Well, its Sunday. I had my foot surgery last Friday morning. Nigel, Kristie, and I all got up at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at the hospital about 5:30 a.m.
Dr. Richardson performed the surgery at 7:30 a.m. and I was home by 10:30. Slept til 3:30...I was under the influence...man those drugs knock me out! Per the doc, the nuroma was huge and had scar tissue around it, thus the pain I'd been having for two years. Good thing I had it done.
Monica from my Women's Group delivered dinner which was yummy! Thanks Monica.
Saturday arrived and more Vicadin and more sleep.
Kathy from my Women's Group delivered dinner - italian - was great! Thanks Kathy.
And a big thanks to my new friend Asra who called today amidst her busyness to see how everything was going. It meant alot. Thanks Asra.
Nigel went to Costco and to pick up Katie and Calla at the airport. Nigel's been a huge help, taking care of me and Kristie these last two days. Last night we watched Kung Fu Panda with Kristie...GOOD MOVIE!
I'm trying to just take extra strength tylenol today for the foot pain so we'll see how it goes.
My Dad is still in the hospital but the good news is he's out of ICU. Hopefully he'll get to go home tomorrow. Please pray for his strength b/c he's really weak right now.
My next challenge is to take a shower or bath without getting my foot wet...hmmm...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Kristie update
We had a marathon doctor's appointment today. Left the house and 9 a.m. and got home at 3:30 p.m. Whew. They wear me out.
So we did our clinic appt...blood draw, blood pressure, medication review, see the doctor...then Kristie had her EPO shot...she cried. It hurt. Alot.
We had a lunch break before our next appt to have the "breathing treatment" which she's never had before. So to get out of the medical environment, we had lunch at Nordstrom's Cafe. They have THE BEST TOMATO SOUP IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! YUMMY.
We then drove back to the hospital to have the breathing treatment. Kris had to breath into a tube thingy and this liquid medicine turned to a mist which she breathed into her lungs. This medicine helps her to not get pneumonia since her immune system is suppressed right now. It was a 20 minute procedure that actually took about an hour when all was said and done. It gives you a metallic taste in your mouth so Kris had to rinse her mouth with water several times. She was a trooper. She'll have to have this done once a month for a while.
NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS...HER CREATININE WAS 1.9!!!!! SWEET! The doctors were THRILLED to say the least and so were we! They want her creatinine in the 1s (preferably in the lower 1s but they'll take what they can get right now.) Its been in the 2s since her transplant.
Thanks to everyone for praying!
Now you can say a prayer for my Dad. He had his appendix out on Sunday morning...it had ruptured and spewed out lots of nasty stuff. They did alot of cleaning out. My Dad has never been admitted to a hospital before...not even when he was born so this is a new experience for him.
I asked my Mom today if he was being a baby or a big boy and she assured me he was being a big boy. He also spent the night in the ICU because of a high heart rate.
Please pray he heals quickly & his heart settles down.
My foot surgery is Friday...not looking forward to it but am determined to get it over with.
Katie sprained her back and was in alot of pain over the weekend, went to the doctor today and got some meds for it which is giving her some relief. Please pray for some quick healing for her. Nich also threw is back out and Calla just got 4 new teeth which she's a little grumpy about.
Geez, we're just a mess! Sigh.
So we did our clinic appt...blood draw, blood pressure, medication review, see the doctor...then Kristie had her EPO shot...she cried. It hurt. Alot.
We had a lunch break before our next appt to have the "breathing treatment" which she's never had before. So to get out of the medical environment, we had lunch at Nordstrom's Cafe. They have THE BEST TOMATO SOUP IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! YUMMY.
We then drove back to the hospital to have the breathing treatment. Kris had to breath into a tube thingy and this liquid medicine turned to a mist which she breathed into her lungs. This medicine helps her to not get pneumonia since her immune system is suppressed right now. It was a 20 minute procedure that actually took about an hour when all was said and done. It gives you a metallic taste in your mouth so Kris had to rinse her mouth with water several times. She was a trooper. She'll have to have this done once a month for a while.
NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS...HER CREATININE WAS 1.9!!!!! SWEET! The doctors were THRILLED to say the least and so were we! They want her creatinine in the 1s (preferably in the lower 1s but they'll take what they can get right now.) Its been in the 2s since her transplant.
Thanks to everyone for praying!
Now you can say a prayer for my Dad. He had his appendix out on Sunday morning...it had ruptured and spewed out lots of nasty stuff. They did alot of cleaning out. My Dad has never been admitted to a hospital before...not even when he was born so this is a new experience for him.
I asked my Mom today if he was being a baby or a big boy and she assured me he was being a big boy. He also spent the night in the ICU because of a high heart rate.
Please pray he heals quickly & his heart settles down.
My foot surgery is Friday...not looking forward to it but am determined to get it over with.
Katie sprained her back and was in alot of pain over the weekend, went to the doctor today and got some meds for it which is giving her some relief. Please pray for some quick healing for her. Nich also threw is back out and Calla just got 4 new teeth which she's a little grumpy about.
Geez, we're just a mess! Sigh.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Last Lecture
I'm going to download The Last Lecture onto my Kindle and read it...Here is Amazon.com's review...I'll let you know mine when I finish.
Amazon.com Review"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."--Randy Pausch
A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
Questions for Randy Pausch
We were shy about barging in on Randy Pausch's valuable time to ask him a few questions about his expansion of his famous Last Lecture into the book by the same name, but he was gracious enough to take a moment to answer. (See Randy to the right with his kids, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.) As anyone who has watched the lecture or read the book will understand, the really crucial question is the last one, and we weren't surprised to learn that the "secret" to winning giant stuffed animals on the midway, like most anything else, is sheer persistence.
Amazon.com: I apologize for asking a question you must get far more often than you'd like, but how are you feeling?
Pausch: The tumors are not yet large enough to affect my health, so all the problems are related to the chemotherapy. I have neuropathy (numbness in fingers and toes), and varying degrees of GI discomfort, mild nausea, and fatigue. Occasionally I have an unusually bad reaction to a chemo infusion (last week, I spiked a 103 fever), but all of this is a small price to pay for walkin' around.
Amazon.com: Your lecture at Carnegie Mellon has reached millions of people, but even with the short time you apparently have, you wanted to write a book. What did you want to say in a book that you weren't able to say in the lecture?
Pausch: Well, the lecture was written quickly--in under a week. And it was time-limited. I had a great six-hour lecture I could give, but I suspect it would have been less popular at that length ;-).
A book allows me to cover many, many more stories from my life and the attendant lessons I hope my kids can take from them. Also, much of my lecture at Carnegie Mellon focused on the professional side of my life--my students, colleagues and career. The book is a far more personal look at my childhood dreams and all the lessons I've learned. Putting words on paper, I've found, was a better way for me to share all the yearnings I have regarding my wife, children and other loved ones. I knew I couldn't have gone into those subjects on stage without getting emotional.
Amazon.com: You talk about the importance--and the possibility!--of following your childhood dreams, and of keeping that childlike sense of wonder. But are there things you didn't learn until you were a grownup that helped you do that?
Pausch: That's a great question. I think the most important thing I learned as I grew older was that you can't get anywhere without help. That means people have to want to help you, and that begs the question: What kind of person do other people seem to want to help? That strikes me as a pretty good operational answer to the existential question: "What kind of person should you try to be?"
Amazon.com: One of the things that struck me most about your talk was how many other people you talked about. You made me want to meet them and work with them--and believe me, I wouldn't make much of a computer scientist. Do you think the people you've brought together will be your legacy as well?
Pausch: Like any teacher, my students are my biggest professional legacy. I'd like to think that the people I've crossed paths with have learned something from me, and I know I learned a great deal from them, for which I am very grateful. Certainly, I've dedicated a lot of my teaching to helping young folks realize how they need to be able to work with other people--especially other people who are very different from themselves.
Amazon.com: And last, the most important question: What's the secret for knocking down those milk bottles on the midway?
Pausch: Two-part answer: 1) long arms 2) discretionary income / persistence
Actually, I was never good at the milk bottles. I'm more of a ring toss and softball-in-milk-can guy, myself. More seriously, though, most people try these games once, don't win immediately, and then give up. I've won *lots* of midway stuffed animals, but I don't ever recall winning one on the very first try. Nor did I expect to. That's why I think midway games are a great metaphor for life.
From Publishers WeeklyMade famous by his Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon and the quick Internet proliferation of the video of the event, Pausch decided that maybe he just wasn't done lecturing. Despite being several months into the last stage of pancreatic cancer, he managed to put together this book. The crux of it is lessons and morals for his young and infant children to learn once he is gone. Despite his sometimes-contradictory life rules, it proves entertaining and at times inspirational.
Amazon.com Review"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."--Randy Pausch
A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
Questions for Randy Pausch
We were shy about barging in on Randy Pausch's valuable time to ask him a few questions about his expansion of his famous Last Lecture into the book by the same name, but he was gracious enough to take a moment to answer. (See Randy to the right with his kids, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.) As anyone who has watched the lecture or read the book will understand, the really crucial question is the last one, and we weren't surprised to learn that the "secret" to winning giant stuffed animals on the midway, like most anything else, is sheer persistence.
Amazon.com: I apologize for asking a question you must get far more often than you'd like, but how are you feeling?
Pausch: The tumors are not yet large enough to affect my health, so all the problems are related to the chemotherapy. I have neuropathy (numbness in fingers and toes), and varying degrees of GI discomfort, mild nausea, and fatigue. Occasionally I have an unusually bad reaction to a chemo infusion (last week, I spiked a 103 fever), but all of this is a small price to pay for walkin' around.
Amazon.com: Your lecture at Carnegie Mellon has reached millions of people, but even with the short time you apparently have, you wanted to write a book. What did you want to say in a book that you weren't able to say in the lecture?
Pausch: Well, the lecture was written quickly--in under a week. And it was time-limited. I had a great six-hour lecture I could give, but I suspect it would have been less popular at that length ;-).
A book allows me to cover many, many more stories from my life and the attendant lessons I hope my kids can take from them. Also, much of my lecture at Carnegie Mellon focused on the professional side of my life--my students, colleagues and career. The book is a far more personal look at my childhood dreams and all the lessons I've learned. Putting words on paper, I've found, was a better way for me to share all the yearnings I have regarding my wife, children and other loved ones. I knew I couldn't have gone into those subjects on stage without getting emotional.
Amazon.com: You talk about the importance--and the possibility!--of following your childhood dreams, and of keeping that childlike sense of wonder. But are there things you didn't learn until you were a grownup that helped you do that?
Pausch: That's a great question. I think the most important thing I learned as I grew older was that you can't get anywhere without help. That means people have to want to help you, and that begs the question: What kind of person do other people seem to want to help? That strikes me as a pretty good operational answer to the existential question: "What kind of person should you try to be?"
Amazon.com: One of the things that struck me most about your talk was how many other people you talked about. You made me want to meet them and work with them--and believe me, I wouldn't make much of a computer scientist. Do you think the people you've brought together will be your legacy as well?
Pausch: Like any teacher, my students are my biggest professional legacy. I'd like to think that the people I've crossed paths with have learned something from me, and I know I learned a great deal from them, for which I am very grateful. Certainly, I've dedicated a lot of my teaching to helping young folks realize how they need to be able to work with other people--especially other people who are very different from themselves.
Amazon.com: And last, the most important question: What's the secret for knocking down those milk bottles on the midway?
Pausch: Two-part answer: 1) long arms 2) discretionary income / persistence
Actually, I was never good at the milk bottles. I'm more of a ring toss and softball-in-milk-can guy, myself. More seriously, though, most people try these games once, don't win immediately, and then give up. I've won *lots* of midway stuffed animals, but I don't ever recall winning one on the very first try. Nor did I expect to. That's why I think midway games are a great metaphor for life.
From Publishers WeeklyMade famous by his Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon and the quick Internet proliferation of the video of the event, Pausch decided that maybe he just wasn't done lecturing. Despite being several months into the last stage of pancreatic cancer, he managed to put together this book. The crux of it is lessons and morals for his young and infant children to learn once he is gone. Despite his sometimes-contradictory life rules, it proves entertaining and at times inspirational.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
New Car
Out with the old and in with the new! Well, new for us anyway. We turned in the leased Mercedes (lease was up...had it for 27 months) and purchased a 2007 Acura RDX with only 3000 miles on it. Its all wheel drive so it can tackle my mountain in snow and ice...yay! Got a good deal on it too, which is nice.
Remember I cleaned out my closet this summer? Today I took my clothes to a hoity toity consignment shop in Seattle...the "appointment" took me 3 months to get. She took half of my clothes and then the other half divided it into stuff she would not take and stuff I needed to bring back in the Spring. Interesting. Her shop only takes name brand clothing. I bought a couple of sweaters while waiting for her to go thru my clothes. A red Tommy Bahamas sweater and a black Ann Taylor sweater. Both yummy.
Kristie and I made chocolate chip cookies today. They were yummy too.
Tonight she is going to her "Turkey Trot Dance".
Our refrigerator/freezer is on the blink...I think...the stuff in the freezer were almost unthawed this morning so I transferred it all to the freezer in the garage. Then I noticed the refrigerator was not so cold either. I called Kitchen Aid and they told me that once the freezer goes out, the refrigerator will follow. The good news is its a built in and the parts are covered for 12 years! Sweet. Its ten years old now. So the repairman is coming out tomorrow afternoon to take a look. I turned it off and then on again and the funny this is, it now seems to be working again. But I'm not taking any chances and am going to keep the appt.
I can't wait for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Katie, Nich and Calla are coming up. Calla just added 4 more teeth! She's following the dog around and hitting his bad leg though...on purpose...Katie's about ready to hand her off for awhile! Its okay Calla, Grandma's here!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Update on Kristie and the Kindle
Doctor appt was yesterday. All is well. Whew. Creatinine is 2.1 but they are living with it so no more doctors this week. Well, except Kristie has to see her Neurologist tomorrow for her annual appt....geez. But that's easy. No shots or hard stuff.
Next Monday they have already told Kristie she will have to have an EPO shot to help boost her red blood cells. She's had this many times but a shot is a shot is a shot if you know what I mean.
She also has to have a "breathing treatment" where she breathes into a mask that has some chalky medicine in it for about 20 minutes. At least there are no needles.
I met with my foot doctor yesterday for my pre-op appt. Surgery is scheduled for Friday the 21st...my 48th birthday. Yay for me. 6 weeks recovery time in a special shoe. Yay for me.
Nigel is headed to Hawaii to visit Diane, Fernando and the granddaughters! He hasn't seen our newest addition, Amelia,..its time...and he needs a break! He leaves on December 16 for a week.
I'm busy deciding what photos to use for the Christmas card. I'm also taking the clothes we cleaned out of my closet to the consignment store this Thursday...that'll be interesting.
The Kindle I bought for my birthday is working well. Easy to use but, alas, not the same as a book for some reason. I find myself wanting to turn pages. I'm reading the new David Baldacci book which only cost me $9.99 to download. I also subscribed to Newsweek which appears weekly like magic. I do like that feature. In addition, you can download for free books that you want to preview first. The jury's still out though...do I like it? do I not like it? Dunno as Harry Potter would say.
Next Monday they have already told Kristie she will have to have an EPO shot to help boost her red blood cells. She's had this many times but a shot is a shot is a shot if you know what I mean.
She also has to have a "breathing treatment" where she breathes into a mask that has some chalky medicine in it for about 20 minutes. At least there are no needles.
I met with my foot doctor yesterday for my pre-op appt. Surgery is scheduled for Friday the 21st...my 48th birthday. Yay for me. 6 weeks recovery time in a special shoe. Yay for me.
Nigel is headed to Hawaii to visit Diane, Fernando and the granddaughters! He hasn't seen our newest addition, Amelia,..its time...and he needs a break! He leaves on December 16 for a week.
I'm busy deciding what photos to use for the Christmas card. I'm also taking the clothes we cleaned out of my closet to the consignment store this Thursday...that'll be interesting.
The Kindle I bought for my birthday is working well. Easy to use but, alas, not the same as a book for some reason. I find myself wanting to turn pages. I'm reading the new David Baldacci book which only cost me $9.99 to download. I also subscribed to Newsweek which appears weekly like magic. I do like that feature. In addition, you can download for free books that you want to preview first. The jury's still out though...do I like it? do I not like it? Dunno as Harry Potter would say.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
News
ARE YOU READY FOR GREAT NEWS??!! Kristie doesn't have to go see the doctors until next Monday! SWEET!
So, geez...what do I blog about? Oh, my new favorite fruit salad!
Take a mango and chop it up, well after you peel or cut off the skin.
Take a Pomegranate and cut it in half, hit the backside with a rolling pin to get the fruit out
Take a cup of blueberries...Put all in a bowl and squeeze a half a lime over all
YUMMY!!!!
Oh, and those Debbie's Green Bags they are advertising to put your vegies into? THEY WORK! AND THEY ARE REUSABLE! Thanks Katie for the tip.
I'm making an election night dinner...steak, twice baked potato, and asparagus.
DID EVERYONE VOTE??!!
Oh, and my foot surgery is scheduled for Friday, November 21...my 48th birthday! Goodness. Guess I'll celebrate early. (I did get my birthday present early...I bought myself a Kindle Book Reader from Amazon.com...I'll let you know how I like it.)
So, geez...what do I blog about? Oh, my new favorite fruit salad!
Take a mango and chop it up, well after you peel or cut off the skin.
Take a Pomegranate and cut it in half, hit the backside with a rolling pin to get the fruit out
Take a cup of blueberries...Put all in a bowl and squeeze a half a lime over all
YUMMY!!!!
Oh, and those Debbie's Green Bags they are advertising to put your vegies into? THEY WORK! AND THEY ARE REUSABLE! Thanks Katie for the tip.
I'm making an election night dinner...steak, twice baked potato, and asparagus.
DID EVERYONE VOTE??!!
Oh, and my foot surgery is scheduled for Friday, November 21...my 48th birthday! Goodness. Guess I'll celebrate early. (I did get my birthday present early...I bought myself a Kindle Book Reader from Amazon.com...I'll let you know how I like it.)
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