morrowlife

Here are Shannon and me having our first brunch together as a married couple. Wasn’t she a doll? I look a bit more pensive in this picture. I was probably wondering how I got so lucky. Great Art courtesy of Burns Newby (possibly), taken at the Twin Bridges Marriott in Arlington, Virginia, and part of my famous Shannon, Food, and Event series.

I just discovered via Wikipedia that the Marriott Twin Bridges was built in the year Shannon and I were born and demolished in 1990. It only lasted for 33 years. Sheesh.

Had a pretty good day today. Had another splitting sinus headache last night, so we didn’t exercise today. Got to feeling better mid-morning again. I’m struggling to understand the cause of these headaches. The only possible common thread is that I burned a black cherry candle a couple times recently, including last night. Did I burn it the last time I had a splitting headache? It’s an easy thing to test, but I’m kind of afraid to do it. Any other suggestions for how to perform the test without getting headache?

I did a little bit of work mid-day. Much more to do. Must . . . stay . . . focused!

Speaking of which, my good old friend Gary drove up from Las Vegas and we had a great afternoon/evening together. He took Mark and me out to dinner at Pei Wei, we chatted for quite a long time and caught up with the last 20 year of each other’s lives, and we talked about the programming job he needs done. I expressed interest, showed him a little bit of my work, and we parted with what I believe is the likelihood that he’ll use my services. In any case, we’ll stay in touch better than we have for the past 20 years. What a joy to see such a dear old friend!

I’m going to the homeowners’ association meeting tomorrow night. They’ve invited somebody from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to speak and asked if I would come. I’m so delighted with how the HOA folks have really wanted to honor Shannon’s contributions. She didn’t seek or need that honor during her lifetime, but I think she richly deserved it.

Watched the slideshow I made for Shannon last August again today. It really brings the tears to my eyes, but it feels so good to see all those pictures. I remembered today that I made that slideshow a couple days after we learned Shannon’s leukemia had overcome her stem cell transplant. At that point, we knew our chances had taken a large nosedive. We still had hope, but not like before. As it turned out, we had about six months left. What a wonderful six months they were. I’m so grateful for that.

That’s about all the news for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: fugitive Roman elephant! Note: the elephant is no relation to LRN12.

See you tomorrow.

Here are Shannon, Andy, and Mark getting ready for Easter 2003. As I recall, I was in Baikonur at the time and they wanted to help me feel a part of things at home, so they took a bunch of pictures of their activities for a few days. I loved getting them. Great Art courtesy of my good old SiPix camera, taken in the breakfast nook of our home in Virginia, and featuring my beautiful wife Shannon and our amazing youngest children Andy and Mark.

Another kind of quiet day today. The only time we got out of the house was to go to dinner. Which was a Japanese steakhouse with delicious food and the typical fun chef. So that was great. Otherwise, we relaxed, talked with family on the phone, watched a little TV, and relaxed.

Had a tough night and several emotional moments during the day. I think reality is finally really setting in for me. My life has changed. Shannon has gone on ahead and she’s not coming back. I’ve known that, of course, but I think I finally feel it. I grieve and grieve, and that changes nothing. I need to make a new life for myself, looking forward to great things to come while allowing my heart to remember the wonderful life we’ve had and all the happiness Shannon brought me. I think I’ve mentioned before that she left me the very most important thing of all – our amazing children and a legacy of love and kindness that will live in our hearts. I can build on that and make a bright future for all of us.

It’s still early – she passed away just two weeks ago yesterday. So the kids and I are allowed to grieve still. But at the same time, I’m starting to be ready to follow Shannon’s example yet again and start moving forward again.

To that end, I worked for a couple hours today. John needed some changes made to the PhotoDoc website, so I sat down and got them done. There’s lots more to do on that front, as well as a bunch of work to be done on Common Core Classroom. And then there are a bunch of changes I want to make to Morse Trainer – maybe even a way to monetize it just a little bit. I’m thinking unobtrusive ads here, but I don’t know for sure. Plus, Mark and I are working together on an Android development class. He caught up to me today, so we can start working on it together tomorrow. Lots to do, and I really need to be busy.

I think they cremated Shannon’s body on Friday evening, so I should be receiving the cremains soon. I’m so grateful her pain is over. That last month was especially hard for her as more and more things started to go wrong. She lived through so much.

My mom and I went through a few more of Shannon’s personal things today. Pretty much the only things left that hadn’t been sorted through in our bedroom were the “junk” drawers in her dresser and nightstand. We went through those and also her purse. There are some credit cards I need to take care of, so I left those out, and the rest of her little treasures are in a shoebox in my closet.

I found a photo album from our wedding and reception out in the garage today. What a treasure! We looked so young – especially me. What on earth was Shannon thinking? I guess she saw possibilities. Lucky thing for me that she did. That album is yet another treasure for me to cherish. I’ll have to see if I can figure out how to digitize some or all of those pictures without destroying the album.

And that’s it for now. See you tomorrow.

Here’s my lunch from yesterday – sushi and a smoothie. Now what could be better than that? The nurse commended me for my bravery, but I ain’t scared. It was avocado and fake crab. Nothing raw in there at all. I may be brave enough to eat hospital sushi, but I’m not stupid. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in Shannon’s hospital room yesterday at lunchtime, and part of my famous Food and Medical series.

I think it’s time to take a few new pictures, don’t you, Loyal Readers? Let’s not all speak up at once, now.

Okay, now for the reason my Loyal Readers are all here. Shannon had a pretty good day today. I believe the electrolyte replenishment project is going well, although slowly. Her arms aren’t shaking anymore, so she can hold her own drinks. She’s able to speak a bit more clearly. She stood up on her own this evening. So those are some good signs. Her electrolyte numbers were looking better as well. I’m assuming her recovery from that little episode has been slower than we expected due to her generally sick condition at the moment.

In other good news, her white cell count was down to about 10 today. That’s down from 13 yesterday and 15 the day before. That’s the direction we want it to go for now. She’s been getting a lot of platelets this week, which is also typical and expected. So we’re doing well on the leukemia front.

On the pneumonia/pleurisy front, there’s also some progress. The results of a nasal swab they did the other day are back and she definitely still has H1N1 influenza running around inside her. They treated her for that the first week or so in the hospital in Nevada, but then they shifted entirely to giving her antibiotics. So I think I understand why she wasn’t getting better after the first week.

They didn’t do the bronchoscopy today. Instead, they did an ultrasound of her guts to try to figure out if her intestines were causing problems. We haven’t heard the results, but she’s probably okay gut-wise, which is good. The bronchoscopy is now scheduled for Wednesday. They’ve scheduled and canceled it five times now between the two hospitals, so it will be quite a thing if it actually happens tomorrow.

Her infectious disease guy says that even though we know she still has the flu, he wants to do the bronchoscopy anyway, just in case there’s something else in there too. They really need to identify it so they can figure out how to treat it. They’re also working on whether it makes sense to stick a needle through her back to get some of the fluid from the outside of her lungs too. We’ll know soon whether they’re doing that one.

While we’re waiting for the bronchoscopy, they’re not letting the grass grow beneath their feet. They’ve started Tamiflu at a dosage twice what she got before, and they plan to continue it for quite some time – weeks or months – until the virus is well and truly dead. They’ve also kicked up the antifungals. In addition, they’ve given her something I didn’t know existed: intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG. It’s a blood product that contains antibodies from donor blood. It has several uses, but the apparent use here is to give Shannon yet another tool to fight off the bacteria/virus/fungus that’s ailing her. Check out the Wikipedia article – it’s pretty interesting.

I asked the infectious disease guy how long he expects Shannon will need to stay in the hospital. He said he never predicts. I said I respect that, but we would certainly appreciate some kind of guideline we could use to plan. He said to expect to be in the hospital longer than days but shorter than months. So weeks, I guess. Not fun, but doable.

Had a phone call with John this afternoon. We continue to get closer to having a releasable product and all the materials we need for the show next month. But there’s still so much to do! I think we’ll get there, but we’re starting to scramble.

Man, do I hope we sell a few copies of this thing. Please, forensic doctors and dentists, buy, buy, buy!

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this rare combination food violence and Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: kidnapped pig!

See you tomorrow.

Here are LRN4 and LRN17 admiring LRN17’s handiwork. LRN17 is a well-known cabinet organizer we brought in from California to take care of a few things for us. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in our kitchen a few weeks ago, and part of my famous Food and Las Vegas series.

Had a pretty good day. LRN4 is still feeling well, so I’m still feeling well. No health news today. That’s a really good thing.

I pretty much got done what I set out to do today, work-wise. I guess you could say I’m back in my comfort zone. I’m writing technical documentation. After 27.5 years of writing technical documentation at Lockheed, I think we can all agree I know how to do this.

Anyway. I set up a bit of a document format and started adding content. I have about eleven pages so far. I suspect it will end up at 200-300 pages, so there’s still a long way to go. But I’m making progress! And I’m in my comfort zone. So it was a good day.

LRN4 and I have started watching a show called [amazon text=Longmire&asin=B00BFAIH68]. Our brother-in-law Ken suggested it to us. It’s about a sheriff in Wyoming who solves a murder or two a week. I hadn’t really been excited about watching it – it sounded a bit too much like an updated version of [amazon text=McCloud&asin=B00005JNHU]. But I was definitely wrong. It’s a good show. There’s suspense, intrigue, and mystery. Also wide-open spaces and beautiful, bleak landscapes. Also an old Ford Bronco. Highly recommended.

And that’s about it for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: urban cattle!
See you tomorrow.

Here’s LRN2 blowing out his twentieth birthday candles. Them there are a lot of candles, LRN2. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken about two months after LRN2’s twentieth birthday (don’t ask), and part of my famous Event, Food, and Las Vegas series.

Okay, you can ask. LRN2 was still in Utah on his birthday this year. He got here about a month after that, but we didn’t get around to having some birthday cake until a few days ago. But it was worth it. Delicious! And lovingly crafted by LRN4.

Pretty nice day today. I went to LRN4’s doctor appointment with her this morning. Her white blood count is down to 0.5 today. Which is great additional progress! Numbers falling as they should. The other good news is that her red cell and platelet counts were still acceptable today. They have both gone down some, as expected, so she’ll need transfusions of both on Wednesday. We got that scheduled today.

Four more days of chemo!

Worked a little bit on learning how to do marketing today. It occurred to me this morning that it’s time to learn to sell my app. I don’t need to write another one until I’ve given this one a chance to sell. Well, I could always write another one too, but I definitely need to give this one a chance. So I actually have a few ideas. I’m doing a bit of reading on the subject, I’m directly contacting some teachers’ blogs and offering copies of the app for review, and I’m seriously considering getting involved in the Common Core blogging community. I think I could doing something like a junior Instapundit – write some original content but mainly post links to other content. The focus of the website wouldn’t be selling my app, although I would offer a download link in a sidebar. Thinking about the idea.

Any other good marketing thoughts, Loyal Readers?

LRN31 and I didn’t get to talk about her ideas for new apps on Sunday evening. She discussed it with LRN4, but I was watching a football game with my brother-in-law and had no idea they were talking about it. LRN4 gave me a briefing on the subject afterwards, though, and I think there are some possibilities there. Thinking about it.

Nothing much else new today. So I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: swimming pig!

See you tomorrow.