Restarting the blog

Jenny and I are restarting this blog after a lengthy hiatus -- our main objective, unfortunately, is to make it easier to disseminate information about her cancer and treatment, and how the family is coping.

Two weeks ago Jenny was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. Her primary care physician noticed a lump in her neck during a routine visit, referred her to get a ultrasound, then a biopsy which confirmed things. If you had to pick a cancer, papillary thyroid cancer might be it. It is relatively slow growing and, because thyroid cells (and thyroid cancer cells) are among the only cells in the body that ingest iodine, often they can be isolated and destroyed by ingesting radioactive iodine. Survival rates among women in their 20s and 30s (a main demographic that develops PTC) are very high. Treatment typically involves surgery to remove the thyroid and any surrounding lymph nodes to which the cancer has spread, followed by radioactive iodine treatment to kill remaining cells. Synthetic hormones then have to be taken forever, via pill I think, to replace the functionality of the thyroid.

None of the treatments are pleasant or easy. Jenny's surgery will be more involved than some because we have confirmed that the cancer has indeed spread to lymph nodes in her neck, including to one lymph node that is a couple inches away. Hopefully we can limit/avoid infection and the scar ends up not being too big a deal. Leading into the radioactive iodine treatment Jenny needs to go on a low-iodine diet (so the surviving thyroid cells are really hungry for that iodine), which is hard to pull off because a ton of our food has iodine in it. Then the treatment hits and Jenny becomes radioactive for a few days. Have to put some thought into how we can keep her isolated, especially from the kids, but also not just sitting looking at the walls. The synthetic hormones can be a drag but hopefully we get lucky and are able to get the doses calibrated quickly enough.

This has been scary for both of us. On my side of the family, both of my maternal grandparents died of cancer, my mom's generation (the first round of Grandpa and Grandma Hammer's improvements) has dealt with it, cancer also killed an uncle, my dad's brother-in-law... so it's personal for me. As for Jenny, there is plenty of history on her side of the family too and, well, she's the one that has it this time. One of our concerns right now is a small, persistent cough that Jenny had this winter. Has the cancer spread into her lungs? Probably we won't know until after surgery sometime but man it's hard not to stress about it.

The kids are aware that Jenny has something in her throat that shouldn't be there. Rowan was initially shocked and concerned when Jenny explained that doctors would have to cut it out, but she now seems to have internalized things for the most part. (Quick kid aside, yesterday evening I threw the frisbee with Rowan for 30 minutes at her prompting... it was bliss, the first time she has really expressed interest, and we both walked away happy. She threw with Jenny this evening, Lucy was the fetcher on the many errant throws.)

Jenny is a voracious reader and has turned her attention to learning about what we are up against... she knows far more than me about the details but I am trying to keep up to the extent possible. We have been helped in this by Paul Kaplowitz, a friend through his son Josh, and a pediatric endocrinologist, who loaned us his book on thyroid cancer and recommended a couple doctors at the Washington Hospital Center. We've also benefited from the expressed love and support of our friends and family, who have called us, left messages when we didn't pick up, sent cards, texted. Thank you, it means a lot to Jenny and to me. Our ability to get through the day-to-day remains pretty good but there definitely will be some times coming up where it will be a challenge.

The next steps for us: Jenny hopefully will have an opportunity to discuss on Monday or Tuesday the results of her lymph node mapping with her endocrinologist. On Friday, we have an appointment with another endocrinologist to get a second pair of eyes on things. My parents are coming up from Richmond to help with that appointment. On Saturday, Melissa, Chris, and baby Nicholas are visiting en route to New Jersey from Savannah -- which we're thrilled about because we don't see enough of them as it is.

Jenny and I will try to keep the blog updated as we learn more.

New job!

This may be my last post for a while, because I start a new job tomorrow! I'll be working at Matrix Group on their MatrixMaxx product. It'll be pretty different from any work I've done before, so I'm looking forward to learning a lot. Yay! I've been trying to make the most of my last few weeks with lots of kid time, hoping I'll deal with the separation ok.

New photos September-October and November-December.

Fall Photos

Added a few photos here: trip to Long Branch Nature Center with Kaplowitzes and field trip with Rowan's preschool to Burke Nursery pumpkin playground.

Catch up

Ack! A lot has happened since I posted last. Let me explain... no, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Not long after our trip down to Floyd, VA, we went to California to visit our favorite Berkeley places and Bay Area friends. Between Berkeley Bowl and Crixa Cakes part of me wants to move back (but only a small part, don't worry mom & dad). The trip culminated in a Brass Monkey reunion retreat at the Greenough estate in Inverness. It was marvelous, and good times were had by all in attendance (including the many little kids). Hopefully we can make this a semi-regular thing. I miss my monkey buddies!

Then we got back to the Old Dominion and celebrated Rowan's third birthday.

And a couple of weeks later Rowan started preschool, 3 mornings a week. Most days she says she doesn't want to go to school, but then when it's time to pick her up she doesn't want to come home either. Just like she was in daycare, so I guess I'm not surprised. Also, she's taking gymnastics classes through Arlington County once a week...not doing back handsprings yet, but she's got 'safe landing' down pat.

Perhaps the biggest news of all: my mom and grandmother have moved in with us! They've been here about 4 weeks now and things are going great. It's so nice to have the extra help and for Rowan & Lucy to have the opportunity to really get to know them. And I've started looking for jobs. Not finding a ton I want to apply for, but there are a couple that look promising. Hopefully something will work out!

Ok, that's it for now. Note that I put a list of links to our photos on the right side of the page here, so you don't have to search through old entries to find them anymore.

Warm Springs, Boston, Vermont, Floyd

The last week in June Rowan stayed with Grandma & Grandpa, Nate worked and lived the bachelor life in Arlington, and Lucy & I went to Warm Springs, VA with Sapna & Oskar (her very cute rottweiler). We had a great time. Very relaxed with plenty of time hammocking, warm springing, jigsaw puzzling, firefly watching, and rag rug making. Seriously, the fireflies were spectacular--wish we could have gotten a good photo, but our cameras were not up to the task. Other Warm Springs photos here.

That weekend Nate took the train down to Richmond and we went to my parents' river house to celebrate July 4 with the Dale clan (my parents, my aunt & her family, and my uncle Don). We had fun at the little beach playing in the sand and splashing in the river, visiting the yacht club and Poppy's boat, and playing with Carlos & Milagros.

Then in July the whole family boarded an Amtrak train and headed up to Boston, where we stayed with Larry & Katie Shack one night and then drove up to Barnard, VT, with Justin Reich for the weekend. Highlights included canoeing to the general store across the lake, hiking to the state park, Rowan & Justin playing in the water, Nate's first time sailing, learning Power Grid.

We were back home for two days before we headed down to Floyd, VA, for the annual solstice gathering (a little late this year). It was a very different experience from last year (when there were no kids). This year Nick & Johanna had 8mo Oscar, we brought Rowan & Lucy, and Alex & Anouk were there with their two kids (~3 years and 7 months). Friday night Aaron & Allison arrived to increase our adult to kid ratio. We slept in tents by the pond, but most of our time was spent in the pond (Rowan & Luke especially enjoyed jumping off the floating dock) and on the beautiful big porch at the house. Friday Johanna & Anouk successfully cared for all five kids while the rest of us went into town for tennis--and even got to nap themselves for a bit. Hooray! Friday night we went into town (again) for the weekly Floyd Jamboree--several small impromptu bluegrass gatherings along the main street.

Rowan was loving being swung by her arms until she got hurt...didn't want to move her arm the rest of the night. Ice cream helped a little, but was a temporary fix. Back at the house her arm was still hurting and when she couldn't sleep we started thinking about who would take her to the hospital. We thought it might be the same thing that happened to her arm a couple months ago in Richmond. Eventually Nick got the idea to ask our old friend google what to do and found this--a couple minutes of studying the video, and then Nick did the maneuver on Rowan, and presto! Arm fixed. She still didn't want to use it immediately, but when Dinner (the chicken puppet) wanted a hug she obliged.

It's nice to be back home for a bit, but we're looking forward to our big California trip in a couple of weeks too. Yay for summer vacations!

Photos from Boston, Vermont, and Floyd are here.

born to run

Video of playdate with the Kaplowitzes. May have to take this down at some point if I start to run of of storage space on Picasa, so enjoy it now while you can!

Summer vacations

Earlier this month we took an impromptu weekend visit to Ocean City, MD. The drive was longer than expected, but both kids did great in the car and we had a fantastic weekend. The hotel had an indoor pool and an outdoor pool, was right on the beach, and had an ice skating rink. We splashed int he surf, dug a big hole in the sand, swam in the pools, and enjoyed special drinks at the outdoor hotel bar (conveniently located about ten yards from our ground-floor balcony). Luckily it shut down around 10pm the first night and really early the second (around 8?).

We have lots of other vacation plans for the summer too: next week Rowan spends some time with Grandma & Grandpa while Lucy & I go to Warm Springs, VA, with Sapna & Oscar (and Nate works), then Nate joins me and the kids for the July 4 weekend at the river with my parents; also in July we have trips to Floyd, VA, and Vermont with friends; in August we have a big trip to California to visit Monkey friends and probably another small trip to the river with my family. Trying to get lots of vacation time in before I (hopefully) start work again in the fall.

Right, so I'm hopefully going to find a job starting in September or so...would love to find something part-time, but not holding my breath. Rowan starts preschool in September. AND my mom and grandmother are going to move in with us (!) to help take care of Lucy and Rowan. Exciting!

photos from May and June