Catching up Before the Next Flight

Dear Family and Friends,

Holy cow!  It has been about 6 weeks since I last posted to our blog.  I knew I was letting the blog slip but I had no idea how much.  Please accept my appology.  The truth is, sometimes I get bogged down in other things and I am just not inspired to post.

At the end of my last post I told you I would post pictures of our cruise in Alaska.  The cruise was so long ago that I feel ashamed to do it now but I will share some pictures at the end of this post.

Let's see...six weeks.....we purchased another condo and have started to renovate it, we sold our penthouse condo that we rented out for a few years.

Chuck took off to the U.S. a couple of weeks ago to take our grandson, Bryce, on an Amtrak adventure to see his cousins.  We did this with our grandson, Cannon, earlier this year and this was Bryce's turn to spend with Poppi.   With thirteen grandchildren it is not easy to keep the score even but we do the best we can.

Chuck and Bryce finished their trip yesterday and tomorrow Chuck will be flying from San Francisco to Paris.  He is going to Paris to have a procedure done on his hand.  Chuck has Dupuytren's Contracture.  The traditional way to treat this condition is to have surgery on your hand.  However, Chuck is trying a different technique called Needle Aponeurotomy.

Chuck has had this disease for about 15 to 20 years.  When he first had symptoms of his fingers starting to draw up, he showed to his doctor in the U.S. His doctor advised him that when it became severe enough the treatment would be surgery on his hand to remove the fiberous buildup.  About 10 years ago it had reached that point.  Chuck spent a lot of time researching about this condition and found that it was being treated in by doctors in France without surgery.

He emailed one of the doctors in France who had developed this technique to see if it would be possible for him to have the procedure done on himself.  The doctor agreed, so off we went to France.  The procedure took about twenty minutes, was done in the doctor's office, and we were extremely pleased with the results.

Back then the doctor explained that it was possible that the fiber would grow back.  Over the last ten years it has grown back and Chuck has chosen to have the same procedure done by the same doctor as he did ten years ago.

I am flying out of Ecuador tonight to join Chuck tomorrow on the flight to Paris. This is about the shortest trip we have ever made to Europe....less than two weeks.

My inspiration to post is now sky high.  I know that there are a lot of people who suffer from Dupuytren's Contracture.  I am excited to share with you our experience with this procedure.  I will record through photography the procedure. If you have this condition or if you know anyone who suffers from it, you may want to share this treatment option with them.  I will provide more details later.

So, as promised, here are some pictures from our Alaskan cruise.

This is my brother and his wife, Norman and Nancy.  They invited us to join them on this cruise and we had a wonderful time with them.

Chuck and me enjoying the formal dinner evening.

If you have been to Alaska you already know how incredible the scenery is.

This is the Mendenhall glacier in Glacier Bay.

Another photo showing a closer look.

It was about this point in the cruise that I came down with the cruise ship flu. Not a stomach virus but sore muscle achy joint flu.  Many passengers had this flu and we all had our turn except for my brother.

Glad I posted these pictures.  Now that little knawing feeling that I have felt for awhile can subside.  (smile)

Anyway, it is good to be back sharing photos with you.  I am taking my computer and camera with me to Paris.  It is my intention to post as we go.  I am most excited about sharing Chuck's medical procedure with you.

Love you all,
Nancy