Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

02/14/08 - New Plans
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Because of Kathleen's medical challenges we decided not to "Snow Bird" in San Felipe, Mexico this year. Living in El Centro offered us relatively easy access to Kaiser medical facilities in La Mesa, CA and to San Felipe (for a one or two day visits). It was a good decision - not only for Kathleen as it turned out.

Paul ran into physical challenges of his own - ingrown toenail (still on the "wait to remove" list) - and now bladder cancer. The latter was the diagnosis by Paul's Urologist, Dr. Khaw, based on bladder biopsies. Dr Khaw is a treasure and Paul is in good hands. He answers any and all questions we have, and always ends our sessions with "Do you have any other questions?" "What else do you want to know?" He is thorough and we have much confidence in him.

The bottom line is that Paul has aggressive bladder cancer. The good news it's been discovered early. Chemotherapy begins on Friday, February 15 and continues for the following 5 Fridays. Then a biopsy a month after the last of the 6 chemo sessions on 3/21/08. If there's been improvement, Paul will repeat a 6-week chemo series, followed by a biopsy. This program will continue for the next two years. We now know what Dr Khaw meant when he said we would get to know each other very well when he first suspected cancer based on lab results on urine samples (before biopsies).

So we are obviously thinking about and planning on when and where in Southern California we'll spend the next two years.

If the finding of the next biopsy shows "no" improvement, then we go into Plan B, which we'll think about if we need to. We are counting on Plan A and are looking at where we'll stay in the summer that will be cooler than El Centro. There are several county, state and private campgrounds in the mountains between San Diego and El Centro that we'll investigate. We have lots of options and lots of optimism!

On Tuesday (2/12) our baby (40 year old) John called. He and his cousin, David were working in Phoenix. They go from Phoenix to Las Vegas, then to Kansas City and on to Minneapolis before returning home in Tennessee. Might we be able to drive over to see him on the 13th? We jumped at the chance to meet John and David in Casa Grande, AZ on Wednesday.

After nearly a four-hour drive Wednesday we arrived at our hotel in Casa Grande in plenty of time to call John and David and arrange to meet them at our hotel. We all met about 6:30 pm in the restaurant on the premises (not to be recommended). We were so happy to see these two - straight from their job site.

Food was the least thing in which we were interested. We had a delightful "catch-up" time with John and David and were so happy to have had the opportunity to visit with them.

After dinner (and dessert) we hugged our goodbyes. They returned to their hotel up in Scottsdale and we were able to get in a good night's sleep.

This morning, David and John headed for Las Vegas then on to Kansas City where they'll pick up some equipment, which they will take up to Minneapolis to a job there. Happily, our daughter Michelle and family live in Minneapolis and we hope the boys will have the opportunity of visiting with John's sister and her family before the boys finally head back to Tennessee. (As an aside, John has been interviewed by a producer of the TV version of "This American Life" show on National Public Radio. They are putting a show together on American Life - that will consist of interviews of "John Smith's." So perhaps we weren't as crazy as we thought by naming one of our children "John Smith.")

This morning we were up with the birds, and were on the road back to El Centro by 9:00 am. It seemed like a faster trip back here, and after food shopping, we were "back home" by 1:00 pm. (How sweet it is to be back!) The bright sunny day we left in Sunbeam Lake was replaced with a cloud covered, windy, cool Sunbeam Lake RV Park. In our absence, some kind and thoughtful neighbor retracted all our awnings. It seems as though the area had strong winds earlier in the day, and our awnings might have been torn during the blustery day. What nice neighbors!

Tomorrow we head west to San Diego again and to Paul's first chemotherapy session. We look at it as a way to fight and beat this invader in his bladder. We feel confident that we will prevail and hope the side effects of the chemo will be light.

We enjoy our travels through the beautiful mountains to the west of us, and last week we saw the beginnings of some "spring" wildflowers!

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Life on the Road with Paul & Kathleen: "Not bad for two dumb kids from Ohio" - Proving once again that it's never too late to have a happy childhood

Our Lazy Daze at Kirk Creek Camp on CA Hwy 1 40 mi N of Hearst's Castle 11/24/03: Shortly after full-timing began.	Lazy Daze at Kirk Creek Camp 11/24/03