Friday – Biopsy Reveal

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Finally! It’s Friday and Jennie took Diane to see her doctor to find out what she’s facing. This is where you should hear a drum roll, right? Well, that didn’t happen.

They got to the doctor in plenty of time but the biopsy wasn’t there, yet. So close to an answer but there wasn’t one.

But, the doctor began working on a solution to Diane’s headache issue and a new one that just popped up yesterday: she has numbness in her lower left jaw. The doctor found suspicious bumps on Diane’s forehead so ordered up an MRI with the hope it could be done today, like right away, then he left for a meeting with another doctor about something. While he was gone the biopsy appeared and the MRI was scheduled for next Monday.

When the doctor returned, he read the biopsy report and relayed that there’s more to come on that bit of news. He did, however, let our girls know that what he saw was not all bad news. Considering all the negative info we’ve received to this point, that was actually good news.

Then they came back home.

Crafty Jennifer got on her phone and started dissecting the info she found in the report provided so far. She explained it to me and Jeff but it was tricky territory with a lot of big confusing words that only she could understand. It was still mostly confusing when she switched the big words with normal ones.

I’ll do my best to share what I think I understand with the understanding that I’ve got a lot to learn about cancer and the language and terms used to describe it. OK?

The purpose of the biopsy was to discover the point of origin. As best as Jennie could tell, it looks like they were unable to determine the specific origin so gave it an acronym name. Digging further, Jennie went on to cancer defined in that manner is very rare and could have laid dormant in her body for decades before waking up. This bit of knowledge swiveled our heads back to 1977 when cancer visited Diane the first time. That one was believed to have been completely eradicated when they pretty much removed all her girl parts. Maybe they didn’t.

So now, we wait some more until Diane’s doctor receives all the info about what’s going on. During that waiting period she’ll have her MRI and the Doc will analyze it.

The really sad part about all this waiting is that she’s suffering a great deal of pain and can hardly eat anything without severe nausea. The battle continues with no defined plan about how to win.

So, if you pray, please add Diane to your list. We can use all the help we can get.

If you have a notion, send her a few words of encouragement by responding to this post. She reads it.

Thanks.

Friday – October 10, 2025

Posted on October 10, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

There’s a little turmoil regarding Diane’s visit to Good Sam. Today was the day she was supposed to see her primary care, Dr. Ly, and I think she did, but she changed her annual visit from today to next week. I suspect that’s so he can address the results of her liver biopsy scheduled for next Tuesday.

Before I get too deep into this narrative I need to tell you that what I share is strictly here-say because I don’t spend a lot of time in the room with Diane. That’s not because I don’t want to be there, but because I actually have things to take care of at home. That’s mainly Max oriented.

Speaking of Max … he’s really depressed that Diane isn’t home every day. That’s not normal. He likes ‘normal’.

Jennie took some things to her Mom early this morning and has been with her all day. She’s totally involved with what’s happening with her Mom so if you want the real story, talk to her. She called a while ago to let me know that she wouldn’t be coming home this afternoon as planned (yesterday) because of decisions/suggestions made by the physical therapist(s) she visited. Mainly, she is not to be left alone, ever, and she needs a hospital bed that doesn’t lay flat. This is because of the cancer intrusion into her spine and pelvis. Being alone is a danger because if she falls, something’s going to break.

Normally you’d think Good Old Jerrie could serve that purpose, but because I fall on my face once in a while, I’m not a good candidate to address her needs. I understand.

So, they are keeping her in the hospital until arrangements can be made for her home care team to be identified. Our lives have been changed with the introduction of cancer into our lives.

That brings another thought to my mind. Diane has already had, and beat, cancer about 50 years ago when she had cervical, and uterine cancer. She beat cancer then and has no doubt about beating it again this time.

Your prayers will help. Let’s work to get her home and Max out of his slump. He’s so sad.

I stripped the bed and washed the sheets in anticipation of Diane’s homecoming today before Jennie called to let me know that’s not gonna happen. Max was listening and got really upset.

Because of Max’s exuberant nature, Diane needs to gather all her strength to deal with his welcome home mode. Should be exciting.

Not so normal after all . . .

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

8 – number of days remaining until the liver biopsy.

Today is October 4th, so May The Fourth Be With You, My last post, on September 27th, was a little bit optimistic regarding Diane’s energy level, but playing the “Waiting Game” has proven to be a real downer. Her energy levels quickly evaporated while doing the laundry and it’s evident that I need to take the reins regarding that. All she will have to do is “point” and “direct”. One would think I could follow simple rules, right? Well, doing laundry is way more complicated than picking some random dial settings and adding soap to the machine. Consequently, my job shifted from washing to drying and folding. I’m pretty good at that. All I have to do is remember to check the drying once in a while;

Now, about the waiting part . . .

Frankly, it sucks, big time. Diane said the scheduler told her he needed to carve out a 5-hour slot for the procedure. The first one available was on October 14. The reason for the 5 hours is unclear to me but is apparently needed in the event Diane hemorrhages if she moves too much after the procedure. That’s all I know. Then, there’s something about the need for her to set aside some of her extra blood in case that happens,

It’s entirely possible that I know nothing about that which I report. Yeah, that’s more likely to be true. So, let’s presume that I know nothing. I suspect the majority of those who read this already have that presumption. That’s OK. I even encourage that.

Today was a milestone of note for Diane. She ate an entire hamburger! Honest. she also ate some french fries. If she can repeat that fairly often, she will improve quickly and work on beating some odds. That doesn’t surprise me at all because she’s already said, “We’ll beat this!”. We’re working on that.

Surgery

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Today’s the day. I’m alone in the surgery waiting room, waiting for my turn to go sit with Diane while she waits in another room down the hallway. Jennie is with her right now. What we’re all waiting for is 1500, when the surgery is supposed to happen. Right now it’s 1300, so we have two hours to go before the procedure begins.

We left the house at 1100. Jennie drove Mom’s car because Diane doesn’t really trust me much on the road any more. I suggested she might consider having my driver’s license revoked although I do come in handy for making short trips to a store for various reasons. Other than that, my usefulness regarding transportation is about zero since Diane does it all.

On our last trip she piloted the pickup everywhere we went. All I had to do was park it when we arrived, unhook the trailer when we stopped for multiple days, and hook it back up again when it was time to leave. Since we decided to sell the trailer, that means the truck can go, too. Then all she has to do is figure out how to drive the bus.

I’m really not alone in the waiting room. There are other folks scattered around the room, but we don’t talk. That’s OK. Talking to strangers isn’t what interests me at this time.

Since I’m under strict orders to mind my diet, I chose to go eat lunch around 1500. Jennie will join me after Diane takes Diane to the operating room. By the time she got to me, I was done eating, so I just kept her company while she ate her soup. It was pretty hot stuff and she burned various parts of her mouth by testing it to see if it was ready to eat. She finally got it down. Then we mosied beach to the original waiting room to await the end of surgery and recovery. I sent Jennie in to be with her in recovery but I was tricked when she asked for my presence. I was happy to go because I had seen for only a few minutes this day and I missed her.

She was way perkier that I thought she would be. Surgery isn’t one of her favorite activities. She reminded me that anesthesia is what scares her the most, not the actual surgery. That’s a story for another time.

She improved quickly and successfully peed for the nurse. That was the goal for getting out of the hospital. Once that was done I helped her get dressed for her exit, then we headed home. The nurse called the parking valet so he could get the car to the front door so we wouldn’t have to wait. The recovery room crew told me everyone leaves that area in a wheelchair, but she failed to include the part about “patients only.” They didn’t bring me one so I had to walk.

Jennie drove us safely home and Max was ecstatic to see her. Surprisingly, he was gentle with her.

She didn’t stay up long after getting home and Jennie need to gather up her children and get them home. Then it was just me and Diane. I was so very happy she got to come home, as was she.

After she went to bed, around 1900 or so, I stayed up a little longer hoping she would go right to sleep. I don’t know what time it was, but at was ready for bed when I finally called it.

Apparently she went right to sleep because she left a bunch of lights on. I should have checked sooner, right?

That was it for the day.

We Have Cancer!

Posted on September 25, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

For the past 5 years or so Diane has been dealing with what she calls “polka dot lungs”. That’s what all of the CAT scan images she’s seen look like to her, so that name sticks. Her doctor kept putting off biopsy’s because it didin’t appear that the polka dots weren’t getting bigger and the danger of performing a biopsy wasn’t justified because of the biggest one’s position, just behind her heart.

The we took our trip round Oregon which essentially ended in Fossil, Oregon where she visited the Emergency Room for what appeared to be a bad kidney infection. She was treated for that with a dose or antibacterial meds that seemed to take care of it. Briefly.

When we got home on September 18th, she was able to see her doctor who ordered a CAT Scan with Contrast. Doing this opened a more specific world for the polka dots. Turns out they were spots of metastasized cancer from a tumor on her left ureter, we think. The PET Scan may reveal a different source. Regardless, it’s cancer, and she’s littered with it.

This morning, at 0945 we checked Diane in to the Nuclear Imaging department of Good Sam Hospital. This is something she’s been striving to get for a while now. She saw her urologist a few days ago and received conflicting info on what needs to be done.

She was originally scheduled to have a PET Scan today but after the doctor met with her he thought the next step was to give her a stent in her left ureter next to the kidney to stop the severe pain she’s been experiencing. But, the PET Scan was never cancelled so we acted on the knowledge we had. No followup info was provided regarding the stent surgery until she was taken to perform the PET Scan. It was the right choice as her doctor spoke to her on her way to the test then came back and talked with me. Turns out they had hopes to piggy back the stent surgery after the PET Scan today but instead they will do it tomorrow afternoon.

As I type, she is getting the PET Scan done and it’s supposed to take about an hour. Then, there’s another 30-minute part that has a name I cannot remember.

1050 – The first hour of the PET Scan is over and I’ve not heard anything from the nurses so I’m putting this away until I get some news.

Diane finally finished around noonish so we could go home. She was in a lot of pain and hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday,

I fixed us two can’s of soup; vegetable beef for me, and chicken noodle for her, I ate all of mine, she barely touched her’s. She did eat a yogurt which pleased me because she needed something for her stomach to churn on.

It’s now 2130 and she still hasn’t eaten anything but that yogurt. Neither of us can wait for tomorrow so she can get the stent installed and make the pain stop. I’m helpless with this and cannot tell you how brave she is to tolerate the pain knowing what’s causing it.

I’m stopping here. Pray for her surgery tomorrow to be a success,

The Dalles

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Up early due to inability to sleep due to the fact that Diane was unable to sleep due to her damaged back. That sounds complicated, I know, but it really isn’t. Her back isn’t damaged in the normal way because she didn’t fall down. It seems to be related to the medicine she received in Fossil, Oregon that was supposed to help with a bacterial infection she sprung up with. For a while she thought it was just back pain from doing something strenuous. The meds helped for a bit but we were both fooled by her uncanny ability to tolerate pain at a level only professional atheletes can endure and still function quite normally.

She seemed to be getting better as we get closer to home, but her “tough guy” attitude failed causing her to pick a wiser solution that ended with us terminating our last night in The Dalles. Instead, we packed up all our doodads, bit our farewells to Cliff, Susie. Terry, and Carolann and hit the freeway.

You may recognize that his is the first mention of Terry, and Carolann because our traveling partners to this point were Cliff and Susie. Terry, and Carolann joined us in The Dalles to join us in our triumphant re-entry into the Gresham area before venturing on home to St. Helens.

Before leaving last Wednesday morning, I took a long walk with Max, around the parking lot we were using for an RV Park. He was a little confused because he was expecting us to spend one more day on road. I don’t know why he was upset because all he does when we’re driving is sleep.

Diane did ALL of the driving on this trip. She insisted and I wasn’t inclined to argue about it. My job was to get the trailer parked at every RV Park we visited. She did all the rest, and she did it in an excellent manner.

It was good to get home, even though we enjoyed the trip. We made more memories, and none of them were the result of me falling on my face again. The last time that happened was on August 30th. Since then all the wounds healed, the scabs all fell off, and I didn’t even get a small bruise from the trama I suffered. I found that lack of bruising to be unfair. Most people who take a blow to the nose usually get black eyes. Not me. I attribute that to the fact that I have O+ blood. I’m pretty sure I shared this photo already but it’s worth another look.

Once home, Diane got to talk with Dr. Ly, her favorite, and he started her on a path that ultimately led us to the emergency room at Good Sam Hospital. They poked and prodded her, took anothe Cat Scan and ordered more internal pictures for them to study.

There’s one more trip to the hospital next week for the additional internal photos before they can identify what’s going on. They sent us home with a script for Oxy (which she won’t take), and something else for something I can’t pronounce.

My job, until next week, is to keep her from going crazy with laundry, emptying the trailer, and getting everything off all the counters and tables – all the stuff I brought in from the trailer. I got it pretty much emptied yesterday. It wasn’t her choice for me to scatter the stuff all over the house, but I was resolute to keep her from interfering with my methods of dispursing all the bags I filled. There’s a bunch of stuff I left on the patio, and even more that I added to the overflowing garage.

I’ll provide more news when I get it.

Vacation Prep

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

What! Another vacation? You barely got over the last one. Gotta go, though, because it’s on the calendar.

First there’s an injury report I must share.

Prepping for this trip involved replacing static shelves in the pantry for ones that conveniently move. During this process I purchased a small job site table saw so I could make sawdust. It works just great and I can actually pick it up to move it around.

That leads me to the first injury. No, I didn’t saw my fingers off. Instead of moving the saw out of my way I attempted to carry a bunch of stuff around it and got all tangled up in power cords and a 5-gallon bucket. The end result was me falliing to the cement floor, scraping my right shin bone on the bucket, and slowing down the bulk of my descending body with my left arm (the bad one). The end result was a reinjury of my left shoulder and a sprain to my left wrist. Kinda minor, really, but it hurt. Not enough to keep me from finishing the job, but it hurt.

The next injury occurred yesterday when I was trying to un-wind Max from the mess he made with his tie-out cable. Unfortunately, I had him tethered at the front of the car port which gives him access to the side yard, accessible via a wonky set of stone stairs. There are only, like 3 steps, but missing just one of them can cause damage. Check it out.

When I landed, it was face first, or at least a very close second for my face plants this year. The injury report I initially received from my body was a broken nose because it was that kind of pain. Struggling to my hands and knees, before Diane could see me at my worst, there was a considerable amount of blood escaping from a few places that stopped my fall. So, I chose “broken nose” to report that as the cause of what happened when my body made contact. Diane heard me hit the ground and, as she’s prone to do upon hearing unfamiliar thuds, asked “what happened?” Not being fully in charge of my senses at this point resulted in me reporting, “I think I broke my nose.”

She found me quickly, but without panic, and asked if I needed a doctor. I waitied to see if I might start spurting blood from some other area of my body. I didn’t, so deemed that I was fine. “No doctor needed.”

I found it interesting that she thought it would be a good idea to take a couple of photos before I cleaned myself up. Her only request was for me to brush the yard debris off my front side. I was a mess. I had to lean back as far as I could, as I walked to the bathroom, so blood wouldn’t drip on the floor. In hindsight, I could just as easily pulled up my t-shirt to staunch the flow, but that was not one of the possibilities provided as I headed to the bathroom.

I was thankful for my glasses, which blocked yard stuff from plowing into my eyes, but they bit the dust and will no longer be useful to see properly. So they will be retired with honors, replaced by an older prescription that were handy.

After that last paragraph our journey had begun and we are now well into it. Last night we stayed at the county fair grounds in John Day, Oregon. Prior to that we’ve spent a couple of days at the Peyton Dam RV Park near Madras, then a couple at the Wheeler County Fair Grounds in Fossil, then last night in the Grant County Fair Grounds in John Day. We’d like to stay a couple more days here, but all the sights are reserved through the weekend. We were lucky to get a site last night.

More later as the journey progresses.

Until then, here’s a sunset from Fossil for you;

Waldport, Oregon 2025

Posted on August 15, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

It’s been over a month since my last entry and things have happened that you may (not) be interested in, but I’m going to share with you, anyway. So, continue reading at your own risk with the understanding that you may quit any time you wish.

This was a trip to Fort Stevens State Park in July. Max had a good time and showed us the joy of having a white dog. He loves the water and the sand, in any order.

We would have spent more time on the beach, but it was pretty crowded.

Max having a staredown with a buck in our back yard. The buck backed down after a long contest of wills.

Here’s how Max helps us make the bed.

Our Winnebago friends showed up out of the blue and hooked up for a 3-day visit. These visits are limited to 3 rigs because that uses all the space in front of the house. Another limiting factor is power. With this many rigs plugged into the garage circuits there’s no doubt a breaker will eventually trip. But, it all works out with a great visit.

Then, our old PT Cruiser friends appeared for a visit. This is most of the visitors. I’m sure others took photos but I got caught up in visiting and totally forgot I had a camera. Sorry folks. We’ll start out with Max demonstrating how shy he is.

It’s really sad that I failed with photos because some of these people have been able to avoid us for 15-20 years. We all don’t mingle like we used to.

Then, all the sudden, they were gone.

Our standing family gathering in July included friends from Intel which provided us with a visit with Jered, a guy she found in the Intel cafeteria.

In addition to whatever happened over the past weeks, we’ve spent the last three days in Waldport, Oregon with the Walters Family. Since all the adult children work different shifts for Intel it wasn’t easy to get them in the same room together on a good day, carving out three days was difficult. But, my live-in trip planner managed to make it work. She got a 12 bedroom house on a cliff that worked nicely so everyone had their own room. Sounds good, but there was only one bathroom with 2 urinals and 2 stools, which was nice but, due to shy bladders, only one of us could use it at a time. Kinda weird.

We drove to Waldport after church on Sunday. Three cars made the trip from various locations and we all arrived within 5 minutes of each other after a 3+ hour drive. Quite remarkable. That made Jerrie very happy because having everyone there meant he didn’t have to unload everything alone. Once the three cars were unloaded we all thought that turning the Littles (Siah & Jasper) free to play, then Diane got busy preparing dinner. She made her best Sloppy Joe stuff on Saturday so all she had to do was warm it up.

The big kids kicked around the neighborhood and found a path to the beach pretty close to the house. The rope tied to the block goes all the way down. Wearing gloves is recommended but I wasn’t going back for them.

This is what it looks like at the bottom. (that’s Cedric leading the way).

We played an UNO game that was hilarious, aggravating, and lots of fun. It was a very un-normal version of the game. The objective is to get people kicked out of the current game by winding up with 25 cards in their hand. Easy to do when everyone gangs up on you and you wind up drawing 20 cards instead of 4.

Tuesday was a trip to the acquarium.

On the way in Jennifer took my hand. When she was little, holding hands didn’t appeal to her so I never got to do that. On her wedding day, when I walked her down the aisle I offered her my elbow but she took my hand instead. That was the first time she initiated hand contact. The next photo was the second time, as we walked in to the acquarium. That made my day.

Taking a break …

We took turns cooking. Sunday was sloppy joes that Diane cooked on Saturday, Monday Jennifer cooked taco/nacho meat very good with lots of choices to spice things up, and Tuesday Lydia cooked a classy pork and noodle dish that was very good.

After dinner on Tuesday Lydia and I took Max for a walk on the beach. In the dark. He loved it and thought it was great fun to run away from us into the dark. He finally tired of that game and allowed us to reconnect his leash and head back to the house. We were delayed a little longer because Lydia couldn’t find the log she assigned to watch over her flipflops. Thankfully she found them. Thankfully, we had flashlights because it was very dark for the trip back up the path.

We spent a lot of time at the beach after we found a more suitable access point for everyone. The closeby rope path wasn’t a good idea for the Littles.

It was a wee bit foggy every day we were awake. Still, it was fun. Even Jeran enjoyed it.

Loading up for the trip home didn’t take long, then our visit to Waldport was done.

Our first stop on the way home was Seal Rock where we had to stop at the Chubby Lil Mermaid Pastry and Gift Shop to get one of their whale shaped, caramel covered doughnuts. Sadly, I didn’t take a picture of the one I got Diane. I checked their website for a photo, but they don’t have one, either. Guess you’ll have to visit them for varification.

That’s it for the Waldport visit. Everyone made it home safely.

Random Things With Photos

Posted on July 7, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Hi. Happy International Blow Up Your Neighborhood Day (IBUYND). I know, I’m late but that’s pretty much what I am for anything I do, and you know what? It’s OK to be late. I’m sure that’s true. Especially for me because most people probably are amazed that I get things done. For them it’s a surprise that causes some folks to remark, “Hey! Jerrie’s still sucking air! Who knew?”

Like normal, I have no agenda for this post so I’m just going to pick some photos at random and see if I can remember what caused me to take them. It might be interesting for all of us.

As many of you know, I’m the cook in the house and Diane does the cleanup. I’m totally OK with that, in case you might be wondering. One of the main reasons for liking this arrangement is because while preparing a meal I can nibble on things. I mostly nibble vegetables. If I was the cleanup crew, I couldn’t do that because my hands would be dirty the entire time. That wouldn’t bother me, actually, but it would bother Diane. A lot.

So, I made some hotdogs and cooked up some corn I found in the fridge.

There’s potato salad on my plate, too. Diane and I collaborated on the salad. She doesn’t eat corn so I was forced to eat all of those. I didn’t take a photo of Diane’s hotdogs because she puts ketchup on hers and that makes my stomach crinkle up. I’m sure it’s illegal to put ketchup on hotdogs in a bun. It’s OK to do so when the hotddogs are cut up in a bowl of baked beans.

Here’s Diane’s sandwich from a different day. I think it’s a ham and swiss on rye sandwich. I had one, too, but it wasn’t worth a picture.

Here’s Max giving Mom a little help with her filing.

Here’s Mom trying to ignore Daniel & Jennifer’s new kitten, Anakin. He’s a very mellow kitten which is good for the boys.

This is Lydia trying to ignore everyone so she doesn’t lose count.

Here’s Max trying to get over his fear of the sprinkler.

I found this pair of socks in my dresser, so I wore them the other day.

After I tossed them in the hamper, I found another pair just like them in the drawer. Pretty awesome that I have two pair of them, right?

That’s it.

Birthdays and Other Stuff

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Greetings. it’s been a while since I fired up the old laptop so forgive me in advance for making mystakes. There re bound to be many.

So, whzt’s been going on? I tried to check my calendar but can’t seem to find it so I’m stuck with relying on my memory to conjur up something to share.

Diane just got back from shopping so I took a few minutes to help tote her purchases into the house. We’re a real pair about doing that because she’s concerned about my torn rotator cuffs and I’m a bit worried about her ankles, knees, and hips. so, we just worry about each other about stuff like that.

She worries about me falling down, too. Regarding that I’ve begun taking my cane when Max gets his walk around the block. Apparently it’s true that have that extra contact with the ground makes for a sturdier stance and keeps one from making turns too quick for ones brain to keep up. In this small way, not falling down, makes my bride happy. So, my goal each day is to remain vertical at all times when I’m not reclined in my chair. So far, so good.

We had plans to take a trip to Fort Stevens for Mother’s Day Weekend but in my effort to ensure my rotator cuffs could deal with the task of hooking up the trailer backfired a bit. I took two Tylenol with sleep aid Thursday nite and was useless all day Friday, the planned departure day. So, I kinda ruined that plan but I don’t think she was overly upset about it. By staying home we had the pleasure of visits from all the kids on Sunday instead of being stuck in a trailer, at the beach, rain or shine. I turned out to be a wonderful time for all of us.

A big highlight was Baylee’s birthday. We celebrated on April 30th. I know that’s true because I took photos.

She is now officially 16 years old. Time has flown. Seems like only 11 years ago she was only this big.

Daniel also had a birthday, on May 1st. His was the big 50 and Jennifer had an open house for him. It was a really busy day. Diane and I participated for a while but I failed to take copious photos like I normally do. The party was on May 4th so everyone could tell him “may the 4th be with you”. The party had a 50’s theme as well as a Star Wars feel. It was a lot of fun.

The bushes are exploding all around the house. They are pretty, but they are not Diane’s friends.

This is a typical dinner photo. We do most of our meals in our recliners. Max is in his best position to act like he’s not paying attention to every bite Diane takes. He’s counting on a plate to lick when she’s done. He’s really not very subtle.