CHRISTMAS & THE NEW YEAR

Valerie stylin' on Christmas morning. :)

WOW! - It's been over a month since I've posted.  Valerie and I have thought about you all and TALKED about posting quite a lot (no kidding).  I'm going to break up the last month in at least 2 different blogs.

To pick up where we left off.... my parents left on 12/17 and Valerie's mom returned on 12/18.  Christmas (or Christmahanukwanzukah as we say in our house) came soon after and we decided low key was the best plan.  To start the day, Valerie and I headed off on our bikes for brunch.  Valerie embraced the low key, relaxed idea so much, she wore her PJs - no kidding - and her awesome new boots that I got her for Christmas.  Then we went back and picked up Mom Paget (and some of us finished dressing).  The 3 of us saw a couple of movies, ate some chinese food, and looked at EXTRAVAGANT Christmas lights that weekend.  It was very fun and relaxing.  (I've put extra pictures of the lights down below if you're interested.)

A row of houses lit up along the canal. (more pics below)

New Year's was a little chaotic.  One of my cousins died suddenly (he was only in his mid 40s) and I flew to Nashville for the funeral.  I left EARLY Friday morning, arriving at the funeral home that night in time for the visitation.  Then I went to the funeral the following morning and afterwards I got to spend some time with family that I hadn't seen in quite awhile - crappy circumstances, but I had some wonderful moments with my family.  A special thank you to my mom and dad who paid for half of my ticket - you can imagine the cost of a last minute plane ticket on New Year's Eve weekend.

RIP Barry

 Valerie and her mom had planned a New Year's night out at a local restaurant by the water with fireworks afterward at 9pm (hey, it's midnight in New York by then!).  :)  Their evening was pretty "interesting" to say the least.  They got to the restaurant - got their appetizers right away - then sat - and waited - and sat - and waited.  After about an hour of that, with no more food being brought to their table - or anyone's table - they got up and left.  Plus, it was almost 9pm and they wanted to see the fireworks........ except, there was one small problem with that plan.  Fog.  They saw the clouds/fog light up with different colors, but they never saw an actual bursting firework.  :-/  They did laugh a lot while retelling the story though.  Definitely made some memories.

I flew home from Nashville EARLY Sunday morning, just in time to be picked up and whisked away to our pre-planned birthday brunch for Valerie's mom, at.... you guessed it... the Queen Mary.  As always, it was fantastic, the food was delicious, and we had a great time.  They sang happy birthday to Mom Paget from a center stage right before we left - a perfect ending to the brunch and a perfect beginning to the New Year.

Mom Paget's 80th Birthday Celebration

About the middle of December, Valerie and I both started going to Physical Therapy (PT) twice a week - she for all of the stiffness and pain from being bed ridden in the summer, plus having dislocated her knee last year (2010) and never regaining that strength back - and me for a pain I've had in my hamstring up through my hip/glute area.  We've been going twice a week and are still doing that, with much improvements.

Just as a side note, but for you to understand more of our hassles, when Valerie was first diagnosed, we had to switch our medical group from Pasadena to Long Beach (we hadn't changed it since we moved several months before).  With the diagnosis, we wanted to be particular about the doctors and hospital we chose.  We chose Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach (30 minutes south of us), instead of the 2 hospitals that are minutes away from our home right here in Long Beach.  Hoag has a wonderful reputation, especially for treatment of women and treatment of cancer.  I say that to explain that, now, all of our referrals and doctors are 30-45 minutes away from us, including PT.  And for reference, my job is 25 minutes north (opposite the doctors) and Valerie's work is an hour north.  So, scheduling any appointment takes a flow chart, some luck, and patience.  Having said that, I know how lucky we are to have the choice to go to Hoag and their affiliated doctors.

I will pick up with the first week in January in the next blog.  It's hard to keep things straight after such a long time... SO MUCH happens in one short month!

Continued love and gratitude from us to all of you - whether you read the blog, check in on us every now and then, send love long distance, or just having a passing positive thought about us and Valerie's continued improving health.