Wow, it's been awhile since I posted to this blog! We've been home a little over a month and Major is making some progress. He is feeling better each day. Well most of the time that is. Last week he had 3 really good nights and days all in a row! Then Friday and Saturday nights were bad again so consequently the days weren't so hot either but we'll take em anyway. However we can tell he' s getting more energy a little at a time so that's good too. We return to Houston the last of January for his first check-up and see if the treatments did their job. Cross your fingers!!!

Have to finish up the month. Happy Halloween everyone and Happy 98th Birthday to Major's mom (had she still be living). She loved Halloween! We had a long day, still didn't get unpacked, found myself pretty much brain dead, but got a few things done that needed doing. Major tried to get out for a minute once but found out he needed to be back home so he didn't wander far. He was so tired after about 30 minutes. A Dr. friend mentioned that he needs to stay pretty close to home for a little bit while he is building up his immune system. He thought it might be a bit dangerous for him to catch the dreaded flu this season, so guess he better heed the warnings. I won't be posting every day I don't think, but this has been fun and I will be adding to it here and there. Thanks for checking in on us. I am now going to attempt to print off the blog and "paste" it in my journal since I didn't write in it while we were gone to Houston. Decided this would have to do. Hope it counts.

We are home. Never been so tired I don't think. Major drove all the way (I don't have a license these days since my purse was stolen....plan to take care of that first thing on Monday) and is doing great. He had a bad night last night and we're hoping for a much better one in our own bed tonight. He will have several weeks of recouping time, won't be out in public a lot at first as he has zero immune system left. He wasn't given a lot of limitations other than no heavy lifting and a few exercise restrictions and stay away from crowds for awhile until he has a chance to build himself back up. So other than that, we are home and ready to get back to normal. Thanks again for everybody's support, prayers, cards, little surprises etc etc etc. We could never have done it without you!!! Love you all and I (Sally) will see you Sunday!!

Well Major completed his last treatment, hit the gong and we are done!!! We have to come back for a check up in February but for now we are free!!! ha ha We went back to the hotel, ate some breakfast, said our good-byes to some friends at the hotel (the staff treated us like family, even when we smoked up the place!!) and a couple of other patients staying there, and finished loading up and were off by 9:30. Not bad. We drove 11 hours and got to Lubbock a bit after 8:30. We are two tired puppies! I'm thinking Major is running on pure adrenaline!! He says he feels fine. Hopefully he can still say that tomorrow. We will leave first thing in the morning and hopefully be home tomorrow early evening. See you soon

This picture is the little family from France. It has taken me almost all of the 2 months we've been here to get little Ceyrinn to look at me, let alone smile. However last Thursday, he surprised me and smiled and said "good morning" in very broken english as his mother came by to take him to his treatment in his stroller. Now he is my friend. His mother doesn't speak any English other than to say "good morning" and a few other things I'm sure she has learned. Her husband came 2 weeks ago with their other 2 children, another little boy and one little girl. (He speaks pretty good English and translates for her.) The girl is Ceyrinn's twin. They are 3 1/2. So sad to watch the little ones who have to be here. (sorry about some of the labels for the posts. It won't let me use punctuation at all so things are run together)

We loaded our car tonight. It's really happening. We gave our food from the freezer and the fridge that was left to Ashley who is the cook for the light dinner we get 4 nights a week. She's a sweetheart and lives with her mom and little brother so could use it. We parked the car in front where it is visible from the front lobby so hopefully it's all there in the am. (I'm so nervous but Major is confident it will be safe) It's HOUSTON! I'm not that confident. ha ha Today at the proton center, I took some pictures of a few of the people who are either being treated or work there who have become friends. I'm posting some of them. Yesterday I took a couple of pictures of 2 of my favorite houses we pass each day on our way to treatment. They are all decorated for Halloween. While spiders are definitely things on my hate list, I thought it looked pretty "Halloweeny." I would never put them on my house however......never!! I would feel creepy crawly....Anyway, tomorrow we are on our way home as soon as Major gongs the gong!!

Oh my gosh! "We" completed treatment #36 with 2 left!! Can't tell you how happy we are to be at this point. The treatment seems to get rougher each day but knowing the light is getting closer helps a lot! We are almost out of the tunnel actually. Thanks everyone for all your support. You are great!!!! Can't wait to see you all and be back in our own ward. The sun finally showed up today right after noon, although it was still pretty chilly at 55 degrees. We decided to take one last ride to the ocean and let Major take a few more pictures of the birds mainly. We were told this morning at the cancer center of a place called Pelican Island. There are dolphins there. So we took that little side trip today and did see some but they were pretty far out so didn't get really good pictures but got some amazing ones of the birds. There is a place to get on a ferre to go out to Boliver Island. This is where we could possibly see them closer but we weren't sure how soon it would return and didn't know how long Major would be feeling good. It's better to be on our own so we can leave when we need to. We will be packing up tomorrow so that we are ready to leave as soon as Major's last treatment is complete. We'll be home just in time to wish you all a Happy Halloween in person!!

Well we have started our last week. It was a typical Monday. Rough treatment but just happy to get it over with. He found out tonight, from a man who stays here at the same hotel, that the proton beam went down for several hours just before 11:00 but was back up later this afternoon. That is something we have just crossed our fingers wouldn't happen while we were waiting for his treatment. If they don't have time to treat you, because they are so far behind at that point, you will be put off until the next day. That throws you off by a day. We have 3 treatments left so we are holding our breath!!! After lunch today we went to the genealogy library here in Houston to look for some names and dates Major has been trying to find. After 2 hours of searching, Major started feeling really weak and nauseated so we had to leave. He actually went out to the car and I finished up what we were looking at but I think he was disappointed. Oh well. He says he doesn't think he will be able to do it again while we are here so guess that was a waste of time. Darn!! It has been raining since late last night. The pool here at the hotel looks like it will be overflowing very soon if someone doesn't start letting some it out!! Supposedly it isn't going to rain again until Thursday. We have driven through some really hard Texas rainstorms on previous trips down here and that isn't fun so we're hoping it doesn't. See you all soon!

Very quiet day. We went to church. It was the Primary Program today. Major was fine until just before the end of the meeting and then "things" set in and we had to leave. Although he hasn't said much I think he's dreading tomorrow. Mondays are always the hardest of the week. Although the weekend is always welcome, because it gives him a chance to regroup, the first treatment of the week always seems to be more painful than the rest. Maybe tomorrow will be different. You never know! Anyway we are anxious to get it started and finish this thing up in FOUR more days. Unbelieveable! Anyway, we have had a very quiet rest of the day. I finished up a small blanket for a little 3 year old boy from France who graduates the same day as Major. That makes blanket #42 and now we're watching the 6th game between the NY Yankees and the LA Angels. Go Yankees!! Hopefully the Yankees take this game and the Series can begin.

We woke up to 48 degree weather this morning. Not used to that for sure. It did warm up pretty quick but was very pleasant. We took a drive with Jim and Elizabeth Fritzler and had a wonderful time. It's been fun to be able to spend time with them while we've been here. The first of the week was such a rough one for Major but by today he was back to feeling good so we were able to go. Even after being gone for a good part of the day, he is still feeling pretty good. This is our last weekend here. We can't believe it's almost time to return home. So excited, I'm almost giddy!!! Hopefully everyone is well at home. Major is told he has no immune system so we will have to be very careful. He is going to have to build it back up. Not sure how long it will take to do that. Guess we will see. We will get to attend church here one more time and then be back home to our own ward family. We have surely missed you all! The church is the same no matter where you are in the world but it will be so nice to be back among those who have been there with us all the way. You can't imagine the support we have felt. Thanks so much!!

Major felt much better today so we ventured out again and had a pretty good day. His shoulder is hurting him quite a bit but he can handle that ok. We found a couple of new areas for him to take some pictures but when we came back to download them on the computer, he was disappointed to find most of his pictures were blurred or dark. He isn't sure what happened. He might have had it on the wrong setting or something. I feel bad. He was excited because he felt he got some good ones. Hopefully there isn't something wrong with his camera. That would not be good! We found a park that was filled with Monarch Butterflies and he got a couple of really good ones that turned out ok. Hopefully he will let me post a couple of them. When we were getting ready to leave to come this last time I think I mentioned that Major said "We will only be gone 1/6th of a year" and I didn't think it was funny at all. 1/6th of a year sounds really really long, but guess what? It has almost been that long and to tell the truth, it has flown by (well the last half did anyway!) We got a phone call from Tara telling us that Mat had been awarded the Bronze Star yesterday. We are so proud of him. She said it looks pretty impressive and I'm sure she's right. Congrats Mat!! Love you all and see you next week! (wow that sounds like it really might happen!)

One week from today we will be on the road home! We are almost there! Major's treatment was a tough one. He came home and went back to bed until noon and then felt somewhat better. I guess these last 2 weeks are going to be a test. He just keeps reminding himself it's almost over and he can get through it. I took some pictures of the downstairs of the proton center to show you. Tonight we took a drive to see if we could get my favorite building, (actually it has been my landmark since we've been here) with the lights on. During the day it's a dark charcoal grey and really stands out. Susan and Lane used it once while they were here to find their way around. I wanted to have one of each. It rained most of the day again so we just stuck around the hotel all day. We didn't set any smoke alarms off or do anything else exciting today. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow so maybe we'll venture out again if he feels up to it. Thanks again for all the cards and calls. We sure appreciate you all and feel so blessed!!

Hump Day! The early early early morning treatment went well although I felt like a zombie when we walked into the center. Of course I quickly woke up. The winding stairway to the downstairs treatment rooms need full attention to walk down. I'm going to have to take a picture and show to you. It's Wednesday, so he saw Dr. Choi. We had a couple of questions that were bothering us. Major has developed a rather large bruise on his stomach but the dr. didn't seem too concerned. He just said we will keep a close eye on it. He told him today that we would need to return in three months and then we would see what to do next at that time. Hmmmm I'm am hoping we won't need to do anything else after this. After breakfast I took a nap and felt much better. Major seemed to be having a good day. It has been raining much of the day but we did take a drive back to the Pelican Beach and got some more good pictures. Tonight the Sea World people showed up again to show off their "pets" so Major took some more pictures. I'm posting a picture he got today of 4 birds all in one picture. I LOVE THIS PICTURE! I'll post some of the others too! Oh yeah, almost forgot....we had an embarrassing afternoon when we got back. We decided that bacon and tomato sandwiches sounded really good. However, the bacon grease started smoking a bit and set off the smoke alarm! The staff came running and couldn't figure out how to turn it off for quite awhile. The sound was deafening and I had to go outside because my ears were really hurting and then the final embarrassment was when the fire dept. showed up!!! So much for bacon and tomato sandwiches. We won't be having them again till we get home!!! love you all

Much better treatment today. Major came out looking so much better. One of his friends, E.T. (not sure what his initials stand for but he loves telling people he is E.T. ha ha ) graduated today. I'll post a picture. (I have a camera again!) This guy kept everybody in stitches all the time he was there. Major will miss him in the mornings. We stayed at the hotel most of the day today and let him rest. Didn't want to mess up a good thing. Tonight we took a drive to Spring, TX which is about an hour and a half away. My niece and family live there. (Valerie and Wade Walke) They offered their home to us to stay while we are here. We felt we needed to be closer to the treatment center and after driving it tonight we know we made the right decision. Don't think we could have driven that every day twice, actually I know we couldn't have. We really had a nice visit with them. They have a son on a mission in Equador and 4 daughters at home. What a nice family. Wade was one of Major's missionaries when he was Stake President. Anyway it was nice to get to see them. Tomorrow and Thursday we have to be to treatment at 6:45 so those two days will really be early up. We will be napping tomorrow I can tell! However Friday he doesn't go in until 10:30 so we will sleep in that day. Yay!!!

Not a good Monday. Major had a bad treatment. Most Monday's aren't very good but this one was particularly painful. I can always tell when he comes out of treatment. He is either smiling or very pale. Today he was really pale. I hate those days!! Only 8 more to go though and we can do this!! We came back to the hotel, ate some breakfast and I went upstairs to do laundry while he took a nap. When I got through, he came upstairs to help me get it back downstairs and said he felt much better. He surprised me with a new camera today to replace the "lifted" one. I am excited. We decided to try Kemah again, and see if the birds were back. There weren't really a whole lot but we found a new place to look when Major thought he saw some rather big white birds at a distance. When we found our way to that place we were surprised at just how BIG these birds were. They were white pelicans and talk about beautiful birds!!! I'll post some pictures tonight. Tara called me while we were there and I kept calling the pelicans penguins!! She corrected me and reminded me that there are no penguins in Houston. We came home and rested a bit then went down for supper. There in the lobby was a group from Sea World of San Antonio. They were checking in for a couple of days. They had the most beautiful owl named Chloe and 2....check this out.....PENGUINS! They were adorable. Major went back up and got his camera so I get to prove there ARE Penguins in Houston. They are here to take them to the Children's Hospitals here to show them to the kids. Fun to see them. Major is very tired tonight but says he is feeling much better. (He isn't a complainer so when he says anything negative, I know he is really feeling crappy. ) Well that's it for Monday....looking forward to Tuesday being a good day. Love you all!

Today is Sunday. We were looking forward to going to church today. We did go but didn't stay long. Major isn't feeling good at all today and I'm not feeling so hot either. We laid around all day yesterday and now today doing the same. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be back to "normal," whatever that is. Major says he is feeling "well done" inside and is becoming a bit uncomfortable. I think it will get better after he is finished "baking." As for me I think I have a sinus infection but am taking something for it and I'll will be fine too. We are anxious to get the next 2 weeks behind us. I'm hoping he feels good enough to go home then. The weather today is cool again and it feels so good. Supposedly we are to be back to the heat and humidity tomorrow but we'll see. Sure enjoying the cooler weather though!! I have read Glen Beck's "Christmas Sweater" and a little book called "Christmas Jars" the last 2 days and really enjoyed them. I also have "Christmas Jars Reunion" that I'm getting ready to start. Yeah, I know we haven't even had Halloween and Thanksgiving yet but I'm getting a head start! ha ha

We spent most of the day in our "home away from home" today. Major wasn't feeling quite as great as he usually does so we decided to rest up, which is what the weekends here are for I think. He took a longer nap than usual and seems to feel better this evening. He is busy writing his book and I have spent the day reading. So all in all it's been a pretty good day for our second to last weekend here. The weather has been cool again today, but since we didn't really get out, we didn't get to enjoy it as much as we could have I guess. I think the new week is supposed to be back to hot as usual. Carleen texted us some pictures of the autumn leaves and the SNOW they found on their visit to Silverton today, and it made me sufficiently jealous! I will be so glad to get back to the seasons we are missing. Glad we are about there so we don't miss too much of it. I think Fall is my favorite season of all. I've been told that the colors in Provo Canyon are extraordinarily beautiful this year. I would loved to have gone to General Conference this year to see it. Oh well, maybe next year!

Thought I should add one thing.......while everything is beautiful, (Major is good I know) the sunsets just aren't amazing like they are in New Mexico. I have to say I haven't seen one yet that even compares. Maybe it's all the lights and big buildings!! Don't forget to click on the pictures to see the larger image. The color is better too.

Ahhhh the weekend is here! Never before have we looked forward to weekends like we do these days. Gives us a chance to catch our breath, let Major recoup from the week's treatments, sleep in past 5 a.m. and he doesn't drink much water!!! ha ha Matter of fact he's wondering if he'll ever be able to drink much water again. Even his favorite "Figi" water doesn't taste very good these days. Hopefully he gets over it because water is better for him than the alternatives. This morning someone asked me if we were exited about going home for the weekend and then he felt bad when I told him we didn't get to go home for the weekend. (He's from this area) So he tried to tell me some fun things we could do here! (We've about had all the "fun" we can stand :) Anyway he told me about the Houston Tunnels I'd never heard about. He says there isn't any rock to build the big skyscrapers on so they have tunnels underneath the ground and that all the buildings are connected through the tunnels and thus they hold each other up! Inside the tunnels are resturants, shops etc. They supposedly have tours. We're not much for tours, we like to explore things for ourselves, but maybe we'll investigate. We'll see if we get bored enough tomorrow. I did take Major's camera today while he was driving and took a couple of pictures of the skyscrapers so you could see. We'd like to take the skyline at night though. It's breathtaking but we haven't quite figured out where to go to get a good one. (Ask Lane and Susan about that, they were impressed while driving from the airport when they came) After today, we only have ONE more Friday left here. That sounds really really good. We should be home the night of the 30th hopefully. Love you all

We are officially down to 10....count them 10 treatments!!!! That means that 28 are done! Today's went well. Someone at the Cancer Center who knows Major likes taking pictures sent us to a place called Brazos Bend State Park. It was supposed to have all kinds of birds, snakes and alligators to take pictures of. So after treatment we had breakfast, and then went there. It's only 30 minutes or so away. Well there were beautiful butterflies, lots of birds but no snakes (thanks goodness!!)and definitely no alligators. Major was so disappointed. We asked a ranger about them and she said they don't come out of the water when it's this hot. Oh well. He did get some really cool pictures anyway, just not the alligators, and he really didn't care about running into any snakes. I'll put a few up. There were some duck/birds, not really sure what they were but they were very pretty and stayed in rather large groups so were fun to photograph. When he blew one of them up he discovered he had taken one of some "baby ducklings" he didn't realize he had caught. They are so cute. Anyway Major did a little bit of walking through some swampy areas and so he took a very long nap when we got back. Hopefully he doesn't have a bad night because of it. I have finished my 39th quilt by the way and have 2 more to make and then I think I'm done. Excited to have some Christmas done. See you all soon!