January 2013 - June 2013, Julie and David Blog Update

2013 has proven to be an eventful year for our family.

Dad continues to battle brain cancer, determined to be a new statistic and the first person to beat it. So far, mission accomplished and he has been exercising in his Silver Sneakers class three times a week and eating lots of lemons and mushrooms :>)) He and Lagena bought a Nutri Bullet the very day they used ours and I am so proud of Dad for his continuing positive attitude and zest for life. He is truly an inspiration. His left hand mobility has not returned like we had hoped, but he never complains and is just grateful for every day and laughs more than ever.

For David, we finally figured out why he was having so much pain and discomfort over the past year. His cancer had come back in the lung and small bowel. We spent 17 days in the hospital in March. David went to work one day and called me telling me he was bleeding severely. He ended up having 9 pints of blood overall and 3 surgeries to remove the 95 percent blockage in his left bronchial tube and 5 tumors in the small bowel. He is in chemotherapy now and doing very well. He, like Dad, is brave and doing everything he can to stay strong and healthy. I make him eat "grass" (as David calls it) everyday and we try to feed him things that fight cancer and keep him away from the things that feed it.

For me, I have been Vegan for 5 months. I read "Eat to Live" by Joel Furman and watched "Forks over Knives" and that sealed the deal. I have never felt better, lost 9 of the pounds I had put on, and my zits have cleared up. My hip problems have worsened, but I will have arthroscopy on August 9th to correct a labrum tear and potential impingement as I appear to have bilateral hip dysplasia. We'll do one hip now (the right one is worse) and another later.

Ok, enough of the health talk because everything in our lives is really really great! David and I have never been happier and we are loving fixing up the outside of our house - finally getting to the paint job after all of these years. The fantastic Tommy Stewart comes over and works for us about 2 days a week which is really hard to budget, but now that we have done this much, we just have to finish. It's looking good.

As you'll see from the photos, we have a new pet, Carlotta the raccoon (formerly known as Karl until we saw she had boobs). We feed her twice a day and she is a real joy.

At work, I am slowly but surely, moving into the new building. Now much rest this summer with Governor's School again, a few clinics, and the move to the building. There's always next summer I guess.

Well, that's the news for now. The pics tell a more complete story of the past few months.