How platelets are formed

Back from a terrific vacation at Glacier National Park. We stayed in a handicapped accessible cabin in the woods just outside of Whitefish Montana, with Lynn's Aden cousins (Tom and Donna, Mel and Betsy, Marilyn). This hardy group of adventurers had been with us in Alaska for the occasion of Deborah and Lynn's 35th anniversary and they were on hand to celebrate our 40th with the Glacier Park tour.

We drove into the park three days running, took a tour with the Red Buses (got a van with a lift instead of the classic Ford busses), and enjoyed seeing a bear and a few goats.

The last night, when the Adens had gone back to CA and Chicago, Lynn and Deborah spent the night in the very Tyrolean Many Glaciers Lodge in the national park - enjoying stars from our balcony and a great sense of being part of history in this 100-year old lodge.

Plans were to return to Portland with a day of rest and then resume chemo treatments. But once again, the lab work said Lynn didn't have the right platelet counts to be confident that the chemo treatment would be successful. We were psyched for this round of chemo - timing all this treatment to maximize strength and endurance for some fun family occasions. Instead, we're doing what we can to increase platelet counts and enjoying company of friends and family. Lynn's ability to laugh has been enhanced by all this it seems. He and niece Alexay are watching Airplane, and from what I can tell there's something funny every 15 seconds!

click here for a 8 minute Silly Platelet Video (1 of 3)

Getting ready for Glacier National Park

Been a busy time between getting out of the hospital and getting ready for our trip to Glacier National Park. Lots of home health care activity - new transport wheelchair, fancy new lift chair, o.t. and p.t. and some other "t"'s we actually haven't yet deciphered. In between all these medical experiences we've had lots of terrific visits with friends and family.

Lynn's NYC sister Marta Cooper and her husband Gordon came in this week, occasioning visits from other family including Seattle sister Elizabeth (with Melinda and Aden), and Sausalito cousin Tom Aden (with Donna). Good meals on our deck, walks around our neighborhood, and talks about everything family. The family visit overlapped with a visit from Lynn's great friends Dave and Diana Phillips  who whisked us off to a loop tour of the Columbia River - spending time at   Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge  (still skiing and snowboarding, despite warm weather) and watching the kite surfing in the Gorge.

We're organizing our anniversary trip to Glacier National Park that begins this Friday. Tom and Donna will meet us up there-  as will cousin Mel and his wife Betsy, and oldest Aden sister Marilyn.
Tom and Donna are staying in a tipi (not their usual kind of travel), and the rest of us are in a cabin.

We're all at a resort just outside the park, with plans to drive beautiful roads and see as much as we can of the park. Lynn's doctor encouraged the trip - but we changed from train to plane (because of the announced  average 4-6 hour train delays).

What have we learned recently that's worth sharing with readers? Lots about adaptive technology - there seems to be something mechanical to address many of the inconveniences of disease. Here's a photo of Lynn's adaptive hand gadget - makes it possible to stay right handed for eating and other activities.

And lots about family and friends - they are great comfort, distraction, compassion, and help!

Vampire Weekend

The first week of July is typically quiet and predictable. Fourth of July festivities, Deborah's birthday, nice weather, a few turns cooking outdoors.

This year there were a few extra fireworks..

Lynn's been taking some medication to keep blood clots at bay that was making it hard to stop bleeding in general. He spent two nights in the Emergency Room under observation, getting blood transfusions that seemed to just vanish from his lab results. No vampires in sight, but do you ever really know?


During a fun weekend with Lynn back at home with Jono, Dana and Meghan tested out the rooftop grill in our apartment.

Deborah's mother Joyce joined the West Coast crew, and took Deborah on an overnight birthday adventure to Skamania Lodge, a spa/golf resort in the Columbia Gorge just over the Washington State border past Bridge of the Gods..




Lynn's blood count continued to drop, so he was admitted to the OHSU hospital to figure out what was going on. The team determined that it was best to replace the blood clot medication with a mechanical device to keep blood clots from traveling and installed a small filter in a vein to do the trick. Lynn got terrific care at the OHSU Kohler Pavilion - especially enjoying the fancy hoist that keep moving him around. To the delight/embarassment of his nursing staff, he would sing a few refrains from Peter's Pan's "I'm Flying".

In case you forgot this memorable baby boomer musical, here's a link to Mary Martin's performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EecrNTxaUy0

(think Lynn actually prefers the Cathy Rigby version)




Giving Joyce a tour of OHSU helps us appreciate the care and surroundings there. Things that stood out: --the view of Mount Hood from the hospital room

-- mouth watering descriptions of meals on the daily menus
-- inspiring artwork everywhere
-- an air bed...with extensions (extremely nice for a 6'1" patient!)
-- direct access to real time test results so we could stay on top of information
-- free coffee for visitors over age 60 at all the hospital cafes

Taking care of Lynn was not quite as colorful as the photo below, but I liked the imagery!

Settling in

Thanks to friends and family our apartment is beginning to look like us. We've figured out where to put most of the things that are important to us - including an array of photos of family and travels - and we're almost at the point where we can find things within one or two tries.

The Pearl is a great place to explore -each day we find a new store or restaurant that delights. And many of the restaurants/bars are opening at 9 am to show World Cup soccer, giving us a different view of neighbors.

Lynn continues to have adventures related to his health and treatment - we had to put off the second round of chemo because of blood levels but hope to get that in this Thursday. The radiation seemed to have helped alot with pain, providing a nice respite from round the clock drugs and winces. Moving into palliative care from aggressive cancer fighting is a bit strange. We're still battling this cancer-and hope that the radiation and chemo shrink the tumors to extend Lynn's life and make the quality of life better.  But it's an odd feeling, to know that there's a limit to what can be done.

Lynn's calendar has filled with visits from friends and family.  His friend Bob Luther came by last week and helped him get a new hat. My friend Katherine Klein did some redecorating/rearranging of our new apartment when she came in for an overnight trip.

And Jess and Nicole spent a week testing out the guest room, and getting in the midst of managing some of the treatment stuff.  They were instrumental in Lynn's successful quest to start a rose garden on our balcony.

That excursion had some fun ripple effects. In order to get shards for the bottom of the rose planters, they wrote the word "Cancer" on an old clay pot, and took turns with a hammer to "smash cancer". Very rewarding!

Grandma Joyce comes in next week for Deborah's birthday, straight from her cross-Canada train tour. She and Deborah will take off for an overnight to a spa/hotel in the mountains while Dana and Meghan hang with Lynn.

Keep those good thoughts and cards coming!