It has been a beautiful day
Dear Family,
Yes, it has been a beautiful day, this was our day to go see our flat just four blocks from the Seattle Center. The neighborhood is called Lower Queen Anne. There are lots of shops, restaurants and coffee shops around. For you Orgonions there are several Mcminivans resturants in Seattle and one of then right near us so we went there after getting the keys to the Apt.
The place is homey, two bedrooms living rm. a balcony you could bar b q on, one bathroom. Wifi, dvd. Kitchen small but complete. It's not fancy but is clean and in good state of repair. It is completly furnished I had to take it sight unseen because I quickly realized these places go fast and I didn't want to be doing this at the last minute. These places rent by the month and are set up for the purpose of providing housing for people who come from all over the country or world for medical reasons to the Fred Hutchenson Cancer Center although they are not affiliated with the Center.
I talked with Cathy my donor tonight. The Hutch has contacted her and told her she has quite a prepratory regime herself. She said " I have to have shots for five days to build up my stem cell production! and she said it can make me feel like I have the flu" "but thats ok margie" I am fixing the 2nd bedroom up real nice for her.
So it is like I am being inched towards this thing- first the flat and fixing it up with some things of my own, then starting the evaluation for two weeks with Cathy being evaluated too.
Then a few days off and sign all the consents and then I'm in it, chemo for some number of hours per day- go to the flat at night-for three days.
Then one session of total body radiation and back home [flat]. A couple of days later Cathys blood is collected from her arm and infused into me through my Hickman catheter which I have had since last june. It is like a blood transfusion but it is mostly stem cells which know exactly where to go- they actually permiate the microbone circulation through the bone and into the bone marrow itself.
After that I am monitored for signs of rejection of the transplant and have been given immunosuppresive drugs from the time I was started on the chemo. I am at most risk for infection for up to a year.
Well that is it for now, thankyou for all who have written in the blog. Lisa, Colleen B. Richard, Debbi, Randy, God bless you all- all meaning anyone who reads this too. Love, Margie
hello Margie
ReplyDeletei'm still under the weather so my visit to you will have to wait. I plan on shipping out next Wednesday. thanks for the up date you really have a lot of courage Margie,you have a lot on your plate,I'm preying for you all the time it sounds like your all set up in Seattle and Cathy has a lot to do also she is also in our preyers it's hard to find the words to shair with you because I can't even begin to fathem the deapth of it all.
Love Richard
Hi margie. I'm thinking of you.
ReplyDelete-Love, Joe
Hi again. I meant every word I said in my previous message. It was kind of a quick test to see if I was going to be successful and I see it did work. This is great!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we do love you and we are thinking about you and we are praying for you! And for the doctors and for the nurses. I talked with Cathy today and it was good talking with her. "Lord, bless Cathy and keep her healthy and strong". Were all doing well, kids busy with school & work. Anyway, take care and we send our love!
-Joe & Michelle
Hi everyone! Rachel here just wanting to let you know im praying
ReplyDeletefor everyone.You are all so sweet
to eachother and its a blessing to
see. Thanks for supporting my mom
also.I have high hopes for this to
be a great outcome for margie it
has been wonderful bieng around her.
Love , Rachel
hi, it's Sat afternoon. I will be leavihg Wed, got my ship yesterday. I will be on the West coast. I'm so sorry to miss next Sat, it would be so nice to see Eleanor, but do have a nice visit with her. I'm sure you have a lot to talk about. You two only go back 50 years or more. All is good here. Jade takes her final test for her cosmetology license on Monday, so please say a little prayer for her..I will give you a call sometime soon to see how things are going. I'm sure Debbi will keep me posted on what's happening on your blog.
ReplyDeleteLove you, Richard
Hi
ReplyDeleteAunt Margie, its Colleen...I am just checking up on you, please give my love and graditude to Cathy. It is such a miracle that she can give you health. I am praying for each of you. I just love to read your blogs, what a treat. I cannot wait until we are together again!
Love you, Colleen
my beloved sister,
ReplyDeletei'm very excited for you. i can not even believe the miracle that cathy is the donor & was here!! by all accounts at one time she was going to be in china now. speaking of china - i'm reading a book called the "china study". it has the most recent nutritional findings on combatting cancer - mainly whole foods, plant based nutrition. it was & is a great read - i've been captivated by it lately. i'm sending in prayer requests to have the team at evergreen pray for you guys.
love suzy
Dear Mom, "Hi"! We have been thinking of you so much recently. I am sorry that we missed your call last week. I tried to call you back several times before we left, but alas, you were not at home. We went down to Mexico for a few days to stay with my brother Jim and his wife Petey. They are building a really nice house on a hill overlooking the ocean. Their property is about 40 miles south of the border. The amazing thing is that they could aquire land and build a house there for only a fraction of the cost of a such a place north of the border in the U.S.! From their living room windows and front patio they gaze right into the sea. One day from morning until sunset we watched families of dolphins jumping and playing and surfing the waves while pelicans flew overhead. Wonderful! It is just a short walk down to the beach from their house. Dashiell and Sully went swimming every day. The water is still pretty cold, so Eddie and I decided to wait for a future visit to do some body surfing. The weather was warm (not hot) and we had such a good time walking on the beach and generally relaxing in such a beautiful spot. Petey is a really good cook and she used the boys as her sous chefs helping her to prepare lovely meals for us all. She also taught them how to make several dishes that they want to make often in the future. Jim and Petey commute back and forth from their home in Corona most weekends. The day we left Jim had to be at the office so we had to be out the door by 7:30 A.M. in order to build in time to cross the border. It is a fast crossing going into Mexico, but a slow time coming back. We took our dog, Saber, down with us. He had a great time too. He especially loved getting all of the gourmet leftovers and running along the beach. We boarded our other two dogs while we were gone because we did not have enough room to bring all three of them. We left the cats at the house in Yucca Valley and they were all fine when we returned, albeit lonely for company. Eddie is again hard at work on the remodelling project. We got the color coat (the finish stucco coat) on the house recently. We picked a light peach color for the body of the house. It looks really pretty with the terra cotta colored Spanish tile roof. All of the new windows, doors, trim, and the facia are white, which makes a pleasing contrast. Eddie is presently working on the house interior. This week he started to lay the wood flooring throughout the house. The bathrooms will have tile floors. There is still alot of work yet to be done. We will be ripping out the kitchen and changing some of the dimensions from the previous design. I need to figure out our new layout and pick out all of the cabinets, countertops and appliances soon. Should be fun! We are all so much enjoying being down here in the warm weather and getting out of the heavy, cold, Idaho winter for once. Even in the high desert of Yucca Valley the weather has not yet turned hot. Every day is sunny and warm with a nice breeze. Although I do miss the trees. The only trees native to this area are the Joshua trees and they are really just big lillies! They look like prehistoric trees but, strangely, they are part of the lilly family. Lots of the cactus are blooming right now. It's very interesting to see and SO different from the landscapes of the northwest! My dad and Barbara are coming out to their desert place this weekend. On Saturday night we will be going out to dinner with them to help them celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary. It will be so nice to share that day with them. Barbara's arm is finally healing. (If you remember she slipped and fell off a curb the night before my dad's 95th birthday party and broke her arm!) She is now doing some physical therapy to get her range of motion back. They are both doing great otherwise though. We have seen them several times out here in the desert since she recovered enough to start coming out regularly again. Kathleen faxed us a note this morning to let us know how your first day of the evaluation went. It sounds like quite an ordeal that you are undergoing! I hope you are finding your experience at The Hutch interesting and filled with hopeful possibilities, even though it must also be tiring and stressful. I trust you will have the weekend off so you can enjoy your visit with Kathleen and Eleanore. Please know that our thoughts are always with you. We are sending you all our love.... Susie, Eddie, Dashiell and Sully XXXX OOOO
ReplyDelete