Life is Good

It has been so long since our last blog entry that we thought we’d better give an update.  Some people are noticing the time between entries gets longer and that is due to a lack of anything significant to report.  That is, anything significant to do with Jeff’s health.  News, however, we do have!

First, let’s get Jeff’s health report out of the way.  Several weeks ago Jeff began to slow down considerably.  He was quite forlorn about not having energy to do anything.  He met minimal social obligations, did not work much at all and had trouble making decisions about the simplest things.  We talked about the possible reasons for this.  A lingering cough could indicate an infection.  Perhaps he had mild depression; the NMDP told us to expect this at about a year post-transplant.  Maybe he was just missing those steroids.  After several weeks, we called Dr. Porter’s office to report this development.  Dr. Allison Rager returned the call and, honing in on the cough and cold symptoms as the likely culprits, she gave Jeff her expert opinion.  Jeff called me at work to relay Dr. Rager’s advice, “This is really out of my area.  I think you need to see your family doctor.”  The family doctor!  Neither of us had thought of that!  We had a good chuckle over our dependence on the oncologist.

The family doctor diagnosed allergies.  This is not the time of year that pre-transplant Jeff suffered with allergies.  Perhaps we are discovering new things about his immature immune system.  Fatigue continues to plague Jeff and keeps him from working as much as he thinks he should be able to.  He described it to a friend, “Work a day, sleep a day…” which is probably a generous estimation of his work schedule.

In other news, Jeff and I vacationed in Savannah, GA, in the days just prior to Keith’s graduation from Marine Boot Camp at Parris Island, SC.  We were more than a little glad that Keith’s shoulder injury delayed his graduation from August to October as we enjoyed temperatures in the 70s.  Jeff sweat profusely as we walked the town so we were sure that August heat would have prevented our enjoying this beautiful walking town.  We toured the Roundhouse Railroad Museum, Juliette Gordon Low’s House, saw some film locations including the park where Forrest Gump sat on a bench declaring, “Life is like a box of chocolates…”  We saw SCAD’s Little Black Dress exhibit, took a horse and buggy ride and ate at three of Savannah’s five best restaurants.  Food highlights included Jeff’s tur-duck-en burger and Amy’s Gator Gumbo.

On Wednesday of graduation week we toured Parris Island alone.  We would not be allowed to see Keith until Thursday.  Late Wednesday afternoon we saw the new Marines practicing for graduation.  We scoured the sea of uniformed young people, hoping to catch a glimpse of Keith.  Other parents whispered excitedly, “Is that him?”  Someone lent us their binoculars and we picked Keith out of a large mass of humanity, the largest graduating class this year (700+).  After taking about 20 pictures with zoom, we realized that it was not Keith after all!  We eventually found his platoon and picked him out successfully.  Keith said that as he stood rigidly “at rest” in platoon formation, he heard his dad’s laughter and knew we were nearby.

Keith showed us around the island on Thursday.  It was nice to talk to Keith for the first time in four and a half months especially since his letters had become scarce towards the end.  He told us he learned how to sleep on command - or at will - but that he’d had very little sleep over the last few days.  In fact, he fell asleep during our tour of the Recruit Chapel and, after his brief snooze, we returned him to his platoon.  That evening, we picked Kim up from the Savannah airport and also made arrangements to have lunch with Jeff’s cousin, Joyce, and her husband, Milt, on our way home after graduation.

On graduation day, Jeff, Kim and I saw the Colors Ceremony complete with performances by the Marine Corps Band and uplifting remarks from Commanding General Lori Reynolds.  Graduation itself was really like a giant parade.  Sergeant Legend, the Marine dog, made his appearance in his dress uniform.  Finally, it was over and it was time to load Keith’s paraphernalia into the car and head home.

Our ride home was an ongoing celebration as people we met along the way congratulated Keith and thanked him for his service.  We had lunch with Joyce and Milt in South Carolina and breakfast with Keith’s cousin, Harry, in North Carolina the next day.  Kim shared driving duties with me on the way home and we had a friendly competition to see which of us would get the best gas mileage out of the new Kia.

Superstorm Sandy extended Keith’s leave for two days while he waited for a flight to North Carolina for his next training.  We were without power for just two days and were glad to have Keith’s help to run the generator.  I was off of work for a week as a result of the storm.  Jeff and I cuddled under a blanket listening to a Zane Grey novel.  Fun!  The storm and the time off of work also allowed me to spend more time with my mother, recently placed in at-home hospice care for a GI tract cancer, and my sister, Tracy, who was visiting my mother from Colorado.  

Last weekend marked another year with our traditional annual celebration of Oktoberfest!  Jeff declined to participate in the Strong Man, Bist du Stark, competition, accepting his limitations easily.  At Oktoberfest we finally were able to share the best news ever:  we are going to be grandparents!  Kerry and Theresa had shared the news with us a few weeks earlier over Goodnoe’s ice cream and are finally comfortable making the news official.  Jeff and I are busy trying out names for ourselves although friends have warned us that sometimes grandparents are dubbed by their grandchildren, despite any preferences the adults may have.  We can’t stop our brainstorming on the subject, regardless!  

Life is good!