Etsy Treasuries ...
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Fall
Ok so I didn't get out in the yard much this last month. But I did enjoy the fall colors each day on the drive into Boston to the hospital. I try to keep reminding myself to enjoy the beauty -- because soon I'll be looking at grey and maybe snow!
Etsy Treasuries ...
Etsy Treasuries ...
Friday, September 24, 2010
Enjoying the warm days of fall!
I've been trying to spend at least a half hour outside tending to the overgrown (yet pretty) gardens. I've got a million things to do but I NEED to get outside to relieve some of the stress and worry over my husband's health. I've started at the driveway side garden nearest the mailbox. This year it was overtaken with crabgrass. I'm transplanting a few "wild" plants that have spread around the yard and going to add some rocks to create a little shading for the plant roots. 
I get side tracked though with all the other things in the yard though. The golden rod is going crazy. I love it this time of year when paired with the asters we planted for the honey bees. Our yard is never so busy with bees than at this time of year. Our own hives are still this year but there are plenty of wild honey bees to be seen. 
Well who wouldn't be cheered up by a little warm sunshine on a cool fresh morning with an abundance of flowers and bees all around?
A new Etsy treasury to share made by Joanna's Photograpy ...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Happy Autumn Moon!
This Sunday we celebrated our yearly Autumn Moon Festival in our backyard with the cousins and grandma and grandpa. Isabelle insisted on tiki torches for the patio and I found a few more sets of lights to string outside as well as an abundance of candles.
The kids started the party by dressing up in their silk outfits. Then we each painted a paper lantern or banner. The kids had a lot of fun doing this yearly craft so we have quite a collection of lanterns from all the past years too. 
Then they headed outside grabbing the ribbon sticks to dance about the yard. Some were rainbow colored and others handmade from ribbons. A music tape was set up in the playhouse.
We made cookies with our chinese wooden cookie molds. Since we had purchased a box of mooncakes we just made cookies with vanilla and chocolate shortbread recipes (the chocolate was awesome!).
We ordered take out from our local Panda Wok and supplimented that with steamed buns and pork shumi from a chinese grocery store in Littleton.After dinner we made tea and served it in our tiny tea sets from China and ate our mooncakes. Then we each took a lantern and a few floating candles and walked down to the river in the darkness. We could see the moon coming up through the clouds. Our little lanterns shown just enough light to walk by. At the river we each lit a candle and sent it floating down river with a prayer and moment of silence. It was so pretty! We walked back up towards the house and restarted our bonfire and toasted marshmallows and lit sparklers.
Mark was a bit under the weather and enjoyed the day relaxing watching sports on tv with Uncle Pete. Emma took over on cooking the steamed food (Mark's job) and did an excellent job. Mark didn't make it outside to enjoy the night lights and walk under the moonlight and we missed him. But the kids were busy enough to keep Robin, Grandma, and I running around.
Monday, August 30, 2010
End of Summer
Today is our last summer day before school starts. We've had a lovely summer with Mark feeling up to a few outings and vacations. He is really doing quite well compared to the winter/spring and can walk short distances (including the walk from the parking lot to the beach -- which totally exhausts him) and this has allowed us some freedom.
We enjoyed our last weekend of the summer in Ogunquit with a one night stay in a motel. The outdoor pool was too cold to be enjoyed by the girls but they did spend some time in the over chlorinated indoor pool. Spamalot was playing at the playhouse so we arranged to spend Saturday evening there. It was fun and enjoyed by all. Sunday was our day at the beach and Mark was a trooper getting across and over the footbridge. We had to contend with the tide coming in and moving our setup a few times. Isabelle LOVED the water and boogie board surfing in the awesome waves. The other girls avoided the cold water more.
I just wanted to share a few composite photos of some of my work ...
We enjoyed our last weekend of the summer in Ogunquit with a one night stay in a motel. The outdoor pool was too cold to be enjoyed by the girls but they did spend some time in the over chlorinated indoor pool. Spamalot was playing at the playhouse so we arranged to spend Saturday evening there. It was fun and enjoyed by all. Sunday was our day at the beach and Mark was a trooper getting across and over the footbridge. We had to contend with the tide coming in and moving our setup a few times. Isabelle LOVED the water and boogie board surfing in the awesome waves. The other girls avoided the cold water more.
I just wanted to share a few composite photos of some of my work ...
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Small steps
It was weeks more in the hospital last March. Meanwhile Mark's strength to walk was waning with little physically therapy available to him. Basically even sitting up in bed became difficult. Walking was near impossible. Eventually with persistence and tears we were able to insist on Mark's move out of the hospital and into rehab. We were lucky to have a place for him to go that was about 10-15 minutes away. Unfortunately we could no longer stay the nights with him.
After a week at rehab he regained enough strength to get out of bed with a walker and get to the bathroom. So we got a hospital bed for home and a walker and a week later he was home with us. FINALLY. The swelling in his legs had reduced dramatically. He was happy being home with us and we were happy having him. It was a difficult time though. Being out of hospital care meant a lot of worry of what could or might happen at any moment. The nights were the worst but they were survived and morning came again. I think we all were suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress thing.
A physical therapist and a nurse came to the house at least once a week. Mark had exersizes to do and the days went by pretty quickly. The expansion of our cable channel signup meant many hours watching the food channel and such. Plus we started a few movies so we could watch together.
In May things were looking up a bit though the scan results at the end of April did not look good at all. But his health and increased movement was slowly improving. Getting off the chemo I'm sure helped too.
He did end up with more blood clots in his legs and then went on blood thinner. This isn't a happy chore for him with 2 shots a day. But it has worked great. Mid-may he went in for a week for cyberknife treatment on his spine mets. This was a relatively painless but time consuming procedure. About a week later he was in for surgery on his spine to stabilize everything. It was a much bigger operation than expected and we were a little scared to loose what little new mobility we had gained.
But his recovery was rather good and slowly but surely he was back to his mobility in May and then surpassing even that.
After a week at rehab he regained enough strength to get out of bed with a walker and get to the bathroom. So we got a hospital bed for home and a walker and a week later he was home with us. FINALLY. The swelling in his legs had reduced dramatically. He was happy being home with us and we were happy having him. It was a difficult time though. Being out of hospital care meant a lot of worry of what could or might happen at any moment. The nights were the worst but they were survived and morning came again. I think we all were suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress thing.
A physical therapist and a nurse came to the house at least once a week. Mark had exersizes to do and the days went by pretty quickly. The expansion of our cable channel signup meant many hours watching the food channel and such. Plus we started a few movies so we could watch together.
In May things were looking up a bit though the scan results at the end of April did not look good at all. But his health and increased movement was slowly improving. Getting off the chemo I'm sure helped too.
He did end up with more blood clots in his legs and then went on blood thinner. This isn't a happy chore for him with 2 shots a day. But it has worked great. Mid-may he went in for a week for cyberknife treatment on his spine mets. This was a relatively painless but time consuming procedure. About a week later he was in for surgery on his spine to stabilize everything. It was a much bigger operation than expected and we were a little scared to loose what little new mobility we had gained.
But his recovery was rather good and slowly but surely he was back to his mobility in May and then surpassing even that.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Spring comes ...
We survived our ordeal at the hospital but not without emotional and a few very real scars. It was a place of seemingly endless torture though ironically we were so dependent upon them for daily survival.
Everything seemed to be going so well with his first round of chemotherapy. The side effects that we were so dreading were really not as bad as expected. Mark was pretty much couch-bound since learning that the pain he endured on his hip and back were due to bone metastasis. He was reluctant to leave the house much even to go to work because both the discomfort and his feeling rather fragile. Looking at the scans and seeing how the cancer had invaded his spine I couldn't help but shared his concern though worried over his lack of mobility. We had visitors during this period which included my mom and her husband and then soon followed by Mark's parents from MI and brother from LA. That visit went smoothly coming several days after his first treatment. Mark went into work for a few hours while his dad and I looked for a recliner chair to make him more comfortable at home. Mark was no longer comfortable sleeping in a bed and had moved downstairs to the couch. But the couch being a bit older wasn't quite so comfortable. The chair worked well and Mark seemed happy enough to spend the better part of the day and night there.
In the midst of this turmoil our families visited with Mark. We celebrated Isabelle's 9th birthday and even a little Chinese New Years with the cousins and my sister. On Monday February 16th the house was quiet again with everyone gone home. On Tuesday evening Mark started coughing up blood and we were off to the local emergency room. It was a terrifying experience and I was sick to my stomach as I drove. We returned home after midnight while the girls slept soundly. Wednesday we drove all the way to Beth Israel Hospital as he began coughing up more blood.
They gave him an IV and hooked him up to the heart monitors. He must of had a CT or x-ray but I don't recall this. We waited several hours wondering what was going on. Mark had stopped coughing up the blood. They administered heparin which I questioned but evidently he had small pulmonary embolisms in his lungs. Giving him heparin while he coughed up blood (hemoptysis) seemed like a bad idea to me. He was also diagnosed as having pnuemonia and put on antibiotics. Around 7 pm they were working on moving him to the east campus to a room to stay in overnight. I rode with him in the ambulance but we were delivered to the wrong room. It was no wonder we weren't visited by any nurses. I asked for pillows to make him comfortable but none arrived. I was anxious to have him situated because I planned on returning home to the girls that night. I had no idea of the seriousness of this situation or I would not have left him. Eventually in my visits to the nurses station we discovered that Mark had been misplaced (i.e. put in the wrong room by the Ambulance EMTs) . Finally someone visited us. What would have happened if I wasn't there, I wondered? And so I was off to home. Somewhere in the middle of the night I called to check on Mark. He had started coughing up more blood and was moved to the ICU.
After getting the girls situated (it was winter break week) I rushed back down to Boston again. I found Mark in the ICU and was happy to see him. He was on a lot of medications but pretty much frustrated about being hospitalized. They had stopped the heparin though, DUH!, because of the hemoptysis. I must of made arrangement for the girls or had Isabelle stay at the Hunt's because I did spend the night with him in the ICU. Mark's dad flew in from Michigan and came directly to the hospital. Mark's hemoptysis continued spaced by 12 - 18 hours of nothing. A broncoscopy was performed Thursday evening in the ICU but was really not useful since they could see nothing with the technology of the equipment. Friday morning he was moved to the West campus for a repeat broncoscopy with Dr. Michaud (and better equipment). Dr. Michaud notices that Mark has no compression boots on (to prevent blood clots when bedridden). They are put on. Broncoscopy performed and some cleaning up around the collapsed tumor was done. In the late afternoon we were visited by two sets of doctors. One wanted to perform some sort of cauterization of the tumor. The other radiation. We signed the consent forms for the cauterization procedure only to be told by the radiation doctor that we were doing radiation. I broke down at that point wondering at the lack of communication going on. Inevitably we were back in the ambulance headed for the East campus for radiation. He had his first of what what intended to be about 10 treatments.
By now they had discovered that Mark had developed blood clots in his legs. I suppose I wasn't surprised by this but frustrated that he hadn't had the "boots" sooner. The boot on the effected leg was removed. Mark's brother and mother returned from Michigan. Kent helped out staying alternating nights with the girls and with his mom. I rotated nights at the hospital with Mark with his dad and nights at home with the girls.
Due to the blood clots and the inability to administer heparin due to the hemoptyis an IVC filter was suggested. This is a filter that is inserted into the main vein in the leg and is supposed to catch blood clots and prevent them from travelling to other places in the body where they can do serious damage. Having no other option we agreed.
Saturday the girls had a brief visit in the ICU to see Mark. Sunday was Emma's birthday and she came in alone with Mark's mom and brother. We sang happy birthday and gave her a present.
After this procedure Mark's condition seemed to go downhill quite a bit. He lost blood through his urine now but had stopped coughing up blood. A low blood pressure meant he needed blood transfusions. He did loose his hair too. They did continue (changing the chemo drugs though) with his next chemo treatment on Tuesday. He did show some improvement then (less blood in urine) and was moved from the ICU to the chemotherapy floor. I guess this was good?!?!?!? But it was really touch and go.
On Thursday evening after his daily radiation treatment he developed severe irritation to his esophogus and could swallow no liquids or food. No more coughing up blood though (for quite a few days now).
Friday found him in intense pain from the radiation though none of the nurses/doctors seemed to attribute it to that. I asked them to contact the radiation doctor. But no. We saw a GI doctor but he recommended time. Somehow or other he ended up getting a barium scan which showed his esophogus was not blocked. A late visit by the radiation doctor (who had spoken to noone else) did clear things up. I described the situation and he recommended a solution for his throat. A day of pain and he could have had relief sooner. I refused to let him have another radiation treatment and the doctor reluctantly agreed to hold off until Monday.
Saturday the girls visited (after NEC) again along with my sister Robin. It was a lovely time to spend with him and he did appear improved. But after everyone had left I discovered Mark's legs to be completely swollen. The nurses hadn't noticed this. They continued with his blood transfusions and he continued to "blow up".
Everything seemed to be going so well with his first round of chemotherapy. The side effects that we were so dreading were really not as bad as expected. Mark was pretty much couch-bound since learning that the pain he endured on his hip and back were due to bone metastasis. He was reluctant to leave the house much even to go to work because both the discomfort and his feeling rather fragile. Looking at the scans and seeing how the cancer had invaded his spine I couldn't help but shared his concern though worried over his lack of mobility. We had visitors during this period which included my mom and her husband and then soon followed by Mark's parents from MI and brother from LA. That visit went smoothly coming several days after his first treatment. Mark went into work for a few hours while his dad and I looked for a recliner chair to make him more comfortable at home. Mark was no longer comfortable sleeping in a bed and had moved downstairs to the couch. But the couch being a bit older wasn't quite so comfortable. The chair worked well and Mark seemed happy enough to spend the better part of the day and night there.
In the midst of this turmoil our families visited with Mark. We celebrated Isabelle's 9th birthday and even a little Chinese New Years with the cousins and my sister. On Monday February 16th the house was quiet again with everyone gone home. On Tuesday evening Mark started coughing up blood and we were off to the local emergency room. It was a terrifying experience and I was sick to my stomach as I drove. We returned home after midnight while the girls slept soundly. Wednesday we drove all the way to Beth Israel Hospital as he began coughing up more blood.
They gave him an IV and hooked him up to the heart monitors. He must of had a CT or x-ray but I don't recall this. We waited several hours wondering what was going on. Mark had stopped coughing up the blood. They administered heparin which I questioned but evidently he had small pulmonary embolisms in his lungs. Giving him heparin while he coughed up blood (hemoptysis) seemed like a bad idea to me. He was also diagnosed as having pnuemonia and put on antibiotics. Around 7 pm they were working on moving him to the east campus to a room to stay in overnight. I rode with him in the ambulance but we were delivered to the wrong room. It was no wonder we weren't visited by any nurses. I asked for pillows to make him comfortable but none arrived. I was anxious to have him situated because I planned on returning home to the girls that night. I had no idea of the seriousness of this situation or I would not have left him. Eventually in my visits to the nurses station we discovered that Mark had been misplaced (i.e. put in the wrong room by the Ambulance EMTs) . Finally someone visited us. What would have happened if I wasn't there, I wondered? And so I was off to home. Somewhere in the middle of the night I called to check on Mark. He had started coughing up more blood and was moved to the ICU.
After getting the girls situated (it was winter break week) I rushed back down to Boston again. I found Mark in the ICU and was happy to see him. He was on a lot of medications but pretty much frustrated about being hospitalized. They had stopped the heparin though, DUH!, because of the hemoptysis. I must of made arrangement for the girls or had Isabelle stay at the Hunt's because I did spend the night with him in the ICU. Mark's dad flew in from Michigan and came directly to the hospital. Mark's hemoptysis continued spaced by 12 - 18 hours of nothing. A broncoscopy was performed Thursday evening in the ICU but was really not useful since they could see nothing with the technology of the equipment. Friday morning he was moved to the West campus for a repeat broncoscopy with Dr. Michaud (and better equipment). Dr. Michaud notices that Mark has no compression boots on (to prevent blood clots when bedridden). They are put on. Broncoscopy performed and some cleaning up around the collapsed tumor was done. In the late afternoon we were visited by two sets of doctors. One wanted to perform some sort of cauterization of the tumor. The other radiation. We signed the consent forms for the cauterization procedure only to be told by the radiation doctor that we were doing radiation. I broke down at that point wondering at the lack of communication going on. Inevitably we were back in the ambulance headed for the East campus for radiation. He had his first of what what intended to be about 10 treatments.
By now they had discovered that Mark had developed blood clots in his legs. I suppose I wasn't surprised by this but frustrated that he hadn't had the "boots" sooner. The boot on the effected leg was removed. Mark's brother and mother returned from Michigan. Kent helped out staying alternating nights with the girls and with his mom. I rotated nights at the hospital with Mark with his dad and nights at home with the girls.
Due to the blood clots and the inability to administer heparin due to the hemoptyis an IVC filter was suggested. This is a filter that is inserted into the main vein in the leg and is supposed to catch blood clots and prevent them from travelling to other places in the body where they can do serious damage. Having no other option we agreed.
Saturday the girls had a brief visit in the ICU to see Mark. Sunday was Emma's birthday and she came in alone with Mark's mom and brother. We sang happy birthday and gave her a present.
After this procedure Mark's condition seemed to go downhill quite a bit. He lost blood through his urine now but had stopped coughing up blood. A low blood pressure meant he needed blood transfusions. He did loose his hair too. They did continue (changing the chemo drugs though) with his next chemo treatment on Tuesday. He did show some improvement then (less blood in urine) and was moved from the ICU to the chemotherapy floor. I guess this was good?!?!?!? But it was really touch and go.
On Thursday evening after his daily radiation treatment he developed severe irritation to his esophogus and could swallow no liquids or food. No more coughing up blood though (for quite a few days now).
Friday found him in intense pain from the radiation though none of the nurses/doctors seemed to attribute it to that. I asked them to contact the radiation doctor. But no. We saw a GI doctor but he recommended time. Somehow or other he ended up getting a barium scan which showed his esophogus was not blocked. A late visit by the radiation doctor (who had spoken to noone else) did clear things up. I described the situation and he recommended a solution for his throat. A day of pain and he could have had relief sooner. I refused to let him have another radiation treatment and the doctor reluctantly agreed to hold off until Monday.
Saturday the girls visited (after NEC) again along with my sister Robin. It was a lovely time to spend with him and he did appear improved. But after everyone had left I discovered Mark's legs to be completely swollen. The nurses hadn't noticed this. They continued with his blood transfusions and he continued to "blow up".
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