So today marks the summer solstice... meaning that it's the longest daylight day of the year. From here on out, they get shorter... weeee!
It's only 187 days until Christmas, so start planning now.
It also happened to be Father's Day...
Mine started with the kids taking a walk to the local doughnut place to get me an apple fritter and then there was the planning (and Julie assisting) a fantastic dinner -which I grilled- that consisted of pork chops <--- that's the grilling part I was telling you about, jell-o, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli and coos coos... or as Ana calls it Blues Clues. We ended the evening with my birthday cake (blueberry coffee cake) turned Father's Day cake. I realize some of might be thinking... but Jeff... your birthday was back in February... I know... right? It was worth the wait and now instead of having to wait an entire year for the next one, I only have to wait a little over seven months.
C'ya
21 June, 2009
13 June, 2009
Lookin' out my window...
It's a very gray (or do you say grey?) start to a day this morning. No rain, but a very solid gray going on. We were supposed to get rain... again... but it went north of us.
So the rest of the first week of summer vacation comes to a close... more or less... and it's Uno and Monopoly 3... outside 0.
Ooop... spoke too soon... it's now raining.
Emmah is back on the low dose chemo... the Temodar and Irinotecan... and it seems to be hitting her a little harder than the last time. While I have no doubt that it's no fun taking chemo agents... I can't help think that some (not all) of it is mental... more so than in the past.
Hmmm... stopped raining... going to be that kind of day I guess.
Emmah has one more week on the chemo... just the Irinotecan this week and then it's our understanding that she will be worked up. That's the lingo they use to mean scans and such so as to see what's going on on the inside. It's been upsetting to sit/stand and watch her go from one thing to the next in an attempt to beat back the beast. She's recovered from the harvest only to go into the chemo. She will finish the chemo (and recover) only to be scanned to death. Then pending results of the "work up" will we know the next step to take. Our hope is a N-E-D... a permanent N-E-D so that the next thing is... well her life as it should be lived.
What else...
Anyone who lives in the Chicagoland area knows we've had a wet spring, but we FINALLY managed (yesterday) to get out to our donated farm plot and (albeit a little late) plant! It's kinda of a long story on how we got to get this donated plot of land... but in a nutshell it was made possible by a generous man/farmer.
We learned of him (his farm really) through CPT... Chicago Progressive Talk radio. Last fall they were promoting a Christmas tree farm out in Ottawa and we made the trip. Anyway this spring, he (Dave... the farmer), had come up with an idea to give people an opportunity to farm by renting out a plot of land on his land. He had three different options offering various levels of "hands on" experience with one of them having them doing everything... including the delivering of your crops.
We were very interested in learning some "tricks of the trade" and growing our own organic produce. We also thought it would be a good experience for the kids. The response was overwhelming, but everyone wanted the "hands off" approach and Dave was not ready for that. So he decided to put if off until they were better able to serve everyone.
We had been in email contact with him and he knew of our story/plight with Emmah as we had explained that we wanted to infuse more veggies into everyone's diet. We also expressed our disappointment, and understanding, in that we wouldn't be able to do this but said to please keep us on the list for next year. He wrote back saying that he/they were donating a plot to us that he said that he would use as a model to show off what could/can be done.
Hopefully we will have a great fall harvest... a harvest of the agricultural kind and not (for a change) the stem cell kind.
Hey... it's the sun... time to get outside!
KEIYTAP
So the rest of the first week of summer vacation comes to a close... more or less... and it's Uno and Monopoly 3... outside 0.
Ooop... spoke too soon... it's now raining.
Emmah is back on the low dose chemo... the Temodar and Irinotecan... and it seems to be hitting her a little harder than the last time. While I have no doubt that it's no fun taking chemo agents... I can't help think that some (not all) of it is mental... more so than in the past.
Hmmm... stopped raining... going to be that kind of day I guess.
Emmah has one more week on the chemo... just the Irinotecan this week and then it's our understanding that she will be worked up. That's the lingo they use to mean scans and such so as to see what's going on on the inside. It's been upsetting to sit/stand and watch her go from one thing to the next in an attempt to beat back the beast. She's recovered from the harvest only to go into the chemo. She will finish the chemo (and recover) only to be scanned to death. Then pending results of the "work up" will we know the next step to take. Our hope is a N-E-D... a permanent N-E-D so that the next thing is... well her life as it should be lived.
What else...
Anyone who lives in the Chicagoland area knows we've had a wet spring, but we FINALLY managed (yesterday) to get out to our donated farm plot and (albeit a little late) plant! It's kinda of a long story on how we got to get this donated plot of land... but in a nutshell it was made possible by a generous man/farmer.
We learned of him (his farm really) through CPT... Chicago Progressive Talk radio. Last fall they were promoting a Christmas tree farm out in Ottawa and we made the trip. Anyway this spring, he (Dave... the farmer), had come up with an idea to give people an opportunity to farm by renting out a plot of land on his land. He had three different options offering various levels of "hands on" experience with one of them having them doing everything... including the delivering of your crops.
We were very interested in learning some "tricks of the trade" and growing our own organic produce. We also thought it would be a good experience for the kids. The response was overwhelming, but everyone wanted the "hands off" approach and Dave was not ready for that. So he decided to put if off until they were better able to serve everyone.
We had been in email contact with him and he knew of our story/plight with Emmah as we had explained that we wanted to infuse more veggies into everyone's diet. We also expressed our disappointment, and understanding, in that we wouldn't be able to do this but said to please keep us on the list for next year. He wrote back saying that he/they were donating a plot to us that he said that he would use as a model to show off what could/can be done.
Hopefully we will have a great fall harvest... a harvest of the agricultural kind and not (for a change) the stem cell kind.
Hey... it's the sun... time to get outside!
KEIYTAP
09 June, 2009
No more pencils...
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks,
Out for summer
Out 'til fall.
-Alice Cooper
How my kids spent their first day of summer vacation.
What else is there to do?
They (mostly) sat around watching television.
So it has come to pass, another school year has slipped into the hoarder of time... the black hole that is the past. Ever stop to think about how big that black hole really is? Anyway, the kids have moved on... they all passed. Emmah to 8th, Nick to 6th, Jake to 3rd and Rachael to 1st. This fall there will be another Gudeman going to school... Lyndsey will be starting pre-K.
For as long as my kids have been going to school there's been... well it's not a practice... but on the last day they go for only an hour, hour 'n' a half. While I (kinda) understand why it's done, it still baffles me. Seems like a colossal waste of time to have to pay the bus drivers and then there's the fuel wasted and so on and so on. This doesn't take into account having to roust the kids (that one last time) and get them ready and out the door... can't even entice them with it only being an hour.
So here we stand at the threshold of Summer and having "free" time. I will say that when I was of school age (and that's going back a ways) I so looked forward to this day cuz it meant that I'd get to play all day... everyday. That is until the calendar flipped over to the most dreaded day... THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL of the new year... but until that day, it was all fun and games. Today's kids spend too much of their free time pressing and/or imprinting their backsides on a couch (or chair) cushion. I know that we (in this house) are not alone in this. I know this because in spite of it being a great day today... the neighborhood is silent.
It won't be long before Summer starts in earnest and the cry/whine of summer goes out... "It's too hot outside!"
To that I reply (the old parental battle cry) "Back when I was a kid..."
No more teacher's dirty looks,
Out for summer
Out 'til fall.
-Alice Cooper
How my kids spent their first day of summer vacation.
What else is there to do?
They (mostly) sat around watching television.
So it has come to pass, another school year has slipped into the hoarder of time... the black hole that is the past. Ever stop to think about how big that black hole really is? Anyway, the kids have moved on... they all passed. Emmah to 8th, Nick to 6th, Jake to 3rd and Rachael to 1st. This fall there will be another Gudeman going to school... Lyndsey will be starting pre-K.
For as long as my kids have been going to school there's been... well it's not a practice... but on the last day they go for only an hour, hour 'n' a half. While I (kinda) understand why it's done, it still baffles me. Seems like a colossal waste of time to have to pay the bus drivers and then there's the fuel wasted and so on and so on. This doesn't take into account having to roust the kids (that one last time) and get them ready and out the door... can't even entice them with it only being an hour.
So here we stand at the threshold of Summer and having "free" time. I will say that when I was of school age (and that's going back a ways) I so looked forward to this day cuz it meant that I'd get to play all day... everyday. That is until the calendar flipped over to the most dreaded day... THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL of the new year... but until that day, it was all fun and games. Today's kids spend too much of their free time pressing and/or imprinting their backsides on a couch (or chair) cushion. I know that we (in this house) are not alone in this. I know this because in spite of it being a great day today... the neighborhood is silent.
It won't be long before Summer starts in earnest and the cry/whine of summer goes out... "It's too hot outside!"
To that I reply (the old parental battle cry) "Back when I was a kid..."
01 June, 2009
If you're not gonna come out
... we're coming in after you.
So that's what happened... Emmah's stem cells didn't want to come out and play, so we went in after them.
Emmah had her harvest (the hard way) on the 29th. Our efforts to previously mobilize those elusive stem cells produced (seemingly) nothing but a major case of hives for Emmah. Knowing that we needed stem cells... Emmah's stem cells... in order to partake in most of the phase one trials we couldn't take no for an answer. It was time to get down and dirty and pokey.
Pokey?
Yes... Pokey as in multiple pokes. Three entry points with many, many internal pokes... and extractions. They, in the end, took a liter of Emmah's blood/marrow.
We had to leave what we call a home at 5:30 in the morning in order to get there for 6:30. They prepped Emmah and I walked with her as far as they would let me... to the red line. Not just a single red line, but a double. I said, "whoa... a double red line, you guys mean business". I then said,"see ya in a few" and at about 7:15 am I was pointed in the direction of the waiting room.
And so I went... me and my iPod to sit and wait.
To wait and think.
To think and hope.
To hope that the procedure would be successful. There was still a chance/risk that even going in after them, that because of her being so heavily treated already (in terms of chemo) that there wouldn't be enough to harvest. I was told that they would be sending off a "sample" to see and if things didn't look good, they would stop. So when Patty (our nurse practitioner) came out at around 9:30 I tried to read her as I held my breath to see what she had to say. Everything was proceeding as expected and they wouldn't have to abort due to a lack of cells.
WHEW!
So I waited some more... waited until they called me to recovery and that was at 10:30.
I went back to where she was and she looked a tad pale. The doc came over and I said that she looks a little pale... his response was the all look that way after the procedure. I'm thinking sure they do, you just drained them of a liter of their blood.
They ran labs and it was determined that she was in need of a transfusion. By the time that finished and they got her ready to leave and we got back home... it was almost 5:30pm. So it was a long day.
Today was the follow up visit and she looks fine and dandy. The sites looked good and while they didn't get as much as they consider optimal, they did get what they felt was enough... we will see.
Our hope is that after she finishes this final low dose chemo cycle and they work her up... scans and such... that she's NED (no evidence of disease). That means that she wouldn't qualify for any of the phase one trials as she would be disease free and the stem cells that were so hard to come by can actually spend some time in the deep freeze. I don't think that anyone is in a great hurry to have to put them back in... least of all us.
Say the chant with us... it's an oldie but a goodie...
N-E-D!
N-E-D!
N-E-D!
N-E-D!
KEIYTAP
So that's what happened... Emmah's stem cells didn't want to come out and play, so we went in after them.
Emmah had her harvest (the hard way) on the 29th. Our efforts to previously mobilize those elusive stem cells produced (seemingly) nothing but a major case of hives for Emmah. Knowing that we needed stem cells... Emmah's stem cells... in order to partake in most of the phase one trials we couldn't take no for an answer. It was time to get down and dirty and pokey.
Pokey?
Yes... Pokey as in multiple pokes. Three entry points with many, many internal pokes... and extractions. They, in the end, took a liter of Emmah's blood/marrow.
We had to leave what we call a home at 5:30 in the morning in order to get there for 6:30. They prepped Emmah and I walked with her as far as they would let me... to the red line. Not just a single red line, but a double. I said, "whoa... a double red line, you guys mean business". I then said,"see ya in a few" and at about 7:15 am I was pointed in the direction of the waiting room.
And so I went... me and my iPod to sit and wait.
To wait and think.
To think and hope.
To hope that the procedure would be successful. There was still a chance/risk that even going in after them, that because of her being so heavily treated already (in terms of chemo) that there wouldn't be enough to harvest. I was told that they would be sending off a "sample" to see and if things didn't look good, they would stop. So when Patty (our nurse practitioner) came out at around 9:30 I tried to read her as I held my breath to see what she had to say. Everything was proceeding as expected and they wouldn't have to abort due to a lack of cells.
WHEW!
So I waited some more... waited until they called me to recovery and that was at 10:30.
I went back to where she was and she looked a tad pale. The doc came over and I said that she looks a little pale... his response was the all look that way after the procedure. I'm thinking sure they do, you just drained them of a liter of their blood.
They ran labs and it was determined that she was in need of a transfusion. By the time that finished and they got her ready to leave and we got back home... it was almost 5:30pm. So it was a long day.
Today was the follow up visit and she looks fine and dandy. The sites looked good and while they didn't get as much as they consider optimal, they did get what they felt was enough... we will see.
Our hope is that after she finishes this final low dose chemo cycle and they work her up... scans and such... that she's NED (no evidence of disease). That means that she wouldn't qualify for any of the phase one trials as she would be disease free and the stem cells that were so hard to come by can actually spend some time in the deep freeze. I don't think that anyone is in a great hurry to have to put them back in... least of all us.
Say the chant with us... it's an oldie but a goodie...
N-E-D!
N-E-D!
N-E-D!
N-E-D!
KEIYTAP
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