I Got A New Girl Now

Sunday, December 12

First Hike
Burkhart Trail
~1.5 mi total

No, not my first hike -- my new hiking buddy Rosie's first hike! And her first time walking on a leash, as a matter of fact! I was very pleased with how well she did. I'm also happy to report that despite her dog-in-training status (which makes her a dits), she is well on her way to being a lady -- she instinctively knows to step OFF the trail to potty! I still have splits in my fingers keeping me off the 'puter, so enjoy the pictures...

The newest member of the family.

So small! (Nine weeks old.)

Posing on the bench at the loop/Burkhart trail junction.

Come on, let's go!

Teaching her not to go over the edge!

A lovely walk on a beautiful winter's day.


Can you hear the water?

Okay, now SHE wants to rest! Didn't you just drag me away from the bench view?

No, really -- I'm just a little puppy. I can't go far!

Okay, I'll take a pano of the view while you rest.

She made it all the way to the water tank -- seven-tenths of mile.
Not bad for a little puppy!

The Punchbowl is a perfect place for any level of hiking...
and it was a good place for a baby's very first walk!

Thankful

Sorry for not posting lately; I had a bit of a setback in that the toxicity from the chemotherapy got to be a little too much. We really don't want to kill me while we're trying to cure me! So I have had to focus very hard on surviving and helping my internal organs function.

What's worse, the toxicity resulted in the hand-foot syndrome, complete with painful blisters and fissures and deep splits. My fingertips were not spared, so I have been unable to type and communicate with the outside world via cyberspace. Frustrating!

I did receive my imaging results in November; everything is looking MIRACULOUSLY good. There are no leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) spots in the head, just the ones in the IAC that were ablated with Cyberknife. Everything is stable or improving; nothing is worsening and there are NO new spots.

HALLELUJAH!

My oncologist told me I am the first patient he has ever had (in his 40-yr career) that has IMPROVED after being diagnosed with LM. See, there is always hope! So as you can guess, we had a very BLESSED day of Thanksgiving, grateful for all the good news.