Family Reunion at the River

We just got back from a week of the Bronstein clan - patriarch and wife (Bill and Judy), the 3 siblings (Alison, Jon and Deborah) and their spouses, and all 4 grandchildren (and 3 dogs!) spending a precious week all together in a house in the Russian River area (Guerneville). It was a chance to take time and visit and relax. Alison looked good and seemed to enjoy the week very much. She had to take special care with being in the sun, as the last time she unwittingly left her non-sunscreened feet in the sun for a couple of hours, she got a terrible sunburn that resulted in swelling and pain. But this week, she was very careful, and there were no physical set-backs!

Kirk made sure she had some lovely places to walk - beautiful redwoods, gorgeous (and foggy) coast walk, a local walk with all the bounty of ripening blackberries along the route - yum! She took her naps, sat in the shade of the poolside umbrellas to read and relax, and hopefully had enough company balanced with quiet to make for special week. A giant thank you to our Dad (Bill) and Judy for hosting us in the lovely rental house.

Now almost everyone is back to their "regular lives", but we have some wonderful memories that we collected over the week. I'll see if Christa, the Photo Czarina, can post some pix (way beyond my skill levels).

Anyways, our girl is looking good. She had her previous Avastin treatment on the Thursday prior to the vacation, and things went very well using her new access "port". Next treatment is this Thursday - that medicine is doing a very fine job of shrinking the tumors - yay!

Happy summer to all,
Deborah

Port installation and birthday celebrations

I just read yesterday’s blog post from Deborah. Thank you, D, for updating my friends and for your sweet birthday message - and for all your efforts (with help from Kirk and Whit as sous chefs) to make my birthday so fun and memorable. (More on the birthday weekend, below.)

Had my Portacath installed on Wednesday. Getting up at 5:00 AM is not my favorite thing, but Kirk and I managed to get up and to Alta Bates surgi-center on time. And then, of course we waited and waited to be taken in to the OR since first the nurse had to start an IV on me, and getting an IV started was its usual nightmare. (The first nurse that tried to get an IV started tried three painful times before I insisted she get another nurse…and it took that second nurse another two tries to get an IV started. My poor arms are black and blue and sore at the IV starts. Glad we got the port got installed since I’m not sure how much more my poor little fragile veins could have taken.)

Anyway, the port is in and, after the first few days of significant soreness, the port site is feeling and looking pretty good. The docs require a two week healing period before restarting the Avastin, so I’m scheduled for my next treatment on August 12. Meanwhile, I’m continuing to taper my Decadron (steroid) dose and am now at 4 mg/day. With the recent tapering of the steroids, I’m already noticing a change (for the better, i.e., a decrease) in my appetite and shakiness, and am able to sleep for longer periods without waking up.

Had a wonderful weekend: My birthday was Sunday; Kirk and I headed down to spend Saturday night and yesterday with Deborah and Whit at their beautiful and cozy home in Aptos. Delicious dinner and much laughter on Saturday night; then on Sunday we headed down to Aptos to hear Dani and her band perform at the Seaside music festival, where they opened for the Chris Cain Band - a band that I used to go listen and dance to at Larry Blake’s Rathskellar in Berkeley back in my late 20s-early 30s. The Dani Paige Band sounded GREAT – really proud of my girl – and the Chris Cain Band was better than ever. Then we all headed back up to Aptos where “the kids” (Dani, and Dani’s beau Matt, and my nephew Drew) joined me in a laugh-filled game of “Apples to Apples” while dinner was being prepared. We had an incredible dinner (chefs Deborah, Whit and Kirk outdid themselves): Asian ribs, wonderful salad with fresh strawberries, fresh corn on the cob, and home-grown cauliflower. And then an apricot pie from an incredible local produce grower, Gizdich Farms (a la mode, of course). Oh. My. God. Not a good weekend for my calorie intake but a great weekend for enjoyment of family and food.

This week should be less “eventful” than last week, thank goodness. I’ll have time to catch up a bit (hopefully) on thank you notes, home-related chores, packing for our trip to Guerneville, and getting more of my stuff sorted, recycled, stored away, etc. And getting some good walking and nap time in!

Okay, time to get started with my day.

Oh, and to those who sent cards and emails wishing me happy birthday wishes, I thank you so much for thinking of me and send my love back to you with appreciation for your continued love, support, and friendship.

/ab

Happy birthday, Alison!

Alison and Kirk are in Aptos to spend the day. Her wish was to have a relaxing day, including going to see daughter Dani perform (it makes her very happy), which will be this afternoon down in Seaside at an outdoor event there. Other big plans are shaping up to include reading, maybe playing a board game or two, and likely a nap! (She has been more tired in the past couple of days after the port placement, needing extra recovery time, it seems.)

I hope you will all join me in wishing Alison a happy, wonderful birthday! She has a way of touching lives that is a testimonial to her loving and giving nature. She is dear to us in such a profound way and is lucky enough to have a support network as wide and wonderful as you all. Thank you all for all your support these last 8 months.