Just a quick note to say our sweet kitty did well with his surgery. He's got about a 3 inch stump left on his shaved tail...looks quite odd but he seems unconcerned. So far he's leaving the sutures alone, which is good since if he starts chewing at the sutures we'll have to make him wear the "cone of shame" (the "Elizabethan collar" that prevents animals from getting to their wounds). His appetite was never affected by the tumor or the surgery, especially if kitty treats are involved. I'm planning on staying close to home tomorrow so I can keep an eye on him and give him some "quality time" which, for him, means any time he can be in actual physical contact with me.
We had a lovely night. Our sweet Jen ("Like-a-Daughter) joined us for dinner and Dancing With the Starts (DWTS) --our guilty pleasure each Monday and Tuesday night. She's spending the night, which we love, and is great for her since she lives in SF and works in the east bay, so it saves her a couple of hours of commute time, and is great for us because she's just so much fun to have around.
Dani had a big weekend, running a 9 mile race in record time: an hour and 27 minutes, at a pace of 9 minutes and 41 seconds per mile. She placed 191 out of 785 people, and was 103 out of 593 women. So proud of her! And then she went out and sang for her regular Sunday night gig at SlyMcFlys and apparently had quite a turnout there, so she had a huge day. Go Dani; go Dani!
Okay, time for bed. More news as it develops.
Love you guys,
/ab
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Anticipating another fun weekend ahead!
It's Friday afternoon and I'm so looking forward to this weekend: We've got a visit planned with long-time family friends, the Muellers, who are on their way up from Palm Springs. Marty Mueller has been a friend since he and Jon went to junior high (back in the days when it was called "junior high," and not "middle school,") in Palm Springs. Jon and Marty's friendship continued through college, Marty's law school graduation and marriage to Avvie here in the Bay Area (where we were actually neighbors in a four-plex in Oakland), and the Muellers' subsequent move back to Palm Springs, where they've raised their wonderful family. I've been lucky enough to be a part of this ongoing friendship. Not just their friendship: They named their first-born child Alison. I mean, wow.
(We adore Alison (not just because she's my namesake) and the other two Mueller children, David and Annie. Just an amazing family.
Once again, Jon and Christa will be hosting our visit to Danville (thank you, thank you, J&C). We already know the food will be out of this world. And there will be guaranteed belly laughs and general silliness aplenty. Only bummer is that Deborah and Whit had plans that preclude them from joining in.
One sad note I need to mention: On Monday, Kirk and I will need to take HiTops, our sweet ol' bear of a cat, in to the vet to have his tail surgically removed, as he's developed a metastatic tumor near the base of the tail. Rather than try to remove the mass, which would be difficult and more painful and problematic for him in the long run, we've decided to do a "tail-ectomy" (okay, so not a real word, but...) and turn him into a manx. Since the tumor is malignant, we're not sure how long the tail-ectomy gives him, but for the moment (since he doesn't really act sick, except for some lethargy) it seemed like our best option. I've had HiTops for about 16 years and he is the sweetest little creature -- not a mean bone in his body... and he is devoted to me in a way that is almost ridiculous. So I expect some difficult emotional times ahead for me, and for Kirk (who has become quite devoted to Hi Tops) as well.
Okay, that's it for now. Probably no updates again till after the Muellers are headed back to Palm Springs and I can report the news of the weekend.
Love to you all,
/ab
(We adore Alison (not just because she's my namesake) and the other two Mueller children, David and Annie. Just an amazing family.
Once again, Jon and Christa will be hosting our visit to Danville (thank you, thank you, J&C). We already know the food will be out of this world. And there will be guaranteed belly laughs and general silliness aplenty. Only bummer is that Deborah and Whit had plans that preclude them from joining in.
One sad note I need to mention: On Monday, Kirk and I will need to take HiTops, our sweet ol' bear of a cat, in to the vet to have his tail surgically removed, as he's developed a metastatic tumor near the base of the tail. Rather than try to remove the mass, which would be difficult and more painful and problematic for him in the long run, we've decided to do a "tail-ectomy" (okay, so not a real word, but...) and turn him into a manx. Since the tumor is malignant, we're not sure how long the tail-ectomy gives him, but for the moment (since he doesn't really act sick, except for some lethargy) it seemed like our best option. I've had HiTops for about 16 years and he is the sweetest little creature -- not a mean bone in his body... and he is devoted to me in a way that is almost ridiculous. So I expect some difficult emotional times ahead for me, and for Kirk (who has become quite devoted to Hi Tops) as well.
Okay, that's it for now. Probably no updates again till after the Muellers are headed back to Palm Springs and I can report the news of the weekend.
Love to you all,
/ab
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Weekend in Monterey!
Big day! My first trip away from the Berkeley area since early in my treatment. It feels great to have a change in scenery.
Kirk and I drove Dani back down to CSUMB, checked into our hotel, took a brief nap, then had a wonderful dinner with Dani's friend and musical partner-in-crime, Jesse; his wife, Eva; and completely adorable daughter, Daphne (2-1/2 yr old). Jesse was our chef, and oh my, it was quite a meal.
We left Jesse and Eva and did a little grocery shopping so that my food monster wouldn't get the best of me overnight (god forbid), and by luck we ran into Dani's wonderful beau (Matt) at Safeway where he and his partner were grabbing some food (Matt's an EMT; partner Clay is a medic).
Now we're settled into our hotel room, getting ready for bed, and our plan is to meet Dani and Matt for breakfast tomorrow morning. And if all goes as planned, we'll be meeting up with Deborah and Whit tomorrow in Aptos...maybe do a hike, but at very least we'll spend some time and maybe have dinner before we head back over the hill.
So very exciting... my first steps back toward some sort of normalcy. Feels really good. Hope to have many more of these reports for you in the months to come.
Love you guys. /ab
Kirk and I drove Dani back down to CSUMB, checked into our hotel, took a brief nap, then had a wonderful dinner with Dani's friend and musical partner-in-crime, Jesse; his wife, Eva; and completely adorable daughter, Daphne (2-1/2 yr old). Jesse was our chef, and oh my, it was quite a meal.
We left Jesse and Eva and did a little grocery shopping so that my food monster wouldn't get the best of me overnight (god forbid), and by luck we ran into Dani's wonderful beau (Matt) at Safeway where he and his partner were grabbing some food (Matt's an EMT; partner Clay is a medic).
Now we're settled into our hotel room, getting ready for bed, and our plan is to meet Dani and Matt for breakfast tomorrow morning. And if all goes as planned, we'll be meeting up with Deborah and Whit tomorrow in Aptos...maybe do a hike, but at very least we'll spend some time and maybe have dinner before we head back over the hill.
So very exciting... my first steps back toward some sort of normalcy. Feels really good. Hope to have many more of these reports for you in the months to come.
Love you guys. /ab
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wish me luck!
Going in tomorrow morning for round two of my new chemotherapy (Avastin). Tolerated round one very well; no reason to think round two won't go well. Still, it's likely to be a long day: labs at 10:00, then (if I'm lucky), treatment starts at 11:00. Hopefully we can be out of there by 1:00, but I'm not holding my breath.
Dani will be heading up tomorrow (Thursday) after class to spend a couple days with us (me and Kirk), which makes us quite happy, as you can imagine. And Kirk and I are going to be trying very hard to make our way down to see Dani in the Monterey area -- maybe even this weekend, since this would give us a chance to see Dani at her regular Sunday gig at SlyMcFly's. Plus we could get a visit in with my sister and brother-in-law, too (we haven't seen them in ages).
Okay...keep good thoughts for us!
Love you guys. /ab
Dani will be heading up tomorrow (Thursday) after class to spend a couple days with us (me and Kirk), which makes us quite happy, as you can imagine. And Kirk and I are going to be trying very hard to make our way down to see Dani in the Monterey area -- maybe even this weekend, since this would give us a chance to see Dani at her regular Sunday gig at SlyMcFly's. Plus we could get a visit in with my sister and brother-in-law, too (we haven't seen them in ages).
Okay...keep good thoughts for us!
Love you guys. /ab
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Food and scrapbooking
Hi all,
Had a fun, yummy dinner with Jon and Christa and Kirk on Tuesday night. Jon cooked fried matzoh -- a seasonal favorite of mine (and of most folks of Jewish heritage) -- and Jon makes about the best fried matzoh around. Seriously. He's really mastered the recipe, so it was a huge treat to have that for dinner...along with lots of other great food.
After dinner we spent time going through family photographs: Christa has been working with me to create scrapbooks/memory albums of my life, my daughter's life, my family's life -- which is really a gift to me, since I'm not an organized person, have never been good about keeping photo albums, that sort of thing. And when I say Christa's been working with me, well, really she's been doing all the work. She's incredibly organized, has great vision for how to organize these photos, and I'm so excited that, thanks to Christa, Dani will have these pictures turned into a story that is a real representation of her life from my pregnancy to the present. Plus will include pictures from before she was born -- my childhood, my parents, my ancestors. Pretty cool, huh?
Nothing much new to report re: health matters just yet. I do think I'm feeling a bit better, more clear-headed, presumably because the Avastin (the chemotherapy) is having some good effect? (We hope, we hope.) The docs haven't been willing to taper my steroid dose yet but hope that will happen soon, especially since I'm getting fat as a cow from the continued high steroid dosage. (Think the weight gain isn't depressing me? Guess again...) Really hope they let me start tapering this week...
Thanks for all the emails I've gotten over the past week; it's been so nice to hear from you guys and I promise I will respond to your emails soon. I would love to take you guys up on offers for visits, especially if it does seem like my strength/stamina are returning. The next few days are pretty busy for me, and there's a chance (if my strength does, in fact continue to rebound a bit) that Kirk and I will try to head to Monterey to spend some time with my daughter, and maybe get a visit in with my sister and her husband down in Aptos, since it's been a while since we've gotten to see them.
Love to you all,
/ab
Had a fun, yummy dinner with Jon and Christa and Kirk on Tuesday night. Jon cooked fried matzoh -- a seasonal favorite of mine (and of most folks of Jewish heritage) -- and Jon makes about the best fried matzoh around. Seriously. He's really mastered the recipe, so it was a huge treat to have that for dinner...along with lots of other great food.
After dinner we spent time going through family photographs: Christa has been working with me to create scrapbooks/memory albums of my life, my daughter's life, my family's life -- which is really a gift to me, since I'm not an organized person, have never been good about keeping photo albums, that sort of thing. And when I say Christa's been working with me, well, really she's been doing all the work. She's incredibly organized, has great vision for how to organize these photos, and I'm so excited that, thanks to Christa, Dani will have these pictures turned into a story that is a real representation of her life from my pregnancy to the present. Plus will include pictures from before she was born -- my childhood, my parents, my ancestors. Pretty cool, huh?
Nothing much new to report re: health matters just yet. I do think I'm feeling a bit better, more clear-headed, presumably because the Avastin (the chemotherapy) is having some good effect? (We hope, we hope.) The docs haven't been willing to taper my steroid dose yet but hope that will happen soon, especially since I'm getting fat as a cow from the continued high steroid dosage. (Think the weight gain isn't depressing me? Guess again...) Really hope they let me start tapering this week...
Thanks for all the emails I've gotten over the past week; it's been so nice to hear from you guys and I promise I will respond to your emails soon. I would love to take you guys up on offers for visits, especially if it does seem like my strength/stamina are returning. The next few days are pretty busy for me, and there's a chance (if my strength does, in fact continue to rebound a bit) that Kirk and I will try to head to Monterey to spend some time with my daughter, and maybe get a visit in with my sister and her husband down in Aptos, since it's been a while since we've gotten to see them.
Love to you all,
/ab
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Zack's Pizza
Jon and I had dinner with Alison and Kirk last night. Alison was still very tired from her busy Thursday (first chemo infusion day - 7 hours + benadryl) and her pulmonary evaluation and function tests on Friday. Some good news: she had an uneventful chemo experience with no noticeable issues and her pulmonary function tests were normal and her overall pulmonary status was good! Yeah! Her medical team thinks that her pulmonary issues (remember she was hospitalized for 11 days with "pneumonitis") was an adverse effect of the Temodar (the chemo she was on while having her radiation therapy). The current plan is to have an Avastin (chemo) infusion every other Thursday (should be much shorter visits).
Alison is looking forward to feeling stronger and getting out and about more. She definitely wants to spend more quality time with her daughter Dani. Alison and I are working on a photo project and once we get her lifetime of photos sorted, we will do some journaling, etc. Jon has installed a webcam on Alison's computer and "hopefully" those of us with video chat available will be able to have face to face visits via computer (better than no personal connection at all).
A funny little story about dinner: we brought up a Zachary's deep dish Chicogo style pizza (a Berkeley landmark) which pleased them very much only to find out that Kirk had NEVER had Zachary's before. There is a first time for everything! OK, that's it for now. Thanks for staying connected!
cj
Alison is looking forward to feeling stronger and getting out and about more. She definitely wants to spend more quality time with her daughter Dani. Alison and I are working on a photo project and once we get her lifetime of photos sorted, we will do some journaling, etc. Jon has installed a webcam on Alison's computer and "hopefully" those of us with video chat available will be able to have face to face visits via computer (better than no personal connection at all).
A funny little story about dinner: we brought up a Zachary's deep dish Chicogo style pizza (a Berkeley landmark) which pleased them very much only to find out that Kirk had NEVER had Zachary's before. There is a first time for everything! OK, that's it for now. Thanks for staying connected!
cj
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Quick update
Hi all,
I've kind of gotten behind in reading my blog (haven't read the blog since Friday), let alone posting, so thanks to Deborah for keeping folks updated over the past couple of days, since there HAS been news worthy of posting.
I'm getting ready to head out for my first chemo infusion, to be honest, and I've got a lot of anxiety about it, given that I just haven't had the best luck so far with my treatments. So all of you need to send extra good vibes my way that I'll tolerate this chemo well and get quick results.
Treatment should take about 3 hours total (ugh) with all the prep stuff and then they'll do my first chemo infusion slowly to make sure I don't get a bad reaction. If I'm up to it, I'll send an email later today to let you know how I feel after the infusion, but most likely I'll get Kirk or (since he's got plenty on his plate) one of my siblings to report back to you.
As I said, keep all good thoughts for me over today and the coming days. I can use all the help I can get right now.
(And thanks, by the way, for all the wonderful emails, blog postings, cards and messages, and unbelievably generous PTO donations. They mean the world to me.)
Love to all of you... /ab
I've kind of gotten behind in reading my blog (haven't read the blog since Friday), let alone posting, so thanks to Deborah for keeping folks updated over the past couple of days, since there HAS been news worthy of posting.
I'm getting ready to head out for my first chemo infusion, to be honest, and I've got a lot of anxiety about it, given that I just haven't had the best luck so far with my treatments. So all of you need to send extra good vibes my way that I'll tolerate this chemo well and get quick results.
Treatment should take about 3 hours total (ugh) with all the prep stuff and then they'll do my first chemo infusion slowly to make sure I don't get a bad reaction. If I'm up to it, I'll send an email later today to let you know how I feel after the infusion, but most likely I'll get Kirk or (since he's got plenty on his plate) one of my siblings to report back to you.
As I said, keep all good thoughts for me over today and the coming days. I can use all the help I can get right now.
(And thanks, by the way, for all the wonderful emails, blog postings, cards and messages, and unbelievably generous PTO donations. They mean the world to me.)
Love to all of you... /ab
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