11/30 - Ride that hoarsey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

31/33 = 94% - We’re done of Friday!

Wow, is this really the last day of November? Where does the time
go? It actually snowed here this weekend. I think I’ll take that
little fall season we had, and go with that again.

Son #4 seems to be doing better today. We think he was also a
little dehydrated Monday, which helped put in him the hospital.
But, he seems to be better today. Tuesday before my sweet wife and
son #4 got released from the hospital, the nurse went to flush the
‘army guys’ on his PICC line. He looked at her and said, “You
gunna do it with pep-rin, or sadie?” The nurse looked at my sweet
wife, (Who I swear has the gift of tongues) and said, “What did he
say?” My sweet wife said, “Oh, he wants to know if you’re going to
flush his PICC line with saline or heparin.” The nurse said, “Oh,
he’s the smartest boy I’ve ever had up here.” [Yeah, you have to
say that lady. (Grin).]

Now, his voice is getting a little raspy. It came on last weekend
just as he was getting sick. We haven’t figured out if it’s
because of radiation sores, or from a cold. Son #2 and my sweet
wife were with son #4 today when she said, “You sound a little
hoarse today.” Son #4 said, “What do you mean?” and she replied,
“You have a little hoarse voice.” (You can guess his reply) “No
mom, horses go nnaaaa.” Then son #2 laughed and said, “No, she
means you sound like you swallowed a frog.” Boy that got him mad.
“NO I DIDN’T!” and those were the last words son #4 said to son #2
for hours.



And last but not least. We went to a court of honor for son #2
tonight. While driving home we past Grandma and Grandpa #2’s
house. “Did you see where they put their Christmas tree?” my sweet
wife said to me. “No” I said. “It’s right in the middle of the
living room. They didn’t move furniture or anything.” “What in the
world? Why did they do that?” I said. My sweet wife replied,
“Because son #4 said, ‘Grandma, put the tree right here’”.

Hmm... strong personality, cute as a button, youngest child, pity
factor way off the chart... I still think there’s gunna have to be
some de-spoiling done on this kid. Someday, but not today.

Also, read a little further and check out the new section after the reader comment section. Merry Christmas!

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

p.s.
Here's a cool site that you can help a cold soldier this winter.
Thanks Wanda D.!!

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:
None today

=-=-=-
Christmas Story section
I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since a Scout in our ward came
up with 25 Christmas stories for his eagle project. He had us read
them to the folks down at the mental hospital. (A great experience
I’ll never forget) For the past 5 years on Marty’s Joke of the
day, it’s been a tradition to read a story a day until Christmas.
Here’s day one. (No peeking ahead!)

11/29 - Feverish Hungry Scouts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who knows the 13 points of the Scout Law? A Scout is trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful,
thrifty, brave, clean, reverent, and always hungry!

Tonight we went to our yearly town council meeting. The best part
was citizen comment time. One gentleman lives in the city limits,
but a neighbor who apparently runs a drug house, lives across the
street in an unincorporated county area. They’re serviced by two
different police forces. His comments got pretty lively, and when
he was done, the chairman invited him to step outside with the
city police chief to further discuss the issue. The boys all
thought they were going to duke it out in the parking lot. But no
such excitement.

One of the things I told the Scouts we would do after the council
meeting (if they behaved themselves) would be to go to Del Taco.
Tuesday is taco night here, and the Scouts have been bugging me
for weeks to go. I told them I’d buy them each 3 tacos for 99¢,
and if they wanted more, they had to bring their own money. Of
course they did. These scouts never cease to amaze me; one Scout
ate 10 tacos! When he was done he kept saying, “Hey, don’t tell my
mom, she’d kill me!”

I’m not sure his mom reads my emails, but maybe I’ll send her a
copy of tonight’s issue. (I’m so mean...)

Son #4 update: He and my sweet wife spent last night in the
hospital because he had an elevated temperature. He went all the
way up to 102º before things started going back down. Not a big
huge deal, but since he’s doing radiation treatments, they said it
can cause his immune system to be compromised. So they wanted to
stay on top of it pretty aggressively. Son #4 and my sweet wife
stayed in the immuno compromised unit of the hospital where
everyone wore masks, and you had to wash your hands before
entering. After what we’ve been through so far, this seemed like
easy pickings. (Although my sweet wife said she got less sleep
last night than any other night in the hospital.)

Anyway, he’s home tonight. Not at 100%, but that’s a combination
of the radiation and virus/infection/what-ever-he-had working on
him. It could be weeks before he comes back full strength.

Our last radiation treatment is Friday! Yipee!!

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

p.s.
A couple last minute things.
First, thank you Chris L. from PA and Melanie from NY for the
Holliday cards! They’re great, and now we know the P.O. Box works!

Next, we got an email from Uncle Butter in Chicago. Check out this
cool video of synchronized Christmas lights on this guys house.

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

All Quiet today.

11/28 - Cheesy Fever

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, November 28, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had a great Thanksgiving. We had two big dinners on two
different days. Wonderful stuff. On Friday, Betty, a reader whom
I’ve never met, but who knows my #1 mom, came to my mom’s house
just before our big dinner to visit for a couple of minutes. I had
the chef apron on, and was in the middle of cutting the turkey for
dinner. She got to meet son #4 and said what a cutie he was. (She
also told my mom later that I was much better looking in person
than what my picture showed. I think Betty is my new best friend.)
She brought goodies for our feast, including a bag-o-cheetos for
son #4. Then, when I got to work today, Shelly, (my best Harry
Potter friend in the world) brought son #4 a bag of special curly
cheetos. They look and taste like regular cheetos, but they turn
your mouth green when you eat them. I guess they’ve been around
for several years, and I guess I’ve just missed them. But cheetos
are all good, even if my sweet wife kept telling me to swallow
them before I stuck my tongue out to show people how green the
concoction was.

Anyway, back on Saturday son #4 wasn’t feeling well. He had a
hoarse voice, and said his mouth hurt. We didn’t know if it was
from the radiation or something else. Saturday night, son #2, #3
and me all got the touch of the flu. Son #2 even woke all of us
all up with his porcelain thunder early early Sunday morning. Only
my sweet wife and son #1 ended up going to church yesterday. When
Michelle the home care nurse came in today, she said son #4 had a
fever of 100º and my sweet wife should take him to oncology to get
him checked out. To make a long story short, son #4 ended up in
the hospital today. His blood counts looked fine, but they wanted
to pump him full of antibiotics and Tylenol to get his fever down.
The said the sore mouth and throat could be from the radiation,
but they weren’t sure. The last update I got was that he was
sleeping and that his fever had started to come down.

Just 4 more days... just 4 more days...

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

When my daughter Lizzie was about to loose one of her best friends
in Clinic, the Oncol Dr. came to me to talk so I could be
prepared. She told me that kids seem "closer", or more open to
visits by God, or angels, and have many times told of visits, or
visions of heaven, God, or often visits specifically from the
friend that died, to tell them and reassure them..so, when Liz
later told me Ashley was really ok, I did understand..
It is an amazing journey you are on..
~Mary D.

Dear Marty,

A few months ago, Mom #1 asked several of us to pray for little
Jimmy when he was first examined. I have read your updates,
jokes, etc., daily since then and have prayed that all goes well.
I have fallen in love with your dear little guy! He seems so
brave as he goes through the stressful treatments. This must be
by far the toughest thing you and your sweet wife have ever had to
face, and you seem to be handling it so well. May God watch over
all of you and help you through it.
~Betty H.

11/24 - Shine a flashlight on your turkey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, November 24, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanksgiving issue.

I always love turkey day. Food, family, and fights. You know the
routine. (Ok, I’ve never actually seen a fight on Thanksgiving,
but you never know.)

The closest we ever come to blows is when the boys and their
cousins get together. Like tonight; Son #4 and his 17-month-old
cousin #7 got together and were playing together just fine. When
son #4’s cousin started ‘talking’ to him, son #4 politely said,
“Cousin #7, I can’t stand you.” They played along for a little
while longer, and cousin #7 looked at son #4 and ‘said’ something
else to him (in 17-month-old-speak, you don’t get much of what’s
said). This time son #4 raised his voice a little and said,
“Cousin #7, I can’t stand you!” My sister-in-law looked at them
both, then back at my sweet wife, but didn’t say anything to her.
Cousin #7 again said something else a little louder and son #4
yelled this time, “I CAN’T STAND YOU!” By this time his mom said
to my sweet wife, “What did he say?” My sweet wife, knowing all,
matter-of-factly said, “Oh, he says he can’t UNDERstand cousin
#7.”

I just had an interesting conversation with my sweet wife. We were
just changing the dressing on son #4’s PICC line, just before I
started writing today’s issue. She came down and said, “Son #4
told me he had a dream that he died. I said, ‘Did you really die?’
and he said, ‘No, I almost died’. The he said that he Heavenly
Father and Jesus came to see him, and said they were on Fire.” My
sweet wife said, “What do you mean on fire?” He said, “They were
on fire, like that.” Pointing to the light on the ceiling, “like a
flashlight.”

Fwew... I’m not sure what it means... if anything, but...

I am thankful today (and every day) that son #4 is still with us.
I know there is a reason we’re all going through this. And, I
think there’s a reason that I’m supposed to write this all down. I
am so thankful for my sweet wife and how well she holds up during
these times. I am also so very thankful for the fasting and
prayers that were said by our Church, family, friends, and you
readers back on our big surgery day. I know the Lord listened to,
and answered our prayers. For that, I am also very thankful. I am
grateful for a gospel that teaches us that no matter when or how
each of us dies, that if we live correctly, we can live together
as a family forever.

So, sorry to be so mushy, hope your Thanksgiving Day was good, and
if you do venture out tomorrow morning for shopping on Black
Friday, be nice to the guy next to you.

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

Thanks for the flee story. It was good!
~Korbus B.

[You betcha!]

11/23 - I can't go "nil per os" on Thanksgiving!

27/33 = 82% - We should be done with radiation a week from Friday!


Son #4 with Santa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And a happy Thanksgiving Eve to all of you!

I took the day off from work. Not so much because I needed to, but
because I could, and didn’t have to. It’s been a long time since
~I~ took a day off. My sweet wife and I took son #4 up to the
hospital for his 27th radiation treatment this morning.
Afterwards, we decided to make a few stops on the way home. We
bought a birthday present for my #1 mom, and had to stop at the
grocery store to replenish the bag of cheetos that son #4 finished
off today. (And then $35 later, we figured cheetos are getting
awfully expensive!) Also on the way home, we also saw a sign at
the mall that said, “Santa is here!” I leaned over to my sweet
wife and said, “Dija see that sign?” My sweet wife said, “Yup.” So
off to the mall we went. It was only 9:30 and Santa didn’t come
until 10:00AM. And, since all 3 of us were NPO (except cheeto boy)
we decided to hit the local food court. (BTW, NPO is Latin for nil
per os or nothing per mouth, meaning you can’t eat or drink a
thing!) Luckily Chic-fil-a was open and had breakfast sandwiches
on the menu. (Ok, I can only go so long before my triglycerides
have to be pumped back up). We played with the funny curved mirror
until Santa showed exactly at 10:00AM. No one else was in line, so
son #4 and Santa had a good long talk. He pulled his real beard,
shook his bells, and asked about Rudolph. Unfortunately I didn’t
catch the part where Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, so
we’ll have to try again. (I’ve posted several son #4 Santa
pictures on the blog).

One of the other things we did today was to go to the post office
and get ourselves a real live post office box. So, if you want to
exchange Christmas cards with us, or send son #4 a hat (he loves
to put on every kind of hat you can imagine!) address it to

Marty’s Family
P.O. Box 901072
Sandy Utah 84090-1072

If you send a Christmas card, we’ll try to send on right back!

Anyway, happy Turkey Day tomorrow!

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

None today

Marty and Son #4 on Sept 21st
The day of his bone flap replacement


Son #4 playing in the funny mirror before seeing Santa


Another Santa Picture

11/22 - Can you fix my printer's triglycerides?

26/33 = 79% (1 week and 2 days left!!)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I saw something pretty startling yesterday. I was working on some
computers in the lab and talking to the lab folks. There was a new
employee being trained by the person I was talking with. The new
employee had her rubber gloves on, and picked up a vial of blood
from one of the machines. While looking at it she said, “Ewww,
what’s that?” and held the vial up. The trainer said, “Oh, we call
that a burger and cheese fries.” The machine had separated the
blood into blood(?) at the bottom, and what appeared to be
yellowish solidified bacon fat on the top. This stuff was called
the triglycerides. She went on to explain that this person
probably had a very fatty meal within the last 48 hours.
“Normally,” she said, “it’s a clear or a slightly cloudy yellowish
color. This stuff is what clogs your arteries.” She told us that
if we were going to have any blood work done, not to eat fatty
foods for at least 2 days before.

I didn’t wait. Today while traveling to Manti to fix a printer
that went bad, I stopped at Wendy’s for lunch. I had a single, a
side salad and water. (I stopped drinking pop in June. I dunno if
that’s made any kind of difference, but I guess it won’t hurt.)

Anyway, this Thanksgiving, take one dollop less of gravy ‘eh?


For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

All quiet today

11/21 - Cheap Date and big surprise!

25/33 = 76% - Almost there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, November 21, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was son #3’s Saturday, and I wasn’t quite sure how to tell him
that I had to go in to work for a couple of hours. We have a
clinic that moved from one building, to another, and they needed
help moving and setting up their computers. I thought about taking
him to work with me and spending some time with him there, but I
could see that he would get board pretty easily. Then I had an
idea. Maybe if I paid him something. We sat down and talked, and
negotiated for a couple bucks an hour. (After all, it was overtime
for me, so I could probably afford it.) While we were there, I
kept reminding him that he was ‘on the clock’ so he actually
helped out quite a bit. He’d crawl behind desks and plug in cables
and hand me different things while we set up the PCs. After a
couple of hours I was getting kind of tired and ready to call it a
day. I said, “You about ready to go?” His eyes got big and he
said, “No way dad! Let’s make some more money!”

Hmm. That’s one way to get your kid to work.

Tonight we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate factory. The 9
screen dollar theater was pretty much empty. When I went to pay I
said, “6 please” and he said, “That will be $3.” Wow. I guess on
family nights, it’s only 50¢ a person. I felt a little guilty
because we snuck in popcorn for all of us. (Yeah, tell me you’ve
never done it!) Anyway, I felt guilty enough about the ticket
price and the ‘free’ popcorn, that I ended up buying two drinks to
split with the family. Seven bucks for soda(!) and $3 for the
movie. There’s something a little wrong there. Anyway, it’s a
wonderfully funny movie. We were all in a strange mood, and it
made the movie even better!

Then, when we got back from the movie, there on our front door was
a 21 pound turkey, and 3 bags of groceries. There was everything
for a Thanksgiving feast. There were rolls, whole potatoes,
pumpkin filling, sweet potatoes, marshmallows, and all the works.
And all there was in there was a note that says “We love you!”

Now we’ve always helped with the church farm, donated to the local
food bank, done Scout service project galore, and have done pixie
week forever. I guess we’re just used to giving service over the
years. But, it’s hard to describe being on the receiving end of
someone else’s service and love. With all of the meals the Relief
Society brought in, everyone helping out, and now this. Finding a
Thanksgiving dinner on your front porch (especially since we don’t
really ...‘need’... it) gives you an indescribable feeling of
thankfulness and love for all of our neighbors. We sent several
thank you prayers out tonight.

We suspect someone in the ward left it for us, but I don’t think
we’ll investigate further. I know I wouldn’t want to be ‘found
out’ if I left it. There are just some really neat people in this
world.

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

Not all children's stares are bad... it can be a teaching time.
I had polio as a pre-teen and while still able to walk, I was very
bent over and had a bad limp when I started High School, To make
matters worse we moved across country and I was in a new school
with kids who didn't know or care about me. I found the little
kids much easier to cope with then the teens and adults. The
little ones stared then asked why I walked so funny. I explained
and they said they were sorry about that and forgot about it and
excepted me. The older kids and adults tried to act like nothing
was wrong. They tried to ignore my disability and never could
accepted it. They would glance at me then away. It was easier to
just ignore me then accept the fact I wasn't 'normal'. Only when I
took the bull by the horn and asked a teacher to allow me time in
class to tell my story did I finally find friends. Surgery
corrected a lot of the deformity but I still remember the kindness
of the babies who loved and accepted me for what I was, a girl
with a bad back, but nice anyway. When confronted with a person
with a noticeable difference I usually briefly comment on it
explain my childhood experiences and then forget the problem and
make a friend.
~Wanda D.

11/17 - Flying time capsule hats

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, November 17, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s almost Thanksgiving. Yippee! I love a good turkey meal. But,
you know me, I love just about any kind of meal.

Tonight the local elementary school PTA tried something different
than the traditional fund rising wrapping paper and candy bars.
They held a spaghetti dinner. (We lucked out with the $12/family
pass vs. the $3/person deal.) Son #1 hasn’t been to this school
for a couple of years, and after about 20 minutes he looked at me
and said, “Wow, everything is so small here!” Yeah, it’s just
your perspective. Not that he’s grown 6 inches since he left or
anything. He’s almost as tall as I am (Which isn’t much, but it
certainly is for him.)

After the dinner and some fund raising bidding, they called
everyone in to open a time capsule in a different room. It was
from 1991 and they were supposed to open it in 2001, but no one
told the principal.) While everyone was gathering around to watch
the opening, son #4 tripped on one of the stairs and fell flat on
his face. It wasn’t that bad of a fall, but his hat went flying
off of his half bald head in front of everyone. He came back and
cried a little because of a fat lip, but he was fine. While he was
laying on my shoulder, he didn’t notice the two little girls in
front of us that were about 7 or 8 years old. They wouldn’t stop
staring at his hat where his scar shows. After a minute or so I
almost said something, but decided not to. They turned around when
they opened the time capsule. My sweet wife says that kids are
just like that. Yeah, I remember, but it still stinks.

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

None today

11/15 - Brother Confusion

21/33 = 64%

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s amazing what kids will say. I think Bill Cosby and Art
Linkletter said, “Kids say the darndest things.”

We have a rule in our house that the kids can’t go in to mom and
dads room, flop down on the bed, and watch TV. (Besides, they have
time limits on the family TV, and earn time using the Time Scout)
The other day son #4 came running out to my sweet wife and said,
“Son’s #1, #2, and #3 are in your room watching TV!” As my sweet
wife took off down the hall to shoo them out, he said, “But mom,
don’t yell at son #1.” She stopped and said, “Why not?” He said in
a low voice, “Because he’s my brother.” With a surprised look she
said, “Oh, what about sons #2 and #3?” He replied, “Son #2 is son
#3’s brother and son #3 is son #2’s brother.”

Oh, (sorta) like one big happy family ‘eh?

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

p.s. The first joke on our email list today, kinda reminds me of Old
Melvin Dummar. The guy who really wasn’t lying about the Howard Hughes will.

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

Just wanted you to know that my thoughts and prayers are with you
and your son going through the radiation treatment. Really enjoy
the emails. Thanks and God bless.
~Cathy D.

11/14 - Dancing Hair

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, November 14, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

20/33 = 61%

It’s heartbreaking to see son #4 go through radiation treatments.
I don’t know that he knows what’s going on, or why. Now, about 90%
of his hair on the left side of his head is gone. The docs say
that because there is such a high dose of radiation near the skin
that a lot of it won’t come back. He doesn’t much care right now,
but he will in the future. We’ll just deal with that later. He is
also getting tired during the days. He takes naps about every
other day, and acts better when he wakes up. But the days he
doesn’t take a nap, he’s quite frustrated and angry at everything.
This is supposed to go away eventually, but may take several
months.

On the brighter side, there are some fun times. Last week I
brought a CD copy of son #4’s song to the radiation department
with us. We played it once or twice, and then went in for
treatment. The next day we walked in at 7:30 and one of the nurses
had it in the CD player cranked all the way up. She yelled, "It's
ok! No one is here this early anyway!" She grabbed son #4 and they
danced and danced until the anesthesiologist showed up. She turned
the CD player down, and they raced each other into the radiation
room.

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

Have faith Marty, for he is with you and your fourth son.
~Jim W.

Hi Marty:
Just catching up on the blog. My daughter, now 6, discovered sour
cream before she was three. She still loves it and would eat it
for breakfast if I let her. She even dips chicken nuggets in it –
no tangy condiments for this girl! In fact, she won't eat nuggets
unless there is sour cream! Oh well, it's a dairy product and
their little bodies need some fat. Thank you for keeping us
updated with Little Jimmy's progress. Courage and strength to you
all!
Kathleen, London ON

11/10 - To nose pop, or not to nose pop. That is the question

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, November 10, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Son #2 is generally a pretty easy going guy. He and his younger
brother, son #3, get in to it once in awhile, but it’s never come
to blows. Plus, son #2 usually likes to stick up for the little
guys. Which is why the call on the answering machine today from
school, was a little worrisome.

“Hello? This is so-and-so from school. We, uh, had an incident
today on the playground.”

[Oh boy. I’m thinking, uh oh. Here comes a suspension.]

“Son #2 and Joseph...”
[Joseph is one of son #2’s best friends. He’s a slight kid, and
consequently gets picked on.]
“...were playing at recess. Another kid started chasing and
teasing Joseph. Son #2 grabbed the boy from behind and wanted to
ask him why he was chasing Joseph. The other boy bit son #2 on the
hand...”

When I heard the message and that son #2 was defending this little
kid I asked him, “Did you turn around and pop the other kid on the
nose?”

Son #2 said, “No dad. You might have done that, but not me.”

Ouch... ya learn something from your kids every day.

No suspensions for son #2, but the teacher said that they had
called in the parents of the other boy. And would talk to them yet
again.

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

All Quiet today.

11/09 - Choo choo Chairs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

17/33 = 52% - Just over half way.

Not much going on tonight. I quizzed the family on anything funny
that happened, and no one could come up with much.

My sweet wife did say that son #4 wanted to stay at the hospital
after treatments today, and make a train out of the waiting room
chairs like Katie and he did yesterday. But there were people in
the waiting room today, unlike yesterday. It’s funny, in the
radiation therapy waiting room there are only the very very young,
or the very very old there. Hmm...

We also went to parent teacher conference today for son #2. He’s
doing ok, but like any other kid his age; he likes to talk a lot,
has poor handwriting, and loves to read. I guess it could be
worse; he could look just like his dad. (Wait, he does!)

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

You wrote:

To answer the second question, don't take as much time as you took
for the first question. Second Question: If you overtake the last
person, then you are...? Answer: If you answered that you are
second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you
overtake the LAST person?!

My response: If you are running on a track and everyone running is
faster than the person in last place you can LAP the last person
in the race and still be in any position between first and second
to last in that race.
Pastor Jim K.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Suffield, CT

[Ahh... but then we’d just be running in circles. –grin-]

11/08 - Celebrate a day early?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

16/33 Still = 48%!

Happy voting day.

Most of Son #4’s hair on the left side of his head came out over
the weekend. It may or may not eventually grow back...

It was bound to happen. Yesterday they told my sweet wife that the
anesthetists had a meeting this morning, so she was to come in for
son #4’s radiation treatments an hour later then usual. But, when
she got there, they said that the radiation machine was broken.
They were trying to fix it, but said it may take awhile. After an
hour of waiting, they told her that the next anesthetists wouldn’t
be available until 2:30, so they said she could go home for the
day. Son #4, lay on the floor and said, “I want my radiation!”
I hope he doesn’t get too mad when he’s done with all treatments!

Poor Katie, son #4’s “forever tumor friend”. She missed yesterday
so they said she shouldn’t miss today, and said she had to wait
until this afternoon for her treatments. Not too bad, until you
realize these kids can’t eat anything before their treatments
because of the anesthesia.

We had planned to go out for dinner tonight to celebrate son #4’s
“half way day”. But because it didn’t occur, I thought we were
going out as a family tomorrow night. I quickly found out I was
wrong. So we went to Lone Star Steak house. (Where you can feed
steak to a family of 6, with coupons and “kids eat free Tuesdays”,
for less than $25!) After we were done eating, it looked like son
#1 and I we were going to be late for Scouts. The rest of the
family had gone to the van while I waited at the table with son #4
for the check. He was finishing up his ice cream, and still had a
lot left. After I signed the check, I said in a hurried tone,
“Son, we’re really late for Scouts tonight. You can either stay
here and eat your ice cream, or come with me now. But I’ve got to
go.” He frowned and looked at me with big sad eyes and said,
“Ok... Have fun...”

I back peddled a bit, and waited for another two bites before we
ran out to the van together. I guess I gotta watch what I say to
the kids ‘eh?

For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

[I forgot to put in these comments from our good neighbor
yesterday. We borrowed some butter for those Sunday night dinner
potatoes.]

Let's see, 50 pounds of potatoes, Roast Beef Sunday dinner, we
just live next door - - yeh, sounds good to me - - yummy...

Oh, darn - - I just realized that was last Sunday, not this
comming Sunday !!!

It's like we were there - - our butter was there - - the boys came
over and borrowed some butter for your baked potatoes - - You know
they could have invited us over and we could have brought the
butter - - of course you did return double the quantity of the
butter you borrowed, I guess we did make out okey after all!
LaMonte H. (Justin’s Dad)


Marty, you have a beautiful family and I will definitely keep you
in my prayers.
Diane W.
[Thank you Diane]

11/07 - The U toilet paper and song

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, November 07, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

16/33 = 48% - Tomorrow is our (just over) half way day!

Saturday was Son #1’s Saturday to spend time with dad. He’s getting to the age that he doesn’t want to go, but when ‘forced’ to, he has a good time. (I’ll just have to see how long I can coax him to spend time with the ‘ol man). We had some tickets to a comedy play called “CSI Provo”. (Provo is the home of Brigham Young University, BYU). Son #1 is a big University of Utah fan (And I play both sides of the fence) Anyway, in this play, there were a lot of BYU vs. UofU jokes. One of the characters was LaVelle Edwards, former BYU football coach. At one point he calls to his wife and says, “Honey, we’re out of UofU toilet paper!” Son #1 just rolled on the floor with that. He thought that was the funniest thing.

We ended up at my work for about 90 minutes installing some PCs I couldn’t do during the week, and he kept mumbling to himself, “UofU toilet paper!” Then he’d smile. (But, not where the ol’ man could see him...)

Son #4 got a music CD in the mail today. My sweet wife is so good at finding cool things on the internet. She found a place that will write a personal song for your seriously ill child. Son #4 listened to it about 100 times tonight. He kept say, “Mom, they said I’m a hero!”


Son #4's Song






Click to see 'Songs of Love' on 60 minutes


For those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

=-=-=-
Reader Comment Section:

Hi Marty,
Just finished reading Thursday's JOTD, and laughed my way through
the antics of the boys. I guess my son isn't the only one like
that! He also willl eat sour cream by itself, as he also does
with butter. Does it gross me out? yes. but probably only as
much as I did when I was a kid and would eat cream
cheese straight. And if it makes your kids feel better, my 5 year
old doesn't like to mix his food up, or let a lot of it touch.
His dad is like you though, and will eat everything together.
Kind of funny though, any type of casserole is out of bounds with
him, as it mixes everything together, BUT, if it's chinese lo
mein, or my home made sweet and sour chicken (which has a lot of
stuff mixed in a sauce), he'll devour it. Go figure!
Keep them laughing,
Jen B., Morrow, Ohio

Hi, Marty!
This is a belated comment on the Cheetos for #4...Genna had her
MRI last week, and was super sleepy afterwards (i.e. pointedly
trying to avoid waking up). We had to get upstairs to oncology,
and I was bored, so I started singing a quiet little song by her
ear about how I love Genna, she could have some Doritos ... her
mouth opened in a gigantic smile. ONe second later she popped up
off the stretcher, swaying a bit but awake. "Yay, Doritos!" she
said. Within 7 minutes (had to get the Halloween costume back on)
we were on our way. Never underestimate the power of a snack food.
Thinking of you all lots. Hope "Tumor Boy" has a good day tomorrow
(he needs a cape and mask or something--this is heroic stuff).
Kristin

[A cape with a big TB on the back!]