Wow, it has been a while, sorry folks. Where the heck did July go?
After 20 Radiation treatments and 26 chemo treatments Alan is pretty much doing the same except he is now losing hair at the radiation fields and his skin is drying out there as well. On Monday the radiation nurse gave him some special goo to put on over the Aveeno lotion that is supposed to lock it in while he sleeps. His appetite has lessened some, but is still normal. Last night we went to the local China Buffet for dinner after picking up Alan’s new glasses and he mentioned that some of his favorites tasted a little “off”. This is another, hopefully temporary, side-effect of the radiation that they had mentioned could happen.
This past Friday Alan saw the neuro-opthamologist at JFK and he said that although the left eye is still non light-sensing he thought the right eye was “subjectively” better. I guess that means not enough improvement to measure at the level its at. Either way, we still hope and pray for significant improvement. On Monday we had appointments with a low-vision doctor and low-vision therapist. Yesterday we picked up a pair of glasses that will not only protect Alan’s eyes from things like tree branches he doesn’t see, but will hopefully allow him to focus better with the sight he does have in his right eye. On Tuesday an occupational therapist from the Commission for the Blind visited the house and worked with Alan on things like using the microwave and washing machine, folding currency a certain way to distinguish the denominations, etc. We are waiting on an appointment from the mobility therapist.
After the appt on Friday Ginny, Alan, and Amber drove up to Leicester, Mass. (I drove up on Thursday with Joe and Glenn) for the Professional Disc Golf Association National Tour Vibram Open at Maple Hill. Alan and I sponsored Hole 18 and had been planning on working this event for nearly a year. It turns out that our old friends Jim and Debbie Bellina who used to live down the street and we went through Webelos and Boy Scouts together with now live only a few miles from Maple Hill in Worcester, Mass. (Pronounced Wooster)
Ginny, Alan and Amber had a great time spending time with Jim and Debbie on Saturday and then Jim and Debbie also visited Maple Hill to see some top-notch Disc Golf.
Bob and Kyle Enman drove down from Maine to visit and work the event with us. They stayed with Mike Connell about 30 minutes away and Mike came over on Sunday to visit too. Bob and I spotted Hole 18 all weekend. On Friday afternoon one of the tourney staff, Barry, spent some time giving Alan the play-by-play of the action on the green - thanks Barry, Alan appreciated it! We missed Barry on Sunday because he was volunteering for cycling event in Worcester. (BTW - For some very interesting reading about the first internationally recognized black athlete, google “Major Thompson” - thanks for cluing us in Barry!)
Alan may not have been able to spot Hole 18 due to his eyesight, but he was able to contribute on Saturday by answering the phone from the “live scorers” out on the course and relaying them to Lisa who typed them into the web interface. This allowed disc golfers from all over the world to keep track of the action in near “real time.”
It turned into a family affair when on Sunday Amber took over the live scoring and single-handedly entered the scores for seven lead-groups across three divisions - way to go Amber!
Alan was able to visit with disc golf friends from across the country and accept donations of signed discs from some of the top pros to be used as fundraisers for Alan’s Army.
Ginny kept us all happy making sure we had food, etc.
Besides seeing some great disc golf and spending the weekend working with Bob, one of my personal highlights was meeting Kevin Donahue, the CEO and Chairman of Quabaug Corp. which is better known around the globe for it’s Vibram brand of outdoor soles. Vibram has been a staple of my out-of-door activities for many decades. If you don’t own a good pair of boots with that yellow logo on the bottom, you don’t own a good pair of boots. It is very exciting that an outdoor company like Vibram sponsored a National Tour event - what a leap ahead for our sport! Thanks Kevin! Any disc golfers reading this should keep an eye out for a Vibram sole specially designed for disc golfers. And don’t forget the new limited edition Vibram Putter and Mini - get them both at primediscs.com before they are all gone!
Our host, the tournament director and dear friend, Steve Dodge and his extended family (including everyone’s favorite - grandma!) and all the staff quite simply run the greatest tournament around if you want great disc golf plus the true feeling of a giant happy family reunion.
Ginny and Amber had originally planned to leave early on Sunday to get on the road home, but Amber was having so much fun doing live scoring and Ginny was enjoying the atmosphere so much that they ended up staying all the way through the awards ceremony. Before leaving, and again the next day, Ginny actually said “We are going to have to plan to do this every year” Wow! If that’s not a testament, I don’t know what is!
Many, many thanks to Joe, Glenn, Jim, Debbie, Bob, Kyle, McThumber, Misty, Karen, Tom, Grandma!, Lisa, Jason, Barry, Scooter, Cuz, BOB, Scot, Jim, Dean, Mitch, Tank, Lesli, Steve, Maureen, Scott, Avery, Val, Jay, Des, Burl, Dave (aka Phil), Charlie, Nick, Nate, Kelly, Kevin (Mr. Vibram!), Markus, Matt, Craig, Naved, Dr, Doug, Bard, Sjur, Marielle, Scott, Charlie, Daniel, Davis, Brian the Comics Man, and everyone else I didn’t list, and last but most certainly not least, dear friend and TD extraordinaire, Steve Dodge – you all gave us a weekend to remember! The Sweetons may have missed their Maine and Jersey Shore vacations this summer, but our long weekend in Central Massachusetts with our loving Disc Golf Family was just the respite we needed.
God Bless,
Andrew
BTW – Don’t forget the Alan’s Army Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction being held on August 7th from 4-9PM at the Montgomery Evangelical Free Church in Belle Mead NJ. See alansarmy.org for details
ALSO – On Labor Day Sept 1st – the Alan’s Army Disc Golf Tournament, Dinner, and Silent Auction to be held at Pleasant Hill Disc Golf Course in Scarborough, Maine. See mainediscgolf.com for details