Power Outage Again

I don't know about you guys but spring cannot come soon enough for us.  Like most of Louisville, we lost power early Wednesday morning and the temperature in the house dropped quickly.  We tried to tough it out in our sleeping bags in front of the fireplace for one day and night, but when we ran out of firewood we decided to bail.  Luckily, our children still like us so we have taken temporary refuge in northern KY at Amy and Troy's.  Hopefully, the power will be restored before we wear out our welcome.  Fanny especially, is not the most cooperative house guest.  

In the mean time, Bill is still progressing in a positive direction.  He gets stronger daily and continues to go to rehab for both physical and occupational therapy at Frazier Rehab.  He enjoys the workout.  He has a heart test scheduled for next week, a follow up from the testing at the hospital but we don't suspect any bad news from that. Otherwise, for now, all is good with us.  

Stay warm and keep in touch.  Holly 

Wonderful News!

Today has indeed been a wonderful day, both for the country and the Nolans.  Today we learned the results of Bill's latest PET and MRI scans.  Both were very good!!  No cancer in the brain and continued progress in the rest of the body.  We are thrilled!!  We had almost forgotten how it feels to be happy.  We feel so blessed.  

Bill goes back to the oncologist in a month and at that time we will discuss follow up chemo in a pill form that supposedly has very little side effects.  They want him to have a chance to put on some weight and build up his strength before dealing with chemo again.   This is considered a preventative measure.  We have not had much time to discuss this next step yet, but I'm sure Bill will want to at least give it a try.  

Fanny is still keeping us very busy.  She is a cutie, but a real handful, it's like having a baby again.  

As always, thanks so much for keeping our family in your prayers.  It certainly is working.  Hope to see you as we begin to get out and about again.  Holly

Fanny Arrives

Fanny Nolan (our new Westie puppy) arrived on the scene on Monday.  She is a real sweetie and as expected is keeping us hopping.  She is definitely a good distraction for us.  

Bill continues to get stronger each day and we are hopeful that he has indeed turned the corner.  We're taking one day at a time trying to do some of the things we like, making life as normal as we can.  Next week he will go back to the Dr. for a PET scan and another MRI.  Then we have a follow up appointment with the oncologist the following Tuesday to learn the results.  Hopefully, all will continue to go well.  

In the meantime, we're enjoying Fanny and the granddogs, as well as the human members of our family and friends of course.  Thanks for continuing to send us  your positive thoughts and keeping us prayers.   

Happy New Year!

I hope this message finds everyone well and enjoying a peaceful New Year's Day watching football or enjoying a nice fire.  That's what we're doing today, thankfully.  We had a very nice Christmas with family and friends followed by a pretty encouraging Dr. appointment.  Bill's electrolytes have been a little low due to the chemo, which keeps him feeling pretty tired.  That seems to be a fairly easy fix, a few hours of IV magnesium and he feels much stronger.  Based on this factor and the fact that he seems to continue to get better, the Doc thinks that it's a pretty good chance that his "episodes" have been the result of the chemo rather than more cancer.  He will have another MRI in a week or so along with another PET scan to verify this theory.  Of course, we're keeping our fingers crossed that this is the case and there is no cancer in his brain.  

In the meantime, we're enjoying being at home and getting back to doing some of the simple things.  We did manage to get out to the Irish New Year's Eve Celebration at Flannigan's last night and it was great.  Everyone was so nice and made Bill feel so good.  Thanks AOH!!  Hopefully he can begin to get out to more things like that, and live again.  

We're also adding to the family next week, we're getting a puppy.  We've picked out a West Highland Terrier her name will be Fannie.  She will be Bill's dog, he will take care of her and clean up her messes.  (I keep telling myself that)  Actually we are both pretty excited about it, I think she will be just the right medicine for us.  

So for now, things with the Nolans are good.  As always, thanks for your continued prayers and support.  Hopefully 2009 will be a wonderful year for everyone.    Holly