Multiple Myeloma World Tour

APRIL 2011

2009-11-05T14:30:00.000-08:00

June 2011
Filling in for Mom and Dad

June 2010 Summer Fun
Eric and Bonnie enjoying Del Mar Vacation 3 times a year

Haley, Pam, Hannah and Mike

Rick and Eric III

Rick teaching Caitlyn to fly a kite

Mike, Haley and Pam

2010 Vacation time at the Del Mar Beach

We just came home from the beach. Spent time with Mike and Pam's family. Haley just graduated from High School and starts SDSU in San Diego in August. Hannah starts 10th grade, Kierstin starts 9th grade, Annika starts 2nd grade in the fall. Eric III and Caitlyn start pre-school, too.

Multiple Myeloma World Tour: Current Events In and Around Palm Desert

2009-09-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

Multiple Myeloma World Tour: Current Events In and Around Palm Desert

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August 2009

2008-06-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

New 2009 info:

Our son Rick and his family visited us last week. The twins are 20 months old already! Here they are enjoying the spa and pool. Rick is a battalion chief at San Marcos City Fire Department in San Diego County.

Kierstin(12)enjoying the pool.

Our son Mike is getting close to retiring from CalFire as a battalion chief in 3 short years.

Hannah's(left) middle school graduation photo in June 2009.

Haley( right) is going into her senior year and Hannah is starting 9th grade.

I am feeling a bit older. No wonder......

I am still in complete remission for over 5 years and no treatment for over 2 years.
However, I had radiation, chemo and 3 major surgeries for colon cancer in the past year. Adjuvant chemo from Feb.-June 2009. Oncologist says and the PET/CT scan and all tests show me in complete remission and no further treatment required.

Bighorn Radiation Oncology Center-Rancho Mirage, Ca.

Here is my August 2008 graduation photo with some of the radiation oncology technicians after 30 treatments. They all received a nice bottle of wine each and a huge carrot cake decorated to thank them for the caring , professional experience.

I thought a colorful outfit on my last day was called for. It is brighter than shown in the photo. Heck, I always make things fun..........

June 2010

Twins are over 2 years old now. Amazing. Eric III (on left) is first grandson
and Caitlyn is 5th granddaughter. They both are a delight.

New Additions to the Vogt Family

2007-11-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

January 2008

The twins are here and running things rather well. Eric III and Caitlyn arrived on Dec. 1. We had a learning curve with their parents to adjust to their every need! Their sisters, Annika and Kierstin are a big help and we go over to their home in Temecula to help often.

Haley will be 16 in Feb. and is driving very well with her learners permit.

Grandpa and Haley taking a ride with Grandpa's Christmas toy to deliver grapefruit and oranges to our neighborhood friends.

Granddaughter Annika has really grown. She is in pre-school and will be 5 in February. Her older sister Kierstin, her cousins Haley and Hannah also have February birthdays!

We just came home from sharing a wonderful Thanksgiving with them. We will be going back Monday for the delivery of the twins. Exciting times.

Hannah is very talented, especially with her art projects. She is a straight A student this semester and is doing very well in her first year in junior high.

Her older sister Haley is now driving with a permit and only with direct adult supervision. She is also a straight A student in her sophomore year in high school. Haley is very involved with varsity football cheerleading team.

Mike, Pam, Haley and Hannah have a Colorado River vacation home for their party boat and quads. We enjoy the time we spend with them there. It is 20 miles north of Yuma, AZ.

I am still in remission after 4 years since tandem auto stem cell transplants. I was on a low dose maintenance but stopped altogether last summer. I get full testing every month to monitor trends with my oncologist.

Life is spectacular and full of promise. My wife Bonnie and I enjoy each day and all it brings to us.

Del Mar, our favorite place to go for summer and fall vacations.

2006-08-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

San Diego and Del Mar Trip
We have to escape from the desert heat, so we have taken trips to Del Mar, San Diego and Big Bear where is is cool and breezy. We are SD Padres fans and took in a game at Petco Park. When we left in early July, it was 120 in Palm Desert. We came home on Aug. 6 and it has staying around 104 or so and dry, a relief.

A recent photo of our granddaughter, Annika. She was 3 in Feb. Quite a little gal. Of course, she has all of us wrapped around her little finger.

Father's Day in the Desert
Rick, Kierstin and Annika came down for the day and we celebrated Father's Day at Las Consuelas in Palm Desert. They make a huge margarita and I had one. My wife Bonnie gets to tend to our granddaughters managing their every needs.

Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

Karen, Annika, Kierstin, Rick and I are anxious to get to the food court and have a breakfast burrito.

The Temecula Wine and Balloon Festival over Memorial Weekend was well attended with over 60 balloons filling the sky in the early morning. What a beautiful sight. We spent most of the day there on into the evening with our son Rick and his family that live in Temecula.

May 26, 2006
Annual Rotary Golf Tournament at Desert Willows Country Club

I played a round of golf last Friday with a group of Rotary Club friends for a fund raiser. Our club raised over $3500 for local community projects that focuses on youth and seniors. Our club's foundation, which I am president, donates over $20,000 per year back to our community. Desert Cancer Foundation is one example of our donations. The Desert Cancer Foundation helps local cancer patients who can't pay for treatment & medications.

Sure took a lot out of me, as I hadn't even held a golf club for over 6 years. Barely made it. Good thing the tournament was best ball. The weather cooperated and was in the 90's with a good breeze.

Yes, that is a cold long neck beer.

2006 Spring Break at the River

Bonnie and I visited our son Mike and his wife Pam at their getaway home at Hidden Shores, near Yuma, CA. They have a party boat, quads in a resort along the Colorado River. The river was like glass but still cool this time of the year. We had a great time with the granddaughters.

We enjoyed sunsets and evenings on Mike and Pam's friends patio deck overlooking the whole area. Jaime and Phyllis have a park model done in a tropical theme.

We made the trip with our new Lexus RX400h. It is an amazing suv. The Lexus replaces the Excursion Diesel.

I received my bi-monthly Aredia last Thursday and reviewed the results of recent lab reports. Good news. No m-spike and IGG is at 1200. All cbc and blood panels are normal range. Still on 50 mg Thal 5 times a week for maintenance since tandem auto stem cell transplants in 2003.

Borrowing our granddaughter , Kierstin, during her Spring Break

Bonnie and I visited our son Rick's family last Friday. When we left on Sunday, we surprized them and our granddaughter came home to stay with us because it is Spring Break at her school. What a pleasure and she is enjoying the visit and extra spoiling by us both. We visited Living Desert, went shopping with Bonnie, was a special guest at my Wednesday morning Rotary Club meeting, spent time with me at computer clients to meet very friendly people, participated in helping close friends get to the airport in Palm Springs and joined me for afternoon walks for exercise.

We spent time playing games and catching up with her activities, both at home and at school. Her Mom and Dad miss her a lot as she misses them, so we are taking her home today. She misses her Bichon Lexie and her younger sister Annika.

Current Events In and Around Palm Desert

2006-02-26T06:19:00.001-08:00

March 17, 2005
The Pacific Life Tennis Tournament is now being held at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens. It is being televised on ESPN. Sure is adding to the economy of the area but also adding to the numerous snowbirds enjoying the winter in the desert southwest.

It is a must to join our friends at 11:15 or 4:30 to be able to beat the crowds at the many fine restaurants or the wait times are long, even with reservations. Yesterday, we spent time and had a great lunch at a restaurant at the River in Rancho Mirage with fellow myeloma support list friends, Jan and Jim Hughes visiting from Oregon. They are down out of the rainy and cold NorthWest to enjoy the sun, golf and friends in the area.

John Marzicola and I are enjoying the recent annual Golf Cart Parade in Palm Desert. Note the ever present water I carry. Hundreds of golf carts are designed, constructed and then entered in this parade that benefit a variety of local charities. We didn't get too carried away on our Rotary Club cart's design, but we had an impressive marching contingency from The Retarded of the Desert with us.

We enjoyed breakfast with their clients at the pre-parade pancake breakfast.

This is a major event enjoyed by locals and visiters from all over the country. We are not trying to compete with the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, though. This parade runs along El Paseo in Palm Desert, very comparable to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. According to the Chamber of Commerce.