Halloween Pumpkins of 2011

2011

 
Well, the 7th year of us carving pumpkins as a family was good, good fun. We laughed, smiled and recollected.  You can check out the entire Flickr set of this event we so enjoy to capture. This year Sam made a two-faced pumpkin, Mary's is in the middle and mine is on the right. (You can click on the years below to get the full stories of the past.





2010




2009



2008



2007



2006



2005

A 3rd Bone Marrow Biopsy

Well, we started up the blog again with music, pumpkins are on the way - I guess we should hit upon another one of the major themes of the blog: What the $#%^ is going on with Mary's blood? (Hopefully, we'll get some hikes and comic book stuff soon!)

Mary has done an excellent job of keeping an in-depth record. If you need to catch-up, check out her recent blog post. But let me tell you about this week, where she leaves off in her post (she much prefers the interaction of Facebook and keeps most of her stories there.)



Short version- She checked herself into a hospital on Tuesday. She had a bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday. She was released on Thursday (with enough time for a nap at home and made it to the Grouplove show.)

Why did she have to go to the hospital? Primarily, two reasons:

1) She had a low-grade fever and a swollen gland. She needed some antibiotics and the doctor thought it best to administer them through IV.

2) The biggest issue with her heath has been her neutropenia, her lack of neutrophils which are the workhorses of the white blood cells and thus immune system. The other blood numbers were mostly fine. This single focus led to most people saying it was a problem of "destruction" not "production." Something is attacking the neutrophils, but she is making them fine. However in the past couple of weeks, we have seen a drop in both her red blood cells and platelets. This could be an indicator of production problems, which is the bone marrow.  That is why the doctor wanted to peek at her bone marrow again. The big problem is still the neutropenia (she has literally had 0 neutrophils in a couple of her readings lately) - the other blood lines being down is more a concern as an indicator, rather than a danger in itself.

While the bone marrow biopsy was considerably less painful than the 2nd one (which Mary feels was more painful than childbirth) it was still a difficult one. The doctor had to basically go in three times. He was getting dry pulls - and even the third "wet pull" looked like it may be lacking in a decent sample for diagnosis. This sucks for two reasons - (a) did she go through that and not even get a sample? and (b) was the sample difficult to get because she has less marrow? (possible.)

We'll know more early next week. Anyway, the conversation has currently changed a bit after being kind of stagnant. Things that Mary "didn't have" are back in as possibilities. But it is all still unknown and TBD. She is working at getting into Stanford to work with a well-known hematologist there. She has an appointment with a specialist in Seattle. We haven't closed the door on UCSF either.

Also, we haven't been told that Mary needs bone marrow, but someone out there does - and it will save their life. Be a superhero. (It is only a cotton swab in the mouth.)

 

Albums of 2011 for me?

Hi there. Sorry about the missing blog. I let my url drop - some Yahoo!/Dotster confusion. We seem to be good now. And life has been - well, hectic. (More on that later.) Also, more and more of this kind of activity has transferred to Facebook and Twitter. But, I do love my blog. My true journal. It feels more like a personal space than anything out there. I think I'll start blogging more. I've missed it.

Plus - it is almost PUMPKIN time!!

Let's start off with yet another music story. I'm currently listening to Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magik (one of my albums that will forever be 1991 for me.)  It made me think: what are going to be some of my albums of 2011? (I know we still have a good 17% of the year to go - so we'll do a "so far" on this post.) I mainly want to do this now because 2 of the top ones are acts we've seen recently that I have yet to blog, so let's get the Top 3 done.

1. Sign No More - Mumford and Sons
OK, I know it seems silly to have an album from 2010 (2009 in the UK) as the number one album - but damn this album is so freaking good. Mumford was on our radar (thanks to the always great "Iron and Wine" Pandora station.) But, we didn't hardcore listen to it until we started prep for the Railroad Revival Tour earlier this year. This album is one of my favorites of all-time - every single bit of it is good, original and deeply unique. I find albums easier to rank than performances - but their performance was up there as one of the best of our music run this year, as well. They just pour energy off the stage and into the audience. It is quite lovely. Did you see them on Austin City Limits? Watch below:

Watch Mumford & Sons / Flogging Molly on PBS. See more from Austin City Limits.

2. The Head and The Heart - The Head and The Heart
Shout out to Khaia (how nice is it to have adventures in Switzerland over LinkedIn for a link...) for making sure we paid attention to this group. We bought the tickets to see them before we actually ever heard them, because they were opening for Iron and Wine. (I love when this happens - we had this happen with Ingrid Michaelson as well; she was main act for an opener we bought.) This album is also wonderful from beginning to end. Three lovely singers - I'm noticing that I'm really into bands that while having a "front man singer," they actually have multiple leads take on the singing in various songs. Charity Rose Thielen has a magic voice - like Norah Jones power and emotion. But rather than having her kick ass throughout - they just give us a spoonful of that honey - and it is pitch-perfect. We had the pleasure of getting to take Sam to see them during a gorgeous sunset in the midst of Treasure Island Music Festival. Definitely the kind of music that deserves grass under your feet, blue skies over your head and sunshine and ocean breeze throughout the experience.



3. Never Trust a Happy Song - Grouplove
Like the previous two, this is yet another debut album. Also, Grouplove is a band that we bought tickets for before we knew them. Actually, we bought tickets before they were even announced as part of the Outside Lands line-up. They were one of the OL highlights for us ... and for SPIN magazine for OL plus for SXSW and Lollapalooza.  The album is a get-up and dance sort of album - the songs have some pop, but depth. However, to see Grouplove live is to love Grouplove. We were fortunate to see them in a small venue (Bimbo's 365) this week. The intimacy between the band, especially Hannah and Christian is touching and authentic. They produce the sort of set that allows you to get lost in all they do, especially when you have such a close view:



Since these are debut albums, I'm excited about many years of beautiful follow-up music. Thanks for the touring guys - now get back to the studio!