New Year's Eve

So, how was your Christmas? Ours turned out to be great, of course. Alyssa, Kit, Karl and Alissa came home on Christmas Eve. Ned had to work on Christmas Eve, and since he is the grill master around here, we decided to change the menu to allow him some time to relax, too. Rather than the steak, as planned, we decided on the spiral cut ham, which had been scheduled to appear on Christmas Day. Still a pretty easy meal with horseradish mashed potatoes, carrots Provence and maple glazed brussel sprouts. Easy that is, if you have electricity to power your electric appliances.

The guys greatly appreciated the fact that Santa sent an assortment of beers before the the main event and headed out to the shack for some manly merriment, while we women manned the home front. The power flickered a couple of times while we were watching Julie and Julia and enjoying the peace afforded by the shack. Then the power failed. We sat by candlelight for about 20 minutes before calling attention to the fact that while the men sat in their toasty power-generated coziness, the house was without such basics as the means to cook their Christmas Eve dinner. That's right, we used a cell phone to call one of their cell phones to get them to notice our plight. (Without electricity, we have no land line service, no water, and no heat; even though we have a wood furnace, we still depend on electricity to power the blower in the house.) Another 10 minutes or so and we were back to very bright surroundings with the tractor purring in the background after Paul hooked up the generator to keep us going. A few minutes of the refrigerator running very loudly and the microwave groaning sent him back outside to adjust the power and we were back in business. The power remained out for a couple of hours, but that didn't interfere with either our tractor-generated dinner or merriment. It seems the microwave has not yet recovered as the clock runs at a pace all its own, but everything and everyone else survived unscathed.

Through it all, the weather was terrible. After the snow came rain, then sleet, then snow and then rain again. The snow cover was glazed in ice reminiscent of the year we spent Christmas at the Glen when Uncle Greg gave each of the kids a snow tube. All the kids went sledding in front of the cabin with the little kids flying across the ice-crusted snow and the big kids (ours) crashing through the ice layer so that they all looked like they had flown through the windshield the next day.

We were smart not to have traveled away from home. In addition to knocking down the power lines, the ice brought down some of our fences. We would have been very upset to return home from a jolly Christmas to find that our cattle had all gone on their own merry way. In the end, it all worked out for the best.

Paul and I headed to Racine on Saturday afternoon. We spent a great evening at Mom's with my Racine siblings and nieces and nephews. And I was right. Being with them does do me a world of good. And, of course, the kids are so much fun. A game of bend-the-rules-my-way Scrabble had Katy heads above the rest in score and time. (French, Katy?) No, I didn't play. But I did enjoy the Apple Pie and Pizza. Yum. Ned's homemade hooch was a big hit; it was especially enjoyable to see his 'shine served up in Waterford crystal. How much more festive can you get? (Apple Pie is a homemade liquid refreshment involving apple cider, brandy, Ever Clear, cranberry juice, cinnamon sticks and a touch of maple syrup. It is simply delish!)

And now it's New Year's Eve. Evan will be coming home from Minneapolis today after yesterday afternoon's check up. He's going just once a week lately; he appreciates the reduced appointments on many levels. It's less driving, less expense and less time focusing on medical issues. Although he's lost weight, he looks great and could even use a shave. A good sign for the New Year. By my count, he's on Day 76, give or take a day. Day 100 is the next milestone. That is when his "permissions" will be evaluated again to see about mingling with the public and children and life in general. He's been pretty content to spend his time with his dogs and just plain healing. Even so, it's clear that he looks forward to normal. So, on Day 76 and counting, I'm wishing Evan and all of us and all of you a Normal New Year!

'Tis the season to procrastinate

Fa La La. We decided to cancel our plans for driving to Racine for Christmas Eve. Darn. I think it's been about 8 years since we all went; it seems like more. But Mother Nature has scheduled a nasty gram to be delivered on both of our scheduled travel days, so we decided to cancel our plans and stay put for the second year in a row.
Kit picked up Alyssa and they both traveled to Karl and Alissa's in Eau Claire, where they will stay tonight. I'll admit that I've been pretty lax in the preparation department. The gift shopping is done, but not one thing is wrapped. And I couldn't find any nunsense for Katy. Some baking is done, but not all of what I had planned. I put the tree on the chest, but have yet to light it. Part of the reason I was so excited to go to Racine, I think, is that being with my brothers and sisters always puts me in a good mood. But, I put off doing the Christmas thing because I knew we wouldn't be here and because I just don't have my heart in it. That has to change. Pretty darned fast.
Jeannine will serve one of Uncle Pete's specialties and we'll have steak, baked potatoes and spinach salad. So no one will starve. They'll have a white elephant gift exchange that will be pale without the gems I had planned to share. Nobody makes egg nog that knocks your socks off like Dad did, but Rick does a close second with his White Russians. Paul and I braved the grocery store last minute rush today to stock our larder with holiday fare. I introduced him to the great liquor department at Trig's, even though we didn't need much there. Then we filled our cart with the essentials and egg nog. Still, I'm dragging my feet.
I have to bake the peanut blossoms tonight; those kisses are getting just plain sickening. And I have to wrap those gifts, which I should be doing now, but procrastinating is so much easier when you convince yourself that you're doing something worthwhile like blogging. La La La La La

Presents

Evan is going to Minneapolis today; he is scheduled to have his line removed. That's about as close as he can get to a perfect present. The decision to remove the line means that he is not expected to need it anymore for frequent blood draws or medications. It means he will not have to order more Heparin for cleaning the line. It means he won't have a tube hanging out of his chest. It means he is healing. It's a great present for him and for all of us.

Go with the flow

Evan is back in the shack with the temperature warm enough to bake most humans. Add to the heat generated by the wood stove, a gaggle of hounds, and you have the cozy atmosphere he likes most. He spends a good deal of his time out there when he's home, which is getting to be for longer spans now. His last appointment in Minneapolis was Wednesday, and he doesn't have to return now until Tuesday, which makes all of us happy.

Last year at this time, we felt as though everything was up in the air. This year is a little better. I'm actually going to bake Christmas cookies tomorrow. It's been a while since I carried off planned baking, so this will be a welcome change of pace. It's surprising that this is our third year of hoping Evan will be OK for Christmas and the first year of those three, that I'm fairly certain that he will be just fine. In fact, we are planning on going to Racine. All of us. I talked to Kit today and he'll be able to swing it. Violet will be spending Christmas in Tulsa with her family. Unfortunately, her grandmother died this week, so she headed to Oklahoma for the funeral and will stay through Christmas. It sounds as if Alyssa and Karl will be able to make the trip as well, so it will be the Ruesch caravan to Racine. If it weren't so far and if we still had a decent horse around here, we could take the one-horse open sleigh, but darn, that just won't work.

It's time to put up the Christmas tree again. This year, like last, we cannot have a real tree in the house. I am going to put up the cute little primitive tree I bought at the last minute last year and truth be told, I'm happy not to have to fuss with a big tree. I feel a little guilty about that. I have lots of beautiful ornaments and trims stashed away, but rather than wasting time fretting about that, I'll look for a Springele recipe and put that special rolling pin to use for the first time ever. I think I should have done this a couple of weeks ago to let the cookies age properly, but it's silly to worry about perfection at this point in my life.

I spent a good deal of time fussing and fuming this week. I committed to making 28 pot holders for a friend to give as Christmas gifts. Making 28 of anything is stupid. Making 28 appliqued pot holders with free-form leaves that had to be stitched, turned inside out and pressed is a reason to be committed. I am including this here only because it will be witnessed by a few other people when I say NEVER AGAIN. Now, I say this not to make by friend feel guilty, but because I do this kind of thing to myself repeatedly. Plain pot holders could have been made, but no, I had to improve them. I made the pattern myself and made it more difficult than it needed to be, but dang, they were really cute. Apples with photo transferred recipe cards appliqued to them. Really cute. But 28?! That's nuts. And of course, I fooled around with the pattern until I thought it was perfect. Tonight at supper, however, Ned used the prototype to take a pan from the oven and made sure to register his opinion on the slightly less than perfect design with a turned up nose. Well, they were perfect for my hand. Almost. That leaf did kind of get in the way. Too bad. They're done and delivered and that's that.

This morning found me finishing a quilt for the fundraiser raffle. The quilt is almost perfect. I do get a little fussy about some things after all. It's just a simple flannel quilt and I figured a little short on yardage for the backing. As is true with almost all of my quilts, I decided a pieced backing is entirely acceptable. In the end, it's even more attractive than one perfect piece. Maybe being able to wing it is even more valuable than perfection. I hope so.

Over the past two years, we've all gotten to be pretty practiced at going with the flow. Evan with his entire life. The rest of us with accepting things as they come and realizing the things we can and can't control. It's true that we'd all appreciate much less practice at being so accepting of uncertainty, but since that is one of the things we can't control, we just keep going.

Knitting philosophically

When you fall asleep before 9, an early wake-up is almost a certainty. After eight hours of running reports and sorting Excel files yesterday, my eyeballs gave out pretty early, so it was not too surprising that I was wide awake by 4:30 this morning. Not wanting to embark on anything noisy or logistically taxing, I warmed a cup of yesterday's coffee and grabbed some knitting. If you don't knit, you should. It is truly one of the most relaxing and productive activities ever invented by man, woman or god.

I learned to knit when I was about 10. Jane and I went to the yarn shop on High Street and learned to knit slippers. Mine were lavender. Two completely different sizes and shapes, but both lavender. I knitted only occasionally between that time and approximately five years ago when I discovered the relaxing advantages and tactile satisfaction of two sticks and some great string. Since that time, I've had something on the needles almost constantly.

My current project is a scarf for my nephew Kevin. It's not a Christmas gift or to mark any momentous occasion, it's just a scarf because I told Kevin I'd make him a scarf. I am trying to duplicate a handsome vertical-striped scarf I saw in a pattern book while in Depth of Field, the great Minneapolis yarn shop. I didn't buy the book, but did make mental note of the instructions to cast on 199 stitches. I can and did do that. The problem with that many stitches on the needle is that it is impossible to judge the true size of the project. I can estimate how long this scarf will be, but 199 stitches gather tightly enough on my needle (24-inch) to create a ruffled look, (no, Kev, I am not making you a ruffled scarf) so I can only estimate the finished product. In other words, even though I can calculate the gauge of my knitting and the size of the finished project, it's still a bit of a mystery as to how the finished scarf will really look simply because I am knitting it sideways to achieve the vertical stripes. It makes me a little nervous. What if it's shorter than expected? After risking raised eyebrows and questions from Macy's sales staff while examining and measuring the men's scarves while my friend Karen was checking out her purchase, I want this to be right. (Although I do have a tape measure in my purse at all times, I thought it more subtle to do the nose to fingertip measuring technique in Macy's. Pulling out the tape measure implies blatant copying; holding a scarf, or any item for that matter, up to your nose and extending it the length of your arm to your fingertip to approximate one yard appears perfectly routine, I'm sure.) I'm using great yarn. Kevin will reap the benefits of leftover black cashmere from Alyssa's hat, gray tweed from a pair of mittens (I think) and red wool from Alyssa's cabled scarf. Still with all the planning and quality ingredients, I won't really know how it turned out until it's completely finished and off the needles.

That's life isn't it? Call casting on 199 stitches an act of faith (or a crap shoot); high quality yarn (even if it is all leftovers), even stitches and the perseverance to keep knitting simply build on that faith (or another roll of the dice) without any certainty of outcome. Yes, I think it looks good now and I think it will be something Kevin likes, but there are no guarantees. And, of course, if it's too short for a scarf, we'll call it a muffler and move on. I can only hope he likes it (and not because this will guilt him into it) and that it helps to keep him warm all winter. And so I keep knitting. And we all keep doing whatever it is that helps us get through each day. And we all hope for the best as we wait for the outcome. It is what knitting and life are all about.

The devil is alive and well

It's official. This is the home of the Ruesch Deer Camp. As you might guess, different members of this family have completely different views of that status. In fact, I only learned of the move from Ruesch farm or Ruesch home to Ruesch Deer Camp when Buck came in on Saturday evening to take a picture of Alyssa and me while we were sewing. "You girls and your sewing are all part of the Ruesch Deer Camp experience," he said as he clicked away. I guess it's true. They hunt. We create.

Since gun deer season falls at Thanksgiving time, it does coincide with other major events like JoAnn's super sale and Christmas gift project planning. Not much on the whole black Friday shopping thing, Alyssa and I headed up to Wausau to buy foam for the chair cushions she will make during their 50% foam sale. We took our time leaving, but knew we had to get there before noon to get the additional 20% coupon advantage. The parking lot was packed. We actually had to wait for someone to leave to get a spot. I was looking for some apron fabric and Insulbright, but was not smart enough to take a cutting number before finding the fabric I wanted, so had to wait and wait and wait. That turned out to be to Alyssa's advantage since she was smart enough to print out JoAnn's coupons before coming home (we'd probably still be waiting for them on the old dial up). She checked out with the 50% coupon two separate times while I waited and waited to have my things cut. Then I checked out another cushion for her and we were set. She decided to brave the dial up connection and print out one more coupon to take with her so that she could stop at JoAnn's in Woodbury for the final cushion. It took a lot longer than it should have, but our trip was worthwhile. Mission accomplished. (She did manage to buy the 4th cushion before we left Wausau after noticing that the clerk did not stamp her remaining 50% coupon as void. Score!)

We went next door to Barnes & Noble so that I could pick up a book on my Christmas shopping list. So far, so good. Then I suggested we stop for a coffee and some lunch and peruse the new craft magazines. We didn't find much until I picked up one more magazine after returning all the others to their places on the rack. There on one page the devil was lurking. We should know better by now, but obviously, we don't. Last year it was a mountain of coasters. A few years ago it was 40 ... yes 40 ... aprons. And we let it happen again. The devil himself jumps off the page and into our brains and we both say at the same time, "We could make those."

Our way home was filled with planning and scheming and figuring. We made lists and figured yardage and made more lists. Saturday morning saw us heading for Marshfield to get supplies. Then it was work, work, work as we set up the assembly line to get our projects done. We made fantastic progress as we cut and ironed and sewed and stitched and cut and ironed and sewed. In the end, we have beautiful projects nearly completed. Actually, all the tedious stuff is done, there is still some construction left. Alyssa left early Sunday morning to head back to Minneapolis with a nice neat stack of projects ready to complete at her convenience. She really does have too many friends. I have a little tiny stack of similar projects since my main gift creation session will not come for a couple of weeks yet. Really, why all this timely preparation when there is still plenty of panic time left before Christmas? It's the way I do things. The devil makes me.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving Day. A day for giving thanks for having to do all the planning, preparation and cooking and baking so the men can do what they enjoy out in the woods. The pumpkin pie is made (the first time in history that there is only one pie in our family), the cranberry bread is cooling, the cranberry salad is cooling, the wild rice and broccoli casserole (a new offering that might throw someone of a bit) is ready to pop in the oven and the turkey is completely thawed (another family first). We might actually have a Thanksgiving dinner with everything done at once. It will be a year of firsts.

Even before all the culinary firsts -- OK, I'm using StoveTop (another first) stuffing, so "culinary" might be an overstatement -- I'm thinking of testing the wine. Heck, it might help to add a mellow glow to the whole cook and serve gala. And, it might make it necessary for Paul to keep his word and grill the turkey this year instead of just starting the grill and walking away until it's time to eat. Not that he's ever done that, of course. And, I'll admit that I've done it, too, which explains our occasional vegetarian Thanksgiving dinners.

Growing up in Racine meant Thanksgiving dinners where people dressed up and acted as if the day was a holiday. Moving to the farm meant that Thanksgiving dinner was an added reward to hunters who designated nine days to manliness and guns and beer and such. Dressing for dinner simply meant leaving the blaze orange on a the floor somewhere because all the chairs were necessary around the table. The meal remains nearly the same, with the exception of the aforementioned boxed stuffing cheat and the omission of those awful sausage experiments in squash and stuffing. Squash should be a recognizable consistency and flavor. Stuffing should be bread and celery and onions and maybe mushrooms (mushrooms are still off limits for Evan, so there won't be any of those this year) mixed with broth. On every other Thanksgiving under my control, those basic ingredients were mixed with broth made by cooking up the turkey neck and gizzards even if it meant cutting up my hands digging them out of the frozen bird. But, in case you can't tell, I'm not in the mood for that this year. Betty Crocker or someone went to all the trouble of inventing StoveTop, so I'm feeling it's pretty darned American to scratch open the box and call it good.

We're a small group this year. Five of us: Alyssa, Evan, Ned, Paul and me. Karl is with Alissa Diane's family in Sheboygan and Kit and Violet headed to Tulsa to visit her family. Evan has to leave tonight to head back to Minneapolis for an early Friday appointment, so we'll have an even smaller group then. Weird.

Alyssa just arrived. That's already a boon to my spirits. Although I love them all, living in Barb's House O'Men can get to be just a little too manly. It's good to have my girl home. She doesn't care about guns or bucks or doe tags either. What a relief. I'm in a better mood already.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A fruitful opening day

Opening Day of deer hunting has been an exciting day for the men around here for as long as I can remember. When the kids were younger Alyssa got to do most of the chores so that the boys could hunt. She was always thrilled, as you might imagine. It's also been a day of constant cooking for me since the guys hunted at home, they were in and out all day and always hungry.

Alas, it is a new era. Kit, Ned and Karl slept in the shack last night which meant very little commotion around here this morning with just Paul and Evan in the house and Paul wasn't exactly moving very quickly (you can ask him to explain that sometime). There was a pre-dawn phone call letting Evan know that the bacon was ready and he'd have to cook his own eggs, but that was about it for early morning happenings. A far cry from historical opening days and I was prepared to take full advantage of it.

I finished the two autumn pillow covers I had been working on. Our couch (or sofa or davenport or whatever you want to call it) is green. I love it. It came with two green pillows that are a very nice size and shape, but plain green pillows in the exact fabric as the couch have always seemed pretty dorky to me. It has a lot to do with my preference for things that are not too matchy, I suppose. At any rate, it occurred to me in one of my recent Minneapolis travels that I could just make seasonal covers for those pillows and then I wouldn't have a pile of extra pillows to store since I have big plans for this seasonal thing. Pillow covers are pretty compact for storing and yes, I deemed myself brilliant. So, this morning I finished those pillow covers and they are pretty darned cute -- deep chocolate brown tweed appliqued with several different orange plaid pumpkins . I also finished a little runner -- appliqued acorns and oak leaves -- just in time for Thanksgiving. All this before noon without any interruptions because the guys are in and out of the shack instead of the house. This shack thing is great.

I did make some venison for sandwiches and invited my men to come in and eat. They didn't even linger. It was back out to hunt with their breaks in the shack. Great. I managed to attach the binding to one of my quilts do the binding on one for my sister, as well. It was like a regular sewing factory here today. I could actually learn to like this hunting season thing.

Getty stopped in to say hello on his way back to the woods and I've seen a few sets of headlights head back there, but other than that, it's been a very quiet day. It's even quiet hunting-wise. No deer and not much shooting around the neighborhood. (I caught a mouse, but I don't want to brag.) The deer harvest might not be much today, but the sewing accomplishments are record-breaking.

Evan just came in and reported that the loft in the shack sleeps pretty well. He's done quite a bit of napping out there today as he still fights off the nasty virus that is bothering him. He heads back to Minneapolis early tomorrow for a mid-morning appointment and will leave his brothers to try to beat his 2009 hunting record since he already shot two deer while bow-hunting before he went for the transplant. I don't know if any of them will match him, but I do know they're all enjoying the time together in the shack. And, yes, I am also thoroughly enjoying their time together in the shack.

Running the course

Evan went back to Minneapolis on Sunday -- alone. His weekend home was spent trying to rest and feel normal. It wasn't all that successful. He's fighting off a virus that leaves him sleep deprived and uncomfortable. He had an appointment with this doctor yesterday and will go in again on Friday before heading home for the weekend again. His doctor told him the virus just needs to run its course. We're all hoping a change in his myriad of medications and a little time will help him jump back on the feel-good wagon.

We met last night to work on the fundraiser. Raffle tickets are ready! Posters are going up in the area and we're ready to get this thing going. Actually, the generosity of donors is what is getting this thing going. Check out www.evanruesch.org and see the list of items we have on the raffle so far. It's pretty amazing.

I'm making breakfast while doing this --- yes, I know what they say about multi-tasking, but we have dial-up, so it doesn't apply to us. I left work yesterday just in time to get to Lynn and Bill's for our meeting, snacked on some cheese and crackers there, came home and went to bed and this morning I am hungry. I've got bacon and eggs going, which also got Paul stirring. It's almost like a Saturday. Actually it's my Friday. I'm taking off Thursday and Friday which is well-deserved after twelve hours on Monday and ten on Tuesday (I don't think my boss ever reads this, but just in case he might, I feel obligated to include the martyr details). Paul's taking over the breakfast, so I'd best get going, but rest assured, I'll be back another day with a little more time and fill you in on the exciting details of opening weekend of deer hunting. Kit, Karl and Evan will all join Ned and Paul in the new (finished? come on -- we're still Ruesches) hunting shack. My breakfast is ready. And that, folks, is how multi-tasking works. Someone else swoops in and takes over and two things really do get done at once!

Home for the weekend

Evan is home for the weekend. I know. I'm surprised, too! He's been approved to drive again and to be home between appointments. At first I worried that it was too soon or too risky or too something. Then, I told my worry brain to shut up and accept the small miracles for what they are. So, it's safe to say the Evan's recovery from the transplant process is going well. He's not going out to split a load of wood today, but he's home for a couple of days, so that's big step in the right direction.

Good news week

Good news: As I talked Paul through making dinner for Alyssa and Evan last night, I learned that Evan's progress remains at its remarkable pace. He is scheduled for a scan on Thursday and then will haveFIVE days between appointments. It is absolutely wonderful.

More good news: Ned and friend traveled to Indiana last Saturday to pick up the new puppies. Two Leopard hound females who are the definition of cute. Poppy (I got to name her) is a little tiny bundle of spots. Belle is black with tan feet, muzzle and eyebrows. Older than Poppy, she has huge feet and looks like a gangly adolescent in comparison to the other dogs. She's very friendly and answered to her name as soon as Ned gave it to her. The new pups join Amos, Josie and Apollo, the other Leopard hounds. And, of course, Daisy, the all-American mutt who preceded all of them here at the Hawthorn Hill dog farm.

Still more good news: We will have two weddings in our family in 2010. Kit and Violet will be married in May and Karl and Alissa Diane will be married in September. Of course the most wonderful part of all of this is that we really get to say that Violet and Alissa are part of our family. We are thrilled!

No news, but maybe you'll care: Yesterday morning was a bust. I spilled my breakfast smoothie while making it, left late for work, screwed up a report I was working on and had a rotten headache. This morning my smoothie is smooth, I'm already ready for work, I got in a few minutes of knitting and I'm looking forward to a successful day of reporting. None of it compares to any of the above, but all of the above certainly attributes to a great day!

The Switch

I left Minneapolis around 10:30 Friday morning; just after Evan finished baking cookies for some of his little friends back in Milladore and I finished vacuuming. His friend Getty was due to arrive by noon and Kit was scheduled to show up in the evening. The apartment could almost use a turnstyle at the front door. Alyssa had a conference to attend this weekend, which means the crowd wasn't likely to bother her much.

Although I always look forward to getting home again, it's still hard to leave even though Evan doesn't need much caregiving. He's looking pretty good and in positive spirits. The only thing that gives any indication of something going on is the constant high-noon-in-the-Sahara temperature he likes to maintain in the apartment. Even that isn't such a big deal. The rest of us can wear short sleeves.

My drive home was uneventful except for a rather disturbing personalized plate on a vehicle ahead of me. Minnesota plates reading WILD4PUK. It took me a minute to realize this license plate probably belongs to a hockey fan. My first reading lead me to believe it was probably the vehicle of a bulimic. Naturally, that lead me to think of other equally unappetizing plates: IHURL4U; PUKE4FUN, VOMIT etc., etc. Lucky for me that vehicle turned off in St Paul, leaving my mind to wander to more pleasant places. More pleasant always seems to arrive when crossing the state line. It takes just 30 minutes to travel from Alyssa's apartment to the state of Wisconsin; yet the next 3 hours always seem like the short part of the ride. I did manage 3 stops in that 3 hours. Coffee; quilt shop (found the flannel I needed) and another quilt shop just for kicks. Throw in a couple of book stores on the way and I'd never make it home.

Today was spent, in large part, preparing for the switch. Paul will go up on Monday, so as I unpack, I think of what he'll need; as I shop for our empty larder here, I think of what we need there; as I cook here, I think of what I'll send along up there as we all prepare for another week.

Broadening horizons

Today is Evan's birthday. He started out the day with an 8:00 a.m. clinic appointment for lab work and a magnesium infusion. We left there around 10:00 and headed back to Ruesch West, Alyssa's apartment.

Today seemed much better than yesterday, which was bill-paying day for Evan; he was in a foul mood all day after bartering with the clinic on his expected monthly payment. Can't say as I blame him for getting down on that. I gave him a little space by walking to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for a while in the afternoon. It's a beautiful place; the current special exhibit is Masterpieces from the Louvre, which I really wanted to see. The $14 admission fee prevented that since I went with only Kleenex and the apartment key in my pocket. It will still be here when I return, so I'll head over again then. In fact, I only toured the 2nd floor yesterday, so I'll have to go back for the 3rd floor and the Louvre exhibit.

After returning from the clinic this morning, Evan told me he'd like a poppy seed cake for his birthday. Actually, he said, "I think Alyssa really wants a poppy seed cake for my birthday." A quick check for ingredients told me I was going to go out into the city streets again. No poppy seed. As it turns out, I did a little internet searching yesterday for places close enough to go on my own without fear of getting frightfully lost (it doesn't take much).

I found a quilt shop that is midway between here and the Seward Coop. Eureka! I did a mapquest and recognized all street names. When I mentioned this to Alyssa last night, she told me of an even quicker (and straighter) route to the shop. So, I left Evan this morning to find Glad Creations Quilt Shop. Nice little shop, lots of fabrics (no flannels though and that's what I need for my newest secret project), very friendly, tons of samples and the best part of all -- the fusible web I can no longer find close to home. What a great find! I left there knowing where I was heading next and how to get there. I even made a left turn from a corner without a traffic signal and made a u-turn when a truck was blocking another intersection.

That u-turn put me down a street that ended across from the Native American center, which has a beautiful parquet wood design on the side of the building that I had never noticed before. It also took me past a meat market which remains nameless, but its driveway was filled with a meat truck bearing the slogan, "We'll never give you a bum steer" Good one, eh?! At any rate, it was then that I realized that making that daring left turn and u-turn put me down paths I would have been afraid to travel if Alyssa didn't keep encouraging me to explore a bit more. Granted this was not uncharted expedition, but it did get me places I hadn't dared to go before. That's good.

And now, back to the poppy seed cake. I couldn't find Grandma's recipe in Alyssa's recipe box, so found one in a saved email from my friend Karen. The topping called for white sugar instead of Grandma's brown sugar and I figured, what the heck, I'll try it. The cake looks great. Alyssa and Evan should be back any minute with the Juicy Lucy burgers Evan requested for his birthday treat (another new adventure for me) and we'll all celebrate Evan's birthday knowing that next year the horizons will be even greater.

Cooking with gas

The owner of my former favorite yarn shop used the line, "cooking with gas" when the needles were flying and the stitches were smooth and orderly. Unfortunately, she had to close her lovely little shop, but left me with great lines and a plentiful yarn stash. And now, here I am, away from home, knitting a new project for a special loved one with beautiful yarn procured from my favorite Minneapolis yarn shop and cooking with gas. Really. After years of electric cooking on the farm, the gas stove is almost as much a treat as a really good yarn. When it's on, it's on. When it's not, it's not. (Is that a Cole Porter song?) At any rate, I have a hearty venison stew simmering on the stove while Evan is shaping the rye loaves to bake for our late dinner. He used Grandma's Wonderful Rye Bread recipe, so our expectations are high. Oh, and for dessert, we still have last night's apple pie.

Alyssa is working out after work and plans to be home around 7:00. Since she's such a gracious hostess, waiting dinner for her is the least we can do. It's not like we're so busy all day that we can't adjust our schedules.

Evan had an 8:00 appointment this morning for lab work and to see the doctor. All is well. We left the BMT Clinic by 9:30 and headed back here where he made himself a little brunch. His morning meds give him a bit of an upset stomach, so waiting to eat makes good sense. After deciding on our day's menu, I left to go to the yarn shop -- it really is wonderful -- and to the coop for a few necessities. (And yes, I do have a yarn stash, but not always the perfect yarn for a certain project. It's just the way it works.) The coop is always busy, which surprises me. Guess that's just the small town coming out. I was looking for popcorn. Plain old popcorn. Evan doesn't like the stuff Alyssa has here, so I thought replacing it would be a pretty easy order to fill. Wrong. The snack section had Paul Newman's microwave popcorn, which is useless here, (Since Alyssa's Barbie's Dream House kitchen will not offer up the space for a microwave and a cutting board, the cutting board wins.), lots of pre-popped, bagged popcorn (organic, of course), but no plain old popcorn in a jar. I suppose I could have found some in the bulk foods aisle, but since the stuff that's here is from the Amish bulk foods store on Blueberry Rd, I figured another bulk popcorn could very well be another bust. So, no popcorn. But the Guacamole organic tortilla chips I bought in error, turned out to be pretty good, so don't worry about anyone fading away up here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes from lack of snacks.

A few years ago, Paul and Karl and I traveled to visit Alyssa in Denver: I kept a journal of that trip. Karl was, at the time, reading an account of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Each time I asked him for a contribution for the journal, he said, "rations are adequate and morale is high." That holds true here as well.

Great Apple Pie

I arrived today at about 2:00 p.m. after an uneventful drive and nice stop at the Quilt Yard in Osseo. The only slightly unusual sighting was that of several very large motorhomes decked out in purple and yellow. Viking fans heading home from Green Bay on our otherwise scenic Wisconsin highways. While football doesn't much interest me, the one minivan painted purple with Viking logos on all sides and sporting Viking flags and rude little cartoon characters doing something distasteful to Green Bay helmets did strike me as a bit over the tasteful fan threshold, but I left in in the dust and thought that was enough of a statement.

I brought apples along, not knowing that there were already plenty of apples here. To take care of that situation, Evan suggested a pie. We made a great Apple Pie with Oatmeal Cookie crust from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook. After a dinner of salmon and green beans sauteed in sesame oil, garlic and onion, Alyssa beckoned her neighbors who joined us for dessert. They brought the ice cream. Vanilla and Cinnamon. A scoop of cinnamon on a piece of apple pie was great. Evan is apparently impressing the neighbors with his baking abilities. I heard talk of delicious ginger snaps last week and promises of bread this week. Since he can't really go anywhere, he is using his time to hone his domestic skills. Alyssa and her friends are very appreciative of his efforts.

Tomorrow morning is a doctor appointment. I'm thinking the afternoon may demand a yarn shop run. I finished a knitted item for a loved one this evening (clever how I don't spill any Christmas beans, isn't it?) and think it may be improved upon with a more exciting yarn choice or pattern choice or both. We shall see.

Yeastie Boys

At approximately 5:45 a.m. yesterday, just as I was stepping out of the shower, there was a loud BANG in our kitchen. Since I'd been hearing an odd hissing off and on, I dreaded finding out what made the noise. As I neared the kitchen (like it's all that far away), I smelled something a bit "off." Yeast. I instantly knew what caused the noise. Ned has a carboy of beer, wrapped in a large towel, brewing under the kitchen table. Sure enough, an ugly foam was bubbling from the airlock, which had blown its lid. Ned thought it was kind of funny and reassured me that it was a good thing, as far as the beer is concerned.

Now that Evan is out of the hospital, he is looking for acceptable projects to help fill his non-Clinic hours. Paul tells me that he wants to learn to bake bread and has received clearance to do so. More yeast. Probably a bit less volatile than the beer. Or at least we hope so. Of course, he could also set up a tidy little side business of selling his baked goods at the BMT Clinic. He could charge on an approximate scale to match the medical fees. Say, $1,000 per loaf. That would help defray some of his costs, give him a good hobby and provide healthy home baked goods for those busy medical professionals. But, since it's probably not very realistic, we will go ahead with the planned fundraiser to help Evan with the bills. Find out more about it at www.evanruesch.org (there's a link at the top right of the blog).

Each visit to the Clinic costs Evan the $30 out-of-pocket office visit fee not covered by his insurance. Add to that the parking fees and gas, and you can round up the daily clinic visits to about $40 over and above all the prescriptions and just plain living expenses. A day without an appointment is not only good news toward good health, it is also a big money saver. Today is to be one of those good days: Evan is doing so well, that he is able to skip a day today and stay away from the BMT Clinic. That's good news all around. Evan gets to save some money and Alyssa and Paul will probably find some fresh baked goods coming their way.

Amazing!

Evan was released from the hospital at noon today. His release comes three weeks earlier than we expected, which is absolutely amazing. Appropriately, it was Karl who was there to take him home -- to his Minneapolis home, that is. We are all delighted. Evan, I'm sure, is happier than the rest of us can even imagine.

Now begins the parent/sibling/friend camp out at Alyssa's. Karl, as mentioned, is there this weekend, which worked very well since Alyssa was teaching all day. Kit usually goes every weekend, but noticed a bit of a sore throat mid-week, so decided it was better to stay away this weekend. Paul will go up for the week, come home on Saturday, and I'll go up on Sunday for the following week. I still haven't been able to convince Evan or Paul that knitting will make these weeks fly by. In fact, any mention of taking up one of the needle arts gets me quite the perturbed look from Evan. Of course, that doesn't deter me.

It's a little surprising that Paul hasn't caught on to grabbing the needles yet. Whenever we go for a road trip of any distance (farther than Stevens Point or Marshfield), I bring some knitting. "Someone has to drive; someone has to knit" is a motto that serves me well. Of course, alternating weeks in Minneapolis is not conducive to riding together, and knitting while driving might be even worse than texting, but I'll get my knitting time in while I'm there. I'm already lining up the projects in my mind. And, if I run out, I still know how to get to my favorite yarn shop. My Minneapolis world is small: Alyssa's, Hospital/Clinic, great co-op (O.K., a little pricey, but a straight shot to and fro) and yarn shop. I really am looking forward to going there in a week. And not just for the yarn fix. I haven't seen Evan for two weeks. Another week isn't long, but then it will be three weeks. That's a long time when his wellbeing is at the forefront of my mind day and night. Yup, I'll admit it: I need an Evan fix more than any yarn.

Good News

Evan is doing very well...may even be breaking some records!

The Transplant!

There was one last thing Karl and Evan had to do before heading home for Grandma's funeral - the transplant! Karl needed to collect 5 million stem-cells to pass over to Evan, but he was able to come through with an extra million, just for good measure.

Karl was hooked up to his machine (I don't know what it's called other than "loud") for about 5 or 6 hours. Then, his cells were whisked away to St. Paul for a few tests and who knows what else, and then 2 hours later, shipped back to Evan's room in Minneapolis. The transplant took about 30 - 45 minutes.

All in a day's work.

Back to work

I have to go back to work today. That's right, I'm not looking forward to it. I'd much prefer a day to just absorb and process the past week and could actually take one more day of funeral leave, but I'll go to work so that I can go to Minneapolis on Friday without guilt.

I talked to Evan last night. He's never too chatty on the phone, but said his day went better than Sunday when he was feeling very poorly. Kit and Karl were both concerned about him when they left him on Sunday, but it sounds as if he's made some improvements since then. In fact, when I spoke with him, he was looking forward to Alyssa and Kit's arrival with leftovers from Grandma's funeral dinner. And kolaches from Bernard, a longtime friend of Grandma and Grandpa's, who baked an ample supply of the delicious treats for us. If Evan is hungry it's a good bet that he is indeed getting better.

Evan is optimistic about an early release from the hospital. His doctor told him yesterday that if his progress continues, he may very well be released much sooner than expected. He's all for that! His release means, however, that I need to prepare for working remotely again. It's all possible, but it takes a bit of preparation on my part, so I'd best go face the music.

More Day 0

Paul called at about 7:30 last night to say that Evan was receiving the transplant. Alyssa (or Alissa) took a picture of Karl holding the bag of cells as they were delivered to Evan. That picture will certainly be worth a thousand words (and about 1/2 million dollars). Karl was able to give Evan 6.2 million stem cells yesterday, a nice cushion above the 5 million estimated as necessary. Now begins the process of those cells calling Evan's body home as he starts the long recovery period. After chemo, radiation and immune-suppressing drugs, he is ready to feel better. It's been a very long week for him any way you look at it.

On Monday evening, Paul's mother, Agnes, died. Even though she was 89 and in her words, "ready to go anytime now," none of us expected her death. It was a real shock to our family. And, of course, our immediate thoughts went to that hospital room in Minneapolis. Evan (and all of our kids) were very close to Grandma and Grandpa Ruesch, which made it difficult to even think about her funeral knowing that he won't be able to be there to say goodbye to Grandma.

I feel very fortunate to know that Alyssa, Karl and Evan all had each other to lean on this week. Evan, in fact, proved to be his normal strong self for me. You see, I couldn't reach Kit to tell him about Grandma. I called late Monday night. I called Tuesday morning and several times during the day. No answer. Late Tuesday afternoon, I asked Evan to try calling him to see if maybe Kit would answer his call. No luck. Finally Evan emailed Kit and told him to call home. Makes sense, I know. The funny part was (and yes, it was kind of funny) that when Evan and I had a devil of a time reaching Kit the previous weekend, Evan left a snotty (Kit's term) message about him never answering his phone. So, when Evan sent an email saying that we were all trying to reach him and that he should call home, Kit thought Evan was still ribbing him about the previous weekend. Kit, then, like the rest of us, was shocked to hear of Grandma's death. But he, like the rest of us, knew that Grandma was indeed ready to go.

We'll miss Agnes forever, but we all know that ever since the day Leonard died, she hoped she'd join him soon. We can't be sad for long when we know that she finally got her wish.

Day 0

Today's the day. Alissa Diane called a little while ago to say everything was going along just fine. She was with Evan when the doctor came in this morning and learned that he will receive Karl's stem cells about 6:00 p.m.
Unfortunately, I am not able to be there today because I had a bout with a flu bug this week and still had a fever yesterday; it simply wasn't worth the risk to be with Evan when he receives Karl's cells later today. Paul did go, with camera in hand. And, of course, we know Grandma's watching over him today, too.
More later.

On schedule

Evan and I left home Friday morning at 8:30 for 12:30 appointment to have a Hickman line put in. We walked in to the hospital waiting room expecting Evan to be called back for the procedure. Instead, we were immediately taken to his room on the BMT unit. It wasn't long before someone came and and said that IR (Interventional Radiology, as we later learned) was backed up and he'd go in for the line procedure at about 2:00 p.m. Since Evan could eat nothing prior to that 12:30 appointment and drink nothing for 2 hours prior to the procedure, it didn't make him very happy to have to wait. But, by the time they actually informed us of the delay, it was less than an hour to the 2:00 time, so we accepted the news with a scowl and watched Jimmy Stewart in Shenandoah.

It was probably about 2:15 when the nurse returned saying that Evan would be going sometime before 4:00. The reaction was more than a scowl. Shortly after this news, Kit arrived. Each hospital staff member who entered the room told us they would do all they could to push the time ahead, but it was really a problem with IR. And push they did. Evan went in for the procedure to place the Hickman at about 4:15 p.m. Once that was finished, at about 5:40 p.m., we all converged upon Alyssa's apartment to consolidate vehicles before the four of us headed headed out for dinner.

Kit and Evan selected the Red Stag restaurant as the site for Evan's last public appearance for a while. Excellent choice! The men both had the northern pike fish fry while we women both ordered the blue gill fish fry. We shared an appetizer of smelt fries. The food was delicious, the libations were top notch, the waiter excellent, and the company appreciative of these last few hours of Evan's freedom as he had to return to the hospital by 9:00 p.m. to officially start his Day -7.

Friday night was flushing the system. Saturday morning brought the chemo. Again. It will supposedly be no more difficult for him to tolerate that anything else he's had and he's had a boatload. I stayed until just after 1:00 on Saturday afternoon, and he seemed to be doing fine. Kit was there and they were settling in for Day -6. It was very difficult to leave knowing that Evan has to remain there for so long, but his spirits were good, Kit was with him and all was going as it should.

I spoke with Evan a little while ago. He was looking forward to Alyssa's arrival with some Venison stew. The meat is from the 5-point buck Evan shot on Wednesday. He was able to squeeze in two weeks of bow hunting before heading to Minneapolis and managed to to shoot two deer in that time. There will be no shortage of venison for the Ruesches this year. Already two deer and Paul, Ned, Kit and Karl haven't even begun.

Karl will head to Alyssa's tonight and begin the process of building up his stem cell production on Monday. He'll receive an injection daily until the the 5th day -- Day 0 -- when he spends the day hooked up to a machine that will collect his healthy stem cells. Evan will receive them the same day.

The transplant calendar starts at Day -7 and progresses to Day 0 -- the transplant. It then follows a positive number sequence. At first that numbering system rather baffled me; however, I've now come to embrace that notion that the transplant date starts everything fresh and every day that follows is a positive one. We're all looking forward to that!

Friday is the day

Evan and Paul called on their way home from Minneapolis. Evan will be admitted on Friday. That puts Karl there on Sunday. Thankfully, Evan was able to work his admit date around Ned's surgery, which is Thursday. All in all, we're looking toward a very medical weekend!

This is what I know ...

I know that Evan and Paul will leave home tomorrow around 6:00 a.m. for appointments in Minneapolis. They'll return as soon as those appointments are over. It will be much like the recent Racine trip, without the furniture moving and bakery stop.
I know that Karl will be waiting for an "all-clear" notice to know that he will finally begin his role in this transplant.
I know that this time, Evan's nurse coordinator is much more organized and focused. I know that we are better prepared for what is to come. I know that Evan is more positive. I know that we haven't had -- and will not accept -- any fiasco with the rotation of yet another doctor and another possible protocol. I know that this time, there is not going to be any nonsense of what is and isn't covered by insurance. I know that it is time. It's time for this to happen. It's time for this to work.

Good news at last

Evan's PET scan was good. At last!
We'll know more on the transplant schedule after he meets with his doctor next Tuesday.

Moving In

It won't be long before Alyssa again shares a room with her little brother. In light of that reality and the fact that her borrowed dresser went home to its rightful owner, Paul and Evan made a quick (well, as quick as 400+ miles round trip can get) to Racine yesterday to bring a new dresser for Alyssa from Grandma B. Poor Grandma received very little notice and had to empty out her stash of fabrics and other goodies in a big hurry. The window for this little trip was very narrow, Evan had a clinic appointment on Tuesday and found out then that he'd have to go back again on Thursday, which doesn't leave a lot of playing-around time in the furniture moving schedule.
From what I heard a nice visit was had by all. Paul, Evan and Grandma went to the Douglas Diner for lunch. Paul, of course, had to make an O&H run and then all had dessert and coffee at Grandma's. Our travelers then stopped at Cabela's on the way back. They arrived safely home just before 8:30 when I got home from work.
Karl will be moving in a bed when he goes to Minneapolis. That and her new dresser should find our hostess well equipped for a few more months of camping with the bros. We're so lucky to have her there. Now, we just need to keep her believing that she's lucky to have us!

Time in the woods

Evan went in for chemo last Tuesday and came home on Thursday. Even though he was feeling rather poorly, he and Ned managed to go bear hunting on Saturday, come home and go bow hunting that evening (Evan did shoot a deer) and go bear hunting again on Sunday. He is packing as much time in the woods as possible. He made venison with mushrooms last night. It won't be long before mushrooms are off limits again, so I guess he's got to get those in right along with the hunting.

Next Monday, September 28, will be the scan in Minneapolis. Karl goes on September 29 for blood tests to make sure everything is still a go for him. Then, if all goes well, Evan will be admitted the first week of October. And again, if all goes well, Karl will begin donating cells on October 12. I was supposed to be at a conference on October 12 & 13. I'm not going. I'll be in Minneapolis for a much bigger event! Until then, it's back to work and back to the woods for Evan. Good enough.

Coasting

Evan is working this week as he coasts his way into another chemo treatment next week. He's looking great after shaving his head last week -- the straggly falling-out in clumps look is simply not flattering on anyone. On Tuesday he'll head back into the hospital in Marshfield for what we hope will be his last chemo treatment here before the transplant.
Before then, however, it's -- you guessed it -- the opening of bear season. Everything up to this point has been keeping tabs on where the bears are. This weekend marks the beginning of being able to shoot one. Neither Evan or Ned have a permit to shoot (thank goodness!), but their friends do. Evan and Ned have permits to handle the dogs. Kit and Karl will go along for the show, from what I understand. Frankly, I don't get it, but since they never invite me, I guess I don't have to. My job is to stay home and hope I never have the opportunity to cook bear. Actually, it's more like go to work and hope against the bear reality, but that's beside the point.
At any rate, after that excitement, and the chemo, Evan will wait two weeks before going to Minneapolis again for another scan to see how much the chemo has done. If it looks good, it's transplant time. In the meantime, we'll all hope the next treatment isn't too hard on him, but that all of it has wreaked no uncertain havoc with the crap in his lung. The transplant seems a long time coming; I can't begin to imagine how long the last two years must seem to Evan. He's ready to go. Karl is ready to go. All they need is for the planets to align. Look to the heavens; it's time for things to go right.

You really want to know this

The boys -- that's what I often call Amos and Josie -- treed a bear yesterday. Yes, Josie is a boy; think: The Outlaw Josie Wales. Of course I also call Kit, Evan, Ned and Karl the boys, so it can get confusing. But in this case, the boys Amos and Josie treed a bear and the boys Evan and Ned were really happy about it.

Evan said holding on to the dogs was tough. He gets winded far more easily than ever before. He's hoping (it seems to me) that he'll get platelets tomorrow, which help him feel much better. The chemo is crap. Now the skin on his hands is peeling off. The boys -- dogs and humans -- seem to be thriving in spite of it all.

Another Saturday

It's hard to believe another week has flown by. It's also hard to believe I can lay out a blatant cliche right off the bat. Look, there's another one!

Evan was admitted Monday morning for his chemo. He was released Wednesday morning. I saw him very little, but I do know that he was not feeling well all week; still he mustered up the energy to go north last night with Ned to set out some bear bait (I was sleeping when they got home). This morning they left at 4:00 to let Josie and Amos do some tracking. They'll probably be home early afternoon.

Josie and Amos are Leopard Cur hounds that Evan bought a year ago in Missouri. Before they were part of his dog family, there was Daisy. She is a little Beagle/Spaniel mix who is a bit on the skittish side, but lovable. Daisy started out as a house dog, but her absolute refusal to follow the bathroom rules -- after two years of second chances -- made her an outside dog. Long before Daisy was Rufus, our good old Beagle mutt who trained us well and lived the life he saw fit: running free when he pleased, chasing rabbits as the opportunity arose, and sleeping on Evan's bed whenever he liked. He was a good old dog, albeit a smelly one. Rufus died last February, which made Daisy top dog. She's taken that to heart and trained the hounds accordingly. Much to her dismay, Daisy is not included in the bear tracking adventures. She's up and ready, but while Amos and Josie jump into the dog box, she is left behind. And she cries. Loudly. The truck pulls out of the yard and Daisy howls at the pain of being the only one left behind. At 4:00 a.m.

These bear chasing days leave everyone exhausted. Josie, Amos, Evan and Ned all come home ready for a long nap. Their early departure leaves me groggy for the rest of the day. The only one who is perky and ready for some fun is Daisy. Oh, and Paul, who has the ability to sleep through it all.

It's Saturday

Evan will check into the hospital on Monday for a few days of chemo. If it goes well, he'll get out on Wednesday. Today he, Paul and Ned (I think) are heading over to Mike and Teresa's for some family fun.

I worked. It's not really fun, but sometimes it is kind of funny. Today, for example, one of my projects was revamping the health treatment codes available to the schools' health room staff. On the advice of the head nurse, I cut down the available treatment codes in our student data base from a list of 119 choices (a few duplicates there) to a list of 15. Sounds exciting, I know. But here's the good part: one of the previous choices was MES -- Message. All alone and I laughed out loud picturing some poor snot-nosed kid getting a post-it note slapped on his forehead before being sent back to class. I thought it was the best one until I went just a little further down the alphabet and found PIN -- PINCH. Even better.

"Mrs. Jones, I feel short today."
"Don't worry, Johnny, here's a pinch to grow an inch."

Or,

"Wah, wah, wah, this cut really hurts."
"Don't worry, we'll just put a little pinch of salt in that wound."

I mean, really, who in their right mind would enter a pinch for a treatment. I chuckled to myself for quite a while. Actually, more than chuckled - laughed really hard. All by myself while working on 2 computers at the same time in an attempt to take care of the code changes while also running processes that take forever. Pretty absurd. Just as absurd as realizing that I hit hour 65 of this week about an hour before. It's August and this is how it is, but enough is enough.

I got home at 2:30. Changed clothes, pulled on 2 quilts, finished the last chapter of "Julie and Julia," and took a nap. (I also laughed a lot while reading the book. Julie is an irreverent, foul-mouth young lady with admirable political leanings who makes me wish I knew her personally.) I'll go back to work tomorrow when I'll be able to create health tutorials without laughing. Or at least not as much.

And more chemo

Tuesday's PET scan showed that the cancer in the lung did shrink from the most recent chemo treatment. That is good news. Now Evan will continue with this recipe for two more treatments, three weeks apart, to attack it further. He wants to start on Monday. We'll see how that goes, but the bottom line is that he's home for another six weeks.
It occurred to me yesterday that it wasn't too many weeks ago when more chemo was bad news. Now it's good news. The difference being, of course, that a few weeks ago we learned that the last regimen hadn't taken care of all there was. This week, we learned that the current regimen is working. It's all a tightly wound yo-yo that never quite unwinds before snapping back with a sharp smack. Maybe the string is really barbed wire. I don't know. It's too early to wax metaphorically anyway.
Evan remains his strong self. He drove to Minneapolis on Tuesday, dropped some things off at Alyssa's apartment, had the scan, drove to Eau Claire to have dinner "with his donor" and home again. By the time I got home around 8:30, he was out with a friend.
When I told my cousin that Evan had relapsed the first time, Kevin said that it was important for Evan to define the cancer rather than letting the cancer define him. I don't know if I ever told Evan that (he hates when we talk about him and blog about him, etc) , but I don't think I'll ever have to. He does have amazing control of all that he can control.
And I control the blog ...

Waiting for the next step

Evan will go to Minneapolis on Tuesday for PET scan to see how the last chemo treatment affected the Hodgkin's in his left lung. Once that is determined, he'll get the next step in the game plan.
That last treatment was pretty darned nasty, but Evan received a platelet transfusion on Monday, which helped tremendously to bring him back to himself . On Tuesday he mowed Grandma's yard, helped Paul fix the haybine and made dinner. The rest of the week followed suit. Today, he and Ned are back chasing bears with the hounds.

Ned had his cast removed on Tuesday. He's now got a boot and is still on crutches, but he's got a little more freedom of movement with the foot. He starts physical therapy on Tuesday (Tuesdays seem to be big in the Ruesch medical world) and then has the surgery to remove the pin or pins that can come out of his ankle in another month or so. He's gotten pretty darned good with those crutches. Even so, I'm sure he won't mind ditching the things permanently.

Alyssa is 31 today. Amazing. Her birthday gift -- the bedroom curtains -- never got made last weekend. We didn't sew a stitch, but we did some great cooking and a lot of very ambitious planning. That's got to count for something. Since it's August, I spend a lot of time at work, so it's no surprise that there's been no progress on the sewing front just yet. The end of September is realistically the soonest I'll be able to tackle much and I really can't ask Paul to learn to sew. He asked me to learn to bale hay last month. A couple of loads of bales convinced me that we had the right set-up all along: he uses the farming machines; I use the sewing machines. No sense messing up a good thing.

Another week

Evan came home from the hospital last Saturday afternoon. Kit was heading this way to visit Evan and was able to bring him home from Marshfield. Whatever was in that chemo recipe certainly seems to have knocked Evan for a loop. Although he's not down and out, he has been resting a lot and finding meals to be rather poor-tasting necessities. He'll probably perk up on Saturday when he heads north again to go chasing bears. Karl is coming for the weekend, so he'll go along, too. And Ned, too. Karl will be the only able body in the group and since he works nights, I can't imagine that he'll be a ball of energy when Evan and Ned plan to leave at 4:00 a.m. Saturday. But, if they see some bears, they'll all be happy.
Alyssa is coming home this weekend, too. She'll drive as far as Eau Claire and then carpool with Karl for the last leg of the trip. While the males are chasing bears, we'll be working on her new bedroom curtains. All of the windows in her apartment have blinds, but she thought curtains would add a greater degree of light control for Evan's long stay. I ordered some great fabric that arrived today. As usual, we let our optimism get the best of us and think we can sew with marathon endurance and results. She's thinking maybe she can get a dress cut out and I'm thinking that I might finally be able to make the shower curtain. Realistically, we'll be lucky to get her bedroom curtains done.
Evan will return to Minneapolis in another week -- or, as he says -- after another weekend, for a PET scan to see how the chemo has affected the Hodgkin's in his lung. That will determine what happens next. So he waits and Karl waits and we all wait. Patience is overrated.

Back to Marshfield

Evan checks in to St Joseph's Hospital at noon today for 4 days of chemo in Marshfield. He went through hospitalized chemotherapy last fall, too. It was pretty rough stuff. But, let's face it, all of this is rough stuff.
Since Evan already prepared to enter the hospital in Minneapolis, most of his hospital gear is at Alyssa's, including his quilt and pillow. He hates the smell of hospital blankets and the plastic-ness of the pillows. Naturally, I'm flattered that he wants to take one of the quilts I made and even let myself believe he had a specific favorite. When I asked (while holding it up for him to see) if he wanted to take "this log cabin quilt" that he has used every time he was hospitalized, he replied, "Sure. Is that the one I usually take?" So much for favorites. The log cabin quilt is in Minneapolis. He took a different one today and I'm sure he won't be able to identify it in a line up a month from now. Probably not even a week from now. He's still Evan.

More chemo

Crap.
Evan got his biopsy results yesterday. He'll have to undergo more chemotherapy in Marshfield before the transplant. Maybe a month; maybe more. Time will tell.

Still not yet ...

Evan had a lung biopsy today. Now we wait some more. Evan was told by his doctor just yesterday that he'd have some concrete information today since a pathologist would be "right there" during the biopsy; he was told today that it will be several days before they know anything. The frustration level is reaching those familiar levels of last winter. Not good.
I sat in the waiting room yesterday while Evan saw the doctor. I'd guess for about an hour. During that time, I listened to the woman at the desk detail all the movies the Harry Potter star had made, who directed each and what year they were released. I further learned what her favorite movie channel is and that she watched "Mama Mia" again just the night before, which apparently entitled her to sing along with the radio when one of the songs from the movie came on the radio. Now I freely admit that I own the "Mama Mia" soundtrack and I am easily lured into a hum-along with ABBA in my office, but the big difference is that I have my own office -- with walls -- and a door.
As it turned out, while I was being annoyed by this woman, and while Evan was in talking with his doctor, someone else from the place was calling our home in Milladore to tell him the check-in time for today's procedure. Not the cell phone. The house in Milladore. While he was in the BMT Clinic.
Now do you understand why I find it so frustrating that one doctor told him he'd have results immediately and another told him he'd know something in a few days? This is not a sliver in his finger we're talking about. This is a bone marrow transplant following his third bout of cancer in two years.
Sheesh.

Not yet

Evan returned from Minneapolis last Wednesday saying that his admission date was moved back to Wednesday (7/22) because he has an infection. A week's worth of antibiotics is hoped to bring him back to a good starting point. On Thursday the BMT Clinic called and told him to go to Marshfield for an influenza test. On Friday morning, the BMT Clinic called him to say they wanted him to have a lung biopsy in Marshfield; they would set it up and call back with details. They didn't. Evan will call today to see what's up.
We are all thrilled to know that Evan's brief absence from U-Minn-Fairview didn't allow them enough time to take Communications 101.

The Plan

When Alyssa and I created this blog last winter, we thought the Milladore Transplants title was catchy because it included the fact that our family as a whole was being temporarily transplanted to Minneapolis; we never dreamed that the stem cell transplant would also become plural. But it will. Very Soon.
I left home yesterday at 5:00 a.m. and headed for Eau Claire to pick up Karl and Alissa Diane. (Mapquest is wrong. Is is NOT faster to take Hwy 29.) We left Eau Claire right on schedule. Since schedules are rarely kept in our family, that in itself is worth note. At any rate, we arrived at the BMT Clinic where we were to meet Evan, who had been in Minneapolis since Tuesday for his preliminary work up (tests, tests and more tests). While I went in with Evan to meet with his nurse case manager, Karl was started on his own adventure of testing, BMT-style.
It was calendar day. The actual transplant date is day zero. Any day that is part of the transplant procedure, but before the actual transplant day is referred to as day minus-five, etc. At any rate, Evan will return next week Mon - Wed for more tests and consultations and be home for the weekend. Like this weekend, he will use that time to head north for a weekend of bear hunting. On Monday, July 20th, he will be admitted to the hospital to begin the transplant process. He will once again undergo 5 days of chemotherapy before the transplant. Unlike the last time, he will also have radiation before the transplant. While Evan undergoes chemo, Karl will begin his part. He will receive a growth factor hormone injection every day for 5 days to increase the stem cell production in his bone marrow and force those stem cells into his blood stream so they can be collected through the blood. On the 5th day, the stem cells will be collected. Evan will receive the cells the same day they are collected. Depending on how many cells can be collected from Karl in one 5-hour session (5 million are needed), that may happen for as many as three days, although we got the impression that two days will probably do it. At that point, Karl's part will be finished and Evan will begin his long road to rebuilding his immune system. Evan can expect to be in the hospital for as long as 30 days, and in Minneapolis for 100 days post-transplant. As his nurse said yesterday, "This time we're really keeping you here for 100 days," which certainly implies there will be no early release -- good behavior or not.
Karl finished all of his testing, consultations and exams by early afternoon yesterday. We weren't able to see Alyssa at all, but we're going to have lots and lots of opportunities for that over the next four months as we once again set up camp in her cute apartment. I was thrilled to be able to get out of the city before the afternoon rush hour began. We made a quick stop at Trader Joe's in Woodbury, which Karl and Alissa seemed to like as much as I do, and headed to Eau Claire. Interesting thing at TJ's: My main purpose in stopping was to buy a couple of kinds of wine to audition for Kit and Violet's wedding reception here next summer. While in the liquor section, Karl found a few beers he wanted to try. And so we have evolved from him receiving a nice sticker for bravery at the doctor's office to getting a six-pack. How times change!
At any rate, I was home again by 7 last night to find Evan packing up for his weekend of hunting and Ned firmly planted on the couch with his leg elevated on pillows as he recovers from Thursday's surgery to insert 3 screws in his ankle to mend the fracture he suffered 3 weeks ago.
All in all, Evan and Ned both will have lost most of their summer to medical procedures this year. But yesterday was a good day for the Ruesch medical compound, we just need about 110 more!

More to come

The next transplant -- a donor this time -- will take place in August, or sooner. In the meantime, all is as well. Evan is doing well and Karl is waiting in the wings to "give him all the stem cells he wants."

Can you hear the sigh of relief?

If you're still checking in, you're waiting for this: Evan had a bone marrow biopsy last week and a CT scan. Both were good. The bone marrow was clear and the scan showed marked shrinking of the lymph nodes. Exactly what should have happened. He will now be switching to Marshfield for the routine blood draws and follow up appointments and return to Minneapolis occasionally for more tests. That fancy 3-pronged catheter isn't going anywhere just yet, but Evan gets to move home. This is most welcome to us because we were originally told that he could very need to be in Minneapolis 100 days post-transplant. Its been just over 30 days. Yippee!

Evan will return to work full-time beginning today -- a week before his three months of insurance expires. Alyssa will go back to having her own apartment. I'll go back to working insane hours during the winter next-year enrollment period and Paul will keep rebuilding the bathroom, which, of course, is more involved than we ever imagined as he finds he needs to replace nearly everything holding the room together. Still no mushrooms in our menus, still no working in the woodshed for Evan, but pretty darned normal nonetheless.

Evan's doctors told us that it will be two years before they will consider him in full remission. Yesterday's news made a giant leap in that direction.

Read TIME

TIME magazine's feature article this week is on stem cell research. Granted, the topic discussed is not the same as the process Evan underwent, but the ongoing research holds promise for so many diseases. While waiting for Evan one day, I met a woman whose husband had received umbilical cord stem cells. "Isn't it amazing? We never even considered what happened to cord blood and now it has saved my husband's life." Amazing, indeed.

Evan is back and forth between Minneapolis and Milladore quite often. He had an appointment this morning and has another on Tuesday. So far, so good. He's getting anxious to return to work. We don't know when that will happen yet, but whenever it does, he'll certainly be ready. In the meantime, he uses his time for lots of reading and is doing a fair bit of cooking and planning on how he will use those crazy hounds of his. All of this is good; Evan is hungry for something besides peanut butter and grilled cheese again. As for his crazy hounds, their recent recreation of chasing calves and making cattle break through fences which means Paul has to chase cattle back in again and fix fences in subzero temperatures brings about frequent mention of lead diets for them. Picture the Bumpus hounds and you've met Josie and Amos. They're still pups -- very cute and very naughty -- and Evan's pride and joy. They are, according to him, the start of his Leopard Hound breeding line. Paul and I both wish him a long and successful run at the dog breeding business -- somewhere else!

Paul and Ned are working on getting wood cut today to keep Evan's firewood customers supplied. A pretty cold winter for them to have to keep up with that job. And, of course, they also have to supply our firewood and grandma's. We're not getting rich around here, but we're certainly never out of work. My job took a lot of hours this week, but today is one for baking and making soup. A batch of cookies and one of nephew Joel's monster chickens in the pot just seemed like a good way for me to do my part in keeping the home front warm. My key will work in the office door again tomorrow.

Just a little project

It was back to work Monday. Sigh. Ten hours could have easily been sixteen, but tomorrow's another day.
Even though Evan and I returned earlier than expected last week, I stayed home to help out with a few things here. We're working in the bathroom to fix a problem around the shower walls that worried us over the possibility of Evan being exposed to mold. So, we took off the panels we put up as a temporary fix before Evan was born. The problem was not as bad as we expected, but there was indeed some mold, so it's good we're fixing that. Of course fixing that means deciding how to bring the tile up to meet the adjoining plaster walls neatly. That, naturally, is best solved by ripping out that plaster. It's looking pretty good. Down to the studs all the way up to the old, unused chimney. That chimney space would be the perfect size for a linen closet. Just the right size to hold extra sheets. So, two days later and the chimney is down and the house has a lovely fine grit of red brick EVERYWHERE. And isn't all worth it to know that this new vacuum cleaner is up to the challenge of brick dust? So, now that the chimney is out, the adjoining wall into the other part of the bathroom might as well go, too. And, as long as we're at it, the old soffits can go. Now, Ned can build part of the new cabinets right to the ceiling without having to work around those pesky obstacles. But wait, as long as we're ripping out walls, let's re-think the adjoining wall into the kitchen. Maybe this is the time for Ned to build in a pantry and broom closet... we still haven't decided that one, but the bathroom is looking very good in that rustic, exposed stud kind of way.
Evan said today that he and friend Pat took a sausage shop run for some Braunschweiger; he also volunteered to bring some sausage home for us. Hmmm. Well, Evan, about that coming home thing. If we had stayed the course on the original tile-around-the-tub plan, we may have let you in within a few days. Now that we have plaster and brick flying, you'll have to camp at Grandma's during your next visit, just to be safe. But really, this whole bathroom adventure began as a way to make living here better for you. Really.

Here today; there tomorrow

Evan had a 1:00 p.m. clinic appointment on Wednesday. I prepared by gathering some "purse knitting" for the waiting room. No, purse knitting is not knitting a purse -- although I do have my eye on a great pattern -- purse knitting is a project that fits neatly into my purse (Alyssa's vest has progressed too far to fit into the purse knitting category). Naturally, I bought a purse with this purpose in mind, but that's beside the point. I took out my needles and sock yarn and started knitting even though I didn't expect to get two socks finished this week. About an inch of ribbing and Evan appeared saying he had to wait a few minutes for an appointment schedule. Not long after, his doctor appeared and told him an appointment schedule would be ready for him on Friday and to enjoy his time away. Time away? That's right, Evan's been cut loose ... or at least he's been given a much longer leash.
We left the clinic, went back to Alyssa's, packed up the car and headed back to Milladore. Since Evan had another appointment on Friday, I thought maybe we'd leave right after that one. "NO. We're going and heading back on Friday." At this point, we no longer make decisions based on what is the most reasonable; rather, we decide things based on what Evan can do. And since Evan is now cleared to drive and is allowed to be 3 1/2 hours away, we drove home. OK, he drove. I continued working on the sock. We arrived home about 6:30 to a great meal of Ned's celebratory burgers and a beer. As long as things keep progressing well, Evan will have a greatly reduced clinic schedule and be able to commute, rather than stay in Minneapolis full-time. That's good news for all of us. In fact, when I called Alyssa on Wednesday to tell her we'd be gone when she got home from work, she tried to hide her overwhelming disappointment by saying, "I'm calling friends!"
We're now hoping Evan keeps up the good healing work and stays clear of infection and fever; that will bring him closer to being home full time. He has plans to return to work ASAP and will talk to his doctors about that today. Whatever those return to work plans turn out to be, he's certainly headed in the right direction on the road back to normal.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Evan is doing very well. A couple of days off from clinic appointments leaves him very hopeful for the possibility of a weekend visit to Milladore. He and Alyssa went to a matinee yesterday to see Gran Torino. They both reported it to be a very good movie, even if it does star Clint Eastwood. Unlike most of my family members, I am simply not a fan of Clint's "whisper growl." Guess I'll watch for it on DVD. More importantly, Evan's counts are good enough that he doesn't have to fear going out in public, within reason of course. He does have to wear his highly attractive blue mask and avoid high traffic areas and the biggest danger of all -- children! -- but he can get out and that's a good thing.
Speaking of the blue mask ... last week when Kit was here, Evan was telling of our Gander Mountain expedition and complained about wearing the mask everywhere. Kit suggested that he could tie a bandanna over it to look a little less conspicuous. Just imagine the tall man in the stocking cap with a bandanna tied over his face and his mother sitting in the parking lot in the get-away Buick. Ma Barker sighted in Woodbury! There may be a masked man wherever we go, but no bandannas.
I arrived late yesterday after taking the wrong exit and finding my way in spite of it. Yes, I am very proud of that little feat. Alyssa and I took a trip to Treadle Yard Goods in St Paul last night to find fabric for a blouse to wear with the red vest I am knitting for her. Nice shop. It's so refreshing to find a fabric shop that is not a big box store and still has a great variety. My big day today will include washing the fabric and maybe even cutting out the blouse. Although she usually does her own sewing -- I haven't done any garment sewing other than aprons in a long, long time -- I offered to make the blouse while I'm here since classes are back in session today.
First, I'm going to see if I can convince Evan to go on a little field trip somewhere. He doesn't have an appointment today, so we can do whatever we please. The sun is shining and it looks to be a beautiful day in Minneapolis. If it weren't for the crowds, I'd be tempted to find an inaugural celebration to join today. Instead, we'll watch the inaugural events on TV and celebrate our country's victory; at the same time Evan will be one day closer to his victory!

A turn for the best

Evan called this morning. His white cell count almost doubled since yesterday. What great news! Kit is visiting Minneapolis this weekend and so are Karl and Alissa, which means no boring hours for Evan and Alyssa. In fact, it should be downright cozy in the Wisconsinite sanctuary for a couple of days.
I'll miss all the fun and go up on Monday equipped with cookies, sharp cheddar, a knitting project and of course, a work project. If Evan keeps up the good healing work, we won't be spending much time in the BMT Clinic and lots of projects will get done. Hmmm, if I could convince him to take up knitting we could have a regular little cottage industry right in the city. Even better: He'll do my job and I'll concentrate on being a knitting machine!

Hip hip hooray!

No more grrrs and brrrs here. I got a call this morning saying that my window was fixed so I bused on over to pick up the car (okay, there were a lot of brrrrs getting there, but thems the breaks). Next stop, hospital.

I walked into Evan's room and he was hooked up to an IV. My face fell because I thought he'd be in the whole day again. But, as it turns out, they let him out. He got his growth factor and by noon we busted out of that joint. We headed out to my now operable car and came back here to enjoy some grilled cheese sandwiches.

Evan called Kit's friend Pat and they're watching A Few Dollars More right now while I attempt to get some work done. The sooner I get my work done, the sooner I'll be making some homemade pudding for the guys to sweeten Evan's deal.

Grrrrrrr........Brrrrrrrrrr

It's Wednesday and Evan is STILL in the hospital. His fever subsided two days ago and he is no longer connected to an IV drip. Why is he still in there you ask? For observation. His counts still aren't that high so his doctor today told him that they wanted to keep him in there one more day. But no one checked his vitals and since Evan doesn't eat hospital food (that stuff will kill you!) I bring in his lunch and dinner everyday - so neither one of us is really sure why he needs to be there for observation since we seem to have it under control. Maybe it's just so we can spend more money in the parking ramp. Evan is less than pleased, and I'll be honest, I don't blame him. It's super boring in his room and we both are growing weary of watching Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns for the third day in a row. And I'm tired of losing cribbage games. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Moving on to Brrrrrrr..... On Saturday morning when I was bringing Evan back home from his daily appointment the blower for my car heater blew out. Evan was waiting in the car when it happened and, being a mechanic, he diagnosed the problem immediately (the smoke emmenating from the engine was a good indicator, as was the lack of heat). Unfortunately, I couldn't take it in to my mechanic until yesterday. So, without a heater or defroster I drove my car the two miles to the auto shop, scraping the inside of my window at every block so that Isee enough to make it there in one piece. Did I mention that it was -1 out yesterday? It was a chilly ride morning ride. But, as always, the guys at TA Automotive took great care of my car and had it fixed by closing time and I had a toasty ride home by nightfall.

I love heat!

Fast forward to today. After visiting a very grumpy Evan for lunch, I offered to go home and bake him some brownies and bring him a sandwich for dinner. This seemed to perk him up marginally. Score! So, I trudge back out to the parking ramp, roll down my window, and make my daily donation to the parking gods. I turn on to the street and roll up my window. Ooops, pressed the wrong button. Try again and press the right button. Roll up my window. What the .... ???? The damn window won't go up!!!

Did I mention that it was -8 today?!

So there I am, heat blowing from my newly installed blower and a wide open window, laughing. I couldn't even enjoy the relative warmth of my little Honda for 24 hours!

Anyway, I did some quick calcualtions in my head about how long it would take me to get to my normal mechanic and, eyelashes freezing and teeth chattering, quickly decided that I would take my chances at a different mechanic. I dropped it off, and though he couldn't fix it on the spot, he could house it in a warm spot overnight and he's hoping to have it done tomorrow.

I love heat and operable windows! Hopefully!

So, an hour after leaving Evan, I arrived back at his bed not so much to see him, but to warm up from my 30 minute walk back from the mechanic (I missed the bus and opted to generate some heat walking rather than standing around and freezing waiting for the next one. Let's be honest though, at -8 , I didn't stand much of a chance of remaining warm for long, even with all my layers and sleeping bag coat). Unfortunately, I arrived at Evan's cell without brownies. Luckily, he's forgiving, and after a quick jaunt out to the sub shop, I left Evan still grumpy, but at least full of non-hospital food.

So, there's the latest and greatest from Minneapolis. GRRRRRR and BRRRRRR.

Don't mess with the Evan

Yesterday afternoon Evan had a bit of a fever and was told to come into the ER. Kit was here and escorted him back to his home away from home (that's a euphemism for his cell at the hospital...he loves it so much there) where they decided to admit him overnight. As we learned this morning, they want to keep a watch on him until Tuesday.

Even though Evan is back in the hospital, he's doing ok. The doctors weren't alarmed to see him come in with his fever yesterday - this sort of thing after the stem-cell transplant is par for the course. So, instead of spending hours watching TV and movies in my apartment, we just moved the party to the hospital today. Kit and I spent some quality time watching Dirty Jobs (featuring episodes in WI and MN!) with Evan. Kit and I even ventured up to the cafeteria. Evan asked about the quality of our food upon our return and with every item - from salad, to pot roast to Sprite - we were advised to avoid it in the future because according to Evan "they screw everything up". I don't disagree with him on this point. So that he doesn't starve to death, I came back to the apartment for some soup and the latest Netflix flick - Don't mess with Zohan. Evan and I dined on some lentil soup (sans sausage, mom) and watched Adam Sandler style blue- hairs. I left Evan about an hour ago as he was getting his growth factor shot.

Evan is going to rest up tonight and I'll join him for another movie marathon and cribbage whooping tomorrow. I'm going to scrounge up some more edible treats for him so that we can bust him out of there on Tuesday.

Friday night in the city

It's hard to believe I've been here a week. I even ventured out on my own for a little while yesterday. The predictions of a snow storm put me in the mood to bake some cookies, so I just had to go buy some butter. I won't go into details on the cookie baking venture in Alyssa's dream kitchen, but I will note that beating cooking dough with her mixer that works as well as dueling butter knives was more than I could take. I finally gave it it up and mixed them by hand. I tried to convince Alyssa that halos have been issued for less noble works, but she wasn't buying it. The yarn shop, grocery store and drug store are all located in a pretty convenient loop from the apartment. Naturally, a butter run has to include a quick yarn stop. And really, what else could I need? I managed to finish a pair of socks (A first - I've never been able to complete a matching pair with both socks the same size before!) this week and will start a vest for Alyssa as my next project. Too bad I can't stay another week -- that vest would be finished; she'd probably also find herself with a new mixer. But alas, I must return to Wisconsin and work. Alyssa will have off next week, so mom or dad will be superfluous here.

Evan is having a bit of a low day today. A low-grade fever and some mouth sores have kept him down for the day. The morning's clinic appointment was about it for excitement. Although he did join us for supper, even Kit and Violet's arrival didn't pep Evan up much. Alyssa's off to her book club tonight; Kit and Violet and I played some Yahtzee and now a Clint movie is playing. Evan, Kit and Violet seem to enjoy it. I'm even seeing some of the first smiles of the day. Guess I'll endure this junk for the sake of some smiles, but it's not easy... Of course, I did watch the Muppets Take Manhattan earlier today, so it's not like I didn't get in any quality viewing. It was so good that it put Evan out for a well-deserved nap while I took care of the laundry.

Tomorrow will bring the beginning of the growth factor injections to get that white cell count climbing again. Until then, Evan's newborn immune system gets all the excitement it needs right here. Eau de Clorox provides the background ambiance for our little isolationist society. But all in all, it's going very well, so a little bleachy undertone to our environment isn't all that hard to take.