly after that, as there was a thunderstorm en route and she didn't want to get caught in it driving home.

Tomorrow, Shelly is scheduled to work (12hrs), so we'll see how that goes.