Dan's Hooding Ceremony

 

Today marks the beginning of Dan's week-long celebration of his RWU graduation.  Today he headed back to Bristol and will hang with his former roommates Nate and Matt for the week's celebration.  All three of them are Arch majors and all three will be receiving their Bachelor of Science/Master of Architecture on Saturday.  Tonight is the Hooding Ceremony, Wednesday night is a President's Dinner, Thursday is rehearsal and a BBQ lunch, Friday is dinner with Nate's family and Saturday is the big event--GRADUATION!

Both Ed and I also drove out today with my sister Theresa and my mother to attend the Hooding Ceremony.  We had a nice (late) lunch at Aidan's in Bristol before attending the ceremony.

Theresa's first visit to Bristol/RWU.  Mt. Hope Bridge in the background.

Grandma and Dan

Auntie Theresa and Dan

Dean White and Ed

Dean White and Dan

Me, Dan, and Ed

Our Graduate!

Happy Birthday Dan

Today, May 12th, marks Dan's 24th birthday!  Where does the time go?  So glad we were able to celebrate with him this year.  For the previous 5 years he was away at college and if we went to visit him, our celebration was limited to a quick lunch or dinner as he was usually in the middle of finals for studio.

A new golf bag as a birthday gift.  Needless to say, Ed picked this out!

His birthday treat was homemade ice cream sandwiches using homemade choc chip cookies.
And some banana blueberry muffins as well.

In other news, Dan has received a couple calls for interviews.  He had one this past Friday in Springfield, MA, and he has another on May 25 in NYC.  Although he's only semi-interested in the job he interviewed for on Friday, the interviewing is good experience and he's not ruling anything out at this point.  Feels good to at least get some calls for interviews!

No Change

There was no change at Ed's doctors appointment today.  There is still protein in his urine so he will continue with only taking the Xeloda and holding off on the Avastin until lab work looks better.  Next appointment is in two weeks on May 23rd.  I'll keep you posted!

Welcome May

I love May.  I guess it's because it means Spring has arrived.  Of course, it is also the month in which Dan was born and there's Mother's Day as well...so it's always a special time of year.  So bright and sunny and a happy time.

Not a lot of news since my last post.  Ed is still doing fine and has another doctor's appointment this week, so hopefully his tests look good.  He does continue to be tired and just does not have the energy that he once had.  Last week some friends came over to help him redo the roof on our back porch.  We are so thankful for their help and now there are no leaks when it rains!

One of the two skylights installed as part of redoing the porch roof.

Dan is still looking for work and applying for a number of jobs, but so far, no bites.  On one hand, it gives him the flexibility he needs for attending upcoming graduation-related events and he's able to play some golf as well.  But it can be discouraging, so if you know of any architects, let us know so we can pass Dan's name on.  I truly believe it will only be word-of-mouth that will get his resume to rise to the top of the pile.

For me, April meant dealing with two annoying issues.  One was a broken tooth.  I bit down one evening and had sharp pain and made a note to call my dentist.  However, a couple days later it was feeling better, so I ignored it (I wonder where I get that from--Mom!).  Well, Friday evening (yes, after the dentist office was closed for the weekend), the tooth broke.  Saw my dentist on Monday and ended up getting a crown.  I am surely thankful I have dental insurance!  Also, last month, several days after my 5K, my left hip began to bother me.  Not sure why and I never had any problems beforehand.  So I tried ignoring it--which didn't work; tried working through it--which didn't work; and then I took a week and did no running or walking and just rested it--and that seemed to do the trick!  I'm back on the treadmill and have starting small amounts of running (yesterday I did 15 mins).  I was going to do another 5K on May 12th, but it was postponed for some unknown reason--which was probably good because I probably would have tried running it when I wasn't really ready!

In other news, Ed and Dan went to a Red Sox game yesterday. The tickets were a Christmas gift from me to the both of them.  Unfortuntely the Red Sox lost, but the weather stayed nice (no rain) and they really liked their seats.

A view from their seats

So, all-in-all, a good month.  As I said, I do love the month of May!

My Lily-of-the-Valleys are blooming early.  I've loved these flowers since I was a kid and remember them growing near the side of the house on Granville Road!

A not-great picture of a small hawk on our back porch.  Hope it doesn't try to eat all the small birds around the house!

Making Adjustments

Making adjustments...or as they say, managing the side effects.  That's what we're doing and two weeks ago another side effect was identified and that is protein in Ed's urine.  (Wow...who ever thought I'd be posting on a blog about urine....crazy, but I am!)  Last week Dr. Bower had Ed do a 24-hour urine test and this week we found that 24-hour test also showed a high level of protein.  This is one of the "serious" side effects of Avastin.  So on Wednesday, we met with Dr. Bower and he informed us that we needed to suspend the use of Avastin until the protein levels go down.

Of course we worried that by suspending the Avastin, the tumors may grow again.  However, there is no choice if we want to avoid permanent kidney damage.  Ed will continue on the Xeloda which as Dr. Bowers explained is the primary chemotheraphy drug. The Avastin and the Irinotecean (that we stopped earlier this year) supplement the Xeloda.  So Ed will continue to go in every two weeks to get his blood levels and urine checked, but no infusions for now (since the Xeloda is an oral drug).

A possible bonus?  Well, the Avastin is also the cause of Ed's high blood pressure and even though Dr. Bowers upped the dosage of his blood pressure medicine earlier this year, he did so again this week since Ed's blood pressure continues to be high.  So by suspending the Avastin for a bit we hope this also helps with the hypertension.

Time will tell...

Rainy Sunday

Today, April 22nd, is a rainy Sunday and we need the rain so bad!  It has been so dry and so I was all set to settle in today and stay home on this lazy, rainy day.  Dan and I spent a chunk of time today creating and mailing invitations to his graduation party.  I cannot believe that graduation is only 4 weeks away!  Somehow that snuck up on us. 

Last weekend we finally met Cassie's parents--John and Peggy.  Their daughter Bridget, who goes to Holy Cross, had a track meet at UMass and her parents and Cassie drove up to see her.  Since they were right in our backyard, it was a great opportunity to meet them.  Ed and I went over and spent a few hours watching the track meet.  We saw Bridget compete in a couple events.  It was fun to see the track meet and even nicer to meet John and Peggy--who we really enjoyed!  An added bonus was that it was a beautiful day to be outside, enjoying the weather, and not having to work in the yard.

After the track meet, we all went out to dinner (unfortunately Bridget couldn't join us).  We decided on Judie's since we felt we needed to pick a unique restaurant special to Amherst.  Of course I had to order popovers with apple butter for them to try--which everyone loved!  We all had a great dinner, good conversation, and an enjoyable time!  We can't wait to see them again!  We got an invite to go visit them this summer on Long Island, so maybe we can make that happen!  If not, I hope they can stop by the next time they are in Mass visiting one of their daughters!

Bridget doing the long jump

Ed cooking on our new gas grill (my Pearson 30th anniv gift)

I have NO clue what they're planning to do with these!

Invitations and Commencement tickets to Dan's RWU graduation!!

Lilacs bloomed VERY early this year.  Ed picked them before the heavy rains destroyed them.

Welcome April

The first week of April Shumway & Sons Tree and Landscaping was here to cleanup what was leftover from the October snowstorm.  They trimmed away branches that were broken and hanging high up in trees and also took down several of the heavily damaged trees.  They also did Kay's next door as well.  Glad to get those hanging branches cleaned up and not worry about them falling during a strong wind!

Of course my big news for April was running my first 5K on April 7th!  I can typically do 3 miles in about 33-34 minutes but there were a couple big hills so my goal was to finish in under 35 mins.  Wasn't I surprised when I crossed the finish line in 32:16!

Warming up before the race

Right after finishing!

Post race

Easter was a nice day with family and friends and nice weather!  The entire family was together at my mother's for dinner and we were joined by Momma Jean, Papa, Maureen, and Roger!  A great day!!

Every holiday I try to get Dan and Gramma to pose for a picture!
These two love each other so much!

Early Spring!

Just some images to show our enjoyment of the early spring/summer weather in March!

Herb pot from Cassie with Basil, Cilantro, and Parsley growing.

On Sunday, March 18th, it was a beautiful 70+ degrees so Dan and I decided to go for a bike ride.  Here I am all ready to go!

Dan waiting for me (had to include this cuz I don't have any other pics of Dan on his bike!)

We road from home to Damon Road in Northampton.  This is the entrance of the bike trail on Damon Road.

A shot of the Connecticut River and the Coolidge Bridge from the bike trail.  Our ride was a total of 21.5 miles!!

Ed fired up the grill that afternoon!

On Wednesday, 3/21, Ed and Dan played 9 holes at Cherry Hill Golf Course.  This is Ed (in case you couldn't tell).

Happy St. Patty's Day

Yes, yesterday was officially St. Patrick's Day.  However, today is the Holyoke Parade and we're cooking our corned beef and cabbage dinner today--so we're extending the celebration an extra day.

Already baked up some Irish Soda Bread--a new recipe--fresh out of the oven.  We'll see how it tastes.

In other news, the initial RWU graduation list for May has been released and look who's there!

(Click on the image to view it larger.)

He did receive his final grade for studio and so he is now 100% officially done!!  Looking forward to a week of activity/celebrations in May.

Happy Spring everyone!

Latest CT Results

Ed had a CT scan this past Wednesday.  He then had an appointment with Dr. B on Thursday for the results and his next treatment.  Good news is that the tumors have once again shrunk and so Ed and Dr. B have agreed to eliminate the Irinotecan for the next 3 months (until the next CT scan).

Needless to say, Ed was quite pleased and in fact went into the appointment hoping this would be the result, so I'm glad he wasn't disappointed.  As you may recall, he was off the Irinotecan for about a year-and-a-half before they had to start it again late last summer.  It is the Irinotecan that caused him to lose his hair and feel "less well" after treatment.  So Ed is thrilled to get a break from this chemo drug for a bit plus it shortens his biweekly treatments by about 1-2 hours.

In fact, feeling so good about this that he's even scheduled his next few treatments on Wednesdays so he can go directly to golf afterwards.

Happy Spring!

Saturdays & Mini Vacations

I love Saturdays and weekends...what's not to like?  I can sleep late, take my time having a couple cups of coffee, and move at a much slower pace.

Earlier this week, we all took a couple days off of work and headed to the casinos in CT.  Cassie (Dan's girlfriend) also joined us.  Originally she had planned time off of work, but since she has since been laid off, she actually was able to coordinate this mini trip with some job interviews in RI.  So Cassie took the ferry from Long Island and then drove the 15-20 mins to Mohegan Sun and we met there mid-day Tuesday.  This was Cassie's first time at a casino and only Dan's second time (if you don't count the time we went when he was under 21 so all he could do was look).

Anyhow, we had a good time.  Spent a few hours at Mohegan, grabbed some lunch, and then headed over to Foxwoods around 4 or 5 PM.  Checked into the Grand Pequot Tower and then spent the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday at Foxwoods.  We all had a good time Tuesday night since we all seemed to be making back the money we were putting in (by the end of the night I was only down $5).  So we weren't winning big, but we also weren't losing big either.

Wednesday we weren't as lucky and we all ended up losing more than we were winning.  At the MGM casino, we ran into a guy who won $10,000 on a $1 slot machine.  An hour later, right around the corner, there was another guy who won $12,000 on a $1 slot.  Of course, this 2nd guy had already dropped $800 in an earlier slot machine.  Would have been nice to win something like that, but we all had fun on our penny slots (Ed played a couple $1 slots...the rest of us were too cheap!).

Left Foxwoods Wednesday late afternoon after grabbing at late lunch at Fuddruckers (gotta love that name!)--we headed home; Cassie headed to RI.  After her interviews on Thursday, she drove here and is now spending the weekend with us (actually, Dan...).  No big plans for the weekend...just hanging out, going to Irish Night at the church, etc.  But as I said when I started this post, I enjoy the weekends where we can just hang out and enjoy a slower pace of life.

Next week Ed has his next CT scan.  I'll be sure to report in after that...  In the meantime, stay warm, don't forget to turn your clocks forward tonight, and look forward to spring!

Dan & Cassie at Dinner (California Pizza)

Me & Ed at Dinner (impossible to get him to pose nicely for a picture)

See...won't just pose nicely for me!

Me at Mohegan Sun

Cassie & Dan at Mohegan

View from our room at Foxwood's Grand Pequot Tower.



Grand Pequot Tower

Dan (on stairs) and Cassie (on escalator) heading towards Foxwoods' MGM Grand Casino.

He is officially DONE!

Yes, after 5.5 years--Dan is done with college!  Dan drove to RWU yesterday to pickup his printed thesis book, get it signed by his advisor, and submit it to Dean White!  He is done and we're so proud of him!  Of course, he does not see the big deal and he says he's not "done" til he gets his final grade.  But he has fulfilled all his requirements and once the grade is submitted, RWU will send him his diploma.  He is still planning to participate in the graduation ceremony in May and so we'll officially celebrate then.  But last night was opening a bottle of wine and toasting him on this milestone!  Both Ed and I are so proud of him.  It was a lot of work and he did it!  And it wasn't easy, that's for sure.  Long days and many all-nighters to prep for studio reviews.  I certainly could not have done it!  I guess we'll let him have the weekend off to do nothing for a change!

Congrats Dan!  We are so proud of you!

Celebrating with Fuzzy Navels!

The infamous Thesis Book!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Dan left Thursday night (Feb 9th) to go visit his girlfriend Cassie in Long Island for the weekend to both celebrate Valentine's Day and their 3rd anniversary together.  Can't believe they've been together 3 years--time flies!  So Friday night Ed and I went out to dinner at Ginger Garden in Amherst.  Very good food (Asian food, sushi) and excellent service--we would definitely recommend it (at least the Chinese food--we didn't try the sushi!).  It's on the corner of University Drive and Route 9.

Ed had a treatment on Monday (Feb 13th)--no changes, same ole, same ole--tired and queasy for a few days afterwards.  He's got one more treatment scheduled in two weeks and then they'll probably schedule his next CT scan.  We're hoping things look good and they can cut back for a bit.

Valentine's Day was pretty low-key.  All of us had to work and so we (okay, Ed) put a pot roast in the crockpot in the morning so we had a nice dinner waiting for all of us when we got home.  We also shared the bottle of wine that we received as a gift while in Italy.  It was nice to be able to share that with the three of us.

Now I know some people traditionally go out to dinner on Valentine's Day.  However, we were never one to go out and leave Dan behind.  That never seemed right.  And, yes, I do believe in time together as a couple and that is exactly what we did Friday night.  But even when Dan was younger, we felt it was more important to share time together as a family.  I mean, I love both my guys, so why wouldn't I want to spend time with both of them while I can!?  If you can't tell yet, we do enjoy spending time together and I'll cherish it (and take advantage of it) for as long as I can.

Our big news this week is that Dan finally submitted his thesis book last night!  Woo Hoo!!  He's been putting many, many hours into it!  Of course, his advisor responded within 20 minutes with the okay to print it!  So now Dan is figuring out how to print it and then get it to his advisor for necessary signatures, etc.  It may require a day trip to Bristol but it will be so worth it to have this done-done!  Then I can nag him about being more aggressive in finding a job!! lol  In the meantime, though, we are thankful he at least has part-time work and can live at home to save some money.  The student loans are already coming due!

So life is good and we're looking forward to going away for a few days in a couple weeks.  In the meantime, stay healthy, stay happy.  Enjoy the weekend!!

Roses from Ed that Dan delivered to work for me!

Flowers from Ed at home.

My Lucky Bamboo from Dan.  My guys really do spoil me!

Upside down picture of just some of the Valentine's treats we shared.  No picture of the 4 boxes of chocolates that we ended up with amongst the three of us!

Red Velvet cupcakes that I baked up for the guys!

 

February Has Arrived

Yes, February has arrived.  January passed way too quickly...  And it was kinda disappointing that there was no snow (or at least none to speak of).  Don't get me wrong.  I don't like shoveling nor do I like driving in the snow.  My idea of a snow day is staying home, a fire in the fireplace and watching the snow through the window.  It is peaceful and it is pretty.  And, honestly, one of the joys of living in New England is the change in seasons.  Oh well, you all can remind me of these words when we're hit with a snowstorm in March and I'm complaining about it!  But again, isn't that what we New Englanders do?  But enough about the weather...

Last weekend was moving the rest of Dan's stuff out of his apartment in Bristol, RI.  We rented a cargo van and packed it to the gills and Dan packed more stuff in his car.  Amazing how much he accumulated in 1.5 years.  Unpacking took much less time than I had expected.  Some things ended up upstairs in the garage, some in the basement, some in Dan's room, and some is still in the garage or on the back enclosed porch.  But Dan is sorting through things and some of his stuff is being blended into the household (like cleaning and laundry supplies, some cooking utensils, etc.).

Ed and Dan loading up the van.

The van mostly loaded.  We did add more...

On one of his days off this week, Dan rearranged his bedroom to fit in some more furniture that he brought home with him.  It actually looks good.  Dan continues to chip away at his thesis book.  His goal was to finish by last week, but that didn't happen.  So now he's attempting to finish it by today.  He spends time working on it at night after work and on his days off and weekends.  Of course, moving and packing/unpacking kinda threw off his productivity last week.  He's planning to go to Long Island next week to see his girlfriend, so he better have his book done or Mom won't allow him to go!! lol

Ed had another treatment this week on Monday.  Bloodwork still looks good and the Dr. B. believes his liver is shrinking again (although I don't remember him ever saying it was getting larger again...but whatever...).  We will plan for another CT scan in March.  Ed hopes that if things look good we can cut back on one of the chemo drugs.  Time will tell there...

Dan and I were all prepared that Ed would not be feeling well when he got home Monday so we planned dinner and I also lectured Ed that he shouldn't plan on running errands afterwards but instead come home and rest.  It seemed to do the trick since he was feeling okay Monday evening and Tuesday.  But by Wednesday, he was feeling queasy and tired again.  Thankfully Dan cooked dinner on Wednesday (since he had the day off) and so Ed could come home from work and rest.  By Friday he still wasn't feeling great and so came home from work early.  Hopefully he'll be feeling better by Sunday.  We'll see.  At this point, we're just planning to lay low over the weekend.

We are beginning to take into account in our plans the fact that Ed doesn't feel well the week of treatment.  If we're looking to do something (such as go away, go out to dinner, etc.), we are now avoiding treatment week.  But, all-in-all, certainly nothing we should be complaining about.  We are still much more fortunate than others and need to remind ourselves of that during this tougher days.

This weekend we celebrate our nephew Nick's 13th birthday (not sure how he got that old) and we'll be staying home to watch the Superbowl.  Ed's friend Mike invited us to his house, but since Ed is not feeling 100%, we're planning to just stay home.  Can you believe it's been 6 years since we've watched the Superbowl with Dan?!  We really are so happy to have him home with us right now!

Go Patriots!!

Dan and his roommates (Matt & Nate) on the front porch of their apartment. A good group of guys.

Treatment Days

Ed had another treatment on Monday, January 9th.  When I got home from work, he was resting in bed.  He was feeling a bit queasy and achy.  The same was true after his last treatment as well.  The good news is that the chemo is keeping the tumors at bay.  Unfortunately, though, Ed is experiencing more side effects than he did in the first two years.

So as Dan and I prepared dinner for ourselves and set some aside for Ed to have later in the evening, I realized my updates on this blog tend to stay on the positive side and only share the good.  But for those of you who come here looking for updates on how Ed is doing versus a sugar-coated story, I have been doing you a disservice.

Don't get me wrong, Ed is still battling this nasty disease and the chemo is keeping the tumors at bay.  But the Avastin has resulted in more side effects than Ed experienced earlier.  As you know, he was losing his hair last fall and ended up shaving his head in September.  He has since lost his eyebrows and eyelashes although this is less noticeable hidden behind his glasses.

The Avastin has also resulted in high blood pressure and so now Ed is taking blood pressure medicine and recently had to up the dosage.  He frequently has muscle aches and his energy is low.  Of course, I attribute this to him being older and tell him he needs to be more active and exercise/move more often (which falls on deaf ears).  In general, though, treatment days seem to take more out of Ed than they ever did previously.  He feels more queasy and tired, has an obnoxious runny nose for hours, and comes home to rest afterwards.

The good news is that this only typically lasts a day and overall, the good days still greatly outnumber the bad days which we are thankful for.

Happy New Year, Happy 2012

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year.  We certainly enjoyed the 3-day weekend!!  Dan left for Long Island Thursday night to spend New Year's with Cassie and her family.  This is the first time in 24 years that we did not spend New Year's together and Ed and I somehow survived!  Of course, lately, we need Dan to help keep us awake til midnight!!  We did manage to stay up til midnight and watched the ball drop in Times Square on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve.  We must really be getting old because some of the groups they had performing (1) I've never heard of and (2) weren't very good!!  I mean come on--a band that is named LMFAO and has a dancer who had a cardboard box on his head the entire time??!!

All-in-all the weekend was good and productive.  Got simple things done around the house and started sorting/cleaning things out to start 2012 organized.  I think we decided we were NOT going to rent a cottage in Misquamicut in July.  The place we've rented for the last several years is not available this year.  So we discussed whether we wanted to find another cottage or do something different.  We ended up deciding not to rent for a week since we have Dan's graduation in May and we'll be staying Bristol for a couple days for that plus we'll probably have a small party/picnic for him as well (so well save our money these events).

Last week Dan got a part-time at ES (where I work) as a copyright permission assistant.  Not that that is anything to brag about....but rather he has some part-time work that will give him a regular paycheck and will give him the flexibility he needs this month to finish his thesis project and to start looking for a full-time job.  I am thankful for all the flexibility and support (N)ES has given Dan over the years.  They fully understand that he'll be looking for full-time work and gave him this position since it gives him flexibility for interviews, etc.  They are so good to us (did I tell you our HR director was Dan's middle school principal?)  Keep your fingers crossed that he can find a full-time job in his field (architecture) without have to go to Dubai!

Ed is doing the same...no changes--which is good news although he hates that he has lost his hair (including eyebrows and eyelashes now).  But other than that...he feels fairly good and continues his treatment every two weeks.  Next CT scan won't be until later in February.

And, me, nothing new.  I continue to update this blog which I'm sure is QUITE boring for most of you.  I don't even have any fun pictures to post today!  But I'll keep it up for now.  If you're out there and find this even remotely informative or entertaining, please drop me a comment or click a reaction (below each posting) once in a while, just to let me know you're out there!

Here's hoping 2012 is good to you and here's hoping it's a healthy and prosperous year for all of us!!