Celebration in Order

April 30^th, my mom’s birthday. I think she would have been 81. Oh how I miss her. Hard to believe she has been gone for 15 years. One thing I do know is that she has been with me in spirit and I believe she has pulled a few strings with the man above. Thanks mom and Happy Birthday.

Since returning from our last trip to New York we have been busy. Last weekend we spent the time in Charlottesville to celebrate Jim's one year post transplant. Sara and Richard stayed at Skye’s apartment and Jim and I booked a hotel close by. One of the main reasons we celebrated there was to go back to Barboursville Vineyard. You see back in May 2015, Jim, Skye, Sandy and I did a wine tasting at Barboursville. We struck up a conversation with Dawn, one of our wine pourers. Dawn had an intuition that Jim was sick and although we gave her little information about him she said “you are going to be just fine”. She said those words with such confidence and know-how. After the tasting we had our picnic and a bottle of wine outside. When Jim returned to the tasting room to give back the glasses Dawn approached him with a bottle of wine in a wrapped bag. It was Barboursville’s most expensive bottle of red. She told Jim to save it until he has beat cancer and then open it for a celebration. Last weekend we opened that bottle and toasted to Jim. I called the vineyard a few days before and was able to track Dawn down. She now is the event coordinator. She met us and did the honors of opening the wine and even poured it in proper glasses. Before we left we had her sign the empty bottle AND she gave Jim another bottle to save for when he is 5 years out or if he overcomes a difficult hurdle in the future. What a special woman. She gave us hope before we had it ourselves. 

The weekend was also filled with going to a concert on the downtown mall Friday night and the Farmer’s Market Saturday morning where I tasted my first doughnut in about 5 years. There is a woman who makes gluten free and dairy free doughnuts. I should have bought more than one…YUM. 

We saw a parade in town called the Dogwood Parade and on Sunday before we returned home Skye brought us to a cool little restaurant for breakfast burritos and then to a nitro brew coffee house. It was wonderful spending time with both girls and Richard and Zach.

One Year Check Up

After checking into our hotel we took a walk to the Jeffrey, a little pub that has 30 craft beers on tap. Jim has two favorite pubs in New York that he liked going to prior to transplant. Of course after transplant Jim was not allowed to drink alcohol or enter bars and restaurants. We had fun calming the nerves by exploring a couple Monday night. The second stop was City Hops. It is teeny tiny with a few chairs by the window facing the street. It was very entertaining watching the hustle and bustle of the city walk and drive by. For dinner we ate at Rosa Mexicano which was delicious but probably not the best choice of food to go to sleep with on a nervous stomach.

Tuesday was chocked full of tests for Jim. He had to be at the hospital early for blood work and was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight with the exception of water. They took 14 vials of blood. He had a CT scan, PET scan and lung scan. There was no sense in me going to the hospital with him until it was time to meet with Dr Sauter.  I hung out in the hotel room then went to a nice coffee shop next to the hospital where I waited for him to be done. 

We met with Dr. Sauter around 1:30. He came into the room with a smile and asked Jim how he was doing. Jim's response was "You tell me" Although the radiologist had not had time to read the PET scan, Dr. Sauter reviewed it and said it looked good. Music to our ears. I cannot describe the feeling we have right before the doctor comes into the room but I can tell you the feeling of pure joy, relief and euphoria after we hear the words that everything looks good. Jim has some minor complications from transplant but all in all Dr. Sauter is very pleased with his progress. He will continue to be followed at Georgetown Hospital and we will return to New York in July for his next check up. 

Floating on cloud nine we went back to the hotel and I contacted the family. Jim actually worked a little and we grabbed some groceries for a quiet dinner in the room. 

We thought the day couldn't get any better until Jim's phone rang. On the other end was Mike from Minnesota, Jim's donor. We asked for him to call on my cell so we could put him on speaker phone. His wife, Molly, was also on the other end and we had a very long wonderful conversation with them. This man saved Jim's life by his selfless act of donating his stem cells. He described what he had to do prior to the collection of his cells. We talked about family and hopes of meeting them in the near future.

It was a great night.

It's Wednesday now and we are on the Vamoose bus back to Virginia. We are taking the upgraded version (the gold bus). There is more leg room and it is not at capacity. Maybe I can get Jim to take it again in the future.   😏😉😍😍

So Much News to Share

This past weekend we celebrated an important milestone. Friday, April 14^th, was Jimmy’s one year birthday. In the transplant world you celebrate two birthdays, the one your mamma gave you and the one your donor gave you. It was one year ago at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City where Jim, surrounded by nurses and doctors, received the strong, healthy cells of an anonymous 29-year old donor. This weekend we learned who that wonderful person is. Be the Match (and please get on the list if you haven’t) arranged the transfer of information between donor and recipient. His name is Mike and he lives in Minnesota. Jim called him and left a message on his work voicemail. We hope to talk with him soon.

To celebrate his one year Jim took the day off from work and we headed to the river. On the way, he wanted to stop at this brewery near Front Royal. It’s your birthday- OK. Breweries are not as exciting to me because I am gluten free but Jim loves trying different micro beers and he must own 5 or 6 types of growlers. Luckily, they allow dogs in the outside building so we sat out there while Jim tasted his flight and Boo chased after a couple of bumble bees. We spent the evening relaxing at the river.

Back in December we sold the main house at the river but kept the little house which we refer to as “the barn”. Jimmy wants to change the name to “The Love Shack”. It is a tiny little structure (only 480 square feet) but it overlooks the small rapids of the Shenandoah River. We actually have a better view from the barn than we had at the main house. Upkeep is very simple because the living space is so small. Besides we are used to living in tight quarters…hello…the Airstream. 

On Saturday, we drove to Harrisonburg to eat breakfast at the Little Grille. It is our favorite place to eat when in Harrisonburg. Afterwards we hit the farmer’s market which is one of the best ones in Virginia. We stocked up on veggies, plants and eggs. I bought a hanging strawberry plant which I hope to keep alive and hopefully it will produce fresh strawberries. We’ll see. Before leaving Harrisonburg, we took Boo to Purcell Park and walked around. The pollens have been kicking my butt. My eyes are red, itchy and swollen and you know that intense itching you get in your inner ears and throat from allergies? Well I have that too, but the day is beautiful so I down a Claritin, put in eye drops and continue on. I guess it didn’t help that I cut a little grass Friday. Jim still does not have clearance to cut grass and work in the soil. He is still on anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-bacterial drugs. He showed me how to ride the John Deere and I timidly attempted to maneuver around the trees and bushes. It wasn’t pretty but better than not at all. Luckily, I did not have to mow down by the river or I may have ended up in it.

Fast forward to today, April 17^th. We are in New York for Jim’s one year check-up. I convinced him to take the Vamoose bus instead of driving. The bus leaves from Lorton, near our house, and drops passengers off at Penn Station in New York City.  It is reasonably priced and gives Jim a break from driving. The trip up was quick and uneventful. The bus was completely full. Luckily Lorton is the first pick up spot so we had our choice of seats. Unfortunately, I don’t think Jim will be doing it again. The seats were too small and he was trying to conduct business on his computer with spotty service. There were lots of smells and people coughing. He is not a fan.

After arriving in New York we took a cab to the Bentley Hotel, just a few blocks down from Memorial Sloan Kettering. Funny how we know our way around the city and are totally comfortable hailing a cab. I have so much more to tell you but it will have to wait until the next blog post. :)