The last few days have been packed full with oncology visits, rounds, nurses taking vitals and evaluating Craig’s breathing, palliative care meetings, and extremely sobering conversations. One week ago, Dr. Flaig noted that there was really only one viable treatment option left - Sutent - that Craig COULD try, albeit on a half dose given [...]
(Written Monday, July 28)
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.
~Gilda [...]
It’s not often people get a chance to witness the outpouring of support and love they have around them. And it’s not often people have the opportunity to show someone what they mean to them. Strangely, we typically reserve such displays of affection for after the fact, reserving what needs to be said [...]
Just finished hard talk #547 with the palliative care team. Seems like we’re getting closer and closer to the elephant in the room. Pretty sad shit. How this is happening so close to Mom’s death, I will never understand. Anyway, we’re getting closer to the end of Craig’s life and he’s not ready yet. I’m not [...]
I’ve been waiting for the final total from the benefit in Stillwater before sending out this thank you. You (everyone who participated) raised over $2500! What this means to us, I can’t even begin to convey. I felt overwhelmed that Saturday when Steph was telling me who came and about all the people who sent [...]
(Written Saturday, July 26)
Craig: “My pillow case is wet.”
Me: “Here, I’ll get you a new cover, but the plastic pillow underneath is also soaked. The pillow may still be wet.”
Craig’s been restless all morning. He’s sweating profusely, but doesn’t have a fever. With the sweat comes the rash: his forehead is taking the brunt of it, but the cheeks [...]
(written earlier today. july 26th)
It’s 3:00pm Saturday afternoon. Most folks are enjoying the warm comforts of a Colorado summer — tooling about on their road bike this weekend instead of their mountain bike, or sipping iced chais on the “banks” of confluence park while their dog splish splashes in the quiet rapids. For us, we are back in [...]
If Craig held the answer to Carly Simon’s mystery subject in “You’re So Vain”, he would have spilled the beans long ago with a simple threat of his worst enemy — sticky medical substances. You could eek out national security secrets if it spared him one second of having to tear precious hair from his [...]
With help from our cousin Woody, as well as from Greg Feasel and Jim Kellogg of the Rockies management, we were able to tick one “wish” off Craig’s to do list. Last Tuesday, we took Craig to a Rockies game. All decked out in our Rockies gear, we arrived at the ball park just in time [...]
As I write, Jill and Diane are fanning Craig who is suffering hot sweats from pneumonia and/or tumor induced fevers. The plot thickens with a patient room that doesn’t appear to have a functioning air conditioner. So, Jilly and Diane grabbed their best pieces of paper and went to it, boldly wandering down a path [...]