Friday, December 23, 2011

Year End 2011

This has been a year to get finally closed and on to the next 12 months. Our year has had some big "bumps" and "lumps" which we still haven't quite recovered from. In May, while working the summer season at Timber Lake Resort at Mount Carrol, IL our motorhome was damaged by a falling tree limb crashing through the roof and rain leaking in our unit causing water damage to the ceiling upholstery in our kitchen/dining room area. Still haven't had the repairs completed as we are awaiting the RV repair men to come to our unit and replace the upholstery and complete the fiberglass repair on our roof. We will have to vacate the motorhome for about a week while the work is being done.

In October we spent a few extra days in OK City having a tire replaced. We did have a bit of a break while in Childress, TX catching up with friends. Sure enjoyed seeing everyone. When we were all packed up and ready to leave our unit wouldn't start. Problem was the house battery needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, we have had the same problem here in Mesa. Larry purchased a new battery to replace the new battery we had just replaced. Sounds like a circle problem, doesn't it? So far this battery seems to stay charged.

Our RV tech man made about 3 calls to get our air conditioning/heat unit up and running again. We did not have electric heat or air in the motorhome from August until a couple of weeks ago. The thermostat was replaced first and the problem still existed so then a new electrical circuit board was replaced and that seems to have done the trick as the ac/heat unit is working just fine now. With the cooler weather in Mesa this winter we need the heat up and running smoothly.

Many of you already know that in October Dee was diagnosed with breast cancer again after 22 years of being cancer-free. All of this came to light during her annual mammogram. A malignant tumor was identified with an MRI and biopsy in Amarillo, TX. We elected to come to Mesa to schedule lumpectomy and followup care. On Dec. 14th the lumpectomy was done and pathology confirmed non-invasive ductal cancer in SITU (DCIS). None of the lymph nodes were affected. There will 6 weeks of radiation beginning the middle of January and then oral chemotherapy for 3-5 years. We're hoping that this course of action will be as successful as last time and it will be another 22 years before cancer rears it's ugly head again!!

Everyone has been so supportive and caring through all of our medical process and we are ever so grateful for the thoughts and prayers sent our way. It means the world to us.

Now on to the "good stuff". Our daughter Suzy visited with us in November for about 11 days and we had the best time. What fun to have here with us for a while. She seemed to really enjoy the beautiful weather here and am told she even lost about 5 lbs. while she was here. She especially loved being able to pick fresh oranges off the trees next door to us.

We are located at Mesa Regal RV Resort in Mesa, Az until middle of March (on a different site this year though)so neighbors are different. January 1st the resort will fill up as 90 units will be coming in that day. Sure glad I'm not on escort that day as traffic will be heavy getting everyone to their sites and parked.

OH . . . forgot to mention that in late September the hard drive on my computer crashed. Luckily we were in Childress so Dee's former computer guru got everything back up and runing for her - VISTA is gone and Windows 7 is now her operating system. The only hitch was her computer back up flash drive was wiped out the last time her computer was in the shop so she lost 2 years of updates and work. She is still trying to recover the missing 2 years of data.

It's gotta get better in the New Year. All of you take care and have a Happy Holiday.