A Caregiver's Inspirational Journey Through Cancer
Aug 22nd, 2010 by Lori Puente
"The Drive"
Montana’s summer is coming to an end and we are, very shortly, headed in her car, back across the United Sates to Maryland where she will attend her senior year of college. Continue Reading »
Aug 20th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Lone Tree, Lake Oroville, 2007
I hear a lot of complaints from Cancer patients and Caregivers about how “people” don’t understand! Often they are either sad or angry about this revelation in their relationships. It saddens me, of course, with everything they are going through, to have this added point of view and undesired situation.
But here’s the thing… The only way they can TRULY understand is if they too have cancer or are caring for someone who does (at least that is the prevailing view with many cancer patients). Is this something that you really would wish on your friends and family? Continue Reading »
Aug 19th, 2010 by Lori Puente
“Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic.” – Norman CousinsPat Killingsworth’s recent column at The Myeloma Beacon (Pat’s Place) discusses the age old debate of mental outlook and “other” things with regards to health and well being and whether it can help a person combat a life threatening disease. Continue Reading »
Aug 19th, 2010 by Lori Puente
If you are having trouble with your care, every hospital facility has a Social Worker that is on staff at the hospital. Sometimes they have fancy names, but search them out, ask for them. Even if your not having trouble it is someone that is there FOR YOU!
They can help you with a whole host of issues that may come up in your care and needs that are even outside of your treatment but will help your stress levels to lessen. Continue Reading »
Aug 18th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Hudson preparing baskets
Our 23 year old son arrived late Saturday night from Tampa Florida to spend about a week with us before flying to Maryland to visit friends, before he begins his new job in the South Miami area for Valley Crest. He has graduated from University of Maryland with a Plant Science Degree, finished his Professional Internship at Disney World in Orlando and has landed his dream job. We are so proud of him. Continue Reading »
Aug 13th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Kefir Spread
As we all continue to learn old things and new to help our loved one with all sorts of issues, I thought I would share how to make Kefir Spread at home, (Americans: Kee’-fur, emphasis on the first syllable, and Russians: Kah-feer’, emphasis on the second syllable).
Probiotics is all the rage for our digestive system these days. Continue Reading »
Aug 10th, 2010 by Lori Puente
As sisters, of course, we share much together. The loss of our father at a very young age. Then later the loss of our mother in 2001. And the most amazing grandparent’s a couple of kids could ever hope for!
Lynn has never fully recovered from these losses. Sometimes I have to remind her when she is pining for them, that I too have the same parents! Continue Reading »
Aug 8th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Theme
Aug 7th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Shenandoah National Park, VA
As many of you know or have experienced, there are sometimes tremendous difficulties in dealing with our healthcare system, pharmacies, doctors, nurses, receptionists, insurance companies, even family and friends! I would sometimes feel as though I was just being piled on and all I wanted to do was stay focused on getting my husband through his healthcare crisis. When dealing with “other” difficult issues that move you off that goal, here are some things that worked for me, and I offer them here for you to ponder, contemplate, and give them a whirl. Continue Reading »
Aug 5th, 2010 by Lori Puente
One of the more difficult things to address when your loved one is being treated for MM, is food intake. Their taste buds are altered from the chemotherapy, their sense of smell is changed, they’re scared, they’re nauseous, they’re in pain, they’re constipated, they have diarrhea, any and all of these things could be going on. What do you do? How do you cope? How do you get nutrition into them and keep it down? Continue Reading »
Aug 5th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Awards
My son Hudson, a recent graduate at the University of Maryland, had applied for and won a Professional Internship at Disney’s Epcot Center in Orlando for the summer. We didn’t know at the time, but he had beat out somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 other applicants for this position. It has garnered him a lot of attention from UMD as well as potential employers. We later learned, that Disney has what is considered the highest horticulture standards in the industry, so if Disney picked up “this kid” we need to take a look at him. Not too mention the training he will gain having spent the summer working there.
Well indeed, he has two job offers and he will make a decision on which one after he flies to visit a location this Saturday. Continue Reading »
Aug 4th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Marilyn, our wonderful friend and doctor, who I have mentioned before, sent us a “healing blanket” shortly after Dave’s diagnosis.
This blanket was one made by all the members of her family; her sisters and their children, for her mother when she was ill and dying. It is a quilt of squares that they made depicting memories they all had of her mother. Originally they had made it for her to curl up with in her final days and make her smile. Continue Reading »
Aug 3rd, 2010 by Lori Puente
The rules in California are like none other, when it comes to healthcare. I have several complaints that have made our experience more difficult than it needed to be.
First of all, when we decided to treat in Little Rock, our original diagnosing doctor who assured me before we left that he would work with them and I quote, “All they have to do is tell me what they want me to do and I will do it!” Well, when we got back from our first treatment (8 weeks), Continue Reading »
Jul 30th, 2010 by Lori Puente
It was hot and sticky in Little Rock, but a virtual cool down in comparison to the weather they have been having on the East Coast.
We had a great meet up with Bruce & Jan, but additional tests for Bruce prevented us from having dinner a second night and saved the boys’ wallets as Jan and I had grand plans to go to the local Yarn Shop in Little Rock! Oh well, another time. Bruce looks so handsome and wonderful and Jan looks beautiful and relaxed. It was great to see them. We met some new folks and said hello to many of the staff we have met over the course of our experience here. Continue Reading »
Jul 29th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Dave and I are currently in Little Rock for one of his regular checkups. MRI, blood work, bone marrow biopsy and a chat with our doctor to see how things are going. Believe it or not we enjoy coming. We are here in a very different way than the long year of treatment and weeks of staying in an apartment far from home. We stay in a nice hotel, sometimes on the River Market, go out to eat, someone makes our bed and tidies up the room. This time we are here with another myeloma couple we like a lot and have become quite close to and enjoyed a BBQ’d dinner last night at Whole Hog Cafe. We have been looking forward to our good fortune to have our checkups coincide. They live in Illinois. Continue Reading »
Jul 26th, 2010 by Lori Puente
ARGH! Dave was getting a sore throat last week and got a nice hacking cough. He’s successfully on the mend, but it brings up that FEAR that strikes at the heart of even the toughest caregivers whose loved ones have cancer where they have wiped out your immune system to try to get you back to “normal”. Continue Reading »
Jul 22nd, 2010 by Lori Puente
Today is a special day. (It was a FABULOUS DAY, a couple of photos! Click to enlarge.)
Lynn & Carol Reunited after 37 years!
Last year about this time, I got word that a childhood friend of my sister Lynn had cancer and that she was terminal and due to go into surgery shortly. The “girls” asked if I would call her. So I did. Amazing how when you have dealt with cancer so intimately you have no reservations on calling someone else and saying, “I heard you have cancer, how are you doing?”
So since none of us had spoken to her in about 30 years it was fun for me to tell her who I was and hear her mind churning. I started with “Hi Carol. This is a BLAST FROM YOUR PAST!” Once she figured out who I was she just couldn’t believe it. We must have talked for about 2 hours. Continue Reading »
Jul 21st, 2010 by Lori Puente
They don’t eat and only seem to sleep!
Dave dropped 40 pounds before he even started treatment! Fear and pain is not a recommended weight loss program, but it certainly worked wonders on Dave! Except that wasn’t planned or desired.
Once he started treatment, both on the oral chemotherapy (Thalidomide/Dex) and then eventually the BIG STUFF for Stem Cell collection and transplants, along with “in between” chemo regimens, food intake was problematic and excessive sleep was the norm. Continue Reading »
Jul 19th, 2010 by Lori Puente
There are a lot of people with MM who have been using Tumeric (cucurmin) with excellent results. I have filed in the back of mind as a mental note to look more into this. I posted the following on my Caring Bridge site and wanted to share it.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Ok… I’m on a VERY high cloud right now!
Christian Wilde, author of Miracle Stem Cell Heart Repair, called me today on the phone!
I first heard him a couple of years ago on the radio talking about adult stem cells curing over 70 diseases and what it could do specifically for patients who have suffered heart attacks, etc. Anyway, I was so fascinated by his interview (little did I know I would become intimately involved with adult stem cells!) that I bought both of his books and read them cover to cover. Continue Reading »
Jul 18th, 2010 by Lori Puente
Dave and I both found ourselves in an awkward situation in the doctor’s office in Little Rock.
Dave had just completed an unplanned treatment with our “new” doctor there. What I mean by unplanned is that our regular doctor had left the clinic and we were assigned a new doctor. I was already getting my defenses up and arms fully loaded before we even got to Little Rock. I have trouble with doctors as a rule. Its improved over the years, but I am very sensitive to ego and condescension. I don’t hold doctors in high regard “just because” they are doctors. Anyway, its not about ME, so I was working to keep myself calm and optimistic that it was going to be fine. It turned out great. The new doc was trying to ascertain Dave’s history and where he started and where he was now. So he gently asked if we would mind doing some additional scans so he could see how Dave was doing now compared to his arrival some 9 months earlier. Continue Reading »
