"No News is...."

a mixed bag!

Late May a simple cold drove the guy through 3 rounds of different antibiotics to elude the arch villain Pneumonia! A week or so after each round of antibiotics, Gil would start getting the fever and rasp. Scary. The last time they acted on the theory that he had a chronic sinus infection and that the drainage kept reinfecting his lungs. Some IV antibiotics and 3 weeks of oral plus a nebulizer and he emerged victorious, but exhausted.

In the end of June/beginning of July our son David came home in the midst of a crisis. He's been living with us since. I'll get into his story some other blog.

At the end of July we had a scare when Gil had some incredibly painful "spots" which we assumed (incorrectly) were bone fractures, a common Myeloma symptom. He was hospitalized as his pain and fever went up (of course on a Friday night as his doctor was heading out on vacation). And so began the weekend of detective work by a variety of doctors. None of the tests or symptoms were conclusive but by about a week later, after he seemed to respond to a med (one that's been used by people for more than 2000 years!) they decided that it was pseudo gout. and it hasn't returned . Thank God!

We continued with our ongoing farm drams with escaping goats (aptly named Diablo and the outlaws), hoards of meat chickens and stupid turkeys. As we have been getting ready for winter, unfortunately Gil started doing the pneumonia dance with a cold, again. He's on his 2nd round of antibiotics but I suspect it will not be the final one of this episode.

His Myeloma and kidney numbers remain steady, so we feel blessed. We lost a friend from our support group this summer who had been doing his transplant a little before Gil. It was a sobering loss. And today our good friends down the road (the one who got Myeloma at the same time as Gil) who had a transplant about 4 months before Gil, her "numbers" have gone up to the point that she's out of remission and back on the chemo treadmill. I confess it's starting to hit me that we won't be this fortunate forever. Makes me want to savor ever day and pleasure we have.

Sorry, I can't dig up a witty or wise ending. But at least I can let go of the guilt of not having updated you sooner.

The blog is back!!

Good News (Pacific NW trip and pics next entry)

I've been pulling together pics and stories from our trip,

along with putting furniture etc back in the main rooms (post floor refinishing and painting) (which looks absolutely loverly!) and going out to NYC to help Piper et al move into a new apt.

when we were blindsided by Good News!

With no rhyme or reason, the desmoid tumor in Gil's right shoulder, which had been detected a year ago as starting to grow again, has (drum roll)

shrunk significantly

go figure.

But who needs to know why?

Life is Good.

And we're busy with a long and luscious Spring still unfolding.

And I will get to posting the stories and pictures from our wonderful 5 weeks in the West.

sometime

I've been a slug. sorry

There has been news but I just haven't gotten around to blogging it. oops.

in a nutshell:

*We had a great Christmas visit from Chris and Myia.

*Lots of snow.

*more snow

*Gil's numbers are still looking good but the neuropathy in his feet and a bad knee are giving the guy a lot of pain.

*so much snow that Gil gets the truck stuck in the puddle pond by the cabin. (thank God for AAA! I suspect the two tow trucks plus Gil's tractor needed to winch it out was a first for them!)

*a visit from Adam, Kate and the delectable morsel Piper as they checked out Madison's potential. in short, they still like it.

*more snow.

*Gil gets blown over by a sudden onset cold which was immediately treated with some heavy duty antibiotics as well as his standard anti viral drug. After three weeks it was mostly over, but those nights of listening to him wheeze and cough were certainly a PTSD experience for me.

*snow and freezing rain which makes our drive way a luge run (in honor of the Olympics which he watched all of)

*Gil's good left hand develops 3 ?trigger fingers? and possible carpel tunnel which make it difficult or impossible to close his "good" hand. It makes any picking up activity difficult.

*a bout of??food poisoning?? or ? which caused a low grade fever and a 24 hour evacuation of the lower part of his plumbing which even 7 doses of hospital strength Imodium didn't put a dent in. scary but over

*MRI shows shredded meniscus and water on the knee. to be dealt with after we return from our

*** 5 week road trip out to the Pacific Northwest ! which we have been obsessively planning

We leave on March 20th and hope to return April 20th. I'll be bringing my laptop with us so perhaps I'll whip out my camera and do a blog entry with pics and dazzle. (don't hold your breath but I'll try)

But it's fair to say that the above is all the news that's fit to print since I last updated.