I have posted my photo about three times here and on PNJ....this will probably be the last one I post

You can understand why I am so happy.....I have been blessed with a loving family and a failing body with a mind which still works. I appreciate everyone here and still want to stay a ghost, but I promised a forum member a photo so innocent folks will not be approached and asked......are you seaoat.

I put on my good ten dollar Walmart shoes to impress you.

Very nice picture.....the girls are precious.

Very nice picture.....the girls are precious.


They give me a reason to fight a little longer. The youngest did a pile driver after a wave hit her after this photo.....tough as nails. Her sister is a full head taller than every boy or girl in her class. I asked her to play some basketball for papa because I will not get to see her in high school......after that conversation she gets her father and practices in the garage. She is starting to have fun with basketball. My grandmother who was born in 1899 was six foot. The boys on the playground were not kind to her......both girls will be around six foot, but the youngest is going to be a little animal in sports......she also has two boyfriends in preschool.....payback time for my daughter.

That's really cool. But a bit of advice that might help (besides a good shave... lol.) Is to buy a pair of good shoes. With my pain coming from my lumbar and terrible sciatica my surgeon recommended Asics or new balance... and it's amazing how much they helped. It's getting to the stage now where nothing will help but the surgery... but it sure makes a difference. Now I even notice the difference in the floor I'm on... cement and most tiles are much worse than wood or the ground. Just 2 cents... but it's good advice.

Seaoat, thanks so much for posting this perfectly gorgeous pic of a simply beautiful family. I have to say I do wish you'd removed the big sunglasses so we could actually see your face and look into your eyes. Maybe you'll do just one more photo after all? I won't hold my breath, but it would help.

In any event it was a real treat to view this, and especially to see all the smiles, and I thank you again most sincerely for sharing it. It's a keeper for me.

When do you head for home? Do you think you'll be back?

Do you think you'll be back?


I had planned on being back, but my illness has taken a turn the last three weeks which probably will make that difficult. The Chevy dump truck has two 15 gallon gas tanks and before we came down we had the rear tank pump replaced, but unfortunately it still does not work. This means we can travel 120 miles and the truck with the bobcat in the bed must pull over for gas because it only gets 8 mpg. To complicate the matter, the gas gage also is broken and we will need to replace the same in the front tank, but until then we will be traveling uncertain as to what the gas level is.......this means my wife must travel with me carrying a five gallon gas container in case in the mountains we get less than the stated gas mileage. I had originally planned on coming back after I meet with the doctors on the 13th to determine if I am going to get a chemo embolization of the other quickly growing liver tumor, and if this happens, I will probably be done with traveling alone and my wife has responsibilities with one of our businesses which we are still running so unless I live to November, I doubt I will be back.

Who knows......you may see me in flounders, the pizza place, the ace hardware, the Gulf Breeze office depot, the Walmart, or Lowes.......but I usually have the sunglasses on because one of the side effects of the sandostatin shots is horrible excretions from my eyes which feel like acid. I literally will take a pop and kleenex and clean my eyes frequently for two weeks after the shots.....the result is very bloodshot and teary eyes. Oh, and I will have dirty shoes on as I have usually been working....at least that was the story before the recent downturn.

What a great picture of you, Mrs. Oats, and the girls. They will treasure this for a long time! Keep living each day to the top and overflowing. Take care. Prayers for all.

You have a fine looking family seaoat.

Great pic of you and the family.

Finally, a face to the name but you are not what I pictured? I pictured dark hair,fatter and black glasses and your wife being taller for some reason. Good picture,though.

Cancer is a great diet plan. Liver Cancer is especially effective on losing weight, although I was 210 in college when I was playing sports, and I am about 230 now keeping steady for about five years, but losing muscle mass. If you look at my wrist and forearms, you can see the loss of muscle tone and meat. My mother cut my hair for my high school
graduation and she was making fun of all my gray hair at 18. I was mostly gray by 40, as were all the scotch irish men on my mother's side. My wife is five foot eight, but we are both shrinking as the granddaughter is growing like a weed. She however, keeps looking younger as nobody can believe she is 64.
Unfortunately, I have been getting increasingly weaker since the kids went home, and I have spent almost three days in my chair. I believe either the surgery has kicked my asz like my cousin's husband, or I am in my final descent. either way it has been a great journey. No regrets, and if I do rebound next week, I will do some chainsawing, plumbing, and electric on the project. Mostly, me just talking now.....the reality is kinda ugly. We will have good friends visiting next week, and I have done a pretty good job hiding the cancer decline.....sadly that has become next to impossible, and I only hope I can enjoy visiting with them and going out to dinner before I tucker out.

Sea, this is all deeply saddening to hear, but I'm sure you know how much we all appreciate your being willing to share your journey with us over the years, even the toughest parts. Just wish, as I have for many years now, that we could fix the damn thing. Since we can't, I'll hope for another rally soon, for your sake. You've surprised yourself before. But resting right now seems like a very smart move, especially as you anticipate your friends' visit. Just hope you're not taking too much on by hosting them, as much as you likely want to see them. Hope you won't worry about hiding anything. Your physical weakness does not diminish you, the person.

RealLindaL wrote:Sea, this is all deeply saddening to hear, but I'm sure you know how much we all appreciate your being willing to share your journey with us over the years, even the toughest parts.  Just wish, as I have for many years now, that we could fix the damn thing.   Since we can't, I'll hope for another rally soon, for your sake. You've surprised yourself before.  But resting right now seems like a very smart move, especially as you anticipate your friends' visit.  Just hope you're not taking too much on by hosting them, as much as you likely want to see them.  Hope you won't worry about hiding anything. Your physical weakness does not diminish you, the person.

Sadly I associate myself with Linda's post/comments . . . . . Mr. Oats journey has been both painful and joyful but I will hate to read the last chapter.

knothead wrote:Sadly I associate myself with Linda's post/comments . . . . . Mr. Oats journey has been both painful and joyful but I will hate to read the last chapter.

As will we all, knot; as will we all.