Today Hysson hit the three-month anniversary of his lymphoma diagnosis. He's still in remission, far beyond the average time with prednisone )2 months). It's not likely to last much longer, but we continue to enjoy each day as a gift.

The prednisone does cause muscle deterioration and makes him more vulnerable to heat. He is definitely a lot weaker than he was three months ago. The heat was hard on Hysson last weekend, when conditions on the Washington coast were sunny and an amazing 80*F (what is so rare as a sunny warm day on the PNW coast?). My son's beach umbrella unfortunately picked Sunday to disintegrate, so we had no shade. Hysson lay in the lee of a log and panted except for occasional trips to the water's edge to cool off. The grandkids once more said a tearful goodbye when they left, and we took a bunch of pictures.

Just to confound everyone who thought Hysson was at death's door Sunday afternoon: Monday, the temperature was 20 degrees cooler and he bounced all over the beach!