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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #30 – Getting our Govt. Money & Back to the Oncologist



Tuesday, Apr 14th, 2020…… Hey, we got our stimulus checks today!  Or, rather, the $2400. was deposited into our bank account yesterday for us and is pending as of this morning. Cool! No hurry.  We will probably be using the money to pay some medical bills so it won’t last long. But we do appreciate it!  Every bit helps!
I was up early again this morning and out with Rylee. I had laundry to do today and also wanted to move the trailers around. After I got Lydia fed and squared away and I had fixed my breakfast, I started a load of clothes and then headed outside. I moved the empty trailer out of the carport and put it on the rv pad, where I can work on sanding it (outside and when the weather is nice and warm!) and I moved the boat and trailer out from the shop garage to the carport. I had to use the truck for the boat because it is just enough uphill and the boat is just a bit too heavy for me to push by myself. I got it all done just as Dominique showed up for Lydia’s pt. My sister had also come by to drop off some stuff she had picked up for Lydia while at Walmart. I paid her and after they both left, I finished up the rest of the laundry loads. Tomorrow is floor cleaning day. The fun never ends!  Kirk and Carter came by and worked and picked up the Husqvarna tractor for a couple of his jobs tomorrow and also for the rest of the week. 
I had defrosted ground turkey for burgers for tonight but Lydia said she would just use the meat for a salad. I had a big lunch and I really didn’t even want a burger - so we decided to save it for tomorrow. She had a nice salad and I ate some fruit cocktail and a banana and later some cookies and I was good. We ended the night watching our own taped programs.  
  
Wednesday, Apr 15th, 2020…… I have been getting up early these last few days. Today was the exception. I was up and showered and then out with Rylee but I was about ½ hr. later than usual. I was awake at my normal time but just slayed in bed and relaxed for a while and dozed, I guess. Anyway, I got us both going and got Lydia ready for her morning therapy. Penny came over with Quincy.  I vacuumed the house before Cherine from Occupational Therapy, came by. She helped Lydia with some new exercises. She said that Lydia looked way better than last week so that made her perk up! After she left, we relaxed for a bit before heading off to dialysis. Yes – I am now keeping Lydia’s go bag in the car so I don’t forget it! I dropped her off and came home and did nothing. I already had plans for dinner but Lydia wanted tater tots so I found we had some in the freezer and I got those going before grilling the burgers. It was a quick and easy meal and we settled in and watched our own shows until later, when I came in and we watched The Masked Singer together.  I was very disappointed when they didn’t eliminate anyone!  Out of the seven remaining, I have guesses on five - note – do not read the blue print if you don’t want to know our picks!!! ……


Turtle (Deion Sanders bad guess no clues point to him so probably not), Banana (Brett Michaels), Kitty (Martina McBride), Astronaut (Hunter Hayes) and Rhino (Tim McGraw). Night Angel and Frog (and I think Turtle) are probably all current rap/pop stars, which we don’t follow, so we don’t have a clue.  

We also watched Survivor and then called it a night. Tomorrow is reality day. Between two scheduled therapy appointments tomorrow, we go in to meet with Dr. Olivera, the oncologist. We have already had some serious talks about this meeting and possible scenarios for the future and we know this is for those next steps which is very scary but something we need to know. I don’t expect to get much sleep tonight and I’m sure Lydia won’t either.    
       
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2020…… I was right - neither of us slept much last night. It will be a busy day and we got going early. Lydia had a 9:00am appointment for therapy but when no one showed up, we realized we had the date wrong. We left around 11:00am for our 12:00noon meeting with Dr. Olivera in Corvallis. While we were waiting to go in, I went down and got Lydia two ‘do rags’ and I also got three masks, all of which were made and donated to the facility by local volunteers. Our thanks to them. We were sent in and had a really great visit with Dr. Olivera! Good news on the drug side!  No chemo – sort of.  She will instead get cancer treatment in the form of one pill (lenalidomide – aka Revlimid) and an infusion of Rituximab, as an outpatient, at the local infusion center in Lebanon Hospital (where I went for my infusion) done once every three weeks. The Rituximab was one of the five drugs given the first time, but the Dr. said this is usually not one of the drugs that would cause the reaction she had from round one. He says that the Rituximab this time will be a lessor dose plus both of these drugs are said to have minimum side effects and she is perfectly ok with that!  We left knowing that there is something positive still going for her in the future. No promises and although we probably could have pressed for ultimate results and maybe a timeframe, she decided that she would rather not have that info at this time. I am really, really ok with that. Day to day - or month to month – or maybe even year to year – all of it is ok with both of us right now since she is doing really well at this time. We met with the pharmacist and he will be ordering everything and will be calling as these have to be hand delivered. At that time, he will be going over everything again as to when and how to take the drug. The infusion should start next week. So, all in all, we got better news than we expected. And we both left the office elated! Later, at home, we rested and waited for Dominique to come by for Lydia’s pt. I also got the walker delivered today. This is the one with the wheels that I had ordered. I got that assembled and she and Lydia tested it out and she was walking faster and better than ever!  We have two car handles on order as well as a toilet riser and a bed rail insert, all of these to make everything easier. The goal is to have her able to get around unassisted.
She wanted tomato soup and crackers for ‘linner’ and then later, I brought her her requested cucumbers, celery, and tomatoes and the leftover dip we had on Sunday. These were her snacks. I fixed myself a chicken pot pie and I was good to go. I think later I will have a couple of ‘Fireballs’ out on the porch to end this wonderful day!   


      

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