Parker Evans Swindall - 2

More pix

Parker Evans Swindall arrives!

Daughter Amanda gave birth to Parker about 6 pm last evening, Dec 30th, 2011.

Mother and baby are doing fine at Northside Hospital.

This is our third grandchild but the first one Deb has been present for due to being in the hospital in Arkansas for the previous two arrivals.

Deb got to be with Amanda during her labor and was so glad to be a 'normal' grandmother!

Stand by for a plethora of pix! He's a cutie-pie!  Eliana gets to meet her little brother later today. That will be fun.

Chemo today!

Deb was healthy enough to get her chemo today.We laughed because we were praying she would be. A strange prayer request indeed unless you are fighting cancer!

Deb's favorite snack is currently pear salads.

Vern's Famous Recipe: peel a pear and chip it up in a bowl. Spoon on 2-3 tsps mayonaise. Top with shredded cheese. Bone appetite!

Kids in Prague

Trey, Katka, Evelyn, and their dog Nadia visit Katka's family in Prague, Czech Republic.
Evelyn's grandfather Beda, and grandmother Bohunka.

Merry Christmas!

Deb has been enduring the worst hacking cold either of us ever remember. Our plans to be with family today were canceled by the cold and not wanting to infect others or tire Deb. Our 'angels' provided us with a turkey breast, a smoked ham, and a cake!

So, Deb spent another day in the sunroom but was well fed! Thanks angels!

Merry Christmas all!

Bummer days!

Since we got home Saturday, Deb's cold has been getting worse and worse. Yesterday Dr York decided not to give the normal chemo, but instead, gave a powerful anti-biotic.

Deb coughed, 'fevered', and hacked night and day. Last night she only slept until 1:30 am when she gave up and went to the sunroom to sit up.

Daughter Amanda is on baby watch! We are expecting a grandson in the next few weeks. Of course, Deb wants to be part of this baby's arrival instead of being in Arkansas.

So, now you know how to pray! Thanks!

Made it home Saturday !

At times we had a 41 knot tailwind! Beautiful blue skies. Friends were at the hangar to help us unload. Thanks, friends!

Deb' cold has gotten much worse. We are concerned because she had pneumonia 3 times last year and do not want to go there again.

We had a poor night's rest last night due to a drunken soldier a few rooms down from us. He caused so much uproar that cops were called and when he tried to fight the cops, they ended up taking him to the hospital because of his extreme state.

Blessings!

Classmates, friends, and angels + News

While in the USAF in a previous life, Vern served with Buster Godbee, whose wife Gloria is also a friend. We were based at Moody AFB GA, Patrick AFB FL, and here in at Little Rock AFB ARK 25+ years ago. Well, we caught up with them yesterday and had lunch together. After being around their children Charity and Chad back in the seventies, Deb and I decided we wanted kids. Buster also gave Vern his pre-marital counseling.

MelBell changed many of Deb's dressings last year and was so kind and gentle, It was great to see her again!

Today we ran across old classmates Don and Anita Schaffer. We had a great visit.

Later we saw nurse Gina and finally got in to see the doctor for our eleven am appointment which started mid-afternoon. Although we were planning to fly home this afternoon, I cancelled the flight plan so we can return in the morning. Too much, too late, too bad!  Conservative flying practices!

Why? Because we have a tad of bad news!

We saw another research doctor today because Dr Nair was out of town at a conference. He is from Holland, and named Frits VanRhee .

Although Deb is still in remission, there were two noteworthy issues: 1-An enlarged spot on Deb's breastbone (which had begun hurting her) and 2-an unusual spike in one of her cancer measurements.

These two clues caused the Doc to err on the side of caution and bring us back for retesting in 30 days.

So,  we plan on being here mid January to determine if these clues are meaningful, or not. We were told that if the spot grows, we will immediately re-enter a strong chemo program similar to what we had the first year and that we should be prepared to stay for one day  up to 3 + weeks.

How about them apples?

Bone Marrow Completed-Thursday

We had a nice breakfast of epinada's and fruit early this morning before the procedure.

Just got Deb back to the room and in bed for a nap. Her bone marrow procedure was the most painful ever. Her backside just would not deaden! She had a very experienced medical team that has done the procedure on her before. Afterwards, Deb had to drink a lot of water and sit a while for her temperature and blood pressure to stabilize. All she wanted afterwards was to get back to the room for a nap.

Tomorrow at 11 am we see Dr Frits Vanrhee. He is a Dutchman and one of the chief myeloma researchers. Dr Nair is not available this trip.

As is our normal practice, we will have a list of questions for the good Doctor. If all goes well and the weather cooperates, we will fly home tomorrow afternoon. There is a cold front between Arkansas and Georgia to keep our eyes on.

You can track us at www.flightaware.com , N353RV
Takeoff time should be early to mid afternoon.

In Arkansas

Weds evening and one more test to go in the morning...Deb's fav, the bone marrow test! Friday am we see the doc, then home in Gracie if the weather cooperates. We may have to fly home Saturday if it is still bad on Friday.

It was a long day and after a short nap, we visited our local Brazilian restaurant where Deb had her favorite soup, a chicken-palm heart soup. She tried to get a take out bowl for breakfast but they ran out. After supper we drove around and looked at Christmas lights before returning to the Markham House.

In a previous post there was a pix of Deb doing crafts at the table. She had written a little note that read:

I hope you enjoy this little gift of a hand-dyed hankie and candy mints.

I custom dyed this little silk hankie for you in burgundy, the color designated for Multiple Myeloma.  Burgundy is an appropriate color for a blood disorder. As I looked up the meaning associated with burgundy I was shocked to discover that burgundy is connected with a "fierce struggle requiring the depth of character needed to make a bold plan, take a stand, call in your allies, and be determined to victory."  Is that not true for a Multiple Myeloma patient!?! 

I am particularly happy to give this to you since late October-early November of last year I was struggling with two blood infections and really wondered if I was going to survive. The irony of the journey from DIE? to DYE! causes such rejoicing for me.

Deb Darley
debdarley.blogspot.com

Deb gave out small silk hankies with some mints inside along with this note. For special nurses she had large scarfs.

She visited each nurses station and lady patient she could find in the transplant and infusion center and passed these goodies out along with a verbal blessing. What an encouraging gal! I'm so proud of her!

Sunday night-back in Little Rock

Christmas Party 2011

It's been an active few weeks. Because we had family in town for Thanksgiving, and because Deb has to stop chemo a week ahead of testing in Little Rock, she ended up having two weeks of NO CHEMO! That allowed her to feel good enough to make some gifts for her Arkansas nurses and to attend a few Christmas parties where she was very much the 'old Deb.'

 It was good to see that her wonderful personality was there and her physical abilities good.

We intended to fly to Arkansas on Monday. However, the low freezing level and rain forecast for Monday morning caused us to fly out Sunday afternoon in the beautiful blue skies at 190 mph.

My copilot conked out on me!

Rice country in Southeast Arkansas

Post Thanksgiving 2011 plans

Well, the holiday is ending. Trey and family head back to Belgium Monday (tomorrow). Tuesday Deb resumes her chemo. We head back to Arkansas on the week of Dec 13th.

Thanksgiving and beyond!

Thanksgiving with Vern's parents and Deb's Mom

Deb savors her meal

Deb helps in the kitchen

Deb's mom Doris helps in the kitchen

Eliana's meal

Katka and Evelyn

Vern's parents

Joyce Darley and two great grand daughters

Brothers Trey and Stephen 

Weds before Thanksgiving

Yesterday, Trey, Katka, Evelyn, Deb, and Vern took a short flight in Gracie. Weds morning, Vern picked up Doris, Deb's mom in Warner Robins. With the whole family together, we grilled steaks. It's so rare and so good to be around the same table once more.

Thanksgiving means Family Time for the Blessed

Deb is continuing to improve but still needs lots of nap time and low levels of activities. She has perked up a bit since Saturday when Trey, Katka, and Evelyn arrived from Belgium and Stephen, Amanda, Jon, Eliana, Deb, and Vern were all together in one place! What a blessing!

Trey's family is spending ten days in the US and we are getting to know little Evelyn. She and Eliana got to play together for several hours and plan on having Turkey together this Thursday at our Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are some shots. Expect many more as this is some of the best medicine Deb has had! Grandparents...you understand!

Nov update

Deb's quality of life is so much better after getting off the heavy painkillers she had been on. Deb began twice weekly physical therapy several weeks ago and that has been a blessing. She still does not have the energy levels and endurance to go out much. Saturday morning we had planned to go out for breakfast but she did not feel good enough. So, she spends most of her time in the sunroom with dogs Oscar and Annie. Hundreds of iPad solitaire games!

Weekly chemo continues. Most weeks friends take her.

Eliana and father Jon visit the zebra that Jon was using in a film he is shooting. Not everyday you get to do that!

Trey, Katka, and Evelyn are scheduled to fly in from Belgium on the 19th of December. We hope to have a true family Thanksgiving.

We head back to Little Rock on Dec 19th or thereabouts.

Blessings all!

Finally : a feel-good day!

Feel-good days have been scarce lately! Yesterday was beautiful and Deb felt great!

An evening out

Deb hasn't had many evenings out in several years. She invited Vern out Saturday evening to celebrate his 29th birthday...again. Supper was at Mary Mac's restaurant, then watching Celtic Thunder at the Fox theater.

What we didn't know was that first cousins Silva and Daria and husbands had the exact same idea and sense of timing! They all had a family encounter in the lobby of Mary Macs!

Must be genetic!

Granddaughters

Evelyn plays with 'Garfield' the Belgium cat.

  Eliana models her new tutu for you-you