Breathtaking

All is well here, and Dave was out today snowplowing and enjoying the beautiful day. As you can see, I've added a little slide show of today's pictures. Hope it works! Dave has been feeling well and stronger every day - his balance is also much better. Radiation will begin on Monday, but we are confident that he will sail through it without much for side-effects. Our excitement for being in our own home hasn't worn off yet and we are so thankful to being back in Whitefish.

Ripley waiting for squirrels

Enjoying Winter

Today's Appointment

We met with Dr. Gunn today, who is filling in for our radiation oncologist, Dr. Stillie. Things went well and both Dave and I feel very comfortable with the next step. Kalispell Regional Medical Center has a state of the art piece of equipment called IGRT - or image-guided radiotherapy, which basically refers to the use of sophisticated imaging to guide precise forms of radiation therapy. The tumor can be more accurately targeted, sparing more of the surrounding healthy tissue, and reducing side effects. Dr. Gunn feels Dave probably won't have a problem with side-effects because of the location and size of the mass. He is also quite confident that they can kill the mass without any problems. The "stubborn mass" that was radiated in Seattle is now completely dead - GREAT NEWS!! That was the original mass which was the size of Dave's fist. Today, Dave got "tatooed" and had a CT scan for measurement purposes. All that said, radiation starts on Monday and will be 5 days a week for approximately 4 wks. That's doable, and I think we'll sleep better tonight!