Adoption, Summer Fun, & an Update.

Yep, you read right, adoption! I along with friend, author, and advocate Betsy de Parry who is also a member of my group on Facebook "The Lymphomaniacs"  (it is a "closed" group) have been working over the past few weeks with the people at Jungle Island in Miami, FL. to adopt one of their Orangutans by the name of Peanut.

Peanut! 

Peanut is an 8 yr old female with a twin sister by the name of Pumpkin. Peanut is not your "average" Orangutan by any means. She is indeed special, especially to us with Lymphoma. You see Peanut has non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma as well and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments, much the same as what a human would get in the way of chemotherapy.

We have adopted her as our "Mascot" on "The Lymphomaniacs" page where through her handlers we will be cheering her on and sending our wishes for successful treatment of her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Dora in Portland, OR. with fellow
Lymphomaniac Ellie Marx.

Next up I have to mention that friend and also fellow Lymphomaniac Dora Waddy has taken to the rails and is travelling via Amtrak across America collecting smiles and spreading the word about Lymphoma. This is all a part of her "Dora's Lymphoma SMILE project".

Dora with the Southern California
Lymphomaniacs group! 

She will be spreading awareness about Lymphoma throughout her travels and along the way meet up with fellow members of The Lymphomaniacs as she has already done in Southern California, Portland Oregon.... and many more stops to come along the way. She will be here in Windsor,ON from September 1 -5 to meet up with The Lymphomaniacs in this area making day trips within a days drive of Windsor to meet up with others as well. I am looking forward to meeting her myself!

On to some of the summer activities Brenda and I have done. One was the 2nd annual Rib Fest at the river front plaza. Good time and way too much food as usual, even with the little I had it was too much and there was left overs for days!

We also seen a concert at the Chrysler Theatre at the St.Clair College for the Arts, a week ago. We seen Lighthouse live, these were tickets I won through a contest with the St.Clair College Alumni Assoc.

Check out the Stilt Guys on the
Right side of the photo @
Tecumseh Corn Fest.

Finally to this past weekend we went to the Tecumseh Corn Fest were as usual I had to have some of that always delicious corn on the cob. Um um good, best corn on the cob yet this season!
This was followed by a Barbecue and Birthday party at my brothers place for his girlfriend and her daughters Birthdays! Again, good food, good times, and a belly ache. I could not even finish one, yes "one" hot-dog! Which leads us to the update on me.

Last week I called my Oncologists office to say something is just not right, I've now as of today lost 55 Lbs since the beginning of June! No real appetite at all, thus the weight loss of course. The weight loss combined with the "spots" that showed up in my lungs on the last C/T I had in June now, after much research, have me concerned that this might be transforming from a low grade to high grade lymphoma. If this is in fact so, treatment needs to begin a.s.a.p.

I also think there will need to be a surgical biopsy of the lymphnode on my jawline, which is most visible and probably the easiest one to get at. Once removed it should be send for a "full" lymphoma work up to in fact determine if it is indeed transforming or not.

Today (Tues) I had the scan, and this will be followed up with an appointment on September 6th to go over the results with my Oncologist at which time I will ask that the surgical biopsy be done as well. That pretty much brings things up to speed with all that has gone on these past few weeks.

Hope you are all continuing to have a great summer, staying safe and enjoying your time and travels.