Good evening dear family and friends,

It's Monday evening and I'm missing my girl. Holly left this morning to fly a three-day trip and is in Bismarck ND tonight. 

Holly and I have been pretty much inseparable since I returned from Texas - she was on vacation... 

We had originally planned to spend her vacation in Blanding UT but my CT scan interfered with the plan and in hindsight I'm happy we didn't go. Hindsight is an amazing thing and provided a lot of lessons this week - but more on that in a moment.

First, my brother Scott planned to fly his Velocity XL airplane from Boise to SLC to give Holly a ride then take me back up to Boise. Our plan was for me to be his safety pilot as he shot instrument approaches to the few airports enroute then return the next day. We were both super excited for the flight so it was a bit disappointing to get a phone call - problems with the plane mandated a landing at an airport enroute and a cancellation of the trip, for now.

Holly and I took the news well, Scott is a seasoned and reasonable pilot who makes good decisions so we didn't give his actions a second thought and went to lunch. Holly and I ate the same food with little variation which drew hindsight scrutiny when I began to show signs of food poisoning. I got pretty sick and was grateful that I wasn't redecorating the inside of Scott's airplane. After 24 hours the sickness passed and I felt a whole lot better, dang food poisoning. If we had been in Blanding my "food poisoning" would have been uncomfortable but the fact that they lack a hospital would have been a problem a couple days later.

A couple days later I completed a normal day which included a CT scan that showed that my cancer is still being held at bay - and right before bed my belly began to painfully distend - an 8/10. I then began to replicate the food poisoning sickness yet my belly continued to swell after each visit to the bathroom. Finally we decided to tough it out through the night and go to the hospital first thing in the morning to investigate the bloating and sickness.

We spent a couple days in the hospital with a rubber tube up my nose that bottomed out in my stomach and emptied the contents that I hadn't already thrown up. Scott drove down from Boise to provide Holly with a break and to keep me laughing and chatting all day, I was grateful for his company. Holly took care of her errands then returned to sleep in the hospital room to watch over me and keep me company - Holly is a terrific partner and wonderful person, I love her dearly.

So here's what we learned - thanks to a growth that flares intermittently - I have a spot in my intestines that narrows and occasionally (in conjunction with my food intake) prevents some food passage. After tests it was decided that it was not a big deal, it's intermittent and an incomplete blockage, and I could manage further discomfort with a diet that leads to low residue aka a low fiber diet. Plus the insertion of the rubber tube up my nose is incentive not to allow myself to become blocked again.

Yet here's the rub - in hindsight I have been dealing with this for a while not knowing what the root cause was - we thought the occasional bloating was a medication side effect and was never painful. AND we realized that my "food poisoning" earlier in the week was actually a shot across the bow warning that I didn't pay heed to....hindsight is 20/20. Looking back with the new found knowledge certainly made previous episodes understandable.

Going forward I can bypass all that "healthy" fiber foods like salads, nuts and various fruits...but I can still eat milkshakes - crazy huh? This week, with the new diet, I am more aware of my food intake and my bodies reaction and I am totally comfortable.

Before we part I have a quick story - a very rare Mandarin duck (brought from China to our area in the 1970s) was spotted nearby - I found him at a distance and thought you'd enjoy seeing all the colorful feathers he sports. The Cooper Hawk flew by me and perched next to me, a lucky shot. Enjoy the photos.

Thank you to those of you who pray for us and those who have us in their thoughts - you certainly helped us make it through a tough week. I won't go so far as to say that I have prayed for a doctor to tell me to eat ice cream but I am thankful that the doctor gave us a diet for the way forward.

Please enjoy the springtime and coming summer,

All our love,

Steve and Holly