The Last Supper, Part 2

So, Evan busted out of jail, err, the hospital, this afternoon. I dropped him off at 9am, went to visit him at lunch fully expecting him to be hooked up to his IVs and such, but there he was sitting free in his room. Then, a few hours later, Evan shows up at my work- he busted out, on parole until 10pm. Evan's friend Perry showed up a few minutes later, they hijacked my car and then headed off to the Herkimer for one last beer in the free world. I met them a few hours later after I finished work and we headed off for Evan's Last Supper, Part 2.

See, we had Part 1 last night, thinking he would really be in the hospital today and thought it would be a good idea if he stuffed himself silly before starving himself in the hospital for the next week. Last night we lived a little high off the hog and went to The Red Stag for supper. I had been wanting to go there for a while because it's gotten some good reviews and it's in a neighborhood I really like. We ordered an appetizer of fried smelt, Evan had red deer stroganoff and I had trout. The interior was pretty cozy - there was a guy playing the piano and the interior was made of salvaged barn lumber. You can see why we felt at home.

But, then as it turns out, it wasn't Evan's Last Supper after all. Tonight we headed to Christo's for dinner with Perry. Christo's is a Greek restaurant just a few blocks away from my apartment. Evan and Perry ordered gyros and I had mousakka. Evan loves this place (and yes, Mom we will go there when you get here) but he was in for a special treat tonight because Perry treated (pretty classy, Perry) and the power went out. So, the three of us enjoyed a nice candlelit dinner and left stuffed.

Perry and I just dropped Evan off at the hospital so he could get flushed before his FINAL chemo treatment. That's right - this is it! So, Mom, Dad, you can rest assured that in addition to all of the Christmas feeding that went on this weekend, Perry and I did our part to fatten Evan up for this final stretch.

It's Christmas wherever you are

Evan and Paul were in Minneapolis on Monday and learned that Evan will be admitted to the hospital on the 29th; he'll have chemo that week followed by a few days of recovery and then the transplant on January 5th. What a relief to know that he is finally at the stage to complete this long process.

Since the beginning of October we prepared ourselves for Christmas in Minneapolis. When that certainty changed to an uncertainty last week, we began to entertain the notion of going to Racine for Christmas. Once that possibility took hold, my spirits lifted and I really looked forward to the visit. On Monday, while carefully monitoring the weather forecasts for 53402 and 54454, those high spirits took a serious nose dive. Our home was not home to tree or decorations of any sort. Don't kid yourself, I don't ever do excessive decorating, and certainly never do it excessively early. On top of that my excitement over seeing everyone in Racine had been been nipped in the bud. This was a serious no-Christmas whatsoever mood that just had to be changed.

I left work at 4:30 Monday and headed for my favorite gift shop intent on buying a little something Christmas-sy to lift my spirits. I bought a completely decorated primitive tree that fits perfectly on the black chest in the living room (Thanks for the gift certificate, friends!). We now have a tree and decorations, big white flakes have been falling all morning, Nat King Cole is serenading me, and the place is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Alyssa and Karl will arrive from points west around 6:00 this evening. We'll make some pizza and decorate the cookies that Evan and I will make this afternoon. (Karl already made the mandatory doughboy supply!) Unfortunately, Alissa Diane has to work both today and Christmas Day, so won't be able to join us. Kit and Violet are heading to Tulsa today to spend Christmas with her family. We'll miss them all, but will still have a Christmas eve of cookies and games. We'll also be sure to raise a toast to them! Christmas menus are planned and last-minute shopping will be completed when Paul heads to Marshfield for more plumbing supplies. (The sub-zero temps of the past week have taken a nasty toll in the barn.) In other words, this will be a completely normal Christmas for us! I'll finish wrapping gifts minutes before they are opened. Cookies will never have time to completely cool and Paul will be doing fix-it jobs in the barn until the moment we're ready for our Christmas dinner. This may not sound all that festive for anyone else. In fact, most of the time, these things grate on my nerves until they are hot raw wires ready to spark at the smallest annoyance. This year, however, it feels great to be normal.

Merry Christmas. May you enjoy every little pleasure, every little crisis and the normalcy of it all!

Home Alone

The apartment is pretty quiet without Evan around. I just returned to Minneapolis without any other Ruesch family members and I've got to say, I sort of miss having that brother of mine around. I mean, I had to cook my own grilled cheese sandwich this afternoon. And I'll probably have to do my own laundry tomorrow too. And take out the trash. Evan really takes to heart the old saying, "idle hands are the devil's playthings." If that means all my household chores get done before I get home from work, so be it. It's not such a bad deal, really. At least for me!

All joking aside, I'm glad that Evan could get out of the city and back to the motherland, even if he did admit the other night that he's getting used to it here and that it's not so bad afterall. (I suppose when your sis gets you a few beers you start saying funny things to show your appreciation.)

Anyway, I'm anticipating that Evan's movie watching time will increase dramatically upon his return to my fair city. One thing that Evan and I have in common is that neither of us are movie buffs. But I think that's all going to change in the next week or so. So, if anyone has any must-see movie suggestions, we're all ears. Just leave some titles in the comments section below and I'll put them in my Netflix queue.

Hopefully we'll be seeing some of you for the holidays - otherwise, feel free to come up and visit. We can always make room for more!

Surprise!

Evan will be home this afternoon. He finished the stem cell collection process yesterday and is now free of appointments until he calls in on Monday to set the schedule for the chemo and transplant. He and Alyssa will be heading home as soon as she is finished with work at noon, so they'll be home for supper tonight. I don't know how this changes any plans Alyssa might have had, but we'll be happy to see them!

The transplant plans have changed to be a single transplant, rather than the tandem originally presented, so the time for treatment will be shorter and the time for recovery will be less, as well. At least we hope that's the case. Regardless, Evan sounded happy to announce this brief reprieve -- even has hunting plans for a few days. Yup, if it's a day off of anything, it's a day to hunt or fish...

Home for Christmas? We'll see ...

Collection time

Evan started the stem cell collection process on Monday. He had to report to the BMT Clinic at 7:45 and spent his day hooked up to the machine that separates the stem cells from the blood. He repeated that process on Tuesday and will continue for at least another day, today. There is still uncertainty as to the exact schedule from here, but the collection is vital for the next steps. I don't know if there is any medical foundation to my belief that beginning the collection process a few days ahead of the estimated date is a good indication that all will go well, but that is where I am hanging my hat.

I'm back at work this week. It's difficult to concentrate when my mind is in Minneapolis, but I keep trying...

Another Milladorian in Minneapolis

Kit is in Minneapolis this weekend and will take Evan to his appointments. He goes 7 days a week right now. His red cell counts were down a bit yesterday, so he'll be getting some platelets today. Hopefully, that will get him back to where he needs to be to forge ahead.

Alyssa headed to Milwaukee and I came back to Milladore yesterday. A 7-hour trip for me! A stop in Eau Claire to visit Karl and several quick Christmas shopping stops added up to doubling the usual travel time. It's 198 miles from Alyssa's door to ours; I didn't bother to see how many miles I made that drive.

One of the things we've learned as Evan begins on his path to remission is that the National Leukemia & Lymphoma Society offers grants of up to $500 to help cover the some of the everyday costs of the living away from home for months. Parking, meals and travel expenses are some of the costs they will reimburse. We've always wondered where the donations go; now we know that they go to help real people. Evan saves all the parking receipts (an hour visit to the BMT clinic means $3.75 in parking fees). Judging from the number of people we see daily at the Clinic who are in one stage or another of transplant, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is helping an awful lot of people!

I plan on being home and working all week. Evan will be starting the stem cell collection process by the end of the week, if all goes well. That is an outpatient process that has him hooked to a machine that draws blood, removes the stem cells, then returns the blood. Those stem cells will be frozen to be returned to him in the actual transplant. From what we understand, there may be some discomfort at the site of the of the tube from which the blood is drawn while he is hooked to a blood washing machine for five to six hours a day. Monotony is quickly becoming Evan's worst enemy. I'm sure Kit will help to alleviate some of that this weekend!

O Tannenbaum

Today seemed a good one to put up, or should I say unfold, the Christmas tree. Boy, do I miss Ned!

For the past several years Ned has been going to a tree farm near Mosinee and cutting our tree. He always picks perfectly sized little beauties for us. He (and Evan or Karl or Paul or any combination thereof) then brings in the tree right around Kit's birthday. There are usually some debates over who gets to add the lights. The loser wraps them on after carefully testing each strand only to find that at least one set of lights will not work. Grumbling and worse follows and is usually rectified by a quick trip to a store (remember that the closest one is 20 miles away) to buy one or more of the last sets of out-of-fashion lights since it is now too close to Christmas to find any decent selection on the shelves. This tradition is right up there with brandy in my egg nog. It just wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Why should things be any different in Alyssa's apartment? We bought a little 4-foot "potted" artificial tree at 60% off last weekend. She was certainly right about finding drastic cuts on holiday decor at JoAnn's. Such a deal. I opened the box to find 2 sections of papery-plastic-y branches. One fit into the other and then into the lovely pot provided. Sliding that top section into the base brought back memories of the nice artificial tree we had when the kids were young. It, too, was in 2 sections. We wired the top section to the frame of the living room windows to prevent the tip overs experienced in prior years. We did not, however, account for the cat running up the tree. She knocked the bottom section out and the top of the tree was left swinging from the window frame like a pendulum. But that was years ago and this little gem will stand in a cat-free environment.

It actually looked pretty cute in the store: a compact little piece of artificial greenery complete with artificial pine cones and clusters of artificial berries prelit for our holiday enjoyment. Yup, this tree is making it feel more like home here already. Especially since one section of lights does not work.

Ho, Ho, Ho.

Pork and Saurkraut for Supper

Evan is hungry these days. Four days of chemo and a couple more days of tasting chemo coupled with one of my greatest culinary disasters (no kidding -- rice burned to the texture of gravel) on his first day of really wanting to eat again brought him to the point of talking recipes. So yesterday it was grocery shopping day.

Alyssa's cupboards are well equipped with all it takes to keep a single, health-conscious woman fed. As far as Evan and Paul are concerned, they might as well be empty. All that whole grain, organic stuff leaves them begging for "real" food. Too bad Paul headed back home on Monday ... he's not cashing in on the benefits of his griping here.

Yesterday was salmon patties, baked potatoes and fresh broccoli. Now that I'm finally getting the hang of Alyssa's stove, it was more than presentable; it was very good. Evan ate enough salmon for at least two people. It's always so good to see him eating again after the chemo days. Bulking up for the next round is what it's all about.

Today it's pork and saurkraut in Alyssa's brand new red crock pot. The apartment smells soooo good! Of course, yesterday's Christmas cookie baking created quite the pleasant aroma, as well. Alyssa asked if I'd bake cookies for her students. (Isn't it funny that I'm sending cookies to school again?!) I just happened to have the holiday issue of Cook's Illustrated here and volunteered to make the sugar cookie recipe listed under the "Easier Holiday Cookies" article.

Easier than what? Maybe easier splitting an atom, but I've never done that so I can't say for sure. Lesson learned (again): read the recipe through to the end! Although these cookies had a list of simple ingredients, with the exception of the baker's superfine sugar of which Alyssa now owns more than she will ever use in her lifetime, the instructions were absurd. Beginning with blending 2 sticks of unsalted butter 1 tablespoon at a time -- did I mention that my daughter's mixer is a piece of junk? -- to kneading the dough by hand to rolling it out and then refrigerating it before cutting it to baking it one cookie sheet at a time in her Barbie dream house-sized kitchen, this recipe was a ridiculous test of my patience. Before I began, I thought of making 2 batches back-to-back so that I'd have a batch to give Kit when he comes up this weekend. By the time I finished, I knew that Kit loves good old Mary's Sugar Cookies from my trusty friend and cookbook author, Betty Crocker. I'm sure he will happily wait until I get home to my Kitchenaid mixer and adult-sized oven to reap the benefits of some Christmas baking.

After all that baking trauma, Alyssa forgot to take the cookies with her this morning. Luckily she works just a few minutes away from the BMT clinic, so the cookies, along with the icing she made (I'd reached my limit by then) and the colored sugar for her students to use in decorating the most time-consuming cookies they will ever experience on American soil, were handed off in a quick drop off when the morning's appointments were finished.

Evan is resting this afternoon. Tiredness may be the result of his blood count dropping. The drop is expected and can really be viewed as a good thing. It will drop for a few days and then start going up again. That going up is what we're waiting for right now. Once the counts rise to the right levels, the collection of his stem cells will begin. His inner strength throughout his entire ordeal is amazing. He rarely complains (except about traffic) and keeps focused on moving ahead. The collection and transplant will depend on that strength as well as his physical strength. To that end, the saurkraut and pork is the least I can do. If you're in the neighborhood stop in, we have plenty to share!

Knitting needles can do more than knit

It's day 3 for me accompanying Evan to his BMT clinic appointments. Day 3 means dishcloth 3 for Alyssa's previously empty dishcloth drawer. She's a sponge fan. I'm not. A trip to JoAnn's in Sunday's crappy weather brought about a great ball of cotton yarn and a resolution to the sponge/dishcloth dilemma. The dishcloths also brought welcome conversation at the BMT clinic. Yesterday the woman sitting next to me asked me to show her how to knit "my way" (continental method). Today, a woman across the waiting room was trying to open the bottle of milk she brought along. It was one of those plastic bottles with the foil seal that is supposed to just pull off. She tugged and pulled and tried to pry it off. No luck. A woman sitting across from her offered help. She tugged and pulled and tried to pry it off. No luck for her either. I finished my row, walked across the waiting room with a single size 8 bamboo needle and offered to help. A quick puncture to the foil seal, followed by easing the needle tip along the edge of the bottle solved the problem.

Today's wait was pretty short. Evan's appointment took just an hour. (Sunday and Monday were 3-4 hours each.) At each one, I look around the room and see the same people waiting. Since this is the Blood Marrow Clinic, it's obvious that we're all there for the same reason: waiting for a transplant patient. Some people simply stare ahead; some read and some page through magazines. I knit. Simple repetitive movements mean constructive busy-ness without too much time to think. It's perfect. Tomorrow's appointment may be shorter or longer, but I'll have a project in my purse to carry me through as I wait for the transplant to carry Evan through.

Milladore Meets Minneapolis

Well, Mom and Evan are moved in.  What I think of as a pretty darn cute apartment in a delightful downtown neighborhood has been called by some (okay, by Evan) the nook, the cell, and most recently, the shit hole.  Oh, sorry.  My apartment has not sunk to the label of shit hole.  But the city has!  

Needless to say, they love it here!! 

Evan's observations so far about my fair city:

• All the drivers are morons who drive like idiots (I can't argue this point). 
  
• A lot of the morons here don't understand how to dress for winter.  Take the woman running across the Rainbow Foods parking lot in high heels, for example.  In slush no less. 
  
• The people who designed the freeway system here are idiots. (Again, I can't argue this point). 
  
• The convenient tunnel from the parking garage to the hospital and clinic is a pain in the ass because it covers more ground than if you were outside (we're not allowed to use the tunnel unless it's 30 below.  Our time will come soon enough.)
  

Mom's observations about my fair city:

• The city is great.  All you need is someone to drive you around because the thought of doing it yourself is mind-numbing. 
  
• Jo-Anne Fabrics has a fair selection of yarn. (The aforementioned driver has yet to chauffeur her to a decent yarn shop.) (The aforementioned driver, aka Alyssa, thinks Mom should use her driver's license for more than just buying booze - especially since she claims to be allergic to the stuff.)
  
• The Target store is very nice, clean, sleek with a layout that makes absolutely no sense.  It doesn't matter how big a city it is, finding a plastic dishpan in the plastics section should not require a city map.  (and this is unlike Target's elsewhere???)
  
• Although Mom has not gotten behind the wheel herself yet, she does observe that Minnesota Morons are right up there with Illinois Idiots.  It is apparent that those Lutherans never learned to count to 4 at a 4 way stop. 
  
• As is true anywhere, Minneapolis is welcoming to public knitting.  How can you hate a place like that? 
  

Alyssa's observations:

• Evan whines a lot about traffic. 
  
• Mom whines a lot about traffic. 
  
• I whine a lot about traffic.  
  
• We're in agreement on something!!
  
• I enjoy coming home to home-cooked meals after work. 
  
• I'm looking forward to all the new kitchen gear I'm sure to receive after hearing all of the complaints about my mixer, tea pot, small refrigerator, toy stove, etc. (I got a new crock pot today - guess they were able to find something in Target after all!)
  
• Evan and Mom make good roommates - I haven't had to do laundry, take out the trash or do dishes in a whole week!  Tomorrow is vacuuming and sheet day!  In the middle of the week! 
  

We bought a new futon (okay, Mom bought it) this weekend.   So, if you'd like to come visit, reserve your spot now!