WE'VE MADE IT THIS FAR - AN END AND A BEGINNING

Valerie & Lily dancing on the beach in our fair city.

HELLO!!!!  Sorry for leaving you hanging.... :)

I’ve gotten a few nudges since then and I’ve been thinking about updating - but somehow my THOUGHTS do NOT turn into actions!?!?  ..... if only...

So I’m just going to recap the month of January - because it was a DOOZY (from a business standpoint).

Since they had time to waste, Sara took advantage of the
local homemade tequila.

January was a bit of a whirlwind.  Janurary 4th, Valerie’s sister, Sara arrived (her 2nd trip).  She was here from 1/4-1/10.  You’d have to ask her, but I think she had a great time from the looks of her Facebook page!  She did a lot of kayaking, biking, and working out.  

We were running out of some of Valerie’s supplements (from Mexico) and had decided that we just needed to go down and get a refill.  [Background:  I communicate regularly with the aftercare people in Mexico and I can order SOME of her supplements and have them mailed, but due to the U.S.A.’s restrictive laws, we can’t get ALL of them mailed.]  So Sara rode with Valerie to the Oasis of Hope to get a bag full of supplements to last us a few months.  

Sorry for the graphics - but this ended up being a big part
of the last month.  Valerie's mom had to let Valerie take
care of her during this time - making her breakfast, cleaning
her wound, getting her medicine, and checking on her 24/7.

One of the meds was not readily available, so they had to waste some time before heading home.  Other than Valerie almost falling asleep while driving, they made it there and back in one piece with all of the medications and Valerie was grateful not to have to drive alone.  [Background:  I have to be very careful about the time I take off - with the time I’ve used to go to Mexico and the trip we plan to take soon - I don’t have a lot of time to spare.  Otherwise, I would have liked to have driven down and gotten them for her myself.]

The day after they returned from Mexico, Valerie had her monthly appointment at the oncologist's office.  She received her monthly IV of Zometa.  It's getting better, but it tends to wipe her out for days after - sometimes exhibiting flu like symptoms for up to 3 days.

Mom P's "bandaid"

The following weekend, Valerie and I were headed off on our bikes to eat brunch.  Valerie got a phone call from her mom asking for a bandaid.  We put the bikes back up and went to see what happened.  Let's just say that these pictures do not even come close to showing how AWFUL the cut on her leg was.  She ended up needing a trip to the ER and about 10 stitches.  After all of that and daily cleanings, she's gone through an infection, 2 rounds of antibiotics and she's still on the mend.  Glad we rushed over to give her a bandaid! :)

Joseph & Maria transforming our garage!

From 1/11-1/16, we went to physical therapy, work, a play, and worked A LOT around the house.  There is still so much to do - painting, moving boxes, reorganizing, hanging things on the walls, staining the cabinets, etc.  Valerie and I do those things every spare minute we have that we aren’t just wiped out.

The play we saw was at our local theater.  Valerie, her mom, and I went to see “Barefoot in the Park.”  We had been wanting to go since we moved here and it was fun to go with Mom P. - even though I think she may have snoozed for a minute or two.  :)

Joseph & Aunt Val

On January 17th, Valerie’s nephew, Joseph and his wife Maria, arrived.  We have not seen Joseph for about 10 years and we have never met his wife, Maria.  They stayed from 1/17-1/23.  And again... you’d have to ask them, but I’m pretty sure they had a great time!  They went whale watching, to Disneyland, and walking around Long Beach.

Joe & Lily / making "dinner" on our new kitchen nook
table - Michelle had it in storage & it belonged to her and
Valerie's grandmother

Joseph took a day to put some extra shelves in our garage and in our front closet.  Maria is a natural at organizing and taught us all about “totes.”  :)  She and Valerie went shopping for storage and before Valerie knew it, Maria had filled up their carts with large storage Rubbermaid containers!  We are SO thankful to have extra storage and to have “seen the light” when it comes to “totes.”  :)

Having dinner at one of our favorites - The Pizza Place
Joe, Michelle & Melissa

During that time, we continued to go to 

Physical Therapy twice a week, Valerie had a blood draw, and we had to attend an all day training for our continuing education units for our licenses.

Two days after Joe and Maria left, Valerie’s sister, Michelle, her husband Joe, and one of their daughter’s, Melissa arrived - from Colorado - by car.  And little did we know.... when they arrived, they had a 30 pound living, breathing 

surprise in the car with them.  They brought Savannah’s daughter, Lily with them!

Valerie said that different people brought different things -
some brought furniture, some brought their expertise....
and she said, Lily brought the Sunshine. :)

While they were here, Joe hung the last of the blinds to get put up in our place.  WHEW!!  He, Michelle, Melissa, and Mom P. spent the last few days posting things on Craigslist and cleaning out #12.  It was a BIG job!

Valerie had decided that she really wanted to do something nice as a “going away” for her family.  Her mom had been here for 4.5 months, and Michelle had been here 4 different times for a total of about 7 weeks - and she had opened and closed the #12 condo.   So, Valerie bought whale watching tickets as a “going away” thank you. 

Great Grandma (Grandma Gigi) putting
lipstick on Lily

It has been hard for Valerie to do fun physical things for several reasons - she has been so weak for so long, and now that she has some strength, she has taken back up the chore of our on-going remodel - in the hopes that she will have a warm, healing environment sometime soon.  Between all of that, plus working regularly, there's hardly a minute to spare.

Since family first started arriving - July 28th (Vanessa) - until they all (Joe & Michelle, Mom P., Jon, Melissa, Sara, Bill & Dianne, Joseph & Maria) left - January 31, this is a snapshot of what happened.....

Front Row! on the whale watching trip!

Aunt Val & Melissa headed out to see the whales.

• Valerie was hospitalized because the cancer had spread to her bones, causing her calcium levels to rise to a dangerous 14.8 (normal is 8.6-10.2) --- her calcium is now a smooth 9.6.
• Valerie came home from the hospital using a walker and sleeping in a hospital bed --- she now sleeps in her own bed and hasn’t used a walker in months.  (side note - her physical therapist just gave her permission to jog... see video below)
• Valerie’s “tumor markers” reached a high of 162 (normal is below 32) --- it is now a low 27.
• Valerie was sent home for palliative (look it up) care by her U.S. oncologist --- she has since been to Mexico for treatment and her Mexican oncologists say that she is doing fantastic and they expect her to live a long healthy life.

There are still many ongoing challenges:  daily mega-doses of supplements; medication side effects - hair loss due to the low doses of chemo she’s taking, hot flashes due to the hormone blocker; pressure not to eat sugar or carbs because the tumor loves those things (think about what you really WANT to eat when you’re stressed and/or down); oh yeah, and then there’s the whole - “you’ve got a deadly disease, but DON’T STRESS OUT because that will kill you sooner” advice.  

In spite of the challenges, and largely because of the love and support of all of you, we push on and laugh as much as possible, love each other the best we can, and send our most sincere thanks and gratitude for each of you who have sent packages, invested your time & sweat, sent money, love, texts, and your warm thoughts.  We wouldn’t be here without you.

Here's to 50 more years!

I will continue to sporadically update the blog when eventful things happen - i.e. trips to Mexico / changes in health / or when I randomly feel like it. :)  Those of you on Facebook see the posts quickly.  If you aren’t on Facebook, you can enter your email in the box provided at the top of the page on any post and you will receive the posts via email as soon as they are posted.

As I read back over this I feel a sense that the blog is lacking something.  There's so much to say about the month of January - about the past year (it will be one year since Valerie found the lump on 2/18) - about the ending of family being close by - about resuming some sense of a normal life.  It's so hard to encapsulate it in a blog.  I had a difficult time infusing the emotion this time around.  Just know that it comes from blood, sweat and tears... even if I didn't articulate the tears and emotion quite as well.


Thank you all so much for your continued support and love.  We feel it and appreciate it daily. xoxo