I think I jinxed Dave by saying his migraine was the third he's had this year and that was abnormally low because since then he's had two more! Once he gets one he tends to get a few, I think they call them cluster migraines. So he's had 3 in the last couple of weeks and this last one on monday was the worst so far. He was sick to his stomach which just bumps up the concern a million times over because if something gets stuck in his throat he runs the risk of choking and there's no real good way for me to help him if that happens. I'm glad he only ate soft things that day! Now he's suffering from the migraine hangover. Dehydration and weakness and being overly tired with a sensitive stomach. Poor guy. I guess I'll baby him a bit longer. ;) (he soaks the attention right up!)
On top of that he didn't take his advil for his neck and shoulder aches and pains because his stomach has been bothering him. Small meals, sips of water and ginger ale (and a little dr pepper) but he can't take much else so far. The lack of advil is easier on his stomach but not so great on the rest of him. The massage nurse came today and helped him relax a bit. I love when she comes, she does such a good job working out some of his kinks.
Owen is plugging away at school, doing great so far. He had an orthodontist appointment last week and his teeth are looking stellar although he needs to brush a little better. *mom glare* I'm trying to help him be more organized for school and he's coming up with ways to keep himself organized. It always works better when he participates in the solution.
I've been... tired. Really tired and not sleeping well. Melatonin has helped a little but it makes it hard for me to wake up in the middle of the night to turn Dave so if I don't take it by 10 or 11 I can't take it or it screws me all up. We take a lot of naps these days. Maybe it's because I started on a more healthy diet. We've only had non-homemade food once in the last 2 weeks! That's some kind of record around here. It's good food but it's severely less calories than before which is good for all of us, it just provides for a little less energy. I'm sure my body will get used to it soon but for now the gym is on hold so I don't completely fry myself. I realize this isn't the best time to start a program like this but I have to take care of myself and the dr I talked to suggested that at least food is something I can control in an otherwise uncontrollable situation. TRUE! I'm supposed to keep a food journal but that is hard, using the myfitnesspal app makes it a lot easier so I'm doing that instead! Easier is good. Oh and to make things more fun I think I pulled a muscle in my side/back. Actually it kind of feels like I got kidney punched on my right side but I'm pretty sure it's muscular. Unpleasant at best. Maybe I should be taking the advil!
I got some books from the library and one that I happened upon was "How to Feed Your Teenaged Son" or something like that. Owen claimed that if it didn't say "With a shovel" it probably wasn't accurate. Seriously, he's such a goat these days. I started getting milk from Costco (2 gallons at a time) because if I get one at a time I end up at the store every couple of days. I got some other books about healthy eating and terminal illness/caregiving and yoga. Actually the yoga book is called "Yoga for Anxiety" and I thought it was funny to be walking around with caregiving books and a yoga for anxiety book. If the library was amazon the books would probably be listed under the "people who bought this book also bought... " section.
We've noticed that it's getting harder to stay upbeat. I don't mean for this to sound all depressed because it's not so much that but I've noticed I cry a lot more easily these days. (For anyone who has known me since I was young this is no surprise) I think it's just wearing on us and we've noticed it a bit in Owen as well. Not the crying because he's a big tough man-child now but the obvious stress that bursts out of him on occasion. I'm not sure how much of that is the thirteenness and how much is the stress of David being sick and me not being as ever-present in his activities. We're present, just not quite as much as we were before and we still spend time together as a family and talk a lot... I mean A LOT. I'm so proud of the young man he's becoming and his ability to express his emotions even if he doesn't do it until I corner him. HA! He was doomed to be fraught with emotion having me as a mother. At least he still talks when needed and I'm appreciative of that. I hope that trend continues.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Your Platelets are low... JUST KIDDING!
Dave and I started hanging out with Tim and Rose a little over 15 years ago. That would make their three oldest kids about 6, 5 and 3. They were on this kick where they were always "Kidding" about things. Even things that weren't actually jokes which are our favorite ones, like, "Have you seen the skating movie? JUST KIDDING" (the skating movie = The Cutting Edge. Random, yes.) That is definitely how we felt this week after the visit with the doctor. Oh, Have you seen how low your platelets are? JUST KIDDING! It's all the lab's fault. Here we were wondering what combo of meds he's on that are making his platelets drop. We even talked to my uncle who is a pharmacist and he cleared up some things that the evil internet was wrong about, go figure. We were a little baffled and then the dr said it has basically been a series of lab errors that make it look like his platelets are low. After having them retested at a different lab and then recalibrating their test they decided that it's a lab problem not a david's blood problem. That would have been good to know since I was kind of on high alert and half expecting him to bleed out at any moment. Me? Dramatic? I have no idea what you're talking about... *whistles* We did increase his pain meds this week so he's now on 60 mg of MS Contin instead of 30 but really it's not a huge increase because he was taking enough liquid morphine doses to make up the difference. This way he's getting an even dose instead of fluctuating doses.
So tomorrow/today is labor day. School starts for Owen the day after, 8th grade. It's the first year I'm not at all excited for him to go to school. Not even a little. It's been so nice having him home this summer and he's been a tremendous help. I'm glad for him though, kids don't need that burden on their shoulders but it's awfully nice that he's old/mature/capable enough to lend a hand when needed.
On top of the just not having him here during the day there's the little added bonus of the district not running bus service. We live about 3/4 of a mile from the school which isn't really bad for walking
except that we live on the opposite side of a 5 lane busy street from the school. There are LOTS of other kids who fall in that same category who also took the bus, a couple of whom have talked about carpooling. I walked to and from middle school probably 90% of the time and I lived further than 3/4 of a mile but it was backstreets and no big deal. Ok... now I'm going to have to drive by there and clock it next time I'm down in that part of town, it might have been only about a mile or so but in my memory it was much further! uphill... in the snow and all that. Right now it's not a huge deal to drive him but as time goes on there will be days I can't/don't want to leave the house. Oh and to top it off I forgot school started tuesday so I made an appointment for me for 2:00 and he gets out of school at 2:30. Oops. So much for my summer scheduling where I think "oh yeah, I can't do that during the day, owen will be home" Doh. Time to retrain my brain!
Dave is doing mostly ok except for a migraine yesterday. We figured it's probably the third one he's had in the last 8 months. That's some kind of record for him, normally he got a lot more than that.
I'm always afraid to give him his imitrex because the first time I did that he had seizures the next day. Totally unrelated but it still gives me a mental block. He took his meds and napped for a bit and today he was much better so no worries. He had treatment on wednesday, where we found out about the platelet non-issue.
I only made it to the gym once last week. Not exactly my plan but with dr's appointments and errands that needed to be run and migraines and laundry and Owen had a party to go to and well... after doing those things I felt bad about being away from the house as much as I was taking care of business that I didn't want to leave again to go to the gym. Excuses, excuses. I'll do better this week!
The party Owen went to was such a cute idea! My friend Rachel has 4 kids, the two oldest girls are Owen's age and a sophomore in HS. They had a Hunger Games party in their backyard where they projected the movie on the back of the house and all the kids brought chairs and blankets etc etc and laid out back and watched the movie. They're brave, when I dropped owen off there were kids EVERYWHERE! My best guess is around 50 and I know some got there after I left. The kids were asked to bring snacks or drinks to share so Owen brought Pita Chips and Sun Dried Tomato Hummus. Only fans of the story would appreciate this but he put tape over the labels and wrote "Peeta Chips" and "Sun Dried Tomato Haymitch" (two of the characters names from the book/movie)
When he showed me he was beside himself giggling. We both laughed about it all the way over to their house. I'm glad he's as easily amused as I am! He had to call me before the movie was over because he had a stomach ache. Too much junk food for Owen! HA! That's what being a kid is all about, right?
That reminds me of the time..... We have a tradition that we go to parent/teacher conferences and if all is well (which it always is) we go out for Dairy Queen. Every time he would beg and beg to get a banana split and we always told him it was too big and to pick something smaller so finally we caved and let him get one. I think it was 4th grade maybe. So he ate it, the whole thing, all three mounds and the toppings and the bananas and ALL the whipped cream and the cherries. All of it. His stomach was puffed out and when we rubbed it we could feel the cold on the OUTSIDE of his stomach. Yes, the outside of his stomach was cold. And then he said he didn't feel well, go figure... then he ran to the bathroom and proceed to throw up most, if not all, of the banana split. I'm glad he chewed the bananas. Dave and I silently laughed heartily but gave him the appropriate amount of mock sympathy when necessary. It's one of those things that sometimes you have to learn the hard way, he's never asked for a banana split again although I'm sure his big teen stomach could probably handle it these days. Don't give him any ideas. At least Farrells isn't in town anymore, I'm having high school flashbacks to the two guys who ate the zoo all by themselves and threw the whole thing up. 19 scoops of ice cream is not intended for two people!
Speaking of big teen things, I just bought him new shoes. He wears WIDE 11 1/2, yes, in mens! Dave only wears a 10 1/2. He's got the wide Hernandez feet and the big Wach feet, poor guy. The cashier said she felt sorry for him because its' going to get hard for him to find shoes. Shhh, lady! He's going to be a monster. He did tell me when he was two that he was going to have very big feet. He says it's a fulfilled prophecy.
Thursday is Dave and my 15 year anniversary. YAY! We honestly didn't think he was going to make it this far but here we are a few days away. We're ordering a cake from Sweet Life, the bakery we got our wedding cake from 15 years ago. They were just two sisters working out of a garage back then and now they are a very very busy store front. For our 9th anniversary we forgot to order a custom cake so I went during the day to pick up a cake to surprise Dave, just whatever looked good in their bakery case. Then Dave came home from work and yelled for me to come to the kitchen. In the kitchen I found him laughing with two cake boxes on the counter, he got one to surprise me too! Then I realized that he DIDN'T take my cake out of the fridge and he actually got two small cakes because he couldn't decide between them so in reality we had gotten THREE small cakes from the same bakery, luckily none of them were the same flavors. To us, the 9th anniversary will always be known as the three cakes anniversary.
We don't have any big plans to do anything but be thankful. Sometimes we need moments like that, especially with how rushed people are to get things done. We find ourselves caught up in the day to day stuff and sometimes we have to stop for a minute to just hold hands and talk and be present. Being present is such a present. (HA! that was super cheesy)
So tomorrow/today is labor day. School starts for Owen the day after, 8th grade. It's the first year I'm not at all excited for him to go to school. Not even a little. It's been so nice having him home this summer and he's been a tremendous help. I'm glad for him though, kids don't need that burden on their shoulders but it's awfully nice that he's old/mature/capable enough to lend a hand when needed.
On top of the just not having him here during the day there's the little added bonus of the district not running bus service. We live about 3/4 of a mile from the school which isn't really bad for walking
except that we live on the opposite side of a 5 lane busy street from the school. There are LOTS of other kids who fall in that same category who also took the bus, a couple of whom have talked about carpooling. I walked to and from middle school probably 90% of the time and I lived further than 3/4 of a mile but it was backstreets and no big deal. Ok... now I'm going to have to drive by there and clock it next time I'm down in that part of town, it might have been only about a mile or so but in my memory it was much further! uphill... in the snow and all that. Right now it's not a huge deal to drive him but as time goes on there will be days I can't/don't want to leave the house. Oh and to top it off I forgot school started tuesday so I made an appointment for me for 2:00 and he gets out of school at 2:30. Oops. So much for my summer scheduling where I think "oh yeah, I can't do that during the day, owen will be home" Doh. Time to retrain my brain!
Dave is doing mostly ok except for a migraine yesterday. We figured it's probably the third one he's had in the last 8 months. That's some kind of record for him, normally he got a lot more than that.
I'm always afraid to give him his imitrex because the first time I did that he had seizures the next day. Totally unrelated but it still gives me a mental block. He took his meds and napped for a bit and today he was much better so no worries. He had treatment on wednesday, where we found out about the platelet non-issue.
I only made it to the gym once last week. Not exactly my plan but with dr's appointments and errands that needed to be run and migraines and laundry and Owen had a party to go to and well... after doing those things I felt bad about being away from the house as much as I was taking care of business that I didn't want to leave again to go to the gym. Excuses, excuses. I'll do better this week!
The party Owen went to was such a cute idea! My friend Rachel has 4 kids, the two oldest girls are Owen's age and a sophomore in HS. They had a Hunger Games party in their backyard where they projected the movie on the back of the house and all the kids brought chairs and blankets etc etc and laid out back and watched the movie. They're brave, when I dropped owen off there were kids EVERYWHERE! My best guess is around 50 and I know some got there after I left. The kids were asked to bring snacks or drinks to share so Owen brought Pita Chips and Sun Dried Tomato Hummus. Only fans of the story would appreciate this but he put tape over the labels and wrote "Peeta Chips" and "Sun Dried Tomato Haymitch" (two of the characters names from the book/movie)
When he showed me he was beside himself giggling. We both laughed about it all the way over to their house. I'm glad he's as easily amused as I am! He had to call me before the movie was over because he had a stomach ache. Too much junk food for Owen! HA! That's what being a kid is all about, right?
That reminds me of the time..... We have a tradition that we go to parent/teacher conferences and if all is well (which it always is) we go out for Dairy Queen. Every time he would beg and beg to get a banana split and we always told him it was too big and to pick something smaller so finally we caved and let him get one. I think it was 4th grade maybe. So he ate it, the whole thing, all three mounds and the toppings and the bananas and ALL the whipped cream and the cherries. All of it. His stomach was puffed out and when we rubbed it we could feel the cold on the OUTSIDE of his stomach. Yes, the outside of his stomach was cold. And then he said he didn't feel well, go figure... then he ran to the bathroom and proceed to throw up most, if not all, of the banana split. I'm glad he chewed the bananas. Dave and I silently laughed heartily but gave him the appropriate amount of mock sympathy when necessary. It's one of those things that sometimes you have to learn the hard way, he's never asked for a banana split again although I'm sure his big teen stomach could probably handle it these days. Don't give him any ideas. At least Farrells isn't in town anymore, I'm having high school flashbacks to the two guys who ate the zoo all by themselves and threw the whole thing up. 19 scoops of ice cream is not intended for two people!
Speaking of big teen things, I just bought him new shoes. He wears WIDE 11 1/2, yes, in mens! Dave only wears a 10 1/2. He's got the wide Hernandez feet and the big Wach feet, poor guy. The cashier said she felt sorry for him because its' going to get hard for him to find shoes. Shhh, lady! He's going to be a monster. He did tell me when he was two that he was going to have very big feet. He says it's a fulfilled prophecy.
Thursday is Dave and my 15 year anniversary. YAY! We honestly didn't think he was going to make it this far but here we are a few days away. We're ordering a cake from Sweet Life, the bakery we got our wedding cake from 15 years ago. They were just two sisters working out of a garage back then and now they are a very very busy store front. For our 9th anniversary we forgot to order a custom cake so I went during the day to pick up a cake to surprise Dave, just whatever looked good in their bakery case. Then Dave came home from work and yelled for me to come to the kitchen. In the kitchen I found him laughing with two cake boxes on the counter, he got one to surprise me too! Then I realized that he DIDN'T take my cake out of the fridge and he actually got two small cakes because he couldn't decide between them so in reality we had gotten THREE small cakes from the same bakery, luckily none of them were the same flavors. To us, the 9th anniversary will always be known as the three cakes anniversary.
We don't have any big plans to do anything but be thankful. Sometimes we need moments like that, especially with how rushed people are to get things done. We find ourselves caught up in the day to day stuff and sometimes we have to stop for a minute to just hold hands and talk and be present. Being present is such a present. (HA! that was super cheesy)
Friday, August 17, 2012
Can't Post... Watching Olympics...
August is more than halfway over and I haven't even posted yet! I'm slacking apparently. It's not like I have anything else to do. ;) Actually I've been wanting to write but I haven't been able to find time to sit down and put down my thoughts. I'm a little (more) scatterbrained (than usual) lately. Oh and also we watched pretty much every minute of the Olympics that NBC had to offer... even if a lot of it was fast-forwarded through. We determined that Volleyball and Waterpolo are way more amusing when you speed through them. We'd also like to note that trampoline and rhythmic gymnastics are Olympic sports? Hruhwhat? Why isn't Golf? or Cheerleading? Although trampoline was super super fun in fast-motion. Also not that we want to watch golf, just sayin.
We're doing ok, status quo I suppose. Owen is off on a whirlwind trip to the coast with my mom's side of the family. I left Uncle Jaeger strict instructions to be his go-to guy although I know everyone will keep an eye on him. He's tall(er than me) now and is wearing a touristy grey plaid hat, he's hard to miss. It's the first time he's been away from us for a whole long weekend all summer, I miss him already and I think he's probably still at Nana's house waiting for the wagon train to hit the trail. I hope he has fun, I'm glad he gets this chance to get out of the house a little before school starts on the 4th. 8th grade. Yikes.
Dave is doing as well as can be expected. The last time (2 weeks ago) he went in for chemo we followed up with Dr Sharman about when to stop treatment. He mentioned a couple of things the other dr didn't bring up. He said once he stops the Avastin they tend to see quick growth of the tumor, quicker than if he hadn't taken it. He called it a rebound of the tumor but it sounds kind of like a flood gate has been holding the tumor back and once the avastin is out of his system the flood gates open and the tumor grows quickly. That might sound scary but to David it's a blessing since he's going to take that medicine until he isn't allowed to take it anymore because his body is too weak. At that point he wants everything to go quickly. The dr also said at that point he likely won't be able to use his arms anymore and if he doesn't actually WANT to eat he doesn't have to. Not that it will be starving himself because his body won't need as much nutrition, that also relieved Dave because we're concerned about him choking and he doesn't want to have to be fed and those kinds of things. It sounds like those are all negatives but he left the office somewhat giddy. As cheerful as I've seen him all year really.
This last appointment (this week) his platelets are a little lower than they'd like them to be. That can be caused by a few of the medications he's taking but they aren't really things we think he can go off of, including the Avastin. So far they're letting him stay on Avastin, we'll see how long that lasts. The platelet range they list as "normal" for this lab is 130-400. In the last few visits his have been 82, 134, 77, 59 (hut, hut, hike!) we're not sure how low they are comfortable with that being as long as he doesn't really have other symptoms like random bleeding, which is a concern. There isn't much we can do to raise that level. His white blood count is still pretty good and in the normal range so they aren't worried too much.
Next time he goes in he's also going to talk to the geneticist to start the process to find out if he actually has the Lynch gene that his family carries. We started thinking this might be something totally random since Lynch normally causes colon cancer. It's entirely possible that he has it but we figured the responsible thing to do for Owen would be to find out for sure. It's odd how tests like that can cause a little anxiety even though we already know whether or not he has cancer.
I'm doing alright. I feel really busy. I started back at the gym this month, I've been going at least twice a week. Not bootcamp yet but cardio and some light weights so far. It's like starting over and I'm sore so I know I'm doing a fair amount of stuff. My trainer had a picture on his website saying, "Someone busier than you is working out right now" I know it wasn't aimed directly at me but it got me thinking "I could be at the gym instead of watching tv right now" although sometimes I CAN'T be at the gym but you know... it just made me think so I finally did something about it. I'm not sleeping well and that doesn't help with having energy to workout either. That's not really new for me, insomnia, I think I sleep better during naps than I do at night because at night little noises wake me up. During the day I guess I'm confident things are ok and I zonk out. hehe probably the naps are part of why I don't sleep well at night but I'm not going to complain about quality naps. Yesterday I treated myself to a long massage. I'm a little sore today actually but that means she did a good job, right?
I'm going to skip the journal entry for right now because I'm eager to go pester my husband again. He can't catch a break! I will share a convo Owen and I had the other day. His best girl-pal's mom and I have been brainstorming their 8th grade dance theme. We know we'll be two of the more involved parents so we're coming up with ideas. It prompted this convo with Owen.
Me: (totally joking) *gasp* you could have a Twilight dance!
Owen: We could have a jump-off-a-cliff dance, it would be equally as popular. We could do what all the girls are derping about and have a Hunger Games dance.
Me: We wouldn't want you to kill each other.
Owen: We would kill each other if we had a Twilight dance.
He's so quick witted. He's going to keep everyone on their toes this weekend!
We're doing ok, status quo I suppose. Owen is off on a whirlwind trip to the coast with my mom's side of the family. I left Uncle Jaeger strict instructions to be his go-to guy although I know everyone will keep an eye on him. He's tall(er than me) now and is wearing a touristy grey plaid hat, he's hard to miss. It's the first time he's been away from us for a whole long weekend all summer, I miss him already and I think he's probably still at Nana's house waiting for the wagon train to hit the trail. I hope he has fun, I'm glad he gets this chance to get out of the house a little before school starts on the 4th. 8th grade. Yikes.
Dave is doing as well as can be expected. The last time (2 weeks ago) he went in for chemo we followed up with Dr Sharman about when to stop treatment. He mentioned a couple of things the other dr didn't bring up. He said once he stops the Avastin they tend to see quick growth of the tumor, quicker than if he hadn't taken it. He called it a rebound of the tumor but it sounds kind of like a flood gate has been holding the tumor back and once the avastin is out of his system the flood gates open and the tumor grows quickly. That might sound scary but to David it's a blessing since he's going to take that medicine until he isn't allowed to take it anymore because his body is too weak. At that point he wants everything to go quickly. The dr also said at that point he likely won't be able to use his arms anymore and if he doesn't actually WANT to eat he doesn't have to. Not that it will be starving himself because his body won't need as much nutrition, that also relieved Dave because we're concerned about him choking and he doesn't want to have to be fed and those kinds of things. It sounds like those are all negatives but he left the office somewhat giddy. As cheerful as I've seen him all year really.
This last appointment (this week) his platelets are a little lower than they'd like them to be. That can be caused by a few of the medications he's taking but they aren't really things we think he can go off of, including the Avastin. So far they're letting him stay on Avastin, we'll see how long that lasts. The platelet range they list as "normal" for this lab is 130-400. In the last few visits his have been 82, 134, 77, 59 (hut, hut, hike!) we're not sure how low they are comfortable with that being as long as he doesn't really have other symptoms like random bleeding, which is a concern. There isn't much we can do to raise that level. His white blood count is still pretty good and in the normal range so they aren't worried too much.
Next time he goes in he's also going to talk to the geneticist to start the process to find out if he actually has the Lynch gene that his family carries. We started thinking this might be something totally random since Lynch normally causes colon cancer. It's entirely possible that he has it but we figured the responsible thing to do for Owen would be to find out for sure. It's odd how tests like that can cause a little anxiety even though we already know whether or not he has cancer.
I'm doing alright. I feel really busy. I started back at the gym this month, I've been going at least twice a week. Not bootcamp yet but cardio and some light weights so far. It's like starting over and I'm sore so I know I'm doing a fair amount of stuff. My trainer had a picture on his website saying, "Someone busier than you is working out right now" I know it wasn't aimed directly at me but it got me thinking "I could be at the gym instead of watching tv right now" although sometimes I CAN'T be at the gym but you know... it just made me think so I finally did something about it. I'm not sleeping well and that doesn't help with having energy to workout either. That's not really new for me, insomnia, I think I sleep better during naps than I do at night because at night little noises wake me up. During the day I guess I'm confident things are ok and I zonk out. hehe probably the naps are part of why I don't sleep well at night but I'm not going to complain about quality naps. Yesterday I treated myself to a long massage. I'm a little sore today actually but that means she did a good job, right?
I'm going to skip the journal entry for right now because I'm eager to go pester my husband again. He can't catch a break! I will share a convo Owen and I had the other day. His best girl-pal's mom and I have been brainstorming their 8th grade dance theme. We know we'll be two of the more involved parents so we're coming up with ideas. It prompted this convo with Owen.
Me: (totally joking) *gasp* you could have a Twilight dance!
Owen: We could have a jump-off-a-cliff dance, it would be equally as popular. We could do what all the girls are derping about and have a Hunger Games dance.
Me: We wouldn't want you to kill each other.
Owen: We would kill each other if we had a Twilight dance.
He's so quick witted. He's going to keep everyone on their toes this weekend!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
C3P0's Fruit Loops?
I FINALLY PAINTED! Peacock Blue, we love it! I know you're all really interested... I actually only painted one wall which is all I was going to do, but I also moved a couple things in our room around which gives us a tiny bit more room and less places to put clutter (I moved a bookshelf out). We also got an air purifier and a new vacuum to try to help cut down on allergens/irritants. They are grade 2 medical devices so I'm hoping *fingers crossed* that we can write them off as medical expenses but I suppose I'll have to talk to a tax accountant about that. So far so good. I've noticed that Dave's sleep apnea isn't as bad and my allergy induced asthma symptoms haven't been as bad. All pluses! I hated spending the money on it but I think it was a good long term investment.
David is doing fairly well. He's taking a lot more advil to try to get rid of the neck pain. If it's muscular aches that should help if it's not muscular then the morphine would be better. It's kind of a guessing game so we're just guess and checking until we figure it out. The massage nurse suggested heat but um... it's been 80+ and the last thing he wants is MORE heat.
Mostly it's been a low key week. Except for my whirlwind project of painting and now there are boxes of books everywhere (fantastic!) because I haven't put them back on the shelf yet, dust, yay. OH and the toilet tank in Owen's bathroom has started leaking like the one in our bathroom did when Dave was in the hospital. My dad is helping us replace this one too but it's just another pain in the neck thing I wish we didn't have to deal with. This year has been full of them but I guess on the bright side... new toilet. yay? I'm not sure why that feels low key to me even though things are a little hectic. Maybe because Dave is doing well.
Not a lot to report this week on the medical front which I'm actually really thankful for. No noticeable progression of Dave's paralysis. Owen has been great, I'm hanging in here and getting a few things done.... oh, yesterday I realized that I haven't taken my thyroid medicine (I have an underactive thyroid) for... well... so long that I don't remember. Months. Not that I just don't bother taking it but I honestly just FORGOT that I was supposed to. I guess my priorities have been somewhere else. No wonder I've been feeling kind of run down and have been gaining weight and such. Here I thought I was just eating poorly (ok, that too) I keep talking about going back to boot camp and the more I talk about it the more serious I get about it. I sent my trainer a message, that's the first step, right? But might have to just go in and talk to him. I figure if I tell more people about it I will have to stop making excuses. ;) It's hard to think about doing that kind of thing when you have no energy... even though I know I'd have more energy if I were exercising. Funny how that works, right? I'd probably sleep better too. I fell asleep at 4 am, woke up at 6:30 to turn Dave and had a hard time getting back to sleep them up again at 10. This is getting pretty typical.
Now for your weekly installment of David's Journal
Cereals
My favorite cereals are C3P0's Fruit Loops and Sugar Smacks. I don't like all cereals because they don't taste good like cheerios and kicks and all sorts of yucky things like that because they taste like dry cat food and saw dust and when you put milk on them they go soggy and limp like a wet noodle and yuck. They really taste sicko! That's why I never eat them!
Who doesn't have an aversion to soggy cereals. I'm unclear what cat food and saw dust taste like but apparently it's like bland cereal. hehe It's funny that those are the ones he lists as his favorites but he has never let Owen have those sugary cereals. It was a different time I suppose!
David is doing fairly well. He's taking a lot more advil to try to get rid of the neck pain. If it's muscular aches that should help if it's not muscular then the morphine would be better. It's kind of a guessing game so we're just guess and checking until we figure it out. The massage nurse suggested heat but um... it's been 80+ and the last thing he wants is MORE heat.
Mostly it's been a low key week. Except for my whirlwind project of painting and now there are boxes of books everywhere (fantastic!) because I haven't put them back on the shelf yet, dust, yay. OH and the toilet tank in Owen's bathroom has started leaking like the one in our bathroom did when Dave was in the hospital. My dad is helping us replace this one too but it's just another pain in the neck thing I wish we didn't have to deal with. This year has been full of them but I guess on the bright side... new toilet. yay? I'm not sure why that feels low key to me even though things are a little hectic. Maybe because Dave is doing well.
Not a lot to report this week on the medical front which I'm actually really thankful for. No noticeable progression of Dave's paralysis. Owen has been great, I'm hanging in here and getting a few things done.... oh, yesterday I realized that I haven't taken my thyroid medicine (I have an underactive thyroid) for... well... so long that I don't remember. Months. Not that I just don't bother taking it but I honestly just FORGOT that I was supposed to. I guess my priorities have been somewhere else. No wonder I've been feeling kind of run down and have been gaining weight and such. Here I thought I was just eating poorly (ok, that too) I keep talking about going back to boot camp and the more I talk about it the more serious I get about it. I sent my trainer a message, that's the first step, right? But might have to just go in and talk to him. I figure if I tell more people about it I will have to stop making excuses. ;) It's hard to think about doing that kind of thing when you have no energy... even though I know I'd have more energy if I were exercising. Funny how that works, right? I'd probably sleep better too. I fell asleep at 4 am, woke up at 6:30 to turn Dave and had a hard time getting back to sleep them up again at 10. This is getting pretty typical.
Now for your weekly installment of David's Journal
Cereals
My favorite cereals are C3P0's Fruit Loops and Sugar Smacks. I don't like all cereals because they don't taste good like cheerios and kicks and all sorts of yucky things like that because they taste like dry cat food and saw dust and when you put milk on them they go soggy and limp like a wet noodle and yuck. They really taste sicko! That's why I never eat them!
Who doesn't have an aversion to soggy cereals. I'm unclear what cat food and saw dust taste like but apparently it's like bland cereal. hehe It's funny that those are the ones he lists as his favorites but he has never let Owen have those sugary cereals. It was a different time I suppose!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
A Week of a Different Color
This week is much better than last week! I'm glad these episodes of more than normal stress are short lived.
Owen went to stay last night at the Wolfe Compound (lucky them!) so Dave and I had a quiet evening of Storage Wars and Deadliest Catch watching *snicker* Today Dave had chemo. Our hospice bath aid is AWESOME and plans her schedule around his appointments so she can come bathe him and help me get him dressed before we go. Today was an early appointment so she came over at 8:30. I set my alarm for 8 but yeah... the snooze button is awesome so she woke me up. OOPS! I'm not complaining, I just felt bad that I answered the door in my pajamas. We're thankful that she is so easy going and so willing to accommodate us. We really like her.
So Dave went in for his appointment and they drew blood to run labs then we saw the doctor. We brought up our concerns about chemo that I touched on last week and this doctor (not our normal doctor) gave us a few options. He suggested that Dave could try another kind of chemo since he's not doing Temodar anymore. Yeah... I don't think that's on the agenda. We suspect he's just making sure he talks about ALL options. So we told him our primary concern, that we don't want to prolong things after he loses use of his arms. We barely got out the sentence when the dr said, "It won't" As he explained it the Avastin is only really in your system for a week or two (google says 11-50 days, nice range!) so once the decline has hit that critical of a point the Avastin isn't going to play a role in the last stage and we can expect things to move quickly. Is that wrong that hearing that the end stage will be quick is a giant relief to us? I mean yes, it's scary, but knowing what to expect makes us much more equipped to cope. We both agree that David will continue to do chemo until he declines so much that it's not worth it, he can't tolerate the trip anymore or he has some other side effect from it besides being tired. Sheesh, with how much his body is going through it's no wonder he's tired. I sometimes think about how flippantly some people say, "I'll sleep when I'm dead". I admit the thought has crossed my mind when I want to wake him up to tell him something but really I want to let him sleep now as much as he wants so that when he's awake he's actually alert. Although when I get excited about stupid things him being asleep has never stopped me before. LOL I should take advantage of it now while he's still here to tell my stupid things to! Poor guy would never sleep!
OH! I forgot to mention that when he got blood drawn it was hard for the lab guy to draw it and by the time he got enough and then got it in the vials it had started clotting (even with his blood thinners? odd) so when he got out of his dr visit someone chased us down on the way to the the chemo room to tell us they had to draw new labs! ACK! The second time worked great but it definitely stressed him out a little more than normal.
The weather was nice (for him) not sunny, low 70s, just rained so it smelled awesome. It's the first time he's gotten to sit outside when the weather was comfortable for him. We just sat and enjoyed being outside while we waited for our ride. I got him home and he stayed up long enough to help me mix up a batch of carne asada seasoning that we've been making for years and have yet to write down the recipe for, we just save a little from the last batch and taste test until it's close, or as Dave says, "Close enough for government work" then he went back to bed and napped for a while. I noticed that a couple of his toes have little sores like ingrown nails or something. This happened once before because of the edema. Nurse Marla to the rescue! I'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get infected. If it's not one thing it's another!
I feel very spoiled this week. Last friday I got to visit Betsy, my bff of 25 years (holy cow, that shows my age because we were in middle school... wait, don't do the math!) Sunday my mom and nana came over for a "picnic", monday Owen cleaned his room with no complaints (because I bribed him with going to a friend's house) because on tuesday the housekeepers came for I think the last time for reals (thanks to some very amazing friends, I love you guys! Really, words aren't enough, I'm gonna hug every one of you some day!) Also yesterday Ariana was in town for a little while so she stopped by to say hi. We miss her face plus she helps me more than she knows. I appreciate her and her timing was perfect. Maybe something prompted her to visit us. ;) Today our bath aide started her work early to come help us out, we got comforting news from the doctor and tonight Tim brought dinner when he brought Owen back. He also brought their kids so we got a visit and dinner and entertained by goofy teens and Rose got some time with a mostly quiet house, so really that was a gift for all of us. Hahaha It was good to see Tim. Tomorrow my dad and holly are coming over for a visit and dinner. It's a full week for sure but we welcome that, especially after how emotional and in our cave last week was.
Journal time!
"Strange Things Happen When
Strange things happen when we get a big package in the mail and it says do not open until christmas. Everyone starts guessing what it is. People sneek up and shake it or they go and feel it.
Strange things happen when I start typing in a program I know nothing about on the computer. Everyone wants to know what I'm typing in I just say, "I don't know" and we run it and it erases a disk. WHOOPS!"
The christmas gift part of that story reminds me that David has serious present issues. No shaking or guessing or touching whatever is wrapped up, strictly hands off. He says his dad could pick up any gift and shake it and know what was inside and it drove him crazy. I guess when you're a grown up you get to make your own rules and his rule is NO GUESSING!
As for the computer comments, he wrote so much about computers even in the mid-80s, it's no wonder he ended up in the IT field. I think eventually he learned what the programs do before he typed in them. ;)
Owen went to stay last night at the Wolfe Compound (lucky them!) so Dave and I had a quiet evening of Storage Wars and Deadliest Catch watching *snicker* Today Dave had chemo. Our hospice bath aid is AWESOME and plans her schedule around his appointments so she can come bathe him and help me get him dressed before we go. Today was an early appointment so she came over at 8:30. I set my alarm for 8 but yeah... the snooze button is awesome so she woke me up. OOPS! I'm not complaining, I just felt bad that I answered the door in my pajamas. We're thankful that she is so easy going and so willing to accommodate us. We really like her.
So Dave went in for his appointment and they drew blood to run labs then we saw the doctor. We brought up our concerns about chemo that I touched on last week and this doctor (not our normal doctor) gave us a few options. He suggested that Dave could try another kind of chemo since he's not doing Temodar anymore. Yeah... I don't think that's on the agenda. We suspect he's just making sure he talks about ALL options. So we told him our primary concern, that we don't want to prolong things after he loses use of his arms. We barely got out the sentence when the dr said, "It won't" As he explained it the Avastin is only really in your system for a week or two (google says 11-50 days, nice range!) so once the decline has hit that critical of a point the Avastin isn't going to play a role in the last stage and we can expect things to move quickly. Is that wrong that hearing that the end stage will be quick is a giant relief to us? I mean yes, it's scary, but knowing what to expect makes us much more equipped to cope. We both agree that David will continue to do chemo until he declines so much that it's not worth it, he can't tolerate the trip anymore or he has some other side effect from it besides being tired. Sheesh, with how much his body is going through it's no wonder he's tired. I sometimes think about how flippantly some people say, "I'll sleep when I'm dead". I admit the thought has crossed my mind when I want to wake him up to tell him something but really I want to let him sleep now as much as he wants so that when he's awake he's actually alert. Although when I get excited about stupid things him being asleep has never stopped me before. LOL I should take advantage of it now while he's still here to tell my stupid things to! Poor guy would never sleep!
OH! I forgot to mention that when he got blood drawn it was hard for the lab guy to draw it and by the time he got enough and then got it in the vials it had started clotting (even with his blood thinners? odd) so when he got out of his dr visit someone chased us down on the way to the the chemo room to tell us they had to draw new labs! ACK! The second time worked great but it definitely stressed him out a little more than normal.
The weather was nice (for him) not sunny, low 70s, just rained so it smelled awesome. It's the first time he's gotten to sit outside when the weather was comfortable for him. We just sat and enjoyed being outside while we waited for our ride. I got him home and he stayed up long enough to help me mix up a batch of carne asada seasoning that we've been making for years and have yet to write down the recipe for, we just save a little from the last batch and taste test until it's close, or as Dave says, "Close enough for government work" then he went back to bed and napped for a while. I noticed that a couple of his toes have little sores like ingrown nails or something. This happened once before because of the edema. Nurse Marla to the rescue! I'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get infected. If it's not one thing it's another!
I feel very spoiled this week. Last friday I got to visit Betsy, my bff of 25 years (holy cow, that shows my age because we were in middle school... wait, don't do the math!) Sunday my mom and nana came over for a "picnic", monday Owen cleaned his room with no complaints (because I bribed him with going to a friend's house) because on tuesday the housekeepers came for I think the last time for reals (thanks to some very amazing friends, I love you guys! Really, words aren't enough, I'm gonna hug every one of you some day!) Also yesterday Ariana was in town for a little while so she stopped by to say hi. We miss her face plus she helps me more than she knows. I appreciate her and her timing was perfect. Maybe something prompted her to visit us. ;) Today our bath aide started her work early to come help us out, we got comforting news from the doctor and tonight Tim brought dinner when he brought Owen back. He also brought their kids so we got a visit and dinner and entertained by goofy teens and Rose got some time with a mostly quiet house, so really that was a gift for all of us. Hahaha It was good to see Tim. Tomorrow my dad and holly are coming over for a visit and dinner. It's a full week for sure but we welcome that, especially after how emotional and in our cave last week was.
Journal time!
"Strange Things Happen When
Strange things happen when we get a big package in the mail and it says do not open until christmas. Everyone starts guessing what it is. People sneek up and shake it or they go and feel it.
Strange things happen when I start typing in a program I know nothing about on the computer. Everyone wants to know what I'm typing in I just say, "I don't know" and we run it and it erases a disk. WHOOPS!"
The christmas gift part of that story reminds me that David has serious present issues. No shaking or guessing or touching whatever is wrapped up, strictly hands off. He says his dad could pick up any gift and shake it and know what was inside and it drove him crazy. I guess when you're a grown up you get to make your own rules and his rule is NO GUESSING!
As for the computer comments, he wrote so much about computers even in the mid-80s, it's no wonder he ended up in the IT field. I think eventually he learned what the programs do before he typed in them. ;)
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Favorite Stories
Well we made it through the 4th with all our fingers intact! Dave got up in the chair to watch the kids (neighbor kids in the cul-de-sac had their own spoils) light things off and even though we didn't go to see any big displays we had plenty of neighbors with the big booming overhead less than legal stuff going on. It was a short and sweet display. We went back inside, I gave Dave a haircut and got him back to bed.
The next day he had chemo and everything went pretty well. Owen came with us because we thought it might be fun to go to the hospital cafeteria and eat at a "restaurant" (it's actually pretty nice) together but really the whole thing just bored him and he probably won't want to go with us again. Hahaha. Poor kid. That's part of what being a kid is all about, right? Getting dragged around by your parents to things that don't interest you?
We've noticed that Dave's feet haven't been as swollen the last couple of days. I can actually see his ankles again! *snicker* His nurse was on vacation and just saw him after a week and a half away and noticed it right away. We suspect that not doing the Temodar anymore (it's been about 6 weeks since his last treatment) is helping the swelling. We knew it was one of the possible side effects but it's nice to actually see a result.
We're having a bit of an emotional week. We've started talking about how long he'll be on the Avastin. Not that we're chomping at the bit to make a decision but we're well aware that his arms are gradually getting worse and we're trying to make an educated decision about how much longer the chemo will benefit him. As morbid as it may seem to think about this stuff we want to find that balance between giving him comfort and prolonging his agony. We'd rather have a plan of action than let it sneak up on him and have to make a snap decision. We're planners.
We seem to do pretty well as long as we have a plan and something to work towards. Dave says that he has a finish line, not that he's racing for it or anything but he knows that there's an end point to this suffering for him. For us, his passing isn't our end because we will continue on but it's definitely the start of something new for us. It is a strange sort of limbo because we make plans but nothing firm necessarily because we don't have a time limit and that's ok. We have to be adaptable but knowing what direction we're headed and being on the same page has been helpful.
In my plight to make sure Owen doesn't spend the entire summer playing on the computer (ya right, good luck!) I asked him to pick some books he'd like to read for pleasure. He does enjoy reading but has had to do an awful lot for school that he wouldn't have necessarily chosen himself. He picked up the The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. We call it the Black Cauldron series because it's the books the Disney movie of the same name was based on. I think he's only read the first of five but he just started a couple days ago. I'm glad to see him back in the world of books and away from the computer. Now if only I could get him to read outside... ;)
This month we have a free preview of the Encore channel and they're showing just about every old James Bond movie without commercials. David watched a lot of them growing up but there are a few he hasn't ever seen and I haven't actually seen any of them except a couple of the newer ones. Normally I come in somewhere in the middle and he tells me what's going on and all the trivia about the song and the bond girl and all that because he has to read about the movie while it's on. I'm trying to clean off the bookshelf so I can finally get around to painting but so far I get about a shelf done and have to stop because the dust gets to my allergies and I don't want to stir up too much and aggravate Dave's allergies. We're all staying busy.
A journal entry from 1984
"Favorite Stories
My favorite stories are the choose your own adventure stories or horror stories or fantasy stories. My favorite story was a big book that was a fantasy story with about 300 pages. It was about a little girl that was a sorcerist and got lost in the jungles of Xanth. Her mother goes after her with all her friends. But the girl gets caught by an evil witch. They finally rescue her but find out their country is in danger of being destroyed by little creatures that eat their way through everything. They gather together and save their country."
David adds that he was talking about the Xanth series by Piers Anthony but since he wrote so many books he doesn't remember which one he was specifically talking about. When I asked him about the horror stories he has no idea what he was talking about. He figures he either read something he thought was scary and called it horror or maybe he wanted to be scared so he said that but didn't really know what horror meant. I swear it's like Owen could have written these, chip off the old block. He's so into "horror" right now even though he's never actually read or seen anything we'd consider horror necessarily. Boys!
HA! That reminds me. When Owen was little we used to sarcastically say, "Oh the horror" when he'd freak out about something that wasn't all that big of a deal. When he finally picked up on it he started saying it too, sarcastically, but with his pronunciation it came out more like, "Oh the whore!" (which of course he had no idea what it meant) HAHAHAHA not exactly the same thing but it became a family meme and Dave and I still say it occasionally. He also called my hope chest a "wish crate" and when the Woody doll (from toy story) would say "somebody poisoned the water hole!" he'd announce "SOMEBODY'S TOYS IN THE WATER HOLE!" That one still makes me laugh. To a kid your toys in the water hole is probably just about as upsetting as poison. Ah innocence. I'm sure there are more but those are my favorites that come to mind.
The next day he had chemo and everything went pretty well. Owen came with us because we thought it might be fun to go to the hospital cafeteria and eat at a "restaurant" (it's actually pretty nice) together but really the whole thing just bored him and he probably won't want to go with us again. Hahaha. Poor kid. That's part of what being a kid is all about, right? Getting dragged around by your parents to things that don't interest you?
We've noticed that Dave's feet haven't been as swollen the last couple of days. I can actually see his ankles again! *snicker* His nurse was on vacation and just saw him after a week and a half away and noticed it right away. We suspect that not doing the Temodar anymore (it's been about 6 weeks since his last treatment) is helping the swelling. We knew it was one of the possible side effects but it's nice to actually see a result.
We're having a bit of an emotional week. We've started talking about how long he'll be on the Avastin. Not that we're chomping at the bit to make a decision but we're well aware that his arms are gradually getting worse and we're trying to make an educated decision about how much longer the chemo will benefit him. As morbid as it may seem to think about this stuff we want to find that balance between giving him comfort and prolonging his agony. We'd rather have a plan of action than let it sneak up on him and have to make a snap decision. We're planners.
We seem to do pretty well as long as we have a plan and something to work towards. Dave says that he has a finish line, not that he's racing for it or anything but he knows that there's an end point to this suffering for him. For us, his passing isn't our end because we will continue on but it's definitely the start of something new for us. It is a strange sort of limbo because we make plans but nothing firm necessarily because we don't have a time limit and that's ok. We have to be adaptable but knowing what direction we're headed and being on the same page has been helpful.
In my plight to make sure Owen doesn't spend the entire summer playing on the computer (ya right, good luck!) I asked him to pick some books he'd like to read for pleasure. He does enjoy reading but has had to do an awful lot for school that he wouldn't have necessarily chosen himself. He picked up the The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. We call it the Black Cauldron series because it's the books the Disney movie of the same name was based on. I think he's only read the first of five but he just started a couple days ago. I'm glad to see him back in the world of books and away from the computer. Now if only I could get him to read outside... ;)
This month we have a free preview of the Encore channel and they're showing just about every old James Bond movie without commercials. David watched a lot of them growing up but there are a few he hasn't ever seen and I haven't actually seen any of them except a couple of the newer ones. Normally I come in somewhere in the middle and he tells me what's going on and all the trivia about the song and the bond girl and all that because he has to read about the movie while it's on. I'm trying to clean off the bookshelf so I can finally get around to painting but so far I get about a shelf done and have to stop because the dust gets to my allergies and I don't want to stir up too much and aggravate Dave's allergies. We're all staying busy.
A journal entry from 1984
"Favorite Stories
My favorite stories are the choose your own adventure stories or horror stories or fantasy stories. My favorite story was a big book that was a fantasy story with about 300 pages. It was about a little girl that was a sorcerist and got lost in the jungles of Xanth. Her mother goes after her with all her friends. But the girl gets caught by an evil witch. They finally rescue her but find out their country is in danger of being destroyed by little creatures that eat their way through everything. They gather together and save their country."
David adds that he was talking about the Xanth series by Piers Anthony but since he wrote so many books he doesn't remember which one he was specifically talking about. When I asked him about the horror stories he has no idea what he was talking about. He figures he either read something he thought was scary and called it horror or maybe he wanted to be scared so he said that but didn't really know what horror meant. I swear it's like Owen could have written these, chip off the old block. He's so into "horror" right now even though he's never actually read or seen anything we'd consider horror necessarily. Boys!
HA! That reminds me. When Owen was little we used to sarcastically say, "Oh the horror" when he'd freak out about something that wasn't all that big of a deal. When he finally picked up on it he started saying it too, sarcastically, but with his pronunciation it came out more like, "Oh the whore!" (which of course he had no idea what it meant) HAHAHAHA not exactly the same thing but it became a family meme and Dave and I still say it occasionally. He also called my hope chest a "wish crate" and when the Woody doll (from toy story) would say "somebody poisoned the water hole!" he'd announce "SOMEBODY'S TOYS IN THE WATER HOLE!" That one still makes me laugh. To a kid your toys in the water hole is probably just about as upsetting as poison. Ah innocence. I'm sure there are more but those are my favorites that come to mind.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Happy Independence Day!
Tomorrow (well, today because it's technically after midnight) is the 4th of July. We don't normally do much on the 4th, sometimes a BBQ at my Dad's house but we haven't gone to see fireworks in years. We're kind of thankful for that because it's not like we're missing some huge tradition we had. Owen and I are going to pick up some fireworks and light them off in the cul-de-sac. Owen is thrilled because Dave officially passed the torch to him this year to be the one to light them off. Last year he got a taste of it (with supervision of course) but now he's 13 and can handle it... still with supervision but we trust him a lot more to be responsible. David said he thought he could get up in the chair and go outside to watch the fireworks. He doesn't want to stay up too long because he has chemo the next day which means he'll be in the chair two days in a row... again. He only gets in the chair once every couple of weeks but once a month it seems like he's in it two days in a row for some reason.
Since it's the 3rd (4th) this would be right in the middle of when he'd be taking the Temodar. He's glad to not be sick like he was a month ago. That was awful, I'm thankful for that too! As for his other meds the addition of the continuous morphine has really been helpful. He is still uncomfortable a little bit in the neck and shoulder area but not nearly as bad as it was and he's sleeping a lot better at night with not having to wake him up to take meds at 5 am. He still has to be moved in the middle of the night but if I'm just turning him he has to be less awake than he does if he has to swallow something that tastes nasty and then drink water with it. It's less maintenance and he likes that. (So do I) Of course tonight he's getting a migraine and I can't find the migraine meds. He hasn't had to take them for months and I have moved things around so many times since then I have no idea where they could have gone. Hopefully he can sleep it off and be alright.
Owen has been SOOOO super awesome lately. So helpful and fun. I hope this trend continues! I took him to get his braces adjusted today. They repositioned 5 of the brackets on the bottom teeth and put in a lighter wire. I have no idea what that does but I guess it's supposed to not have as much pull or something. He also gets to go without rubber bands for the next 5 weeks. Lucky dog. His teeth have moved so fast and his teeth were only sore when he first got them on. He must have a high pain tolerance.
I got my hair did yesterday! I've always been such a wuss about color but I splurged and just went for it. My girl did a weave (the color technique not the extensions) and used a crimson red, it's so dark red that it's almost fuschia-y/purple. I LOVE IT! Too bad reds fade so quickly. I washed it today then noticed the bottom of the tub is pink and then when I was drying it my hands turned all pink. DUDE! I don't even have to do my nails because they're pink now! (I kid... kind of) I haven't taken a picture of my hair yet. It's hard to see the color inside and the sun has yet to come out since I had it done. Boo... Ah, summer in oregon... 60s and overcast. LOL
David wrote this entry into his journal just before Thanksgiving in 1985. It's about thanksgiving but given the content we thought it was mighty patriotic and fit with the Independence Day theme.
"I'm Grateful For
I'm grateful for turkeys and gravy with cranberry sauce and dressing and nice, thin, melt in your mouth slices of tender, juicy, turkey, rolls with jam, honey and butter. I'm grateful for clothes, clean air (which I don't have) cool summers, nice hiking up canyons, good ski resorts. I'm grateful for a warm house. I'm grateful for the right to vote. I'm grateful for being able to go to school. I'm grateful for being able to choose which religion to join. I'm grateful for long strait freeways. I'm grateful for cars. I'm grateful for ways of fast transportation and I'm grateful for living in a free country."
(I'd like to note that he doesn't even really like cranberry sauce, but it's cute that he was thankful for it. Also a lot of his entries have to do with food. Those food details are the ones that remind me most of Owen. )
In light (get it? light?) of the holiday I wanted to share this happy family memory. This is a video of Jesse from 2010 at a 4th of July BBQ. He wasn't pleased that we were starting to light off fireworks before it actually got dark and he told me his solution. It cracked me up so I grabbed the camera and asked him to explain it again. I smile every time I see it.
Since it's the 3rd (4th) this would be right in the middle of when he'd be taking the Temodar. He's glad to not be sick like he was a month ago. That was awful, I'm thankful for that too! As for his other meds the addition of the continuous morphine has really been helpful. He is still uncomfortable a little bit in the neck and shoulder area but not nearly as bad as it was and he's sleeping a lot better at night with not having to wake him up to take meds at 5 am. He still has to be moved in the middle of the night but if I'm just turning him he has to be less awake than he does if he has to swallow something that tastes nasty and then drink water with it. It's less maintenance and he likes that. (So do I) Of course tonight he's getting a migraine and I can't find the migraine meds. He hasn't had to take them for months and I have moved things around so many times since then I have no idea where they could have gone. Hopefully he can sleep it off and be alright.
Owen has been SOOOO super awesome lately. So helpful and fun. I hope this trend continues! I took him to get his braces adjusted today. They repositioned 5 of the brackets on the bottom teeth and put in a lighter wire. I have no idea what that does but I guess it's supposed to not have as much pull or something. He also gets to go without rubber bands for the next 5 weeks. Lucky dog. His teeth have moved so fast and his teeth were only sore when he first got them on. He must have a high pain tolerance.
I got my hair did yesterday! I've always been such a wuss about color but I splurged and just went for it. My girl did a weave (the color technique not the extensions) and used a crimson red, it's so dark red that it's almost fuschia-y/purple. I LOVE IT! Too bad reds fade so quickly. I washed it today then noticed the bottom of the tub is pink and then when I was drying it my hands turned all pink. DUDE! I don't even have to do my nails because they're pink now! (I kid... kind of) I haven't taken a picture of my hair yet. It's hard to see the color inside and the sun has yet to come out since I had it done. Boo... Ah, summer in oregon... 60s and overcast. LOL
David wrote this entry into his journal just before Thanksgiving in 1985. It's about thanksgiving but given the content we thought it was mighty patriotic and fit with the Independence Day theme.
"I'm Grateful For
I'm grateful for turkeys and gravy with cranberry sauce and dressing and nice, thin, melt in your mouth slices of tender, juicy, turkey, rolls with jam, honey and butter. I'm grateful for clothes, clean air (which I don't have) cool summers, nice hiking up canyons, good ski resorts. I'm grateful for a warm house. I'm grateful for the right to vote. I'm grateful for being able to go to school. I'm grateful for being able to choose which religion to join. I'm grateful for long strait freeways. I'm grateful for cars. I'm grateful for ways of fast transportation and I'm grateful for living in a free country."
(I'd like to note that he doesn't even really like cranberry sauce, but it's cute that he was thankful for it. Also a lot of his entries have to do with food. Those food details are the ones that remind me most of Owen. )
In light (get it? light?) of the holiday I wanted to share this happy family memory. This is a video of Jesse from 2010 at a 4th of July BBQ. He wasn't pleased that we were starting to light off fireworks before it actually got dark and he told me his solution. It cracked me up so I grabbed the camera and asked him to explain it again. I smile every time I see it.
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