Promises Kept!

I'm keeping good on my promises today, but before I do…

I want you to know that after the seizure a month ago, my Neurologist and Oncologist urged us to consider staying in the DC area longer. After thinking, praying and talking to friends and family, we decided they were right. It would be good to be in the area near the excellent medical facilities as long as possible. And, since the next MRI is scheduled for Sep 20, it will give us some time to decide what to do if the MRI is anything but normal. First, I talked to my boss about it, and then we both had to go talk to the Deputy Director of our Directorate – also the Agency's CIO. We had a pleasant meeting and he agreed to allow me to apply for an extension. I filled out the paperwork and as I understand, it has been submitted for approval. If it is approved by the Army, we'll be in the DC area through the end of February 2007. The last MRI I had was before the Radiation started – where they saw a very small "area of enhancement." This is why they decided to do a full aggressive course of radiation instead of a shorter course. My Oncologist said that they normally do a follow-up MRI three months after the radiation is completed. The radiation finished June 19. So, Sep 20 is when we find out what the heck is going on up there – pray that nothing is going on! Anyway, that's it for that.

I've posted some pics of Anthony's trip. You can see the whole set here. There's one very cool picture that I took at the Natural History Museum. I took a bunch of pics of the main room and then used a free program called Autostitch to put them all together. All you have to do it select the pictures and it does all the work. Check it out! Oh - and if you peeked at the pictures already, check them out again - I added comments and stuff.


As I mentioned before – my hair is growing back in nicely. Hair is growing back in everywhere except for the rectangle where it fell out first on the top of my head. Check it out…

Here's a pic from May when a rectangle started to form on the top of my head.


Here are some pics we took last night, before I shaved my head this morning.



Weird, huh? You can see that the areas that were exposed to radiation are growing back in with less and slightly thinner hair. Click the pictures and check out the notes that I posted on each one.

So the neighbors… and the baby… we gave them the book and within a few days, we noticed that the baby would start crying, but then would quiet down pretty quickly. Then last week we got a small envelope under our door. It was a thank you note from our neighbors. They thanked us for the book and said that is has helped them immensely already. And that they had already recommended the same book to some of their friends! I'm glad we were able to help them (and ourselves) out. But I guess they still have bad days. Last night the baby was wailing from about 10pm to almost midnight. I just couldn't get to sleep and the earplugs were uncomfortable. I had planned to get to sleep at 10:30pm and wake at 5am, but after that, I could not do it. I got up late and my whole morning routine was behind schedule. Keep praying for them!

Holly and I are headed off to Nashville, TN Friday afternoon to see my sister Mirna, niece Ariana, mom, and dad. And Joey is coming back from Iraq on Thursday! So, it will be a mini family reunion. I haven't seen my parents since the surgery, Mirna and Ariana since Christmas and Joey since April of last year. We're going to have a great time. The only thing that could be a problem is the weather. Tropical Storm Ernesto is predicted to hit Florida later today and then track up the east coast up toward Virginia. Right now they say it will get to DC (if the track stays put) Friday morning. We're set to fly out of DC around Friday afternoon. I hope the heavy rain doesn't affect our travel.