November - A Look Ahead

We were kept busy last month, it seems, in between activities around our cottage and medical appointments. We had the opportunity to make a few jaunts to see local sights and enjoy the fall season. We were grateful for those breaks.

As reported earlier, Mr. Jim had a paracentesis procedure to relieve fluid in his abdominal cavity. He is meeting with his oncologist tomorrow to decide where to go from here with further treatments. His pain levels have ramped up the past few weeks, but he has been eating well since the drainage.

We don’t make too many plans around here anymore. We keep our schedule adaptable. However, we decided to throw caution to the wind and make Thanksgiving reservations for the Biltmore Inn in Asheville. We would appreciate your prayers that we will be able to go and not have to cancel. Mr. Jim is even considering the postponement of any chemotherapy until after that week so that he can enjoy the trip better. 

We also plan to attend a local St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital luncheon next week. It is being held for legacy donors in this geographic region. We are looking forward to the luncheon’s various speakers, including two families that benefited from St. Jude medical interventions. We were delighted when the Area’s Philanthropic Advisor paid us a house call last week. She dropped off two of this year’s Christmas ornaments and stayed quite a while to chat with us. She is quite a sweetheart and a great cheerleader for St. Jude’s work.

Our new irrigation system was completed last month. The installation guys did a good job. We are holding off on winterization of the system until next week, in the hopes of encouraging some grass to grow in the repaired areas. We’re covering up the valve with an old wool blanket when the temperatures dip down to near or below freezing.

My right eye is the same as last month, a bit wonky in vision and swollen on the outside edge. The surgeon essentially had no answers. That’s how I healed and everybody heals differently. It is what it is. I can pursue surgery to try to straighten the eye, but that is something I can’t even begin to entertain at this point in time. Onward.

I never did venture into my studio room last month to attend to sewing chores. So those tasks remain on my to-do list.

We discovered last week that Mr. Jim’s 4-year old car would not start. It was going in for a recall notice repair, but we had to cancel the appointment at the last minute. How ironic is that? We think that it is an electrical problem. I can envision that we may have to arrange for it to be towed to the dealership. Ah, one more aggravation to toss willy-nilly onto the pile.

Published posts will continue to be skimpy this month. But, you can still expect “Photo of the Week” highlights and some images for A Personal Photo Challenge this coming weekend.

As always, I would be most grateful if you continue to keep Mr. Jim in your prayers.