Now what's NOT to love about a face like this! And can you beat this hair do????  Even after all these years, I'm just "too cute."

Sadly, 1997 brought bad news to our family.  I had a bad ear infection so a doctor ordered an MRI in April.  It revealed that I had mastoiditis behind my left ear which had probably been there for several years or more.  Because of the ear infection, a new type of brain tumor, called a meningioma, was also found.  It was caused by the radiation they did to the original tumor way back in 1976.
     I had been helping Mom and Daddy Bill go to church on Sundays and for 12 years, we conducted services at a nursing home in Tacoma.  They used to sing Jesus Loves Me for the folks in the service, and I would "say" the words, which was my way of singing.  After all the new stuff was found in my head, we had to give up that ministry to take care of me.
    A favorite story in the family, though, was when Mom and Daddy Bill made a tape of songs to be played before the funeral of my Grandpa Doug in 1993.  The tape was played, and the last song was Jesus Loves Me.  Mom and Daddy Bill sang several verses, and as the last words were sung, a little voice was heard on the tape singing "and so."  Everyone in the family cracked up, because they knew it was ME chiming in on the song at the very end.
     I had to have another BIG surgery in October, and after being home for a week, had to go back to the hospital with a case of surgical meningitis.  We were in the hospital for 17 days total this time around.  Mom kept telling the doctor she was going to set up her knitting machine in my room if he didn't let us go home!
     I turned 25 in July, 1999, so we had a big birthday party at a pizza place in Gig Harbor.  Lots of old friends and former teachers came.  It was lots of fun!  
     However, the next morning I scared Mom and Daddy Bill when I fell out of bed with a big thud.  They had to take me to the hospital because I had a stroke.  Sometimes it's hard to use my right arm and leg, but other times I'm ok.

We made it til mid-2001 before these tumors started growing again, and in September, I underwent Gamma Knife Surgery.  That is where they operate with radiation instead of scalpels.  Way less painful, for sure!  

They had me under anesthesia for about 13 hours, so that night when Mom and I stayed at the hospital to "recover,"  she was ready to sleep (having gotten no sleep the night before) and I was wide awake!  Guess who won????