Son of a Nutcracker

Greetings All,
And Merry Christmas greetings to you all as well. The day was a joyous one in the ol' Gordon household....how about you? Eat too much? See I told you to lay off that second piece of pie....when will you learn?
Our young William John Maneval (Lynne's oldest) spent the week with pop-pop (and his favorite aunt, but don't tell the others). Young Bill has enlisted in the Marines and is awaiting his departure for bootcamp come January 11th. His desire was to pick the brain of the old veteran for elements of wisdom on how to best be a Marine. After the story of Old Bill ridiculing target practice by comparing it to an old "carnie" target shoot - and his punishment of spending the afternoon and evening on his hands and knees recovering old spent shells - Young Bill stopped taking notes... In addition to those personal one on one reflections - Bill was otherwise kept quite busy. Heaven knows how bored he would have been without his PlayStation and FaceBook However, there were many dinners, lunches, breakfasts - come to think of it that kid eats a lot!
Lynne and Dean surprised us by spending Christmas Eve and Day and that was just absolutely joyous! These two never leave this house without it being structurally more sound and oh so much cleaner! We had a wonderful dinner on the Eve and breakfast on the Day....just lovely.
Well, without further adieu..it is that time again for an update on the dear old pop-si-doodle.
He completed the last of his radiation treatments on Friday - and yes, he did get a certificate and yes he did get to keep his mask this time! His treatment was followed by a quick consultation with Dr. Barba (radiologist). He told Dad that they would schedule a follow-up appointment and an MRI in one month. The MRI would shed light on what effect the radiotherapy has had on Dad's cancer in the brain. The imaging would also continue to evaluate what is going on in the neck and if the cancer has spread any further in the body.
The doctor also emphatically told Dad that he needs to stop driving. The confusion was in his directive to Dad not to drive and then in his Primary care Physician saying it was okay - which one do you think Dad wanted to hear?
So, going forward, Dad will be chaufferred anywhere his heart desires!
In alignment with the last appointment Dad has also been weened off of the steroids and is now only on the Percaset to relieve the pain. Coincidentally, Dad also had an appointment on the same day with his PCP - and he up'ed Dad's dosage just a bit to provide him a little more relief.
After an evening of merriment with Dad's friend Bobbie on Christmas Eve(just church and dinner - how much merriment can one man take?) Dad had a pretty bad night. He woke up early in the morning(3am)in excruciating pain (shoulder-neck-back) - he thought it might have been because he slept in an awkward position on his neck...he struggled to regain some relief with his pain meds and after about 1/2 hour he was able to painfully settle himself in a sleeping position and he fell into a very restful sleep. The sleep however, was short term, and he woke up not quite as he had earlier in the week. It took him most of the day to find his groove, but now, almost 12 hours later - he is sitting in his chair and reading his daily papers....and all is right with the world for at least now.
Dad was told that there might be some additional pain due to the fact that he was no longer taking the steroids, but hopefully with the upped dosage of Percoset - he can find his comfort zone once again...
Other than this ripple - Dad is eating well, in good spirits, and just a pleasure around the house!
Happy Christmas all and enjoy the transition into the new year...
Oh and guess what? Dad decided to obtain a "handicap" tag for his car - (well now my car when he is "shotgun".....who knew,

he likes the closer space!