A girl and her niece

Since Ashley has officially announced her plans, I can safely share here. She is moving to Seattle on Saturday!!! She has accepted the position of Nurse Manager at the Seattle Indian Health Board. It is an incredible opportunity and I am thrilled for her! She starts her job on June 1. The story of how it came together is really incredible--I cannot possibly do it justice. Suffice to say that it is one of those things that totally just falls together as it should and she connected with the women there on such an intimate and emotional level. I won't say it was an easy decision for her, but once she acknowledged that she wanted the job, everything fell into place. She has rented a condo and made one trip to move some stuff. 

This year has been a rough one for her and finally moving in a positive direction has her glowing with happiness and pride. It is a beautiful thing to see. One of her hesitations was leaving me. I won't lie--it has been a comfort to have her next door, but it is way more important for her to keep moving forward with her life. I am *so* excited for her! I've always loved Seattle and am really looking forward to visiting again on a regular basis (looking at you, Sarah and Maribeth!).

Ashley and I took off last week on an adventure. We ended up wine tasting at Balletto Vineyards and then doing a 2-mile guided nature walk at Pepperwood Preserve (I almost didn't make it!!). It was a beautiful time together and capped a week where so many good things happened for Ashley. I am glad that her final weeks here are sending her on a wave of positivity.

The nature walk was guided by Clint McKay and was simply terrific. The only problem is my complete and utter out-of-shapeness!!!! We started out by billy-goating straight up the hillside. I almost turned right around. At first we were in front, but then I got super wobbly and thought I was going to fall down. I had to just simply flop right down on the side of the trail!! Honestly, I was too friggen tired to even be embarrassed. How awful is that? There were eight other hikers besides me and Ash (plus the two guides) and everyone was super patient with me. Being bald clearly offers some advantages when you're a woman--it seems to clearly indicate health issues of some kind. Well, I didn't turn around, but it felt like we were constantly walking uphill. How??? It really was quite strange. Of course, I was utterly loopy with exhaustion so maybe I was hallucinating...

At the end, I flopped right down on the road on my back and just tried to catch my breath. I got applause and encouragement from everyone--it was really lovely of them. Ultimately, it took me three days to recover from that outing, but I am so so glad I persevered and had that adventure with Ashley.

The blue cheese was incredible!!

Looking north toward Mt. St. Helena.

Clint talks about land maintenance. His knowledge is amazing!

Soap root leaves.

Looks like googly eyes :-)

Very apropos!!

Full rainbow on Hopland on our way home.

A girl and her nephew

Brice turned 8 in May!!! I was not feeling well on the day of his party, but I dragged myself next door for about 45 minutes to see him and visit a bit. This kid is scary smart and quick-witted. I always thoroughly enjoy spending time with him and being kept on my toes. 

Third chemo treatment

On May 12th cousin Monica and her daughter, Dominique, drove me to my third chemo treatment down in San Francisco. Poor Omi was a little carsick and we had to stop a couple of times, but we still made it on time. It was pretty dreary and drizzly, but they had shopping on the agenda so off they went.

I was a bit nervous since I never really fully recovered my equilibrium after round two. But what can you do but move forward? I did get a private room this time, which was interesting. As per usual, they tap the port, draw blood and check my total blood counts to make sure I am good to go. Once I get the green light, I move off to another part of the building to get hooked up to Rollie.

Me and Rollie together again.

Listening to some music.

Today included an ultrasound to see if the chemo is making a difference. Once my infusions were done and Alien baby attached, I zoomed off to the next building for my ultrasound. It took about a week to get the results, but GREAT news!! Of the four masses, they could only see three during the ultrasound (that fourth one shows up in an MRI). All three appeared smaller!!! Two for sure had measurable shrinkage!!! HOORAY!!!!!!

Time for the ultrasound--which showed shrinkage!!

The next day I was pretty bloated and tired and so
this is what the next few days looked like.

Archery

Ever since discovering the Scottish Games in Pleasanton (oh, I think that was around 2002), I have had archery in the back of my mind. Earlier this year I bought myself a bow and arrow. But what fun is it with just one person? So for Jim's birthday we trekked off to Daly City to get him fitted out as well. I managed to have a good day that day so we went to Fort Funston after lunch in Chinatown. I walked a mile! I was pretty pink and huffy-puffy for a good while afterward, but it was so nice to move around.

Jim and I are now both proud owners of recurve bows and set up hay bales in the "back 40" for our archery range. I've only gone out a couple of times, but have had tremendous fun. We've each lost an arrow. Jim found one that had been missing awhile, but then lost a different one. We need different colored fletching to see it better against the turf!!

Fort Funston

Taking a break while walking at Fort Funston.

Life and death

My recovery for second chemo didn't go as well as round one. I constantly had a stomach ache and just didn't feel well. Exhaustion was another issue what with not sleeping well at all. I almost didn't go to the baby shower. Ashley hosted a baby shower for her bestie Brandi. It was at the yacht club on May 1. But I dragged myself out of the house and decided an hour would be fine to make an appearance. Of course, I am glad I went. I ran into a childhood friend (Polly is related to Brandi) and we had a terrific catch-up!! Ashley and Brandi's brother did a fantastic job with the baby shower and we got to celebrate a life that will join our world on July 4th!!! :-) 

Ashley and Brandi at the baby shower.

Polly and I catch up :-)

The photo area turned out gorgeous!

Sadly, that night my cousin Tim died of covid. You celebrate life in the early hours of the day and you go to sleep crying your grief. It was just devastating news. We share a birthday one year apart and were best friends growing up next door to each other. He and Steve formed my world through elementary and junior high. Plus all their friends: Joey, Andrew, Dean, Danny, Jerry, Blair. 

Not only was it devastating to lose him so young (54), but to covid?!?!?? In my culture, we gather when there is a death in the family, but I couldn't do that. Not with covid in the mix and my immune system compromised. My sister did gather and kept me up to date, but it just wasn't the same as being there and being able to howl and cry and grieve with everyone who loved Tim. Dumb covid and dumb cancer for taking that privilege from me. I did ask my sister and my niece to find out when the least amount of people might be around during the vigil and to ask people to not hug me when I showed up. I went to pay my respects on Sunday morning at 7:00 and only four people were in the house and three were out front tending the fire. It was good to say goodbye and get some closure. 

2nd Chemo Treatment

My second chemo treatment saw Beth coming from Mountain View to get me to San Francisco!! She arrived the night before and we arranged with Madonna for haircut and color that afternoon and to deliver pizza during their busy day. That worked really well for me as now I had a nice easy lunch for chemo day.

We were on the road by 7:45 on April 21st after breakfast burritos and arrived with no problems or delays. Beth dropped me off and went home to take care of Frannie and Bella. The second day went quicker than the first as the infusions were now running at regular times (one hour each for the first two, 30 minutes each for the second two, plus the supporting meds) so all in all it was about 5-1/2 hours total.

Me and Rollie tethered again.

A dear friend teased me about "double double, toil and trouble",
so I couldn't resist making this sign for him.

    

The leftover pizza worked out great for lunch! 

Then it was time to meet Jennifer!!! I am on Marco Polo, a video chat app, with this group of women and met Jenn there. She is a friend of London and Beth and works in SF. She arranged to have dinner with us. It was so wonderful to meet her and enjoy and lovely meal at The Snug.

The kale salad and shiitake mushroom hummus were SOOOooooo good!!!!

Me, Beth and Jenn

What abut that coconut water?

To my disgust, I had a hard time drinking water about ten days after treatment. I had a hard time drinking anything. Then my friend Mary said "coconut water" and I zoomed to town and bought some. YEP--that did the trick! So my friends did something incredibly generous (as you are wont to do). A mini fridge came in the mail and a friend delivered oodles of Harmless Harvest Coconut Water and I was set. Thank you to London and Beth for their incredible gift!!!!!!