Karyn & Kevin visit

April 17- 22
Karyn and Kevin (Gator's kids) came for a visit.  Karyn and I took Gator for a walk in the wheel chair over to Rocky and Chirps while Kevin stayed at the house (he's a sports freak!) and watched a basketball game. They stayed with us Fri and Sat night and then Kevin left on Sunday.  It was fun having them.   Gator told them he wasn't up to a lot of company but they all came anyway.  He was looking foreward to a visit from them and their Uncle Mike and then their Uncle Roger too.  Then we find out that it will be Karyn, Kevin, Uncle Mike, Uncle Roger, Aunt Carol, Aunt Bobby and Gator's Ex... Dyanna. They all came over on Sunday.  It was a nice visit but he was very overwelmed.  He enjoyed flying on his flight simulator with his son, Uncle Roger, and Uncle Mike. When everyone was in the livingroom standing around him he was feeling very uncomfortable.  He was pretty worn out by the time they all left....but it was nice that Karyn stayed with us for a few more days.

Our friends Kevin & Kelly, from Rounders, loaned us their Blazer for the trip to Seattle because the brakes on our van were grinding really bad.  They even filled the tank for us and told us not to worry about it! You can't find better people than those two!

(I feel bad about writing this part but I really need to say it..)
 Karyn, you really upset both of us at the oncologists office when after we were done with the appointment you pushed Dr. Grim back into the room and closed the door behind you.  I had already talked to you and told you that your dad & I made a promise to each other that there would be no meetings with the onc behind closed doors, we are a team...and we were both very upset that you did that.  However, we do understand that all of our emotions are pretty uncontrolable at times with what we are all going through.  I want you to know that I don't buy for one second that Dr. Grim called you in to tell you to talk us in to getting hospice because he had already talked to us about it and he wouldn't do that.  What happened shouldn't have happened and we won't be inviting you on any more trips to Seattle.  I'm not saying that if you call and want to go with us that we would say no, just that we wont be inviting you anymore.  :)  You know your dad love's you VERY much, and so do I.
Gator got a swallow test done...everything is working good.  Then he also had his pre-op day where he had to check off a bunch of deptartments as he was seen by them.  Like, doctor, nurse, anesteisiologist (wow, don't know how to spell that LOL) It was a long day! He's scheduled for surgery to fix his vocal chord on May 4th.
When we were getting ready to leave the hospital, Karyn was putting the wheel chair in the back of the Blazer when the hatch fell and smashed her finger!  It smashed the pinky ring her kids had bought her for Christmas....she was very upset about that.  She ran back in to the VA ER and asked if they would cut the ring off because her finger was swelling around it.  They told her she would have to be admitted so she left.  We ended up going to the Husky truck shop across the street from our motel and having "Dirk" cut it off for her.  Just makin' freakin' memories......LOL
When we got back to the hospital room, Our friend Kelly texted us to see how things were going.  She could tell we were feeling really down so she sent us a pic of our van.  We had left it at Rounders when they loaned us their rig.  One of the customers at Rounders, Cari, fixed the brakes on our van and did an oil change! I think he was the one that detailed it too!  Our boss, Dan Whyms, put two new tires on it and Kevin & Kelly put new wipers on and filled it with gas!  They also put in tranny fluid and some kind of fuel performance stuff too.  It was supposed to be a suprise but when Kelly heard how low we were feeling she wanted to cheer us up and boy howdie did she!  LOL  Not only that but Dan Whyms (the one and only true Johnny Cash tribute artist!) wants to do a benefit show for us on May 1st and told us to find a place...  Wow, we love you guys...Thank you....Thank you....Thank you!  (I will post pic's from this trip ASAP)