Time Does Go By Fast!

Wow I can't believe how fast time goes by. I haven't blogged since December 1st. So here it goes.

December 4th Weekend

I spent the last weekend in Beverly Hills with Mom, Gary and Debbie. Oh and Mia came too! We had such a great time. The hotel is so beautiful. It felt just like home. We had a wonderful room complete with a little bed for Mia and her own silver feeding dishes. She roamed the halls of the hotel like it was her own palace. She became so protected of her space especially when other dogs were around. It was funny to watch her.


We had dinner at E'Baldi on Friday night. Wonderful food but soooo noisy inside. It is the place to be seen. It's funny to watch the people in Beverly Hills. I can only say one word, "plastic". The hotel staff is wonderful and they are good down to earth people but the people visit the hotel can be alittle fake or should I say alot of fake. On Saturday night we had dinner in the Montage Kitchen with our own private executive chef, John. This was fabulous! We had 8 courses including wine parings (which I didn't have cause of the drugs) but everyone enjoyed it. The food was wonderful. Little portions but so rich!! Mom enjoyed herself so much. I love to see her smile from ear to ear to experience these wonderful things. And of course this could not have happen without the generosity of Debbie and Gary. They are truly dear friends. The things I have been able to see and do I will never be able to say enough thank yous. This weekend was filled with many moments that took my breath away.


I spent time with Matthew and I'm sooooo happy to say he is moving home to the Bay Area. I want him closer to us. He got his old job back in Oakland and will start on the 4th of January. He will stay with us for a few weeks and then move in with his friend Laura. It will be a fresh start for him and less stress. Los Angeles is very expensive to live there and he would have to get two jobs in order to stay there. He is waiting for a test date to take the radiology test to take x rays. I'm just happy he will be coming home.


I need to do some catching up in time on my blog. The week of December7th I spent at home sick. Mark came home from Pittsburg with a bad cold and of course by Wednesday I was sick. I was soooo sick I couldn't attend the company party on Saturday. Monday was the worst and I had to take blood tests to check for low white cell count. Thankfully, white cell count was good but I was so sick. I still have the cough.

This past week I had a doctor's appointment at Stanford with Dr. Schrier. It was the first time in over a year that I could see in his eyes how happy he was with my treatment. My numbers have been going down and he walked into the exam room pumping his arms in the air with a big smile on his face. He was so happy. My numbers have come down from 341 to 130. I will get my results for this past month tomorrow. Hopefully another decrease. He wants me to continue with the same treatment which is Decadron Monday night and Tuesday infusion of Velcade. My numbers have to get down to 26 or close to that. I have a heart biopsy scheduled for January 12th and I will have to do a test for Amyloid in my new shared heart.

This weekend I spent at the trailer. Another relaxing and restful weekend. Christine and I took a ride yesterday to Lucerne to visit her friends. It was a nice ride around the lake. I finished hanging my curtains in the trailer. It looks so good. We ordered the new windows and hopefully Scottie can put them in next month. That will really help with the cold drafts I feel when we are there. It should make a difference. I felt so stressed leaving on Friday night. I had Matthew's dog Cassie staying with us and I couldn't bring her too to the trailer becasue the park only allows one dog. I left Cassie with our neighbor Jane for the night until Matthew came on Saturday night. I felt bad leaving her. Once we were driving to the trailer I felt the stress leave my body.
It is so amazing how much being up there makes me feel so good. We will go up again for the New Year. Our neighbors, Jane and Steve will be staying at Konocti Casino in the RV park. We are going to spend New Year's Eve at the Casino and at their trailer. Another fun weekend to come!

This week is Christmas week. I can't believe this year is almost over. Where did the time go. I brought a beautiful picture with the quote I live by "Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but the number of moments that take your breath away". I hung it in the trailer and I love reading the quote everytime I'm there. I am so grateful to spend another Christmas with my family and look forward to next year when my little grand son will be here. I will have many moments that take my breath away when he is here. I can't wait!

I wish everyone a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,
Debbie

Busy, Busy and Busy!!!

Wow lots of things have been going on the past few weeks. First, I have been spending at least every weekend at the trailer. It has been so relaxing! Some days I never even get out of my pjs and sit and watch movies all day. I love it! We found a great little restaurant called the Sports Stop. We go there every Sunday morning for breakfast and watch football. The owner, Mike is so nice to us and we have alot of fun. Mark and I have done some things to the trailer to make it more homely. We brought furniture from home up there and replace curtains. It feels like home! The other day I saw these pictures a few months back at this little shop next to us. So Christine and I went there to look at the pictures again. I walked in and went to the little room where they displayed the pictures but they only had ones saying "lake house" or some other stupid sayings. I remember when I walked in there was one sitting in the main store and I looked up and couldn't believe what I was reading. It is the saying I live by and here it is again for all of you to live by:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away!

So this is how I choose to live my life now. I live for the moments I make each and every day. I hope you will too!!!

Tonight was sad. I attend a rosary for my Uncle Sammy. My cousins, Angie, Michael, Sandy and Vince were very close to me growing up. We lived only blocks away and I went to school with Angie. Uncle Sammy died on Saturday after a 9 month battle with heart disease and other complications. He was 85 years old and lived a good life. I was happy to be able to attend tonight and see my cousins, aunts and uncles.

This weekend I will be leaving for Beverly Hills. Nana is coming with me and she is so excited. It will be her first trip to the Montage hotel and she is really looking forward to it. We will go to E'Baldi Italian restaurant, my favorite, on Friday night for dinner. Saturday night we will have dinner in the kitchen at the Montage with our private chef. I'm so excited for Mom to experience it because she loves to cook and she will be able to ask questions about cooking tips. We did it a few months ago and it was such a great experience. We will have late check out on Sunday so we can enjoy our beautiful room. I get to take Mia with me too. I'm didn't want to leave her for 3 days. The Montage accommodates animals and the general manager, Mr. Kaski said it was perfectly fine for me to bring her. I will visit Matthew on Saturday and take him to Costco for a Costco run. He needs food and Mom is the only one that can give him what he needs. Big Mark leaves on Thursday morning for Pittsburg to see his Pittsburg Penguins and the Steelers play. He is so excited. So we both will have a great weekend. Talk about moments that will take my breath away. I get to bring my Mom and see how much she appreciates these special little moments. She will be smiling from ear to ear and I get to savor the moment. That is what life is all about.

I wanted everyone to know the update on the headstone. We have chosen a few patterns but having trouble with the color - yellow. The online company has the color but I'm a little nervous about ordering from an online company for something so special like that. We found a place in Napa who agreed to install (another big problem ordering on line finding someone to agreed to install) and there is another company in Hayward who we are looking at to order the headstone from. I thought this process would be simple but it wasn't. Either the headstone we pick is too big for the gravesite, no one will install it or it doesn't come in the color we want. It has been so frustrating. Hopefully soon we will have it ordered and I can breathe a sign of relief that finally Jazmin will get her dream. I have been communicating and saw Evelyn a few times. The girls are doing great but poor Evelyn has been sick with the flu for weeks. She is just now getting better and that's why I haven't seen her. We talk often and I love her very much. She has always shown me her love and support and I am grateful to have her in my life.

Now as for my health. Things are going well. My lambha count went down last week to 130 from 137. Not a big jump down but it was down. Normal range is 26 so I have a long way to go. I was hoping it would be below 100 this time but the doctors say it will plateau and then I will have to look at other treatments. We will cross that bridge when we come to it but for now it's working. Thank God! I have been working out with my trainer every Wednesday. I'm up to 205 on the leg press and Tim is so happy with my progress. I am too! It makes me feel normal. My hair is growing back about 1-2 inches and full of curls. I don't know where the curls came from but it's cute. The weight is coming on again due to the steroid Decadron. My appetite is back and I'm always hungry. Oh well I have other things to worry about. I do need to start walking again and hopefully soon. It will help with my bones and of course weight gain. For now I will continue taking chemo each week and hopefully my numbers continue to come down. No other big procedures until January when I go back for heart biopsy. The heart is doing great. No complications and I just have to say healthy and away from anyone who is sick.

Well its almost 11:30PM and I have a big day tomorrow. I work out with Tim and then I have my first teeth cleaning since stem cell transplant. The high dose chemo did damage on my gums and I was not able to brush with a regular brush or floss for two months after. So you can imagine I will not have a good time. I'm going to tell Karen to take it easy this time especially because I don't want any problems this weekend. I want to do it every month for a few months until the problem is cured.

Have a wonderful weekend and remember go out and make moments that take your breath away!

Love,

Debbie

Busy, Busy and Busy!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing You and Your Family a Blessed Thanksgiving

Make Every Moment Count!

Love,

Debbie

My First Grand Child

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

I'M SO HAPPY FOR THIS BLESSING!

Happy Birthday To A Special Lady

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO

EVELYN

TO THE MOST LOVING AND CARING PERSON ON THIS EARTH. SHE ONLY GIVES AND NEVER ASKS FOR ANYTHING IN RETURN. THANK GOD SHE IS IN MY LIFE!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Where Has The Time Gone

I can't believe time has gone by so fast. I haven't wrote for over a week. I have been so busy. Last weekend on Saturday night I got to go to the Sharks game. My first game since getting sick. It was so much fun. Not only did my Sharkies kick butt on the Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburg Penguins 5-0 but to see my husband Mark cry was great! Our neighbors Jane and Steve Bjork came too. It was their first live hockey game. They loved it. We took them to the famous Shark hang out "Henry's" for dinner. So they got the full treatment of Henry's and a Shark game that night. It was a moment to remember. The rest of the weekend was relaxing watching football. I watch the movie "The Proposal" too on Sunday. What a funny movie!

Yesterday was the best day! I got to spend the whole day with my best friend and fellow heart transplant buddy "Tippi". I picked Tippi up and we went to Santa Clara Heart Transplant support group meeting. Dr. Kevin Anderson, another fellow heart transplant recipient, give a presentation on "Men and Sex after Heart Transplant". Al through it didn't have much information for us ladies, I still learned alot. The room was packed with heart transplant recipients, those waiting for a heart in the hospital and those just diagnosed with heart disease and considering a transplant. It is amazing how many people need heart transplants. Doctors have said they transplant a total of 16 from January to June, 2009 just at Kaiser. WOW! Thank God to those who make the choice to donate. It was a fun day. The million dollar girls out all day. We went to lunch and talk and talk. I kept telling Tippi I was sorry for talking so much. I took my Decadron on Monday night and so yesterday I was flying high. She's a good friend and understands.

Since getting sick I have to take such good care of my health in all areas. I have to be seen by doctors for skin cancers, OB/GYN, mammograms and not excluding bone marrow doctors, chemo doctors and heart transplant doctors. My schedule each week includes appointments for something. This is my new normal life. It was funny yesterday, Dr. Kevin, said it so perfectly. Our new normal life finally feels like a normal life again. I have to agree I'm almost there.

This weekend we are going to the lake all weekend. It's going to be so relaxing. I am bringing up some new movies to watch. Mia loves the lake house. She is so calm and quiet there. We go for walks down by the lake. She is so funny. She barks at the waves crashing on the shore. I laugh at the things she finds so interesting. She has brought so much joy into my life. She got groom today and looks so cute. Her hair is so long and fluffy. I love combing her long hair each night.
Jeff and Christine will be at the lake too. We are going to dinner at the Sports Stop in Kelseyville and again for breakfast and football on Sunday morning. We love the place. Mike is the owner and he is so good to us. Food is great!!!!

Next week I will do labs on Wednesday to check monthly light chain count. Hopefully I have another month of decrease in my numbers. That would be great! No chemo next week! Yeah!

Oh and the best part is that on Tuesday, November 17th, Erin and Mark find out the sex of the baby. As I said before I don't care what the sex is just that the baby is healthy and Erin is fine. I will be so happy to have a boy or girl. I'm just happy to be a grandma!

Sorry for not writing but like I said "life is getting back to a new normal". Moments are being made and life is good!

Love,
Debbie