(posted by Greg)
Our family had a nice Christmas.
First, Daniel, his wife (Seanne) and daughter (Mollie) came to Vancouver for Xmas. Marley and I drove to Seatac and picked them up on the 22nd. Monica did not want to come (because of health insurance complications) and she stayed home with Jesse (who moved home for the holidays after his last exam.) Marley and I had a nice drive to Seattle. The weather was great, we (for once) were not in a rush (actually drove the Chuckanut from Bellingham to Burlington) and had some good one-on-one time to talk about things.
Mollie changed the tone in our house almost immediately. She will be 4 in February and is at a very precious age. She is like a tonic as she is really into and enjoying all the Xmas traditions. So, we had a great Xmas Eve and Christmas! Ingo was able to bring Oma to our house for Xmas dinner (Opa was not up to coming as he continues to recuperate) and we a great meal. Santa's helper (Marley) had done a great job of making sure that there were lots of good gifts under the tree for everyone. Everyone pitched in and helped with the cooking (and the dish-washing which seems to accompany Xmas). And, in case Christmas, its memories and traditions did not evoke enough emotions, Monica had Daniel buy us a device for converting our VHS tapes to digital. So, we have been having fun looking at some of our old family videos. (Did I really have red hair and so much of it?)
On the evening of Boxing Day, Marley left for a short visit to South Dakota where her boyfriend Ross is home from Purdue. She is really looking forward to the visit. She will drive back to Purdue with Ross and then fly home from Chicago on January 5th.
Monica has enjoyed the holidays. She really enjoys having her kids around and has been pretty game (i.e. yesterday she went to to aquarium with Jesse, his girlfriend, Sydney, and Mollie and used one of the wheel chairs which they have available.) I watch her a lot to see if I can detect any positive changes from the treatments or negative changes from the tumour's growth. At this point, I am not sure if there have been any big changes in the last 10 days - she still has little strength on her right side and so is finding it hard to walk and hard to use her right arm if any gripping strength is required. While I find that it really bothers me to see her have to struggle, she doesn't complain or whine about it and, when asked how she is doing still says "fine".
Later today we go to the Cancer Agency for the 2nd Bev treatment. After that, her next series of appointments and treatments are scheduled for the 10th and 11th of January.
Monica
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