5 Christmas-y Thankful Things

1. By some miracle the gifts have all been bought and wrapped.  The shoppings gods were smiling on us Saturday because we encountered manageable lines and found all the items for which we were looking.  Woohoo!  (Although this is the first year that I can remember that one of the kids is not getting their #1 wish list item.  I am hoping the surprise gift will soften the blow!)

2. Dave has a new set of wheels for the many many trips to Baltimore that he will be making while on the clinical trial.  He really wanted a hybrid and picked out the Subaru Crosstrek in bright lime green.  We are affectionately calling it the “snot bubble”.  I will be much less stressed knowing that he is in a safe and reliable car as he journeys to Johns Hopkins.

3. The gifted minds and hands of the doctors and nurses who are treating Dave.  And especially for the ones who also practice medicine with their hearts and souls.

4. The five of us together.  It is nice to have a full house once again.  I am also enjoying having the kids’ friends over contributing to the hilarity and energy here.

5. Friends and family.  Friends and family.  Friends and family.

Merry Christmas.

Love,

Robyn

 

5 Illness Related Things

1. Distractions are good.  Be it in the form of work or friends, it is good to have your mind occupied by something other than the situation at hand.  Dave went into work Thursday and Friday for a few hours and has a friend in town this weekend.  This has made a marked difference to his mood.  And all the craziness of late with Sam’s surgery and Dave’s procedure have kept me for obsessing about the fact that Sam leaves for school in a week.  When I do let my mind meander in that direction, it hits me like a ton of bricks.  I am going to miss that kid so much.

2. Two minds are always better than one.  Dave mentioned on Thursday that his stomach was really hurting.  I asked him if he was still taking the Prilosec he was prescribed prior to the treatment.  He didn’t remember that was part of his plan.  It is so important for at least two people to hear the information first hand.

3. A friend of a friend met with Dave on Friday.  She has just been diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer with mets to the liver.  (Sound familiar?)  She is being treated at Georgetown, and they told her she could expect to live about 2 1/2 years.  This made me so angry.  How can they possibly know how she will respond to treatment?  I don’t know the circumstances, maybe she asked what her prognosis was.  But it felt so defeating to me to be given a time line.  As long as there are treatment options and the will to try them, I am confident she can blow right past that prediction.  After all, we just passed the two year mark.

4.  When illness strikes, some people find a quiet corner, curl up and suffer in silence.  I would fall into this group.  There is another group that comes into the room where you are and makes heavy sighing or grumbling noises.  This group wants you to know that they are not happy campers.  I might know someone who falls into this category.  Maybe.

5.  Finally, I think the key to making it through the tough times is finding the humor in the situation.  Dave and I have always been able to laugh about some aspect of the process.  Thankfully, I also have friends with wicked senses of humor.  Here is a text that made me laugh for hours afterwards….

xoxo

Robyn

5 Random Things

1. I have rediscovered Netflix and movies in general….

The Campaign = hilarious and inappropriate

Bridesmaids = see The Campaign

TED = dear God.

13 Going on 30 = could watch this movie over and over again

Playing for Keeps = snoresville even with Gerard Butler

Monsters U = very cute but you can’t beat the original

2. My friend, Wendy, has a german exchange student staying with her family.  She thought it would be nice if Sam would invite him to hang out with her and her friends.  I had to coerce Sam into inviting him to a movie.  She is SO glad she did.

3. I had the CRAZIEST dream the other night.  It involved a bomb going off, staying with some stranger who was uber prepared for the event, many door locks, and lots of running.  Think my subconscious is trying to tell me something?

4. We got a new pet.  Sadly, Dave’s bearded dragon met an untimely demise when the AC in his office went out over the weekend.  The 100 degree temperature in his office paired with the heating lamps did in the poor little fellow.  So, now we have another leopard gecko named Oscar.  (Together our leos are George and Oscar Bluth for any Arrested Development fans.)

5. I took Sam to the orthopedist today.  She definitely needs surgery.  It involves cutting a chunk of bone out of her right ulna, putting a plate in and letting it all heal.  It seems unlikely that she will be able to get it done before school starts, but they are really trying to get her in.  August 5th is a slim possibility so any prayers, good vibes or whatever you do are appreciated!!  Otherwise, it is probably going to be over the Christmas break and hopefully the cortisone shot she got today will tide her over.

xoxo

Robyn

5 Things From the Past Week

1. PROM!  What a fun evening.  The kids all looked great.  They opted for ordering food in so they could hang out and enjoy being together.  I took Samantha and two of the guys for pedicures earlier in the day.  Then Samantha headed off to FLOW, a blow dry bar, that just opened up near us.  She came home and declared her hair “kind of like Honey Boo Boo’s”!  After prom, some of the kids headed back to our house for more food and chilling out.

2. I reapplied for my exact same job.  Since I am on a one year contract that is contingent on Title I funding, my position has to be written into the budget and approved each year.  And because I work for such a huge bureaucratic machine, there is no “one year renewal”.  They actually let me go, and then I had to reapply which means updating my resume and filling out the online application.  Seems overly complicated to be honest, but I am thankful for a job that I love.

3. A wonderful Mother’s Day.  It started with Parker and Dave doing some planting and a basket of goodies.  Then we met Mom and Dad for a yummy brunch.  I talked the girls into watching a movie with me, and they couldn’t say no because it was MY day!

4. Flash and Tony are back.  They are our red footed tortoises who winter at Dave’s school.  Now that the warm weather has finally arrived, they are back enjoying the backyard.  I wonder if they will eat the 17 year cicadas that are supposed to arrive any day now.

5. The dogs and my plant are enjoying the deck.

xoxo

Robyn