Loose Strife

We’ve been hanging out in Virginia for several days. Laura is better than ever!
A quick reminder that anyone in the DC area that wants to visit Laura before we head back to Massachusetts (we’re really starting to miss home – cold and mud and all!) can stop by Laura’s folks’ house Saturday afternoon. Email or call me (413-522-4397) for directions.
Lots of pics to come once we get back home…
-d .

Yet another vacuous entry. Where did all that interesting prose disappear?
We’ve been in northern California for a couple days visiting friends and relaxing. Our kids have been making lots of new friends, too. Very cute stuff.
Laura continues to stay in excellent health!
I’m beginning to plan the Virginia leg. If you’d like to see Laura, plan to visit at her parent’s house after noon on Saturday. If you expect to come, send me an email. If you can’t make it, you should also send me an email and I’ll figure out a good time to meet.
-d .

Sun is shining. Stop. All is well. Stop. Can’t waste time in business center. Stop. Must eat more shave ice.

A long but uneventful trip. We’re here. It’s beautiful. Weather is wonderful. Spent the morning at the pool and a salt water lagoon (heated, filtered, and clorinated sea water!). Just lounging away the day. Luau tonight. Will post again when there’s something interesting to say.
Laura continues to feel very good. Some of you may know that Laura’s broken leg is bruised and swollen, but we checked with her doctors before we left and nobody thinks it is blood clots (for which surgery and cancer both increase one’s risk). Laura’s hair is all out again, but this time it may be permanent due to the WBR. But if that turns out to be her only concern then we have much to be grateful. In any case, it’s not bothering her now! Indeed nothing is bothering her too much right now. Aloha.
.

Lily and Naomi couldn’t contain their enthusiasm for the trip this afternoon as we packed up. They wanted to “help” pack, which drove us crazy, and they kept begging to take all sorts of things: a framed baby picture, ice skates. Alas we ultimately relented to Lily’s rediculous request to take her “delicate doll”. I know we all will regret it.
10 minutes away from our house as we passed through Conway Lily asked if we were in Boston, yet. Three hours later we really did arrive at our hotel. The girls stopped only a quick moment between jumps for this photo. Now they’re making “soup” in the trashcan. And Naomi says she’s a fairy dancing the cha cha.
Crossing our fingers that all the bad weather won’t delay our flights. See you tomorrow.
-d

More photos in the series of pictures that Laura took during the tough, but not the worst, times late last fall. Soon I’ll have to start digging into other old photos unless you can convince her to start taking more pictures again. These photos now have a fancy sort of pop-up display thingy that shows a larger version when clicked.

Laura is still doing very well — I’d say even better than a few days ago. No fatigue, yet, from radiation. Her hair is falling out again.
She limps around well with her fractured leg. It will hopefully heal up in the coming weeks. (She’s also getting rads at the fracture site in case bone mets facilitated the break.)
Probably Laura’s biggest complaint right now is her mouth. Food doesn’t taste right and her mouth is very sensitive to cold. These symptoms are almost certainly due to the brain radiation, so it will continue to worsen this week, but will hopefully clear.
Laura saw an opthamologist about her vision and the doctor thinks that her intermittent narrowed vision will improve as the blood vessels further relax since the surgery. So that’s good news, too.
Laura’s back in “project” mode, which is also a good sign. She’s got her checklist of things to get done. Annual photo albums that never got compiled. Recordings of her reading bedtime stories. That sort of thing. And, of course, go to Hawaii, California, Arkansas, Virginia.
All in all, even considering the bum leg, Laura is about as good as she’s been since her diagnosis. (It’s hard to believe I’m writing this when she seemed to be at death’s door less than three weeks ago!) So trip #1 is still a go.
Here’s our rough three week plan:

• Kauai, Hawaii: March 5-11.
• Northern California: March 12-17. We will be in Berkeley and/or Santa Cruz mostly. Probably a day trip to LA on March 16.
• Northern Virginia: March 19-24.

If you’re in California or the DC area, we would love to see you, so email me (or leave a comment here only if you think it would be helpful for others to read for coordination). Please don’t be offended if I don’t initiate the email to all of you individually about visiting and we might not be able to meet up with everyone. But please contact me and we’ll organize something.
Laura and I are currently spending a hell of a lot of time at appointments and related errands. It doesn’t seem to be the best way to be using the “up” time, so we’re looking forward to escaping from the hospital. And Lily and Naomi are thrilled about the trip, too. Lily “packed” her suitcase a couple of days ago and the two have been wearing their bathing suits around the house for days. They have so little appreciation for time, distance, or destination. But it doesn’t matter to them: any day now we’re going on a family trip to a warm place with a pool!