Blood draw and clinic visit today.

We learned that Terry's counts continue to go down. We asked when he might be at his lowest and they said that usually happens between days 5 to 10. Well, we are at day 9, so we are happy to think that his low is about here and it won't be long before he starts climbing upward again. They call that low point "nadir" and he may remain at nadir for a couple days. We'll see what starts happening and when, and we'll let you know.

It's been an ordinary day when comparing it to the past week, but we did get some good news this afternoon. In their testing they learned that Terry will have a small break with his cyclosporine meds. That is good news because that means 7 fewer pills tonight and 7 fewer again in the morning, and they are the terrible horse pills. Yeah! It may only last until tomorrow night, but that is still a great break.

Our day is almost over, but not everyone here in Seattle shares the desire to sleep through the night. There are some pretty noisy night riders. It seems that Seattle has some motorcyclists that like to rev up their motors at night, just outside our windows. There is traffic all day and traffic all night. At least the construction is silent for the night. Hey, maybe they are the guys out on the bikes at night???

Oh, just a bit of fun for this ordinary day - we saw 2 pirate ships in Union Lake, but we were at the clinic and didn't have the camera. They were pretty cool looking and fun to see. Something else new is that I made a little bit of apples sauce with some apples that were getting a bit soft. We hope to enjoy that tomorrow.

Overall this has been a good day. We have smiled and laughed and we are grateful that things are going well. We hope you had some smiles and laughs in your ordinary day too. Life is good!

A slow day today.

We had a quick trip to the clinic early this morning and then had the rest of the day free. It's not been the most pleasant day for Terry (but it's not been the worst either). It wasn't a very good night for him, so that might have a little bit to do with how he is feeling today. We just have to take it one day at a time. Surely the days seem long to him as he is feeling icky. I can't even plan anything for him to do because he just needs to rest.
We are a full week out from T-day, so that's good.

I did some more scrapbooking, and ... tada! ... finished what I could with our family books. (I make family books and then I make a book for each of our children, so I have 6 more to go, and I also update my mom and dad's books. I have done a few pages for mom and dad since we've been here, but need more info before I can continue with those.) I counted the pages I have done and there were 92 new pages in the family books, so I know I've done over 100.

I have been worried about having enough time to get everything done that I want to while we are here. I did bring a lot to do. Taking care of Terry is #1 on my list and that can be time consuming some days, so I've been worried that I have brought all this stuff to do and not enough time to do it. Counting the pages I have done made me think that I am doing more than I realized. Whew! I guess it will turn out better than I think!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Estella!
We love you!

Happy Anniversary to ... our house!
Did you know?
This is the day we moved in, and occasionally we celebrate this day with cake or other yummy food, with a piece of furniture (not this year), or with a movie night or some other fun thing to do.

Terry stayed home and I went to the SCCA clinic today by myself. Does that sound backwards? It wasn't for an appointment, it was just to get his fluids and supplies. He was tired, but I knew he needed to get his IV going, so I offered to go without him ... and I did. I think I was gone about 25 minutes. Once again, grateful for the shuttle. It was raining and a bit chilly so it's good Terry stayed inside. We need him to stay well. Getting sick right now could send him to the hospital, so we are being careful.

Terry does or has experienced all of those symptoms listed in yesterdays post, but most are somewhat mild. He is doing really well, inspite of it all.

I'll share a couple photos with you today:

The first photo is of the building we live in. See the blue? That is one section of the 4 sections that continue to the left. It is all one building, but different colors. We live in the lower right side. The windows just above the white building and below the large pipe on top of that building are our windows. Our part of the building is actually a gray color. (Two bedrooms and the living room.) Our deck is off to the right.

The second photo is the best view we have from our place. We can see only that much of the lake. There are buildings to block the view in the other directions. We do see a few boats coming in or leaving and a lot of planes coming and going. We can see the planes in the air above this orange building on the right of the photo. It's fun to see as we are sitting in the living room and looking out.

Even though it's a small view, it is so very different than the view we have at home. :) We are enjoying it.

We send our love to family and friends!

Have a great day!

And thanks so much!

Today's events:

Visits to the clinic today included a blood draw, appointment with the doctors and nurses, a visit with the nutritionist, and another stop at the pharmacy. Yip, more meds to add to our collection. All in all they say that things are going as well as can be expected. They expect the issues at hand and are doing all they can to minimize them. We are pleased.

Side effects or the "expected issues" include (but are not limited to):
nausea
vomiting
chilling
lack of appetite
feeling full
taste changes
thrush
neuropathy
bowel changes (diarrhea or constipation)
weight gain or loss
fatigue...
blood counts going down, easy to get sick
confusion (mental)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Brian! (L)
We love you!

Today was a stay at home/apartment day. Terry was able to rest and even sleep some. He has been doing a lot of reading too. The seminary students gave him a book - Volume One of The Mortal Mosiah. It's been a great read, and he has enjoyed it. He likes to read the first few pages where the kids each signed it and will continue to refer to it for a long time. If any of his students are reading this - THANK YOU!

Along with the daily routine of meds and IV fluids we also changed his bandage today. It was a first time for me to do it, and it went well.

I continued with scrapbooking and even felt comfortable to do some exercises today. I haven't done that for a few days because it just seemed too overwhelming with everything else going on, so it felt good to get back to that.

We walked to the clinic for a blood draw again this morning. The weather was a bit nicer, but the hill seemed a bit steeper :) We do have one block with quite a climb.

It was an hour earlier than Saturday's appointment and we saw some interesting things today - one man sleeping in a sleeping bag in the corner of an entrance to a building that looks vacant. He seemed to be somewhat clean cut and "normal", making me wonder if he was kicked out of his apartment next door due to an argument or something, or if he really is living on the streets. It was the same place that we saw an orange peel and a tin of food the day before, so maybe he is a regular. I wanted to investigate, but felt safest just passing by.

On our way back from the clinic we saw a man climbing over the railing just at the overpass. Strange place to be, but his back pack was kinda dirty looking and we wondered if he too was homeless and sleeping among the trees and shrubs there along the side of the road. I am sorry for these people, and wonder what happened to make this there lot in life.

Where do these guys go when it is really cold? Do they have family? Does anyone know where they are? Would they want to continue their schooling or would they accept help finding a job? Is what I don't know more scary than what I do know about them?

Well, we got back to the apartment, had our lunch, got Terry connected to his IV pump - giving him fluids, and we listened to a few talks from General Conference Priesthood Session. We cannot go to church - no large crowds and no sick people. We can't go to the classes at the clinic either because they just don't want us to take any chances being around people who might have a cold or other illness. We plan to listen to all of the conference talks each Sunday while we are here.

There is one quote I'd like to share from Elder Oaks message we listened to. It reminded me of our family, and is this; "Our families faith is in Jesus Christ and is not dependent on outcomes."

All the messages were great, and if I didn't feel like I've already written a book today, I would say more about them, but another talk I really thought fit us well is Pres. Uchtdorf's message titled "Continue in Patience". It is awesome! We must learn to wait! and to Endure well! It reminded me of the message I gave in Stake Conference last year that I titled "Thank you for waiting!", and I feel gratitude to the Lord and to our leaders for that opportunity and the things that I have learned from it.

These messages from our leaders, who are true disciples of Christ, fill our hearts with peace and love. We have heard so many sirens since we have been here and we have seen sights we don't normally see when we are home. This big city life is all too real and it offers more than we might choose for our everyday life, but we are grateful to be here to take advantage of the medical profession that does bless our lives. And, we are grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for His Spirit that guides us and comforts us in time of need, and even in the midst of danger or chaos.

We visited with the kids at home and emailed Michael. We miss them, but are grateful for the advances in technology that allow us to be just a "click" away. It's been a good day and we look forward to more of them.

Again we thank you all for your love and concern, and for your kindnesses to us and to our family.