A horrible night, a horrible day

Hi everyone:

Last night was a horrible night for Patty, and one not much better for me. Patty seems to have picked up some form of bug, and it is hitting her pretty hard. Even with her pain relievers, she is maintaining a low-grade fever--mostly in the 100 range, although it climbed as high as 101.2.

Yesterday evening, Patty had a pretty powerful headache that has carried on through the night and into today. She threw up this morning, and is feeling pretty weak and tired. Her heart rate also seems to be a bit higher than normal, although I would imagine her fever could be causing her heart to work a bit harder.

We'll watch her condition as the day progresses; if she gets any worse, we'll call her doctors. Of course, Patty's fear is that she'll end up in the hospital again. I won't give her a choice if things deteriorate further.

I don't really count, but I also had a terrible night. I couldn't sleep because I kept convincing myself that Patty needed to be monitored. I finally dozed off at around 4:45 am, and promptly had a nightmare. I drifted off again about 30 minutes later, and then had three more mini-nightmares in rapid succession. After that, I pretty much gave up. So, my plan for today is to do some client work, help Patty when I can, and then shoot for a nap sometime later in the day. I'm pretty sure I checked Patty's pulse more than 100 times last night.

I really am worried about Patty. There just seem to be too many things happening that can't easily be explained away as typical side effects of her drugs. I hope I'm worrying without a real basis in fact. We shall see...

Love,
Brian

P.S. On the positive side, Patty got a haircut yesterday that she's pretty pleased with. Her chemo drugs had thinned her hair; this new "do" makes it less apparent.

Family times

Hi everyone:

I am very late in posting today, because I've been pretty busy with work and family commitments. Last night, I took Kelly and Connor to a Rain Forest presentation at Connor's school; I had a surprisingly good time and laughed much more than I anticipated. After the show, I stopped into Kickers for a cocktail. This is going to sound nauseatingly saccharin, but I feel like less than half of myself when I socialize without Patty. I can still have interesting conversations, as I did last night, but I miss Patty's perspective and her energy.

Tonight, we attended Kelly's choir concert at the high school. Again, we enjoyed ourselves, and our daughter did us proud.

Devin and Colin will be visiting for Thanksgiving. They will fly in on the 23rd and fly back out on the 27th. This is a short visit, but it's better than nothing and long overdue. I haven't seen Devin since March. While they're here, we'll be attending a concert by the band Wolfmother, which should be fun. To the best of my knowledge, this will be Devin and Colin's first big concert experience.

Patty and I went for a walk this morning. Patty's legs grew tired quickly, which could just be a consequence of deconditioning, but her heavy breathing was disconcerting to me. Tonight, she is suffering from a pretty intense headache. She's tough--really tough--but it all seems a bit unfair to me. More tomorrow...

Love,
Brian

Connor pets an alligator



An out-of-focus pic (sorry) of Kelly performing



The walk

Pop quiz

Hi everyone:

Please look at this afternoon's photo, and try your luck at today's quiz. In the photo, is Patty:

(a) Preparing herself for a kiss
(b) Deep in thought
(c) Out like a light

If you answered (c), you're correct. Patty is having a pretty solid afternoon nap. Yesterday was an ambitious day, and the deficit is being repaid today. With what I perceive to be increasing frequency, Patty is experiencing pronounced fatigue and irregular heartbeats (although these seem to be brief in most cases.) In addition, Patty has often been saying, "I don't know how to explain it, but I just don't feel right." For some reason, these general feelings of poor health are profoundly unsettling to me.

We received a call today from Bednarcik Junior High, a school that both Kelly and PJ attended. The staff and faculty had organized a donation effort, and invited us to pick up a check. We continue to be touched by these amazing displays of kindness. As we've mentioned previously, Patty's colleagues at OEHS, and some former colleagues at OHS, continue to provide support with meals and groceries. Thank you all.

From time to time, when I really think about the fact that Patty has been in the newspaper, met famous musicians and attracted the attention and received the generosity of so much of our community, I feel some of my deepest waves of sadness. While I greatly appreciate what people have done and continue to do, I also realize that there's a reason for this outpouring, and that reason is heartbreaking to me. If I include the kids in my thoughts, this sadness is compounded. I don't indulge these thoughts often, because I don't think they do Patty much good, but sometimes they get through the filter.

As of this morning, Patty has survived two full years since her heart attack. My hope is that we'll be able to report such anniversaries for so long that it will seem ridiculous (and a little morbid) to keep count.

Love,
Brian

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous

Nothing much of note today

Hi everyone:

Our busy schedule today afforded us some distraction from yesterday's news, although we've certainly had our down moments. To be honest, I seem to be more distressed than is Patty this time around. This morning, we did two presentations to health classes at the high school and Patty voted before we settled in at home for much of the afternoon. I then plugged away at some work while Patty caught a brief nap.

Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of Patty's heart attack. I think we had both hoped for much better outcomes at this point, but we can also be grateful for what we still have.

Love,
Brian

The results are in...

Well, we received a call around dinnertime this evening from one of Patty's cardiologists. Her PRA numbers were relatively unchanged, although the doctor claimed that these numbers show "some improvement" over the numbers from last month. Wow. In addition, he said that some of the specific antigens that were new to the last reading did not appear this time around, which would suggest that the drug regimen may be having some minor positive effect. Overall, though, the numbers speak volumes about just how resilient Patty's antibodies truly are.

We did get a sense this time that doctors are recognizing that Patty's problems are unlikely to have a simple resolution, and that the steps taken thus far aren't yielding hopeful outcomes. Also, this doctor said they are now wanting to weigh quality of life more heavily in options being considered. We are a bit worried that doctors are feeling we are resistant to new options; this isn't the case. We just want to make sure that Patty doesn't try one illness-inducing treatment after another without ever having a chance to enjoy a few weeks or months of nausea-free living. I want my wife to be able to wake up in the morning and immediately do whatever she wants with her day, without having one malady or another keep her down.

Sometime in the near future, doctors are supposed to get back to us with some additional thoughts about next steps. Here's what we either think or know:

• We know that one option being considered is to hit Patty with huge doses of Cytoxan intravenously once a month, rather than have her take pills daily that make her sick. The idea here would be to keep Patty premedicated (or, as I would call it, "doped up") for the time her body would normally be suffering side effects.
  
  
• We do know that an appointment is being scheduled with a lupus/immunology expert. Of course, it will be hard to truly understand the lupus influence since Patty is on cytoxan, and our understanding is that Patty will always be on cytoxan or similar drugs. This issue is at the root of our challenge to doctors -- if Patty is always on a drug that makes her perpetually sick, how can she ever enjoy any real quality of life?
  
  
• We know that total lymphoid irradiation (TLI) is being considered as an option. This is a treatment usually reserved for post-transplant rejection issues, but it has been successful in certain instances to reduce antibodies before transplant. We're wondering how likely it will be that the insurance company will agree to pay for these "hail mary" types of interventions.
  
  
• The other option on the table is administration of the drug rituximab. This drug is usually used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but has been used in recent years to help reduce antibodies before renal transplantation. If I understand correctly, doctors hope that a side effect of the drug -- depletion of antibodies -- will work in Patty's favor. Although two doctors suggested this drug is "well tolerated by most," online stats suggest that 99% of people experience adverse effects, several of which sound pretty frightening. If I understand the literature, three of the 769 study subjects died of cardiac events shortly after receiving their first dose, and others contracted other serious conditions, such as meningitis. As always, these are the types of drugs that can work near-miracles, but there always seems to be an accompanying gamble.
  
  

Well, that's enough for now. Our emotions are fluctuating tonight. We've had a few glimmers of non-denial, which we don't seem prepared to face right now. For the most part, Patty has been giggling about how doctors are once again saying they will "put their heads together;" our presumption then, and now, has been that they are thinking and talking about Patty's case, so this struck Patty as a bit humorous. Perhaps the next time we write we'll have let this sink in a little more. I hope not.

Love,
Brian

Impatience aplenty

Hi everyone:

Well, it's late in the afternoon and we've heard nothing from doctors about the latest PRA results. We left a message for the transplant coordinator much earlier today, but so far have received no response. For some reason, these delays in getting answers are among the most frustrating aspects of Patty's struggle. Of course, unless the numbers are dramatically reduced, we're making little progress, but it still seems important to know where things stand so that we can make informed decisions for the future.

Patty has felt poorly for most of the day. Could it be because the Bears disappointed us so greatly yesterday? Or could it be her health? As I write this, she is sound asleep on the sofa. If we get any answers, I'll post again. Otherwise, I'll be back with you tomorrow.

Love,
Brian

Sunday stuff

Hi everyone:

First, I apologize for not writing yesterday. We've had house guests for the entire weekend, so I haven't had the chance before now to put together an entry. I'm squeezing this one in before (a) the Bears dismantle the Dolphins, (b) I make my first ever beer-can chicken, and (c) the Toronto Argonauts start their drive toward the Grey Cup. My beloved Maple Leafs won big last night as well, so (almost) all is well in the world. Of course, there's still the small matter of the needed heart, but you can't have everything at the moment you want it, right?

A second apology -- I'm sorry I haven't been sharing as many photos. As I've mentioned previously, the posting of pictures is the biggest albatross in the Blogger world, enough so that sometimes it just isn't worth the bother. Today, things seem to be working okay, so I'll catch things up a bit.

Yesterday, Patty finished her second round of IVIG while Cindy watched movies and Kathleen and I checked out the huge Woodman's grocery store in North Aurora. In the evening, the four of us saw Borat, the new mockumentary with Sasha Cohen of Da Ali G Show. The film crossed pretty nearly every line of good taste, and was about as un-PC as you can imagine. Having said this, the movie provided us with some much-needed roaring laughs. We then went out for dinner, which was also fun. When we returned home, I fell asleep on the sofa while the ladies stayed up and talked about whatever women talk about -- knitting and housecleaning, perhaps? Oh, come ON...I was KIDDING!

Today, Patty has been feeling pretty rough, although she has managed to keep her stomach down so far. As you can see from the photo, I convinced her to wear my new Bears jersey, which actually falls to about her knees. She thinks it looks a bit silly. Of course, I think it looks great; Urlacher doesn't hold a candle to her. More soon...

Love,
Brian

Patty, Cindy, and Kathleen



Plasmapheresis (again)

Apheresis done, on to IVIG

Hi everyone:

We just got home from University of Chicago Hospital, where Patty underwent the second plasmapheresis treatment (you'll recall they do these in sets of two, with a day off between.) Everything went just fine; hopefully, behind the scenes, we'll be realizing the desired effect in terms of antibody reduction. Time will tell...

I was able to donate blood today, which occupied no more than 20 minutes of the time we spent waiting for Patty's treatment to finish. I'm a bit embarrassed and even more ashamed that I've never donated blood before. On two other occasions, years ago, I offered to donate, and was declined because of allergies or a cold. If Patty is scheduled for plasmapheresis again in a month, my plan is to donate platelets at that time. I figure that if I try to make a donation each time Patty needs to spend a day in the hospital, I can make up for my earlier failings.

After plasmapheresis, we met with one of the cardiologists, who said that she thinks the various doctors involved in Patty's care need to put their heads together and propose what other options may be available. She acknowledged that at some point quality of life might become a better focus than quantity, and that she would support whatever decisions we might ultimately make, unless she thought we were being foolish. Based on Patty's current circumstances, she did not feel we were in any way being foolish in asking these questions.

We do not have the PRA results yet; these will likely be available on Monday. These will reflect the previous round of IVIG and plasmapheresis, rather than today's. Of course, we are really hoping these numbers will have dropped greatly, because that will give us more reason for optimism. Patty thinks there will be an improvement; I'm hopeful, but skeptical (and worried.)

Soon, Patty's home health nurse will arrive to get the IVIG infusion started. Cindy and Kathleen are planning to visit this evening. And that's about all I have to report for now. More later...

Love,
Brian

Blown away

Hi everyone:

A couple of weeks ago, while visiting for an evening, Don and Kathleen loaned us their copy of a CD by their niece, Jessica Callahan. Several times, we had planned to listen to it but, until tonight, hadn't found the right moment.

From the first song to the last, we were quite literally blown away -- she is truly phenomenal. Why aren't we all aware of this woman, her beautiful music and her oh-so-obvious talent? Her thoughtful, very visual lyrics and perfect command of her voice exhibit an amazing maturity. Wow. I am in awe. You can hear her at her MySpace page, at http://www.myspace.com/jessicacallahanmusic.

I'm not sure how you can get a copy of the CD we listened to, titled Standing--her label for this release, Blindstick Records, is not online--but you should find a way. I would be very surprised if you have a reaction any less enthusiastic than my own.

Love,
Brian

Low-key Thursday

Hi everyone:

Not much to report today. Patty has felt weak for much of the day, but her nausea seemed mostly manageable. I am starting to worry about what seems to be an increasing intensity of fatigue for Patty; having said this, she outlasted me last night, and watched a movie with Kathleen while I snored on the sofa.

In addition, Patty has had some episodes over the past few days in which her heart feels like it is beating erratically. Of course, we'll keep an eye on these things and discuss them with her doctors. Tomorrow, Patty will undergo a second round of plasmapheresis, and will start an infusion of IVIG later in the day. She also has a 1pm appointment with her cardiologist. I'll write again if and when there's anything to report.

Love,
Brian

A crazy Wednesday

Hi everyone:

Today was a rollercoaster of a day for our patient. First, we started the day with a trek down to University of Chicago Hospital for another round of plasmapheresis, and to hand in some vials of blood to test Patty's PRA once again. We should have results by Monday; I hope so much the results are better than last time around, although we're a bit pessimistic. I offered to donate blood while I was there, since the donation area is in the same place as where Patty was undergoing treatment; I thought it would help fill the time. Unfortunately, my allergies were acting up this morning, so I was given the thumbs down.

Patty had a bit of a hard time with plasmapheresis today; for some reason, it gave her abdominal cramps, chills, a reddish hue to her face, a pounding headache, nausea...and a par-tr-idge in a pear tree. Okay, maybe not the last part. That really was a bad joke, although the symptoms I describe are accurate. I hope there's no meaning in this, but of course anything new now seems like a threat.

Kelly and Connor braved the cold last night for a long round of trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, their "take" for the night did not include a lot of my favorites, so the overall experience was a bit disappointing. They had a great time, though, so I guess there's something in that. Okay, that may have been an even worse joke...guess my sense of humor is a bit awry today. Patty and I are actually feeling a bit guilty about Halloween this year, because so much of it seems to have been an afterthought. I think it's important to try to pluck some semblance of normalcy out of the general hustle and bustle; sometimes, though, stuff falls through the cracks.

MaryKate brought Emma (a.k.a. the cutest baby in the history of mankind) to Kelly's school today for a class event. Patty and MaryKate visited later in the afternoon while I ran errands. I went to fill one of Patty's prescriptions and instead of being charged the $5.00 co-pay I expected, I was told I would need to fork over $265, because Patty "no longer had coverage." I'm pretty sure this was the first time in my life I nearly swooned. I called Patty, who called her benefits advisor, who informed Patty that for the next two weeks we would need to pay up front, collect receipts, and then submit them for reimbursement. Fortunately, we had just filled a fresh month's supply of Patty's most expensive prescription drug, which runs about $3,000 per month.

Of course, this news was really hard for Patty to tolerate, and she again had a bit of an emotional breakdown. In our lighter moments, we treat all of this as a huge comedy of errors, but when these surprises are fresh they're a bit hard to swallow. Patty has become much more distraught about things that would have previously left her unfazed, and this makes me worry. I do, of course, understand, but I just don't want to add too much anxiety to the burden she already bears. I don't want stupid and, ultimately, insignificant things like broken car windows, flying trampolines or anything else, taking even a moment away from what we've come to love about our life.

I wanted to thank all those who have written or called lately with words of support, including my parents, our friends Shari and Ron, our neighbor and dear friend Denise, and so many others. I also feel gratitude and adoration toward Patty for her kind words about me the other day, although I feel a bit embarrassed, for some reason. I did want to clear the air about something, though, in case there's been any misconceptions. Patty said something along the lines of, "Brian worries that people might misunderstand his intentions," in reference to the nights out I've tried to put together. Please understand that this worry is not based on any actual situations we've encountered during this health struggle of Patty's; this is just the richly neurotic side of me demanding an audience from time to time. Having said this, I appreciate and agree with the comments people have shared. I will keep doing what I can to try to help make this whole bizarre experience a great memory some day, even if we need to beg and borrow (sorry, not steal) to make it happen. Not to sound too sappy, but please pat yourselves on the back for everything you've done to make Patty feel special.

Tomorrow is family night #2. Connor has picked chili, hot dogs and mac-and-cheese, followed by a family game. I'm looking forward to it.

Love,
Brian

From Brian's parents

Hi everyone:

My parents are not savvy with all things Web, although they are still better than many others of their generation (and ours). They wanted to post a comment in response to Patty's entry of a couple of days ago, but weren't sure how. With my parents' permission, I'm sharing a message they emailed to us this morning:

Hi Folks:

Thought that I'd drop a couple of lines this way as I don't understand bloggers and how to answer them or send comments. As I said before you are a very brave family and no one can appreciate all that you are going through. The 'world' tries to understand but, as I pointed out to Brian, your problems are very personal and the rest of us can only express concern and sympathy--and criticism!

At the end of each day the world shrinks to the walls about you and I think that your little community is tops in holding together when all about you there seems to be chaos. We are most proud of you all and think that you should present yourselves anyway you see fit. Brian has grown a lot over the past year and he appreciates the need to remain strong to everybody--especially Patty and the kids--and no one can take away that personal pride he should have in the face of adversity.

You are a family with problems that seem astronomical and insurmountable (at times)--but keep the faith and do things your way--and to hell with criticism that might burden you further. You'll get there! All of us have faced adversity--while yours is more trying than most--but remember you have people who love you all and who continue to hope and pray to God for a just answer to all our prayers.

People only see the visible side of things and question why you are doing some things that appear incongruent with their ideas of what is right and wrong. Just remember that what you are doing is 'right' for you.

All our love, prayers and thoughts,

Mom and Dad.

The Zzzzequel

Hi everyone:

Although Patty eluded vomiting for yet another morning, again by the narrowest of margins, she has felt a general malaise throughout the day. She strikes me as especially pale; in fact, I adjusted the brightness of this photo so that the flash effect on her skin didn't seem so dramatic.

These days, even when the nausea has passed, Patty complains of weakness and/or fatigue, and she sometimes cannot shake her headache even with medication. Yesterday, when we went for a walk, I could tell that Patty's breathing was more labored. The photo for today's entry was taken just moments ago; Patty can easily fall asleep for hours and in no way respond to the sounds around her. She does have this unsettling habit of twitching suddenly in her sleep, which usually makes me jump if I'm in the immediate vicinity.

Although there are no major changes that are obvious from day to day, we both keep feeling that Patty is growing weaker overall. As silly as this sounds, she's down for the count so often that I often find myself missing her, even if much of the time she's in the same room.

As mentioned, Patty can doze for huge stretches. Unfortunately, I seem to be struggling to sleep these days. Last night, for example, I slept a total of less than four hours, and awakened shaking from three discrete nightmares. On the nights without horrific dreams, I usually awaken three or four times to make sure Patty is okay. I'm not the only one experiencing such frustration -- Connor knocks on our door in the middle of the night at least one night each week. I wonder if there's a point at which this incessant sense of near-panic will fade.

Last night, I was doing some research on the advancement of lupus symptoms and the correlation between lupus and heart failure. As I was surfing through various medical pages, I shared with Patty that I had in the past compared symptoms I was feeling with descriptions of various conditions, and had even self-diagnosed myself with ulcers, obstructive pulmonary disorder, and such. Of course, when I would look closely at the symptoms, or talk with a doctor, I would learn that I was being little more than a hypochondriac (and was usually being foolish.) I then said that it sometimes struck me as surreal just how often these lists of symptoms, for lupus and heart failure, seemed like a checklist of what Patty had been experiencing. In fact, Patty often had both the typical symptoms of a condition and some of the less frequent or even rare aspects. She was so dead on, in some cases, that the discovery of the information was chilling.

That's it for now.

Love,
Brian

A nice gesture

Hi everyone:

I just wanted to mention that a parishoner from the Trinity United Methodist Church in Yorkville stopped by our home over the weekend with two bags of gifts -- including snacks and a handmade afghan. This was a nice surprise for Patty, and much appreciated. More tomorrow...

Love,
Brian

It's Patty

Hi:

It’s Patty, taking over the blog for just a few moments. As many times as Brian has extolled my virtues (and displayed my weaknesses) on this blog, I figured turnabout was fair play. Besides, whose blog is it, anyway?

As these past months have passed, Brian has told you from time to time about his efforts in gathering activities to entertain and distract me and the kids. You’ve heard of excursions to waterparks, to concerts and such. I know that whenever Brian sets these things up, he feels two emotions – excitement about being able to plan something for loved ones, and worry about being misunderstood. Can you imagine that he has worried that people might think he is trying to capitalize on my illness in a callous way? I tell him that he needs to set aside such worries, because the kids, myself, those that really know and love us, and the powers that be, all know what is truly inside his heart, and it is nothing but goodness.

When Brian writes a blog entry, he writes about the recipient, but he doesn’t really talk about how hard he works to make these events special. Let me illustrate, by sharing what I know about the events before, during and after the concert Friday night.

Brian contacted Flogging Molly (FM) over the summer on PJ’s behalf because the kid had professed to Brian that FM was his absolute favorite. So Brian wrote to them and obtained a signed CD, a copy of their new DVD (before its release date), and best wishes for our future. For months, Brian religiously checked FM’s website each week to see when and where the band was performing. When he discovered that FM was soon going to perform here, he wrote again and asked if PJ could see them and perhaps even meet them.

Once it was confirmed that the band was amenable to that, Brian set about planning this night for Patrick in order to make it the most magical it could possibly be. He asked for enough tickets so that PJ’s girlfriend Kelsey could go along – and was granted all-access passes so that they could all go anywhere, at any time. He made sure that all transportation plans were worked out to the finest detail so as to adhere to the band’s recommendations for the best time to meet the guys. He made sure his camera was fully charged and ready for action. They hung out with all the bands before the performance, Brian snapping away, for more than and hour and a half, and then were allowed to stand onstage for a portion of the performance. They ultimately were given balcony seats, directly above the stage. PJ has not only memories of the night, but also signed T-shirts and many photos of he and the guys hugging and back slapping.

When we got home that night, as exhausted as Brian was, he sat and went through all the pics he had snapped, chose about 35 of the very best, and put them into a file to take in to Walgreens to have prints made, so PJ would have a brag book for the next day. He then woke up early, drove the file to the store in a car that is like being in a wind tunnel because of the taped-up window, and had prints made, and placed them in two photo albums—one for Patrick, and the other for Kelsey.

Can you imagine what a dream come true a night like this was for Patrick? It was, let me assure you. For Brian? A not-so-fun chaotic evening he toughed out, and remembers fondly, because he was doing something nice for his kid. Brian has a gift for finding things to make the people he loves so happy, and he continues to demonstrate that daily. Doesn’t that make me the luckiest woman alive?

Love,
Patty

Zzzzz....

Hi everyone:

After a string of days that started with vomiting, Patty has now enjoyed a streak of three days without throwing up. In fact, Patty actually felt pretty well (at least in relative terms) when she arose this morning. Of course, she didn't feel well enough to prepare her own cup of coffee...but I digress.

On most mornings, Patty tries to move as little as possible for the first couple of hours; by comparison, she was quite animated today. Please understand that, at best, Patty's energy levels are still usually less than the average person's; however, we've learned to recognize even a bit of energy as reason to celebrate.

Late this morning, we went for a walk with Connor and his friend Alec, after which Patty settled in for a long nap that has extended for more than two hours; she continues to snooze as I write this. If the worst of her symptoms for a day is a bit of fatigue, I think we would happily sign up for that plan. Unfortunately, Patty seems to be struggling as much lately with the emotional side of this reality. Late last night, we had a lengthy conversation in which Patty expressed many anxieties about her--and our--future. I asked her to worry about herself and not to fret so much about me and the kids, but I'm not sure she's embracing that thinking.

PJ is going to a play in Lincolnshire this evening with his girlfriend Kelsey and her mom; this is, of course, the only thing he has done today that didn't involve a computer, a television or a phone. Kelly will be returning from a weekend that saw her visit both Peter's and MaryBeth's homes. Connor had a sleepover last night and has been splitting his afternoon between play with friends and watching the football game. Speaking of football, how about those Bears today? The first half was of course much more exciting than the second, but the final outcome was certainly pretty satisfying. I spoke with Devin and Colin this morning; they went to the symphony in Toronto yesterday. I miss them so much, and hope we'll be able to bring them down soon; at the worst, I hope we will see them at Christmas.

Peter, Rachel, Ben & Sam will be here shortly to return our daughter and perhaps join us for a bite of dinner. After that, I suspect that Patty and I will settle into a quiet evening before what promises to be a somewhat hectic week.

Love,
Brian

...and bad times

Hi everyone:

At the end of my previous post, I talked about how the evening with my son demonstrated to me how kind-hearted people can be. Unfortunately, some events last night also showed us that there are people out there whose hearts aren't as full of kindness toward others.

While I was at the concert, Patty visited with her brother Peter and his family. At one point, Patty recalled that I had forgotten to take our Ipod out of our car. When she went down to retrieve it, she discovered that our front passenger window had been smashed, and our Ipod stolen.

My understanding is that Patty was pretty much a wreck; by extension, Connor also became pretty upset at seeing his mother so distressed. Peter and Rachel worked at cheering her up, and then Peter sealed up the window. On Monday, the window will be replaced; until then, we won't have a lot of transportation options, and we'll hope for no rain. C'est la vie.

Why, do you suppose, a family can go forever without any Twilight Zone moments, and then have several in short order when least emotionally prepared for them? A few weeks ago, you may recall, our trampoline became a giant frisbee. This is the latest. Since, as the story goes, these things come in threes, I hate to even imagine what could come next.

Love,
Brian

P.S. Every time I think about the window and the Ipod, I feel some level of distress; every time I see Peter's tape job, though, I crack up.

Good times...

Hi everyone:

Last night, I joined PJ and his girlfriend Kelsey at the Flogging Molly concert at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago. We had all-access passes, which allowed us to pretty much go anywhere before, during and after the show. I think the kids had a great time, and I had a great time seeing them have fun. I'll let a few pictures tell the story:

Flogging Molly in concert



PJ with Dave King, lead singer of Flogging Molly



Nathen Maxwell of Flogging Molly, PJ & Kelsey



George Schwindt of Flogging Molly, PJ, Kelsey & Loomis Fall from Jackass



Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- was very gracious and accommodating. So many times during the evening I was reminded about how wonderful people can be.

Love,
Brian

A very busy Friday

Hi everyone:

Patty started the morning feeling nauseous, but was able to avoid throwing up. The close calls are so close, though, that I can usually sense a near-miss. Basically, when a quiet belch sounds like a deep gurgle, you know things are tenuous. Okay, enough with the graphic bodily function commentary. We're fortunate that Patty isn't ailing as much today, because we've made some pretty ambitious plans.

Early this afternoon, Patty and I are going to speak to Connor's class about Patty's experience. This is essentially a repeat of our presentation to Kelly's class, but with a younger audience. As much as Connor wants us to do this, he is apprehensive that other kids in his class will ask him questions he'll feel uncomfortable answering. Our hope is that most of these questions will come out during the session -- if Kelly's class represents the norm, though, we'll be looking for the exception here, because we didn't field a single question last time.

Later this afternoon, our family (less Devin and Colin) plus Kelsey are heading downtown for the evening. Patty, Kelly and Connor plan to visit with Peter, Rachel and their kids, while I will join PJ and Kelsey at the Flogging Molly concert at the Riviera Theatre. I was able to arrange for PJ and Kelsey to meet the band, so I'm hoping that all works out according to plan. I'm presuming PJ is excited, although teenagers seem to make it their mission to always seem milquetoast about everything around their parents--unless, of course, a parent says "no", in which case the child becomes effusive in sharing his/her thoughts. Does this sound familiar to everyone? Oh, the joys of parenthood.

After the show, we'll be heading back here for the night, and will anticipate a slower-paced Saturday.

Time to run...

Love,
Brian