Good-bye Loma Linda

Today is our last full day here in Loma Linda.  We'll be pulling out and heading for home tomorrow morning.  Last night we brought pizza for the gantry crew and petit fours for Jenny, the receptionist.  But, Jenny wasn't there!  So, we wrote her a note on the box and had the person filling in for her put them in their refrigerator.  Hopefully, there will be at least a few left on Monday when she returns.  

I got to take some pictures of Al in his pod, ready for his last treatment, and of his gantry crew.  Since I'm using a toss-away camera, I have my fingers crossed that they will turn out OK.  I'll finish off the remaining ten shots tonight at the barbeque.  Two of the couples that have already left, got out of here without our getting their pictures.  There will be a few people tonight that we haven't yet managed to shoot for the scrapbook, so I'll take care of that then.  Once the party is over, we'll spend some time battening down the hatches in the RV before we go to bed - and finish up the remaining odds and ends in the morning.

My next decision will be whether, or not, to continue this blog.  Since it was set up to keep people in the loop for what we were doing while living in the RV, and while Al got his treatments, my inclination is to end it on the up note "Al's Cancer free and were going home"!  Maybe I'll start a new blog to keep the family and friends that we don't see on a day to day basis, up to date on what's happening with those of us in the Marysville/Yuba City area.  If so, I'll let you know. 

Bad computer!!!

We've been having computer trouble all week so I have lots to tell you ----
    I finally have a full set of fingernails that are all around the same length.  This day should go down in history!  But the biggest news was a surprise to us this evening when we went over to the hospital (me to work on the jigsaw puzzle - Al for his treatment) and we were told that tomorrow is Al's last treatment!  We thought that we had to hang over the weekend and Monday would be his last, but, apparantly the 43 treatments we were expecting included the "dry run" that  he did the first day we were here.  Since we have already made plans for a big goodbye barBQ on Saturday night because most of our group will be leaving this coming week, we are going to stay until Sunday.  We'll be home for good, but tired,  on Sunday night sometime.
   Since we got back on Monday afternoon, we went out to dinner at Farmer Boys with George and Susie.
Then Al went for his treatment and we watched some TV and went to bed.  It woas almost the same old thing.  The difference was that we flew back instead of driving.  It only took an hour and a half to get here (so they said.  If you add the drive to Sacramento, the hour we sat at the airport in there, the half hour we waited for our luggage in Ontario, and the drive to the RV park - George picked us up in his convertible - then it really  took about four hours to get here.  Still a lot better than the usual 7 1/2 hours it takes to drive.)
    Tuesday, we went to our last potluck.  We sat with "the mayor", Patrick, and RV salesman from Arizona.
Someone is always the mayor of Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  Patrick volunteered when the last mayor finished up with his treatments and went home.  We had  hoped that sitting with the mayor might get us to the front of the line for the eats, but it didn't work out that way.  We had a ball anyway.
   Wednesday was speech night for Al and our friend John, since this was the last Wednesday for both of them.  I got pictures of them speaking.  Al introduced me as his wife and best friend.  It was a good thing I was concentrating on getting to where I could get a good picture or I might have cried.  George and Leroy are done this coming week.  Te other Al and Terry just left.  Only Don has until the end of July.  I hope some newbies move into our empty RVspaces and make friends with Don.  He's a great guy and we don't want him to be lonesome when all of us are gone.
   This morning Don drove us in his truck up to Lake Gregory and Lake Arrowhead.  I knew we had a lot of smog because we are right next to San Bernardino, the smog capitol of California, but, even though I have had trouble walking and breathing at the same time, I really had no idea of how bad the smog is.  You can't see it up close.  You can see it when you look out to the mountains, but you wouldn't believe what it looks like when you're up at 5,000 feet and the smog is below (barely) you!  The whole world dissapears in the afternoon.  It wasn't quite that bad when we went up in the morning, but it wasn't good either.
   Tomorrow night, before Al's last treatment, we are taking pizza to the guys in the gantry, and we're probably getting some special cookies for Jenny, the night receptionist.  I hope they finish the jigsaw puzzle so I won't be needing to see if I can finish it.  We wives in waiting had it down to only about 40 more pieces to fit in to finish it.  Jigsaws have become addictive.  It's what I do when I go with Al when he has a treatment.  It's a great conversation starter (so is my Connecticut T-shirt) which is good because I'm very bad at small talk. 
   I can't believe that this is almost over.  I'm not sure that I'm ready to go home yet.  Al, however is very ready.  He can't wait to get home and make sure everything gets done in his garden, the yard, and the pool the way that he does it.  I guess if I was a great housekeeper, I'd feel the same way about my house, but I'm not!

Father's Day

We've been home for the weekend and will be flying  back tomorrow morning.    It's been an interesting, and fun, weekend  -  different from day to day proton schedule, life in the 5th wheel, etc.  We drove about seven hours so we could see DeDe and Ray's new house, and let me tell you  -  this is quite a house!  It's gorgeous and I am very glad that I'm not the one who has to keep it clean!  I think it would take about a week just to get it dusted all the way through.  After viewing this amazing place, we had an early Father's Day dinner at the Elephant Bar with DeDe, Ray, DeDe's friend Jen and her dad and us.  Dinner was great but we elected for patio dining and the wind came up and it got very chilly before we were done.

On Saturday, we caught up with our PT Cruisers for a barbeque at another gorgeous home (this one also had beautiful landscaping.  DeDe and Ray are still working on that because their home is brand new.)  I am sooooooooooo jealous.  Our house is out in the country and it's cutish, but far from gorgeous - and the landscaping, such as it is, is also very country.  I AM going to clean out closets and cabinets when we get home for good and hope I can toss enough junk to have room to take a lot of stuff off of the counters.  I also want to clean up the driveway and the yard  and hide all the tools and things that are laying around.  I may even plant some summer flowers as long as they aren't around the pool to attract bees to swimmers.  But,
back to the barbeque - the food was fantastic, the company was wonderful AND we're going to do it again next year!  We'll see all these people again a few days after we get home to cruise to a Civil War Re-enactment.  I'm really looking forward to that.

Sunday - Father's Day.  Al has been working (playing?) in his garden most of the day.  I know that he's quite happy out there.  I've been trying to catch up on two weeks' worth of newspapers and mail.   The big highlight of the day was that Aeri came over (with the assistance of her grandmother , grandfather and aunt 'cuz she can't drive yet.  She's only two.)  and brought a card for her GGpa.  She took it out to him in his auxiliary garden - that's next door in the neighbor's back yard.  Then she tried to ride every bike and a scooter that belong to our tenant's kids.  She kept us all amused until she had to leave.  She has another great-grandpa here in town that she needed to visit too.

Tomorrow we fly back to Loma Linda.  Only six more treatments and Al is all done and can come home to his garden.  It's funny.  I'm so glad that he will come home cancer free, but on the other hand, the time in Loma Linda has been so carefree (yes, even with cancer) and fun,  that we both have mixed emotions about leaving for good.  We do plan to return in October for the big anniversary celebration for the Proton Treatment Center.  They have now treated 15,000 patients with proton.  I wonder where Loma Linda is going to put them all when they all show up to celebrate.

Two great days!

We spent a very nice afternoon touring Old Town Temecula today.  It was very Western/Mexican in flavor with several antique stores that we wandered through until we decided to have some lunch.  We found a place that made crepes.  Al had a zucchini and mushroom crepe but the cook forgot the mushrooms so they brought him (we were eating out on the porch) a really full bowl of them that he poured over the top of his crepe.  I had a strawberry, banana, Nutella crepe which was wonderful.   After we finished lunch, we drove out to Temecula's wine country.  It looked like Tuscany.

Yesterday, we went on the Proton Tour.  Al thought it was fascinating.  I'd say it was interesting, especially when we got to see the inside of the gantry where he has his treatments, but I wasn't all that interested in the pipes, wires and accelerators that went on for about three city blocks.  I know that's the equipment that's curing him, and for that I'm more than grateful, but they went on forever!  I would have rather spent some time looking at the old cars and firetrucks, and watching the trio of girls that were singing songs from the 50's (and dressed appropriately).  The hospital also had a spread of food set up in the waiting area.  It smelled heavenly, but we had just finished lunch and were going on to the Wednesday Social in about an hour from when the tour was finished.

The usual Wednesday Social was very sparsely attended this week.  I think that a lot of people assumed that there would be no meeting because the last tour was starting at 5 PM, the same time as the meeting starts.
That left more Loma Linda sandwiches and cookies for the rest of us.  There were five, or six, graduation speeches of men who will be done and gone before next Wednesday.  Al will be making his speech next Wednesday as we will be going home the following Monday.  I'm going to miss all this socializing.  It just doesn't seem (to me, anyway) that we do that much together at home.  I guess we'll have to make "date" days on a regular schedule - which would be great for us, but it still isn't the same as a whole bunch of friends sitting around shootin' the breeze.  That's so nice.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Lazy day today - well almost all day.  It's been hotter than Haedes for the last few days and we've been running the air conditioner a lot.  So, this afternooon, Al walked in to the bathroom and the light fixture fell down in front of him.  It was full of water and the ceiling was wet.  Since we haven't had any rain, we could only assume that the air conditioner is leaking somewhere and running down to the light fixture.  We thought we had that fixed before we left home.  Apparantly that was not the case.  So tonight , he crawlwd up on the roof and put a towel around the base of the AC to see if that was what was leaking (how it could be anything else?) and to, hopefully, keep the water from running down to the roof cracks that he patched while he was up there.  I hope it works.

We did the usual Tuesday potluck tonight.  There are a whole bunch of us that will be graduating in the next two weeks.  We were all commenting on how quckly this time has come.  A few even suggested staying a little longer and just do the southern CA things that we haven't had time to do.  It sounds good but you'd have to be independently wealthy to pull it off  -- and we aren't.   So when we actually leave, we will be leaving a piece of our hearts behind.

Tomorrow at 3 PM we will take the Proton Tour and get to see how the thing works.  I understand that you can't take pictures except in designated areas - but not of the gantrys themselves.  That's probably the most interesting part of the tour.  Since it takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, I guess I'll need to take my walker.  I doubt there will  be anywhere to sit down.  They were taking all the furniture out of the "B" floor's waiting area and all of the people hadn't even gone in for treatments yet!  I guess they need the room for the celebration tomorrow.  They are dedicating the updated gantry #1 and they will be able to serve a lot more people every day.  There will probably be a huge influx of "newbies" next week.  We will probably meet some of them, but we won't have time to make friends with them, because next Tues. and Wed. will be our last potlock and Wed. Social.  It makes me a little melancholy to think about it.

Weekend Fun

We’ve had a busy weekend. On Saturday, we went to the Redlands Optimists Car Show.


There were a lot of pretty cars in a beautiful park setting. We strolled around and took advantage of the $5.00 lunch. George and Susie were with us. We were supposed to meet up with John and Shirley, but they got moving a lot earlier than I did so they were leaving as we were finally arriving. It was fun anyway.



Saturday day evening we had what has become our usual barbeque next door. We had an

Extra guest, another truck driver named Al whose wife had gone home for a while and wasn’t coming back until later on Sunday. Don, the rock man, was off visiting his cousin so he wasn’t there. The food, as always, was very good, and so was the conversation.



Sunday, the guys all had treatments to make up for the Proton Tours that will close the gantrys down on Wednesday. Since we had no plans because of treatment times, Al and I

took a ride up in the hills to look for a spot where I could take some pictures. We found a great spot and, oncw I develop the film, I will have some great shots to put in the scrapbook that I plan to do about our adventure. We did have another barbeque for dinner. This time Don came and brought a yummy fruit salad. When we were done eating, Al and his wife, Helen, stopped by for s while. Even a little later yet, another couple here in the park, Verne and Josie, came by bringing their chairs to sit and chat a while. George pushed the rest of the lemon meringue and pumpkin pie off on them. It did save him from having to find room for them in the refrigerator. Another great night of food and conversation and jokes.



This morning, we went to the gym and tried to kill ourselves making up for the times we didn’t get there lately. My butt is sore! Al was complaining about his anatomy too, but I forget which part it was. I want to go to the student store and get a Loma Linda t-shirt but it’s already four o’clock so maybe that won’t happen today. Al’s treatment is at 7:30 tonight so I’m not sure what’s up for dinner. Time will tell.

The Luau

Today we went to a luau for seniors put on by Loma Linda's Drayson Center (the gym).  All the men got leis in honor of upcoming Father's Day.  The food was the usual 7th Day Adventist fare - lots of fruit , a little bit of cheese, and cookies.  The watermelon and pineapple were outstanding!  They had a local group of South Sea Island Dancers.  They did dances from Hawaii, New Zealand and Tahiti, and they were pretty good.  Naturally, I forgot my camera and their various costumes were really nice.  Some of the dancers "molted" grass while they were dancing but nobody noticed until the group left and there were long pieces of grass left on the floor.  George is going to share his pictures with me so I will be able to put them in the scrapbook I plan to do (someday) about this adventure.

Since we didn't get any poi or mahi mahi, or any other Hawaiian food, we are going out to the Elephant Bar for dinner tonight.  George and Susie took us to the Little Fisherman for lunch yesterday (it was superb fish and chips) so we're taking them out tonight.  I've never been to the Elephant Bar before but I've heard that it is very good.  I hope I can trust the opinion of the person who told me that it is. 

It's beginning to look more and more like we aren't going to make it to the one place I wanted to see while we were down here.  There are a few places that we wanted to go that were a little lower on the wish list that we may not make it to either.  This weekend, we have Saturday, but the guys have treatments on Sunday because the Proton unit will not operate on Wednesday.  They are rededicating Gantry 1 and having tours of "backstage" for patients and one guest each.  I don't think that photography will be allowed.  Anyway, Gantry 1 has been changed to be all robotic.  I think that will allow them to treat  a lot more patients every day.  We're taking the tour at 3 o'clock on Wednesday so we wouldn't be able to go anywhere that day either. 
Al's treatment on Sunday is for 3:20 pm - another day that we have to stick around.  Next weekend we're taking the car home and probably doing something "family" for Father's Day.  After that, we'lll have only one weekend left for going places before we go home for good.  (Al wants to come back for the Proton Unit's 20th Anniversary celebration on October 24th.  Since his garden will be pretty much over by then, I guess we'll be coming back for that.  Maybe I can get Legoland in on that trip.)

Progress

Wow!  We have our appointment for our discharge meeting on June 23rd.  That makes the end seem more real and a whole lot closer.  Al will have to start working on his graduation speech pretty soon.  That's the same date that he'll be giving his speech at the Wednesday Social since we'll be gone before the next Wednesday.  Speeches are expected of everyone graduating in the days before the the next meeting.  They said the time would go by fast and it really has.  I'm not sure about not wanting to go home, though.  It will be bittersweet as we've made friends from all over, some of whom we may never see again, but there are some that  I am sure we will.  Even living in the 5th wheel has been mostly fun.  (I do hate the low ceiling in the bedroom though.)  We almost never eat at home, or alone, anymore.  I'll miss that.  I have three weeks to get prepared for reality.  Next week on Tuesday (I think) we become seniors of the upper classmen style and get our red dots for our badges.  We're already seniors of the senior discount style.  And best of all, Al feels and looks great.  He's been working out regularly at the gym (me to, or the pool) and we're gradually changing our diets to eat "healthy" more often.

Hello, again

   I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I've written anything.  I did nothing but sew all day on Wednesday.  Al was pretty much on his own for the day.  We did go to the Wednesday Night Social and enjoyed ouselves.  I woke up on Thursday and officially threw in the towel on the dress for the wedding.  Therr was no way I was going to get it done by the end of the day and we were leaving first thing Friday for home and the wedding.  Needless to say, I went shopping.   I gave up on a dress and settled for a blouse and slacks that I wouldn't roast in since the temperature was supposed to hit 90 for the wedding.  It took me most of the day to get everything we needed, but I did make it back in time for Al to take the car to go to his appointment while I stayed home and hemmed the slacks.  Thursday evening, after dinner, we took a short run down to the Farmers Market in the hope that the vendor that was selling some really pretty jewelry for a ridiculously low price would be there.  He was, and I bought a necklace and earrings to complete my outfit for the wedding.
   We left about 8 AM on Friday and made it home in plenty of time to make it to the rehearsal dinner at the Home Town Buffet.  A good time was had by all.  We went straight home after dinner and preety much collapsed.  It had been a very long day and the wedding was to be at noon the next day, Saturday.
   What can I say?  The wedding was beautiful.  Even without my help, Jolie and the girls made beautiful flower arrangements, bouquets, boutinierres and corsages.  The tables were beautifully done too.  I'm so proud of them on one hand, and so jealous on the other that I couldn't be there to "play" too.    Since the flower girl, Aeri, and the ring bearer, Nicky, were so young, the maid of honor walked down the aisle holding their hands (make that holding Aeri's hand and kinda dragging Nicky along while he screamed all the way.  He did well at rehearsal, but all those people sitting in what were empty chairs unnerved him.)  Allie wasn't upset by this though.  She said he kept her from "bawling" because she had something else to concentrate on besides tear-ing up.  Once Nicky got out of his shoes and untucked his shirt, he was a lot happier.  All the girls, bride included, decided to go down the aisle barefoot.  There are pictures to verify this.  It was fun and the new Mr. and Mrs. Marques couldn't possibly be any happier.  They are off to the ocean for a few days before they have to be back at work.
   We started out to come back to Loma Linda about 7:15 this morning and finally arrived about 3:30 this afternoon.  We needed to be back early because we were signed up for a vegetarian cooking class at 5:30 this evening.  We had leftover chile and cornbread and headed out again to the class.  It was really interesting.  The highlight was that the teacher and her assistants showed us how to make a few things using vegetarian fare, including tofu.  We then got to have a sandwich, salad, chips and salsa, and a date filled with almond butter, rolled in cocunut and topped with a pecan - really good stuff.  Al and I split a plate since we had already eaten.  We had to leave immediately after because All had a treatment scheduled for 7:50 and  that time was rapidly approaching.  We'll have to ask someone tomorrow about what happened after we had to leave.  I think everyone who goes to Tuesday and Wednesday night socials was there tonight.  The place was jammed.  Now we're ready to get a good night's sleep.  It's been a very busy few days.

Here it is.  June 1st already.  By this time next month, we should be home  - back to our "normal" life.  Of course, if the gantry goes down, it may be a little later than that.  I hope I haven't jinxed anything.  The gantry has been on it's best behavior lately.

Today, while Al went to fax some papers and also to get his treatment for today, I sewed some more on my dress for Saturday.  I spilled the box of pins all over the floor, and had to tear out stitches five different times to fix mistakes I had made.  Thank God that this was an easy pattern!  Lord only knows what would have happened if it was complicated.  I'm about ready to throw in the towel and go shopping!

Tonight was the Tuesday night potluck.  we sat with George and Susie, of course, and a new guy, Don, who lives here in the RV Park.  He make absolutely beautiful rock jewelry and carries around what he calls "teasers" in his pocket.  He brought them with him last night to the barbeque next door, and he brought differerent teasers tonight.  Susie and I are going to walk down to his rig (it's right next door to where we were first parked) and take a look at all of his stuff.  He had a gorgeous green necklace with him last night.
So far we haven't got a price out of him for what he gets for these pieces.  Maybe tomorrow.