Friday

Making progress! My back is doing great and the home health care I have been receiving by Nicola and the kids is the finest in the country. I never thought I’d be one of those “bag full of pills” toting patients, but I think we had to make 2 trips to the truck to retrieve all my medications upon arrival home on Tuesday. Nicola (in her typical fashion) quickly posted all medications, times, dosing, and details to a spreadsheet; organized all medications in a tray; and promptly started my vigorous dosing regimen. For those who may have seen me at the hospital, know the scrutiny I put my health care providers under whenever they administered my medication. And a couple of times (and shift changes), my scrutiny was justified. I think I got away with this once with Nicola before she slapped me back to reality.

The kids have been wonderful and really helpful too. Each morning I have no less than 3 assistants helping me with my back brace and overseeing the morning rituals. I’m sure many of you have small children that don’t exactly like to keep their room clean (we have 3). Each time I learn a new parenting tactic that might help you, I will be sure to bring attention to this detail.

Event of the Week: Conroe High School Homecoming





Simply beautiful, Jessica too! (Thank goodness she gets her looks from Nicola).

Tactic #1: Keeping the bedroom picked up. Back surgery excuse has been a great resource for implementing a clean room tactic around the Weems house since my return on Tuesday. During my first “kiss goodnight” session upstairs I had a bit of difficulty with all the kids rooms in terms of negotiating a clear path to their bedside. It only took one request, “hey kids please keep your rooms clean otherwise I might trip” and the rooms have been spotless ever since. Nicola and I were just joking last night and wondering how long we could milk this one…so I will let you know. If it only lasts a week, then it may not be worth having the surgery. Stay tuned…

I continue having amazing days and the weather here has been perfect. My father-in-law Tony has been over twice this week helping with light bulb changes, etc…and yesterday Jan (mother-in-law), Nicola, Tony, and I had lunch outside in the outdoor kitchen. Our dear friends Randy and Janet Councill brought over an amazing basket of fruits and cheeses which we thoroughly enjoyed yesterday!

Outdoor Kitchen: This was last year’s project. Started right after Thanksgiving 2007 with a projected completion date targeted for New Year’s Eve 2007; actually finished in August 2008. Only missed completion date by 8 months! I managed the project and completely blame the delay on labor.

*Favorite comment of the week: I called my sister-in-law Pam to tell her what a lousy brother-in-law I had been for not calling her to say Happy Birthday on her birthday this past Tuesday. I did mention that I knew I was going to miss the call but fully intended to call her the following day to wish a happy belated. Then, of course, I almost forgot to do this until late on Wednesday. After explaining to Pam she simply said, “Well it’s not like you just had part of your brain removed!” and we both laughed. Finally someone with a sense of humor like mine, I love it.

Medical Update: So the quick medical update... Everything with the craniotomy has gone according to schedule and after a review of the post-op MRIs my surgeon is ready for the next phase to begin in my treatment. So next week I will be starting an aggressive regimen of chemotherapy and radiation. Daily treatments!

Keep praying, have faith, and we'll beat this thing together, David