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!!

Merrry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!  And thank you to our families for making it special.  We spent Christmas Eve with the Brzyckis at Missy & Dennis's and then Christmas Day with the Jasmins at my Mom's.  Of course Christmas morning was spent at home opening the gifts from each other (and Santa!).  It was a great Christmas and today we're planning to just lounge around at home and extend our celebration.  I do fully believe in celebrating for the 12 days of Christmas!!  We hope everyone has a joyous Christmas with family and friends!

Preparing for Christmas

Like most of you, we are in the throws of preparing for Christmas!  The shopping is done (okay, minus one gift that Ed is responsible for...but other than that, all shopping is done!).  Baking is also done!  And today will be spent wrapping!

To be done baking is a major accomplishment.  For those of you who don't know, I bake a variety of cookies and candies each year.  And each year, I tell myself I'm cutting back, but somehow that just doesn't happen.  I do like to bake a variety of cookies and I have stopped doubling recipes so that I only make a single batch, but I like to try new kinds.  This year, crazy me ended up with about 100 dozen cookies and that does not include the fudge, truffles, rum balls, etc.  And I eliminated some types of cookies this year that I traditionally make.  The good news, though, is that I give the majority of these away as gifts, so many benefit from my craziness (and I do keep a few in the house for Ed and Dan to enjoy!).

And speaking of Dan, I'm happy to report he is home for Christmas.  In fact, he is pretty much home until he finds a full-time job wherever that might be.  He has his apartment in Bristol, RI, through January and he will go back later in January for a few days to finalize/print his thesis summary and attend presentations for other arch students.  At that time, Ed and I will also go out with a U-Haul to bring the rest of his furniture/stuff home.

We are excited to have him home and thankfully he has some part-time work lined up so he can earn some money as he begins his search for a full-time job and begins the next chapter of his life!!

Ed continues to do well and maintains his "standard" two-week chemotherapy treatment.  Still keeping tumors at bay and, in general, he's still feeling fine.  I joined him this week for his doctor's appt so I could share baked goods with Dr. Bowers and his staff.  They are such wonderful people there and I can't thank them enough or express my appreciate adequately for all they've done for Ed these past two years.  Here's hoping I'm delivering Christmas cookies to them for many years to come!

Since I'm sure this will be my last post before Christmas, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! And a Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate this holiday!

Lining everything up to begin the package prep!

Linzer cookies--new cookie I made this year. I'm pleased with how they came out!

First layer of candy boxes (fudge, truffles, rum ball, haystack)...

Top layer of candy boxes (macaroons, brittle, peppermint bark, choc-covered oreo, Linzer cookie)

The many finished packages (which I can thankfully store on our three-season porch to keep refrigerated!)

Happy 75th Birthday Mom

Sunday, Dec 11th marked my Mom's 75th birthday!  Because she hates surprises and parties and being the center of attention, we held a very small breakfast with just immediate family and a couple close friends.  It was a nice way to recognize my Mom and it had everything she loves most--family and friends and good food!  Next month we celebrate her Auntie Alice's 90th birthday, so here's to at least 15 more years for Mom!!  She definitely comes from good genes!!

Auntie Gingy, Mom, friend Sandy, friend Theresa

Dan's FINAL Thesis Presentation

This month marks Dan's last semester at Roger William University and on Friday, December 9th, he gave his final presentation for his thesis project.  We are so proud of this accomplishment and all his hard work to get him to this point.  His girlfriend Cassie drove up from Long Island to attend the reviews and so was there to take some pictures.  Once he completes this semester, he will have earned a Masters of Architecture (although he won't walk for graduation until May 2012).  We are so very proud of him!

Two Year Anniversary

Early December marks the 2-year anniversary of Ed's diagnosis.  Depending on what date we want to use, the actual 2-year mark is either December 3rd or December 9th.  December 3, 2009 was when the gastroentrologist informed us that, beyond a doubt, without a biopsy, he knew Ed had colon cancer.  December 9, 2009 was our first meeting with Ed's oncologist where we got the "official" diagnosis and prognosis.  Regardless of what specific date you use as the marker, here we are two years later and life is treating us well.  It is so hard to believe it's been 2 years.  The days and the events of those days are still very clear and vivid.  And I remember how we only prayed and dreamed of having 6 months together and if we were lucky, could we make it a year??  Never did we think beyond that or consider two years later Ed would still be with us battling this disease.

On December 2nd, Ed had another CT scan and the good news is "no change".  Tumors are still present, but no new growths or changes in the size of the tumors.  And Ed feels pretty good considering.

So as we mark the two-year anniversary, we are thankful that we've had this extra time together, that he has been "healthly" for the most part (except for that little inconvenience of needing chemo treatment every two weeks), and we are thankful for Dr. Bowers and his oncologist nurses (especially Shane), and their team and all the advancement in cancer treatment that enables those like Ed to fight this battle.  (Cait, I'm thinking of you as well at this time as you also mark your two-year anniversary!)

God is good!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was a wonderful, traditional event.  Dan arrived home Wednesday morning.  I had the day off of work so I could bake pies for Thanksgiving (a pumpkin, apple, lemon meringue, and butterscotch banana).  Dan was originally planning to come home Tuesday evening but since he didn't get out of studio until 7:30 PM, we agreed it made more sense for him to get up early Wednesday to make the two-hour drive home.  He was home by 9 AM!

What I'm most thankful for...having Dan home!

We were blessed to have the entire family together for Thanksgiving and we never take this for granted.  There was my mother, my brother, my sisters, my sister's husbands, and their children.  Auntie Gingy (my mother's sister) also joined us this year as well as my brother's friend Andy.  It was a great day with good food and good company!  I love this holiday...a day set aside for family and friends and to thank God for our many blessings.

Our traditional photo.
L-R, Andy, Dave, Marion, Jeanne, Ed, Cathy, Tim, Mom,
Dan, Nick, Matt, Lexi, Ali, Theresa, Gindy, Mike (with Shana and Sparky)

Enjoying the meal...

Enjoying the company by playing some board games...

Team A won Taboo (Mom, Cathy, Theresa, Ali)

Team B won Pictionary (Marion, Lexi, Dan, Jeanne)

Grandma and Dan miss each other too...

Dan and Grandma

Dan left to go back to school Saturday morning.  He has a lot of work left to do to prepare for his final and he's not very productive when he's home.  Now on to the mad dash towards Christmas!

Our First Cruise: Arriving Home (Sunday)

We arrived back in Florida Sunday morning around 8:00 am and departed around 9-9:30 am.

Sitting on the Lido deck waiting to disembark.

The guys--Ed, Nick, and Tim.

All-in-all it was a great trip. We wish there were more activities during the day but if we had known better, we might have planned our time differently. We sailed on Carnival Sensation which we understand is one of the older ships so it's lacking some of the amenties on newer, larger ships. My sister also indicated that the Disney cruises had more activities and more food options. However, Carnival was significantly less expensive, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Would we do it again? Absolutely! Seeing the Bahamas was quite a site! And we did upgrade to a balcony room and that was so well worth it as well. I could have simply sat on our balcony and been happy. But we did partake in the activities and that was fun as well. It's true you get out of it what you put in into it and what your expectations are. A great, short getaway (that seemed much longer than 3 days)...a perfect way to refresh after the events of the power outage!

Our stateroom...looking towards the balcony.

Desk area.

Looking back towards the entrance from near the desk.

Bathroom--toilet and sink (looking towards the left from the doorway).

Bathroom--shower (lookings towards the right from the doorway).

Across from the bed--TV and connecting door to next stateroom.

Our room was the extended balcony, bottom level, last one on the right.

The Carnival Sensation docked in Nassau.