Winter Comes -- Snowshoes On!

Sabine and I are getting ready for Christmas (though I resist early preparation for the Great Feast Day because I like to celebrate the liturgical time of Advent); but Sabine usually wins out as you can see her getting her mother's tree up and it's only the 2nd Sunday of Advent! Sabine's mother, Charlotte, recently had a knee replacement and has been in the Mt Horeb Nursing Home for the past two weeks undergoing some intensive physical therapy. She comes home today. I joked with the nursing staff that we would leave her in the nursing home unless they promised us she would be able to cook!

On Tuesday and Wednesday we received a ton of snow -- about 1.5 feet worth. Only our neighbor Bob's John Deere tractor with front end loader was able to move this heavy snow. But after shovelling out the geese and donkeys and pathways, we spend the rest of Wednesday in front of our wood stove.

This morning, we broke trail in the woods with our snowshoes and got a great aerobic workout!

We expect a bunch of relatives during Christmas week (actually 4 Advent!) and will have to have two Christmas celebrations. Son, Matthew and his daughter, Gracie (who has never seen snow!) will be coming from California along with our daughters, Sarah (Wisconsin Dells), Sumi (husband Scott and daughter, Taylor) (New York) and Yumi (Fort Drum, NY) and son, Joshua (Verona, WI - near Madison). Joining us also will be cousins Teak and Kelly with children Seger and Malea and Kim and sons, Jared and Jackson! Whew! It will be a Merry Christmas!! That's about 15 people over the week plus Sabine and I and Sabine's mom.

I will no doubt undergo some anquish as Army Capt. Yumi heads to Afghanistsan in early 2010 with the 10th Mountain Division. (Now I really want this war to end!).

We continue thrice weekly visits to the dialysis clinic in Madison to get Sabine's arm in shape for "buttonholing" which will enable us to dialyze through access points in Sabine's arm and rid ourselves of the tunnel catheter in her neck.

The miracle of the stem cell transplant continues and Sabine's strength (and hair) increase daily. We will be seeing more of the family in late January and early February when we visit Florida in our trusty camper.

So... life is good. Enjoy every day. Carpe diem! That we all would be able to fully live everyday as if it were our last. Blessings to each and every one of you this Holy Season!

[You can read some of my spiritual reflections at: http://christinyouchristinme.blogspot.com/]

Three Months!

Here's some pics from Dr Sheehan's office and the dialysis center as we start developing an access in Sabine's arm and rid ourselves of the tunnel catheter in her neck!

Yesterday was Sabine's second post-transplant meeting with her oncologist/hemotologist Dr Sheehan at the University of Wisconsin Cancer Clinic. He reviewed her blood work and checked her out. After doing all this, Dr Sheehan announced, see you in three months!

Thanks be to God -- his mercy is everlasting! What a journey we have had during the past 23 months! And what wonderful friends we have. Thank you, again!

At Wisconsin Dialysis Center

We're baaaaak! Yep, at the Wisconsin Dialysis Center again to take another step in our journey. We are returning to the Center three times a week for the next six weeks to develop and access port (fistula/"buttonhole") in Sabine's arm. When this is developed (matured) we will be able to do our home hemodialysis through the vein-artery connection that was surgically put into place earlier this year.

The benefit of using a fistula in her arm versus the plastic tunnel catheter she has had in her neck for almost two years will be enormous because we will be able to remove the tunnel catheter which is always has the danger of becoming either clotted or infected.

Other than that, Sabine's cancer numbers (those nasty lambda light chain proteins) are behaving themselves and she is now, after the second series of blood tests post stem cell transplant, still within normal ranges. We see Dr Sheehan tomorow for the second check-up since the transplant. Thanks be to God, all remains well and we are both looking forward to a great Wisconsin winter with lots of snow!

A Poem for Fall

it’s a sunny-crisp
quiet
november day
has everyone left?
our morning chirpers
flown south
our friends the sandhills
florida by now
the pond peepers
silent
we mulch leaves
put away lawn furniture
stack wood
drain faucets
the furnace man
and chimney sweep
come and go
yes, it’s sunny-crisp day
as winter
quietly
methodically
walks south
tree by tree
and we
in respite
walk our woods
then to read a book
snuggling
by the wood stove
touched by
radiance.

A Happy All Hallow's Eve

We continue to enjoy this blessed "interim" period in which the cancer does not dominate our life with medical appointments, chemotherapy, and the constant barrage of lab tests. We attended our church's "Trunk or Treat" in Mazomanie. The adults dress up and park their autos in the church parking lot, open the trunks and wait for the kids crying, "Trunk or treat!" We are happy to announce that we did not have to put any of the children in our trunk.

The next picture portrays a "boys afternoon out" on Friday. My friend Jeff and I got together at his house and after some heavy discussion that solved the world's problems, we took a motorcycle ride around the Blue Mounds area. (Jeff has TWO big bikes!). It brought back a lot of memories of motorcycles in my past -- from teenager dirt track days to getting rid of my last motorcycle when I went off to seminary, having decided God saved me enough and I wasn't taking anymore chances!)

But the real exciting event of the weekend involved trusty wonder dog, Mocha, who ran into a fence or some sharp object on our morning walk in the woods and received a nasty gash in her chest. We had to make an early morning "ER" run to the vet that morning. Thanks to Dr Williams (another Dr Williams is Sabine's GP) being in his office in Mt Horeb, we got her stitched up. Then we had to go to Goodwill and select an appropriate shirt for her to wear so she wouldn't take out her stitches! (You can't see it clearly but it is a cheerleader's top with sequins attached!).

So we are enjoying this calm in our life. In a couple of weeks we begin the "buttonholing" in Sabine's arm. The surgery went well and her arm has healed quite well. This will involve driving into the Madison dialysis clinic three times a week until the sight is developed and we can use it for home dialysis.

We hoping for a winter with lots of snow so we can do a lot of snowshoeing and skiing!

And a Happy All Saints' Day to all of you who have been saints to us!

Sailing along...

(Up north near Iron River -- yes, that's snow!)

If you are wondering what happened to my regular weekly posts, let me just say that in this wonderful grace period I find myself not needing to write about Sabine's illness. Her surgery went well and we are about to start "buttonholing" in a couple of weeks at the dialysis clinic in Madison. After her dialysis access point (the buttonhole) is developed we will resume home dialysis and the tunnel catheter in her neck will be removed (you may remember this is an ever-present site for possible infection).

In the interim, I have taken to writing another blog on the religious/spiritual experience and how one's beliefs should inform our action.

This blog can be found here on blogspot at:

http://christinyouchristinme.blogspot.com/

Hope the summer has been as good for you as it has been for us.

Successful Surgery

We had a great and successful day at UW Hospital yesterday. The surgery went well, and the medical staff were great!

Sabine's vein has "matured" over the last six months and she will be ready to start the "buttonholing" procedure in about three weeks.

She slept well last night (just a little pain) and woke up raring and ready to go to see the Broadway musical, "Spring Awakening" in Milwaukee tonight!!

p.s. by the way, I am doing another blog on life, living, God and the Holy Spirit at


http://christinyouchristinme.blogspot.com