Last IV chemo and Fun with Grandkids

This is Rowan and Biscuit and I. Biscuit had been lost for almost a year. Rowan accidentally left him here last time they visited from India. We have been looking for him since then. Whenever we talked to them Rowan would say, "Nana, Papa, have you found Biscuit yet?" We searched everywhere, in the toy box, in the kitchen cupboards, in the shower in the little bathroom, etc. Kirsten was reading Shel Silverstein's poems to the kids in the guest bedroom one night. All of a sudden, Rowan looked up and spied him on one of the shelves with other treasures. She squealed, jumped up grabbed him and said, " Nana, Papa, I found Biscuit! I knew he was here somewhere. She took care of him for the rest of the time they were here. He even got his own doghouse and Rowan completed her first sewing project and made him a wall to wall pillow (so he wouldn't roll off).
Here is Biscuit sitting in the red hand. You can see his wonderful doghouse with balloons over the door. He is very happy to be back with his friend Rowan!
Jules fascinated with her cousin Dilly. Dylan is so funny, one time he was rubbing his eyes. He said, "I'm polishing my eyes!"
One of the boys took this picture. I like the angle, Jules and I and the tree against the late afternoon sky.

Here we are having afternoon tea. Kirs, Rob and the kids feel right at home having afternoon tea with milk and biscuits since they lived for 2 years in India.
My Mom all in pink. She rode her bike over to join us for afternoon tea that day. Then Kirs and Rob took the kids for a ride in the basket of her 3 wheel bike.
Faye my beautiful daughter with her daughter Jules
Picture of Rob, Rowan and Kirs taken by Dilly. The kids take great pictures. I always make sure that the strap is around their neck and let them go.
The weather was great so we got to eat outside

Rowan and Dilly were just thrilled to get to play with, "my cousins the boys". They love the fun, wrestling play. Nathan, Niko and Maceo are very happy to oblige them playing playing, swinging, roughhousing.
Niko being attacked by Rowan and Dilly

Look at that smile. She does new things every day. She is crawling and just today Faye said that they looked into her room and she was standing up in her crib for the first time ever! Javier said that when he first stood up in his crib (that was a couple years ago), he landed on his head and was knocked unconscious. His Mom had to call the paramedics! They covered her floor with padded matting so she can crawl and play. This is good since Faye tended to climb and fall and hit her head off and on throughout her childhood also. I wish my floor was padded also. Jules was sitting on the couch between Rowan and Dilly, I was standing right there a small step from the couch because I know how she crawls on Jules and I when we are on the couch. Well, even though I was right there, she fell and hit her forehead on the floor. I felt terrible. She had a bruise and very slight swelling, but no symptoms of a concussion. However, I felt a failure as a Grandmother and certainly learned how quick she is.
Jules getting to play with her cousins Rowan and Dilly.
Getting to know you!
This is Julian's award for completing IV chemo which I talk about below.


We didn't think we would see this day come last Fall, but Julian had his last scheduled IV chemo treatment Feb 17! It had to be put off by one week due to low WBC counts which is a fairly usual chemo side effect. Everything went smoothly. We walked in to smiles and nurses saying, "So, this is your last chemo!" They must feel fairly comfortable after the cancer free PET scan to say that. At the end of the day all the nurses gathered around sang to him, threw confetti
in the air and gave him a "Purple Heart Award" certificate saying that he has successfully completed chemotherapy. I especially had looked forward to this little ceremony after seeing others reaching this point. Even with the bad news in the Fall of the cancer showing up in the lymph nodes, that little ceremony gave me hope. The music is to "On with the Show" which is the bugs bunny theme song.
The words they sing are:
This is it, Today's the day
Your final chemo, you're on your way
We hope you enjoyed the show
On with your life you can go!
No more waiting, no more sick
No more sighing, no more sticks
We'll miss you as you know
But may God bless you as you go!

He will still have to take oral chemo, one week on and one week off for 3 months. They will repeat the PET scan in about 3 weeks (every 3 months for awhile). We had a scare last week. He didn't feel well, was having breathing trouble, GI upset and gained 4-5 pounds in a couple days. These symptoms were so like when he had fluid in his abdomen last Fall that he and I were afraid it was happening again. Well, he had an ultra sound and had little to no fluid. We were greatly relieved.
Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts. We ask for continued prayers that the oral chemo will kill any remaining cancer cells and that Jules will continue gaining weight and get his strength back. God is good and has watched over us, giving us all we need. Blessings

Great cancer fight news, Merlin and Happy times with visitors

We have had a very busy January! We had great news from the PET/CT scan. It showed no cancer activity in the whole body and normal esophagus and stomach tissue! We were all thrilled needless to say. It's almost hard to believe and it doesn't mean that all the cancer cells in his body are gone. It means that the chemo drugs he is currently on are doing their job, acting like little Pac men and gobbling up the cancer cells. He has just finished the 4th out of 5 rounds of chemo. He will have the last IV chemo next Thursday (Feb10), and finish the 5th round 2 weeks later. Then he will start on a maintenance low dose of his current oral chemo. One week on, one week off for 3 months, then will have a repeat PET/CT scan. We are so thankful and feel that we have been given another chance at a longer life together. We have felt surrounded by prayers and positive thoughts. It has kept us floating and surrounded by God's love and care. We are truly God's messengers on earth and we have felt the strength and power of God through many of you. Everyone we've talked to has been supportive and Julian has been put on many church prayer chains. I hope that you will pass this positive news on to all of the many people and churches who have been praying for us. We can still use prayers that any remaining cancer cells will be destroyed by the remaining chemo and that he will start to gain weight. He has struggled to loose weight for most of his life and never thought that he would have a harder fight to gain weight! By the way, if you've gotten this far through my rambling, this picture is of Jules and his son Julian. Julian and Camille visited us in early January. I have more pictures of that visit further on.
We were very saddened at the loss of our beloved cat Merlin. He was about 17 years old, so has had a very long life. He touched many people in his life. He was found by my sis,Jacki, when she was still in Phoenix. He was adopted by Faye. He was living with us when Faye moved back to Phoenix and got a divorce from Dietrich. CC was little at that time and was literally a Crazy Cat. She would jump out from a hiding place and attack one and all. Merlin moved in and became CC play toy. When Faye moved out I begged her to leave Merlin so CC wouldn't loose her friend. Merlin tolerated CC, purred through Rowan and Dilly's kisses & hugs, and baby Jules fur pulling and attempted bites. He thought he was a person and followed me like a puppy dog. He had a hair fetish, wanting to sit at your shoulders or above your head and try to chew on your hair. He took a shower with me almost every day in the last years of his life. He actually walked in and around the shower and drank the water on the floor. Sometimes he would come out and shake like a dog because he had so much water on his fur. When our friend Chris was here working on the house remodel, Merlin followed him in and out and all around. Chris wasn't a cat fan until Merlin. Merlin converted him. Chris always said that he would love to adopt Merlin. We of course always said, we couldn't do without Merlin! Chris sadly died last May. I was comforted when I had to have Merlin put to sleep because of cancer by Chris and Merlin's friendship. I am comforted by the image of Chris greeting him when he arrived to Heaven, and Merlin following him everywhere. Goodby Merlin my good and faithful friend.
Merlin the Magestic, Merlin the Magnificent!
I started my new job. It has been over 40 years since this picture was taken. I no longer wear my nursing cap, but am still nursing. I started as an Adjunct Faculty member in the College of Nursing at Grand Canyon University. I am a clinical instructor for Senior nursing students in Community Health Nursing class. I feel like I'm starting school all over I have so much to learn. Nursing theory has changed so much since I was in school. I have students who are placed with RN's at a school, a women's jail clinic, an Aids clinic and a county RN who teaches staff at day care centers. I have a jail badge which I hope I can hold onto so I can leave! I funny story told by another instructor was about a student who came running up saying that she thought he lost her badge and told the guard that she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to get in. He looked at her and said that most people are afraid that they won't get out! I travel around to see how they are doing, lead a post clinical conference and grade papers. Clinical is one day a week then grading papers is done on line at home. I like the students and really hope I get faster at grading papers! It's amazing how well you get to know the students by grading all those papers!
This is Julian and Camille who live in New Jersey in an apartment overlooking the Hudson. We really enjoyed their visit. They are so funny. They really enjoyed being outside in the sun. The weather was perfect when they were here. We didn't do much, just hung around and visited.
Here we are having afternoon tea with Camille's Mom and step Dad, Reko and Bill. They also had us all over for dinner one night. Reko cooked an amazing Japanese dinner. It had about 10 courses, including things we had never had before. It was delicious and included 2 different kinds of soup, 3 main dishes and 2 desserts. It started with appetizers consisting of everything from wrapped seaweed to various root veggies to chewy gelatinous masses. There was about 15 different veggies in the appetizer dish! Thank you Reko! We feel so healthy now!
Here I am juicing oranges fresh from my trees for bkf! We've had really bad frost the past week and I really hope the oranges didn't freeze. At this time, early January, they were pretty good, but not as sweet as they will be, or maybe are if they didn't freeze!

Reko is admiring Merlin. You can see that he was starting to look pretty thin. He started having labored breathing just a few days after this picture. In the background are my dueling banjo compost containers. One is dirt while the other is compost!
I'm showing Reko some of my veggies
This is a group picture from the next weekend when Star and Blain and Amy and Liam visited. Quite the crew huh!
Amy and Liam
Star and Blain
Grandma Coral, Jules, Nathan and Star. We really enjoyed all our company. Thank you all for coming. We've been unwinding from all the visits and haven't done anything the last 2 weekends. Wew, what a month: received great PET scan results, had 2 groups of visitors, had to have Merlin put down, started a new job (toured jails, homeless centers etc), babysat Jules, went to chemo with Julian, and then on the 26th I was rear ended by a crazy driver. I had my blinkers on getting ready to turn right onto 12th street, had to stop because people were crossing at the light at the crosswalk. She wasn't paying attention and ran right into me from behind. She did have insurance, so that is good. Lost my bumper, couldn't open the rear driver side door and the muffler assembly was jammed up against the wheel. I'm OK, but feel like I was beat up, so I've been going to doctors and doing paperwork. My car is in the shop and will be there for at least 2 weeks. I feel like we had so many different emotions and events in such a short period of time. A real roller coaster of life squeezed into this month!
This is Jules the almost crawler. When she was here on Wednesday, she got up on her hands and knees and started rocking! We always give her tummy time and she has been wiggling to get things for sometime. She is always so proud when she does something new. Of course she has a cheering squad where ever she goes!