Numbers down

Thomas' PSA number dropped to number five this week, marking a turn for the better. I'm Casey Kasum and here's a letter written from many well-wishers,

Dear Thomas,

Kick cancer's butt!

Respectfully yours,
Those who love you!

Thomas' busy days

Thomas prepares the living room, staging this and that for the painting, The biggest problem, he chose an expensive paint and started with it. He then wanted all parts to match, necessitating buying more of it. The price jumped twice, like gas, making this long project expensive too. Marcus, working many many hours, has contributed little to this little adventure. It is Thomas' job and goal. Thankfully, there is no rush on the painting.

Nice work Thomas! In the second shot, you can see the difference in color.

pucker up

Thomas continues to get Victoria's Secret sales ads and coupons.
He says he golfs often ... huh.

Lois' spot is growing smaller, puckering into a small scar. The doctor's predicted 6 months to heal. I don't think it will take that long to be visually gone.

Rebirth?

Sinister-looking enough to delay and cancel schools, this lovely morning brought to you by: God. Winter and Spring were in supportive roles. There was light fog, light snow, and pearly glistening white on the trees and bushes.
Another day and the spot gets better. The piece of flesh that was bad is gone ... now, alone there is a slowly healing spot. The great storm of Jupiter can be seen, I think. Lois was feisty today, tired of not sleeping well, being ill, and not being herself. She was a bit overdone.

Thomas got a chance to leap away to golf ... bravo! You might thinking your "clubbing" days are done when you're older, but not so. The "clubbing" just changes. It will refresh Thomas to golf again -- a game, pasttime, sport, and hobby, it makes him whole.

Wouldn't you know it ... the fog where the dome is was powerful, so he returned without swinging anything but a foul word, in his head. Curse the fog, but for it I would be golfing!

Winter strikes you back

Lois fell on her knees then butt the other day. She was going out to feed the winged pigs known as birds. She slipped in the nearly for her hip-deep snow. Plop! Flop! She crept backward out of the snow and returned to the house. Her back was sore, pride shattered, but otherwise sore at the situation. She's okay now, but the pukiness is ever-present.

Thomas got a blood test to check for cancer. He'll get the results in a week. Tomorrow he plans to golf for the first time in a while. There is an indoor golf dome range where he and friends "play". Hooray for him and them!

Tread on me

Thomas got Marcus a new set of tires. It was needed as the wheels were out of alignment. Thankfully, the little car has small tires and those tires are cheap compared to others. Hour-long treks to work wear down the treads a bit for Marcus' new job.

Marcus sends a big,

I'm putting one foot in front of another and I'm finding where the tire meets the road.

Slice of work

I rolled the thin crust.

not every day

The phone rings and I answer.

A woman is calling on her cellphone. She is trapped in the ladies restroom and can't get out. I didn't laugh, but was rather befuddled how you can do that, but ... I called a woman to go help her out of the restroom, whatever that means.

Brigadoon

Thomas and Lois watched Brigadoon, a movie they haven't seen in decades. Apparently is was worth the "risk" and they were both entertained.

Lois found out she was taking a pill that was off a little bit in dosage, so her coumadin was off and her heart rate was still low. The cardiologist had her wear a heart monitor and hopefully they call to explain what is of note.
.........
Marcus got a job, but he won't post the name. Since there is a chance that his personal blog might be associated with him, he won't go into details at this time. His personal blog is a bit more ... peculiar and contains many things that are politically charged and others just not suitable for some. While this contains nothing of the company for which he now works, Marcus feels that presently he would like to make no association between him any web text that might come back to "haunt" him. This family blog is tame and dry, but he'd rather give limited-detail material pertaining to the job.

Marcus claims that he is learning quite a bit and it was a great departure from what he was doing. Thankfully he work is legal and it is a stable company.

Lois' mark

As you can see, the area is healing nicely. The yellowish "gunk" will become dead nasy scab. From dead skin to protective layer, each day it gets better. If you didn't read the prior posts ... this was a small bit of cancer, but it was removed months after discovery. It wasn't growing or "dangerous" enough to remove before the knee surgery. Lois has a way of making the hospitals money.

Winter piled high

I thought I would show a few local pictures of the winter spell ... after years of weak Winter, we got a real one this year. The drifting is what piled the snow high. It was a mess and will be again, for there is snow predicted for the next several days. Valentine's Day, with a vengeance?

Thing about cars

If you'll see, there missing plastic. Thomas called today ... the part is expensive.

How the van should look.

Happy St. Vallentine's Day!

Thomas got this nice bouquet for Lois. Isn't it sweet?
Love abounds!

Thank God Thomas and Lois had nowhere to go today. The roads were a mess!

Flowers in Winter

Thomas and Marcus went out to pick up gas for the snowblower and Thomas' flowers for Lois. The roads were a mess and the going slow. I'm sure that the $7 delivery charge was too little in this hostile weather. Thomas, at the time of purchase and ordering, requested to pick up the flowers and avoid the surcharge delivery fee. Boy, oh boy, was it wise to pick them up early. The shifting winds today were bitter and mighty.

Thomas, ever the nice guy, went with Lois early this morning to her visit to her pain management doctor in his new office. A good thing they had an early appointment, for ... the office was calling afternoon appointments and cancelling them due to weather.

Lois is doing well and the doctor has no interest in seeing her for months. She has had leg and foot pain, unrelated to the knee surgery. The doctor suspected impingement and stress from her lower spind nerves that give her the sensation of foot pain. When she walks, the pain changes and lessens, generally. The doctor has no interest in surgery for her. I doubt that Lois wants surgery either.

Phone & website match

They didn't. Thomas called a company after making a purchase online for a health guide issue. They charged him fine. He didn't get his product. After chatting with phone operator number 1, he was directed to phone number 2 to talk with phone operator number 2.

Number 1, make it so.
No, captain.

Number 2, make it so.
No, captain.

Could I talk with someone willing to look at records?
No.

Am I ever going to make headway with you?
No.

Press 1 if you'd like to let loose a firestorm of profanities.
Press 2 if you would like to argue with a computerized answering service.
Press 3 if you believe you have reached this call in error.

.........
After more, "talking", and finding that Chase credit card listed the wrong 800 number for the charge. So, Thomas found that the $24 he spent on the report, was online only. So ... $24 for a PDF ... skip all that.

The company suggested that he pay for it again. Yeah, that's right. My advice, do not make purchases from this company. So, I rank this customer service as -- below dirt. They then suggested that he spend more money to get it. I'd rank that in with bad business practices. So, Thomas is out of luck on this.
...

In other news, the old TV found a new minor problem, but with hand tools and luck... it will continue to work. Thomas didn't have to call a repair person to come.

Sunday, sleepy Sunday

The morning started with a squirrel on the feeder, apparently not satisfied with the food on the ground. Feed me more, she chittered, but I did not respond.

Thomas and Lois went to church and there were a large number of new members. Hey, yeah! They came back and the gloom of the day continued and they grew sleepy ... a pendulum swinging ... grew sleepier ... pendulum swinging ... sleep -- y
You are asleep.

They later watched Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Man's Chest, for they liked the first Pirate's movie. They liked it. Last night they watched another movie, courtesy of Netflix. It was Glory Road, the tale of integrated basketball, where a coach crosses the lines and puts in black athletes. The movie is riddled with racial slurs from jerring racists. I understand that the coach was demanding and it was a good movie.

Stop dressed

Here are Lois and Beth dressed to go to the funeral. He is the father of Beth's friend and fellow classmate. Thomas and Lois returned and Beth went to get coffee with another friend there, Marie who still lives near Fort Wayne. As a side note, Beth isn't this tall. She's wearing thirty inch heels. Okay, she's wearing heels, not thirty inch ... maybe thirteen.

Thomas quickly read a health report then started the car on this bright, solomn day. It was cold, but people were happy to see each other. Damn these sad days! Too often we meet friends and loved ones because of grief, not joy.

Saturday mourning

RICHARD A. NITTERAUER, 68, of Fort Wayne, died Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, at Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne. Born June 12, 1938, in Springfield, Ill., he was a member of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church. He retired from Fort Wayne Community Schools as a speech pathologist, in 1997. He loved his Lord and his grandchildren. He also enjoyed classical music, the outdoors and traveling. Surviving are his wife, Donna J. Nitterauer of Fort Wayne; daughter, Suzanne M. (Ron) Hostetler of Fort Wayne; and two grandchildren, Benjamin Hostetler and Bradley Hostetler, both of Fort Wayne. Funeral service is 2 p.m. Sunday at Elzey-Patterson & Rodak Home For Funerals, 6810 Old Trail Road, Fort Wayne. Visitation is from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Burial in St. John Lutheran Cemetery. Memorials to Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church.
Published in the Fort Wayne Newspapers on 2/9/2007.

Making a date

For cards, anyway, it was a bit of a chore. Write the date, have it pass in congress, but it was re-written. It was passed onto Senate, but that wasn't any good. Much like, "I'm just bill; just a lonely old bill and I'm sittin' here on Capital Hill..." Lois negotiated for a date for cards with friends. Finally, with other commitments, March was elected and it's the day before St. Patrick's Day ... 16th.

For those out of the loop, the frinds play girls vs boys. In the games that I know, the boys have lost 19 out of 20 times. The boys claim, "cheating, talking, stacking the deck" or other nonsense to explain the dismal record. That might be, but 1 : 20 is a bad ratio.

Maybe the boys will use email to make plans and strategies to win this time ... or some time, so that they aren't famous for failure.

Lois wears halter top

Well, it's a halter to carry a heart monitor. She wears it for 24 hours, then we get to wait for results. Joy of joys!

This is Lois' spot. It looks gross, but it's healing. Die, cancer, die! It did or rather it isn't on her leg anymore. I'm sure it will be no more remarkable than skin in a couple of weeks or less.

Season's up!

Supposedly robins in the area are a good sign, but these little birds drink then flew away for parts unknown. So, I don't think it's a sign at all, for Indiana. What I didn't get was when there were three all bobbing up and down similtaneously like clockwork.

Spotted

Lois' new mark

It's not as bad as it looks. This spot was a bit of cancer, now it's gone. This pit, healing, is larger than the origin.

It's 2007 and the doctors have seen Lois already. Well, let's hope the problems are all this simple.