A Celebration of Life

Wednesday was Jill's 24th birthday (or something close to that) which called for wine and chocolate cake! Jill's best friend Kat flew out from San Francisco and completely surprised her! It was awesome! We really are thankful to be alive. Birthdays have now become more important as you need to treasure every breath, thought, emotion, sunrise, snowfall, friend, family, and day.

New Years Pictures

New Year's Birthday Binge

December was great for Jill. The first day of chemo was rough, just like November, but the rest of "chemo week" went really well. The remainder of the month she felt great and full of energy. We had a quiet Christmas at home, enjoying the snow and each other. New Year's saw us traveling to San Diego to celebrate my Great Aunt Lorraine's 90 birthday. Aunt Lorraine is the most incredible person in the world. I know that you're all saying "no, you haven't met so-and-so" Sorry, you're wrong; Aunt Lorraine is the most incredible. We spent a few hours with her over the weekend looking at photo albums and listening to some of her many great adventures. The food, wine, champagne, and my Dad's margaritas were incredible. On any other weekend, I'd say that we drank way too much wine and ate way too much food, but given how incredibly good it was, I think we're ok with that. It was really good to see the family and to watch Aunt Lorraine enjoy her birthday party (did I mention all the great food and drinks?)
Today was the next MRI, and everything looked really good. Dr. Porter was really happy with how things are progressing. We had a blood test two weeks ago which showed a white blood cell count too low to start the January round of chemo. She took another blood test today which was also not high enough. Probably due to the travel and the fact that it is cold season. I've even been struggling with a cough the last few days. We're going to get another blood test done in a few weeks and see if we can get those white blood cells up. Dr. Porter doesn't think this is going to mess up her treatment at all.
Next week is Jill's birthday and on Saturday January 16 we're going to have a big party. Lots of wine and chocolate cake (but of course!). Anyone and everyone is invited. A celebration of life. We have lots to celebrate and a two week rest from chemo.
Pictures to be posted at a later date. Time for bed.

Snow Day

Monday we got hit with a nice storm dumping 28 inches of snow on the ground. The awesomeness of the winters first storm forced me to take the next day off from work so we could go out and play. We headed out to Schultz trailhead (get a map) pointed to the top of the nearest mountain and headed up. The sky was a brilliant blue which contrasted beautifully against the pure white snow. Leo was literally in over his head and had to bound like a hyperactive rabbit which wore him out. We were the first ones out and were breaking trail up the side of the mountain to an overlook at about 8,500 feet with an amazing view of the city.
Jill continues to fight the fight with a positive attitude which has translated into a more energy, healthy appetite, iron stomach, and the continued annihilation of Mr. Oligoastrocytoma.
We're going to be staying in Flagstaff for Christmas then heading off to San Diego over New Year's for my Great Aunt Lorraine's 90th birthday.

November Adventures

We made it through the first month of our 6 month chemo therapy cycle. The death pills knocked Jill on her ass for most of the month, but she found her second wind at the end of the month and now we're back in the ring and coming down off the top ropes with the folding chair! We're almost done with "chemo week" for Month two! Just like the first month, there was some puking the first night, but none since then.
The speech therapy has been going really well in that SHE DOESN'T NEED IT!!!! Take that Oligoastrocytoma!!!! Score another one for the Jillio! She met with the speech therapist who basically said (and I paraphrase), "tumor? What tumor? I don't see any evidence of a tumor? You don't need any speech therapy"
We had a quiet Thanksgiving here at home making "Afghani Lamb with Spinach" (lamb for me and tempeh for Jill).
* 2 1/2 pound Lamb stew meat - preferably leg
* 1/3 cup Olive oil
* 3/4 pound Onions; diced large
* 4 Teaspoons Chopped garlic
* 2 Teaspoons of Turmeric
* 1/4 Teaspoons of Nutmeg
* 1/4 Teaspoons of Ground cardamom
* 1 Teaspoons of Crushed red pepper
* 1/2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon
* 32 oz Can tomatoes; drain & chop
* 1 cup Rich brown veal stock or
* 1 cup Rich beef stock
* 1/3 pound Fresh spinach; wash & drain
* 1/2 cup Yogurt
* 1 tablespoons of Grated lemon peel Salt; to taste
* 1/4 cup Pine nuts (Roasted at 350 F. for about 3.5 minutes)
It was pretty good! No turkeys were harmed in the making of this meal (just one little lamb)
We sure do have lots to be thankful for.
Other Thanksgiving weekend events included a clogged bathroom, and a broken mountain bike. The bathroom is now fixed...the mountain bike is not.
Sorry for slacking on the blog!

Here is a picture of our Thanksgiving dinner and another one from out motorcycle tour through the Swiss Alps back in 2005. That's one of my best friends Tom and Jill showing how tough she is during 8 hours on the back of a motorcycle. Oh if every day could be like that!

Death Pills

Jill got her blood work back on Monday with the good news that her white blood cells were back up to a normal level. That was exciting for about 0.02 milliseconds because now its time for chemo therapy which started Monday night. It's 5 days/month for 6 months double dose (compared to the first round). Monday night consisted of Jill puking quinoa all over the bathroom most the night. We were going to post a picture of that but who knows who'll get offended by such crude blogging. Last night the promethazine (anti nausea medication) started to kick in; no pukage in the bathroom or anywhere else.

Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween and Jill had the BEST costume EVER! Vampire Head Victim was what one person called it. It was great! She covered most of the scar with fake blood leaving some of the scar exposed. People were doing double takes to try to figure out what was going on. I dressed up as Zorro, but with my blond/red mustache it looked more like Wesley from the Princess Bride. Either way worked.
We only had about 15 kids Trick or Treating which was disappointing (except for the leftover candy!) then we headed downtown which was packed with people.

Jill's blood work last week still showed a low white blood cell count so she's going to have more blood drawn tomorrow. Once the white blood cells get back to a normal level we kick them down again with the next round of chemo therapy.