Peggy's Blog

Bye Bye for a week!

2012-03-12T15:03:00.000-04:00

We are preparing for our journey to California tomorrow to see Patrick's brother, Bill, and his wife, Pat (the other Pat Irwin!) in Orinda, CA (near SF) and then down to LA to see Ryan and Sarah and baby-to-be Irwin. We are very anxious to see them. We'll be gone a week.

My health is pretty good, although still having some pain from time to time, so Dr. Johnson has me on Dalaudid but a tiny, tiny dose compared to what I used to take. So far, so good in terms of cramping and being clogged. I hope to taper off this entirely within the next few weeks.

Chemo is scheduled for the day we get back from CA. Chemo is not painful at all and I have the Emend drug which is a super magic bullet which prevents nausea. Should be A-OK!

Howard & Daryl have arrived and are getting settled in at the house here for their Bike Week adventure in Daytona Beach where there are hundreds of thousands of spring breakers plus the bikers, a new melding of two groups which has not happened before. Crowded times ahead. Reese and Allie will be in good hands with these dog lover guys!

Weather here in Florida is so perfect it is difficult to believe Spring has not yet sprung. Azaleas are in bloom and our bottle brush bushes are blossoming as are the little pansies and impatiens. Very nice! We will encounter rain in SF and LA and temps below normal (in the 70s) but we are ready with sweaters.

Next blog will be after our return. I'll take pictures to share.

Thanks for reading and hope all is well with you.

Love,

Peggy

There's No Place Like Home

2012-03-06T17:32:00.001-05:00

Yep. Believe it. I have been through quite an ordeal these past few days. Just typing these thoughts makes me get rid of some awful feelings. Starting last Sunday, when John & Joanne were here I began to develop cramps. . very intense.

J&J left to explore other parts of Florida (and had a good time they said!) while I continued to get worse. Went to chemotherapy last week and continued to feel bad. John & Joanne returned on Thursday and Friday we went over the the beach. Had a lovely lunch but then the cramps became so intense I had to lie down. Early Sat. a.m. Patrick took me to our local hospital's ER who said the CT scan was inconclusive but they thought I had ilius which is a freezing of the bowel. They wanted to admit me but I declined -- thinking Mayo was the place we needed to be.

So we drove to Jacksonville and got into the ER-after waiting 2 hours and they said to change out my narcotic pain med from hydromorphone to fentenyl. I put the fentenyl patch on and hated the feeling it gave me. I continued to feel intense pain. So Sunday, we went back to the local hospital and I just got home this afternoon.

My experience there was pretty awful - no food for 3 days. But the bowel is now back to normal and I will not take these heavy duty narcotics again. Just not for me. They also found a gallstone but it was a red herring -- many people have them and they are generally not painful like what I was going through.

So now I am in withdrawal and feeling as good as I can. It will be an uphill road to live without these narcotics but I have some substitutes so I hope to feel much better this week. Off to California next Tuesday! Patrick, of course, was a saint and not only drove my cousin and his wife to the airport (Orlando) but was there every day for me in many ways. The dogs thank him as well.

More later. . .

Good Times Ahead.

2012-02-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

Feeling oh so much better ! Three days of cramping and pain. The narcotics I take clog one up from time to time and this was one of those times -- all over though, now! Thank Goodness.

Chemo going well. The chemo caddy comes off tomorrow.

Then a few more days with John and Joanne and then back to work with CFA. We have just broken an all time record for individual donors' highest amounts we have ever seen for February. Very pleased.

No real issues here. . hope the same for you!

Love,

Peggy

Presidential Bio Reading

2012-02-23T08:16:00.002-05:00

So you might remember I am trying to read a bio or autobiography of all US Presidents. To date, I have read books on Washington, Adams (great book by David McCullough), Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, then moved on to Truman (also by McCullough) and FDR,by Doris Kerns Goodwin. Next up is either Lincoln or Eisenhower. Then on to the modern Presidents: Nixon, Reagan, LBJ, JFK, Carter and Ford. Then I will go back to John Quincy Adams and fill in the blanks. I am getting more refined about the bio authors and seek very well-written books. McCullough and Goodwin won the Pulitzer for the books I read. Huge difference in detail and story telling.

I really enjoyed the Truman book and fell in love with him, my favorite president so far. . . he was barely elected yet had some of the most dramatic moments to face in the presidency. His self deprecation, his workaholic nature, his morality (no affairs for him), and his common sense approach to things was so admirable. He was a bit naive and a party man who aligned himself with some "gooney hangers-on" but overall, he did a great job in the office.

Had my eyes opened wide about FDR whom I grew up thinking hung the moon. Well, he also knocked out a few stars along the way and I sincerely believe it was unconscionable for him to have run for a 4th term knowing how ill he was. Indeed, his personal physician hid a lot from him (which was the thing of the day) and the public had no idea that he was even paralyzed, not to mention his melanoma, his high blood pressure and his abdominal attacks. FDR knew his own body though, his level of energy and his vitality --like any person knows their state of health. He really came down in my book by running in 1944. The months of his presidency during that time were spent at Yalta and handling a few other crises, but he spent a great deal of time at Hyde Park or Warm Spring relaxing while Eleanor ran around the country doing his work. Too bad we were not ready for Eleanor to be President. She had a marvelous prescient view of integration and due to her efforts, Truman desegregated the military. the one thing I have to say is that if FDR did not run in 1944 with Truman on the ticket, we would not have had Truman as president!

I have recommendations on Jackson's life, American Lion, Jefferson's life, (whom I will read again ) American Sphinx, and a book about Coolidge by Amity Schlaes.

If you know of any more, pass them here, please.

Finally, we have rain in Florida! Very bad drought here. . but the degrees are still 70 plus.

Feeling fine. . .no sugar yesterday (but did have some sugar-free things!). . . and hope to stick to this for at least 6 weeks.

Have a great week.

Love,

Peggy

One Step Back

2012-02-20T17:21:00.000-05:00

What is it they say, two forward and one back? Well, the one back was today. Glad all the rest will be forward moving!

We met with Dr. Johnson and she said to proceed with the re-siting of my stoma soon. "Don't wait months to have a re-siting done because chemo is advised," she said after she looked at the CT scan results. The thickening of the omentum (combined with my pain) is the troubling issue. Thank God the strands have not grown.

We were told a while ago that the chances of my getting a re-siting were 50-50 and of course, it cannot happen during chemo. The surgery from the re-siting would have to heal and then chemo commence a month or 6 weeks post.

So we proceeded to the 3rd floor to meet with Dr. Landham, but were told that he had been called into emergency surgery and could not see me, after I have waited 6 weeks for this appointment. Rescheduling with him was getting more and more into the out weeks due to his "triple booking," his 10 a.m. flights out of JAX and his schedule of working only three days a week in the clinic because he is in surgery two days. It was getting ridiculous. So, after reviewing several options, our final decision was to go ahead with the critical phase of all of this (the chemo) and let the re-siting occur later in the year.

So, chemo will commence on Feb 28th for 12 administrations (every other week). That will carry me into Mission as well as Mayo using the same chemicals. This administration will not be as effective as the first, she said, but the good news is that in 2010 we started chemo pretty late in the game, but this time we are catching it early.

We also spoke about the fact that even though we don't know "the primary" and may never know (happens in 3-5% of all cases of cancer) signet ring cell usually settles in the pancreas or colon. So although they don't see the primary, they are treating it as colon cancer and not pancreatic. I believe they are right but there is never a guarantee. I trust Mayo to have the knowledge.

So that is my report of the day. We can continue to live with the stoma where it is sited so long as I have my pain pills! The main thing is to conquer the cancer.

Love,

Peggy

Grand Baby Irwin on Her Way!

2012-02-18T13:44:00.001-05:00

In this adorable picture you can see the love Ryan and Sarah will have for their baby girl due on August 24th. We have known about this intended birth since Christmas, but were not able to share due to some initial at-risk situations which are now resolved. Baby and Mom are doing well. Everyone is very excited. I have never had kids before so just going with the flow here. It must be a hormonal roller coaster and I do not wish that on anyone, but the results I am sure are very rewarding. Both Sarah and Ryan are happy and I am sure will be very busy over the next few months planning for Baby Irwin's arrival. We will see them in mid-March and will provide a full update.

Our trip to St. Petersburg and Tampa was wonderful. We saw dolphins, maybe 20 of them, in the Boca Ciena Bay on a sailboat tour. They popped up and came close to the boat, playing with us and had a great time. We saw a couple of them corner fish at one end of the bay and make lots of splashy sounds. Then we just sailed around the bay for a while. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Chihuly -Persian glass- at Mayo

We then visited two museums. . for Dali and Chihuly. Both very impressive, but I suppose I like the vibrancy of glass more than surrealism. Chihuly's work is about both engineering and art. Dali is extremely popular. We enjoyed both of them.

We had lunch outdoors at 400 Beach Drive and it was lovely. . sat next to a cute Brittany Spaniel. Had dinner at The Wharf on night two and on night one it was the Hurricane. Both were ok, nothing to write home about. We learned that grouper is market priced in St. Pete, far more expensive than any other fish~!

Our lunch yesterday was terrific on the way back . . somewhere near Orlando we luckily found a Brooklyn deli, Pickles, which offered some great sandwiches. We found a book there about Brooklyn and actually bought a used copy today at Amazon.com!!

Today went to the Farmer's market and it was like there was a strike going on. . only half the vendors were there. Too bad. Where are all the strawberries in this bountiful crop we read about? Where? Also hit another sale at Beall's and continue to love that store.

Aunt Pauline had a good time with the dogs and we're so glad she is in our lives.

Off to Mayo on Monday!

Love,

Peggy

All Better Now

2012-02-12T21:13:00.000-05:00

Well it has been nausea-land and room spinning time for me since Friday but we went to the ER at Flagler Hospital Saturday (Urgent Clinic only open 9to5, MF!)and got an EKG;, they took 4 vials of blood, a full history, put me on an IV drip since I was dehydrated and determined, Viola: I had vertigo. Just like the movie, this ailment is seriously scary. Stay away. . .it was caused by my ear cleansing last week, so says the doc. I don't ever want to go through that again. But feeling almost 100% now and so is Allie. She had her stitches out on Thursday. Got two meds and that made a world of difference.

We just have made an agreement to rent out our Florida house to that wonderful young couple we met on our cruise (and played hard trivia with). She is getting her pharmacy degree and already has a job lined up at CVS here so we decided to offer them our home once we leave and they come down (from Charlotte). I am sure they will find something over the 6 months they will rent here but at least here they will have a big back yard for their dogs and it is furnished so they will have all the comforts of home at a reasonable price. I am so excited that they are pleased with the arrangement. And so happy we will have some nice friends here each season we visit.

Mayo's Davis Bldg. (MY Building!)

This Tuesday we go to Mayo for labs and CT scan then Wednesday it's off to St. Pete. Dali Museum in St. Pete.

Next Monday I have my oncologist review and the meeting with the surgeon about the stoma re-siting.

Then my cousins come in on Feb. 24th.

In the meantime a lot of things are happening with CFA like a new website with a new "branding" image of UnChain Buncombe, new fund-raising efforts and an entirely new PR/educational campaign. I cannot wait to get that going. All the media people have been very generous giving of their air time and all kinds of gifts to the dogs. Very nice!

Plus the folks who are throwing their hat in the ring for commissioner in the 2012 election are people we actually know (amazing what a small town Asheville really is!) Am feeling really good about getting a law passed in 2013.

Have not found my photography class yet but still looking.

All to report now from the dern coldest place I have been in for at least 6 months! (it was 32 this a.m. and matched a record of 1955 in Daytona)

Love,

Peggy

Sunny Thoughts on a Cloudy Day

2012-02-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Chihuly Chandelier at Mayo (say that 3 times fast)

Things are going so well, I want to pinch myself!

It's looking very good for CFA, both from the fundraising/special events perspective and from the educational campaign perspective. More to come soon! Plus we have just received a most generous offer to design and host our new website for free. Thanks go to Suzi Katz of Alice Web Design who has given so much to the animal community of Asheville (eg., North Asheville Animal Hospital, REACH, etc) , even though she now lives in San Francisco. A big Thanks also goes to Elly Wells of Elly Wells, Inc. who is designing our billboards, our posters and many other things. It is difficult to measure how much gratitude I feel for these two wonderful women who are working for chained dogs. Amazing talent.

Our health is fine (including Precious Allie) although I am bothered by my ear again (3rd time in 6 months) so seeing the doctor today about that and am having some ab pain which I'll get checked out this week.

I checked out a neat photography class at Penland in Spruce Pine but the commute is an hour each way from W-ville and the cost is pretty high, so I think I will try to do something a little less intense this summer -- maybe at AB Tech or somewhere. I would like to know more about photography and movie making too! Hollywood, here I come!

We are spending Feb 15th and 16th in St. Pete and seeing dolphins, Dali and Chihuly art work . Can't wait!

John and Joanne will be visiting with us in late February and also seeing Sanibel for shells and Boca Raton for rich people. Hope they find many and bring them home to us!!!

All for now,

Love,

Peggy

Sunday Update

2012-02-05T09:56:00.000-05:00

Well, the final news on Allie is that she looks almost normal now! Thank Goodness. We have her on Clavamox and Prednisone for a 3 week regime. It was a horrible trial, let me tell you! Thanks again to everyone who helped us keep our sanity during that trying time.

I've been working on a variety of CFA projects: preparing for the "finals" to be selected as a charity for Asheville Affiliates who hosts four "celebrations for a cause". . at least we made it through to this stage!; a City of Asheville Activity at Bele Chere (beverage station, soda station, wristbands, merchandise sales, etc) which we are also in the running for; and designing the theme and media plan for our new educational campaign for UnChain Buncombe. Perhaps the biggest news is that we have a new pro-bono web designer who is fabulous. See her work here: Alice Web Design.

Florida weather, like perhaps where you are, is unseasonably mild and wonderful. Perfect outside weather. We're traveling down to St. Pete for Valentine's Day to see art museums mainly but will enjoy the weather as well with a boat ride to see the dolphins. Can't wait..

Patrick continues his weight loss by walking and I admire his discipline so much. I have lost on WW but then regained it. No allowance for stress eating at WW but nice to know that is my problem. I know intellectually I should exercise it off, but somehow my body is resisting that. . anyone out there have any good motivators?

Well, I will close with this conundrum: How is it possible to have a civil war? (I have plenty more of these!)

Love,

Peggy

Mystery Allie and Other Things

2012-02-02T19:04:00.000-05:00


Howdy Y'all!

Well, we went to the vet specialist today in JAX and he said and I quote: "the cause of the inflammation and enlarged lymph nodes is unknown at this time. She may have developed a bacterial infection of the lymph node or surrounding tissue. A foreign body could also be the cause. I recommend treating Allie with a combination of antibiotics and steroids for the next 3 weeks. If there is not a response OR if the swelling recurs after resolving, then I recommend a CT scan and further biopsy of the area." So, again thanks to everyone for your concerns. She seems ever so much better today! We are very pleased. This consult could have gone in a completely different way.

Two Peas in a Pod are doing well, thank you . .I got my eyes examined and I have 20-20 vision (isn't that just a great thing to hear?) but astigmatism is an issue. New glasses should be arriving soon.

We are now re-planning our trip to St. Pete and the Dali Museum plus the Chihuly Exhibit and maybe take a boat ride to see the dolphins. ChihulyArt

One of 700 dogs at Best Friends

We have finalized some parts of our Las Vegas/Utah trip for April 24-30 and I am very excited about seeing the animals again at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Twenty-two of the Michael Vick Dogs were sent here and only a few remain. Who says you cannot rehabilitate abused dogs? Read about Best Friends

350,000 Bele Chere folks coming to town in July

CFA has a few new things hopping too. We're considering helping the city sell their city tee-shirts, etc. and other merchandise at Bele Chere to generate donations for us . . stay tuned. Plus Asheville Affiliates called me today to let us know CFA made it through to their semi -finals. They only pick 4 local charities out of about 35 who submit and he told me 1/2 are now rejected so Tiffany is going to be interviewed next week by these people. We'll know soon enough.

Aunt Jean is well ensconced in Madison and we miss her! She has made plans to come back to Flalger next year so we are delighted about that. We had a geat time with her!

Well, it has been a very busy day (plus got my hair done) so I'll close for now. Hope all of you are Happy! Allie certainly is and so are her guardians.

Peggy

Results of Biopsy

2012-01-31T13:25:00.000-05:00

We just talked with Dr. Ware. Allie has no signs of neoplastic cells.

The surgeon had taken quite a bit of sample from the tumor and sent it off. The swelling and inflammation were 3 inches around the tumor, but they believed they got into the center of this, so this biopsy should be pretty accurate. The pathologists suggest she has myocitis which is an inflammation of the cells.

We are not totally out of the woods yet since we need to figure out if this is an infection of her salivary glands or what. We have an appt. to take her back to Dr. Ware tomorrow just to see about the swelling.

Frankly, I was relly thinking the worst since she has not been doing well today--making little noises all day (sort of like snoring) but hopefully we can control this inflammation and will not have to resort to surgery. But we have to get the swelling down.

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts, prayers and notes. Much appreciated.

Roller Coaster

2012-01-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this morning was not good. . no eating. . not wanting to go wee wee, drooling down the side of her mouth. . .not taking the pill. . .not good. What is with this roller coaster of sickness. . .
(and I should know. I am sure I was 100% steady during my treatments. . ;0)

At last around noon we got the Rimadyl into her and some luncheon meat-- she will not touch the critical care food now. Drooling has stopped and she finally went outside and all is well there.
I feel so sorry for her and cannot think of much else to do but wait for the results which we should know tomorrow.

Peggy

GREAT Day for Allie

2012-01-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

Allie in Asheville

We went for a nice walk in Central Park. It was a beautiful day for a walk. AS is her wont, she worked on removing the eyeball of one of her stuffed toys. By the way, she never ever eats these eyeballs. She piles them up on the floor sometimes. Then she dismembers the toy and rips out their guts (cotton) and that ends up all over everywhere. Her fave thing to do! ;-)

She ate two meals today of that very consolidated food (A/D critical care). Patrick has to give her some from his fingers and then she eats the remainder. The swelling is really down now and except for this enormous tumor she looks like she always has.

Her energy is back as well. We played the "running game" where I throw pieces of treats around the house and they both run and run after them. She was just right on top of that game, let me tell you!

So, we are heartened to have Allie back with us mentally anyway. It has been 3 days of hell.

Thanks for all of your emails and messages. For all of you who love animals, you know exactly what we are going through. . many of you have been there yourselves so thanks for all the notes of encouragement and love.

Love,

Peggy

Allie Update for Saturday

2012-01-28T09:42:00.002-05:00


Allie in 2007 -when we first got her

Allie is much better! Dr. Ware gave her Rimadyl which is basically an arthritis med. She went from hiding behind the red chair in my office to running out to the garage to greet Aunt Jean last night! She attempted to perform her eye-ectomy with her new toy last night (removing all the eyes from toys is her hobby) and overall is better.

We have used Rimadyl for Reese before and it was also effective. It works, not as an opiate (Tramadol) but as an NSAID and the extent of my knowledge on this topic is now exhausted.

We had a lovely evening here with Aunt Jean last night and she is generously sharing some of her art with me! Will be shopping for frames this week.

Have also lost another pound (official weigh-in is tomorrow) but feeling very healthy and good about the discipline. Now if I could only get back on the bike -- I keep blaming the weather, but it is pure sloth as the deterrent!

Worked a lot on CFA things this past week. Disappointed that the HSUS will not prioritize chaining at the state or national level, as they have done in the past. Plan to cover that topic and others in my newsletter this month.

Going to a big art show in New Smyrna Beach tomorrow (with Aunt Jean) but will not leave Allie alone for very long. We had to cancel our St. Pete trip to the Dali museum, etc. for now but will reschedule when she is doing better.

Update on Allie

2012-01-27T12:28:00.000-05:00

Last night she looked pretty bad with the big staples (to come out in 10 days) and it seems like the tumor is even bigger since they shaved her. It is even bigger today! We have another appt. with the vet at 2:40. We will see why she is not taking her pills (tried 5 times using pill pockets, hot dogs and lunch meat to no avail) She is eating, just not the pill. She is also drinking lots of water. Poor baby.

Here is the update:
It is not an infection, for sure -- no fluid or puss

She is saying might not be lymphoma now after palpating the tumor.
Hypothesis is a neck peripheral sheath nerve carcinoma which I keep calling swannanoa but is actually schwannoma -- people get it too. Sounds like another designer cancer (like signet ring cell -- only the weirdest cancers for us, baby!!)
No metastasizing to her lungs (she was afraid of that)-- saw radiographs
No bone intrusion yet on jaw via other radiographs-
No swallowing interference -- trachea tube went down without an issue -- great news because that means she can swallow.
I think we might have caught this early -- I swear there was no swelling this past weekend and all of a sudden it just popped up and we saw it Wed night.
Surgery may be back in the picture-- some discussion about getting margins (not 100% clear what that means) but according to the internet it means that most surgeons don't get all the margins out so there is a 72 percent recurrence rate after surgery.
We will meet with the JAX oncologist as soon as the definitive type of cancer is know. Should know 100% on Monday or Tuesday.

Peggy

Sad news

2012-01-26T11:52:00.000-05:00

Our beloved Allie might have cancer. She has developed a tumor in her lymph glands. After a two hour vet visit this monring, we know the following:

1) Her blood work shows high red blood cells and something else (hecratic something) that indicates a serious infection so may be that is what is causing the swelling. Her temperature is also elevated.
2) The xrays of her chest came back fine -- no metastes into her lungs
3. The biopsy will take place today and sent off. We will not know for a week
4. Cancerous tumors grow rapidly which might be why she went from no swelling to huge swelling so fast.
5. No surgical options are available for this -- would need to be chemo and/or radiation in Jacksonville.

So we will know February 2nd or so. . .keep her in your prayers and thoughts, please. She is only 8 years old and has a lot of life and love still to give. This has to be one of the saddest days. ;-(

Peggy

Happy Monday

2012-01-23T18:22:00.000-05:00

So, hope all of you are doing well! Our weekend was fun. . .we went shopping at Beall's and bought a few items -- all on good sales.

We also spoke with Seamus on Saturday and heard about his fabulous cruise to Petra, Cairo and the Pyramids. .

I lost a pound which is wonderful so if you really watch what you are doing, you can get there.

One of our fun moments this weekend was seeing Reese get 3 toys in his mouth! He normally has only one and on special occassions he will get 2, but 3 is something that very rarely occurs. So here are photos to pass along to posterity. (He has a stuffed fish, a long stick and a stuffed dog).

Our weather could not be better -- mid to high 70s each day. . .

Tomorrow we get our new carpeting installed on our porch. . we have been waiting several weeks for the weather to not get below 50 to do this job and he called today! Yay!

Have a good week everyone!

Is Someone Following Us?

2012-01-20T10:10:00.003-05:00

Smoky Bones

Disney World

First Senator Obama came to Asheville during the 2008 campaign to an overflowing crowd of 28,000 at the high school. (That was when we were invited to stand behind him as he gave his speech. We were there to represent all the old folks, we think!-). Then he came back to Asheville last year to vacation for 3 days, exclaiming "I should work for the tourist bureau, I love Asheville so much!" Then yesterday he came on down to Central Florida and gave a talk designed to improve entry into the US from Brazilian and Chinese tourists. Could it be that he is following us around? How do you like my logic on that one? HA!
_______________________________________________________________

Anyway, we had a delightful day with Aunt Jean yesterday, visiting the MOAS (Museum of Art and Science) at Daytona to see a new display of watercolors. . lots of variety and styles. She especially liked seeing what others can do and have done! Personally I am a modern art aficionado but found these very detailed and admire the artists immensely.

Rocket Launch on Jan 19, 2012

We watched Ryan's Delta IV rocket take off right outside Jean's door a few yards from the beach. The shot I got was terrible. Can you see the tiny dot? That is the rocket! Not nearly as impressive as the amount of work that Ryan put into launching it, I'm sure! This was an Air Force rocket launching a satellite into orbit designed to help communications in the Middle East.

We had a lovely dinner and conversation. I continue to be amazed at Aunt Jean's energy and brains and talents. Patrick got a lot of that from the Irwin side as well!

Then, I got sick (my occasional nausea) which I am surmising might be caused by my eyes since I usually get a headache prior to the nausea, so I am going to get "real" eyeglasses -- not just readers. Seeing the eye doctor soon. Has to help!

We got an excellent article on ChainFree published in the Asheville Citizen-Times Monday and some most generous donors since then. An amazingly good week for us!

Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Peggy

Paula Deen

2012-01-18T16:33:00.000-05:00

I gotta tell you I am amazed at the brillance of Paula Deen. For 15 or more years, she has been cooking with lard, butter, sugar, bacon, grease, and fat. Some call it Southern Cooking. She gains more and more weight. She develops Type II diabetes, but instead of coming clean at that time and telling people oops -- I guess people should not eat this way, she waits 3 years for a diabetes supply house to partner with and then struck a deal last year. "Yes," she said, "I am compensated for my time," You bet, she is! Now she is "educated" about the disease, as she says, but will continue to cook with lard, butter, sugar, bacon, grease and fat --but --as she claims she tells her audience, "Eat it in moderation." She never told her audience to eat anything in moderation (well, maybe the last few months she has, but up until now, this was THE WAY to eat). And what kind of "education" did Miss Paula get, anyway?

Actually I am not complaining about the food she prepared. I loved some of her recipes when we owned the B&B. Yummy pineapple upside down muffins, for example. What makes me cross-eyed is her positioning--how she was "uneducated" about the disease and now, after 3 years, she has become educated enough to tell people about how to eat. Give me a break! Give me a double break. This is all about money and we all know it, but I guess I just snapped reading about this con job today. She was even lauded yesterday in the paper by the American Diabetes Association.

I used to work for the American Diabetes Association and learned quickly and easily how to manage food and exercise to control your insulin. It ain't hard to "educate" yourself, ladies and gentlemen. But I guess it took her 3 years! Unfortunately, she is giving out the wrong message. . that it will take 3 years for someone to learn how to manage?

At any rate, I believe she is one of our country's greatest self-promoters. She and the Donald should be best friends by now. The world of health and politics as brought to you by the biggest cons in the biz.

Thanks for listening.

Tuesday With Oranges

2012-01-17T14:16:00.000-05:00

I am doing the Weight Watchers Plan and have at least a bushel of oranges since the weekend. I cannot weigh in until Sunday but feeling very healthy. The new program allows all fruits and most veggies to be recorded as zero points! Yay!

We visited with Aunt Jean and Rick and Colleen (friends of Jean's from Madison) both Friday night and Saturday afternoon and they are a delightful couple. We had a lovely time talking with them.

We watched the DVD, Margin Call, with Kevin Spacey and found it interesting but slow moving. We would recommend it. It is about the financial crisis, and I think it is based on the demise of Bear Sterns.

However, what has occcupied a lot of our thoughts recently has been the terrible situation with the Costa Concordia. We are amazed at the irresponsible captain of that ship and hope he spends lots of itme in jail. I still cannot believe he "saluted" the tiny island of Giglio and put all those people in jeopardy and now 29 are missing with 6 confirmed dead. How horrible. One report said he left the ship before the evacuation even began and hailed a cab. My oh my, how can a person get this far into a nautical career and be so crazy and cowardly? I am glued to the news to get more details about this as we plan our next cruise for Winter, 2013! We will be going with the Palmers but not sure exactly where in the Caribbean.

Delta IV launch From Canaveral

Ryan's rocket, the Delta 4, will launch from Cape Canaveral at 7:38 on Thursday night and we'll be able to see it from Jean's place, we think. I'll try to get pictures, but I doubt I really can capture much. Here is a professional shot.

Health department news is fine. . no problems. Trying to bike each day either outdoors or inside with the stationary bike. WW is a good motivational program. You get points each day that you perform an activity like this so you can eat more. . .ha!

More later,

Peggy

Truman

2012-01-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

I have been immersed in David McCullough's, "Truman" on my Kindle Fire. Very well done! McCullough has the ability to build drama into everyday events, like his breakfast! Seriously, it is a very detailed but a lively book of his life. I am at the point where he has just become President (FDR's death). Truman knew NOTHING about anything. He had only seen FDR twice since he became Vice President in January. Truman was a very decent man who walked a straight path of honor and responsibility with a "plain" common sense approach. He was the President when I was born so it is very cool to be reading about the events which were going on in the world at that time.

My objective was to start with Washington and move through all the presidents but I got through John Quincy Adams and was about ready to start on Jackson and then got sidetracked into Charles Lindbergh and others (can you tell I love bios?) I am not reading them sequentially now. Next up will be Kennedy (and the big decision is whose book to read.) If anyone has read a good Presidential bio, please let me know, ok?

Life is great, otherwise. We are delighted that Patrick's niece's child, Casey, has pulled through her brain surgery well on Wednesday. She is only five and had a stroke last summer. The surgery has been much anticipated and scary so we are glad it is over and she is doing well.

We continue to be happy about the postponement of my chemo and the possibility of a stoma re-siting. . .happy days, indeed. We are celebrating tonight with Aunt Jean and her friends from Wisconsin who are visiting her this week. Patrick is making his world famous pizzas -- grilled with lots of fresh ingredients. Plus a key lime pie! Gotta have that in Florida, eh?

Hope you are happy too!

Love,

Peggy

Update on Strands

2012-01-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

Interestingly, the radiologist was unsure of his findings and called Dr. Johnson to discuss. . does this person have peritoneal cancer or not? (don't you love it?) The strands are still there and there is some "movement" toward the gallbladder; however, overall everything looks pretty good so Dr. Johnson suggests we wait until the first of April to repeat the CT scan and start chemo if the strands look worse then. She is also setting up an appt. with a special surgeon to discuss the re-siting of my stoma. Only a 50-50 chance he will do it but I am going for it! It will make life so much easier!

Talked to Seamus on Sunday via Skype and they are going on holiday to the Red Sea to see Petra and Jordan and the Pyramids! It has been very windy and warm in the UK.

It has not been windy but very warm here and the ocean is like a lake now. So very calm (just like moi!)

Aunt Jean is getting along well and loves Flagler Beach. She has so many fun art projects going! Plus her own house guests arrive today from Wisconsin. I'll bet they'll love it here.

I am continuing to work on our educational campaign to get dogs off chains in Buncombe County and have found some wonderful people who are volunteering their expertise to help us. Bravo to Kind People!

A big thank you also to Generous People, who have helped us raise more than $60,000 since 2008 to help these poor souls. When we started CFA and tabled at the Farmer's Market, we thought a good day was earning $50. We will be unchaining our 100th dog within the next few weeks and will have a big celebration! Stay tuned.

Hope all of you are happy and healthy!

Love,

Peggy

Strawberries, Honeybells, Green Beans, And More!

2012-01-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

We are loaded with fresh produce from the Farmer's Market. We got our first Honeybell oranges of the season, the sweetest oranges in the world. Made some lemon ice the other day with lemons from our neighbor's tree for iced tea and water. So easy to make these little ice cubes with lemon juice!

Aunt Jean is doing well and has started a watercolor drawing. We had lunch and enjoyed seeing her. She bought some fresh shrimp (which was in the ocean yesterday) at the Farmer's Market.

In sad news my wonderful poinsettias which I planted last year at this time, and which were doing so very well, died in the hard freeze night before last. I feel so bad since I should have covered them but I am not used to doing that task and just did not heed the weather forecasts. Oh well, perhaps they will come back?

Florida weather is back to normal and it will be a balmy 75 to 80 this weekend! Great tricycle weather! We'll also be talking with my cousin in the UK tomorrow! They are not coming to Florida this month as it turns out, but going instead to the Red Sea!

All for now!

Love,

Peggy

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

We are now pretty much over the cruise and have returned to Earth! Aunt Jean arrived yesterday so we are planning to take her around to various places this week. Daytona Beach is hosting a watercolor exhibit of Old Florida!

She had previously shipped all her painting supplies. The suitcase of her supplies was larger and much heavier than her suitcase of clothes for 30 days! She is so very organized and you can tell she loves to paint!!

She also has guests from Wisconsin coming to see her next week in her ocean front 2 bedroom in Flagler Beach.

Reese is fine now after a bout with hot spots. They had to clip his tail again (just like in August when we gone to NYC) His new meds fight allergies, but I personally think his latest bout was due to separation anxiety. However, he does seem more sparkly and energetic than last week, so this med is working at some level. We plan to be gone for a week in mid-March and perhaps we will have some more of these meds here.

Honey Bell oranges are now available! Yum. We plan to get some at the Farmer's Market this weekend. If they sell Honey Bells in your grocery store, you will not regret trying them! Our neighbor dropped off some grapefruit and some lemons for us. We don't need a citrus tree with all of these fruit gifts. . so very nice.

We saw George Clooney in "The Descendants" and we disagree about its "likableness." I gave it a B minus and Patrick gave it less. The plot line is basically about a man trying to find his dying wife's lover. I think George Clooney is pretty dreamy so it ranked high for me right away. I agree the plot was a little fantastic and unbelievable. But George Clooney is George Clooney.

I'm working this week for CFA trying to identify some grants from local and regional foundations to support our educational campaigns. Wish me luck!

That's it from our house to yours.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Peggy

Grand Cayman and Last Post of the Cruise

2012-01-01T12:55:00.001-05:00

Patrick at Breezes in Grand Cayman

An Iguana on the Beach. They are Trying to Save the Blue Iguana.

Underwater Experience with Fish

Jimmy Buffett's Place

As We Arrived!

We were tendered into Grand Cayman and went directly to an underwater tour of fish which was good, so much better than one we did in Mexico last year. We also took the "Trolly Roger" ride where we learned there are no taxes in GCI. . . all revenue comes from cruise lines ($15 per berth) and banking fees.

Tonight we had dinner at the Tuscany Grill and felt that the fawning and feedback they were seeking pretty much went overboard (no pun intended) and the food was just average.

Anyway, we had a cruise of a lifetime and we are so glad we went!

People We Met

2012-01-01T12:45:00.001-05:00

Grand Cayman was extraordinary and I will post photos of it next. . for some reason this post will not take additional photos!

Anyway, here are some of the people we met and so enjoyed being with them on the cruise. Although we did not win at Trivia: the questions were waaaay too difficult. we had fun playing with Julie and Zack who currently live in NC and are moving to Palm Coast!

The Tablemates we met were from all over the country and we had dinner with them almost every one of the 11 nights. Fun!

Honeymooners Julie & Zack, Trivia Teamsters


Donna and Jim, Karen and Greg, Rene and Jeff, Peggy and Patrick

Cartegena (pronounced Cart-Ah-Hayn-Yah)

2011-12-31T12:27:00.001-05:00

My, what a beautiful city! This was my favorite of the trip. We also had a great tour guide who had been giving tours for 12 years but had just started her own company in August. We found her on Trip Advisor and she was knowledgeable, flexible and full of good cheer. Her husband is an artist who was commissioned to do a special poster for the City's Bicentennial and she gave us each a poster! How very nice!

We traveled with another family on this tour and we stopped to have lunch in the Old City. We visited not only the Old City, but a monastery called El Popa, the old fort, and several other places. I also bought an emerald ring. . not as big as the Hope Diamond, but a nice sterling silver band with 5 small emeralds. Columbia is responsible for 98% of all emeralds mined on the planet. We saw no drug lords!

At El Popa (the Monastery) with a fabulous view

The Jesuit Monastery

Leaving Cartegena

Arriving in Cartegena

The Old Fort

One of the Squares

New Orleans with a Spanish Twist

Like Miami Beach? See the hook of the bay?

Lots of Loose Dogs (only saw one chained!)

More of El Popa

More of the Old City

Our Tour Guide (Ms. Pena-Hall) and Driver

Most doors looked like this (small)

Lunch in the Old Town

Another Square

The Panama Canal

2011-12-31T12:07:00.002-05:00

We were so lucky to see not one, but two ships, pass through the Miraflores Locks. Patrick had read David McCullough's book, Journey Between The Seas, so he knew more about the Panama Canal and its history than most people (maybe more than the tour guide!).

We moved from Colon to the Pacific Ocean! Only took us about an hour! We did not spend much time at the locks, however, since there was confusion as to the right time to meet. We hurried through the exhibit in 15 minutes and then were later told we had another 30 minutes and then I wanted to buy some crackers, but they did not understand me. No big deal but it was annoying. I feel like we hurried up to wait and then we were all a bit hungry! Our tour guide was my least favorite, as well! He was nice but kept repeating phrases, like "floating hotel" over and over again. He thought it was funny, I guess. Anyway, Colon is really nice, done up in pastel colors. Here are some pictures:

The Port of Colon, Panama, Caribbean Side of Panama

Peter the Polar Bear showing us a ship coming out of lock

The Miraflores Lock on the Pacific Side

Patrick looking serious in Panama

First Ship We Saw Pass Through the Lock

At the Lock Entrance

Second Ship We Saw Through the Lock

Belize & Costa Rica

2011-12-30T13:01:00.002-05:00

Our trolley In Belize

Pirates captured our attention everywhere we went!

Patrick and the owner of Green Space

An unusual cactus which attacked me

We were tendered to Belize and took a tour of "Bayman City." We visitied a rum distillery, saw pirates fight, learned about their culture and witnessed some crushing poverty. We did not buy anything here.

Our boat is ready to take off

Taken from the bus beside the ship. Very windy too!

Blue bags protect the bananas

Monk Patrick

Down the canal

Getting some fresh bananas

Costa Rica was our adventure into the rainforest and brother did it rain. It was like a monsoon. We took a bus ride to a banana plantation and then a boat ride along the Costa Rican canals. We saw a couple of sloths, an alligator and some birds. Bananas are the #1 crop of Costa Rica.

Cozumel

2011-12-30T12:46:00.001-05:00

Cozumel, Mexico is on the Yucatan Peninsula, famous for Mayan temples and ruins. We explored those in January, the last time we were here. This time we selected a museum called "Discover Mexico" which was fabulous! Our guide, Arturo, took us through an acre of land devoted to miniature buildings of all major buildings in the country plus an indoor area devoted to artifacts and other items of Mexican culture. What a a great concept.

Oils from the fruit painted into this bowl emit fragrances of watermelon, etc when you get near it.

The Palace of Music in Mexico City in miniature (25 to 1 scale)

Marty, the adorable iguana

A big important square in Mexico City

Object of the soccer game is to get the ball through the hole in the wall!

Arturo and Art

The family we visited with from Jamaica

Arturo explained Mayan culture regarding human sacrifice


City/Port View from the Ship with Rudolph. Senor Frog's (a loud) cafe is to the right.

An old "castle" somewhere in Mexico

Yep!


An 8 week old chihuahua mix up for adoption

The Cruise of a Lifetime

2011-12-29T12:35:00.003-05:00

Yes, indeed it was. We visited 6 ports and met wonderful people ("table mates" they are called) and ate fabulous food (unbelievably great, seriously) and read books and won the grand prize in the casino ($100 cash, a bottle of champagne, plus match-bet coupons and a blackjack tournament entry ticket,) plus won a trivia contest (the Time Machine) and overall had a blast. Eleven Days of Entertainment and Relaxation and Adventures. This blog is only about the ship. The ports and other photos will come soon!

Frosty As Tour Guide

Patrick as Model on Lawn Club (real grass)

Main atrium lobby decorated for Xmas

Only Coca Cola Light. . not Diet!

Relaxing on our King sized bed with Frosty

Watch Out Peg, Big Boat coming behind you!

Rudolph showing us the ship name

Rudolph Relaxing with a Cardinal Fan!

Ice Sculptures Anyone?

Plates Galore on our Galley Tour

Mexican Dancers -- Wonderful Costumes

Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!


Sister Ship Solstice (our twin) as we left Costa Rica.	85% of all rooms have balconies.

Tour Guide for Our Cruise

2011-12-09T11:29:00.000-05:00

We are delighted to announce that we have not one, not two, but four tour guides who will be joining us on the cruise. Although they are all from a northern climate, we have assured them they will not melt, dehydrate or collapse on our journey, since we will take care of them as they care for us. Watch this space for photos of them as we explore the Panama Canal and points in between. For those of you who remember Phineas in Myrtle Beach, Flo in Ft. Lauderdale and Egbert in Sarasota, these new guides will certainly become part of our memorable family of trip advisors.

When we get back to Florida we might be expecting some exciting guests from Asheville and from the UK. Stay tuned! Don't you love it. . . guests already. . and Aunt Jean for the entire month of January. Doesn't get any better than this!

Felix Navidad.

Peggy

Tangelo Juice, Moles and Shore Excursions

2011-12-06T13:53:00.000-05:00

So when you are in Florida, you must have a juicer. Required. We used ours today to juice about 20 tangelos -- a gift from our lawn guy. Hardly any effort needed! Amazingly healthy.

The moles have gotten under the pansies and pushed them up so the roots are laying on the ground. Repair due tomorrow.

Super weather today at 80 degrees Great tricycle time-- up next!

All of our shore excursions are booked. We're off to a Belize City tour, a Discover Mexico Museum in Cozumel, a wildlife habitat and botanical garden tour in Costa Rica, a visit to the locks in Panama, a tour with a highly recommended guide in Cartagena, Columbia and a trolley ride in George Town, Grand Cayman. Plus 3 days at sea for gambling, shows and entertainment. Plus we should be able to squeeze in a book or two over the 11 days and I am ready with downloaded books on my Amazon Fire. We also will receive a $125 on-board gift certificate which we can use for upgraded dinners or mini-golf or any of a variety of things. This cruise is a trip of a lifetime and we are celebrating our 10th anniversary (late) as well as Christmas! Cannot wait until Monday! We'll be unplugged entirely which will feel good as well.

I'm back on the anti-depressant and continue to take the pain pill plus have rediscovered vitamins and for the first time, I think they really are working. Just plain Centrum. I think I can tell a difference taking them but maybe it is mind over matter.

So Life is Good. Very Good. Excellent. Hope the same for you!

Love,

Peggy

Christmas Decorating

2011-12-05T10:09:00.000-05:00

So, Patrick spent Saturday morning decorating and I think he did a great job. Here are some photos. The palm trees look lovely!

Saturday night we went to the Town Center to see their lights and took the dogs. We drove to Orlando yesterday to have lunch with Betty and it was great to see her. So we had a good weekend. Hope you all did as well!

Love,

Peggy

Surgeon and Wound Care Visit

2011-12-01T08:18:00.000-05:00

I am a candiate for the shake and bake but based on our discussion yesterday I am not convinced this is a worthwhile procedure. The "cytoreduction" is the part which removes the tumor (which I don't have -- I have strands) and the HIPEC is the shake and bake part which tries to catch and kill all the cancer cells in the abdominal area at an increased temperature during 8-10 hours in surgery. The "catches" as Dr. Bagaria explained: (1) no one can tell you if it works since the trials over the past 10 years have been small and not as rigid as they need to be (2) patient selection has oftentimes not been good and (3) there are significant morbidity and toxic effects. Between 30-40% of people experience some type of heinous side effect: death is up to 10% within 30 day post op. The toxicity of the chemo can eat away at the colon and any reconnect would vanish, although he would not even recommend a reconnect concurrent with this procedure. ( This is now the third surgeon: Dr. Ahearn at Mission, Dr. Metzger last week at Mayo, and now Dr. Bagaria at Mayo saying I will be on the bag the rest of my life).

We continued to discuss my mortality and the data suggests with signet ring cell I am looking at a 5 year survivability of about 5-8%. Most "incidents" as Dr. Bagaria said it, are within the first two-three years. We have beaten the odds so far in that when I was admitted to Mission in September, 2010 they expected me to survive only about 90 days but that was without chemotherapy. The chemo bought me several months! I hope it does so again. That is the route we are taking starting in January. I know the side effects could be tough, but death is clearly not on the table at this juncture. The biggest issue, of course, is that the cancer will metastasize into the lung or liver. I will get CT scans every 90 days to keep that in check. I am a little concerned about the peripheral neuropathy but thank goodness we are in a warm climate so that pain is minimized. I tried Lyrica which was not helpful so maybe they will invent another med for this soon? I don't really care about my hair or other issues I have heard about since they are not painful but the neuropathy can be so intense that you cannot be outside in cold weather at all.

The Wound and Ostomy Nurse was pretty good. I have been plagued with pain from the stoma for a long time. She suggested I talk to another surgeon at Mayo, Dr. Lanham, and see if I can get a re-siting of the stoma. It was placed, because this was emergency surgery, directly on my waistband. That has caused untold issues with pain, so if I can get this re-sited that would be wonderful, esp. since the idea of a reconnect is out of the question. She said he might even be able to do it laproscopically. She also helped with additional resources and we had a little cryosurgery on the ring of the stoma which in my life, ranked at about number 2 in pain. Only the barium enema was worse. But it healed in about two hours so all is well now.

Can you tell I hate pain? I honestly believe that there is no need for pain any longer with all the pain medications out there.

So that's it from the health department. Hope all of you are enjoying yourselves and thanks for your support!

Thanks After Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T08:47:00.000-05:00

Memo to: All Blog Readers
From: Peggy
Subject Love & Hugs
Date: November 28, 2011

Well, Saturday and yesterday were wonderfully busy answering the phone and emails from all of you who read the blog on Friday. Thank you so much for caring and sending notes. This, too, shall pass but it is so good to know that people actually support you. We'll know more on Wed. after we meet with the surgeon and will let you guys know what we plan to do.

We have finished shopping (yeah-- not one of my fave things to do) We did most of it online this year for the first time --even before today's Cyber Monday. Question: Do you think all days before Christmas will have names? Now there is Small Business Saturday and of course Black Friday. Today is Cyber Monday. Tomorrow could be Back to Work Tuesday. Then Wow, did I really spend that much Wednesday, then Take things back because we simply cannot afford all that Thursday, and then Frugal Friday when we shop garage sales for gifts! I hope everyone's personal economy is better than the country's and your gift-giving is wonderful for you and for your intendeds.

Love and thanks a million for your thoughts and prayers! It is THE BEST medicine.

Peggy

Worst News

2011-11-25T21:37:00.000-05:00

Yep. . the thing I have most wanted not to hear, I heard today and that is that the cancer is back and I need to go back into chemotherapy in a few weeks (after Christmas). At some level this is worse news that the initial diagnosis because you know you can withstand anything once, but the second time (second line they call it) is really disturbing. Makes one wonder why chemo didn't work the first time plus other questions like how can I go from "disease" free to diseased in a matter of weeks. The choices I face are 4 different strategies of chemo and I feel like I am deciding something I have very little knowledge of, but it is my life so I will do the research and figure all this out, plus meet with the new Mayo surgeon next week to discuss surgical options as well. Maybe there is a less invasive shake and bake.

Anyway, to all your readers of my blog, thanks for being there! All for tonight. As time goes by I get better at this.

Reese Grabs Bear Crotch. . See It Here.

2011-11-22T21:08:00.002-05:00

Santa brought Reese an early gift; a huge stuffed bear. He LOVED it! Allie got it for a few minutes and she tried an eye-ectomy but Reese retrieved it and carried it around, sometimes by the crotch (ewww- see photo right) and it was the funniest thing to watch.

In the health division, my stoma has been a fury from hell pain since yesterday and I have an appt next week to see the wound care people at Mayo. I cannot believe I have to wait this long. . thank goodness for pain pills.

As an aside, I am going to start an ostomate group in Asheville next year. I called the UOAA ( United Ostomy Associations of America) today and they were great. They will provide me with training and support. Not clear why Mission Hospital does not offer this. We have been going to the group in Daytona where we learn from each other and have speakers, fellowship and the feeling you are not alone in all this. Wonderful. Cannot wait to get this started up there.

Then Dr. Johnson called and left a message that I was scheduled to see a surgeon on Tuesday. This was a mystery for us initially but then we recalled that she casually mentioned I might want to see a newly hired surgeon at Mayo from MD Anderson in Houston, a premier cancer center, who could talk to me about "shake and bake." For those of you who read my earlier posts, this is an intense procedure with 21 days in the hospital and 90 days recovery but I would get a bowel reconnect from this. So, we will do a consult with him but he will have to convince me big time to go through this. The reports I have heard are not good for survivability enhancements but, and this is a big but (no pun intended) I would get my bowel back. We'll see.

In the shopping division all is well. Santa bought me an Amazon Fire, their new tablet, which should be here on Friday. Also got myself some red shoes (amazing. .never had red shoes before), and some tops and other stuff for our cruise which is the big gift from Patrick to me and vice versa. Patrick has not gotten his things yet but I think some Saint Louis World Champion gear is in the picture?

I am excited about a "wreath and greens" promotion CFA is doing with a wonderful farm in Washington state. High quality products, affordable prices and CFA gets 25% of every wreath sold! They have a rescue dog, Dillon, who is the official doorstop and has his own blog. This connection came about through our neighbor in Asheville, who is a fund-raising expert in the school system. She thinks highly of them. Lynch Creek is their name and as soon as I get this 100% set up I will put a link here so everyone can order their wreaths ;-)

We are also so pleased about the story of our "First Toy and Treat Drive" being picked up in today's Asheville Citizen Times. We have already received hundreds in donation dollars and several elves to help Tiffany & Co. deliver the Christmas/Holiday/Solstice gifts. I think a reporter is on our email blast list and he wrote the story himself. I did not send out a press release, so this was quite a pleasant surprise!

We are now getting 3 newspapers delivered and I am in heaven. The New York Times, USA Today and The Daytona News-Journal. I hope you greenies will forgive me, but I am an old journalism student and love reading the news on paper. (PS My solution to the Super Committee is to just fire all of them and start over again. I have never seen such incompetence. On both sides. It is ridiculous. All should lose their jobs.)

Well, I guess I got on a roll tonight. Hope all of your Thanksgivings are memorable and peaceful and fun. Enjoy.

Love,

Peggy

Rainy Day

2011-11-17T18:48:00.000-05:00

Today I am finally "over" being bummed out about the bag. It will be what it is. Gotta have faith in the system and faith that this is the best thing. After all, it could be a lot worse. . a lot worse.

Patrick and Mike took down our deceased palm tree today and chopped it up and placed its remains in the undeveloped lot next door. No funeral per se but it was sad. I think the heat this summer just got to it, although the sprinkler system was turned on and the grass seemed to be just fine, so maybe it was a disease?

We sent to see "J Edgar" today. I would give it a C plus. It was a good bio but did not grab me emotionally. The make-up job was terrible on his "lover,"and the dialogue could have been a bit less scripted. Leonardo DiCaprio did act his way thorough couple of good scenes, I will say. It is also so nice to have our new movie theater 5 minutes from our house! Such a treat.

I am starting Yoga tomorrow. Having some shoulder pain and just overall age-related stiffness.
Wish me luck. If anyone knows of a good yoga book or video I am game. I remember some poses from when I took classes a long time ago and I will start with those poses.

All for now. . .let me know how you are doing, ok?

Love,

Peggy

Update on Surgery

2011-11-16T08:56:00.000-05:00

Well, it wasn't the news we wanted to hear from Dr. Metzger, the surgeon at Mayo. He believes that the primary (source) of my cancer is floating in the colon which is not attached at the current moment so attach it and the cancer is back into my body. He said that the chances of my living on the bag the rest of my life will be about 90%. However, we then visited with my oncologist, Dr. Johnson, who spoke to him right away on the phone since both she and Dr. Lucas at Mission were delighted with my progress and recommended me for the reconnect. She understood his concern and yet with all the hope in the world she has now scheduled me for for a nuclear test. . a PET scan which may show more of the area and discover indeed where the primary is.

The crux of the issue is the lack of knowing where the source is (the primary). I am a bit miffed as to why Dr. Ahearn at Mission was not able to discover this when he opened me up last year. He removed 4 cm of my transverse colon to "get me into chemo as fast as possible," but did not go further into the colon to see the end of it. Why? Dr. Metzger is going to contact him to discuss that and other issues since he is the only one who has been inside. Metzger will also get the slides of the pathology report.

So he is working and Dr. Johnson is working to get me off the bag, but we are not as confident as we have been since the last CT scan showed me as "disease free."

The downside to the PET scan is I am not allowed to eat any carbs for 24 horus prior to the procedure which is the day after Thanksgiving! I was planning a big meal for us and a friend so we are up in the air about that now. I can still make it for everyone else and have my stuffing the day after. .I can certainly resist for 24 hours, eh? ;-)

We had a wonderful gathering last night at Mike & Lil's and got caught up with all the news.

Today we're running errands and doing a bit of shopping.

Let me know how you all are faring.

Love,

Peggy

Arrived Safely

2011-11-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

We are now in Palm Coast. . arrived Friday night around 6:30 or so. Long drive down. I had the dogs and some boxes piled up which became dislodged around a turn and fell, but no one was hurt inside. . the dogs dodged the falling boxes. While Allie slept most of the way or stared out as my co-pilot, Reese could not get comfortable until half way through the journey, even though he was on Valium (20 mg's twice!). Finally he relaxed in the front seat and we were all much relieved. I feel so sorry for his brand of car sickness if that what it is. He is very happy now!

Yesterday was about seeing neighbors. Gary came by to hand over our unpackable plant which is in better shape than when we left since Gary is a plant guy - former nurseryman from Miami. Jean stopped by to deliver my Avon order and is having a surprise party for one of our neighbors who turns 80 next week but I am going to Mayo for the day; and we visited with others on the street to catch up on the news, the latest medical updates and working on plans to get together for lunch or something.

It feels so good to be back -- people wise, weather wise. . (should go to 80 today ) and relaxation wise. To get philosophical for a moment, I suppose I like this house because this house was a place of healing for me. Chemo presented some issues last year but overall, despite the fatigue that cancer treatment brings, this house with its sunny backyard and wonderful palm trees makes me feel better for some reason. We also had so many visitors last year which forged some great memories here around love and caring and others' sacrifices for you (yes, you Gil) and parties and fellowship and good times and laughter.

Jim & Linda visiting last year. See the smiles?

Asheville recently has been sad-- the weather alone can be a downer, but I think I am "over" the mountains. Ten years of living there. The main difference between the two towns is that Asheville is home to so many friends (not just neighbors as in PC) but we are working on trying to find some like-minded folks here this season. Also Asheville is home to so many festivals. Something always going on. Palm Coast is more sedate and sleepy. . with more than 20% of its residents over the age of 65 (I thought it was more actually). Asheville also means working for chained dogs which is my passion and we would never leave until that work is done, plus we need a decent price for our house. Not easy in today's market. So we will continue to play the game of snowbirds (why are they/we called that anyway? Don't most birds fly south for the winter? We should just be birds!! How about Cardinals? LOL!) But I predict that our time in Florida will become more and more as the years go by.

Today we got back to church to our favorite pastor, Father Al, who brought tears to my eyes. He is a former Broadway performer from Brooklyn and knows exactly how to push your buttons to become a better person (amazing talent. . they should write him up in Variety!). We also did our A-la-car thing, where we get b-fast and eat in in the car by the ocean as we read the paper(s) and do the crosswords. When Aunt Jean comes she'll be 8 blocks from the church so we'll include her in A-la-car. I'm sure you all are glad to know that the ocean is still there! We're checking on it frequently.

So, enough already. I wish everyone the healing power of the sun and warmth of friendship wherever you are. They are invaluable so when you find them don't toss them away.

Where are my shorts and sunglasses anyway?

Peggy

Bon Voyages

2011-11-07T09:05:00.000-05:00

For the past few days and throughout this week, we are bidding our seasonal farewells to friends as we relocate to Palm Coast for the winter.

Last night we had a wonderful dinner over at Howard and Kristen's Dry Ridge Inn and loved hearing about their successful October and their lives. Howard may be coming to visit us in Florida.

We also had lunch with our next-door neighbor, Maryanne, who is now enjoying Las Vegas for a few days after caring for her ailing husband for 3 years.

Friday night we went to the Arts for Life "Fancy Pants" event with Gil and Joe. (we had to wear fancy pants-- see Patrick's pajama bottoms to the left) Arts for Life works with seriously ill children to help them conquer their fears and handle their emotions. We heard from the parents of Henry who lost his hair twice and now it has come back curly and he is doing so much better, plus enjoyed videos of their work with hundreds of sick children. We also bid on some art items and won a few! Fun! Plus the food was actually tasty -- it hardly ever is at these big events but they did a good job. We met some new folks and overall had a nice evening. This event could become a model for a potential CFA event next year.

Saturday we hosted a CFA staff party to say good-bye and transfer work to folks while we are gone. We are so lucky to have a dependable team who can handle the work load while we are gone. Thanks to Patrick for his great grilled pizzas! I got to open the bag of salad and chop the fruit while he artistically arranged all the ingredients of the pizzas and grilled them. He'll be writing and arranging for a mystery fund-raising (hair raising?) event for CFA in June of next year. Should be fun.

This week we are beginning to plan our PR campaign via a professional here in Asheville who has great media contacts. And I am presenting a status update to The Animal Coalition of Buncombe County on Wednesday morning. We'll be seeing even more of our animal friends Thursday night, along with the Palmers, at another big event, Taste of Compassion. After that, we will have made our rounds.

We've done this twice before, so we should know how to pack the cars, but each time it is a challenge. Wish us luck! Come see us anytime.

Love,

Peggy

Is it Really November?

2011-11-01T11:23:00.002-04:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. We went over to the Lion and the Rose and distributed candy to about 700 people. We actually ran out of candy! The most popular mask was the "scream" by Edward Munch (?). Today they make the mask so "blood" comes out of the eyes and drips down the side of the face and then recycles back up. Amazing! It was fun! I went as a pumpkin and Patrick was himself with a duck hat on.

We are finally calmed down after the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in the "best" game ever (Game 6) so the sports people say. Patrick won some money since he had placed a bet on them last January. I even got into this and I am not a sports fan. The Cardinals won some on luck and errors from the other side, but overall they did a fantastic job. Their general manager, Tony LaRussa, retired yesterday. . what a way to go out. World Series Champs in 2011! Go Cardinals. Now Tony can spend more time in California running his shelter, ARF, for homeless pets. Go Tony!

My commitment (to myself) to read a bio or memoir of all 44 presidents is progressing and I am ready to start Madison now. I veered off for a bit and am reading a bio of Ben Franklin. . he truly was a genius and an affable guy. That was the diff between him and Adams. Adams tended to PO people because he was so direct! But both were brilliant men. Adams, of course, had Abigail to guide him! Anyway, it is a great series and I wish I read these books earlier in my life. Love them.

Have finally finished my teeth. Hurray! My first appt. for these two teeth was in June. Since then I have had root canals and crown extensions and two temporaries and my permanent crowns put in yesterday. Not an inexpensive thing. In fact, the Mayo bill for my chemo was less than the dental bill. Unbelievable.

CFA's fundraising push was successful. Gifts from individual donors poured in as well as Thomas Wright's contribution from our event at the Battery Park Book Exchange. We had a ball. Leslie made some great treats and people donated more than $115 to buy them. She is a great pastry chef! Totally we raised about $1,000 from all sources. That is 3 fences. Our focus next year will continue to be on fences of course but we are also going to run a major PR/educational campaign on the radio and TV and print and billboards. We are seeking grants now to fund these activities.

I have been doing ok although the skin issue is still there. I have an appt. with the surgeon Nov 15th at Mayo and I am trying to see my oncologist on the same day who may have some other ideas about this infection. I am really up to "here" with this thing. Constant stinging. Without the pain meds I could not make it.

Anyway, other than gaining 5 pounds recently, things are great. I must stop eating MoonPies and Pizza and Cinnamon rolls from Plant and all those wonderful things! Yummm.

Patrick is fine. Reese and Allie are well and anxious to get to warmer climes. We leave for Florida on November 11th, none too soon with this 30 degree weather in W-ville. Walking the dogs each morning has become something else with 3 layers of clothing!

Patrick's Aunt Jean will be in Palm Coast for the entire month of January. She has booked a condo near the ocean and will ship her painting supplies down to us so she can do her watercolors while she is there. She is a really wonderful woman so we so look forward to her being down there. She can also hold my hand, since she is a PhD nurse, if the bowel reconnect is in January!

We are also counting the days until our cruise to the Panama Canal. We leave December 12th and will visit Cozumel (to get tequila for Jim!), Belize, Costa Rico, Colon, Cartenega (Columbia) and GeorgeTown in the Grand Caymans. We'll be gone 11 days and Aunt Pauline is lined up to take care of the dogs and we've selected our shore adventures including viewing the locks, a visit to the sea world observatory, city tours, and we'll try to get a bridge tour (behind the scenes of the ship). I will have to lose 10 pounds so there's plenty of room to gain 5 again on the voyage, right?

Our 2012 trips will be to Las Vegas and Best Friends again in June with the Palmers who are great traveling mates. We'll also be using our miles to visit California sometime next year and then also visiting DC for a week or so. Probably next fall. The following year we are looking into visiting Seamus and Martine in the UK. We have been in touch with them via Skype and that is amazing. . just like the 1964 World's Fare previewed. . . the video phone. And it's free!

Well, that's it from our corner of trhe world. How are you doing? Please write and let us know. Love to all of you!

Peggy, Patrick Reese and Allie.

Friday. . seems like Monday

2011-10-14T19:03:00.003-04:00

We've been entertaining a bit these last few days and so it seems like today should be Monday. The Palmers were over on Tuesday to share their stories about Ireland, Wednesday Shirley was over to share her stories about Prague and Budapest, and yesterday Joe & Gil were over to share stories about life and family and we laughed a great deal. See the photo of the dahlias Joe brought (and grew, of course, from his lovely and bountiful garden). The picture of our table looks like the best of both seasons - spring and fall.

Went to Mission today to see what they could do ab out my skin breakdown around the stoma which has been plaguing me on and off for a long time. We will apply more powder to the site and try not to put anything around my waistline (not easy when you wear slacks, let me tell you) but I just want this stoma reversed and outta here. Amen. So tired of this pain.

Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar is generously hosting an evening for ChainFree Asheville on Thursday, October 27th, from 5 to 8. It is a lovely bookstore and they allow dogs INSIDE! One of the few places in all of Asheville. I am very excited about this.

We will be in Florida in a month and I am looking forward to it. It is 64 degre4es now and will plummet to the 40s tonight. . time to go get warm, eh?.

Life is good and looking forward to seeing Michelle and eating many Cinnamon buns at Plant on Sunday (no fence scheduled).

See you soon, I hope.

Good Day on the Weaverville Front

2011-10-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

Got good news from the doctor -- I continue to show no markers for cancer via the blood test and they will recommend me to Mayo for a bowel reconnect. I am excited about that.

The folks at Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar at the Grove Arcade have agreed to host a benefit for us on Oct 27th from 5 to 8 p.m. Our first Hawl-o-ween event! Then we have two volunteers putting together treat bags for dogs for this event and another one immediately following over the weekend!

I continue to have stoma skin issues but will see a nurse wound care specialist on Friday and hopefully that will help.

Shirley was over tonight and she is doing very well. She brought us her pictures of Prague and Budapest. She amazes me with her energy.

The car died in front of the Book Exchange and Jim Palmer (bless his heart) had to take me over to the hospital for my doctor's visit. 10 Minutes after I left with Jim, the car came back on again -- such the mystery.

Sooo that's it for today. .hope you all are doing well.
Oh yes. . the Cardinals are winning (and what else is there to report out on, really?) HA!

Great weather here.

2011-09-30T13:52:00.000-04:00

What does autumn remind you of? For me it is school and Friday night football games (I was a majorette and loved twirling those batons of fire! Very cool back then!). It is my favorite time of year! I loved school and reading and was a total nerd back then, except for twirling. We got to go to the other schools in the region and Washington-Lee HS had a great football reputation back then. So it was all just too much fun.

Anyway, here is a shot of the after-rain fog which forms up here. I took this last week. I continue to love our view and our humbling experience with Mother Nature's awesome power. On the right side we are seeing the leaves just beginning to turn. They will put on the best show between now and November 15th. We used to tell people at the B&B when inquiring about "the exact date" when Asheville's leaves would be at their best, to come in November. The mountains are good in October, but the city leaves really don't turn until the first week in November . . .a 10-year data collection report! It is amazing we have lived here almost 10 years.

We went to Dave's funeral (our next door neighbor) on Wednesday and it was done so well. . with so much food at the parish hall there was enough variety and quantity to feed an army. He will be missed and was such a nice guy to have as a neighbor. Maryann will be lonely but we are having her over and hopefully will be there when she needs us.

I am reading "The Rogue" (on my Nook) about Sarah Palin by Joe McGinness of "Fatal Vision" fame (my first true crime novel). Most of his quotes are validated so the hype you might have read about unsubstantiated references is not true. I believe what he wrote. Brother, it has shed some major light on the Palin family. . one of the most dysfunctional in the public eye.

I await all my Thomas Jefferson books from BooksFree (that is the rub with this service in that you have to wait more than a few days to get your books -- different from Netflix which has them to you faster.)

Congrats to the St. Louis Cardinals (I live with the #1 fan in the country) for their wild card berth for the World Series. I love their coach, Tony LaRusa, who is a huge dog lover. He has established a rescue facility in California and maybe I should call him to see if he would be our spokesperson for ChainFree? ;-)

Have a great weekend!

Tuesdays With . . .

2011-09-27T17:27:00.001-04:00

. . .many irons in the fire, so to speak. Am working with a restaurant in town (new) who will offer our supporters 10% off any brunch ticket in October if they say the secret word, chainfree! Am also working with a bar to offer a Halloween gathering but it is not firm yet. I also found out a lot about hunting dogs and best practices in their training tdoay. . pretty interesting. Under no circumstances is chaining your dog a best practice in the hunting world. In fact, most gun dogs live inside. Yesterday I had a geat phone meeting with one of our long-time animal advocates in WNC. Very helpful. Also got a check from a new donor -- so the last two days have been pretty good from the ChainFree perspective.

From the personal perspective, it has been sad. Our next door neighbor who had been suffering from congestive heart failure for many years, died Sunday afternoon and we have been available to help his widow do whatever needs to be done. They were a great team, married for more than 50 years. They were builders in Houston and built the dream home one year before they moved to Asheville. Dave will be missed indeed. His funeral is tomorrow.

Reese continue to suffer from allegies and profuse shedding. We took him to be groomed yesterday and he looks a lot better but still scratching so we have him on Bendryl.

I have an appointment with the bowel reconnect surgeon on November 15th at Mayo. YEA!!!

I am now speed walking 30 minutes a day and feel GREAT!

That's all for now. Enjoy your day!

Peggy

Great Day in the Morning

2011-09-25T09:57:00.000-04:00

This is the first sunny a.m. we've had in ages. It does affect your mood! I have my New York Times from Well-Bred Bakery and tried one of their oatmeal-walnut-raisin cookies which weigh about a l/4 pound. Yum. I will read the paper when we get back from the fence build. The heat and my meds were not getting along this summer so after about 3 fences I said no more until the weather cools off so today is a good day to go and see folks I have not seen in a while! We are so lucky to have the volunteers we have.

We are taking one of the huge cookies over to our next door neighbor tomorrow who is in the hospital but is doing much better. He has congestive heart failure. He is such a nice guy!

We're still working on the anti-chaining law doing some strategy formation and research and will meet with each commissioner before too long.

My pouch has been troubling recently and I think it is due to my diet. . I need to eat more fiber-rich foods and salads which I am committed to (note the cookie was oatmeal, not choc chip or other kind)!!!. I cannot wait for the bowel reconnect this winter. Dr. Johnson at Mayo has put in orders for me to see a surgeon but they do not know the exact date yet.

Reese continues to suffer from his hot spot, if that is what it is. We have been treating it for a week and yet he continues to show signs of distress, running around the house. . almost like a neurological issue! I may have to take him back to the vet this week.

Speaking of neurologists, I have had a motor tic in my legs since I began chemo. It is a little better but I still shake. So I went to see a neurologist on Wednesday. He could find no brain tumor (thank goodness) and believes it could be due to the Raglen drug I took which does cause motor impairments. He also took some blood to test for restless leg syndrome. In addition, I got an anti-epileptic drug which makes me so sleepy that I cannot handle it. I would rather shake than sleep!!!! He also advised keeping stress low and figuring out a way to release energy or restlessness. Maybe I will start meditating again after all these years? Any ideas?

That's it from Weaverville. Hope all of you are doing well.

No internet connection yesterday!!!

2011-09-19T10:40:00.002-04:00

Wow! Yesterday was a full day of being unplugged. . have not done that in ages. Felt good, actually. The DSL cable was cut somewhere in Indiana? so parts of N.C. were not getting service until 6 a.m. today! So we were down all day yesterday.

I will update the blog with pictures of the beach (not too many)soon. We had a good time.

At the beach, I continued David McCullough's John Adams. It is a huge book but written so very well! Also just finished reading Alan Alda's bio, Why you should not stuff your dog, and it was pretty funny. I just love reading biographies. If you love books too, you would like the Books Free website.

The weather in Asheville is really fall now with cool mornings and fairly warm days. Nice!

I don't have any health news other than I am off all meds but one and feeling ok. I have even taken myself off the anti-depressant and do not feel that blue. But I have some extras here if the depression should return.

ChainFree Asheville is finally feeling the economy and we are trying to find some additional revenue sources if you know of any! Buncombe County will be a huge undertaking.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Peggy

Cleaning

2011-09-11T12:24:00.000-04:00

. . . something to be said about cleaning! Off with the dust, on with the smell of a clean house. Reese is shedding galore and we have to vaccuum once a day almost.

The 9/11 coverage is making me very weepy so I am taking a break to clean and do other things. Patrick is building a fence. The weather is quite conducive to that now. A perfect fall day.

Our neighbor went to the ER this morning, due to his heart defibrillator "going off" again. Here's hoping they can help him and get him back here today.

My ears are plugged up again and hope that time will take care of this. Why do some people create more wax than others? Such a burden! What did you say?????

Our dog sitter is coming to spend lots of good times with Reese and Allie starting tomorrow through Friday. This will be our 5th time in Myrtle Beach to celebrate our anniversary so it is now a tradition. We have good books to read and anticipate a good putt-putt tournament!

Hope all of you are safe and secure in your homes and know what a blessing life is.

Love,

Peggy

Fighting the Good fight!

2011-09-09T11:12:00.000-04:00

Even though we will meet with resitance and brother, it will be big. . we are proceeding as best we can to get dogs off chains in the county. We have had supportive meetings with some and not so supportive with others. Watch this space for news of that.

Books-a-Million is closing in Asheville and we went there last night and loaded up. I am still in the Founding Fathers mode and feel so happy about the books we got. Patrick got sojme too for our trip to Myrtle Beach next week.

I am trying to talk with my cousin in Wales via Skype and find it not as easy I thought. Both of you have to be online at the same time. He had to be in my contact list, etc., etc. Ain't like picking up the phone and dialing. Oh well, it will be fun to chat (for free) on Sunday.

All for now. Hope all of you are faring well.

Love,

Peggy

Fatigue Is Back

2011-09-06T15:47:00.001-04:00

Well, my old friend, fatigue has joined me again. Gosh, and I was doing so well without him! Maybe it is my diet. . need to eat different things? But I had a salad today and my usual b-fast of oatmeal bar . . why the fatigue.? Do you think, maybe it could be, OLD AGE!? Never! LOL!

We changed the party date to October 15th and ran several errands at lunch. Joined Booksfree.com, like Netflix for books. Check it out!

Hope you are having a great day and week this week after Labor Day!

Addition

2011-09-05T16:06:00.000-04:00

In yesterday's blog I forgot to mention and I don't know how it happened, my extended family of cousins (John and Seamus and their families) and my step-son and his wife and her family PLUS the dogs. I was lying in bed early this a.m. (could not sleep for some reason) It was 5 a.m. and I thought, oh no! I did not list the other very special people in my life. . so add that under a very top number as people I continue to live for. . and the dogs are so special and my love for them is enormous.

Today we visited Dr. Sinclair down at Haw Creek Vet Clinic where ChainFree is receiving proceeds of the day (along with a rescue center in Belize). It was going pretty well when we left at 1 p.m., after taking pictures with Dr. Sinclair and Spirit, our spokesdog! Dr. Sinclair has a 5 week old squirrel in her hand and Spirit is a little freaked out!

Our ChainFree baby was born on Friday and his name is Mystic Cannoncro. He already sounds creative to moi! Mom and baby are doing very well and we await pictures.

We are all well and still working on trying to lose our New York weight.

Hope all of you are having a Happy Labor Day!

Peggy

Happy Labor Day Eve!

2011-09-04T13:56:00.000-04:00

Well, all is good in the Irwin Household. Hope the same for you. The biggest news is that I am CANCER FREE according to the CT scan results taken Wednesday. I still have to take meds for a while and be "closely monitored" for the next year or so, but somehow the chemotherapy did the job. Thanks so much to Mayo and the team there as well as YOU for lifting my spirits with your comments and just knowing you are there!

This year of "reflection" has taught me so many valuable lessons. Here they are. . like the David Letterman's 10 Reasons to Live

10. To continue to enjoy Krispy Kreme donuts and Crystal Light Iced Tea (decaffeinated)
9. To continue to relish reading everything (including ketchup bottles- and mainly nonfiction)
8. To watch Law and Order re-runs with Jerry Orbach (wasn't he great?)
7. To travel. . anywhere and anytime (esp. with Patrick and the Palmers - such fun!)
6. To know that I am safe and liked by some people (maybe you?)
5. To meet new people with different takes on life (after all this is America)
4. To continue the work we have done helping chained dogs (my passion)
3. To reconsider and adopt some of the teachings of my earlier years (a la Catholic)
2. To love my husband with my entire being (my world)

1. To understand that life is fleeting and precious and not appreciated by those in good health. (you?)

A diagnosis of cancer, esp. cancer in Stage IV is the scariest thing that has happened to me, but I think one of the best things too. People say that all the time and I think they are just justifying or searching for the silver lining, but I am truly appreciative of the last year which helped me get my priorities straight. I am serious.

Thanks so much to all of you who lifted me up with gifts, books, flowers, cards, notes, emails, phone calls and all that you did to tell me that you cared (see #6). It really mattered. Mind over matter and all that. I especially want to call out Michelle Wolf for her friendship this past year and her comments on the blog. I depended upon them as much as my next drug dose. She was/is a drug dose of happiness and caring. Thanks so much, Michelle.

I'll keep doing the blog. . of course, I love writing it and knowing that some folks are actually reading it from time to time.

Today while Patrick was building a fence, I took the dogs to WalMart meadows and they loved it. I cannot let them off lease tho. Wish we had a dog park.

Went to Well-Bread Bakery to get the NY Times and got a cookie for b-fast along with my standard iced coffee. Those people there know how to bake, that is for sure. The shortbread cookie took about 1 minute to eat in the car. . Yummy.

As we approach 9-11, the Times had an article about Canter-Fitzgerald's CEO who was taking his daughter to her first day of kindergarten on September 11, 2001 and was not there at the World Trade Center. Blind Luck they said in the article. How many times have we been blessed (and cursed?) with Blind Luck. I think that would be an interesting book.

Well, time to go. . . . see you soon!

Love,
Peggy

George Washington

2011-09-01T20:15:00.000-04:00

Since I was born in DC, his city, and went to GWU, his university, I thought it was about time to get to know the guy and found a GREAT book, called Citizen Washington, which I just stumbled upon at Ingles. Citizen Washington It takes you through various opinions of the man... by his slaves, John Adams, Martha, his enemies (this is a historical novel, so some is fiction) and overall you come away with an intimate portrait of him. Did you know he stammered? Lost his step-daugtherhter she was 17 to epilepsy? For those of you who remember "This is Your Life," when they brought people onto the stage that shaped your life, this takes the same method of telling a story in the book. Wonderful device to use in the novel and wonderful reading. Movie?

I have just finished Grace and Everyday Saints about a San Francisco group of parishioners who tried to save their church. It sounds pretty boring in that sentence, but it was a good moving portrayal of how real people who were not community organizers, banded together to accomplish something (like ChainFree Asheville. . hmm?)

We had a good staff meeting today and ideas are bubbling about all over. We need to funnel and critique them and then move on them. We have a great staff and are so lucky to have found them. Labor Day we'll be down at Haw Creek Animal Hospital as the entire day's proceeds will benefit CFA! Thank you Dr. Heather Sinclair and her husband Bob. Bob will be doing toenails and shampoos (I can see it now!)

Anyway, we await the results of the CT scan tomorrow, but I am not obsessing about it. It is what it is, but of course, I hope that the cancer has not metastasized any further. I also did get a refill on my tooth medication. (another similarity to George).

Patrick is doing a fence on Saturday(repair). I am working on CFA stuff (mainly the thank-you party invitations) and may take the dogs down to the river. . only 11 minutes from our house. We're also, for the first time, going to call Seamus in Wales before he leaves for Birmingham, UK. We have never talked on the phone across the pond before! Seamus loves to spin some yarns so I am sure it will be a delightful conversation.

All for now, boy and girls. Keep me in your prayers.

Today Is Good News

2011-08-30T15:05:00.000-04:00

We are lucky to live in a county which has mandatory spay/neuter and a brand new animal shelter. We are also lucky to have David Gantt running the commission. He supports our position on anti-tethering and was very gracious in his advice to us. We shall pursue everything he recommends and look for a law this fall, hopefully.

Asheville Radiology called and the directions I was given by the doctor at WNC Cancer were wrong. I need to drink two bottles of contrast media before my CAT scan tomorrow, so I need to go in at 1 p.m., not 2:30 to drink the second full bottle. Amazing lack of communication there!
So instread of having my labs at 1 p.m. I will have them on Friday at 4 p.m.

So, not much else to report. See you soon!

Peggy

Vicodin, Videos and Vegan Food

2011-08-29T18:20:00.001-04:00

No other drug can do what hydrocodone (vicodin) does! My teeth were in a big hurt this weekend without it. I called the pharmacy to refill but by noon today they had not heard from the dentist's office so I called the dentist's people and within an hour I had my precious drug. When part of your bone is removed, let me tell you, you need more than a few of these puppies.

We saw The Help yesterday and loved it although I felt guilty being white and having any relation at all to the 60's in the South, which I did. Although we had a maid when I was growing up, we treated her quite differently than you see in the movie, and we were in DC, not the deep south, where cultural norms were so much better than in Jackson, MS. I remember her, Jesse, as being young and took care of both me and my grandfather. She was a terrible cook as I recall as well. HA! I don't think we employed her for more than 2 years at the most. Not sure how everyone arranged to care for me after that. . .Kind of a blur. Do you have that blur sometimes about your childhood? And now there is no one left to ask!

We loved our brunch (their first ever) at PLANT, a vegan restaurant which friends of ours opened on Merrimon Ave. Patrick had the pancakes and I had the Reuben. Both were excellent and we would have both again. The cinnamon roll, for dessert, was awesome! Thanks, Alan, Leslie and Jason, for taking the dive into restaurant land to give people another option for great dining in Asheville!

Met with Ron today to get the photos and videos he has taken over the past year onto an external hard drive I got. Should be interesting to see what is there and edit something for our video/slide presentation on September 24th for our thank-you party.

We then went to the DMV to get new plates and I swear the clerks talked to each other for 15 minutes before waiting on someone. Hmmmmm..

We then went to Carmel's and had lunch outside (asparagus and mushroom pizza - yum). Our second dining out this week!

I have been working this afternoon on the notebook for the head of our commissioners. He moved the time and location of the meeting tomorrow. Not 30 minutes in his political office as originally scheduled, we now have 60 minutes and we're meeting in his law office,so I think that is a very good sign. I hope you guys will keep your fingers crossed that this meeting is productive and he supports our position on anti-tethering. I'll post tomorrow what we think.

All for now,

Peggy

Our trip to Abingdon, VA

2011-08-27T17:29:00.000-04:00

Here we are at the House on Main which guess what, is right on Main Street, about a block from the hotel. I had excellent gazpacho (better than the 21 Club!) and a panini, whereas Patrick enjoyed the hot tomato soup. This is an old place (did not get the date) with a lovely porch. Actually I would rank their food,although different in terms of ambiance, better than the Inn. The salad dressings at the Inn tasted pretty bland and the entrees were good, but not outstanding.

The Martha Washington Inn and Spa (The Martha) is a Preferred Hotel and we can see why. They have left no detail untouched, from the lovely veranda (not private) outside our window to the comfy bed clothes and the decor of our room with flat screen television.

We enjoyed the room and the veranda (especially the old time telephone, even though we only called the front desk a couple of times to ask questions.) It was super as decor. The bed was sooo comfy and the flat screen TV worked fine until the morning when we could not get the remote to work properly nor could we find the control buttons physically on the TV. Maybe they don't put those buttons on televisions any longer? Anyway, the front desk sent someone up with a new remote. Meanwhile we listed to very LOUD announcers talking about Irene, the storm that has America mesmerized.

We saw the play, Southern Exposure, which starred my mother who came back from the grave to star in this production! HA! It was about generational "dialogue" and arguments but underlying it was the main theme, which was love. We enjoyed it and would recommend it. The Barter Theater is the state Theater of Virgina as Flat Rock Playhouse is the State Theater of North Carolina. I am not sure if a state should be involved in the arts like this, but I must say, the talent of the actors was certainly A-One!

It was real treat to go up to Virginia for this adventure, our second time there, so to remember our special get-away I bought a metal necklace and earrings (well, one has to have souvenirs, eh?)

So we had a great time Wednesday night and Thursday morning (gained yet another pound after losing 5 from New York!)

Today we took the dogs over to the Lion and the Rose for a play date and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves as did we eating date-nut bread and peaches and ice cream! Yummmmmm.

All for now and thanks for stopping by. Leave a comment to know me know you are alive! Thanks!

Earthquake and Hurricane Warning on the same day

2011-08-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

I did not feel the earthquake but Patrick did while out on our deck while he was reading. I went to the dentist today and was either in the chair or checking out at 1.51 p.m. when it happened. At that time, all I was focused on were the 5 stitches in my mouth! Lots of blood but not a lot of pain. . but I am on Vicadin.

Tomorrow we are off to Abingdon, VA to see Southern Exposure at the Barter Theatre. My dentist's grandmother went to school at Martha Washington College, the precursor to the Martha Washington Inn where we'll be staying. Can't wait to try to find her name among the photos there! It was built in 1835 -- my oh my! I do love it so.

Am reading the Life of George Washington now and do like it. . hope to finish that this week and then start on my new book, Strays, which I bought at Animal Compassion Network on Saturday. Or I may start something new.

I am in the mood for something very thrilling. Suggestions are welcome!

Until later,

Peggy

Good weekend

2011-08-22T19:35:00.000-04:00

Well, we had Pawpalooza on Saturday which ChainFree c0-sponsored and we raised a little money and a lot of awareness. Isn't Faux the dog cute in her new fence?

We met Susie, a real dog, who was tortured by her former owner, adopted by a woman who had been attacked by a chained dog (how perfect for our story) and was scared of dogs but now loves them due to caring for Susie these years.

Donna, the mom, and 4-5 other people formed Susie' s Hope (like ChainFree Asheveille) to get a law in the state of NC elevating torture to felony behavior and under this law you will get 10 months in jail for a first offense! She has written a fast-moving book here in NC!

I also saw lot of folks I hadn't seen in a while. Jaymii did a great job at the booth and in writing up an ad for Critter today (a local newsprint magazine so we are moving along in marketing.

Sunday we (I should say Patrick and volunteers) built a fence for two bulldogs. I am not able to go to the fence builds in the summer due to my meds and the heat just not getting along. After that we went to a BBQ over at Gil's house and I laughed so hard I thought I would fall over. It is good to laugh like that occasionally. One story is that Jim and Linda's phone was broken. In the middle of the conversation, a machine would come on and say, "This call has ended." How many times, now be honest, would you like for that to really work -- like having a button you press or something. HA! So funny but in reality so very annoying.

Did not sleep well last night. Could have been the 3 cups of iced coffee I had! Yep.

I'll bet I'm asleep by 9 p.m. tonight. Tomorrow is dentist time again! Yuck.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ok. . we need a winning lottery ticket for ChainFree!

2011-08-19T14:19:00.001-04:00

The economy is finally affecting us and we are off about 20% from a year ago. If you know someone who has the winning lottery ticket, just let us know! Or a grant making body or someone who just likes to contribute to worthy animal causes. We are making strides not only in fence building in the county (lots of dogs here) but also in the areas of education and video training for kids on anti-cruelty and looking to fund billboards and all kinds of public education media and events. Education is really a strong key to our 2011-2012 strategy in addition to building fences. One of the vets in town is giving us her entire proceeds for one day (Labor Day). Ain't that Grand?

Feeling pretty good. . still have pain so need to stay on meds. You know, I had pains all last summer. That is why I went to the doctor and we all know what happened then. I still have pains 11 months later. Hmmmm. Next doctor visit and CAT scan is August 31st.

We are going to the theater next week -- Barter Theater (the State Theater) in Abingdon , VA for one night at the Martha Washington Hotel (built in 1910 I think). We'll be seeing Southern Exposure. . can't wait.

Learned that our buyers of North Lodge have put the inn on the market. Not sure why, but know they are not in a rush to sell. It takes about 2 years to sell an inn.

Our first"corporate" baby is due any minute now. . Tiffany and Jason's due date is Auguust 20th. I'll keep you informed.

All for now. Thanks for reading.

Please Ride Along with Us !

2011-08-17T11:22:00.002-04:00

As you can see, we have now gotten back from five nights in New York and then a sudden trip to Washington, D.C. for a funeral. We were gone for 8 days. This might have been one of best trips we have taken! Very few annoying or outright ugly things happened. Although DC was a bit sad, the Irish have a way of sending off their passing souls with glory and good cheer.

Day One: We arrived with Jim & Linda Palmer on Monday afternoon at LaGuardia and took a Ford Hybrid Taxi which, 6 blocks from our hotel, decided to stop in the middle of traffic. Just stopped. The beginning of our fear of taxis started here. More along those lines later! We jumped into another cab. There were plenty available.

Our hotel room was great! WE traded in our Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare points for two rooms on 57^th Street between 6^th and 7^th Ave., right down the Street from the Russian Tea Room and Carnegie Hall. Our room had a terrace view toward Central Park from the 21^st floor.

Of importance to the guys was the fact that we were only two blocks from Central Park where they walked each morning to see the dogs! No chained ones!

We enjoyed dinner at the famous Club 21 that evening. We had some great food and enjoyed the ambiance immensely. Little boy toys hung from the ceiling (trucks, etc) t was a former speakeasy. After dinner we saw “The Newsical”, a parody of today's news and it was funny, not as good as the Capital Steps, but very funny, nevertheless.

Day 2 started with a “Big Onion” tour of Harlem where we were initially entertained with musical Broadway numbers by a street entertainer man who was wonderful! Such a great voice! Did you hear him? His volume was amazing. We spent two hours walking through central Harlem absorbing the history of this area. I liked it a lot but most people were giving it a C since she did not discuss the Harlem Renaissance or the architecture in depth but there is only so much you can discuss in two hours.

We then journeyed to the City of New York Museum on East 103^rd Street where many exhibits were closed due to renovation but we saw a movie "History of the City" and saw some interior design work of Colonial Revival houses. We had lunch in Harlem at Aunt Maude’s featuring fried chicken and spoon bread and corn bread. It was beginning to rain this afternoon and Jim bought us some high quality $2.98 umbrellas! I shall not forget stepping out of the cab into a river of rainwater certainly ankle high. I laughed until I thought I was going to die laughing. The next cab incident had us petrified. First of all he picked us up in Manhattan and Livery cabs are limited to Harlem but we were in Manhattan. Next he only had heat available, no air conditioning. We were stifling hot. Then to top it all off he could not see out of the window due to the indoor fog!! He was taking our lives in his hands as we zoomed down 5^th Ave. We finally asked him to please pull over and we got out with our lives.

Perhaps the best evening we had was Day 2’s enjoyment of “Anything Goes,” with music by Cole Porter. It was DE-delightful and DE-lovely and "the tops" in entertainment. Dinner was post-theater and shown here was my treat of the day (mile high lemon meringue pie).

Day 3 started with a look at Broadway behind the scenes and helped us appreciate the true American contribution to art which includes Jazz and the American Musical. After seeing “Anything Goes,” we were alert to the history of this type of production. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable and an actor in his own right.He got an A from all of us.

We then walked over to the Photography museum and loved seeing that. From there we went to Rockefeller Plaza for our view from the Top of the Rock – tickets were purchased weeks ago. But just as we were entering the elevators, they evacuated everyone saying nothing as to what was going on. We later learned a man was trying to jump! This night we relaxed while the Palmers took in Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center.

Day 4. Eataly oh Eataly, one of my new favorite spots in New York! Rows upon rows of fresh vegetables, sit-down restaurants, gelato booths, fresh pasta stands, all wrapped up like dozens of farmer’s markets all under one roof! Plus the best lasagna ever. Too bad we didn't bring a truck with us so we could have bought more! The New Yorkers in Manhattan are so lucky to have this near them.

My next favorite spot was the Tenement museum (no photos allowed). We had visited the museum before, listening to the journey of an Irish family. This time we took the melting pot tour which featured true stories of two immigrant families in one tiny tenement apartment. It was done so well. I got a couple of books and feel pulled to know more about the immigrant story each time I go.

We then met a personal guide who took us on the longest tour of Brooklyn ever invented, exploring streets from Prospect Park to the Promenade's fab views of Manhattan,to well, just about every inch. We ate vegetarian food in Brooklyn which was nothing to write home about, but replenished us after nearly 8 miles of walking! Brooklyn's history is so rich, from Truman Capote to Winston Churchill's mother who was American.

Day 5 we bussed up to the Upper West Side to search for H&H Bagels which is no longer in the spot we thought. So we bought fresh and hot bagels, cream cheese and jam at Zabar’s and ate breakfast-lunch at Starbuck’s across the street! Then we took another bus to the Upper East Side to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and were impressed even with their street art vendors. After yesterday’s foot-tiring tour we decided to limit ourselves to 90 minutes here. This night, our last in New York, we chose to eat at One If by Land and Two If By Sea, located near Washington Square in the Village. Why? Several years ago, when we first met the Palmers, we told them we had booked this restaurant for my birthday dinner in Manhattan. Amazingly, they had just eaten there on their last trip to the city. We just had to go together this time! We did get lost but when I asked a man to help us he literally escorted us to the restaurant! It was wonderful.

Day 6/7/8 We came back from New York via the Charlotte airport on Saturday. Then the next day we drove up to Washington and stayed at a Homestead Suite in Rockville which was ok but not great. We continued eating (not good for the diet) as though we were on vacation so if you hear a scream in your house tomorrow it is me getting on the scale! (update -- I am 7 pounds heavier but enjoyed every bite!) The next day we met my cousin John and his family at the church and the services were certainly moving. John’s eulogy was superb and even humorous! We chatted with my cousin, Michael, and others we had not seen in a long time including the new baby, Kaylynn, and Joe’s wife, Ashley. Here we are at Limerick’s for a celebratory luncheon including Irish songs in memory of Mary Nelligan who lived to be 101 years old. I am trying to wave, not block myself out.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible including my wonderful husband Patrick and Jim who did all the planning. I feel like I just had to show up. And thanks to the ChainFree crew who were proactive and took care of things while I was gone. And of course, thanks to Sandy who took care of the dogs. We are home now. Life is good, as they say on the bumper sticker.

Re-entry

2011-08-16T15:36:00.001-04:00

We have been gone for 8 days and today is the re-entry so it has been hectic so far. I'll just say that the New York trip was FABULOUS with the Palmers and the DC trip was great seeing all my relatives and enjoying a good Irish wake. Photos and blog to come.

I'll be on TV Saturday (WLOS-13) for the big Pawpalooza we are hosting with Animal Compassion Network. Can't wait to go!. . .

All in all a great time was had by all.

More later!

Peggy

Back from New York, Now Off to DC

2011-08-13T22:28:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful time in New York . . perhaps our best ever! I will write more later about that but have no time now. My cousin's aunt Mary died Thursday so we are going to her funeral Monday, leaving tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. We'll be back Tuesday afternoon -- driving half way back after the funeral. Mary was 101 years old and lived every second of her life in a happy state of mind. Ever Irish, she loved to dance the Irish jig and although never touching alcohol she was generally the life of the party, even a small one! I am sure we will all miss her.

I took lots of pictures of New York which I will mount soon. It was a whirlwind with the wonderfully amicable Palmers who walked everywhere with us. We have little stubs for feet now!

Hope everyone can come out for our Pawpalooza on Saturday at Pet Harmony at noon to 4p.m. to meet Susie, the dog responsible for Susie's law, the law which makes animal cruelty a federal (class H) offense in NC. I cannot wait to meet her (burned off ears and everything). Another law is being proposed which needs your support ( if you live in NC ) called Chamberlain's (he is another dog) law which tightens the cruelty laws even further. Please come out and see these dogs and have some ice cream ( proceeds to benefit CFA), and also meet authors of many dog books as well. Have a great time! Come see us.

Thanks and more blogging later!

Great Outreach and Good Movie!

2011-08-06T17:42:00.002-04:00

We spent most of Friday on Outreach visiting 7 dogs, so we shall see what comes of it. It gets depressing but we know there is a light at the end of the tunnel for these fellows!

We went to see Beginners today and liked it. I like Ewan MacGregor!! Christopher Plummer did well, but his role was quite understated. It is a complex story, not often told so that is why I liked it. I did not like the pauses between comments. . . that drives me crazy. . ."Isn't a nice day, Edith" pause second one, two, three. " Well, Jerome,"staring into his eyes with a bashful smile. "It could. . pause pause, pause, be a . . pause, pause, "good one if only". . pause, pause. . we were together." Drives me nuts! Just say it, Edith!Anyway, it was good and I would recommend it. We also had lunch at Laurey's which did not disappoint either. Never been there on a weekend. Same fresh food as weekdays and half the crowd.

The Big Veg Fest is tomorrow and we are ready with our carrots and beets! HA! We are sharing a booth with Animal Compassion Network and they have about 50 vendors. . good deal for the first annual.

We'll wait two weeks for our next event with is the PAWpalooza with adoptions and all kinds of goodies from noon to 3 on August 20th. WE are co-sponsoring that event. Can't wait for that!

And of course, we go to New York on Monday morning.

Love,

P

Busy, busy, busy

2011-08-04T11:28:00.001-04:00

Since I got sick last September, I have not been as busy as this last week. We have hired all these new people and new people need training so you would think, "well I'll just explain to them them what I do." Easy to say, but not to implement because you are trying to pull things from your intuitive nature after doing something for 3 years. It seems natural for me to respond a certain way or behave a certain way and that is not what these folks know how to do. So I am writing almost everything down. Everything. It is a bit time-consuming.

Had a root canal on two teeth by a doctor who will remain anonymous. She sang through the entire procedure or made sarcastic remarks. Did a good medical job, but otherwise, would not go back and hope to Gawd I don't have to go back. They had to shoot me with numbing fluid 7 times to get my nerves calmed down so she could work, so yes, that meant 3 initial shots ( to be expected) and then 4 more times of excruciating pain as she hit a nerve with the drill. Oh my, let's not even remember that.

We made it alive through Bele Chere but the Friday before (last Friday) I got sick due to the combination of meds I am taking and the heat. As my body temperature rose and we were in the car (I get car sick anyway), the nausea hit me. So I was very lucky not to have to work in the blazing heat of downtown Asheville for Bele Chere much. . .it was then I realized how much I REALLY appreciate our new staff handling these efforts. ! Yea!

Also on Friday we saw my cancer center going up in flames. We were actually in the neighborhood and saw the smoke coming out of the 5th floor, where the fire started. No cause has been identified yet. One fireman died (of a heart attack) and 8 were admitted to the hospital. They have moved all the chemo facilities to St. Joesph's Hospital campus directly across the street. The 5th floor is where all their records resided. Hmmm. . no one knows what this is going to mean for insurance purposes.

This Sunday is Veg Fest and I am not involved at all except in the prep work, although Patrick has agreed to set the booth up and take it down. Another great moment, validating how good it is to have staff.

Tomorrow we're doing outreach to dogs on chains and training our Outreach Director to handle this job. Another piece of stress just leaving the mind. Yea.

Monday we go to New York.

I am so excited. We are taking a grand tour of Brooklyn (private tour guide), as well as taking in two muscials, dining at 21, eating at Eataly (several Italian restaurants under one roof -- a new concept in dining), seeing the Tenement Museum again, having a drink at the Top of the Rock, taking a tour of Broadway behind the scenes, and one of Harlem. We shall visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where we could spend the entire day), the Museum of Photography, and the Museum of the History of New York. We will also be staying in free accommodations due to our time-share. We had just enough points to get a room for us and one for our friends who are traveling with us (the Palmers). It is a Hilton on West 57th Street, 2 blocks from Central Park, between 6th and 7th Ave. We have stayed there before and LOVED it! Cannot wait. I will report out our happenings in a blog when we get back.

Well, thanks for stopping by, and know that I think of all of you often and hope you'll fill me in on your lives.

Love,

Peggy

Happy Monday

2011-07-25T14:47:00.000-04:00

It is indeed a good day!. Our visit with Dr. Lucas confirms Dr. Johnson's opinion that I am doing very well and that she would recommend me for bowel reconnection surgery but there are no other surgeons in Asheville that perform this surgery besides Dr. Ahearn so Mayo here we come. Sometime soon I will make an appt. and we may travel down theresoon -- maybe even before we go there in the fall to see what's what.

Yesterday we built 13 panels for a fence for two dogs, and the wonderful Job Corps guys (14 of them) showed up to help. We simply could not have done it all in one day without their help! Otis and Bo are very happy now.

I have more or less decided that I simply cannot build fences like I have been doing. The physical work, my lack of stamina and the heat have really taken a toll and I will not be present at all builds in the future -- the doctor pretty much validated that my strength will not be back until 6 months post chemo which would make it November. So I will be living with Mr. Fatigue for a little while longer now.

So, hope you guys have a good week and we'll type again soon.

Cheers!

Peggy

Good Day

2011-07-21T20:49:00.000-04:00

Visited with Liz, Debbie and Ginger today of Madison County's group to get dogs off chains. They are very organized and have a 501-c-3! Very impressive. I gave them some tidbits of information so I hope that helps them. . there is always the tendency, though, to talk about one dog. . . one dog. . one dog. We need to take these conversation to a higher level, but lobbying does not tug at the heart like the one dog down on Reems Creek Rd. or the poor soul on Main Street, etc. , etc. Anyway, I will meet with them again and help them build their first fence this summer, I hope!

Amazingly, a friend, Anne, adopted a golden retriever mix last week and her current dog hid under the bed for 3 days so alas, they had to take the new dog back. Within a few hours, another friend of mine, Marlisa, came and adopted him, not knowing Anne! Small world. Anne wants to meet up with Marlisa now so she can visit Spirit!

We're in the stretch for Bele Chere and also trying to build an enormous fence on Sunday. I have very few volunteers and I have learned a lesson -- don't try to ask for volunteers for fencing and for a booth in the same email! Dwaine and Patrick put in 14 posts today!!!!. We need at least 6 workers and I am determined to find them.

Casey, the 5 year old who had a stroke, is now speaking a bit. Hurray! She is off to Dallas today to get even more specialized treatments.

Reese was groomed today and it went ok, but took a long time! He is just full of it (fur that is!)

Feeling ok, but Mr. Fatigue is back. . it is like he visits every 3rd day. Especially when I have several thigns lined up to do. . Whap. . no you don't. . it forces me to relax. I have not walked on the treadmill in 3 days but will tomorrow. a mile and 1/2 is the goal. We'll see.

All for now. Hope you are having a good week. Chow.

Peggy

Loose Ends Day

2011-07-20T19:47:00.000-04:00

We are thinking more and more about going to Florida for the reconnect and I called down there today to make an appointment for a consult which we can probably get in September and then at least have a body of knowledge upon which to base a decision. I don't really want to do the Shake and Bake -- it is pretty gruesome.

Having no appointments today, I decided it would be a loose ends day, just wrapping up projects that I have put off, etc. and I feel pretty accomplished. Also did two loads of laundry and I know you are reading this blog to learn more about that! HA!

Anyway, also reading a book about Big Pharma and the muckraking that needs to go on there. Since I am taking so many meds now, I want to know the "behind-the-scenes." Very interesting.

Patrick is planning our New York Trip and we are seeing two plays, taking a 3 hour private tour of Brooklyn, and lots of other things including my favorite which is the Tenement Museum. . what a tribute to our forebears who lived in these god forsaken places and got out . . .to give us, a century later, the luxuries we currently enjoy. Bravo to all those immigrants. Not sure I could have borne those struggles gracefully.

Anway, hope your week is going well!

Love,

Peggy

151st Post! Wow!

2011-07-19T16:26:00.000-04:00

I started writing this post about a year ago and have used a lot of words to convey experiences and feelings I was having. I appreciate, very much, your stopping by to read them. It continues to be a great way for me to vent, to share our lives and I do thank all of you for your comments!

Today I walked one mile and 29/100. . I hope tomorrow it will be one mile and 30/100! Well, at least it keeps me going. My prime coach is Robin who came over today with her kids. She looks great --- wouldn't you agree? Especially after two kids!

We're going out tonight to Jack of Hearts, a new restaurant in Weaverville. We want to support local businesses!

I got very badly sunburned on Sunday and am now a real red-neck and proud of it!

All for today. . feeling great and hope you are as well!

Love,

Peggy

Malaprop's

2011-07-18T17:20:00.000-04:00

I want to send lots of thanks to Malaprop's. I ordered a large print book there and they ordered it and it came in but was $30.00. I found a much cheaper copy at Amazon.com. I told Malaprop's and they issued me a full refund of the $30.00 in the form of a gift card which I used to buy the cutest things -- notebooks, etc. What a great store. I also got a very cool pen.

Neither one of my computers is working very well so it might be time to buy a smart phone? I keep going back and forth on this. I may go down to Verizon tomorrow and look (just look) at them.

All for today!

Peggyt

New York and Abingdon Here We COME

2011-07-16T16:08:00.003-04:00

We are so fortunate to be able to travel to New York August 8-13 with the Palmers. We have never traveled with anyone before so this will be fun. The first planning committee meeting was today and Reese and Allie got to attend by running around their huge front yard in front of the best front porch in Montford, while we were eating delicious sandwiches prepared by a gourmet chef (Jimmy) and figuring out all the fun things we'll do up there. It was great!

Patrick and I have also made plans to sneak out of town on August 3rd to see Southern Exposure (a chick play, we think) at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, VA. For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you will remember we went there last year as well and had a lovely time. I love the inn so much -- aromas of old wood in the hotel and old telephones in the rooms (I love old telephones) and just the feeling of being really relaxed is something else. Can't Wait.

Bele Chere has occupied much of our work and thoughts recently. The new staff is raring to go and I will post a photo of them all soon. They will all be at the build tomorrow. There is so much to do, but I think we have it all organized now. It is quite a difference between this year and last when we ran the Doggie Jail. So wonderful to have staff supporting our efforts.

We continue to pray for Casey, daughter of Patrick's niece, who had a stroke last Sunday. Casey is only 5 years old. Please keep her in your thoughts as well. This is a tough one, since Julie Mom is a single mother and now she has a special needs daughter -- at least for a while. Children are so very resilient through and she will be in good hands as they move her from Austin to Dallas to a special rehab facility for children. My, what a shock. Life is so precious. That lesson is learned over and over again.

Also looking forward to seeing Robin Payne and her two kids on Tuesday and meeeting up with Debbie Davis of Madison County to help them get the ball rolling to unchain dogs there.

More later and Keep Smiling!

Peggy

Teeth should last 100 years. Period.

2011-07-13T19:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I spent all that time focused on the left side of the mouth and now the pain is happening on the right side -- so much so that I could not eat much dinner, but I am using my Dilaudid pills and Oragel and may have to call the dentist yet again tomorrow. These human teeth should last longer, don't you think? I mean, really, 100 years is not too much to ask, eh?

We met today as a CFA staff and worked out the details for Bele Chere and future events -- seems like we have an event a week coming up this summer. We are exited that we are partnering with Animal Compassion Network to sponsor a book signing of local dog books, esp. the new book about Susie,(the dog who brought tougher animal laws to NC- called Susie's law) a free shot clinic, music and adoptions and party hardy event on August 20th and refreshments and authors and it will be lots of fun. Our special events director is working hard! We will also be at VegFest on August 7th, and River Fest later in August. We are Festing with the Besting!

Still reading my tome, New York: the novel and am only 1/4 through it. It is 1500 pages in large print. I love large print. For the first time, I can really see the words! Yeah!

Well, thanks for stopping by. No other news today. Hope you guys are doing well.

Cheers!

Peggy

Shake and Bake, Part Two

2011-07-12T18:06:00.000-04:00

The man who had the shake and bake is a very private person and unfortunately, is not ready to share his procedure with me, but frankly, I am discounting somewhat what Dr. Ahearne recommends. I do have a link to the patient's family's journal, however, which will be very helpful. I hope to read that tonight.

I have just finished reading all of my Mayo reports, however, I honestly believe I can have the reconnect. . at Mayo perhaps . in January . . .and that leaves plenty of time to recover down there.

Dr. Johnson said, " She asked my opinion about reversal. I see no contraindications. Final decision would be that of surgeon. She asked about recurrent bowel obstruction, which admittedly could occur (even with my colostomy) but I would anticipate with regular CT assessment, the reappearance of disease would be identified earlier and treatment could be started prior to such a dire situation."

So our second opinion will be with a surgeon in January at Mayo.

We see Dr. Lucas here in Asheville on July 25th so we will discuss it with her as well. I clearly do not want to jeopardize my survivability by avoiding the shake and bake, but 90 days is a long, long and painful journey. We'll see. Stay tuned.

ChainFree has occupied a lot of my time these past few days, but we are making headway in the county and Bele Chere and wow. . .fencing of 3 dogs . . and well, it just goes on an on. Good news all around so we are happy with the new staff as the newly revived CFA goes to Buncombe. The ACO in Buncombe told us that it will take a while to get the county turned around but it can happen.

I walked a mile today on the treadmill. I hope to be able to do this (and more) as we go through time.

Cheers!

Peggy

Nice Weekend

2011-07-10T21:23:00.001-04:00

Together with the Palmers, we saw Tuna Does Las Vegas yesterday at Flat Rock, the state theater of NC, and it was very funny. Two men change outfits and characters about 20 times during the play! Some of the lines were hilarious. Afterwards we went to Hickory Tavern at Biltmore Park for an early dinner. What is a lunch-dinner? A Lunner? Anyway, could not resist the carrot cake and it was wonderful along with my lobster salad! a Diet Break!

Today we went downtown to the Big Crafty with 170 craft vendors, and ran into some friends plus bought a few trinkets and an amazing hand cream . . .like I need more hand lotions/cream to add to my collection of 20 bottles now. . I cannot stop myself!

Amazingly I have identified through a good friend, someone who has had the shake and bake procedure. It is truly amazing we found this person. Only because my friend remembered Dr. Sugarbaker was the name of his doctor. . . isn't it a small world? More about that later as I learn more about him and his willingness to talk to me.

I read The New York Times cover to cover and worked the local paper's crossword for a while and simply read and relaxed. Talked to other friends on the phone and my brother-in-law Bill (Always good to hear from him). GREAT DAY! Feeling very good.

Remember, Joy is not in things; it is in us. (a saying I bought today on wood)

Cheers & Love,

Peggy

Ostomy Nurse Carol

2011-07-08T17:27:00.001-04:00

Carol is the Director of the Ostomy Unit at Mission Hospital. She reminds me of a 3rd grade teacher. She is very detailed and very direct. She helped us a lot by measuring and discussing things I really cannot talk about in this blog, but will help me with the inflammation and stinging of the raw skin around my stoma. She was just great. She has been doing this for more than 20 years, so is definitely an expert. Anyway, so two hours later, we have a new appliance (we are testing four of them over the next month). Looks like I will be on the bag for some time to come so we might as well get the best one which fits well and does the best job to keep the skin healthy.

My computer is not able to accept Excel XLSX files so I am going crazy here since one of the documents I have is a huge 600 page file! I hate the dependency we have on computers, but love what they can do. I am sure we all feel that way. I may have to take this guy into the shop soon. It accepts downloaded word documents, but not excel. My backup is the laptop which I can try next. Anyway, I am sure it will all work out somehow.

We have received a lot of wonderful prizes for our raffle! Thanks to all of you who might be reading this who have contributed to ChainFree Asheville's Raffle Extravaganza (CARE) at Bele Chere. We are very excited about the new booth, the new logo, the new staff, and the excitement of having our first booth (we ran the doggie jail for two years). It will be set up like a backyard with fencing around and grass flooring and posters all around the outside of our work putting up fences and smiling happy running dogs and all the prizes inside the booth. Tickets will be reasonably priced so everyone can have some fun! And FREE dog biscuits. (well, for a dollar minimum donation). So that is going well.

We are going to see Tuna Does Vegas at Flat Rock Playhouse tomorrow with the Palmers. . ..should be fun!

Gotta mix some fun in with the work, eh?

Love you guys,

Peggy

Sugeon Meeting Was Not Good

2011-07-07T18:57:00.001-04:00

Dr. Ahearne will not perform the reconnect until I have a "shake and bake" procedure. It would occur in Winston-Salem at the Wake Forest Cancer Center and consists of a 14-hour surgery where they pour chemo drugs into my peritoneal cavity and let it bake there destroying the cancer. After the surgery, I would be at Wake Forest Hospital for a month followed by several weeks of at-home therapy.

The Mayo Clinic in Jax said they recommended talking to a surgeon there(when we left in May) so maybe we do that when we go down there in November Perhaps I can get it done at Mayo without Shake and Bake.

Ahearne is worried that if he reconnects and the cancer comes back we'll have to go back in and create the ostomy again. We certainly do not want to do that.BUT Mayo thinks the cancer can be corrected by chemotherapy. We talked about shake and bake with the Mayo Doctor (Dr. Johnson) and she believes it does not increase life expectancy much.

If we move to Winston for 30-60 days- then Patrick and the dogs would need to get a house there that takes dogs and all kinds of other inconveniences. We really have to figure out what we are doing here. It scares me to think he will simply NOT DO IT without the shake and bake. Interestingly the shake and bake would also reconnect the bowel while I am on the table.

There is no rush on this but eventually I will have to decide.

I am having that feeling that I am not immortal again. It went away several months ago and I was having a great time. I know the cancer is there -- I still get pains -- but I just want to hibernate for a while (at least tonight). I want to have a pity party for a little while.

I found out that the man who discovered this technique is Dr. Paul Sugarbaker of DC. If he is still there, we could get a hotel room at GW (my alma mater) and hang out in DC for a few months. HA!

Oh well, life always presents us with interesting choices, doesn't it? But at least we have the choice. In some other counties I would be left to die on the side of the road .

Thanks for all your comments and concerns!

Love,

Peggy

Dentists are never fun!

2011-07-06T21:56:00.000-04:00

Even if you go in thinking this time will be different it will not. The upper left side of my face is bruising I think from the Novocaine -- yikes. The worse was the palate needle. So I do not have to go back for a while, AND it will be less than the $9,000 originally estimated.

I am reading the book New York: The Novel, by Edward Rutherfurd (notice the u) and it is very good but set in 8 point type. I have re-ordered the book in Large Print -- my first one in Large Print. One thousand and five hundred pages. I will to finish this before we leave on August 8th.

Forgot to take my morning meds today. Why was that? I got up at the regular time but for some reason just forgot to take them. No real adverse reactions -- only a bit tired but that is pretty normal. I sometimes cannot get the "get up and go" I used to have. Before last year, I was out the door before you said go, but now I am still on the couch 10 minutes later.

Patrick did outreach today on two dogs and also walked for 30 minutes. I am so proud of him. We are both on diets and exercise programs.

We are planning a trip to the Midwest next year (2012 Summer) to see his beloved Cardinals play a game and visit relatives in Omaha and Wisconsin. . . will be good to see Aunt Jean and Gail's husband, Kim, and the other folks out there and see the Cardinals play. . more than once we hope.

That's all for now.

Peggy

Stoma Stinging

2011-07-05T19:33:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm going to the wound care department over at Mission on Friday (first appt I could get) to see if they can help me with the skin deterioration around my stoma. It is so painful!

I will have the dentist tomorrow and Dr. Ahearn on Thursday. I am really into the health care system of America now.

In between doctors' visits, we are going over to the Hop to try their ice cream -- a benefit for Animal Compassion Network at 6 p.m. Be there or be square.

We'll be fencing our first dog of our season, Tiger, on July 17th. We have all the new players lined up and we hope it goes well. I am sure it will.

Patrick and I are both on a diet. We ate so much while our guests were here. I gained 6 pounds in a week! Too much cake! We'll go light on the Ice Cream!

Missing Florida today-- some guy at Ingles said it was supposed to snow today. Well, he was joking around, but I almost believed him! HA!

Trying to get raffle prizes for our booth at Bele Chere. We'll see. Our friends, Jim and Linda, gave us a great one -- two nights at their inn!!!!!!

We're also going down to Flat Rock on Saturday to see a play -- one of the Tuna series -- I don't know which one. Patrick loves these guys who are hillbilly-like characters -- only two of them changing character every few minutes. It is very funny.

Over the weekend we visited with AND bought a paining (print) by Jeff Pittman. He is very good and perhaps he will give me a print to raffle off? We met several other wonderful artists in the River District. We also had lunch at the new White Duck Taco Cafe. Delicious and the portions are small ($3.95). Just my size. Mike, at the Farmer's Market, was glad to see us as we were to see him. We may be going back to the market if I find the right volunteer to set up and tear down. . we could alternate with The Humane Society who is only there alternating Saturdays. They were able to adopt out 16 kittens last week! Very good!

All of for now. . .

Peggy

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-04T16:27:00.000-04:00

Independence Day makes you think higher thoughts, doesn't it? Makes you think about equality, freedom and our ability to choose . .. whether it's buying a car, a bar of soap, a partner, or a job. We are FREE to choose that. Amazing. Simply amazing.

Enjoy your day!

Boom!

Well, I'm back. . .

2011-07-03T20:47:00.000-04:00

I am not totally well. . LOL! . . But I am back because let's face it I love to blog! It is like a medication to me. . getting all the news out and letting me pretend I am reporting on my life. . like a journalist. I can see how it can be addicting.

In the wellness department, my stoma has a ring of fire (irritation and skin breakdown) now which stings like heck and we're trying different topical products to reduce the pain likened to someone dropping acid on your body. Not much is helping except my pain meds which I am taking double the amount of for now. By Tuesday I can call Dr. Lucas' office and see what she recommends for this. This happened in Florida but then suddenly went away. . what in the heck is causing this?

Patrick and I are doing no work for next 48 hours to relax away from Chain Free and I thought we would have fun -- not be burdened by pain. The city fireworks are tonight (the 3rd) but I just don't feel up to going. Patrick has a new book that Seamus gave him so he is content. We can catch some fireworks from our balcony/deck.

The cousins, Seamus and Marty, have come and gone. They are delightful people. We had a welcome to America party with about 13 folks along with a happy birthday cake and a wonderful performance by Howard on his bagpipes up at the clubhouse and pool. Everyone seemed to have had a great time and they were surprised by the photo cakes of Seamus at 2 and one of the two of them last New Year's eve which I took from Facebook and printed, gave to Wal*Mart and they made the cakes. Surprisingly good cakes but they did not use red ink in the pictures so they came out with a blue cast, but they were ok.

We did the Biltmore, dined at Corner Kitchen, and visited Knoxville to see my grandfather. While there we found my great grandmother and great grandfather on my grandmother's side (Nellie's mom and dad). Amazing. Ha! John was born on St. Paddy's Day in 1851. I wonder if they had green beer back then?

My cousin John came down from Maryland and said meeting Seamus and Marty was was slipping into an old pair of shoes. They are very easygoing and fun to be with! I heartily agreed!

So tomorrow we are dedicated to relaxing a bit and I will try to get in one mile on Mr. Treadmill. It is getting easier and easier to go the mile. Now if I can only get to three!

HAPPY FOURTH everyone!

Love,

Peggy

One of the Last Posts

2011-06-20T20:12:00.001-04:00

This will be one of my last posts to this website. I will post occasionally to let you know about the re-connect. . maybe once a week. Thanks to all of you who have supported me through my bout with cancer and know you are the reason, in large part, why my spirits were raised. You all are truly my life support system, if there ever was one.

On July 7th, I am starting a blog on Chain Free matters. It will be about our progress and defeats (if we have any) and other things concerning our work. For all of you in the "dog movement" I will send a link as soon as we get it set up.

Once again, thank you, esp. Michelle and Rosie and all of you who watched the posts and commented, those who prayed, those who sent healing thoughts, and all of you whom I hold precious.

Love,

Peggy

Dentist Pains

2011-06-15T11:03:00.000-04:00

It will cost about $9,000 to have my implants put in. I think not. I may just have them pulled and eventually get a bridge. I am nervous because he is removing the crowns next Tuesday and removing the decay but then we need to decide the $9,000 question. Such stress.

Feeling good. Switched anti-depressant to Celexa from Cymbalta and added Lyrica for nerve pain but Lyrica could take a year to kick in she said. It is hard to write and type but I keep passionately doing it. How can you live without writing?

Interviewing 3 candidates for the fencing job today. Wish us luck.

We have too many qualified people for the special events job so we are trying to decide how to manage that. It is a good news kind of thing.

Had the carpets cleaned and mucho dog hair is now gone!!!

Hope you all are doing well.

Doctor's Visit

2011-06-10T20:52:00.000-04:00

We met with Dr. Lucas' Nurse Practitioner who can prescribe drugs and she looks exactly like Patrick's ex!!! I have never in my life met two people who look so similar . . . it was a little weird having her touch me and get personal.

Anyway, some drugs have been decreased, some gone, new ones added, etc. New regime starts tomorrow. My neuropathy has been bad -- hard to type but I am on Lyrica (a diabetes drug) which helps nerve pain, so maybe that will help. I cannot live without typing.

Good interviews this week for the special events planner which may morph into other exciting directions. More about that later. It is good to be back to ChainFree and Asheville -- I had some hesitations about coming back since we love Florida so much, but this life is good in other ways. . and I so enjoyed seeing my old gang. Saw Miss Jane (of the famous miss Jane's pet walker fame) today at Mountain Java and have seen many others. Good feelings .

This computer is not allowing me to upload photos so it may have to go tot he shop. . and my class in photography was cancelled at UNCA (boo!).

Overall, a very good week. . .

Thanks for listening. Please tell me about your life.

Love,

Peggy

Happy Wednesday

2011-06-08T17:21:00.000-04:00

No real news until tomorrow when I see Dr. Lucas's PA.

Seems like the rain is hitting us each day and taking away the humidity. I felt like I was in a sauna this afternoon.
Feeling great and hope you are as well!

Peggy

Hummingbird wings

2011-06-04T11:27:00.000-04:00

Patrick and I have been little hummingbird wings since we got back on Thursday. Opening a house is not fun! And I have been hugely dizzy until today when I took no pills. I think the pills and the altitude must be affecting me. I will resume them if I need to, but not dizzy today.

Yesterday learned that we are, indeed, one of the 20 nonprofits identified for Bele Chere (350,000 people gathered for the South's largest crafts and music festival), but I had to run a check down to her yesterday in addition to everything else we were doing, but I am so thankful we got the booth. I did not request a grant this year so this will be a major fund-raiser for us! We also hae a good candidate or two for the fund-raising position who will get a commission. .

Just planted a lot of geraniums on the back deck and just threw a bucket of them on the front porch. Our deck furniture has had it after 5 years so we are going furniture shopping tomorrow and out with friends tonight for dinner.

I'll keep you posted from time to time about surgery -- next Appt. is June 9th. This is a lifetime thing it seems but going in the right direction.

Peace, Love and People hood. Please write me to let me know how it is going. I will not be at the fence build but perhaps the next one. If anyone out there knows of a fence manager, please let me know. We only have one candidate. Four Sundays a Month. 3 hours per Sunday. $10.00 per hour. Not huge money. But great people.

Peggy

The Cancer is Under Control

2011-05-31T20:38:00.000-04:00

I can have the bowel reconnect this summer! I am happy. Thanks to all of you for your prayers, your thoughts and the flowers, cards and other things (food/books, socks, etc) . I have the best friends in the world.

I must have a CT scan every 3 months for the first year and then if that plays out well, we move along to once every 6 months and thereafter every 6 months. If the results are not good for any particular CT scan, we go on a mini-chemo procedure either in Florida or NC depending upon where we are living at the time.

Well, Reese and Allie are happy that I can actual run in the Wiggle Butt race in October!!!

Love,

Peggy

Great Day in the Morning/Afternoon and Evening

2011-05-29T18:33:00.000-04:00

Father Al gave us a great message today. . . about living compassionately with diversity and cherishing friendship. We will miss him a lot when we leave for Asheville in a few days.

Mayo CT scan is Tuesday. Will keep you posted on that.

Had a wonderful hour long- catch -up phone call with my oldest friend, Rosemary, today. It was so good to hear her voice. . and we're beginning to plan to get together at some point this year.

My knees officially have arthritis I think. GAWD, I feel like I am 100 when I get up . But with exercise I am sure we can lick this.

Hope all of you are doing well. It is colling off here in PC. . to about 90 today. . . really not too bad. We are eating on the porch.

Peace,

Peggy

Glad Tidings of Great Joy

2011-05-23T15:13:00.000-04:00

Yeah, well, I know it is not Christmas, but these gladiolas have ertainly brought us a lot of joy! I planted these glads two year ago and since we left Florida in late April we did not have a chance to see them bloom because they bloom in May (now!) in late May. We are really loving them. One of them is almost 3 foot tall now! They also love the 95 degree weather we are having.

The countdown (ASHEVILLE OR BUST) has begun with Patrick leaving day after tomorrow to take the first load to W-ville and then flying back here (I still cannot drive 8-10 hours) and then he and I and the dogs and computers leave on June 2nd. I am getting exctied to see all of you again.

Love,

Peggy

Book and Website

2011-05-22T07:02:00.002-04:00

We just returned from Spring Green, Wisconsin for the funeral of a wonderful woman, Gail Petersen, Patrick's cousin. While it was good to see many family members, it was a sad time to know she is gone at such an early age (60). The photo above shows Gail in the center with her husband, Kim (Dr. Petersen) to her right,Patrick behind him, her Mom behind Gail and her Aunt Jean to her left. This was taken last year at the house where Patrick grew up in Tulsa.

The motel where we stayed in Spring Green was quite unique with 1970 style rooms but a beautiful center courtyard with gazebos(two new ones went up while we were there!) waterfalls, plants, flowers everywhere, chickens, bunnies, dogs. . simply wonderful little spot to gather and catch up.

In other news, due to a nice response from many of you, I now have some good feedback on the website for ChainFreeNation.org and all that is left is the final editing. Is there ever really a final editing? Anyway, I need to do the final edit and then, using Lulu, produce the book. Thanks to all of you who helped me get this ball rolling. Look for the website in about a week.

No more health news until May 31st: the CAT scan and its reading.

Peace to Love to all,

Peggy

Nice nice get-away!!

2011-05-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

Flo was our guide. . Flo the Flamingo is always on the go. We had a lovely condo overlooking the ocean and the inter-coastal waterway.

Ft. Lauderdale should be rechristened Ft. Yachterdale. There are more yachts per capita here than in any other US city. Even without a yacht, we had a wonderful time. The unit featured a huge wrap-around terrace so we had terrific views from the 19th floor of the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Beach Hotel.

Here are some additional shots from the condo. The concierge desk was very helpful and since we spent a day in Miami, she gave us some hints on how to see the most in the day we had.

Flo loves water so she was very happy guiding us around town. She was good in restaurants as well! We had some good meals at an Italian Patisserie and the Cheesecake Factory as well as the Casino. We visited both the Coconut Creek Casino and the hard Rock. Patrick won $200 at Hard Rock and I won $25. I lost my $25 and $20 more the next night for a total loss of $20 and Patrick lost $40, but we are still ahead! Yea!

We saw multi-million dollar homes owned by our nation's richest families. Incredible housing projects (!). The water Taxi takes you through the canals of "Venice of America" and the backyards of the homes seem to be more important than the front since that's where there boats are!!

Miami was about money and tall buildings. Not quite as many yachts.

The First Annual Wiggle Butt 5K

2011-05-17T13:05:00.000-04:00

If you want to join a few of us who love dogs at a 5 k or a 1 mile fun/run let me know or just sign up here: 1st Annual WIGGLE BUTT 5K, 1 Mile Fun Run & Dog Walk benefiting the WNC Boxer Rescue | Fletcher, North Carolina 28732 | Sunday, October 02, 2011 @ 2:00 PM

Since ChainFree works so much with pits, boxers and mixes, I am delighted to personally participate in this.
Come on folks, such a worthy cause!

Delay in returning to Asheville

2011-05-16T10:50:00.000-04:00

We cannot get the CT scan until May 31st. Hopefully we'll be back in Asheville the first week of June. SO, we'll see you then, unless they decide to change it again. I need a good thing to happen today. ;-(

Rest in Peace, my friend Gail

2011-05-16T10:39:00.000-04:00

After batting cancer for 2 years, a blood clot finally took Gail, age 60, yesterday at noon. She was such a talented and giving person, working with her husband, Dr. Kim, setting up Alzheimer's clinics across the US. She was a great mother and grandmother, animal lover and so kind to help me with my cancer as well as with Kate's Alzheimer's . So shocking was her death, that this will take a while for all of us to get beyond. What a sad day!

The News Keep Getting Better!

2011-05-14T16:06:00.000-04:00

Great News:

My last chemo, the 12th one in this protocol program was yesterday. That does not mean I will never have chemo again. It means that this series is over. . thank goodness. I will continue to stay on pain meds and some other meds and then we are looking for the CAT scan scheduler to call us and are hoping it will be before May 25th but it may go as late as May 31st. We hope for the earliest date possible. The CAT scan is a pretty good indicator of where everything stands. My first CAT scan showed how all of my organs were smashed together Yikes. The interim ones have shown a lot of relief from the cancer fluids (less smashing!)so maybe we'll see even better results this time.

After the CAT scan we return to Asheville and I will move under the care of my original oncologist, Dr. Lucas and my surgeon, Dr. Ahearn (the ones who looks like Tom Cruise with sandy hair). Too bad you're anesthetized during surgery so you cannot look at his face the whole time! ;-)

Then we are scheduling the reconnect for the first part of August when I will recuperate for 4-5 weeks.

Meantime I will get the law passed in Buncombe this summer. . we already have some strong support from one of the commissioners and a 75% lean to our side on another. I feel confident we can win this, but will fight as though we won't. Plus I need to pace myself more.

Our fencing czar has to move on so we need someone to take the job With Compensation. Do any of you want to do this job? It involves interviewing the chainers who are normally under citation by the police so are happy to see you, then measuring the land, and heavy lifting of wire and posts mainly. The real reward is seeing the dogs run around the fence. Loving dogs is priority #1 for this job. We need you starting ASAP.

You will see the ChainFreeNation.org designed to help people who want to start a ChainFree organization in their own hometown to be mounted very soon now. It is now in the process of being edited and one more edit cycle and we'll be finished.

Until next time,

Peggy

Reese is now fine

2011-05-02T15:41:00.001-04:00

At 4 a.m. he started scratching his ear through his E-collar and running all over the house. We finally got him calmed down. It was like a monster had crawled into his ears and was in his brain,. How horrible. He never whimpered or anything. . just ran and ran. Never have seen this behavior before. We had a vet appt. for him for this afternoon, but he seems fine now!

Anyway, things are going well and we're excited about our trip to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday for 3 nights . We'll enjoy the water taxi, the casino, the museum of art, the Red Door Salon, the house of butterflies (maybe -- I'm not a real huge fan of butterflies), take a cruise down the inter-coastal to Port Everglades where our Christmas Cruise will be departing. This time, Florence is our guide. She is a riot -- wait until you meet this charming 6 inch flamingo!!

Best to everyone out there!

Love,

Peggy

I am ready to go back to work! Amazingeed

2011-04-29T18:13:00.001-04:00

I feel like I have been on an 8 month sabbatical! The platelet count (my nemesis) was 125 so we had chemo yesterday (!) and I feel fine today but a tiny bit flushed (first tie for the flushing) . Sometimes I feel better on chemo than at any other time -- why is that?Shouldn't ask I guess.

I am beginning work again on ChainFreeNation.org which should be live within the month. . of course, I said that last year and it never got completed. I think I was a bit burned out plus the pain I had then was just too much. My last chemo is supposed to be May 12th. Let's keep our fingers and toes crossed.

Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts and cards and support and well, the list could go on and on. I treasure your friendship. I'll still be posting since the next step is the surgery on the reconnect, hopefully, but not as often. Maybe once a week or so.

I also selfishly love to post and vent and share what life is about here. I told a long-time editor friend "It keeps me in publishing!" ;-)

Bland and Norm came for dinner last night. They were going to buy a house at Starview Heights so we were going to be neighbors and were very excited about that since we love them so. Then he lost his job at Richmond Hill as the general manager and then he renewed his commercial Real Estate license and sold our B&B and has now followed us to St. Augustine where he is the GM (staff of 21) for a 23-room B&B right on the water. Great place. Casablanca Inn. We had some great laughs about B&B land and we gave him a big ole' Alaskan hat for his return visits to Asheville -- from 90 to 50? HA!

We also took our second Historical visit/tour to Ormond Beach with Betty. It was also enjoyable. Good Day. Today had lunch with the Ellwood ladies. Fun time!!!

Love,

Peggy

Great Day in the afternoon

2011-04-25T17:41:00.000-04:00

We added Rosemary's drawings to our living room today. They are just great. She is so very talented. She has a super eye for detail.

Today there has been such a difference between a.m. and p.m. This a.m. was not fun with the vomiting and the diarrhea, but this afternoon we took Reese over to the vet to take a look at his paw -- we think he has a hot spot and behold. . .I started feeling better. BRAT is very good (Bananas. Rice. Applesauce and Toast). Yum.

Reese has a million things now for his paw -- bitter apple, an antibiotic, an E collar (yikes - he hates those) and some other meds. He will be better next week.

Since P& I have not been anywhere in a month, we are thinking of driving down to Miami for two nights via the Hilton program we are in -- rooms are only $100 right at South Beach. Or other rooms on the left of Florida are Gulf Front.

Then back to Asheville and surgery which will keep us home for some time. Can we do it? Stay home for 6-8 weeks continuously?

Love,

Peggy

Tired

2011-04-24T20:13:00.000-04:00

Feeling very tired today and have diarrhea again. I though it was due to having two oatmeal breakfast bars to go, and it might be --but this is the second time in 3 days. Let's hope it is only food-related, and nothing more. I shall eat like a bird tomorrow (but no worms).

Hope all of you had a great Easter Day and Happy Spring.

Magnolias. . . and Dogs

2011-04-21T19:22:00.002-04:00

Hello all of you. Hope you are doing well and enjoying the hot weather. It is in the low 90s this week. Too hot to be out long on our dog walks. The dogs have fur coats on to begin with!

Our magnolia tree bloomed today for the first time. It is heavy with blooms so I'll update you from time to time. We call her Maggie.

I got rejected again today from chemo so we'll have it next Thursday. If you administer chemo to a low platelet person, blood will come out of all of their orifices. Such a nice and vivid picture.

Only two more left. Hurray! What is life like without chemotherapy and a bag? Shall we find out this summer? Hope so!!!