cousins!

duke met his cousins charlie & tommy last week.
it was all kinds of adorable!

what duke has been up to

duke is working hard on becoming a bad little dog. so far, he's chewed on the tv-stand, coffee table, and part of the hallway carpet. I told him "three strikes and you are out, mister!"
he just wagged his tail when i said "out".

ah, but the cuteness.

lounging on his bed:

lounging on the deck:

stalking his toys:

exercising his right to vote

(yo voté!)

waiting for someone to throw the ball:


-h

Duke!

We're having a blast with our new puppeh, Duke! We adopted him last weekend from the humane society; formerly known as Puppetini, he's a 9 month old Labrador-Basset Hound mix. Hilarious! He looks like a labrador on top but with these short little basset legs. (Update: He's a Lab-Corgi mix!) When he's lying down, you think he's a normally sized dog, but then he gets up to walk, and it's like - where are your legs, sir??
But he is just as happy as can be, and will not be deterred by your short jokes.

wrapping it up

Hi all,
Chris and I have been huge slackers on our blogging, which I guess means we're getting on with our lives. Busy busy busy!
(really? what are you even doing?)

I have been feeling great, and I checked off another successful blood test last week. We're looking forward to a holiday break down in Newport Beach (with my sister - the housewife of orange county) for more entertainment by our little nephews.
Please enjoy this ridiculous video of Charlie - we put a ski mask on him, and he assumed a weird spooky-ninja persona:


So what I'm trying to say is, thank you.
We just cannot begin to say thank you enough for the unbelievable support we have received from our wonderful friends, neighbors, coworkers, doctors & nurses, and our dear family. I just want everyone to know how much strength your support gave us. I probably should have some amazing words of wisdom after this ordeal... but all I really know is that overall my life has been pretty full of good luck and wonderful people.
Alicia and I were talking about this crazy-sexy-cancer lady, and how she felt like we're all actually walking around with some percentage of survival hanging over our heads, but we usually don't know it. And those of us who know it just have more information. Well that has (strangely) been very comforting to me. My doctor can tell me one piece of data about my chances of staying in remission, but no one tells my my chances of falling down an elevator shaft, and I bravely step into the elevator every single day.
(not true, I've been taking the stairs mostly.)

My point is that I would like everyone who is reading this to know how wonderful you are. We are truly thankful for all of you, and we wish you health and peace.

much love,

h & c

We may in fact blog a bit more, but in case that doesn't happen, here is a fine substitute: www.dailypuppy.com.

Hola!

hi all,
We are back from a wonderfully relaxing vacation in Mexico and a visit to Grandma's in Palm Desert. Nice and toasty! Bridget & Brian's wedding was so lovely:

enjoying cabo...

hullo puffer fish.

paddleboating in palm desert...

chris and dad:


happy 29th birthday to...

• my adorable sister, Stevie,
  
• my cousin, Brett,
  
• and Kevin P Murphy!
  

I suppose I should mention that my last doctor's appointment was a huge success. Did I already mention that? My blood cells are just growing back like crazy. Apparently they are plump, since they are young.
Amy & Leigh - you were totally right about my nails; they are unbelievably strong!

Ok I really am wrapping this thing up soon... probably my next post.

many hugs,
h (& c)

good times here

Hi all,
We've been whooping it up here with some special guests.
Stevie, Carey & the boys paid us a visit last weekend! Those boys are round the clock comedy... so much funniness in such short bodies.
Tommy & Charlie on their working vacation:

On the free local trolley (this was a hoot!):

(tommy, stevie, carey, charlie)

And Miss Pam came to visit the weekend before. Such a blast! We visited Sonoma and went to see a new brazilian singer called CéU. Their music is samba/reggae/hiphop/jazz-y... very awesome show, by the way.
Running 5k with team gilead:

so funny, pam & I thought our time was 31 minutes, not noticing that would be pretty impressive, since we stopped for a bathroom break and walked half of it. chris finally told us it was actually 37 minutes. Anyway, here we are at umami:


baby announcement! Angie & Derek had a new little Lu... Oliver was born last Thur, 11/8. Adorable little guy:


Ok, I'm off to my monthly hematology check-in (it's Wednesday morning, now). And I expect to have nothing newsworthy to share :)
love,
h (& c)

new little peanut!

Big news... Katie and Greg had their second little girl, Grace, on Sat, 10/27! Just look at this cuteness:


Let's see... what have we been up to here...
Chris & the boys played some Kubb:

Christy taught me how to knit a hat (yep, that's a hat... not a thong):

We celebrated Basak's pregger-ness:


hugs!
h & c

Stevie and the gang are all fine

hi all,
A lot of people were concerned about Stevie & Carey and the boys, since they live so close to the fires in So. California. They are doing fine, although it sounds like a smoky, ashy mess. From Stevie:

"It smells like there are leaves burning right next door, but the fire is about 10 miles away... we have piles of ash in our carport and on our roof deck. We can’t open our windows, because ash comes blowing in. (that is a problem, because it has been about 90 degrees and we don’t have air conditioning!) The conditions are improving from what we can tell. The temperature is slowly dropping, and the winds are almost gone (they were about 50- 60 mph at the beginning of the week)."

Thank you for thinking of them.
~
We had a quick doctor appointment this morning, which was mostly social... since I am in such total remission!
I would like to send a special Shout Out to my doctors & medical staff at Stanford. They are brilliant and fashionable at the same time, and I am not just saying that because I know they're reading this now. They look like actors who play doctors on TV!

love,
h (& c)

walking the light fantastic

Hello wonderful friends,
We participated in the San Francisco Light the Night walk on Thursday evening, and we're heading down to San Jose's Light the Night walk tonight. Both were arranged by my amazing colleagues at Adobe. Oh, did I mention they are fabulous???

san francisco walkers
(b) stephen, sarah, teal, simone, kevin, neil, jongan, judith, jose, alyssa
(f) melody, lisa, mimi + baby walker, kelly, hillary, jeniffer, fawn, chris, gordon
not pic'd: angie, kate

~happy birthday, daniel-san~
love,
h (& c)

san jose photo coming soon...
--------------------------
...SJ photo up!

san jose walkers
(b) hillary, jessica, chris, andy, & deirdre
(f) andy's adobe-nies: karl & emma

xx,
h

biopsy results all good

happy news... my bone marrow biopsy was all clear, so I am officially in remission.
yippee!

sooo... I'm thinking about putting this blog to rest pretty soon. I got a recommendation for some blog-to-book software (thanks Dan G!) called BookSmart (at www.blurb.com). This looks better than Blogger's print s/w, because you can edit your content before you publish.
superfly!

love,
h (& c)

also this weekend...

... happy bday to Pammy!
... and happy healing to my mom! (broke her arm yesterday)

geesh.

worky work, busy bee

Hi everyone,
I started back at work last Wednesday with no problems. Plenty of energy, and I highly recommend the 3-day work week. I was very busy... eating cake, cookies, chocolate, ice cream sandwiches, and French food.
But hopefully my schedule will slow down a bit.

I won't get any results from my bone marrow biopsy until Tuesday, but I got results back from my most recent blood work. It had a lovely stamp: "Within Normal Limits" right across it. Way to go little blood cells!


love,
h (& c)

chocolicious update...

The bone marrow biopsy went perfectly. In fact, our physician assistant actually said "perfect!" as she was finishing, so that was relieving. I am feeling great... just a teensy bit sore on my hip, but my hot chocolate + whipped cream treat seems to have taken off the edge.
I should have some preliminary results next week, and she expects to have full results in 2 weeks. Our phys asst told me that I need not worry... so I shan't.
Thank you all for your thoughtful messages & wishes!
love,
h (& c)

chicago blues

We had such a fun weekend with Alicia here, and we didn't even make her do any house construction. Beautiful weather and no hospital/doctor trips.

Poor Chicago... the marathon was too hot and the cubbies are out of the playoffs. So we went to a Smuin Ballet performance; nothing like a good ballet to take your mind off bad baseball, I always say.

alicia and i patiently awaiting the mail... something I have come to anticipate with much excitement.

Nova and Winkie celebrate Stanford's big win.

Nova: "Go Cardinal!"

Winkie: "I knew they could do it."

Chris and I head to the hospital tomorrow morning for my bone marrow biopsy. The goal is to confirm that I am in remission.
And then I just have to stay there :)

love,

h (& c)

friday! 4 days and counting

Good news... the hospital (unfortunately) remembered to schedule my bone marrow biopsy. It's scheduled have for Tuesday morning, so I'll just avoid thinking about it for the next 4 days. Easy for me; I have stellar denial skills.

Mi madre just left after a few days of visiting and cooking/working/chores. Wow, it's such a treat to visit me!

painting the deck w/ mom... done!

Just picked up Alicia at the airport, and we're off!

love,

h (& c)

weekend work

hi all,
We had my dad here this weekend (free labor!), so we worked on the back deck. I think he and Chris are going to have some really sore muscles for a while.

replacing boards

sealed... ready for paint

I'm still waiting for the hospital to schedule my final biopsy. Maybe they will just forget :) :)
-h

it's friday again

I just threw away a bunch of hospital wrist bands, my pink face mask, and 2 breathing apparatuses (apparati?). So cathartic! It's grey and cloudy here today, but should be a sunny weekend. My dad will be here, then my mom is coming next week, then Alicia next weekend. And then back to work the following week yeah!

Some photos from last weekend with Teal...

walking at the SF Race for a Cure


hill, teal, geo, shelbie, matt, chris... closing down b'game

I thought this was entertaining. I made an animated gif of my hair growth over the past few months. Not sure if this works...


love,
h (& c)

happy arms

big day... I got my PICC line out! We had a doctor appointment this morning. My blood cell counts are all coming up to normal, so our doctor decided we should pull out the PICC line today and schedule my bone marrow biopsy (aspiration) for within the next few days. It's amazing how easy it is to pull out the PICC line -- almost totally painless. But it's creepy to see a really long tube coming out of your arm. (When they pulled out the first one a few months ago, Chris accidentally watched, and I saw his face go white. hee.)

For the biopsy, I said that I'll want all the pre-meds/painkillers available. Apparently, my doctor and the physician assistant think that's silly. They said one of the pre-meds only makes you groggy like you've had a few drinks... um, what's the problem??


big bandaid (strange camera angle)

side note: I'm looking for gym recommendations. I got a letter from my former gym that they had closed. So sad, because it was always empty and easy to get an Elliptical machine. I suppose that was the problem!

love,
h (& c)

fashion w/ compassion

hide your credit cards, these happy-animal shoes and bags are cye-ute!
Matt & Nat:

MooShoes:

{ok, hide my credit cards!}

go go goooo

Looks like my blood cell counts are hanging on! I had lab work today, and although my counts haven't gone up (maybe down a teensy bit), the nurse still thinks I'm generally trending upward.

I'll put up photos from our fun weekend soon. Teal came out to visit... we closed down Burlingame on Friday night, hit our neighbor's birthday party on Saturday, and walked in the SF Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday (the 1-Miler, no less!). ¡Olé!