I hope the link to the pictures is working for everyone

We arrived in Salt Lake City yesterday. This is our farthest point west. We will drive to Cove Fort tomorrow and then head toward Denver. Donna has to fly back home on June 30 to go back to work on July 1st. Then, Bobby and the kids will continue on their journey back east. It has been a wonderful trip so far. Yesterday, the kids got a little noisy in the back seat during a bad traffic time...things didn't go well. Other than that, we've been tolerating the drives and life together in the camper.

Again, Bobby and I want to thank everyone who made this trip possible. Our friends are working while we are gone, our supervisors allowed us to have the time off to spend together (we know during a highly desired vacation time), our family and neighbors are helping us with the house and cats..all things that needed to fall into place. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! We love you all.

Try the link for the pictures...it should work...and remember the newest pictures are toward the bottom! Enjoy. P.S. We have not had signal for about a week. Not at Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons...but we have it now in Salt Lake City.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

The Pits...

...as if the pits from the hail weren't enough.

We left Fishing Bridge Campground today (YEAH) and headed for Teton RV Park & Resort (not YEAH!) We had 3 nights booked for this place...and quickly canceled the second two nights. First of all, Fishing Bridge-the only park in Yellowstone with full RV hookups. We would not recommend staying there. It was very crowded, very busy, and not at all anything except a parking lot for anyone needing to spend the night in Yellowstone. As far as Yellowstone goes, if you are taking an RV to Yellowstone and want a place with a drain, water, and electric, you have no choice (besides the lodges). ...to be continued (maybe in the morning) I've been doing laundry for the last 4 hours and it is time to run back....I'll post this in case I don't have signal all the way back in campground...be back soon

Another day behind us.Time is flying-one kid-fight at a time.We'll be out of Yellowstone tomorrow,heading to the Tetons:

We're heading for Yellowstone. (Fishing Bridge Campground) The Tetons are in the background. We're in Buffalo, Wyoming.

Link to the pictures so far...I'd like to add captions...

Posing for a pic

We drove all over the place today. There were a few tunnels, some neat hair-pin turns, and several overlooks to stop at to see all of the sights. I have more pictures to post...We saw Mt. Rushmore (again) and watched them light it up tonight. For dinner, we ate a a local restaurant that was recommended by the clerks & a customer in the grocery store. The food was good and the prices were reasonable. We're having a great time and want everyone to know that it took an act of God to get us all on this trip. Bobby's supervisors have been gracious by giving him the time he needed (he had it but just wanted to use it all at the same time). My (Donna) supervisors-Alice, & Alicia were very supportive of me taking this trip with my family. The chemo will start back up when we return--so being able to take the trip now was the only way it was going to happen...So, we are very thankful for our employers and their support to our cause. We love you all! This is a perfect time to be taking this trip. It seems to be just a week BEFORE tourist season starts. There are no lines, no waits...The shops are empty...but preparing for their busy Summer season. For us, that means we get to enjoy it all--in less time! Love & Thanks to everyone back home...we'll be back.

Well, I spoke too soon...

Julie buried her head in a pillow...These are pictures of the storm as we were approaching it...It didn't get any better.

Things WERE good. We drove through a nasty storm. I will post video, and pictures. We learned a hard lesson--we won't do that again. Bobby is quite upset-there are many areas of the truck that have nice dents from the hail. There was large hail for about 5 minutes--and as it was hitting us, we knew...and it was too late. It sounded like the truck was getting shot at with bullets. Once the hail started, it was too late. We will assess the damage in the daylight tomorrow. The camper did OK, it has a few dings but we heard of broken windows in vehicles from the same storm. I have Doppler Radar images showing the Tornado Vortex. Lindsey reports seeing the funnel and rotating winds as we were driving. The radar supports her sighting... So, for tonight...we are wiped out. The kids are pretty wound up...and Bobby is not a HAPPY CAMPER. Storm chasers we are NOT. I'll put video and pictures on when I get them uploaded...Will I ever get the kids to go to bed. We hear the coyote's howling in the fields outside the campground. We're told this is normal. I might just post all of the pictures and video to Google and add a link...I left the video on record while we were in the storm. Hopefully, I've captured some of the stress we sat through. Bobby needs a medal for driving us safely. He is the best!

Enroute to...Hart Ranch...Rapid City, SD.

This is Lego Land at the Mall of America

We didn't buy any Legos but Dan had alot of fun playing with their displays. You can build cars and contraptions and send them down a ramp. Dan had fun and had time to play. The girls were off...to Victoria's Secret, Hollister...and many other stores (that we also have at home). They did ride the neat roller coaster (I have neat video). We bought a few things--but nothing we didn't need. The mall is special but it has stores that we have at home too. (Our best purchase was the box of CINNABONS)...Mmmmmmmm!

We are waiting for Dan to finish at LEGOLAND...Mall of America, MN

Stay tuned...for

Saturday's Adventures from THE MALL OF AMERICA!!!

Welcome to Minnesota!

Welcome to Minnesota! Crossing the Mississippi. These little posts are from my cell phone. I had to give up my camera battery to Lindsey so she could take cool pictures. If you want to see the COOL STUFF, check out Lindsey's blog www.lindseyharsh.blogspot.com but I bet there won't be a huge amount of FAMILY pictures! I'll work on posting some more pictures. We've been mostly stuck in the truck since we left on the 10th at 6PM. We didn't want to leave home that late in the day but it took us that long to get ready & out--so we went ahead and left and drove to Washington, PA. The truck is pulling great & getting 10.4 miles/gallon! Bobby said its because of all the stuff I packed. BUT I PACKED LIGHT!!! He's the one that brought all the tools & extra stuff! Oh, wait--2 teenage girls...there must be 50lbs of products/plug in things with us! I can't complain--at least they are showering daily!

More soon...we found a neat place to stop every night so far...more on that when I have a few minutes...

Dad can't do ALL the driving! :-O

STRESS test results...

Cardiac Stress Test: NORMAL!!!
Vacation Stress Test: FAILING!!!

News from Baltimore-We know everyone is on edge...

We got a call from Dr. Sharfman just a few minutes ago. Not good news, but not all bad news...

The tumors in Bobby's lungs have grown slightly since his last scan in April. This means that the IL-2 did not work. We had hoped that the IL2 would stop or reverse growth of the cancer in his lungs. It works only 15-20% of the time. A good part of this news is that Bobby does not have to suffer through any more IL-2. He was not ever looking forward to more of that. It was nasty stuff! A few of the tumors have shown very slight growth, there were no new tumors. His liver looks good. So, although the IL-2 didn't work, there are still positives out of today's scan.

The great news is that Dr. Sharfman said that all of this mess about Bobby's heart and EKG is nothing. He knew about the EKG report while Bobby was at Hopkins and it was not of any concern. He was surprised the family doctor even got the report. He said to go ahead and get the stress test (tomorrow) because it can't hurt anything...he expects it to be normal. Bobby is relieved to hear that.

Dr. S will call NIH (National Cancer Institute) tomorrow to see about getting him back into another clinical trial. That process should be easy because we set everything up before we left NIH. The doctor at NIH has kept in contact with Bobby to check on his progress. I will email him tonight. I will try to post some information about what we think might be next (about the clinical trial) after I do some research.

Bobby is understandably upset. It would have really been great if this had worked. Although the IL-2 didn't work, there are still options AND we were given news today that is positive. Bobby says he felt all along that this wouldn't work. He is having a hard time trying to be positive. I'm giving him lots of things to look forward to.

We are still making plans to leave for the BIG TRIP. We will hopefully find out more about NIH's time frame and be able to plan the dates around the that. It will all work out-for one reason or another. It has been hard to make firm plans and I don't think today's news helped.

We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers that carried us through-we're not finished this battle yet! We have had someone bring meals to us every night for the last month. Thank you. We talked to so many people today (at Martin's) and the support Bobby & I have gotten is just amazing. People have been sending us supportive texts and messages all day. We love you guys!

Falling Behind...What could be next?

Planning...

(I also have more food pictures to post...all in time. I suppose.)

We kind of got the wind knocked out of our sails (again?) this week. Bobby went to his family doctor yesterday and the doctor had a report from Hopkins that said there were some changes on Bobby's EKG during this last round of IL-2. His doctor suspects that Bobby had a heart attack based on the EKG. They repeated the EKG at the doctor's office yesterday. Bobby was told by his doctor that the new EKG showed "something" but what they had seen at Hopkins wasn't there now. I called the oncologist's office and asked about the results of the EKG from Hopkins. In short, the EKG showed ischemic changes that occurred while Bobby was getting the IL-2. She felt that perhaps under normal conditions, his heart is happy-and under stress, ischemia develops. We're not sure what the end result revealed. Anyway, Bobby is scheduled for a stress test on Tuesday. STRESS TEST--Does he REALLY NEED A STRESS TEST? They are going to push him over the edge. The CAT scans are Monday (to see if the chemo is working). Then, a stress test on Tuesday to see if the chemo is causing cardiac problems. I asked Bobby which day he was most worried about. His cynical answer was, "Neither." I think he/we are beyond worry. We pray, we give thanks. What's left. WE are so thankful for the blessings we do have. So many of you have worked so hard and have been doing so much to bring us meals. I can't tell you how much that has helped us over the last few weeks. I haven't cooked a meal in a month. I've frozen enough to feed us for another month. The kids are happy--no Easy Mac, no cereal for dinner, no Hamburger Helper. They are eating HEALTHY--and happy! Thank you. I work tomorrow (Sunday) and there shouldn't be much to post--praying for NO CHEST PAIN is at the top of our list. I'll try to get more pictures posted. Hopefully, within the week, I'll be posting pictures from our TBA Traveling Blog! More on that soon...Mapping, Planning, Calculating...all with the hope of it falling into place

Tuesday-Yea!, A normal day...

Bobby got many things done at home today. He drove to the dump, worked outside and this evening, he and Julie washed our camper. That is hard work. They both came in very tired. Bobby is feeling much better. He does have skin that is peeling off of his hands & feet. His back is dry and peely. I rub lots of lotion into his skin but that just makes the skin less itchy and less dry.

Bobby talked with the Oncologist's office today. His next set of CAT Scans will be done in Baltimore on Monday. As I've posted before, the goal is to see that the IL-2 has slowed or reversed the growth of the tumors. We are praying about this. The results will determine the next course of treatment.
We will cross that bridge when we get there.

New stuff

I just added the pictures of some of the meals you have so graciously been bringing us. I'd love to post the recipes with the pictures. If you'd like to send me your recipes, I will be happy to post them.

Today is Julie's Birthday! She is 15! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE! Russ Zullick coordinated plans with us for tonight's meal-Thanks for being so accommodating Russ!

Yesterday was Bobby's first day home that I had to work. The kids were here and were Daddysitting. I left instructions-nothing dangerous, and NO LADDERS. He did TRY (his words) to drive to the hardware store down the street. I reminded him that he wasn't going to drive until after his check up today. He said he realized that after he got in the truck and TRIED to drive. He listens about as well as the kids do. Julie was proud that she was able to keep him off of any ladders.

Bobby is doing really well today. He is 95% back to normal, with nausea being his biggest complaint. His appetite has improved and the fluid retention has improved. He isn't sleeping very well at night. We make up for that by taking naps during the day.
I better close out of this because we have to be in Baltimore in 1.5 hours! He has a check up...I can write more after that...be back later!