First Day

Today Bill had his first chemotherapy treatment. He will be doing CVP once every three weeks for an undetermined time. Basically this involves a couple of hours at the clinic receiving an IV drip of two chemo drugs (the C and the V) and then 7 days taking Prednisone pills followed by two weeks of no cancer drugs.

The people at the clinic were friendly and efficient, and Bill and I came loaded with books, newspapers, and puzzles, so the time went by pretty quickly (at least for me). Bill's a trooper and took it all in stride, and I know he'll do well because he is otherwise in such great physical shape. Just getting treatment started is a breakthrough, and it helps us move forward. With biking and gardening and family and friends, Bill has a lot to keep him positive and happy as he works through his treatment.

Still Waiting...

Bill saw the oncologist today (after the snow-postponement last Thursday), however there was not as much to learn as we had hoped. The bone marrow and bone samples have been sent on to the University of Washington for further test results to help the doctors define and refine the diagnosis and determine a more specific range of treatment options. This is neither a good nor bad thing; it is just the science of medical determination, if you will. :-)

Dr. Cutter was, however, quite encouraging and buoying. He noted that Bill's white cell counts over the course of the month have actually been dropping a bit, which is certainly better than rising. He also noted that Bill has no other symptoms for his CLL and because of all the information they have thus far, although it is a psychological anxiety that we feel right now (and justifiably, he said), there is not a medical urgency for treatment. This was good to hear.

We will be checking each day or so to see when the results do come back to Dr. Cutter, and he will have a phone consultation with us at that time, so, I guess we'll just consider that "no news is good news" and hope for some final decision within a week or so. Until then, I'm getting old. Tomorrow (Jan. 25) I turn 62. Yikes! :-)

Winter!

Since we have no place we have to be any longer, we've been able to appreciate the beauty of snow in Seattle (Bill's oncology appointment today was turned into a phone consultation, but alas, the bone marrow results haven't come in yet. We rescheduled for Tuesday). This was taken Wednesday morning as I looked out into our new patio. The birds have been flocking around our feeders for hours on end for more than two days now; they seem to love the weather and the food!

Luckily, we have not suffered any power outage (yet!), so we remain toasty warm and totally connected via technology. Fun (when you are retired)!

Curve Balls

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. It happened to us on Dec. 30th, 2011, when we learned that Bill probably had leukemia. For the 10 days following, waiting for further test results and a consultation with a specialist, everything seemed to go into slow motion. It's amazing how something like that just kicks you in the gut and makes you depressed, panicked, anxious, numb, and afraid. Bill is stoic; I am not, but both of us felt the pain and agony of waiting. The kids were traumatized.

Getting a diagnosis of any form of cancer is never "good news," but when we met with the specialist after our interminable wait, he did help buoy our spirits. It is CLL, a chronic form of the disease and considered highly treatable. There is no cure for leukemia, but there are a variety of chemo therapies used on CLL, depending on the stage and other factors, and we'll probably find out what Bill's treatment regime will be after Jan. 19th.

We haven't hit the curve ball out of the park yet, but the odds are in our favor, and I have ever bit of confidence that we will. :-)

Christmas 2011

Lola seemed to enjoy eating the wrapping paper almost as much as getting the presents, and we all enjoyed watching her experience her first Christmas. She saw cousins and uncles and aunts and dogs, as well as all her grandparents, and we showed her off to many friends as well. We are so happy to have Lola and her parents visiting Seattle for the holidays, and we're making the most of the time. She's adorable!

Wishing for a Happier 2012

Would it be too much to as for Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards all humanity? I swear the emotional climate of this country and of the world is crushingly nasty and violent. Whether people are bullying at a personal level or corporately or politically, I really am not sure I've ever seen it this negative and hateful. Fortunately, I occasionally read about someone somewhere who has shown true compassion for a fellow being, but all too often I hear of hate crimes, paranoia, bigotry, cruelty, and amoral behaviors and pronouncements.

Let us hope for some return to sanity in the coming year; it won't begin, probably until the elections are over, but perhaps we'll still see something more akin to goodwill than we've seen this year. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm still hoping.

Lola has developed a love of good literature at an early age. Unfortunately, at the moment her only desire is to literally tear into it, but I am sure she'll be reading voraciously when she discovers the printed word has more than nutritional value. :-)

Tarzan?

At a little over 7 months, Lola is now crawling and getting into everything. Here she appears to be doing her impression of Tarzan trying to scale the dining room table. Note the trendy diaper cover-up. We look forward to having Lola and her parents here for Christmas. Oh...That reminds me...I'd better start child-proofing the house!

Technology

Proof that my granddaughter has been born in the age of technology: her own "iPhone!" Lola enjoys chewing on anything she can grab right now (see previous post), and in this case it is her wooden smart phone. I just wish it wasn't "bat" calling.

Alien Baby!

Lola loves bath time almost as much as chewing on anything she can grab.