NEARLY HERE

I am in my final countdown for our trip to the Montana house. To say that I want Dave to immediately love the house and all of its changes, would be an understatement. We have poured a lot of time, energy and not to mention money, into transforming this house into our HOME and I want Dave to be pleased...Last night we received the invoice from our Contractor for the latest project, our second wood burning stove. He told me earlier that he would NOT send me any pictures because he wants us to be surprised, he also told me how pleased he was with the way it turned out. Knowing that he is a perfectionist, I am certain that we are going to be thrilled!

In the office area I hung some family pictures back in April to give the place a more personal touch. I have a couple more packed in my suitcase that I'll be hanging here. Next year we will start on the upstairs but will wait to put in the stair railing until we make our move in 3 years, figuring it will make moving furniture upstairs easier.

This summer has definitely had its challenges. In April 2011, right before my Mom passed away from Colon Cancer, Dave was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. He had surgery to remove the Prostate since the cancer was aggressive and outside of the Prostate. The Surgeon felt very confident that things looked good but he did inform us that there was always the risk of it returning since it was outside the Prostate. In January we were disappointed to learn that it had returned. Although the PSA tests aren't 100% accurate, he had repeated tests and each one was elevated. This indicated that there was something going on. Through more tests and scans we learned that it wasn't anywhere else (bones, blood, organs, etc) which we were thankful for. The Radiologist explained to us that you could have over 10,000 cancer cells in an area just the size of the very tip of your pinky finger and since this cancer wasn't being picked up on the MRI's, it indicated that it was very minute and slow growing. Dave made the decision to have radiation and target the general area. The first phase was having a hormone therapy shot to suppress the manufacturing of Testosterone and then a couple of months later he began radiation for eight weeks. Last Thursday was his last radiation treatment and now we wait. We won't know anything until after the first of the year once the effects of the shot have completely worn off and his body begins producing Testosterone once again. Living with cancer has taught us to enjoy the day...just today because we don't know what the future holds. This trip to the house will be especially poignant after having the reality of cancer treatment in our lives. Time for the both of us to begin making memories at our retirement home!!

Five more days and we will be off into the wild blue yonder and heading up to Montana! This week will be filled with packing, list making and so on. We've double checked on deliveries scheduled to arrive, sent three large boxes via UPS to the house and have gathered together whatever paperwork we need. We've arranged a Dinner party and have a tentative date set for visiting some friends in Idaho. All we need to do, is finish our packing and drive to the airport. I am hoping this week goes by pretty fast!!