A term I never wanted to know

The medical community has a term for just about everything. The latest one added to our vocabulary is "breakthrough pain." It applies to pain that is experienced even though the patient is on a regimen of pain medicine. Starting mid-last week, Mary started to experience breakthrough pain even though she was on fentanyl, Celebrex and Tylenol. Stanford had us increase the fentanyl by 50%, double the Celebrex and more frequent use of Tylenol. These increases had no affect on reducing her pain level.

In the hierarchy of pain meds, Mary's regimen is near the top. The only thing left is morphine. Stanford issued a script for oral morphine on Thursday. Because Mary's stomach was rejecting all intake Thurs-Fri, we had some difficulty getting enough into her. However, the form she was given is designed to go under the tongue and be absorbed into the bloodstream without processing through the stomach. That is what we did and it worked.

By Saturday, the morphine had knocked the pain down. And, that allowed her to eat and hold food. In fact, she has hosted several visitors this weekend including Janie from across the street, MaryR, Ingrid plus lengthy calls with several folks. Once she gets tired, though, she sleeps-drifts for a while.

Today has been so much better, the best day in a week or more. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and late milk and cookies have all gone in and stayed successfully. And, the back pain has been kept at bay since 5AM today when Mary had her last morphine dose. She is on the fentanyl at normal adult dose, Celebrex at the increased level and no Tylenol today. Good signs, we hope.

Mary's daughter, Lara, is driving up from Pasadena tomorrow to spend a few days. I am so looking forward to having a bit of a break with Lara here to help out.

And, first thing tomorrow (Monday), we'll be on the phone to Mary's three doctors at Stanford to bring their attention to the MRI taken Friday. The previous MRI was Nov 16 so that gives them a ten week difference. Any changes may lead to the cause of Mary's pain which we would hope lead to the solution to her pain problem.

A couple of rough days

Mary's pain shot through the roof the last couple of days. We did contact Stanford and they did adjust her pain meds. Right now, she is not feeling any pain and that is good. She is having digestive problems because not all meals stay with her, unfortunately.

Mary was a real trouper because she had to be in the MRI for two runs today. One for the thoracic vertebrae and one for the lumbar. That means over an hour in the banging of the MRI machine! We expect to hear from Stanford on Monday, most likely. We are so hopeful that this MRI will point to the source of the pain so they can do something about it.

Because Mary was having such difficulty, I took her to Stanford for the MRI. A pleasant surprise was MaryR dropping in while Mary was in the machine. As I noted before, she was having a procedure at Stanford about the same time as Mary. She told me she drove by the Imaging Center and saw my car at the curb (California Plate "CAT4PAT" on a Jaguar) so she dropped in. We had a nice chat before Mary came out from her session.

Let's hope she has a better weekend with these stronger pain killers.

Tuesday was a bad day

Mary woke up in pain so she took the Oxycodon to try and beat it down. After much back and forth, she assured me she could take care of herself so I left for work. During my first meeting, she called and asked me to come home because she needed help.

I fixed some oatmeal which she ate comfortably and it stayed with her. I worked from home and Mary spent most of the day sleeping from the double hit of Oxy and her fentanyl patch. She started to perk up about 5PM and ate an apple with cheese. Well, the rest of the story is that nothing she ate or drank other than the morning oatmeal stayed with her. Frankly, I am starting to worry about dehydration: Even a cup of tea and later, a glass of warm milk, didn't stay with her.

Part of this problem could be that we did the patch switch on Monday evening. Usually, the first day is sleepy town day because the fentanyl appears a bit stronger on the first day. This was different in that she also had back pain that broke through the fentanyl-Celebrex painkillers. In fact, she said the back pain was not only in her back, but also shooting along the rib or ribs on her right side. That extra pain is the reason she took the Oxycodon.

Now, Mary had good days on Sunday and on Monday. Heck, on Monday she even did laundry while I was at work. It could be that she simply overdid it with the household tasks she tackled on Monday and the back is protesting from the extra activity. Hence, the extra pain. If that is true, then we have to figure out what is causing the pain in the first place. When that is taken care of, we then can get Mary off the narcotics and she'll be in a lot better shape. We know her digestive system and narcotics are simply not compatible. To minimize the pain, she has to put up with the digestive disorder. Its a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for her. Really tough.

The next step is Friday's MRI. In the meantime, I will discuss with Mary placing a call to the oncologist just to have a discussion about the intensity of this pain. Perhaps they might have another path that would lead to resolution.

Not much going on

Mary is set for the MRI next week (Friday) and it just so happens MaryR has an appointment at Stanford for Cancer surveillance tests at the same time. So, Mary is hitching a ride and the two of them will get their tests done.

Things have been very quiet. Mary wanted to do Farmers' Market today so she woke early, we ate breakfast and then headed to market. We then came home and Mary napped. About 1PM we went to the Purple Onion for lunch. Neither MaryR or Ingrid could joint us but I think Mary simply felt good about being out twice in one day. Besides, this was a rain free day -- at least for the times we were out. More storms are arriving from the Pacific and will continue our very wet ways.

This three day cycle with the fentanyl patches is almost predictable. The patches go on at bedtime and they stay on for 72 hours (3 days). The first 24 hours it is clear Mary gets a pretty good jolt of the narcotic and day one is pretty much 'a drug induced haze'. Day two is a good day with Mary being more alert and willing to be active--today, Sunday for example, is day two. Day three ranges from another good day to an exception day until later in the afternoon as the delivered narcotic tends to fade away near the end of the 72 hours and Mary starts to feel pain again. Unfortunately, Mary can and does regurgitate without any warning. Sometimes its breakfast, sometimes lunch, rarely dinner and sometimes it more than once a day. Again, this appears to be related to the heavy duty narcotic she is taking.

My Vikings lost today. In my opinion, they kinda gave the win to New Orleans with the turnovers--it was a coulda, shoulda, woulda kind of game for the Vikings. If that is the way they play in the big game, then they weren't the best team. Now, before the Vikings franchise was awarded to the NFL, my favorite team was the Colts with Johnny Unitas. Well, Manning isn't Johnny, and Indianapolis isn't Baltimore but I am going to be rooting for the Colts in two weeks. I really didn't like the late hits the Aints were delivering to Brett Farve. Ok, enough football.

I could be something or nothing

We made the trip to Stanford and the doctors don't have a good idea what could be causing Mary's pain--but having ongoing back pain from a compressed vertebrae for this length of time is not unheard of.

We met with a resident first, who finishes at Stanford in a few months, and he suggested acupuncture either at Stanford or at a clinic in San Jose. Mary is interested and plans on following up on that. We then met with the staff radiology oncologist, the guy who cooked Mary's innards last summer and he ordered an MRI. The MRI should happen next week. Its been two months from her last MRI so only if something is definitively growing will we learn something.

Otherwise, no other changes to the meds or treatment.

Learning that the length of time, while long, is not abnormally long was somewhat assuring. Having the MRI ordered and therefore the subsequent analysis is also assuring. If it is a cancerous growth, there are techniques like the cyberknife that would have a high probability of stopping a tumor.

Although we didn't see Dr. Visser, the surgeon, I will use his phrase of a "tincture of time" seems to be the best course of (in)action.

Both of the docs today did not like the problems Mary is having. The pain being first, the frequent regurgitation is second and the weight loss is the third issue. Frankly, the 2nd and 3rd items are probably caused by the pain medication (fentanyl) so they are not as worried about that as they are about the source of this pain.

I would like to thank Terry who took Mary to Stanford today. Thank you. I did find Mary in the examination room when I arrived at 2PM so that worked just fine. Oh, and we were on hospital time. The 2PM appointment only took slightly more than two hours before we saw both the doctors. Thank you Stanford for guest wifi and Steve Jobs for iPhones! The structural mass of Stanford's buildings basically shuts down cell phone service so guest wifi is a real blessing.

For those who wonder if the heavy duty drugs are affecting Mary, let me tell you this little story. I had a 7AM meeting today so I left the house about 6:30, long before Mary woke up. That means she had to do her own pill routine plus feed herself which she did successfully. She then showered and dressed and felt very sleepy from the compazine (anti-nausea medication). Terry arrived just before 1PM and with Terry's arrival, Mary started to gather the dogs to put them in the dog run while she was gone. She could not find Demandit Dawg. Demandit Dawg will follow you into a room and not come out before you close the door. Given our doggie deposit problems, we keep almost all doors closed all the time. Mary started the routine of opening doors and still could not find Demandit Dawg.

She finally realized what had happened to Demandit Dawg. In Mary's drug induced state, she had neglected to a) release Demandit Dawg from her sleeping crate and b) feed both the dogs their morning meal--normally done when we get up. So at 1PM Mary released Demandit Dawg from her crate and as Mary said it, "That dog shot out of the crate, down the stairs and out to the dog run in record time!" Poor dog!

As for yesterday, our regular "The Maids" day, I want to thank Ingrid who collected Mary and our two dogs so the maids could have the run of the house for two hours without interference. And, Mary didn't have to smell the cleaning fluids they use.

During the two hour outing, they did the round trip to Stanford so Mary could have her blood tests done in advance of the visit today. As I write this, I realize we didn't ask if there was anything to learn from the blood tests. Mary will need to call to find out. They also had lunch but were not able to do the dog walk because of the rain. Interestingly, this morning's paper showed that Los Gatos has had almost 8 inches of rain this week (through Wednesday afternoon) while San Jose had just a hair under 3 inches. Seasonal totals for Los Gatos and San Jose are about 24 inches and 12 inches, respectively, so this set of storms was a big chunk of our annual totals.

I just did a quick google maps analysis and downtown Los Gatos to downtown San Jose is about 8 or 9 miles as the crow flies and a virtually flat but downhill terrain, given Los Gatos is in the foothills and San Jose is in the middle of the valley. Very interesting how our microclimates work in this valley. This is a google terrain map. You can click on it and see the terrain of the mountains and hills around Santa Clara Valley.


View Larger Map

A Real Roller Coaster Ride

After yesterday's sleep-a-thon, I was pleasantly surprised to find Mary alert and very much awake all day today. So much so, she started dinner and helped me prepare it and serve it. Quite a difference from the low energy, barely able to move, full of pain lady of the last few days.

Her meals all stayed with her. Clearly, this is an up day.

On Wednesday at lunchtime while the Maids work on the house, Ingrid will pick up Mary and the dogs for a trip to Stanford so Mary can have her blood tests done before she sees the doctor on Thursday. Mary and Ingrid are also planning a lunch somewhere along the line. Normally, they also take the dogs for a walk at our local Oak Meadow Park, but given the heavy duty rain and thunderstorms we are having this week, they'll probably skip that part of the routine.

Oak Meadow is a favorite local park. Hours were spent there when my son Chris was growing up, including this picture used for a Christmas card in 1972. We now have a collection of pictures of the grandkids at Oak Meadow. Whenever they come visit from Pasadena, Tucson or Denver, we always manage a trip to Oak Meadow Park.

From 1970's Chris Baby Pics Scanned

Technically, this picture was taken at Lake Vasona Park, a county park adjacent to Oak Meadow. When Chris was this age, Chris, his mom and I lived in a rented house a block from Oak Meadow.
And here is a recent picture of Chris with my grandson, Danny, on the fire engine at Oak Meadow.

From 2007-06 Sarah, Danny & PUs arrive in SJ

Trivia bit: I recently read that before the orchards were planted in this valley, the earth was mostly grazing lands and wild grasses. Los Gatos could easily be seen and identified from a distance by the string of oak trees that lined Los Gatos Creek from the mountains down into the valley for a notable distance. When they built state highway 17 in the 1950s, they built concrete river beds and cut down all the trees to make room for the concrete river and new four lane freeway. Sometimes I wonder about the progress that was made in the 50s.

Really looking forward to Thursday

Mary has an appointment with one of her Oncology doctors on Thursday. And, we are both looking forward to that visit. The directions Mary received during her call to Stanford about the pain on Thursday was to make sure she reported her symptoms during the scheduled doctor visit this week.

Monday was a haze for Mary. Her regular medications regimen is the 24 hour fentanyl patch for pain, two diuretics to avoid bloating, Celebrex for pain, a pill for blood pressure and pepcid AC for acidic stomach plus something for her intestines to keep working properly. She then has the option of Zofran or Compazine for nausea. Compazine is stronger but also puts the patient to sleep. And, that is what Mary did yesterday. When I got home, I woke her up. We talked about dinner and before she finished her menu request, she fell asleep mid-sentence. Later, when I went to get her to come to the table, she was sound asleep again.

I serve a small portion now called a Mary portion. She ate about 60% of that last night. I wish I could get more food into her. She says it tastes fine, she just doesn't feel like eating. Foods that were her favorites simply don't taste good to her right now--no fish or pork on the menu. Chicken and various forms of beef seem to work ok: Hamburgers, sloppy joes, cube steaks, etc.

Our friend Terry has agreed to take Mary to Stanford on Thursday. I will meet her there and bring her home.

Our neighbor, Bill the hunter, managed to shoot a wild pig recently. He gave us some shavings from the results of his smoking of the meat. While Mary isn't into pork right now, I have no problem. Thank you Bill, it is very tasty!

OK, on to the silly stuff.

"Pants on the Ground" is an original work by General Larry Platt and he first sang it during the broadcast of the American Idol auditions last week. Larry is a well regarded civil rights activist from the 60s and 70s and now he seems to be pursuing a career in music--he is just a little bit over the 28 year maximum for American Idol. The word is that is has gone "viral" much like Susan Boyle did last year. (Viral means the internet community is spreading it like a virus but its friendly, not damaging.) The highlight performance of "Pants on the Ground" is shown in the second clip taken in the Minnesota Vikings locker room on Sunday after the win over the Dallas Cowboys--led by Brett Farve. Enjoy!

From American Idol:


From the Vikings locker room:

And here is a link to the St. Paul paper and a related article

http://www.twincities.com/vikings/ci_14217440

Another week of questionable progress

Sorry to report that this last week has been a downer. The pain in Mary's back got so bad by Thursday that she called (finally) the doctor. They ordered a second narcotic on top her patch to block the pain. She took Oxycodon on top of the fentanyl patches she is wearing. This is coupled with a twice daily Celebrex. They prescribed the Oxycodon only if she is having 'breakthrough' pain.

Otherwise, Mary does eat three or four reasonable meals/snacks a day. The narcotics act on her stomach so she retains some of her meals but not all of them. Some days she holds all her food and other days she cannot.

Her spirits are good when the pain is under control. After using Oxycodon this last Thursday, she had a couple of pretty good days. I must admit that a good day is one where she eats three meals and holds them all in. She hasn't been out of the house because she just isn't that strong or feeling that well since Wednesday the 6th.

During the doctor visit this Thursday, we will drill the doctor on the symptoms and the apparent lack of progress in healing and therefore minimizing the pain--perhaps the compressed vertebrae is not the correct diagnosis.

Finally, my dear sister, Maureen (not to be confused with Mary's sister Maureen aka Reenie) took a fall on the ice in Minnesota. She was at Como Zoo (click here) in St. Paul where she volunteers as a docent. On the walk from the assignment area to her duty station, the fresh powdery snow on top of ice was too slick and she fell. Damage? Oh, yeah. She apparently smashed her arm at the shoulder, creating a significant fracture where the the humeral bone connects to the humeral ball. Hey, I know all about that. I did the very same fracture about 12 years ago but I slipped in a shower--in Tel Aviv. I guess its a family thing!

Our parents built a house in 1947 located between the State Fairgrounds and Como Park & Zoo. So when Sis described the walk where she took her fall, I can just about imagine where it happened. I spent many, many hours at Como as I grew up--without parental supervision! The "A" on this map is the entry to the State Fairgrounds, the "B" is my childhood home and "C" is the entry to Como Zoo where my Sis took her fall. (You can click on the map and move it around if you cannot see A, B and C)


View Larger Map

She is at the complex known as Bethany in St. Paul. Its the nursing facility for the nuns of the Sisters of St Joseph of Corondelet. My sister lives in her own apartment in West St. Paul and its virtually impossible to function when your arm is totally immobilized so the Order is caring for her at Bethany. It is, of course, her right arm and she is right handed. Ouch! Bummer, Hal!

From 2008-11 Thanksgiving Week

My brother Dan, sister "Sister Maureen" and me in front of our house for Thanksgiving of 2008.

Idjit Dawg and Mary's Snack

From 2010-01 Snaps

And now, the rest of the story. Idjit Dawg loves to jump up and just hang out on Mary's lap--typically accompanied by loud snoring--from the Dawg. However, when Mary has a snack, Idjit Dawg takes an attitude that it belongs to her. I missed the picture with Mary's face and Idjit Dawg's face separated by the width of a cracker plus a fraction of an inch. Of course, Idjit Dawg stands on Mary's stomach to get into position to grab the snack. The picture shows Mary has raised her legs under the blanket to create a blocking wall to keep Idjit Dawg away from the food. And, after Mary eats, Idjit Dawg becomes a real life vacuum cleaner. Any crumbs or dropping are fair game and that Dawg is aggressive in cleaning Mary's lap, tummy and chest of any little dropping of food.

Four steps forward, three back

The scorecard for the past week is positive. However, Thursday through Sunday was miserable for Mary.

A week ago Sunday was good, with Mary going to Market and having lunch at the Purple Onion. Tuesday was also good and Mary went to her monthly book club meeting. I drove her to the meeting and MaryR brought her home. MaryR is a member of the club and she lives close to us so that made it easy. Wednesday, Mary, Ingrid and Maurice went out on for lunch and took the dogs along for a walk because it was Maids day.

Thursday was good but quiet for Mary. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were hellish. Pain, unable to hold her meals, more pain, little interest in food/eating and generally feeling awful. Frankly, it was not a good time.

Last night we swapped out the fentanyl patches again--days early. Why? Well, the problem started when we put the patches on her back according to the rotation recommended on the instructions. Every three days we put on new patches and they have been located on the upper arm left and right, upper chest left and right and back left and right. We now know the patches mounted on her back didn't deliver enough pain killer, and the increased pain caused much of the problem with her appetite and ability to hold food.

For example, Mary was waking up very early Fri, Sat and Sun due to stomach discomfort and back pain. With the relocated patches, she slept through all night long last night and was feeling pretty good overall when she woke this morning. It is amazing how a simple thing like location of the patch can have such a major impact on the effectiveness of the medication.

Someone asked about the "Wow" video. One of Mary's college buddies sent us a link and he was the featured person in the video. I read the last screen and followed the instructions and voila! Mary was featured in the video!

Wow!

Many of you know I did some consulting in Sweden before joining Applied Materials 13 years ago. During that time, Mary made one trip to Stockholm. I had no idea!

Thank to Mary's college buddy, Graz, for finding this amazing video!

An old bit for posterity...

A couple of us were talking at work yesterday and the topic of "Who's on first?" came up.

For those who don't know the reference or for those who haven't seen it in years, here is a youtube clip.

Abbott and Costello were vaudeville actors for decades. One story I read about them said they did this bit in front of live audiences at least 4,000 times. Amazing!

To read more about the comedy team, head to Wikipedia by following this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello.

A second earthquake

We just had another earthquake at 4:36 PM with a magnitude less than yesterday, 3.8 vs 4.1.

I plotted the distance between epicenters on google maps courtesy of the www.usgs.gov website. The two centers are 157 ft (48m) apart or virtually identical. Below this picture is a link to google maps and you can zoom in and out to see the two epicenters and where they are relative to the rest of Silicon Valley.

View Larger Map

I was in a meeting at work and didn't feel it. Mary said she didn't feel it either.

All those weeks Reenie was visiting this last year and she was very disappointed that she didn't get to experience an earthquake. And now we have two in two days.

Signs of improvement

This may not sound like much but it is very good news, I think.

Mary reported that she is now able to sleep in two positions that haven't been possible for a while.

For about a week she has been able to sleep on her right side. This is a major sign that the healing is progressing. Part of the pain has been her ribs on that side and if she can sleep on them now it is real progress.

The second is that Mary slept on her tummy. Mary is a tummy sleeper and she has been unable to even lay on her tummy since this all started back in March. She reported no abdominal pain although she found some discomfort in her neck area.

Hey, this is good news

Interesting Map

On this map, you can place your cursor over areas of the bay area and see the value assigned (degree of shaking) plus the number of people who responded in that location.

We live in zip code 95032 and I work in 95054.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/nc/71336726/us/index.html

A 4.1!

Just a baby quake. Check out the marked google map about this quake.

For technical info, visit www.usgs.gov or follow this URL:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/nc71336726.php

As you look at the info, remember we live in Los Gatos and I work in Santa Clara.

Our friend Marge lives in the east foothills much closer to the epi-center. She reported it was not such a baby quake at her house.

Silence is Golden

Sorry that I haven't posted for several days. There has been no change in the status. The fentanyl continues to make Mary sleepy and drowsy while putting her stomach constantly on the verge of regurgitation. Her nausea medications, zofran and compazine, help but they don't always control it.

We had nice visits from Dave and Janell on Sunday. Dave is a co-worker and co-chairman of an internal conference I run for the company. Our neighbors Tim and Lucrecia also stopped in, gave Mary a nice cookbook and left some avocados they brought from their relatives' tree.

I forgot to show Phil's Balls to our visitors. Its a long standing tradition in Mary's family that the carefully preserved Phil's Balls be brought out each Christmas and gingerly and lovingly hung on the tree. When our visitors stopped by on Sunday, I was in the process of taking down all the Christmas decorations and so distracted I forgot to point out the very old, very delicate and extremely precious Balls of Phil. They are truly a special treat to see a Christmas decoration of such unique family history.

The other long standing tradition from Mary's family is Alberta's Birdie. We don't know how old it is or where it came from, but it too is delicate and treated with great respect and gentle handling for no one wants to risk damaging the Birdie.

I arranged the Birdie and Phil's Balls on the tree and took a picture.

Some of you may be squeamish viewing Phil's Balls. I can assure you they are very tastefully presented and beautifully arranged. (Picture Below).

We did get to Farmers' Market on Sunday. It was a quick trip for veggies, tangerines and shrimp. Then to the Onion for a light lunch. Neither MaryR or Ingrid were free to join us.

Monday was my first day back at work in two weeks. Mary managed to make her own breakfast and lunch and take care of things during the day, although she complained about sleeping too much. I guess she doesn't realize that has been her mode of operation now for some time.

From 2010-01-03 Phils Balls

Here you see Alberta's Birdie, one of many penguins hung on Mary's Christmas tree and, of course, Aunt Philomina's Christmas Tree Balls. (What were you thinking?) Although not a relative, Aunt Philomena was a very close friend of the family as Mary grew up and in addition to her balls, she made sure Mary got many items of fine glassware and china. Aunt Philomena was a teacher in the St Paul High School system at Mechanics Arts High School and to the best of our knowledge, may have taught my mother. Alberta and Phil were about a decade older than my Mother so it is entirely possible that my Mom was in one of Phil's classes in her first years as a teacher. Our guess is that Phil's Balls were purchased after WWII so they are a minimum of 60 years old. It is possible that they are older than that, but how would you know?

Narcotics can certainly take the spunk out of you!

We woke this AM and Mary asked for oatmeal. I prepared it for her and immediately after she ate, she went back the her lounge chair and slept some more.

I left at 11 while she was still sleeping and visited the dry cleaner, our plumber's shop, bought some low energy lights for the stairwell and then found and bought a light bulb changing pole. The two flood lamps in our stairwell burned out this last month and I had no idea how to change them. I stopped at the rental place on Los Gatos Blvd and they suggested buying a lamp changing pole. Amazingly, ACE hardware had such a beast so I purchased it. And, it worked!

When I got home, Mary had showered, changed and fixed herself one of the frozen thingys I purchased last week. That made me feel better about going to back work next week. I can do breakfast before I go and get home to do dinner. With frozen thingys, she can feed herself. And she does agree that hot meals do seem to be easier on her stomach.

We finished the Thin Man movie series last night--Nick and Nora Charles. Today, while I was out running errands, Mary found an NCIS marathon on one of the cable channels. She watched a whole bunch of NCIS episodes, I wandered off and did some household tasks. When I did join her later in the afternoon, I realized she was sleeping as much as she was awake.

Mary's day tends to be wake--breakfast--nap--shower and dress--lunch--nap--watch some TV and nod off frequently--late afternoon snack--more TV--eat dinner--more TV--to bed. She is eating just about anything I can prepare and generally can hold the food down although there are exceptions from time to time. I talked to our neighbor Lillian today, and as we discussed, the narcotics certainly keep our girl down--knock the spunk out of her!

On a final note, as I changed the light bulbs with the light bulb pole, I found a resident on our ceiling. I have no idea what kind of spider this is, but as you can see in the blow up, it has very distinctive markings. You can click on the picture to play the three photos or click on the link at the bottom to visit our on-line album.

Happy New Year!

We've had a couple of pretty good days. Mary has eaten well, held her food and has had minimal pain breaking through the narcotics. I haven't poisoned her with my cooking and she has helped me finish preparing dinner the last two nights.

What I mean by a pretty good day means that Mary is feeling pretty good and doesn't have inappropriate pain. For example, Mary hasn't been out of the house all week other than to walk to the end of the driveway and pick up the morning paper.

Turner Classic Movies ran the whole series of "Thin Man" movies on New Years eve. We TiVo'd them and have overdosed on all the Thin Man movies the past 24 hours.

Our resolution for 2009? To have a great, warm hug on New Years' Eve 12 months from now--Mary's cancer be damned.