Cemetery Picnic

On Memorial Day we met some relatives (Tom's sister Susan, her daughter Shanon, Shanon's husband Fritz and their sweet daughter Lucia) at the St. Francis Cemetery in  Roy. Tom's mother, father and brother are buried there.  His dad was a German prisoner of war and Tom is an airforce veteran, so we thought a visit and picnic in the cemetery was appropriate. It is a beautiful country cemetery set in rolling farmland. We had good food, good company and a just perfect sunny day.

St. Francis Cemetery, Roy, Oregon

Tom and Lulu playing frisbee!   Run Lulu, run!

I was saving this to post on Tom's birthday, but I was so busy with the bowling pictures that I forgot! This is the receipt that Tom's mother got from St. Vincent's Hospital when she left the hospital after he was born.  The normal stay was 10 days, but look, she got a discount for only staying 7 days.   Ahhh the good ol' days.

Bowling Birthday

Tom has mentioned numerous times over the past two years that he would like to go bowling.  Not being much of a bowler myself, I always smiled, nodded and replied, "That would be fun". So it being his birthday last Monday, I thought it was time I made that happen. We met family at the Four Seasons Bowling alley in Hillsboro with the Sports Look restaurant. Tom first headed to the pin ball machine.

Group shot. Tired after three games.

He's a pinball wizard!

Tom and his brother James enjoying good food from
the Sports Look.
Drinks and food delivered to our lane.

Logan and Alli (Leelee)

Tom checking the score.

S

STRIKE !!!!!

His wish was fulfilled and a good time 

was had by all :-)

Facebookish

Not one to really use Facebook much (yet), this post will consist of photos of places Tom and I have visited and food we have eaten recently in our quest for present moment fun.  Hense, Facebookish. If you don't wanna see my tacos, skip this post and read later in the week when I may write about chemotherapy or Tom's birthday or secret world domination conspiracy.

Low tide panorama shot of Twin Rocks 

Twin Rocks, Rockaway, Oregon

Tom's sister Kathleen is manager of the Twin Rocks Motel.
She invited us down last week. We had two sunny days!  

Tom headed towards the beach to light some roman candles. He's got them in his hands. I watched from the deck.

We met Alli and Logan at Cornell Farm for Mother's Day. They bought me a 
hydrangea and a sunflower.
Afterwards we ate at Elephant's Deil. Something for everyone there.

Alli and Logan next to the fancy chicken coop.

Tom, Cindy, and Allison at Cornell Farm

After  a trip to Goodwill we ate at Ochoa's.
Tom is wearing his rain jacket find.

                 

Close up of Tom's rainjacket find.  If you look
closely you can see the "new" tag hanging down.

Great street tacos and a Mexican coke made
with pure cane sugar eaten in the covered
outside area.

My Goodwill find.  Pretty!

A large tree fell down on our property, The crashing sound  scared both of us.

And now the beginning of the famous Foot Photos!

My foot by the  fallen tree to show how big the tree was.

My foot pointing at Twin Rocks

Tom massaging my foot at the turn-a-round in Seaside.

That's all folks!

Any Port in a Storm

Not really any port, but a power port!

Inside this packet Tom got a special identification
card, a key ring and a bracelet! Score!

Tom had his power port inserted this week. Dr. Inscore inserted an 8 French PowerPort via the right internal jugular vein, into Tom's chest Tuesday morning. It's purpose is to allow easy access for coming treatments.

We left the house for Sunnyside Medical Center at 7:30 am and the procedure took the doctor less than an hour, but adding to that the hour and a half in the waiting area, the prep time and the recovery time, we left the hospital around 2:30 pm. While in the recovery area I asked Tom how it went and he said "It was relaxing."

Not having eaten since midnight as a prep for the port insert, Tom was hungry and we couldn't resist our favorite Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant over on Sandy Boulevard, Zien Hong. Of course I had already eaten at my favorite hospital cafeteria while Tom was under anesthesia: chicken breast cooked in creamy herb sauce, steamed carrots, and mashed potatoes with gravy, but that did not stop me from savoring salt-pepper squid and Kung Pao Chichen at Zien Hong.

Years ago Tom worked with a Vietnamese guy who introduced us to this restaurant which is the proverbial hole-in-the-wall.  It serves authentic, fresh ingredients cooked expertly. They recently fancied up the place, inside and out putting in a new restroom and  removing  the yellow bars from the windows!   Nice touch Zien Hong.

Across the street he couldn't resist going into  the Cosmic Monkey comics store for something to read. I remained outside for a bit to take pictures.

It's now a couple of days later and Tom is feeling okay.  His birthday is coming up on Monday and on Tuesday he will start chemo.

Urban Drive

Leaving our home heading to treatment in North Portland, we first drive through gently rolling farmland for about 20 minutes.  We enter a more forested area as we wind back and forth through Forest Park on Germantown Road which takes us to the St. John's bridge. Here our rural ride turns urban.

With 40-story tall Gothic Cathedral Spires and graceful arches, the 7,360-ton steel St. Johns Bridge, which spans the Willamette River, was almost lost through neglect.  Opened in 1931, it is the largest and most significant suspension bridge in Oregon. 

Who is living in a van by the river?

Food cart pod.  I read this  pod thing is "peculiar to Portland" but starting to spread.

I like the name.

I lived in St. Johns when I first moved to Porland in the early 80's.  We bought a cute little red house for $42,000 and sold it eight years later for $38,000.  Oops! It was not a thriving area.  I worked at James John Elementary school years later when I got pregnant with Amanda.

Some history:

In 1843 James John came to Oregon and settled in Linton. Several years later he moved the site of the town that bears his name to the current location. He started a ferry in 1852.  The original plat for the town of St. Johns was filed in 1865 and the St. Johns Post Office opened in 1873.  After Johns died, it became a sleepy little town with few residents and no industry. Then in 1902 the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company extended the railway to the St. Johns area. By connecting the rail lines to the marine facilities that were already there, industry and commercial opportunities began to grow. 

Community Center

Neon looks great at night. (North Interstate Ave.)

This is a teen community center, which has a summer camp coming up soon. Although there are some beautiful parks filled with century old trees, and some attractive new areas of development, my tastes (especially in photos) lean toward the quirky.

One of Portlands famous Tiki bars. Maybe we can have a Mai Tai there someday?

So as you can see, the drive offers sights of beautiful farmland, lush forests, and stimulating urban scenes to fill and delight our visual senses along the way.

I'm the Driver

In the thirty-plus years that Tom and I have been married, he has been the driver. Early in our relationship when I would drive, he was always a nervous passenger, constantly telling me what to watch out for, what lane I should be in, and not to get so close to the edge of the cliff! Clearly it was much more relaxing for both of us for him to take the wheel.

Moony parked in our driveway.

Starting in March, when he started feeing ill, I took over the wheel and have been the driver ever since. I've put over 3,400 miles on Moony since mid-March. Yes, my car has a name. I named my first car that I bought with my babysitting money and the next two cars, but gave up the practice for the next 35 years of my adult life. Four years ago when I purchased the nicest car I've ever owned, a 2008 Mini Cooper, I gave it the name Moony. My first two Volkswagons (1963 and 1967) were named Moon and New Moon, so it seemed appropriate to name my new special fun-to-drive car Moony.

As the driver,  I like to plan my driving stops so that I make a loop rather than zig-zag or backtrack.  Tom can confirm this (with a slight eyeroll or sigh).  Driving to Tom's radiation treatments in North Portland, five days a week, I preferred non rush hour times when I could zoom there on the highways and then take the back roads home through the more picturesque areas.

You know what highways look like, so here are some photos to give you a flavor of the rural drive. These were taken within the last year but not on our treatment trips so as to minimize my increasing requests for stopping and taking photos.  * all photos taken from the driver's seat of Moony.

The recent Super Moon as it looked the morning after.

Elk herd down Dixie Mountain Road.

Sunrise. Looks like Mt. Hood errupting!

Next post...the urban drive...

The leader

Palliative care

This was the week that we finally met with an oncologist.  I kept reading about a "team" of doctors that were supposed to look at test results, confer, speak to the patient, and come up with a plan of treatment. On Monday after his radiation treatment, Tom and I met with Dr. Mc Donald (aka Death Angel) to discuss future treatment.  When I asked her about our "team", she explained that we were supposed have met with an oncologist weeks ago, who would help to coordinate things before Tom's surgery, but because  that happened so quickly an appointment was never made. She acknowledged that it should be done and set us up with an appointment to meet Dr. DeGraca.

We met with Dr. DeGraca on Wednesday morning before Tom's treatment. We  explained that the only future planning discussed was with the surgeon Dr. Parsons, who had confirmed that it was stage 3 and told us Tom would need radiation to shrink the tumors and then surgery. Well, it appears that Dr. Parsons had spoken before all the results were in, and probably being a surgeon, he believed that cutting it out was the way to go, because after all he is a surgeon and that is what they do.

Dr. DeGrasa confirmed that the cancer is stage 4 which means it has spread. He told us that surgical removal was not recommended at this point. Chemotherapy seems to be the recommended course of action. Palliative chemotherapy is given if surgery is not a treatment option. Palliative chemotherapy can increase overall survival and may temporarily shrink or stabilize a tumor, thus reducing symptoms and extending the patient's life.  Dr. DeGraca told us that he has patients that he has been treating since 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 etc.

Needless to say, we had a sad ride home.

But by the next day, we were back to living in the moment and making the best of things. So here are some pictures we took on the way home on Thursday:

Heavenly Donuts make us happy!

I'm ready to go inside and get one now.

The happiest of all stops.

Hot Beach

This is supposed to be the ending photo. It's of the cove at Seaside taken last December.  I tried putting it at the end 7 times, but it keeps popping up here at the beginning,  so here it stays.

It was hot at Seaside on Sunday. Hot.  Really. We sat on a log close to the surf at the cove and I was sweating. Just sitting on a log I felt uncomfortably hot. Only people who frequent Oregon beaches will understand my utter disbelief at this occurrence.

We took the long way to Seaside stopping at the pharmacy  for Toms's pain meds and of course Starbucks to get a New York Times. By the time we hit the highway it was 1:30.  Tom took two hydromorphones and declared himself painless. It was a smooth, peaceful drive.  Our first stop in Seaside was the Bell Bouy as planned.  We split a prawns and chips on the sunny deck overlooking the creek.

Best seafood and chips around. I like their
coleslaw with pineapple.

Their weren't many surfers at the cove. A cloudless hot day but the ocean must have been soupy.

A Tom on a Log.  Surfer carrying board in distance.

After a few hours of watching the surf we headed into town to walk the turn-a-round and of course got to one of Tom's absolute favorite stores, The Buzz.

If you are not familiar with The Buzz, they carry every kind of candy that you have ever had or dreamed of, that is still being produced.  I won't bore you with a catalogue of  pictures of all the
candy trips down memory lane, but I could't resist a few photos.

Candy Couple Can't Decide

Yum! Crunchy Goodness.

Yes, that is chocolate dipped bacon, and oreos, and Twinkies, and  a honey bun.  But don't be disappointed,  they also have that raspberry cheesecake dipped Twinkie you wanted. See? It's right next to the dipped bacon Twinkie!
Bon Apetit!