Easter Weekend and Beyond

Hello, gang....  

I wanted to share the fun Easter Weekend that we had with you.

We arrived home from the condo on Good Friday afternoon.  A couple of hours later, dear friend Dennis came over with the love of his life, Cheryl.  It was wonderful to finally meet her.  She and I hit it off immediately...we became fast friends.

They brought over huge pork chops stuffed with a seafood dressing.  The boys plopped 'em on the grill, while I whipped up some fresh Snow Peas from the garden, with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. 

On Saturday, our Chris came over.  When he arrived, the 5 of us headed to Crystal's Trip for a few beers.  Then, on to our favorite Chinese joint.  All you can eat plus Snow Crab Legs and Boiled Shrimp.  Nanette managed to embarrass not only her husband, but the other men at the table.  "Christ, Dominic!  Where does she put all of that food???  My God!!!".    *grinning*

Dennis and Cheryl headed back to Metairie, while Dom, Chris and I headed back to our place for more fun.

Easter Sunday morning, I made my traditional breakfast of creamed hard-boiled eggs and asparagus over English Muffins.

Dinner was great-  A nice kosher salt encrusted Standing Rib Roast that I had plugged with garlic  (a little too cooked for my liking, but the boys were delighted-  I like my beef to MOO at me).  On the side, I had a Spinach Souffle, Balsamic Carmelized Pearl Onions and Au Gratin Potatoes.  Chris brought cupcakes for dessert.  We had a lovely time.

Chris left on Monday morning, and yours truly went into a cleaning frenzy.  Dom's childhood best friend, "Big John" drove down from Cleveland on Friday.  The boys had alot of fun shooting pistols and rifles, reminiscing about their glory days and drinking beer.  He stayed until the following Saturday.

Dennis and Dom

Our Chris and The Dominic

Rib Roast in Bondage

 

Ready for the Oven

"Big John and Nanette"

We now have our home back, and are enjoying our solitude....  for a couple days, anyway.... then LET THE FUN BEGIN AGAIN!!!!!  Happy Saturday, gang!

Another Milestone- Goodbye Thalidomide..... Goodbye Coumadin!

We got some wonderful news at our Tulane Cancer Center yesterday.  Dom had to have his monthly Zometa infusion.  He mentioned to our Nurse Practitioner that his neuropathy had slowly spread up to mid calf/shin in the past 2 weeks.  Nothing serious, just wanted to give them a heads-up that he was feeling slightly numb.

Much to our delight, they conferred with Dr. Safah who told him to stop the Thalidomide.  (As well as the Coumadin)  Dom was scheduled to go off of the "poison" in July, which will be his 2 year post transplant anniversary.....aka his Second Birthday.  (I'm dreading going through his "terrible twos"  LOL )

His numbers continue to increase, too.  Thus, she felt no trepidation about stopping the Thalidomide.  Hurrah for The Dominic!

So now, we're just looking at his monthly infusion of Zometa!        ZOMETA INFO  

"Most multiple myeloma patients develop bone disease, which can cause bone fractures that are extremely painful and debilitating. The current gold standard for treating myeloma bone disease is bisphosphonates, a class of drugs that slow the breakdown of bone, thereby reducing the number of fractures."

HCT:    35.7

WBC:   5.4

ANC:    3000

PLATELET:  231

Holy Week at the Beach- Heavenly!



Dom and Donn






Coyote Ugly

 


Oysters and Buck Pint Beers at Dee's Hangout




THESE are Po-Boys at Dee's!

  http://deeshangout.com/

 On Palm Sunday, we took a quick 3 hour drive to Pensacola and spent the day/night with Joe and Ping.  Ping was going to cook us a "late lunch" so we could go out and have a few beers.  OMG.  Their kitchen table is about 4'x6'....she covered it with food!

She had ginger/pork stuffed jalapenos, soup, a huge bowl of noodles with veggies, stir fried mushrooms and carrots, a huge seasoned pork roast and a bowl of seasoned chicken legs.  I was especially blown away by her mushrooms...she had them sliced in strips.... they looked and had the texture of bamboo shoots.  When I asked her what kind they were, she reached into the fridge and pulled out a mushroom stem the size of a beer can!  Wow!

After that, we caught up with Joes' sister, Sherri and her husband, Bill.... hit a few local bars.  Had a great time! 

Got an early start on Monday-  a quick 2 hour drive and we were at our condo.  Plenty of people in the water, but still too cold for me.

Spent alot of time with Donn and Tina across the street.  Don continues to stock our condo with goodies.  How I adore that man!

Ate out a couple of times-  Los Rancheros for great fajitas and our new favorite joint next to Coyote Ugly...  "Dee's Hangout".  He's got the BEST po-boys around.  I even asked him if he was a New Orleans boy.  Nope.... but you'd never know it from his food.


Made friends with a PCB butcher who gave me a WONDERFUL price for a 10 pound standing rib roast for Easter Sunday.    Picked that up on the way home on Good Friday.

We had a grand time, as per usual!

Another Milestone- Another Clean Bill of Health!

Hi gang-

I've got some wonderful news to share....  Dom is still in COMPLETE REMISSION/RESPONSE 21 months post Stem Cell Transplant.

I was secretly fretting, as the results came in on Thursday while we were at the condo.  We played phone tag with our Colleen, with no luck.

Good Friday came.... left a message for her.  No reply.

I thought, "Well.... she doesn't want to ruin our holiday weekend" and put on a brave face.

She called us with the good news yesterday.  She was off on Friday.  WHEW.  Cancer is some scary shit!

Pablo, Paloma and Their Child, Scruffy

Hi guys...  wanted to share something amusing with you.  We have a family of possums living in our wood pile.  (Much to Dom's displeasure).  These guys LOVE catfood.

The female, Paloma, hangs out with the cats during the daylight hours.  I speak softly to her, and she has no fear of me any more.  She intensely watches me interact with my cats, petting and "kootchi koooing" them.  She knows I'm no threat.

Pablo and their little one, "Scruffy"  (man, is he!) come out at sundown, and aren't nearly as comfortable around people.

I figured that if I named them, Dom won't shoot them.  I catch him swinging a broom near them every once and awhile!  I keep telling him that they're "God's Little Creatures". 

Pablo and Paloma Possum

Paloma with her Ham Bone

Scruffy

 

Paloma in the Foreground and Pablo in the Back

I make sure that they're well fed.  I rewarded Paloma with a ham bone last week!