Catching Up, part 2 - The Homefront
First, the Good
Lindsey and the girls are doing great. Ever since Lindsey went to FaerieCon last October and won the costume contest (pictures [here]; her Faun costume won) she's been getting orders for those antlers she'd made. She has an Etsy page [here]. She's also made a head wreath thing like the one she was wearing at Faerie Con, and she currently has a commission for a massive headdress. So, she's kind of got a little costume business going on in her "spare" time.
Willow's just about done with kindergarten. She's doing very well; she's learning very quickly, and she can read a lot. Just this morning, the girls woke up before Lindsey, so Ari asked Willow to read a book to her. It's incredibly adorable. Willow's also doing math - simple addition and subtraction - and she's showing very acute attention to detail in her art.
Ari's still growing like a weed. Her vocabulary continues to grow by the day, though she still can't pronounce S, G, J, C/K, and some other letters. She's starting to get the hang of toilet training, though some days are markedly better than others.
Now, the Bad
Last May, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was first noticed in her lymph nodes, but was traced to her ovaries. With ovarian cancer, there's something called a CA-125 number that they use as a kind of index number for the severity of the cancer. The higher the number, the more severe the cancer, basically. Women who don't have ovarian cancer usually have a CA-125 between 0 and ~25. When my mom was first diagnosed, hers was about 120. They started chemo right away, and while the treatment knocked her out, it was working. When her chemo was done, her CA-125 was below 20.
Then, around Thanksgiving, she got bronchitis (she was coughing pretty bad at Ari's birthday party, which was around the 15th) and was admitted to the hospital. She stayed in for about a week. After that, things went downhill quickly. She was still fairly weak from the chemo and everything, so the bronchitis really took its toll. Pneumonia followed soon after that, and her weakened immune system must have let the cancer surge back.
She was admitted to the hospital for the last time the day after Christmas, I think it was. The cancer was flourishing; at one point, her CA-125 was over 1200.
On Saturday, January 5th, I brought Willow and Ari down to see their Nana.
Late Sunday night, I think it was close to Midnight, my phone rang and I knew who it was before I picked up the phone. My sister was sobbing, and she could barely speak. "I think you better get down here," she said, and I told her I'd be there as soon as I could. I drove about 80 mph down I-43, even though there was about 100 yards of visibility through the fog.
My mom had gotten a morphine shot earlier in the evening, and fallen asleep. She passed away a little after noon on Monday, January 7th, surrounded by her family.
(more to come.)
Lindsey and the girls are doing great. Ever since Lindsey went to FaerieCon last October and won the costume contest (pictures [here]; her Faun costume won) she's been getting orders for those antlers she'd made. She has an Etsy page [here]. She's also made a head wreath thing like the one she was wearing at Faerie Con, and she currently has a commission for a massive headdress. So, she's kind of got a little costume business going on in her "spare" time.
Willow's just about done with kindergarten. She's doing very well; she's learning very quickly, and she can read a lot. Just this morning, the girls woke up before Lindsey, so Ari asked Willow to read a book to her. It's incredibly adorable. Willow's also doing math - simple addition and subtraction - and she's showing very acute attention to detail in her art.
Ari's still growing like a weed. Her vocabulary continues to grow by the day, though she still can't pronounce S, G, J, C/K, and some other letters. She's starting to get the hang of toilet training, though some days are markedly better than others.
Now, the Bad
Last May, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was first noticed in her lymph nodes, but was traced to her ovaries. With ovarian cancer, there's something called a CA-125 number that they use as a kind of index number for the severity of the cancer. The higher the number, the more severe the cancer, basically. Women who don't have ovarian cancer usually have a CA-125 between 0 and ~25. When my mom was first diagnosed, hers was about 120. They started chemo right away, and while the treatment knocked her out, it was working. When her chemo was done, her CA-125 was below 20.
Then, around Thanksgiving, she got bronchitis (she was coughing pretty bad at Ari's birthday party, which was around the 15th) and was admitted to the hospital. She stayed in for about a week. After that, things went downhill quickly. She was still fairly weak from the chemo and everything, so the bronchitis really took its toll. Pneumonia followed soon after that, and her weakened immune system must have let the cancer surge back.
She was admitted to the hospital for the last time the day after Christmas, I think it was. The cancer was flourishing; at one point, her CA-125 was over 1200.
On Saturday, January 5th, I brought Willow and Ari down to see their Nana.
Late Sunday night, I think it was close to Midnight, my phone rang and I knew who it was before I picked up the phone. My sister was sobbing, and she could barely speak. "I think you better get down here," she said, and I told her I'd be there as soon as I could. I drove about 80 mph down I-43, even though there was about 100 yards of visibility through the fog.
My mom had gotten a morphine shot earlier in the evening, and fallen asleep. She passed away a little after noon on Monday, January 7th, surrounded by her family.
(more to come.)