Doing well in the New Year

Following a busy holiday season and no lack of demands on my time, I’m finally getting in an update. Susan has continued to make good progress over the past several weeks with therapy at home, more chemotherapy, and another good MRI last week at UCLA. Her scan on 12/30 once again showed brain tumor stability, a continuing trend since beginning Avastin/CPT-11 chemotherapy in June. Her chemo went better this time also with a different anti-nausea medication during the infusion - a relief from the drawn-out vomiting over the past several treatments.

Last month we had more news in the area of complications, a too-familiar theme for the past year and a half. Following a shoulder MRI the week of December 15, we met with orthopedist Dr. Bhalla to learn the cause of Susan’s chronic pain since October - a fracture in her upper arm bone or humerus head where it attaches to the shoulder joint. He officially diagnosed osteonecrosis (or avascular necrosis), which is the deadening of the bone due to lack of blood supply. In Susan's case, it's the result of being on the steroid Decadron for 18 months. Once again, as much as she needed to be on the drug to combat brain swelling, now she needs to be done with it. Following a long and slow taper schedule, she had her final dose last week. The good news is that as the blood supply improves in that area, her body should replace dead bone material with healthy stuff. Her recommended treatment is full-range physical therapy, a painful prospect for Susan. Ever the positive thinker, she said, "At least I don't have to wear a cast."

As we had hoped, Susan is making strides toward independence at home with the help of her caregiver Ana and her therapy team. She’s been doing several activities on her own again and has greater strength and initiation for tasks. It’s a busy and tiresome schedule, with her days often crowded with 1-2 therapy visits of a couple hours each plus bathing, mealtimes and exercise or a walk down the block. She made quite an impression on the oncology treatment center staff at UCLA when she walked in for a recent chemo treatment with her cane under her own power. It wasn’t long ago that I was wheeling her in and transferring her to a bed for her two-hour infusion, so the difference is striking. Susan doesn’t seem to have any quit in her – and I’m proud of her.

We enjoyed a wonderful holiday of Christmas with family and church, and New Year’s in the mountains and several feet of snow. This season of life brings changes to seasons of the year, and Christmas was no different. For the first time in probably 20 years, I did not sing with the choir for our multiple Christmas Eve services. I did manage to participate with our Holiday Chorale for Dinner Theater events and another concert, but that was the extent of my music output. It felt strange, but that’s ok. My time and energy have been focused at home. This year on Christmas Eve we had the opportunity to join my family at St John’s Lutheran Church in Old Towne Orange for an all-German service, their first in 50 years (except for the sermon – danke schön). My mom and cousin sang in the choir. The place was packed with people who knew the language, so the singing was rich. The German music and scripture along with the historic, hand-crafted altar and stained glass from Germany made it feel like we were far away from SoCal. We all missed Grandma Ellen who went to Heaven this year at age 100 and was herself an historic German artifact who surely would have loved to be there. After dinner at my aunt & uncle’s home complete with a Christmas goose, we made it to one of our services at Emmanuel and enjoyed Pastor Ken’s heartfelt sermon and the closing “Silent Night” by candlelight.

We had more family highlights this year, like our traditional Christmas Eve celebration with Susan’s family on the 23rd with creamed chicken dinner, cream puffs for dessert, a joyful gift exchange, and an overall relaxing evening. Our New Year’s holiday in Angelus Oaks provided a winter wonderland from four feet of snow that dumped the week before Christmas, most of it still remaining in the cold weather that followed. When a couple of interior cabin doors were binding at the top of the door jambs, I realized the 2-3 feet of snow on the roof was weighing things down a bit and realized I had a shoveling project to do. It was fun work. I’m glad that each time the shovel sailed off the roof I wasn’t holding on to it. USC won their bowl game, as did the other four PAC-10 teams. I didn’t see the Bruins in there anywhere.

One of the standouts of our holiday time was our Christmas morning together. Our exchange of wrapped presents with each other was a little leaner than in past years under the circumstances, but we continued a family activity that’s much more meaningful – sharing gifts of blessing and appreciation for one another. It’s a tradition we started after learning about it some time ago from our pastors, the Korvers. Each person took a turn having the family say how they’re thankful and why they appreciate them, one at a time. A rainstorm made it misty outside and it got misty inside as well. Susan’s parents joined us for the last part of our sharing. We all felt richer and more loved. I was grateful we could give and receive such gifts that will last.