THE Gymnastics Meet.

Since before the surgery, Sandy's goal was to recover well enough to make it to Haley's gymnastics meet. Coincidentally, it is also the biggest meet of the year, the Maryland State Championships, and it meant a lot to Haley to have her there. I remember that it was uncharacteristically hot that day (and in the gym), it was about 90 degrees...in April. The bleachers were hard as all get out. Sandy made it there easily and cheered Haley and her team to a 2nd place team finish. Haley placed in the top 10 all around and in floor.

I swear, the point of this posting (and this blog) isn't to highlight my kids... this was one of Sandy's biggest motivations to get well quickly. I also think is was one of her biggest accomplishments. It was an important event for Haley and Sandy really came through for her.

Brace Face!!!

Sounds silly, I know, but these are the things that are important. In addition to Haley's gymnastics meet and both girls' lacrosse games, it was important to Sandy to be able to take Hannah to get her braces.

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial day was a great weekend—If you ask Sandy what she thinks about to stay positive and motivated, she would tell you that she thinks about doing things like this with the girls.

I told you it was a good weekend… The four of us drove up to Philadelphia along with the Youngs to see the NCAA Women’s Div. 1 lacrosse Championship game. National powerhouse and heavy favorite Northwestern University (Wildcats) met the University of Virginia (Cavaliers) in a game that started with a forgone conclusion—that NU would deliver a solid beating of UVA. It turned out to be a very close game that either team could have won right up until the end. It was tight for those of us cheering for Northwestern, and the good guys won 15-13.

This is the second chapter in a weekend that started for me and Hannah on Friday. Hannah’s 12th birthday was on Thursday, 5/24, and the NCAA semi-finals were at U Penn (Philadelphia) on Friday night. She skipped school (bad kid) and we drove to Philly to meet Sandy’s brother, Bobby, for lunch downtown. Hannah and I later walked over to Liberty Field and saw the Liberty Bell, walked through the visitors’ center and exhibits there, and so on. For those of you who don’t know, Hannah is kind of a history buff. She loves history and particularly historic novels. Of course, this is not surprising since there is the family connection to the Patriotic movement and signing of the Declaration of Independence (Oliver Wolcott- great friend to John Adams and the gang). Enough of my snotty attitude… Back to our day trip.

After the Bell, we drove over to U Penn to catch the two semi final games. The first was Northwestern vs U Penn, followed by Duke vs Virginia. U Penn made the first 15 minutes interesting, but then Northwestern schooled them for the rest of the game. In fact, U Penn did not score until ¾ of the way through the game, an NCAA semifinal record. In the second game, Duke led UVA easily (8-2), so we left at halftime. By this time, it was past ten o’clock and we still had a 90 minute drive home. UVA did not appear to be in the game, so imagine our surprise when we learned the next day that they came back to win 13-12.

And so the stage was set for Northwestern to meet U VA in the championship game on Sunday. This would be Northwestern’s 3rd straight national championship. What a thrill for Hannah and Haley to watch, knowing that a handful of the girls on Northwestern (and UVA) are former Sky Walkers (the club program where Hannah plays). The girls have met many of the NU players and feel a real connection to them. The players have been incredibly gracious and kind to both Hannah and Haley, so their allegiance has never been in question….GO WILDCATS.

Add to this the fact that the coaches and team were among the early contributors to the STAY STRONG SANDY collection, and you might understand why we like this team. Hannah wakes up each morning to look at a photo of the last Northwestern National Championship team, signed by the players and coaches, with the heading “Stay Strong Sandy.”

Sandy and I both really appreciate what sports does for our girls. I won't go on about it, but I am grateful that our girls have the same opportunities that I had and that they thrive in competitive, team oriented environments.

So, thank you, Michael, Molly, and Acacia for the team photo and shirt for Sandy. Thank you Morgan for taking a young goalie under your wing, even just for a short while. You made Haley's day. Thank you Hannah Nielson for asking where Hannah was that day in the tent after the ALC Championship. Thank you Hannah Whitman for recognizing Hannah at every turn and for the high fives after the games (I never realized what a mouth your Aunt Meg had...). Thank you Casey Donohoe and Aly Josephs, Sky Walkers who showed our girls that anything is possible.

Congratulations on the hat trick, girls!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Well, step on my head and make me eat a bug… I had no idea that it had been two months since I last posted anything. I just declared to someone over the weekend that it had been only a month. I’ll blame it on lacrosse season and add, “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

A great deal has transpired over the last…ahem…couple of weeks. The present seems so immediate, so let’s focus on that first.

Last Tuesday, Sandy started the next round of chemotherapy. The original plan called for her to start at the beginning of May, but complications from her surgery slowed her recovery a bit. The more significant complication was the leak in the pancreas following the Whipple. You may recall that the consequence of this leak was that she could not eat (recall: Anna Nicole). Not eating simply slowed recovery and forced us to delay chemotherapy. This did not prove to be significant, as she has put on some weight and regained enough strength to commence this next phase of treatment. That delay only amounted to a few weeks.

This time, the chemo is administered orally, twice each day. The drug is Xeloda, which converts to the common chemotherapy drug 5FU when metabolized. Taking the drug orally does not make it any less toxic, but it is significantly more convenient. No trip to the hospital, no port, needles, etc. Just three horse pills at once in the morning, and again at night. And then wonder if the fit is going to hit the shan.

Xeloda (5FU) brings with it the side effects that are so common with chemotherapy, and with which many people are familiar. Sandy’s nausea never went away, and she still takes anti nausea medication daily, but the chemo exacerbates nausea. The chemical also causes hair loss, which has now started. We don’t know whether this will advance much or simply result with thinning, but hair just seems like a small convenience these days, anyway. No big deal, right?

On the brighter side, her medications, which numbered more than 20 at one point, are now a mere dozen. The addition of Xeloda is not exciting, but the elimination of the steroid prednisone is good news. She is weening off the prednisone as I write this, and will be completely done with it in about another week.

The last month or so has been good. Sandy is now out and about, driving, socializing some, and has been able to attend several of the girls’ lacrosse games. From the moment her surgery was done, she said that her goal was to make it to Haley’s State Championships (Gymnastics). She made it—and that was at the end of April (there’s the proof…). Hannah and Haley have both been grateful to have their mom at most of their games in May.

I should have known that I was delinquent with the blog. My inbox was increasingly assaulted in recent weeks. I appreciate that a lot of you have relied on the blog to keep up to date. If I don’t keep it fresh, then you’re out in the dark...and we wouldn’t want you peeping in the windows. Just kidding- I’ll try to post as things happen from now on.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. I’ll try to post some notes about that shortly.

Cheers,

--Will