Christmas Eve

Well, it's Christmas Eve and for the first time in.....ever, I'm not going to Phil's for the annual family get-together. It's just too much for me right now. It would take too much out of me and I need to work on getting strong for the chemo that is on the horizon.

It kills me to not be there....mostly because I always wonder if this Christmas will be the last Christmas that we will have with Bob Miller. I am almost positive that this is the last year that he will know who we are. His memory is going faster and faster. He is 89 years old after all...it is to be expected. He loves his life and he loves Wini and that's all that matters. He's happy.

I'm doing much better now. My bowels are about 60% back to normal. I was able to eat some filet mignon and baked stuffed potato for dinner last night. I can go for longer periods of time between pain meds now. I am sleeping better....not so many trips to the bathroom to interrupt my sleep.

It feels good.

Last night, after dinner, we were sitting talking and I felt something in my mouth, sticking to my tooth. I poked at it and out fell a good sized chunk of filling. This sent a chill through me. When you are getting the chemo I get, you can't have dental work done. I got scared that I wouldn't be able to get into the dentist before the chemo started and what if this turned out to be something bigger? Today I got the answer: the dentist will see me Monday. Hopefully he can fix this and maybe even get my teeth cleaned before chemo starts up again.

I find out Wednesday when I see Dr. McCourt when she plans to have me start getting the chemo. I hope that it doesn't interfere with the plans for Maine, I really am looking forward to that trip. I told Maria that even if I just laid around up there and slept, it would still be worth it to me to go. I do want to go to Remy's though, and that store near it where they have the great buys on clothes and shoes. I hope it's still open. Please be open!

So, we are having a quiet night tonight and tomorrow we'll "wrap off" and spend the day quietly with the pups. Of course there will be the usual chaos in the AM when the dogs open their gifts. I love watching that scene....I never get tired of watching them rip the wrapping paper off and pull the toys out. Then they run off to their respective "safe places" to tear the toy apart to get at the "squeaky" that is inside. Some toys last longer than others...some don't get torn apart at all, and some don't last more than two minutes. It's good that Sandy finds toys at cheap prices!

These dogs have so many toys. We have a toy basket in the living room and another one in the bedroom. These get washed every few months and there is a big box in the basement filled with toys that replace the ones being cleaned. The cleaned ones go into the basement box and so everything gets rotated.

That's how we roll here at 60 BMW.

I'm hoping that the President gets some kind of healthcare bill on his desk soon. If it isn't perfect, we'll figure that out and fix it. Nothing is written in stone. At least get something going and we'll take it from there! PLEASE! Get 'er done!

Nighty Night and MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!