The last six weeks have been rather challenging. Michael has continued to heal well from the thyroid surgery in May. We received concerning lab results in early July that indicated the presence of significantly more cancer. The oncologist ordered a series of body scans. So Michael was poked and scanned and made to spend long periods of time in metal tubes. We waited and worked on acceptance. Last week the oncologist let us know that all of the scans came back clean and the only remaining cancer is what they already suspected.

Sometime this fall Michael will undergo a one time radioactive iodine treatment which hopefully will eliminate the lingering thyroid cancer. Compared to some of the other treatments that might have been recommended we are quite happy with this option. It will require four days of isolation and avoiding contact with pregnant women, children and sailors for a week. The sailors will be the challenging part. And the endocrinologist seems to have gotten the proper dosage of the synthetic thyroid hormone. Michael is feeling much more energetic and enthusiastic. Just kidding about the sailors.

We have gone out camping a few more times recently. Here are some photos mostly from our adventures in the nearby Sacramento Mountains.

Thanks for all your love and support,

Michael and Dennis

Sunrise over the Organ Mountains, from Buena Vida Park in Las Cruces. 

Holy Cross Retreat Center, Las Cruces.

White Sands National Park. On our way to the mountains. 

Artwork at the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino, Mescalero Apache reservation.

Wild Horses in The Pines campground, Cloudcroft, NM.

Wild flowers in the woods. 

Hummingbirds.

Life in the woods. 

(A baby Horny Toad - only about an inch and a half long.)

Sunrise.

Sunset.

The night sky at about 3:00am. 

 

Here are three pictures from our most recent run to Albuquerque.

Dennis with Navajo Tacos.

San Felipe de Neri Church, in Old Town.

Wild Sweet Pea Blossoms

And then, on July 24th, we went up to Cloudcroft to camp for two nights - Just to take a break. 

Scenes in the woods.

Campfires.

Dennis at the campsite.

Thistles with Butterflies.

Little flowers with a fly on them. 

Nuthatch.

Dark-eyed junco.

Pine cone.

Young Buck watching us very carefully. 

Young Buck and Doe snuggling.

A squirrel telling us to get away from his picnic table.

Cow Elk eating little green apples in a yard in Cloudcroft.

Wild Horses sheltering from the rain.

In late May we were in Albuquerque for over a week for the surgery, hospital stay, and time to begin to heal before traveling. Then Michael spent a month back in Las Cruces continuing to heal. We took short walks every day in the cool of the morning. Last week we went back to Albuquerque for a one month follow-up with Michael's surgeon. These photos were taken over that time period.

Albuquerque

View from our hotel room

Free breakfast at the Holiday Inn

Long hours of waiting

Hotel corridor at the Holiday Inn

Second breakfast at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

Bronze sculpture of Native American woman at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center

The Albuquerque Museum

La Virgen de Guadalupe

Contemporary Mimbres-style Pottery

Bronze raven on museum roof

A Shower in a Dry Year - painting by Peter Hurd

Karl - painting by Andrew Wyeth

Message from a concerned parent

Back in Las Cruces

Colorful adobe house in Mesilla

Torch Cactus bloom

Hedgehog Cactus blooms

Organ Mountains at sunrise

Curve-billed Thrasher

Great Roadrunner

Organ Mountains and field of Golden Poppies

Organ Mountains and dust storm

Organ Mountains with storm clouds at dawn

A pre-dawn walk in the neighborhood

Home Sweet Home