Waterfowl Reconsidered

(Readers advisory:  This post is only for people with a few minutes to spare in consideration of  a completely unimportant topic.  It was another great day at our house.)

Brain cancer is...

 Alternate Coot Video Link

...sticking with our earlier waterfowl conclusions.

Several additional recent days of observational data reaffirm earlier our assertions regarding the mental states of various waterfowl at Craig Park.

Coots?  Definitely sane.  See typical behavior in video above.  No signs of craziness.  We believe they are the sanest waterfowl in the park.  Here's evidence in support our argument:

Pelicans?  Crazy.  They only move in synchronous motion. What the helican? Plus, why are they still here?  Go south, pelicans!

 Alternate Pelican Video Link

Muscovy Duck?  Crazy.  We only ever see it sitting on benches or tables.  Also its black Mohawk is out of control.

Herons?  Elegant up top; party on the feet.  Crazy.

Canadian Geese?  The craziest of all.  The geese are back in town, presumably on their way south, but if the pelicans are any indicator, the geese may stay.  They live on the baseball field, it seems.  When they have the opportunity, they block the roads and act like we are the ones with the problem:

But the craziest behavior of all was how the geese acted on the lake.  They rolled over on their backs and kicked their feet to the sky.  Then they resumed their raucous wing water dances.  There is no excuse for this behavior, particularly from a whole gaggle: 

 Alternate Canadian Geese Video Link

Back at home, we are making full use of 2016's Word of the Year, "lean" with more trips to Good Will. 

It's fun to start thinking about the 2017 Word of the Year.  How about "crazy"?

Family Disclosures

Brain cancer is...

...making full disclosure.

You know what Tuesday is, Friends!  Speech day!  Hurrah!  Darrell's still a bit fatigued from the chemo, but he marched into Kristin's office and talk, talk, talked.

One thing he does at speech is carry on "typical" conversations with Kristin: 

Kristin:  You've told me you have dogs.
Darrell:  Yes, two, our sons' dogs.  We have a Yorkie named Beowulf.  And we have a huge baby chocolate Lab named Mousse.
Kristin:  Ah, that's right.  But you have no cats though?  You're not cat people?
Darrell:  Oh, we like cats.  We just don't have one.

And then Darrell's quote of the day:  "However we do have a gecko."

He speaks the truth.  We do have a gecko.  We think we haven't mentioned him before, so we wanted you to know.  Team D has a gecko.  Full disclosure.

Summer and Char

Char (Charles) is a leopard gecko and has been with Summer since she was an undergrad at UC Santa Barbara.

We promise:  No other secret pets.

Taking Care of (Medical) Business

Brain cancer is...

...not the boss of Darrell.

Darrell is keeping up with medical business today.  Above he is preparing for his flu shot.  Yes, he's laughing because he flexed for the picture.  And, yes, the doctor recommended the shot and cleared him for it.

We saw Optune Amy today.  Darrell's compliance was, yet again, at 97%  That's particularly impressive this month because Darrell had an MRI, and that requires him to go off treatment for a few hours. The scan was on 11/17; if you zoom in, can see the usage bar for that day is shorter.

We hope you are, similarly, the boss of your Monday!

So Excited for the Season

Brain cancer is...

 ...so excited for the holiday season!

Our family celebrates Christmas.  It's Darrell's and my favorite holiday.  Even though we always love Christmas, this year we are absurdly happy to see the season upon us.  It seems like many people feel the same way. To us, it seems like people put their lights up early, have already decorated, and are maximizing their celebration time period.   We love it!

Above are the first dingle balls of the season, which appeared on Thanksgiving.  If you're not from around here, "dingle balls" is our term for the light ornaments that several streets near us put up.  Crowds of cars drive through, and lots of walkers appreciate them every night.  They are pretty magical.  Here's a close up. 

You could probably make some, Roene.  Advance warning, Team D.:  You will almost certainly be subjected to more dingle ball photos in the days to come.  We love dingle balls.

Guess what.  It gets better!  Santa came early.  Today Santa left this holiday cheer on our porch:

 

 And also a gingerbread house, especially designed for engineers.  Santa knows Darrell!

Also, baby Mousse got his first ugly sweater.  You can see his opinion of it:

Except for Mousse, we are all having a wonderful day.  We hope you are too!

More of the Same Awesome Humor

Brain cancer is...

...still awesome in its humor.

You know what Darrell said as he approached me in the Ralph's vegetable aisle with this bag and a chuckle:  "I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, you know!" Chuckle chuckle,  (Zoom in for the turnip.)

We laughed so many times throughout the day.  "Loose leaking lips sink ships,"  Darrell  said to Beowulf over lunch.

We enjoyed dinner with Alex and Tiana at Twisted Vine, in preparation for their interview journeys.

 
Good luck, A and T! We love you! A and D

And we love you, Team D!

Cancer Eradication Efforts by the Numbers

Brain cancer is...

...battled by Chemo Day Five.

Darrell's last dose of chemo for the month is today.  For the number lovers on the team, here are some of Darrell's cancer eradication effort numbers: 

1. With today's dose, Darrell will have completed eight cycles of maintenance chemo.
2. If he continues to tolerate it well, he has just four cycles of chemo remaining. (Regardless of the state of his tumor, Temodar is too toxic to take for more than one year.)
3. He will complete maintenance chemo on March 17, 2017. 
4. March 17 is Tiana's and Alex's match day as well, so Darrell will be 2,676 miles away to celebrate that last dose.
5. Today we changed Darrell's Optune arrays.  We change approximately every four days.  This was our 59th change.  
6. During our walk at the park this morning, Darrell said, "Good morning!" fifteen times.  

Here's how great it sounded:

 Alternate Video Link

There are 53 Fridays in 2016.  Happy Number 48, Everyone!

One More Index Card

Brain cancer is...

...thankful for one more index card.

Each time the Guillaumes host a holiday meal, we write the menu on an index card to guide our preparation throughout the day.  In the evening, we tuck that index card into the pocket of our family recipe notebook to join a collection of cards gathered over the last 30 years.

Today we are exceedingly grateful to tuck one more index card into that notebook.

For the Bird Fans

(We didn't want to leave you hanging!)  Darrell woke up early this morning.  His first words?  "I am excited about my birds.  My precious fowl!"  Below he brings them to juicy, crispy perfection.

Our hearts are full of gratitude for everything--but especially everyone--that life has placed in our path this year.   Thank you, and all of our family's best to you and yours.

Turkey Launch

Brain cancer is...

 ...doing the turkey math.

We are looking forward to the official day of thankfulness tomorrow, with lots of cooking, family, fun, and good thoughts of loved ones wherever you are.

Darrell continued (above) his complicated work with mathematical formulae.  He is roasting both a turkey and a duck tomorrow.  You can imagine the word problem:  "If the turkey weighs 15 pounds, the duck weighs 6 pounds, and they cook at different temperatures..."

(No, Mom, the answer is not, "15 minutes," says Darrell.  Ha.  Turkey Wars continue.)

In other news:

At the park, Mousse practiced poses for any potential Labrador Retriever calendar offers that might come his way.

With Tiana finishing at Kaiser in Los Angeles this evening, Alex and Tiana are finished with all of their externships.  Monday starts the heaviest month of the residency interview season.  Lots of Northern California next week.

Our warm wishes are heading your way for the best of all tomorrow has to offer.

Gratitude for the Simple Things

Brain cancer is...

...loving speech therapy (not).

That's Darrell, picking up hearts with sheer muscle power, above.  Even though he's not loving therapy, he's diligent.  Therapist Kristen comments positively on his progress.

Here are a couple points of gratitude from today:

We are grateful that we can have three generations gather for breakfast on a Tuesday morning.

Today at therapy we told Kristen that we too appreciate the progress Darrell is making in the things that his tumor made difficult for him.

Our prime example from today is that, on the way to breakfast, Darrell was teaching Zach and me to calculate the momentum of two NFL players crashing together.  (Hint:  Start with the formula p = mv.)

So much of Darrell's knowledge and skill remains intact that it's the new gaps that are the counter example.  We've mentioned telling time as an example of a new gap.  We discovered this gap n the hospital with Kristen post surgery, in fact.  That day, Darrell threw up his hands and said, "I've got nothing!" when she asked him to draw the face of a clock.

Today my eyes stung in therapy when Darrell dashed out this sketch, with the time Kristen requested.

We are so grateful for the things we used to take for granted. 

Lacking in Contrast

Brain cancer is...

...fading, it appears.

Dr. Cloughesy confirmed the good news regarding Darrell's scan:  No new growth.


In the images, above, Numbers 1 and 2 are the former scan (September).  Numbers 3 and 4 are the current scan (November).


Compare Numbers 1 and 3, and compare 2 and 4.  Numbers 2 and 4 show the edema (swelling).  Dr. Cloughesy says there's a little less edema in 4 than in 2.  That is, the gray saucer shape is thinner this month than last time. There's a little less swelling now.


Numbers 1 and 3 compare the tumor cavity itself.  You see in Number 3 that there is no change in size of the tumor cavity.  No growth.  Now comes the new hopeful thing:  Do you see how Number 3 is lower contrast than Number 1?  It's harder to see the tumor cavity itself? 


We forgot until today that important piece of MRI information:  Tumor and related cells "light up" on a contrast MRI.  Therefore, it follows that the less "lit up" tissue there is, the less tumorous tissue there might be.  See this website for a helpful primer on brain MRIs.


Dr. Cloughesy was guarded in his interpretation of the low contrast.  For instance, he asked Darrell if the tech had trouble getting the contrast dye into Darrell's arm during the test.  (No trouble, by the way.)


It's pretty difficult not to feel optimistic about these results in any case.  Thanks you, cancer treatments!


Darrell's next appointment with Dr. Cloughesy isn't until next year:  January 2017.  That sounds pretty sweet doesn't it Team D?


Have a sweet, sweet Monday!

Thanks You!

Brain cancer is...

...tucked in at Tiverton.

We are all settled at UCLA for Darrell's 8 a.m. appointment.  One sweet thing Darrell has been saying recently is "thanks you" in place of "thank you."


We feel grateful daily, but this is the season of thanks.  Here's why we say "thanks you" today.


Thanks you...

The church we see out our window at Tiverton house

...that we live near great medical care.


Thanks you...

...for each other. And for selfie kisses.


Thanks you...

Welcome home, T!

...for happy, healthy kids who are close enough by to enjoy lunch in LA with us.


Thanks you...

...for Chihuly umbrellas, and for the rain to necessitate their use.


And a huge thanks you to....
...Team Boo!  Today was the big reveal.  Our gratitude to the people who made our Halloween so magical:  Kim N., Christine, Denise, Mary, Hallie, Nani, Ruth, Heather, Lisa, Michelle, and the Case Clan.  Thanks for the extra time and effort on your part.  We are so very thankful for the best Halloween ever.


Thanks you, Team D., for your continual support and for teaching us daily lessons of gratitude. 

Loquacious

Brain cancer is...

Saturday at Twisted Vine

...loquacious.

Talk, talk, talk.  Darrell woke up chattering today.  We've had the pleasure of Alex's company this weekend, with Tiana at another Texas interview. Alex and I have enjoyed Darrell's (1) high word count and (2) wittiness today.  One example from the myriad of quips:  "Hand me the keys, Eloise!"

Yes, he started talking before Twisted vine.  Also, lest you're concerned by the number of wine glasses in the pic, above, I had a flight of whites. 

November Blood Results

Darrell's blood work results from Thursday are in.  Recall that Dr. Park taught us to read the results because we won't see him this month.  All the counts are in the normal range for cancer patients.  Darrell's  nuetrophils  are at a cancer-low of 1.6 k/cmm, but Dr. Park said a count as low as 1.5 k/cmm would be acceptable for Darrell to start chemo on Monday.  Also, Dr. Park told us that blood counts climb daily after chemo, so they would probably be higher if we tested Monday.

Alex suggests that we share the results with Dr. Cloughesy and team and ask when we should be concerned.  For now, all systems are go for the next round of chemo.

Happy Saturday, Team D.  We are thankful for you.

Fortunate!

Brain cancer is...

..."slightly decreased in size."

Above is a slice of the email Darrell sent me, excerpting the radiologist's report of yesterday's scan.  As you know, we consider results tentative until UCLA's Dr. Cloughesy (Monday) reads the scan, but "no evidence of new enhancing mass" is pretty hard to argue with.

Although we know that life can change on a dime, today we feel like the most fortunate people in the world.

 

Thumbs Up for Another Scan!

Brain cancer is...

...scanned again!

Darrell was originally a bit hesitant to go two months between MRIs, and then suddenly the day was upon us!  

Zachary joined us for a very smooth morning. The technicians were able to take Darrell in early, and thus finish early. They also ensured that the image "slice size" was set back to the smaller 4 mm, which will make comparisons with past scans more informative.

MRI results are pending, as are this morning's blood work results.

Thanks for your continued good thoughts, friends!

Appreciating Opportunities

Brain cancer is...

 ...appreciating every opportunity that has come our way.

Today Darrell kept things going at home while Hallie, Ruth and I presented a workshop on Active Teaching.  We have been doing these workshops for teachers around the region since our book was released in 2007.  Thank, Karen D'Abusco!  Hallie, Ruth, and I took a few moments to appreciate the opportunity to work with good people on important topics.

Darrell joined in appreciating traditions and friendships.  And here's to the opportunities to come...for us all!

Leaping Tall Buildings

Brain cancer is...

 ...still leaping tall buildings.

Tuesday is the only day of the week when Darrell doesn't wake up saying, "It's going to be a great today."  It's speech therapy day.  I am so proud of him for (a) doing his speech homework daily and (b) going to his weekly session.  Those things are difficult enough, but today's session really proved his super hero status.

It was one of the days where we thought about titling our post, "Brain cancer is hard."  Upon questioning, we admitted to therapist Kristin that one of the cancer workarounds we have developed is that Andi does the majority of spoken communication with strangers, in places like auto parts shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. (You know me.  This takes no special effort on my part. Ha!)

Darrell's homework this week is to do more speaking in public settings.  That's hard for me because I need to change my role again ("Shape shifter powers! Don't speak! Watch Darrell!"), but imagine this assignment for Darrell.  ("Hey Darrell!  You know that one skill that is most difficult for you?  Speaking?  Take that skill and do it more...in front of people you don't know.")   

But he's doing it.  We went to Ralph's after speech, and he picked out these flowers for me and did all the talking.

See?  Leaping tall buildings.

But wait!  There's more!

The Dynamic Duo, Seamstress and Engineer, created and hung the kitchen window valance.  Pow!  Zap!

We suspect that every day you are no doubt similarly asked to leap a tall building, to do something that challenges your superhero powers.  Kapow!  Boom!  to you. Keep on leaping!

Cabin Day Eleven

Brain cancer is...

...pretty dang proud of an 11-day Cabin Day record!

After taking one final forest walk....

 ...we headed down the mountain and are getting ready for the week.

Beowulf was happy to be back, despite the fact that he was perfectly camouflaged in the forest.

 Can you spot the dog?

We are happy to be back too.  What a treat it was! Darrell says, "Poopy chomp!"

Cabin Day Ten

Brain cancer is...

 

...happy to hit double digit Cabin Days.

Whoo! Whoo!  Even our neighbor Mike noticed our accomplishment today: Long cabin stay!  Today  was more the same awesomeness: Breakfast at North Shore Café, hiking (above), lunch at the Pines, deck sitting, movies, etc.

Even large bears were on the team today (above), looking right.  Happy Sunday, Team D.! 

Cabin Day Nine

Brain cancer is...

...enjoying Alex's company.

With Tiana interviewing in Seattle, Alex came up to spend a couple days.  We enjoyed an outing to the local brewery, Big Bear Lake Brewing Company.


On the way back to the cabin, we were amazed by this sunset.

Just after we took this shot, Team D members sent us beautiful sunset shots from their varied locales. 


There is something reassuring about viewing the same miracle from different perspectives.


Happy Saturday, everyone!

Cabin Day Eight

Brain cancer is...

...having another great day (as predicted).

Darrell chose this image to capture the day:

He says, "If this is your biggest problem, you know it's a great day."

In Other News

• Mousse Offerings:  Mousse has just about had it with Cabin Days.  Zach says he leaves offerings outside our bedroom door in Fullerton, in hopes that the offerings will draw us back home.  We'll come home someday, Mousse!  We love you.

• Optune Fun Fact:  When we were ordering fresh arrays today, Melissa at Optune told us that Optune has just under 1,000 US users.  That seems a lot of users for such a rare disease.  All the cool kids are using Optune, we conclude.
• Happy Veterans Day!  Thanks, veterans and active service people, for your service.

Cabin Day Seven

Brain cancer is...

A granite outcropping in the forest near the cabin

 ...feeling satisfied with our new routine.

My husband is brilliant.  He's the one who wanted to break our record of "consecutive days stayed at the cabin."  Upon Day Seven, we can confirm that (a) we've surpassed our previous record soundly, and (b) we may never come back down the mountain. 

Staying for seven days has allowed us to get over the novelty we always experience when we step out of the car and smell the mountains.  Now we've built a daily routine that looks like this:

• Wake up with the sunlight in the room where we spent our honeymoon.
• Enjoy breakfast--and later lunch--on the deck.
• Do chores for a couple hours.  (Darrell does the chores; Andi looks like she's doing chores.)
• Walk in some beautiful place.
• Have dinner at the dining table.
• Walk Beowulf...now and at three other times throughout the day.
• Sit on the deck and listen to the wind in the trees.
• Start a fire.
• Do homework.
• Enjoy a movie.
• Appreciate one final Beowulf walk, gawking at the bright stars.
• Go to bed.
• Sleep (but first read until it feels decadent). 
• Repeat.

We are beginning to feel that if we maintain this routine, we might create a world wherein we won't need to come down the hill to speech therapy, blood work, scans, and doctor visits.  Maybe if we stay here, we can keep the world the same, and small. 

Not really, but we are learning the gift of enough time away to settle in. 

We hope there is beauty in your routines today, Team D.

Cabin Day Six

Brain cancer is..

...working to make sense.

If you know us, Team D, you know our politics. The presidential election did not go our way last night.  (Side note: This is often the case for us.)  We completely respect that we are all entitled to our own convictions, and we don't mean to alienate anyone with this post. We trust in the democratic process.  Our sole attempt here is to continue sharing Darrell's life experience from his perspective. 


We went to bed last night worried. Today we woke up trying to make sense of our changing political milieu.  A new (for us) hike in the woods gave us a chance to think metaphorically and find a context for our country's future.

Alternative YouTube Video Link

Having time together to think and talk in this beautiful place did help.  What helped more, though, was the message that our friend and Dean of the CSUF College of Education, Lisa Kirtman, shared with her daughter as Lisa sent her off to high school this morning: No matter what happens next, "Be strong, be brave, be kind, and be a leader."


Thanks for your wisdom, Lisa, and for allowing us to post your words here. 


Here's to us, Team D, and to our country--no matter our candidates--as we act on our convictions and as we remain strong, brave, and kind to each other.

Cabin Day Five

Brain cancer is...

Mega Pile

Mini Pile

...not interfering with Darrell's wood stacking skills.

His careful work pretty much constituted the accomplishments of Cabin Day Five.

Then we watched the newest Star Trek movie...twice. Two thumbs up from the Guillaumes.

Our friends remarked on the quietness of the mountains.  

We love it too and wanted to share it with you, so we made this video of 27 seconds on our upper deck. 

Alternate video link

For us it's a great antidote for Election Day jitters. Maybe for you too, Team D?

Cabin Day Four

Brain cancer is...

smiles

...grinning.

Darrell is right again: Another great day. 

We hope it's great where you are too.

Cabin Day Three

Brain cancer is...

Lake View

...figuring out how to live. 

We started Cabin Day Three with a walk near the lake.

 Beth and Geoff

Darrell and Andi
By the way, the two photos, above, were taken at the same location  as the was the first photo posted in our blog...way back in February.

Later Curt and Barbie joined us.

Deck Fun

We enjoyed a great meal at the Pines Lakefront.

Six Happy Friends

More than once during the day we looked at each other, puzzled, and asked why it took us so long to figure out how to live.

Day Two

Brain cancer is...

lake walk

...hanging with friends.

Beth and Geoff came up for the weekend. The photo link I hope I posted is us walking in the forest with a view of the lake. Lucky us! 

The other big event of Cabin Stay Day Two  was that we had a half cord of hardwood delivered (um, actually dumped), and we had to carry it piece by piece off the road and near our stacking wall.

wood pile

That was a lot of wood!

We hope you are having a good Saturday.

Curt and Barbie: Get up here!

Day One

Brain cancer is...

Cheers!

...aiming for a personal best.

If the link, above, works, you see us enjoying lunch at the North Shore Cafe.

We headed up the mountain today, and we plan to beat our record for how long we stay at the cabin. 

We think our record is four days. We plan to beat that record.

Work, work, work.

Day One...and counting. Cheers!

Homework Check

Brain cancer is...

 

...concerned that you're doing your homework.

You know we're professors, right?  We need to check back in with you to see that you're working on your homework.  Gentle reminder:  You were to confirm that you have a place.  We haven't heard from you.  What progress have you made?

Above you see Gordon and Darrell enjoying one of our places for breakfast. We are happy to share our place with you.  We like the breakfast burrito.  Gordon enjoys the cowboy scramble.  Mimosas?  Not optional.  Otherwise get what you like.

We realize that your Thursdays might be spent at work, but please do move this homework item to the top your to-do list if it slipped down.

Bonus Content:  More Stuff We Didn't Know

Because so many of our days are leisurely, we're learning new things about the world.  For example, did you know that there are places where you can hand people your money and sit on the patio while they wash your car inside and out?

Weird.