My dad passed away yesterday at 4:07 pm. We don’t know what happened. It was too quick, he was in the hospital for neck pain, his biopsy came back after he died, it was large cell lymphoma stage IV. He was scheduled to start chemo in a few weeks. We don’t know what killed him, his heart just couldn’t take it anymore and his blood pressure and heart rate went and his lungs failed him. They think it might have been a pulmonary embolism. I hope it was painless. We left the hospital two hours before he went code blue. We thought he was getting moved out of the ICU, they said he was doing better and that his surgery was healing well. He wanted chicken and canteloupe for dinner. My mom fed him pineapple and liver and onions for lunch. He was in and out of it but the morphine made him pretty sleepy. I didn’t get to tell him about our trip. I didn’t get to hug him because I was afraid to touch him and hurt him. It hurts so bad.
I love you dad. We don’t know what to do without you.
My dad August 9, 2006
Keep up to date July 21, 2006
Wanna hear about how Jered and I tackle 360 miles on our bikes? We will be podcasting through Odeo and Jered’s website each day of the ride. Tune in and see how it goes!
http://podcast.jeredb.com
We had to change hosts mid-stream, but this should work! We’re in Kansas City waiting to leave for the bike trip early tomorrow morning. We start riding on Monday and finish up next Saturday, August 5th. I’ll post pictures of our time at the lake and in Wisconsin when we get back!
To listen to previous posts, click on the “Posts” link in the player below and all of the posts should show up for your listening enjoyment!
Vacation July 21, 2006
We’re leaving for our two week vacation tomorrow morning (eaaaarly, 0:dark thirty). I am ready to get out of town for a little while and just relax, no work, no school no pets to take care of, just leisure and relaxation, well except for the 360 mile bike ride… 
We are going to finish packing tonight and take the dog over to my parents’ place before we hit the sack tonight. I’m hoping we can get the car loaded tonight so that tomorrow morning is a shower, load the cooler and go kind of thing. We are driving somewhere around 15 hours tomorrow and 5-6 on Sunday.
I will be “unplugged” for the next two weeks, no internet ergo no blogging. I will post pictures and updates when we return after the 6th 
I’m hoping to get a pair of socks knit and finish my second Madli stole.
Here’s to well deserved vacations!
Good week July 14, 2006
Adamas
I finished Adamas earlier last week, which I am really proud of because its my first triangular shawl. This was a fun knit and has really got me in lace mode. I love the way the light yarn feels during the hot summer months.
My dad had his biopsy yesterday. He is pretty sore from it, but the radiologist made sure that he and the pathologist got enough tissue to get a good sample so that we can get an official diagnosis and start his treatment as soon as possible. Please keep him in your thoughts.
Jered and I are getting ready for our bike trip. We got our package of gear from Performance in the mail this week. We both got a pair of new bike shorts, and rain jackets, and I got a new pair of bike shoes. I’m very excited about getting away for a little while. I think I will come back refreshed. In a way, I feel sort of guilty for going away right now, especially since my dad is just starting his treatment, but they have told us to go ahead and go. I have mixed feelings about it, but I am glad that we have an opportunity to get away for a little while.
I’m on the third repeat of my new Madli stole. The Alpaca Cloud is really nice! It’s very slippery, but not too slippery to stay on the needles. I’ll try and post some pictures of the progress later this weekend.
Grilling July 10, 2006
Jered and I have been grilling up a storm since we bought our tabletop grill over the 4th of July weekend. So far we’ve done steaks, squash, potatoes, mushrooms, corn, tuna steaks, and salmon (not all on the same night!!). It’s been really nice to have a cooking option that doesn’t heat up the house as much as turning on the stove or oven.
We’re also working on our back yard, my tomatoes are really taking off! I have about 15-20 little green tomatoes. I started the seeds way back in early March, so its so rewarding to see the plants grow. Right now our backyard is full of basil, chives, tomato plants and weeds. We have more weeds than anything else! We’re working on it though. Since my parents need our help with their lawn this summer, our own gardening and yard work has taken a back seat.
This week is fairly normal. It’s my last full week of teaching and I’ve got 7 clients scheduled. Wednesday I’m getting my hair cut, probably pretty short, so I will post pictures later in the week. Thursday is my dad’s biopsy (finally!), unfortunately I can’t make it to the appointment with him because I’ve got a presentation that morning but Jered and my mom are planning on going with him.
Two weeks until we leave for Kansas and Bike Across Wisconsin. I got on the bike on my own on Friday and went for an easy 20 mile ride. Saturday, Jered and I rode the parkway for about 20 miles. We’ve also been running and walking quite a bit to help us get into better shape. I’m still a little nervous about the ride. Jered’s family has done a lot of cycling and I just started in college. I’ve been trying really hard to get out on the bike at least a few times a week. I hope I’m ready!!!
I’m really excited about our trip out to Kansas and Wisconsin. We are spending about a week at Jered’s family’s lake house in Missouri. They recently bought a jet ski, so we’re both really looking forward to getting out on the lake! We haven’t been on a “real” vacation in a while. It will be so nice to get away from work/house/pets/stress for a couple of weeks. We also haven’t been back to Kansas since graduation over 2 years ago!!! It is hard to believe we haven’t been out there even once. I am really looking forward to seeing Jered’s family too. We always have a really good time, and we get to see their new house, which we haven’t seen completed yet!
More pictures and knitting updates later this week. I cast on for another Madli stole yesterday (in Alpaca Cloud Mist) when we drove up to Richmond to go to the Apple Store to troubleshoot Jered’s computer problems. While we were up there we tried to visit my sister who now lives in Richmond. She was working and couldn’t get time off to see us, but we are hoping to visit her sometime soon so that we can see her new place.
Could it be? July 8, 2006
It’s Done!
I actually finished it, blocked it and gave it away (to my mom). This one will be borrowed from time to time!
Riding the Storm June 27, 2006
Things are going a little better for us. My dad had a relatively useless appointment on Monday where we basically were told to come back July 5th for his biopsy to confirm that its cancer. The oncologist won’t even meet with us until he has the biopsy.
I’m frustrated and ready for him to get his treatment started. We’re all still nervous and worried and shaken up, but the day to day is a little easier.
Oscar had a seizure last night, it was weird because it almost seemed like he was conscious during it which made us both uncomfortable because we really don’t want him to be in any sort of pain when he has them. We have had a lot of bad thunderstorms so it might be related to that, but luckily he hasn’t had any more since then. Let’s hope it stays that way!
I baked chocolate chip cookies tonight. They turned out perfectly. Maybe I’ll buy some vanilla ice cream tomorrow and make ice cream sandwiches with them. Yum!
I am almost done with Adamas. Just the edging left!
Pictures will be posted when I’m done.
Stressful Week June 16, 2006
This has been a really rough week for me and my family. We found out on Wednesday that my dad’s cancer is back and that he will have to undergo some pretty extensive treatment including chemo in a few weeks. It was a hard thing to hear because we thought that his melanoma was in remission. I’m trying to keep as positive as possible, he has great doctors and full medical coverage because of his military service. The situation is about as good as it can be for this kind of news, our family is all here in town and the rest of the summer is pretty low key for me so I will be able to go to his treatments and help out when he and my mom need me and Jered. I don’t think anyone is ever prepared to hear news like this and the past two days have been really rough, but I’m starting to feel a little better and am starting to look at the practical side of how to help my dad in the best way I can.
As if that weren’t enough, last night at 5 pm Oscar started having seizures again. I thought it was just an isolated thing but then he had another at 10, one at midnight, one at 2 am and one at 4 am. He lost control of his bowels and couldn’t seem to shake the seizures. We decided to give him his morning dose of pheno 3 hours early. Luckily he hasn’t had a seizure since (knock on wood!). He had a scheduled bloodwork appointment today at 11 anyway so we talked to the vet and considered putting him to sleep. I even made the appointment for tomorrow. The other option is to up his medication to a really high level and see how it goes in the next 2 months. The vet bills have been extremely expensive so it almost seemed like we really didn’t have a choice and euthansia was the only way to go. I talked it over with my parents, with Jered and with a few friends, made the appointment to have him put to sleep and thirty minutes later was in the car taking him to the York river for his favorite walk. I talked some more with my mom and then more with Jered and we realized that he is so happy when he isn’t having seizures and he seems to be so comfortable and healthy other than the seizures. I called the vet and cancelled our appointment tomorrow. We are upping his dose and riding it out. We are hoping his cluster of seizures was related to the high emotional stress at home the past few days or something else that was a one time glitch. We are upping his dose and hoping for the best. We are not ready to give up on him!!!
So needless to say it was an emotional morning and an emotional couple of days. I am starting to feel much better, thanks to the support I’ve gotten from Jered and my family and friends. While the news this week hasn’t been the best, it could be much worse, and we are a strong family with plenty of support and will pull through all of this. I am lucky to have such great people around me. My friend Liz is coming down to stay with us tomorrow for the weekend just to help us get our minds on something fun. We will probably head to Busch Gardens and relax.
I might even get some stress knitting done today!
Be thankful for the people and pets around you that are so easy to take for granted!
Adamas who? June 11, 2006
Hi, my name is Esther and I have been bad about blogging for a long time now. Now that its summer and my work load is somewhat lightened I am going to make a concerted effort to blog more regularly. I have been knitting about as much as I’ve been blogging… not a lot at all. I graduated in the middle of May and since then have taken on some new clients (I’m up to 10!), started teaching a human sexuality class at a local community college and started taking the two summer classes I signed up for to complete my degree requirements and maintain my status as a counselor resident at our clinic. We have to take a supervision course to keep seeing families at the Clinic, so that is one of the two classes I am in right now, and the other is a couples counseling and sex therapy class. Classes end the week of the 18th, so we’re almost done, and the class I’m teaching goes until late July.
I started knitting again a couple days ago. I have been picking things up here and there but not really doing much more than a few rows of this project and a couple of that. I have resolved to take it one project at a time, starting with Adamas. I am on the last repeat of the main pattern and then will be working on the border and will finally be done! I will try to post pictures later today.
On the pet front, our little zoo is getting along quite nicely now. Oscar has had a few more seizures since we have put him on the phenobarbital, but for the most part it seems like his epilepsy is under control. He has also discovered tennis balls. Oh holy hell he loves those things! Tennis balls are one of the few reasons he will bark. He’s quite an entertaining little fellow and has recently taken to sleeping in the bed with us. We love it.
I’ve been doing some gardening this summer too, and started basil and tomatoes from seedlings waaaay back in the beginning of March. Well the basil has really taken off and the tomatoes are ready to be attached to the trellis we are building this afternoon. We’re hoping the cool weather will hold out so that we can get a little stuff done in the yard. I’ll post pictures of that too!
Check out our graduation pics and other random stuff at flickr. More pictures later!
Update May 18, 2006
I graduated, and I’m back in class again.
I’m taking one real class this summer and teaching one as well. I’m also seeing 11 families! It’s going to be a busy summer, but the change is refreshing.
The dog is doing really well. He hasn’t had a seizure in at least a month, and we just got word from the vet that his blood work was normal.
As for knitting, I got a gift certificate to Elann from Jered’s parents, I got a double pointed needle case and four balls of Peruvian Baby Silk to make the heartstrings mobious scarf. I cast on yesterday in class, I’ve been able to knit quite a bit today during class too.
I’ve also been finishing up Adamas. It has been slow going because I haven’t been knitting much, but I expect to have it done really soon.
Hopefully I’ll have some time to post pictures of graduation and new knitting projects this weekend.
