CHANGING OF THE GUARD / THANKSGIVING / AND MORE FUN ADVENTURES

Mary, Jon and Mom P.

These blogs are getting harder to write... but that's a good thing.  Because now I just feel like I'm basically writing about normal life.  I'll hit the high points - medical news and who is currently here visiting and what they are doing.

Valerie's brother, Jon, and his daughter, Mary flew home on Tuesday the 15th.  Valerie's mom, Colette, left on Saturday the 19th before dawn and my mom and dad, Bill & Dianne, flew in about 14 hours later.  They will be here until December 17th.

Everyone has continued to pitch in and help with as much as they are able... whether it be taking out the trash, painting rooms, or hanging new doors in our bathroom.

While Jon was here, the biggest and most difficult project he did was get 2 bi-fold doors to fit and hang in the space to close in our washer/dryer.  He thought the project would take him a couple of hours, but it wasn't until 6-8 hours later they were up.... and PERFECT!  The time delay was not his fault.  He expected to tweak things here and there to get them up, but NOTHING in our house is square, level or otherwise as you'd expect.  He beat... well, sanded.... those doors into submission!  We can't be happier to be that much closer to having those finished.

Jon working on some frustrating closet doors

My mom and dad have been cleaning, painting the bathroom, and other odds and ends -- although we gave them time off for the 4 day holiday weekend.  :)  It's amazing how much there is to do in one little condo.  (pics of them to come later)

A dear friend of ours, Debbie, had offered to bring food to the house.  That offer turned into her and her husband, Bob, treating Valerie, me, and my mom and dad to brunch in Long Beach.  We had a great time!  Thanks Deb and Bob - it really was a treat!!

Thanksgiving was a relaxed, low-key affair.  We went to Whole Foods in the morning and packed up what we each wanted from their prepared food section then went back home to eat and watch football all day.  YUM!

As for medical news.... We had a phone consult last week with Dr. Ceceña at The Oasis of Hope.  He did our initial phone consult before our first visit and to prepare for this call, he had reviewed Valerie's most recent CT scan.  

Some play time at the beach - Mary & Jon.

If you remember, on our first visit there, we were told that their standard treatment would include 3 separate trips to The Oasis separated by 4 weeks at home in between each trip.  Well, we've done 2 trips there and we've now been home 7 weeks since the last week..... so we were kind of expecting him to say "pack up and get here."  Well, what he said was, after they reviewed Valerie's case in their weekly treatment team meeting, they recommend that she return for a one week "booster" session at our convenience.  They feel like she is doing so well that she can benefit from continued treatment, but there is no sense of urgency or fear.  YEA!!  So, we will make plans to return for a week sometime after the first of the year and Valerie will continue to adhere to the daily supplement regimen they prescribe.

the brunch crew - Bob, Deb, Tracie, Valerie, Dianne & Bill

Immediate future plans include: getting our place in some type of order to host 10-40 people at our annual HOA meeting this Sunday; continue to work on our place and make it a complete, healing, peaceful place; Valerie will continue her monthly IV treatments at her oncologist's office of Zometa; and we are determined to have some relaxing, fun time in the near future too!!

oh - this last picture probably needs some explaining... I grew up in TN until junior high, then we moved to KY.  Well, TN and KY played football last Saturday and my mom and dad brought me this TN jacket.  I love orange and TN sports.  After beating KY for 26 years in a row, we decided to let them have one this year.... so next time. :)

Love to you all!

MORE GOOD NEWS

The Huntington Beach sky driving to the doctor's office.

Friday, November 4th, Valerie had another CT scan done to compare to those done in July and in March to see if the cancer is showing signs of retreat or signs of more aggression.  This past Friday, November 11 (yes, 11/11/11), Valerie had a routine (monthly) appointment with her oncologist, Dr. Chen, and he, and his Physician's Assistant, Jennifer (who we have MUCH more contact with) were VERY happy about her progress.  They are typically pretty conservative about their prognosis, etc.  This past Friday, they both came in smiling.  Valerie had previously had a biopsy on a lymph node that tested positive for cancer - it is now GONE.  Her tumor markers (tested through blood) are decreasing at a significant rate.  The main breast tumor, by physical exam, is much smaller.  ALL looks good!!

Mary and Valerie returning from a bike ride
right AFTER a 60 second downpour.

Valerie's oncologist was so happy that the femara and zometa are working so well.  (read this with a healthy amount of sarcasm from me)  The femara is a hormone blocker (pill form) recommended both by Dr. Chen and by Dr. Carbajal, in Mexico.  The zometa is an IV treatment to strengthen the bones and fight against the cancer in Valerie's spine, again recommended by both doctors.  Dr. Chen is only able to recognize the effectiveness of HIS prescriptions.  Even though Valerie has foregone 90% of his treatment recommendations.  We KNOW that Valerie is doing so well because of her treatment in Mexico, including the 2 treatments that coincide with Dr. Chen's recommendations.  Thank you again to everyone that has made the Mexico treatment possible.  We truly believe that it has made the most significant difference and has potentially saved Valerie's life.

Mary and Valerie putting together a puzzle.

Nevertheless, the BIG news here is that the scans are positive and the cancer is definitely retreating, and not growing.  Valerie is stronger every day.  They didn't do any scans or tests that actually measure the state of the original breast tumor.  After we asked about that, the oncologist ordered an ultrasound to see if it is smaller (like we already know it is).  So that will be happening this week also.

We are sending these scans and tests to Mexico and will have a phone consultation with them to determine if we will be going back there for another round of treatment.

Valerie's brother, Jon, came back last Wednesday (11/9).  This time with his youngest daughter, Mary (age 10).  He has been working the past few days on completing some more home projects.  (pictures to come later).

In the meantime, Mary has kept Valerie busy coloring, playing cards, putting together puzzles, going on bike rides, etc.

Mary and Valerie with the puzzle COMPLETE!!

Over the past week, Valerie has gone to work, done projects around the house, done all of those activities with Mary, managed the to do list at home, and overall functioned much like she did before February, 2011.

She does still get tired and need consideration and space to heal.  Her body is still working very hard to get and stay healthy.  So, we will continue to remember to give her that space and let her body heal itself, while enjoying her recovered abilities to participate in "normal" life again.  It's been a good week.

VALERIE BALBOA

VALERIE BALBOA!

Okay, so SUNDAY!!  Sorry to leave you hanging.  I've hyped it up quite a bit.  It was just a very special day.

We started out sleeping late and then just putzing around the house.  Around 11am, Valerie suggested we go for a bike ride and maybe get something to eat.  So, we set off on our bikes and ended up at one of our favorite breakfast/brunch places - Ambrosia.  I should mention that it was a glorious California fall day - sunny and mid 70s most of the day.  :)

Ambrosia

While we were eating brunch (with our mimosas and coffee with irish cream) we made a deal to take a break from all of the worries of house stuff for awhile and to just talk about other things.  That led us to talk a little bit about the past few months - how many activities Valerie is now doing that we both wondered if she'd ever do again - how hard it was for her to be so incapacitated for so long - how hard it was for me to see and hear her be in such pain for so long.  Let's just say, tears were shed, tender kisses were shared, and it was a great beginning to a great day.

The Naples Fountain right in the middle of
the smaller "island in the island."

Something you should know about Valerie... when she gets set on something, don't get in her way, she will see it through

to the end.  That apparently applies to not talking about "work/house" stuff for awhile because she was off and running!  She said, "Why don't we just bike down to the water for a minute."  And where we live, that's totally possible.  We can bike down and back up to the house in 15 minutes.  But you get where I'm going right?  15 minutes turned into about 7 hours or so. :)

The island of Naples and the smaller "island within
the island" towards the bottom of the big island.

Once she got her feet in the sand and walked up and down the beach - her Valerie Balboa moment - there was no stopping her.  Walking on the beach is something that has always been one of Valerie's favorite things of all time.... and it was something that we both wondered if


she'd ever do again.

After walking along the beach and sitting for awhile, Valerie suggested we go explore the canals around Naples (an little island in Long Beach).  We had a short conversation about whether or not she was pushing herself too hard but concluded we could stop and rest or turn around any time we wanted. So off we went to the canals!

One of the MANY canal pictures I took.  We saw people
paddleboarding (like in this pic), boating, in gondolas,
swimming, and ridding paddle boats.

You can see in the map/picture the island of Naples.  There's also a smaller island within the island towards the bottom of the bigger island.  That's where we biked around.  The houses were
absolutely AMAZING!  Just spectacular patios and large windows looking out onto the canal.  We biked around half of the smaller island and then decided we were hungary again, so we headed to 2nd street - known for it's restaurants and shopping.

La Palapa - this is their newly remodeled patio.  With
towers of fire and cabanas.

We ended up at K. C. Branaghan's - an Irish pub - during the last 5 minutes of the afternoon NFL games.  So we caught the end of a few games and ate a delicious veggie burger (for Valerie)

and traditional boxty (for me).  The boxty was basically a potato crepe with veggies inside.  We both thought our food was DELICIOUS.

After our lunch, we headed back to round out the rest of the inner canal.  We made it all the way around and enjoyed every minute of it.  The canals, the houses, the boats.... were all beautiful.  Oh, and did I mention, we hadn't talked about the remodeling, or work, or anything mildly related!

Our bike home - you can't tell, but the sky is
orange and red behind us.

After finishing off the canals, we headed back to the bike path home.  We found this place on the beach sometime last year - it's called La Palapa - and we agreed to stop there for dessert on our way home.  La Palapa basically means "simple thatched roof dwelling."  This restaurant does have a thatched roof and it's right on the beach.  They have blankets piled up by the hostess for those sitting on the patio that need a little extra warmth.  There's live music and several older couples who usually dance.  We LOVE it.

Biking toward our lovely downtown Long Beach.  It
makes a gorgeous sunset.

Then we biked the rest of the way home.  We saw the most gorgeous sky and sunset.  We fell in love with our city all over again.

When we first moved here (July 2010) we would often say how much we loved our choice of city to live in and how we know we made the right decision.  After months of nothing but incapacitation, doctor's visits, being cooped up in this house, and hospital stays, it was so nice to be back out enjoying our city again.  Something we both wondered if we'd ever be able to do again.

We got home and putzed around a bit and fell asleep soon after.  It was the most wonderful, satisfying day after a long trudge through a dessert that seemed to be becoming our new reality.  It was a wonderful day. :)

Now on to the rest of this week...

MONDAY:  Valerie had to go to Quest to have her labs drawn, because apparently, the home health company discharged her on October 9th.  They just don't find it particularly necessary to inform the patient they are being discharged.   Then we went to our primary care doctor (the doctor we went to see on 7/20 because Valerie had been in so much pain for so long - only to hear that "everything is fine" and "your pain isn't related to your cancer" - and then to have Valerie hospitalized on an emergency basis 2 days later .... because the cancer WAS in her back/spine).  Anyway, we went to see her to get a referral for physical therapy.  She readily referred Valerie to physical therapy and there was no discussion of her drastic misdiagnosis of the last visit.

Valerie racking up the winnings at Looffs. 

Valerie then came home and slept - a little tired from the day before. :)  In the afternoon, after checking the mail, we realized we'd received the long awaited check from Valerie's aunt Georgia's estate.  It somehow seems tacky to say how much it is, but suffice it to say, it is a significant amount of money that will make our financial life much more manageable.  In honor of her Aunt Georgia, Valerie wanted to deposit the check and then go to the nearest casino.  Apparently her Aunt Georgia loved to gamble and Valerie wanted to do something to honor her.  We ended up at this pinball/bingo place called Looffs.  It was fun and while we didn't double our money or anything, I think Aunt Georgia would have liked it.

TUESDAY:  I got home from work and found that Valerie had spent all day moving things between the attic, the house, and the garage, getting things more organized.  We ate steamed veggies and watched a movie with her mom that night.

The shower we've lived with for
the past year.

WEDNESDAY:  Valerie dealt with the tile guy who tiled in our shower while we were in Mexico. He came back to finish up a few things.  And she continued to take care of things around the house  Kind of a normalish (normal from MONTHS ago) day.

THURSDAY:  I called Valerie in the middle of the day to ask something and found out she was up in Pasadena running errands - at the Habitat for Humanity store, at the Container Store, and who knows where else.  I beat her home that day.  She got home after 6 - I made us some veggie burgers that we inhaled - then we had an HOA meeting from 7-10.  That meeting was probably the most exhausting part of the day. :-/

FRIDAY:  Today, Valerie's follow up CT scan is scheduled for this afternoon.  We are trying not to be too nervous about it, but it sure will be great to have a doctor call us and tell us that the scan is consistent with everything else and shows that she's doing FANTASTIC!!

This is our new gorgeous shower/bath!

The balance to reach now is 1) knowing that Valerie is so much stronger and able to do things while 2) she still has a life threatening illness and she needs to rest and let her body continue to heal.  A lot of us see her doing well and our expectations and attitudes change and we start treating her like "normal" - but she still needs care, consideration, and room to heal.  (this is a thought directed at me as much as anyone)

I know that things are only going to continue to get better and better.  Thank you all for taking the ride with us and for being there when we need a pit stop along the way.  Your support and love continues to be the air in our tires and the breeze at our backs.  ("wind beneath our wings" was already taken)  We love and appreciate you all.