Friday and Infusions

I had IVIG infusions on Thursday and Friday. Each one took four hours, but I passed the time on Thursday visiting with Chuck Norton. Renee had to be a tour guide at the Beehive House and Ed dropped over at my sister Barbara's house to help her install a TV antenna.

My platelets went down to 10, so I also went in on Saturday for a platelet infusion. I'm happy I have a port and didn't have to have IV anxiety. We went to the U of U South Jordan hospital all three days and it was nice to have a shorter drive.

Ed and I went for a 2.2 mile walk in Lambert Park on Friday and saw some great flowers in bloom. This is a Western Aster.

And this is my favorite late bloomer, the red-root buckwheat. It is prolific this year!

The Nuttalls came over in the evening. Mabel is starting to be able to pump on the swing finally! Grandma and Grandpa are VERY happy about that! So are Mommy and Daddy!

We enjoyed s'mores and sitting by the fire in the evening. These are the best days of summer.

It was fun getting cuddles from Mabel and Clementine. They both preferred the cheese and crackers to the s'mores! Oh, to be so young and foolish!

Where the Crawdads Sing and Platelets up

We had book club yesterday, after a long hiatus. The group said they would come to the hospital if necessary, but I was feeling fine and had even read the book!

We all liked Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. The descriptions of the marsh were beautiful, and there was a mystery and a love story. What more could you ask?

It was also just nice being together after several months off (some of which were unpleasant for me)!

We got a new kitchen table delivered today. It is narrower, but longer than our old one. It also expands to fit more people. We're thinking it fits much nicer in the space.

My platelets yesterday were 14, up from 12 last week! I'm going to have an IVIG infusion today and tomorrow to see if it can help clear up my CMV virus, which comes and goes. I'm hoping it will clear up my cough (which I've had for almost 6 weeks now). I'm still feeling fine, and other blood numbers are good.

Bear Canyon Bridge Loop

Ed and I went for a 2.4 mile walk this morning specifically to see the Bear Canyon suspension bridge. It is part of the Bonneville shoreline Trail. We need one just like it it Alpine to cross Box Elder Canyon.

It's pretty impressive, and rumor has it that it costed over a million dollars. We're going to have to start fund raising big time if we want one of these! It would be a great addition to Alpine, and make a fantastic extension of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail!

The views on the way up were spectacular, and the hiking on the way down very pleasant!

Ed let me set a leisurely pace, and happily, it wasn't too hot out this morning.

We saw lots of our old flower friends, and found a new one, a thorn-apple. We had seen thorn-apples previously in southern Utah, but not up here! We started at the Orson Smith Trailhead, just on the other side of the mountain from our house, but in the city of Draper.

PS: Don't eat this plant. The entire plant is poisonous, but especially the seeds!

Dicksons and Lower Platelets

It was super fun having the Dicksons visit from Maryland today! It is amazing how much the kids have grown in just three years!

It was fun catching up with all their activities. I love the contrast with mine and Reagan's hair. I feel like I should be one of the mountain peaks in the distance. How about "old baldy?" Hopefully in a few years I'll have hair as beautiful as Reagan's!

Labs today were steady, but my platelets dropped to 12. I'm going to see an infections disease specialist in a few weeks to see if they can help! In the meantime, no more chemo for a while!

Birthday dinner at the Nuttalls

Mabel had one last birthday celebration at Grandma and Grandpa Nuttalls last night. One more excuse to eat cake!

Clementine loved it, although she had a hard time getting it all on the inside of her mouth!

Happy Halloween Birthday, Mabel

Saturday was Mabel's birthday party, taxing poor Brittany to the limit only 6 days after gall bladder surgery. Her strawberry monster cake was a real masterpiece!

Mabel made an even cuter pirate this summer than she was last year at Halloween!

Grandpa Nuttall cut out a super cute watermelon fruit monster.

We played some party games, including throwing spiders at webs to see if they would stick.

We enjoyed the adults, as well, who were not afraid to dress up for a party on a hot August day.

We also wrapped up a few mummies!

Then, we had a little parachute fun before going back inside.

After pizza and cake, Brittany read a story about a haunted house.

Then we went downstairs to play in the haunted house that Brittany had been working on all month. It was just the right size for 4 year olds and under!

We finished a wonderful party with a glow-stick dance party to the sounds of the Monster Mash!  Happy Fourth Birthday Mabel!

Crystal Visit and Shopping

Crystal flew out Thursday night to spend some time with us this weekend. It'a always a party when Crystal is here, so we broke out the s'mores!

Crystal took us shopping on Friday and helped us get ready for Mabel's birthday party the next day. She wrapped our present for us to make us look like good grandparents!

She also sewed a vest for Ed's costume for the party. Mabel wanted a Halloween birthday party.

We dressed as Toad (from Mario Cart), Garden Gnome and Mr. Clean! Poor Coda wasn't invited!

Camping at Timpooneke

We did it! We went camping Tuesday to Thursday this week! The weather was beautiful, and our campsite was fantastic. School started this week, so the campgrounds were wide open!

The site as rather large, and we had lots of room to spread out! It was Timpooneke number 28 in American Fork  Canyon. It is pronounced Timp-a-noo-kee. I only know this from hanging around my Alpine hiking friends. It is only about 45 minutes from home.

We got to try out our new hammock, which was a big hit with the kids as well as the adults!

John and I ended up making up a lot of stories for the kids in the hammock. Apparently, his stories were better as his monsters were always nice in the end! I was asked to redo my stories and make the ghosts nicer!

Wednesday was Mabel's fourth birthday. She celebrated it by going to the Timpanogos cave visitors center. The climb to the cave was too vigorous for a cancer sufferer, a gall bladder surgery sufferer and two pre-schoolers, so we promised we'd come back in a few years.

We watched a movie about the caves while Mabel got all dressed up to go inside!

After lunch we had a little jam session with ukes and a banjo.

Apparently, we weren't paying enough attention to the kids, as Clementine had enough time to take off her clothes and romp naked in the forest while we were singing!

We enjoyed the many flowers in bloom, including the bright red bane berries!

The men made a really nice campfire.

Which was just right for cooking s'mores!

We packed up Thursday morning and took one last picture of the girls. Two small girls on one big tent trailer! It was so wonderful to salvage something of summer before more chemo treatments! It was strange to have me moving around quicker than Brittany for a change! I've been enjoying feeling good.

I had labs Thursday afternoon. My platelets were still low (16), so I get to stay home this weekend and go to Mabel's birthday party tomorrow. I also had a bone marrow biopsy yesterday which hardly hurt at all. Maybe the Ativan and Fentenyl helped. We'll get results next week.

To camp or not to camp? And lower platelets!

We took dinner to Brittany and John last night. She was still in quite a bit of discomfort from having her gall bladder removed yesterday. The air bubbles in her back were particularly painful. But she still wants to go camping today.

Poor Ed and John, having to camp with two sickies. They might get stuck carrying the heavy load!

My platelets are down to 18 now. So, I've started taking dexamethazone, which might help. I also am scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy on Thursday to see if I have a condition called ITP. This can cause your body to attack the platelets. Dexamethazone is a treatment for that. In the meantime, I'm going camping for a few days and might have an energy boost from being on steroids again!

Lunch with Mom and David

David and Mom came over for lunch on Sunday. It was fun eating outside on our new porch patio set.

David provided the sandwiches from Even Stevens and we supplied the fruit, laid out on my beautiful, new lazy susan!

Props to my sister, Barbara for making this beautiful new dress and jacket for mom! They are beautiful and stylish! Barbara is amazing and thoughtful, too!

While we were partying, Brittany was writhing in pain at Utah Valley Hospital. She had emergency gall bladder surgery in the afternoon!

Maryland friends and preparing for camping

On Saturday I had we had a visit from 4 friends from Maryland. Locky and Judy Krieger and Bev Gams, who has since moved to Utah! It was fun seeing them again. I gave Lockey a bunch of Judy pin buttons to take back to Maryland.

In the afternoon we popped up the tent trailer to prepare for a camping trip the next week. Mabel and Clementine are really excited to sleep in the trailer. If my platelets are still low, I plan to go camping, too!

Mabel and Clementine had just as much fun playing in the boxes as in laying in their new sleeping bags!