The Great Fox Adventure Continue

 It is Saturday evening and I have just installed  six handles in the girls upstairs bathroom; I am in another bathroom installing another six handles when Piper announces the toilet in the girls bathroom is leaking. How can that be? I was just in there and there was no water on the floor. The water was in front of the sink, so I assumed someone had done a poor job of washing hands. But 30 minutes later Piper stated the floor was wet again. Adam determined the leak was from the toilet tank. Noting the volume of leakage, we determined that a trip to Lowe's was required. An hour later we are installing a new tank gasket and washers to the bolts. After a few set backs, the toilet is once again fully operational and it is time for bed.

This story illustrates the way my week has been. Wednesday, Fox Dentistry was able to fit me in for a cleaning. Rachel is very thorough, maybe too much so. In the process of cleaning, one of my crowns popped off.  Adam had time to prep the tooth and reattach it. At one point he pushed it into place and had me bite on a stick to help get it into place. Unfortunately, either I bit too hard, or the crown was too thin - it broke. Adam did have time to get a scan of the crownless tooth so his amazing 'I can make instant crowns' machine could do its thing. By now all the office personnel have gone home except Jessica, who had to take time off to pick up her two children and bring them back to the office. In her absence, Adam was able to fill a small cavity. Since the tooth was not sensitive to being bare, Adam did not install a temporary crown. 

Thursday morning there was an opening for me to get the new crown installed and now all is well. Then Denali, Carter and I headed off  to Grover's electric and plumbing store to spend some money. Found some lights for my new kitchen. Next on the list was to visit Harry and David's; it is sad that the only store still open is in Medford. Hence the need to stock up on a couple needed items. I am especially saddened that they are no longer making triple thick chocolate malt balls! After lunch, the four older children and I headed off to a local park with a lot of interesting play equipment. They had a lot of fun playing there and then cleaning up broken glass along a nearby creek.

Between Friday and Saturday Adam and I, either together or separately, got several chores done. I even was able to enlist the help of three young Foxes to wash my van. They were very eager and surprisingly there were no water fights. One of my favorite things is to read books to the three younger children.  They have some very cute books.

Today I was able to join the family for sacrament meetings. I am continually amazed at the  size of some of the young men that pass the sacrament. Or should I say the lack of height?  But while they may not be very tall, they are dedicated and very capable. They actually have some classes after sacrament, so I was able to spend about 45 minutes with the 2 year old all to myself. She enjoys talking and I am getting better at understanding her.

Denali has put her cooking abilities to good use, somewhat to the detriment of my waistline. She has prepared a hot breakfast almost every morning:  chocolate chip muffins, biscuits, cinnamon cake, and blue berry muffins. She cooked dinner at least twice to include a delicious curry and cajun chicken pasta.

And this is Lisa eating breakfast and she is enjoying a good hair day!:

Great Fox Adventure

 

The Great Fox Adventure began last Sunday, 14 March. Dan had left Ethan and Alex with me while he attended a training meeting north of me. I also had Emily, who had spent the week with me. I had done the majority of packing the day before, but still needed to pack my suitcase. The three children played well together as I completed the last minute ‘to does’. We got underway about 3 and arrived at Jonathan’s about 6, just in time for their homemade pizza. I had brought a chocolate truffle pie, and they had some left over pies from their linger longer at church. The family has happy to have Emily home and Dan arrived shortly to take the boys home.

 After teaching seminary Monday morning, I checked the road conditions to my brother’s house  who lives just east of Denver. Some sections of I-70 were closed. After vacillating back and forth, I said my good byes and started the long trek to the Denver area. The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm, how can the roads be closed? I stopped in Wichita at my favorite Mexican Restaurant for lunch. Back on the road, the digital road sign said:  ‘I-70 closed west of Hays’. Upon refueling about minutes from Hays, I asked at the station if the road was open – and they said it just opened. There was evidence of snow along the road way and the scenery was beautiful. Even with the extra hour, it was after 8 pm before I arrived at Susan and Steve’s.

 Tuesday I got up an hour early to teach seminary. I told my students that I only loved them one hour’s worth and not two. I am willing to get up to teach at 5:45, but not 4:45. While on the West Coast, I have a substitute arranged to teach. About noon, we headed to the upholstery shop that Catherine had found, and who agreed to reupholster the 1890’s sittee. We spent about two hours there; the couch was measured, evaluated, inspected, measured and more. Then we were given a tour of the business; they strip, refinish, repair, repaint, restain, restring reupholster and more. And the quality of workmanship was impressive. We made a mandatory stop at See’s Candy before proceeding to Catherine’s. I spent an hour there visiting and then returned to Steve’s house. We had dinner at Robert’s that night and enjoyed a delicious meal; even had toll house pie for dessert!

 Wednesday I was up early to teach seminary and then be on my way west. Steve guided me to the local O’Reilly Auto Parts Store to purchase some tire chains as insurance that they would not be needed. Fortunately, they were not. The drive out of Denver was uneventful. But once in the mountains, things changed, especially after the Eisenhower tunnel. Heavy traffic, temperatures around 20 degrees and heavily sanded roads. The wipers were going almost continually due to splatter from other vehicles. I was concerned that the wiper fluid reservoir would run out of fluid. There may have been some white knuckle moments navigating the slushy sandy road but I persevered and got safely over the mountains and into Provo. Isabelle was able to meet me at her dorm and provide a walking tour of the campus. Been too many years since I have visited the campus. She did buy me ice cream. She also arranged for me to spend the night with her bishop and I headed off to their mansion. Spent a comfortable night there.

 Thursday I headed back to campus for breakfast with Isabelle. But first I found a car wash and removed a lot of the sand and grime from the van.

Said farewell to Isabelle after eating and headed to a Deseret Book store to spend some money. Then over to DI to see what items they had that I might need. Did find some books. My next appointment was lunch with Nathan. Was able to get caught up on his future plans before hitting the road. I had hoped to see a missionary couple we knew from Kenya, but was not successful. So I continued up the road past Orem and found a Comfort Inn for the night.

 Friday I drove to Pocatello ID to join up with Katie and her friend Chandler for lunch. Enjoyed good food and excellent conversation. They are a happy couple who enjoy being with each other. And yes, I did ask Chandler the ‘question’ and was impressed with his response.

 I then hit the road and spent the night in Ontario, OR. Beautiful countryside and rather windy.

 Saturday morning I continued to Salem, OR to spend time with a former Marine 46 pilot we knew back in the 70’s. Sandy and Emma used to trade baby sitting back in the 70’s at El Toro and Skip was a good squadron friend and room mate aboard the USS Okinawa. Driving alongside the Columbia River is always inspiring because of the beauty of the area. I even saw two sets of two long horn sheep along the road; unfortunately, the timing was not good for a photo op. Oregon did welcome me with rain and heavy traffic. I did arrive about 4 pm and spent the evening getting caught up on family and 30 years of happenings.

 In person church was at 9 on Sunday. Members attend alternate weeks depending on last name. But since Skip is in the bishopric, his wife attends each week. So I was able to join her and enjoy a delightful sacrament meeting. And they live ¼ mile from the chapel! One of their daughter’s family came in the afternoon and we had a fun afternoon of visiting, playing games and eating a delicious meal. Skip, Emma, and I reminisced about our time in the Marine Corps, as well as church service and what we had done in the past 25 plus years. They had been able to serve a Military Relations Mission on Parris Island, the Marine Corps boot camp on the east coast. Very similar to our Ft Benning Mission.

 After a quick breakfast on Monday, I said my good byes and hit the road again. Our time together was too short; there was much more we could have shared given the time to do so. I headed south to Medford and arrived at Adam’s house before 2 pm. I was able to sneak into the house and left a note for the grands to find a stranger in their house. They were quick to find me and happy I was there. They might have known I was coming sometime, but no specific date was told them – so it was a complete surprise to them.

 Today, Tuesday, I finally had a chance after 10 days to get on a treadmill (they have two); my lack of exercise is showing. Denali wanted to make blue berry muffins for breakfast, and I was able to assist her in that yummy endeavor. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Savannah had posted four (!) pages of long- and short-range projects they are working on. Why not help complete some of those! So, Denali helped me cut down a birch tree, remove the flagpole and clean up part of the back yard. Lisa is growing; she talks a lot, most of which I do not yet comprehend; and she will actually come up to me and hug my legs. It is fun to be the ‘grandpa’.

 This letter was delayed because I left the computer charging cord at my brother’s, and it did not arrive until today.

 

The kitchen project continues...

 Last Sunday afternoon, I drove the 2.5 hours over to Deborah's for a delicious dinner of lumpia in celebration of Samantha's birthday. After a brief visit, I continued the 40 minutes to Miranda's house for the night. 

After seminary and breakfast Monday, Miranda, Rachel and I drove to a commercial countertop warehouse; it was like being in a candy store with all these wonderfully beautiful slaps of granite - so many choices, how do you decide? This was a well organized warehouse; all their slaps were clearly identified as to country of origin, class (1-7; as in how expensive) and were barcoded. If you found something you liked they would reserve it for you. We spent over an hour there and found a couple of likely possibilities. After lunch I drove to my eye appointment. In a previous letter I mentioned I had a spot on my lower diagnosed as cancerous and was referred to this eye specialist, the only one in Northwest Arkansas, that does this type of procedure; only he doesn't really do the surgery - he does the reconstructive surgery after the other eye specialist that he will refer me to, removes the cancer. I am now set up to see the eye surgeon the end of April and then the reconstructive doctor that afternoon. Both are located west of here. 

Kristy drove down to visit and brought Emily with her. The goal was for her to spend the week with me and scan a notebook of family letters. And then return with me tonight to her house. She has been faithful in completing her home schooling, reading and scanning each day. She is also an excellent baby sitter and playmate for her younger cousins.

Emily and I drove home in the afternoon, but only after the traditional stop at Andy's Frozen Custard.  I was blown away with what had happened to my kitchen in my absence! Nathan had removed the former kitchen wall, installed a beam overhead and totally transformed my kitchen into...well, a big empty space that no longer functions as a kitchen. The plumber came the next day to install new water lines and drain. But the old sink is not connected and is now in the back yard. Even my new refrigerator with the now useful water isn't connected. It has been quite a challenge to cook. All the pots and pans and dishes, plus food ingredients are upstairs. So, if we cook anything, all the required food and utensils need to go downstairs for the preparation and cooking. We can still eat upstairs, but wash the dishes downstairs in the kitchen there. As Steve said, it is like camping. 

Steve continued to be a good support, supplying useful suggestions and a helpful hand. But he and Susan left Thursday to get home before the storm. That morning I had testing at the hospital. I was impressed with their friendliness and efficiency. They did a scan of the adnominal area, injected the die for the bone scan and told me to come back in 90 minutes for that scan. I returned and was out of the hospital in less than 30 minutes. That afternoon the spray foam people had planned to come and spray, but they were swamped at another location. They are now scheduled after my return in April. In the meantime, I have done additional electrical work and hope to be done in that department.

Miranda drove over Thursday afternoon with Rachel and two of her boys; she joined me at my Friday morning meeting with the doctor who reported on the previous day's test. He walked in saying "good news" which he explained meant that the cancer had not spread beyond the prostate - at least according to the test. He did indicate that I have arthritis in a variety of places throughout the body. Because of the screen implanted in 2013 when I had my hernia surgery, having this guy surgically removed is not an option. While doing nothing is an option because this is a slow growing cancer, his best recommendation was for 9 weeks of radiation. Miranda has agreed to help research specialists in this field and see about getting a second option. At this time there is no big rush to do anything.  For those of you who keep track of those things, my diagnosis came three years within a week of Sandy's cancer diagnosis in 2018.

Nathan came by in the afternoon the size, shape, location of cabinets so he can start making them in my absence. Hopefully when I return, he will have them completed. Dan also arrived with the Camden

Saturday  Dan helped me install five sheets of drywall in the pantry; the rest of the walls need the insulation sprayed first. We also got a call from the elder's quorum president about an emergency move of a sister; she only a few items. We took a break and rendered assistance. It was a quick and easy move since there were less than a dozen items, we had two trailers and several people to help. And Miranda headed home with Rachel and Camden since she was to help deliver pie to her YW on Sunday.

Today we had elder's quorum at 8 and discussed President Nelson's talk on 'God Will Prevail' from last October. Some impressive challenges to ponder. Sacrament was t 10, so I stayed to study for seminary and Dan brought Alex, Ethan and Emily in. Then Dan had to head off to St Roberts for a meeting there. Originally he planned to take the boys, but asked if I could take them with me to Jonathan's and he would stop by after his meeting and pick them up. That means I will need to be more organized in my packing!

So, after sending this off, I need to finish packing so I can get on the road. This will be the start of my Great Fox Adventure, taking me to such exotic places as CO, UT, OR, CA and more. Stay tuned for exciting details of long drives and boring roads!

Here are some of Grandpa's helpers:

1st Week of March

 It is 8 am Monday, I have a meaningful seminary lesson with my 13 students and completed 1/2 mile on the thread mill when Nathan the builder arrives to start the kitchen addition. He is ready to start the great Fox kitchen expansion project. First order of business is to build three new walls to enclose the area before he can remove the existing wall. As he is installing the east wall that parallels the existing kitchen wall that will remain in place, he discovers that it is set in about three inches from the current wall. There is no easy way to push the new wall out that three inches, so the decision is made to make a dummy wall so the walls will match. Over the course of the week, he gets the three new walls installed, moves the door to its new location and gets a new pantry framed in the corner. When he returns this week, it is anticipated that he will knock down old exterior wall (with the kitchen sink), level the floors, build the dummy wall. With the kitchen expanded and no wall obstruction, he will be able to measure for the cabinets and start building them at his home/shop. Hopefully, the plumber will be able to install the plumbing so that the kitchen sink will still be operational.

Tuesday I putter around the house trying to organize things that I have previously stalled doing. After all, Miranda and Rachel will arrive later in the day and Sue and Steve are due Wednesday evening. One of those things on the to do list was to replace the in line water filter downstairs in the water heater closet. It is an easy job and only took 15 minutes. And there were no leaks. Except...Once Miranda arrived, Rachel wandered into that room to get some toys and came out with wet feet. In order to reach the water filter, I had to move the reservoir holding the salt for the water softener and stretched a drain line enough it started to leak onto the floor. Damage control was minimal and Miranda helped get the water cleaned up.

Miranda had arrived in the early afternoon; she thought I might need some hand holding when I returned for the biopsy report with the urologist later that day. And she was right. We were welcomed to the office by a nurse with a t-shirt stating: 'urine in good hands'. While Rachel was entertained by a device, the doctor was very thorough in his reporting the findings of the biopsy, what it means and the next steps to take. My ears probably filtered out the unpleasantries, but Miranda was able to focus better. Here is her email after this experience (this could be TMI for some of you): 

"So here's the summary: The biopsy shows that there is cancer.  More tests will be needed to see if it is isolated to his prostate or if it has spread.  If it is only in the prostate, the doc recommended either removing the thing entirely or doing radiation.  If it has spread, then they would treat it entirely differently.  

Here are the details:

The pathology lab assigns a rating of aggressiveness of the cancer detected in each sample, with 1 being not bad and 5 being the worst.  And then rates the average aggressiveness for the samples collected in that area.  Dad's samples were on the left side, a high of 4, average of 4.  The right side had a high of 4 and an average of 3.  The doc says that's fairly aggressive and recommended chest x-ray, MRI and more blood work to determine if the cancer has already spread.  He said with a PSA number of 8.4 (which was Dad's most recent test), that he's hopeful the cancer hasn't spread yet, but no guarantees.  

If the cancer is isolated to the prostate, Dad can choose either laparoscopic robotic surgery to remove it or the radiation - 9 weeks every day with about 15 minutes of radiation. They insert a gel to limit the radiation's effect on the colon, which the doctor said has reduced the risks there considerably.  Each of these options has its own side effects, generally affecting either the bladder, the colon, or anything related to those.  Unfortunately, Dad's previous hernia repair may make it impossible for the surgeon to access the necessary area, as the screen implanted previously is fairly impenetrable.  The doctor will access the operation report to see if this is even an option for dad.  If Dad takes no action, the prostate cancer will advance, usually spreading to the lymph nodes --causing uncomfortable swelling -- and to the bones -- causing pain.  No matter which option is chosen, they will continue to monitor his PSA numbers and check him regularly, as it is possible for the cancer to have spread undetectably at this stage.

If the cancer has spread, there is no point in removing the prostate.  The options mainly include hormonal therapy, which has shown pretty effective at managing the cancer and mitigating its effects for 5 to 10 years, though that's the best case scenario.   Not all cancers respond to therapy, but even then 3 years or more is not uncommon.  This is a really slow spreading cancer. "

The hospital was able to schedule me this coming Thursday for the lab work and imaging needed and then I will see the doctor again on Friday to get the (hopefully) good news. Miranda might say I am in denial, I prefer to think I have an optimistic view on this. No need to get too concerned until we get the results from the hospital. I am really grateful that Miranda felt prompted to come.

Wednesday they were to deliver the new refrigerator in the morning. Locally,  that happened to be 4:30 pm, just as I was starting to prepare dinner. The days of just off loading a fridge, bringing it into the house and plugging it in ancient history. First they had to remove the doors to lighten the weight. There are electric cables that need to be unplugged in this process. An hour later, they were done and it was too late to make dinner, so Sue suggested eating out. So we went to the Thai restaurant and enjoyed a much better meal than I would have prepared.

Now I am having to adjust to the new fridge; the old one had lots of vertical storage shelves on the door; this one has minimal vertical and lots of horizontal. But it does have more room and I am adjusting.

Steve has been invaluable with his building experience and thoughtful trouble shooting process. Friday night I was ready to call an electrician to resolve some overwhelming challenges. Saturday morning Steve had some suggestions and we ran with those. There are three wires in the wall that need to be removed; we were able to identify what each does in the basement, and figured out a way to reroute those wires. Then he helped me install 10 electrical boxes in the addition and string the wires. I did call my neighbor who is an electrician by trade and he will stop by this week to look at what I am willing to pay someone else to do. That would be connecting three new wires into the existing breaker panel.

I made four phone calls to spray foam insulation businesses; two called back; only one came to give an estimate. It looks good, and hopefully they will be able to come and insulate the addition. Right now, the kitchen can be 5-10 cooler than the rest of the house.

With 75% of my kitchen wares temporarily in the living room, it can be interesting. I do manage to get my exercise.

This afternoon I will be off to Western Arkansas; dinner with Deborah's family to celebrate Samantha's and then to spend the night at Miranda's. I have an eye appointment in that area on Monday. So I will take the laptop and do seminary on the road.