Needed: Spring Cleaners in Winter

I don't know about you, but I love crossing things off to do lists. I have been known to write things on my to do list JUST so I could cross them off at the end of the day that could've been more productive, you know, stuff like "Wake up", "Brush teeth", etc.

One of the things I want to cross of my list before I leave the Inland Empire is "Work on Mom's house". Shiloh (of Lorien, Shiloh and Aliana) has volunteered to tile Mom's floors in the kitchen and bathrooms and her neighbor is going to install the wood laminate throughout the living and bedrooms, but in order to do these things we need to get the floor cleared. While we're at it, we're going to do a deep clean and purge so when Mom comes home she can start anew.

Many hands make light work, so if you're down to help spring clean in winter, we'd be thankful for the company. Just e-mail or call to sign on up! We'll be at the house the day after Christmas all through the first week of January until we get things done.

Happy Holidays!

Oh Happy Day

Right now I'm listening to Mom snoring since she's knocked out on anti-nausea drugs and benadryl. It's the sweetest sound I've ever heard because today was the very last day of chemotherapy!

We still have doctor appointments and maintenance schedules to set up but no more chemotherapy. It's a good day and of course, here are some pictures to celebrate the occasion!

Thank you for all your well wishes, cards and calls. Even if Mom doesn't feel up to answering the phone, she loves checking her messages and being updated on everyone. Hopefully she'll be getting her strength back soon and will back to her old gallivanting self. I'll be keeping up the blog on her progress until I go back to San Jose. You know, where I live. Don't worry, I forget sometimes too!

Hoodie Love

Mom hearts her hoodie. When she has her hoodie on, she looks like this:But if you try to take her hoodie off (perhaps with cold hands although that is an unsubstantiated rumor), she looks like this:

The Home Stretch

Here it is: the very last treatment calendar!
Mom had her last 5-hour chemo session this past Friday. This Monday she had her Neulasta shot to grow her white blood cells and on Tuesday she had her Bleomycin and we're done for this week. We celebrated by watching our favorite show. Next week she has labs Monday, Bleo Tuesday (aka the LAST chemotherapy treatment aka "GRADUATION"), a lung test Wednesday, a meeting with Dr. Bosserman Thursday and finishes up on Friday with Dr. Ahn, the cardiologist. Then after that she'll be scanned and blood tested every 3-6 months for any new signs of cancer but this phase will be all pau.
Eyes on the prize is the name of the game from here on out!

Only in SoCal...

...will you see a palm tree with a snow-capped mountain in the background! Today Mom had her bleomycin treatment so we came straight home after and piled her with blankets. She got a little nauseous and I gave her Ativan which works quickly on the nausea but also makes her very sleepy. She likes to say I knock her out on purpose but that is just Mean Mom talking. You know, the same one who laughed at me this morning and said I've lost all my color and have no tan lines any more. THEN she called me Blanca Nieve all day. Which is so wrong because we all know I'm more like yellow snow anyway...

Papi

A few weeks ago my cousin Vanessa e-mailed me from Puerto Rico to tell me my dad had a heart attack. At the time, Mom was also in hospital so we decided to wait to tell her about Dad until she felt better. Papi called today and he and Mom talked for awhile. He's feeling better and is out of the hospital with a stent in place. He needs to keep on going to his follow-up appointments and also a class on how to eat and exercise. But he should be fine. Muchos gracias y amor to Vanessa for taking care of Dad and also Titi Widy for keeping us updated. The picture today is from a trip to PR Jorge and I took in 2004, you can find lots more pictures here. So if you're sending a thought or prayer for Dre, please add Papi to your list as well!

The Latest in Chemotherapy Fashion

Pieta, one of the shiny, happy people who work at Wilshire's front desk, has a daughter whose mother-in-law lost a friend to cancer. In her friend's memory, she's been knitting/crocheting (I don't know the diff - sorry!) blankets, hats and scarves for a year and yesterday she donated them all to the cancer patients here. Mom got the cutest pink hat with a pua on the side. Well, originally she was wearing it in the center of her forehead but I know on the left means married and on the right means single, so I'm pretty sure in the middle means something too! It goes well with the pink slippers I picked up at my beloved Target the other day. Here are some pics of Mom showing off her new duds...

O Ke Anuenue

Today as we were walked out of the house for Dre's LAST FULL DAY OF CHEMO, we were greeted by a beautiful rainbow instead of the pouring down rain of a few moments before. It's gonna be okay.

The Last Supper

As I've said before, my friend Nassrin has been invaluable to me during my time in the IE. We've kept our Thursday date nights sacred except for a couple of dire emergencies on my part. Doing something normal like having dinner with a friend went a long way in keeping me sane so I could better take care of Dre. On Tuesday she's leaving for her brother's wedding in Lebanon (I only said I was sane, not her...) until January and the Sunday after Christmas I will hopefully be heading back to San Jose with Davidson. So yesterday was our last supper and we went out in style with deep-fried pickle goodness! With extra sides of ranch because we are both germaphobe double-dippers! And that, my loves, is true friendship...

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

Last night Auntie Julie got the troops assembled to start decorating for the holidays. It was lots of fun although I am a tad jealous that Keoni can hang the house lights without using a ladder! That's just cool. Click here for a few more photos. The kids were a little pouty because this year was the first with a "simulated" tree instead of the real thing. But it came out so pretty AND it came prestrung with lights so it was good to go.

It was much better than the time Jorge and I were putting together our Christmas tree and found a mummified mouse. It looked like lint with a nose...

Uncle Michael Kinda Update

See, the thing about updating on Uncle Michael is that he is cut from a different cloth than some/most in our fam. On one hand, you have those, such as my beloved Dre, who are basically the pre-Gore version of the internet. Tell-a-friend, telephone, tell-a-Lu. A more efficient form of communication there has yet to be discovered.

On the other hand, Uncle Michael is just as likely to let the answering machine pick up as he is to answer himself. We talked yesterday about the MacBook that would be best for him, how I was bummed to miss seeing the waves at Mavericks this weekend, how he was bummed to miss riding the big swell coming in - but about his medical condition? Not so much.

He is sounding and feeling good. He has his spinal treatment on Friday. Because he's off of work his insurance got cancelled but he's budgeted for COBRA and his living expenses through the money from the fundraiser. He plans to go back to work in July.

Wow, I suppose I got more out of him than I thought. I guess I'm like my mom like that! Here's a photo of Mom chatting with Uncle Michael yesterday.

Almost There!

Knocking on wood that all of her levels stay up and she remains in good health, this is Mom's last full week of chemo. Her entire treatment should be over the week before Christmas, with follow-up and maintenance afterwards. We still have to visit a cardiologist because her heart rate has been high at times (claps to Dr. Gabrillo's office for changing up staff and getting the authorization quickly!) and there are other tasks ahead. But we're almost through the thick of it and the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter by the day. Thanks to everyone for all of your support - mmmmwaah!

In a New York Weekend

Davidson had business in New York so I decided to tag along. We each left on Friday and met up in New York. It was nice to spend time together and we crammed as much as we could into the short time we had. I hadn't been to NY since I was a kid and Davidson had never been - there was a lot to do! I had planned to be back on Sunday before Mom's Chemo Week started back up, but the snow prevented that. Thank goodness Jorge was able to step up and take Mom to the clinic and he got to see first-hand how everything goes. Dre said the whole port thing freaked him out a little but he brought Chinese for lunch and all was right in the world. I was able to catch a flight yesterday and arrived last night around 11pm. I'm tired as heck but I'm glad to be back!

Here are some pictures of D & I playing tourist this weekend and the one to the left is of us in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center.

Keoni's 1st Home Game

Keoni is a goalie for his high school soccer team and he had his first home game last Thursday. I really appreciated him wearing bright orange so I could pick him out in a crowd. It made it SO much easier to take his picture! Such a thoughtful boy. Here's Uncle John ad Keoni celebrating his three-to-three tie against a team I never quite caught the name of. See how cute they match? And you can find a few more shots here.