We have had an exciting few weeks with new ailments, new allergic reactions and two mini-road trips!
In early January, Don developed a skin abscess that resulted in a Saturday night trip to the ER. The abscess was the size of a tennis ball under Don’s upper thigh and developed very fast. The ER Dr. lanced it, drained the abscess, wrote a couple prescriptions and sent us on our way.
Since Don was “healing” from the abscess, he had to delay his chemo for one week. Avastin, the chemo he is taking, causes wounds to heal slowly and Dr. Puzanov didn’t want to take any chances.
The last weekend in January, the Southern Hoff’s (Don, Susan, Erica, Audrey and the dogs) went to the Smoky Mountains for the weekend. At the start of the weekend, Don started to develop a rash, a quick trip to the ER in Pigeon Forge and Don was diagnosed with Contact Dermatitis. He was covered head-to-toe and itching like crazy. He had to be miserable, however, he hid it well and celebrated my 38th birthday without complaining!
His rash continued to spread, so a quick trip to our family Dr. resulted in the REAL diagnosis … Don is allergic to Sulfa. This was one of the antibiotics that the Dr. at the first ER put him on for the skin abscess!
Good news is that the rash is healing. Don was able to receive his infusion last week and his next infusion is February 17, which is also the same day as his CT scan. 
In the true Hoff fashion of living life to the fullest, Don and I took a trip to Nashville last weekend. We had dinner at Margarittaville and of course had Cheeseburgers in Paradise and then we went to our very first NHL Hockey game. We saw the Nashville Predators vs. the Detroit Red Wings. It was a great game and we loved it! For me, it was more exciting than a football game! I liked the constant action and the few fights we saw were entertaining. Also a highlight was seeing Alice Cooper and Vince Gill both perform during the breaks! We are looking forward to our next hockey game in the future!
We constantly stay busy, we have fun with our busy hectic life. The quote that has been in my head lately is “get busy living, or get busy dying”. Even though Don has cancer, and twice a month gets hooked up to an IV of life saving poison, we don’t let that get us down. Every now and then we have our “reality” moments, but they are fleeting and pass quickly. We don’t dwell on the what if’s and I am happy that I am married to a man that has an amazing zest for life!
We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
– George Bernard Shaw
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