Wishing We Were Somehow There Again

Its a lazy Saturday afternoon after a fairly productive Saturday morning. Roo found a deal on a treadmill on craigslist that has made a nice addition to our garage gym. I cut the grass...failing again in my attempt to cut a baseball field-like pattern into our yard...

...I admit I rushed through the job as I was racing the mercury. Its supposed to hit 100 degrees today. I'll give the grass a full-service treatment on July 3rd, in preparation for our 2nd Annual Red, White and Boom party. While I was sweating it out in the yard, Roo ran some last minute Father's Day errands. We rendezvoused in front of the TV for lunch and an afternoon Cubs game. The announcers noted that summer has arrived in Chicago and followed with a quip about the hot 81 degree day. I laughed. Roo admired the sunlit skyline on the screen and wished we were there, not recalling having been to a game in the heat of the summer. In the heat of our summer, we have yet to visit my brother Phil's community pool, but we will soon find our selves on the soft sands of Edisto Island. Our annual family trip is only 3 weeks away. We had to adjust the schedule this year to accommodate for Riley's mom's treatment schedule. Hopefully, while the trip for us will be an escape from work and weeds, Roo's mom will enjoy a much needed break in the exhausting treatment cycle. I wish we were there now.

Riley and I enjoyed Phil's Christmas wishes last night, as his holiday gift of two tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Charlotte's Belk Theater came to fruition. Aside from school plays, this was only the second time I'd been to see a major musical, the first being Wicked in Chicago with Roo. Coming from a guy that spends many a lazy day in front of a Cubs game or playing on the Xbox, I wish we went to more plays like Phantom.

Phantom's opening scene presented an auction of old opera house items. As I type this, Roo is researching options to set up her own ebay auction-house. We missed out (snoozed through) the neighborhood yard sale a couple weeks ago and inspired by the treadmill find, Riley is going to try to clean out some room in the garage with some on-line sales. I wish her the best of luck, but hopes she patient. No rush...because the sooner she's got the garage cleared out, the sooner I have run out of excuses for not spending part of my lazy Saturday afternoon in our garage gym.

Mom's Myeloma Update

It's been awhile since I've updated everyone on my mom's battle with multiple myeloma. She's been in sort of a holding pattern over the last few months. Labs were good, bone marrow biopsy was good, therefore there was really no need to begin any sort of treatment. A few months ago she began having pain in her hip and was immediately sent in for a full body bone scan. It was determined that the hip pain was probably arthritis but during the scan a second tumor was found in her shoulder. If you've been keeping up with this story you know that her cancer was discovered because of a tumor found in her shoulder that was causing alot of pain which led to an MRI. She had radiation treatments to treat the first tumor. The second tumor signifies that the myeloma is progressing therefore more aggressive treatment is needed as opposed to radiation.
So last month the initial treatment began with oral chemo. The combination of medicines were causing allergic reactions and lab work concluded that the meds weren't really doing the job they needed to be doing. It was clear a new treatment plan would need to begin.

She'll now endure 16 cycles of induction chemo followed by a stem cell transplant. Her first chemo cocktail was Monday --- I was on duty for the first round. We attended a quick Chemo 101 session followed by an hour of fluids, Velcade, and Zometa. The room was filled with soft leather loungers and every chair was full. I sat there wondering to myself what kind of cancer each person was suffering from. I felt bad for the people who didn't have a loved one sitting with them. I wondered if the building architect thought that surrounding the room with floor to ceiling windows would help people forget that they're bodies are being filled with toxic drugs. The gigantic bird feeders positioned outside the windows were completely empty -- I wondered if they'd be filled by Thursday so my mom can sit by the window and watch the birds. I was mesmerized by the beautiful salt water fish tanks and pointed them out to my mom hoping she'd choose to sit closer to one of them next time I'm on duty. Due to her pretty pitiful veins she had to have a port put in this morning so her next round of chemo on Thursday should go a little smoother since the nurse won't have to poke and prod for a decent vein.

I never imagined I'd be going through something like this with someone I love. My mom is a tough cookie and in my heart I know we're going to get through this. I'm not naive enough to think it's not going to be a battle but I know it's a battle that my mom can fight surrounded by the people that love her. When she was diagnosed I really struggled with trying to find the reason that this was happening. I'm starting to realize that there probably isn't a reason but my personal struggle with dealing with this has brought me closer to God and helped me realize the importance of prayer and for that I'm grateful.

I've thought about starting a separate blog to chronicle our journey through chemo and the stem cell transplant. I'll leave that one up to my mom. So for now I'll keep everyone up to date on her progress here as long as everyone who reads this entry promises to add her to your prayer lists!

Let's Eat Year Old Cake! Celebrating 5/17 for the 1st Time!

Well it's fifteen days later and I'm finally posting about our First Anniversary Celebration. On our way back from Edisto we decided to take a detour and check out Irvin House Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island.

Irvin House produces five varieties of wine. The wines range from semi-dry to the regular sweet muscadine. Muscadines are the only grapes that will grow in the humid climate of the Lowcountry. Local Charleston artists created the wine bottle labels.

We enjoyed a wine tasting followed by a tour of the winery. Irvin House is also home of the Firefly Distillery the producer of Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka. They aren't licensed to provide vodka tastings and distillery tours yet so we're hoping we'll get to do that sometime in the future. A case of wine (purchased not drank) later we headed north and checked in to the Oak Manor Inn. This B&B is where the bridesmaids and I stayed during wedding preparations and where EJ and I spent our first night as Mr. & Mrs. This photo was taken on the morning of our wedding day as a few of my aunts were heading home after my Bridesmaid's Breakfast. The innkeeper had a special anniversary gift waiting in our room when we checked in!

We spent the evening dining at the same restaurant that catered our rehearsal dinner - Shrimp & Grits and Chocolate Cobbler. Delicious!! We headed back to the B&B to relax and ended up ringing in year two as Mr. & Mrs. at midnight. I think we were both anxious to exchange gifts so we went ahead and did so before calling it a night. Keeping with tradition I gave my Cubs crazed hubby, tickets to an Atlanta vs Cubs game in ATL (we're headed to the game tomorrow). My ever creative hubby combined tradition and modern gifts and gave me the gift of time on paper. I'm all set for massages, mani/pedis, and salon visits for the summer!!! He also gave me a copy of The Love Dare and made the comment that we don't have to be struggling in our marriage to read it!

The next morning we slept in then headed to my parent's house for lunch and year old cake. I'd heard from a friend that it's good luck to eat the entire cake -- not just one piece. We tried, well EJ tried.....

Who needs luck when you've got a love like ours anyway?