17 de marzo, 2019

Hola,

Un saludo desde aquí.  El lunes 11 de marzo tuve mi primera sesión de quimioterapia y la toleré muy bien.  Fue un día largo en Denver porque tenían que ir despacito por si había alguna reacción alérgica.  Todo bien.

El martes 12 regresamos a casa y el miércoles 13 hubo la peor tormenta en muchos años y hubiera sido imposible llegar a casa.

Gracias a las medicinas contra la náusea, no me fue muy mal.  Sólo que para el viernes y sábado estuve muy cansada.

Hoy domingo 17 ya me siento bien, con bastante energía y comiendo las cosas ricas que todos nuestros amigos nos preparan y traen a la casa.  Además, voy a acupuntura, yoga y unos pocos minutos en el gimnasio para ver a mis amigas y hacer un poco más de ejercicio.  Luke está disfrutando del mejor invierno que hemos tenido en muchos años, y sale a esquiar todos los días con los perritos

La verdad que vivir en esta pequeña comunidad es una bendición, porque hay tanta gente buena que se preocupa por bienestar de los demás.

Supongo que ahora tengo 2 semanas para prepararme para la próxima sesión el 2 de abril.

Gracias por todos los textos, llamadas, emails, y las buenas ondas que me llegan de varios lugares del mundo.

Nos vemos.  ¡Abrazos a todos!

 

 

 

 

 

Our Winter

We were hoping so much for a real winter, with real snow, cold temperatures and great skiing. Last winter was a disappointment. This winter met all our expectations. On January 27, Ellen competed in the Six Points Winter Triathlon. See above. And hey, she did maybe the fastest 12 kilometer ski she has ever done.

After all, we were both trying to get fit to achieve our long held dream of a week long back pack across the crest of the Andes, with our brother in law Chris Reed, our nephew Nick Petrick, and our great friend James Wood.

A week after the triathlon, Ellen fell hard on the ice.  A few days after she started complaining of abdominal swelling.

Two weeks after the triathlon, she was diagnosed with ascites, abdominal swelling resulting from increased liquid in the abdominal cavity.

On Tuesday night, February 19 we drove five hours in the dark through a big winter storm to Denver, because Ellen was advised that the medical resources here did not have “sufficient diagnostic capacity” to understand her condition.

On Wednesday morning, we had no idea that Ellen needed surgery.

But on Thursday the 21st  she spent hours in a complicated operation at Swedish Hospital in Denver. There were more than six liters of excess liquid in her abdomen. Ellen has cancer.

We spent two nights with our friends Rob and Maryanne Roy, at whose house we arrived with almost no notice. They could not have received us with greater kindness. And then a night with John and Barbara Astuno, who live right near the hospital. James Wood and Felicity Hannay, with whom we were planning to go to Argentina and Chile this week, brought dinner. Chris Goodwin just showed up and asked how he could help. I sat with our Aunt Marji  during the operation and she was a great source of strength.

Ellen and I are blessed – the only word that describes how we feel — with expressions of love and caring – from friends and relatives. Our cup is running over with love. We fall into tears in appreciation and in trying to return the outpouring of caring. Whenever we have really needed help, someone has been there. We can’t possibly name and thank individually everyone who has helped.

The surgery was successful. This does not mean this is over. The greatest challenges still lie ahead. But Ellen is a strong woman.  Here she is the morning after her operation.

We arrived home February 23 after a spectacular drive through the heart of the Colorado Rockies in winter, which is one of the great loves that Ellen and I share.

There were strong winds, ground blizzards in South Park (if you do not know what a South Park ground blizzard is like, the wind chill is so low that you will freeze in minutes unless you are very well dressed, in which case you will still freeze but a little more slowly, the visibility is less than the distance to your hand,  there are cars off the road or accidents every few hundred yards, and once in a while crazed elk or terrified half frozen cows stagger by in the bottom of what looks like a bowl of frozen milk).

It was that bad the night before our trip, , so there were cars in the ditch all over the place and 12 foot high snowdrifts, but the worst of it was over before we got there, which means the wind had died down to 60 and the road was only drifted over here and there.And eventually the sun came out.

Oh my the drive was beautiful, the whole main range of the Rockies deep in white. Wind howling at altitude and great plumes of snow standing straight out from the peaks. Sky brilliant blue and the Earth all white. No other colors.

How lovely to share this spectacle of the overwhelming power of winter in the high Rockies with someone who shares your sense of awe. We are so happy to be together.

Ellen’s dog Wara is wondering when Ellen will take her skiing again. I think it will not be all that long.

Next week we will be at Swedish Hospital in Denver for Ellen’s first session of chemotherapy. We are so grateful for the healing thoughts, loving messages and prayers in several languages. Swedish Hospital is fittingly an institution founded by immigrants. The medical care there is superb.

We will endeavor to keep you informed of the developments in our life, as we hope you will keep us informed of yours. In the end, what we have is each other. And that is the richest of gifts.

___________

Hola todos.

Luke es muy bueno escribiendo… espero que las traducciones con Google sean pasables.

Hemos creado este sitio para poner a los amigos y familia al día, y también para que ustedes puedan escribir y preguntar.

De otra manera pasamos todo el tiempo escuchando un sonido de nuestros teléfonos cuando alguien envía un mensaje.

La cosa es que hace apenas 10 días me diagnosticaron cáncer y en menos de 15 horas desde el diagnóstico me operaron.  En 24 horas ya estaba fuera del hospital porque la operación fue robótica así que tengo apenas 5 huequitos de medio centímetro en la panza.   La semana próxima empiezo quimioterapia.

Estoy en as mejores manos médicas y de mis amigos y familia (¡y las perritas!).

Mis amigas me traen comida, me cortan la un~as de los pies, me limpian la casa, me hacen reír, me miman…

Así que anótense en el blog.  Creo que hay un botoncito que dice “follow” y tienen que entrar su email.  Allí pueden dejar mensajes y ver las cosas lindas que escribe mi adorado Luke.

Gracias a todos.

Abrazos,

Ellen