Merry Christmas and Hapy New Year

Merry Christmas from Iowa City

Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that we would be spending Christmas in Iowa and, as it stands right now,  we will probably see the start of spring here!! No, there has not been a transplant yet for Charlie, in fact, we haven’t even had a “standby call” since September. 

We decided that the blog will be our Christmas letter since we left our Christmas card list, etc. back in Roseville – that was definitely not something that we thought that we needed to bring along with us last January!

We just had a very special visit with friends from Eastern Washington – Rose and Bob Gray. We call them our “travel friends” – we met them on trip to Russia in 2004 and since then have been so fortunate to be able to travel together over 6 times with them from Africa to Machu Picchu!  We had a fun time chatting about our travel adventures and planning ahead to trips that we all want to take in the future. It is always hard when people leave – we want to crawl into their suitcases!

We have not had any snow yet, but it has been down in the “teens” at night. Hopefully, we will get some once the families all get here. Meg and her family arrive on the 18^th and will be here until the 26^th and Doug and his family come on the 23^rd and will be here until the 28^th. It is going to be so great to all be together again. It was actually last year after Christmas when we were all together in Portland that we got the call from the doctors in Iowa that we needed to get to Iowa City!

Charlie has been feeling well the last month – mainly, he doesn’t have a lot of stamina which is to be expected. This Thursday he will have his 23^rd endoscopy and then on Friday a heart CT scan followed by an appointment with the heart doctor.

We have the apartment decorated with a 4 ½ foot Christmas tree and then a little table top one. Again, we did not think about bringing Christmas decorations so Meg had Lucy make us some for the tree and then I have added a few. We have some poinsettias around so the place is looking quite festive! Oh, we also strung lights out on our balcony! All we need is some snow……..

It has been quite a year and looking back on it we so realize how fortunate we are that Charlie has stayed in relatively stable health, to be under the care of fantastic doctors at the U of Iowa Hospitals, to be living in a great apartment in a LIVELY downtown setting, a loving family willing to make frequent trips to Iowa City bringing grandkids so we can get our “grandparent fix” , and last, but definitely not least, all of you supportive friends who have emailed, called, sent cards, and have kept us in prayer. It truly has made this year much easier along the way. Yes, we certainly do get discouraged and truly wonder if the “call” will ever come and periodically, one of us will say, “I want to go home!” or “I want to see the grand kids!”  But….2012 was good!

Last time we gave you an address, but we now have one at our apartment. It is: 

           201 S Linn #908 Iowa City, Iowa 52240

We will try to add some pictures and hopefully, will have an easier time than we did last time.

                                Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Pictures for Happy Thanksgiving Blog

Happy Thanksgiving (Almost)

Happy Thanksgiving (Almost)

 

Well, what can we say - uh, it is November and it is just over 7 weeks until Christmas!! And…..we will be here in Iowa for Christmas! In fact, we are looking at being here until February at least. You know we really just have to laugh about this – can you imagine the dust that has built up in our house? I certainly hope that I didn’t forget something in the refrigerator that has now grown a great case of mold on it! We may have a whole science experiment in the refrigerator!

October started off with a visit with our good friends, John and Denise Hulsebus, from home (they were here in March also) – they took the train from Roseville leaving on a Sunday and arriving in Mount Pleasant, IA (about an hour from here) on Tuesday around noon.  We had a great time with them and we feel like it is such a blessing when we get to see friends!

Mid-October I drove to Des Moines for the day to have lunch with my girl friends – there were about 12 of us there. Some of us have known each other for a very long time – I won’t say how long other than to say it has been since grade school! It was really fun. I got a chance also to visit Whole Foods which just opened there this fall and also the big mall.

October is birthday month for Charlie and I and we got the biggest surprise ever (no, not a liver, but the next best thing) – on the weekend between our two birthdays, Meg and Doug surprised us by flying here. We had been out shopping and upon arriving back at the apartment there they were!! Needless to say, we were stunned, thrilled, shocked  speechless  - the later being rather rare for me! They came on Friday and flew back home on Monday.  We still can’t believe it and it was such a fun weekend.  The morning before they came, we had both commented that we were feeling very weary of all of this and that we so missed the kids and their families! We are so thankful for them and they were so thrilled that they were able to pull it off without out us guessing – of course, they did not tell their children until the night before or we would have known!!

Charlie had his 22^nd endoscopy a couple of weeks ago – 4 varices banded and then last week had an ultrasound, lab work, and visit with the liver doctor. The result of all of this is that he is staying relatively stable and his fatigue etc is to be expected as the doctor said, “You have liver disease!”

October was truly a beautiful month here and we so enjoyed the beautiful trees and cool, crisp weather. My favorite time of the year has always been fall and Iowa truly has beautiful ones! But…winter is approaching, we have had several frosts.

As we said at the start, we will be here for Christmas (at least) and both families are coming here to be with us! Once we realized that there was no way we would be back home by then, the family all made plans to come and we are very thankful! Once they get here we hope that we will have snow!!

Several have wondered what our address is so here it is: P O Box 5278 Coralville, IA 52241.

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving – we are hoping that Charlie is in the hospital and that we are eating Thanksgiving dinner there!

Iowa Harvest Time

September 30, 2012

OK, I was just reading an earlier blog where I said, “Can you believe that we have been here almost 10 WEEKS, well now, we can say that can you believe that we have been here almost 10 MONTHS!! October 5^th will be the 10 month anniversary?????? I hope that we won’t have to say, “Wow, we have been here 10 years waiting!” Waiting, waiting, waiting – we did have another “false alarm” about two weeks ago – the nurse called that there was a liver for Charlie and that she would call back shortly with the room.  When she called back, and as she was giving me the room number, the surgeon walked in where she was and announced that the family had decided not to donate the organ! Seriously????????? (If you haven’t talked with your family about your wishes about Organ Donation please do so now and get it down in writing!)

Just a little info – you can go to unos.org, which is the national registry for organ donation. On that, you will see that as of today, that there are 115,827 people waiting for transplants!! 73,877 are on the “Active list” – the difference is that candidates can be placed on the inactive list for health conditions which would make surgery impossible temporarily.  If you are interested, you can then click on transplant and get all sorts of info. We are in District 8 and Charlie is O negative.  You can even get down to the transplant centers. I check it all out frequently!! But…..do give a thought to being an organ donor. From one donor in May (when Charlie was actually in the hospital waiting for the transplant) the doctors were able to use the lungs, heart, kidneys and a liver of one donor! 6 people have a future from that!! Please give it some thought and also talk to your friends and family! It is a matter of life and death for many people.

We had a fun visit with Meg and Lucy a couple of weeks ago – our set up here makes it such a fun playground for kids! You walk out of the hotel/apartment complex and you are on the pedestrian mall with playground equipment, fountains, library, and space to RUN! Lucy would take off running from the door…..where else can you just run and run in a downtown setting? We went to a pumpkin farm, saw Charlotte’s Web at the Children’s Museum, had a picnic at a state park, and just had so much fun. We hadn’t see Lucy since February! It is always hard to see family leave.

The fall coloring is gorgeous now – we are having those crisp, sunny, warm days and it is just beautiful. Last Thursday we drove over to the Mississippi River at Muscatine and then followed the River Road up to Davenport and then back here. It was a beautiful outing!

We miss you all!

Hot August Nites

September 4, 2012

Well, why yes we are still in Iowa and yes we are still waiting – 9 months tomorrow we’ve been here! We have to admit that we are starting to get a little bummed at times and want to go HOME! After a time of this, then we realize again how fortunate we are, but really, isn’t it about time?????

We did have another “call” last Wednesday – we were attending a matinee at a theater out at Amana and just as it was starting we got a call from the hospital telling us that they had a liver for Charlie and that we needed to come immediately! So we, along with my brother and wife, headed back to Iowa City. About half way back, we got another call saying don’t come right away just wait until we call you – “the doctor had some things to sort out yet with the organ.” So we waited and waited and finally we found out that it was a “no go!” Needless, to say, we were really upset! What a roller coaster of emotions we are on….. We just need to keep reminding ourselves that the “right one” for Charlie will come along!!

I had a fun visit with four dear school friends – 3 from Des Moines and one who lives in MN. They came for lunch and then we had a great time playing cards. It has been a big bonus being able to catch up with these friends – we have known each other for hum, can I say, over 60 years!! Marty, who lives in MN, and I started to kindergarten together!

We really love this apartment and the space we have is just amazing after spending 8 months in a hotel room! We have gotten some flowers so Charlie has his “garden” to take care of….we will include a picture! Our patio is really quite large – 40 feet by almost 8 feet.

Charlie has been feeling much better the last couple of weeks – all things considered! We are very thankful for this. He is scheduled for another endoscopy next week. The last 2 of these have not required any banding of varices which was good. Hopefully, this will be the same!

This weekend will be the first home football game – the big rival game with Iowa State University and, from what everyone tells us, the town explodes with people and excitement.

By the way, we did get to go back Sunday to Amana and see the play that we had to leave – it was:  “A Second Helping: The Church Basement Ladies Sequel. It was inspired by a book, “Growing up Lutheran” by Greta Crosch. It was hilarious – and sure reminded me of when I was growing up Lutheran in Des Moines and all of our events in the church basement.

As always, we miss you all and hope to be back in California by Christmas……..?????????

Frying In Iowa

Sunday, August 05, 2012 Guess where we are, no, we are not heading home, we are still waiting – we have been here 8 months today, but as we said before, who is counting??!!! July was interesting…. it was a more difficult month for Charlie, health wise. We are having a harder time keeping the one medicine regulated which if it isn’t right for him (which can change daily) he suffers from the hepatic encephalopathy – a big side effect of liver disease.On the plus side, we had several visitors during July. First, Marlene and Jerry, good friends from home, were here and Charlie and I both commented about how nice it was to have great laughs with good friends! Marlene and I taught school together for about 14 years in Roseville and we live about a mile apart. Jerry and Charlie, both retired Air Force guys, have lots to talk about. Then Doug and our middle grandson, Everett, came a few days later which was so nice. (We so miss our grandkids!!) Everett is my little buddy who will start to kindergarten this fall! Our last visitor, Brad, is a friend of Doug’s from his college days here. We got to meet his family which was fun.

The really BIG news for us is that we are now in an apartment, in the same building, on the 9^th floor. (The hotel  is on floors 4 to 6, apartments 7 to 9, and then condos on 10 to 12.) The owner called us the first part of July and wanted to know if we were interested – you bet we were!! Living for almost 8 months in a hotel room, nice as it was, was getting to be way too much togetherness! There was no way to escape from each other!! (I would go read magazines in the library!) So now we have so much space – a real separate bedroom, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen – an actual oven and full size refrigerator, storage room with a washer/dryer, large living room area, and a huge balcony!!! It will actually cost a little less than what we were paying before so we just feel so fortunate! We just marvel at the space we have now!! Plus, we have underground parking which will be so nice when the snow comes – did I really say that??

We are beginning to wonder what Christmas will be like here! Actually, my favorite season in Iowa is fall and we will definitely get to experience it now. (The first football game is August 24^th!) We were told by the doctor that from the day of transplant for Charlie we can figure that we will be here almost 3 months from that day.

July was also extremely hot here – in the 90’s pretty much every day and it doesn’t cool off that much so you can turn the A/C off. Yesterday, we had a big thunderstorm and finally got some much needed rain. We need a whole lot more though.

We will enclose some pictures of our apartment, friends, and family! We miss you all!