Since we last spoke...

I got really sick and it was not just the crappy tots from John's Big Deck.  It was total inflammation and I am 100% sure it was the fumes from the new carpet causing lupus to brew.  Headache, foggy brain, poor concentration, fatigue, pain in my hands, and blood pressure through the roof.  I felt like I was coming out of my skin.  The air purifier arrived on a Monday.  We set it up and ran it in the living room by day and bedroom by night.  That sucker ran 24/7 for at least 3 days before it stopped showing "poor" air quality.  It took 7 days of it running for my BP to come down.  I added some doTerra lavender oil (day and night) to my regime (thank you April Rego -- and thank you for your prayer texts -- they lift me) and now am back to  low-to-normal BP.  We now keep windows open as much as we can during the day.  Keep the purifier in the bedroom.  It goes off strong and reads poor air when we SHUT the windows.  You would think it would run hard all day from the dust, but instead, it kicks on strong at night.  Oh well, I think we have it under control, for now.

Fred is doing really well.  He is in good spirits and feeling as good as he possibly could -- all things considered.  We learned that his tumor markers have continued to come down.  They were 600 in September 2015, almost 1800 in February 2016;  3 weeks after treatment went to 76 and now down to 12!  Woot woot!


I am working,  but staying out of the gym since I read something about the antibiotic-resistant bacteria at gyms.  My body is changing and I don't like it.  On top of that I am cooking up a storm to keep the food healthy and keep us out of germy restaurants.  I am taking pictures of all my colorful creations.  Who knows, I may even start a food blog with recipes if I find there is an interest. 


Fred is reading, walking, watching TV, napping, and keeping in touch with friends back home.  He spoke to our neighbor Grant who had knee surgery last week (we continue to wish him good health and a speedy recovery).  He has stayed in touch with his girlfriends Kristen and Chrisanne, his pals George, Ron, and Ernie.  He has long and frequent conversations with Jerry that he really looks forward to.  And we got a call from his god-daughter, Britt, last night that put him in a great mood. Thanks Britt!






Union Station

We thought about visiting the Harry Truman home, as suggested by our friend Ron, but when we looked it up, the home was closed.  Perhaps it will open as weather gets better.  So, we decided to hit Union Station -- an easy 10 minute drive.  They had an IMAX-like Extreme Screen Theater that was playing "Tornado Alley" (which we were both excited about) and we also thought we'd take in the DaVinci exhibition.  Well it was a bust because I could not get myself out the door in time for the movie and the exhibition had NO ORIGINALS.  It  was all reproductions of artwork, weapons, and other inventions.  Some of the art looked like holograms.  There were also reproductions of his inventions that were hands-on, but I only found them mildly interesting. The kids who were there ate that stuff up, but we were bummed.




Care Package

Fred went down to the leasing office on Wednesday to pick up our forwarded mail, per usu, and came back up with our normal envelope PLUS a really heavy box.  Naturally, he thought I had been working on my retail therapy.  I have no idea why his mind would go there, ha, ha.  Anyhow, sure it was my handy work, he started to open it without reading who it was from and was baffled as he pulled out trashy magazines (US), intelligent magazines (Discovery), and the fashion bible (In Style).  Then came the books:  Shocking Secrets of American History,  Brain Games, New Treehouses of the World,  and my favorite, Find Momo, a book of landscapes, streetscapes and interior photographs that also has a very inconspicuous placement of Momo the border collie in each shot.  Hours of entertainment there!  The package also had a jig-saw puzzle, a face mask, hair mask, candy, artwork from 6-year-old Ava, a special card from 18-year-old Sydney and a lovely card from all.  This fabulousness was from the Stinton's.  Jerilyn -- you completely hit it out of the park ... you rock!




Brush Creek - On a Good Day
The weather has been picking up.  It was pretty but with very cold winds that made a daily walk a very brisk and not always pleasant affair.  The wind has turned my hair to straw for sure.  Well, we finally had a nice day with a high about 72 - no wind chill.  We skipped on down to Brush Creek at about 4:30 in the afternoon and enjoyed about an hour and a half outdoors.  I took a boatload of pictures below.  Indulge me, please.




Goose eating at the Brush Creek entrance closest to us (about a 10-minute walk from our apartment).





Mallard couple under the JC Nichols Pkwy Bridge.  The male (on the right) swam at turbo speed to the female when he saw us approaching.  So cute. So protective.

Not the best shot, but this is the view towards Country Club Plaza from the Volker Fountain.  We are at the end and just above Country Club Plaza.

View of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from the Volker Fountain.  We visited Nelson-Atkins when we came for Fred's evaluation in September.  Now THAT'S a museum!

The back side of Volker Fountain has a waterfall and this is the view of it from the Nelson-Atkins side of Brush Creek.  Somebody had written "Would you DRINK from it?" using only dirt.  Had to get a shot of that  ... and my answer, based on the smell alone, is NO.





Standing in front of a huge apartment complex (Fountain View at the Plaza) near UMKC (University of Missouri - Kansas City).   This is the view as we are headed back (a ways) to our apartment.



Back home...

So meanwhile, back home we had a termite scare that my brother-in-law talked me off the ledge about.  Thanks for that one, Bret.  Our good friends, Bita and Lawrence, have walked our dogs for us.  Lawrence starts Fred's motorcycles every week and also fixed a leak in one of the bikes for Fred.  You guys have gone above and beyond and there are not enough "thank you's" in the world to express our gratitude.

My friend, Lisa was picking her daughter Savanna up from her job at the Piloxing Studio and they decided to pop by the house to say "hi" to Angie and the dogs.  But, nobody was home, so they snapped some pictures for us.  These pictures just made us pine for that old craftsman home and those crazy Bumpus' dogs in beautiful downtown Burbank.

And if I wasn't especially missing my boy Tank enough already, I heard the cries and complaining of what I thought was a husky while we were heading out of the lab at the hospital this week.  I had to track him down and found a giant malamute who looked like a fluffier and larger version of my baby.

My boy (left).  I texted my friend, Susan, that I heard this gorgeous boy (right) complaining and I think I leaked a little breast milk. [winky face]

So now what?

So now we live life.  And we wait.  To be honest, I was starting to have fear.  Big fear.  I got it in my head that something had gone horribly wrong.  Human error?  We know there was some kind of a screw up with Fred's social security number that had been fixed.  Had someone erroneously checked some box that said he was not active?  That he was not local? We were told when we arrived that Fred was at the top of the list.  That we were looking at about 2 weeks to a month -- all based on KUMed's past experience -- nothing etched in stone, as nobody has a crystal ball.  It has been two hospitalizations and 6 weeks to the day and no offers.  I spoke to Fred's liver transplant coordinator yesterday.  I had to delicately ask about the possibility of an error.  She assured us both that Fred was active and local.  She let me know that they had had a "dry spell" when we first arrived.  Then, they had some really sick people in ICU whose condition had put them near death and put their MELD scores above Fred's.  The hospital has had recently performed several transplants and she confirmed Fred was back to #1 on the list.  As soon as a liver becomes available in this region that is his blood type and his size, he will get a offer.  We feel relieved and continue to have faith.