Emily M. DeArdo's Blog, page 19

I get knocked down, but I get up again!

“At the Millinery Shop”, Degas

If you weren’t a 90s kid/teen, you might not know this song:

(Yes, I just dated myself. And no, I’ve never seen the video, so I hope it’s not questionable. :-P)

(Also for some reason “Danny Boy” is involved. Never was sure why.)

Anyway, that’s a lot of what my life is like, and my dad said this to me yesterday.

“It’s like you start to exercise and have plans and then….you get sick! And you can’t do those things!”

“Welcome to my life,” I said.

And it’s true. It’s sort of frustrating, but it happens a lot. It happens in the hospital when I was 19 and had to learn how to…..sit up again. Or go to the bathroom unassisted. The body is durable, but it’s also surprisingly forgetful. “Huh? We used to ….sit up? All day? Nah.”

So that’s what’s going on right now. The Cipro caused my Achilles’ tendons, especially on my right foot, to get unhappy. Not so unhappy that something actually snapped or swelled, but enough that I went, “OK, we can’t use that foot.” I spent Sunday not putting weight on it, and most of yesterday was the same. It’s feeling OK today. I’m waiting on word from clinic to see if I should stop the Cipro early or if they want me to finish it and damn the torpedoes.

But….that means that my house was sort of a wreck. To put it kindly. Because I was sick most of the month of August, and then I got on the Cipro, which limited my movement, and even with limited movement, I still ended up with issues.

Fortunately my parents are a big help here and will help me dig out from under the avalanche of…stuff. But the other thing means that since I can’t stand for too long, I can’t really cook, which is detrimental both to health and to me, because I like to cook. I have lots of recipes I want to try out. But it’s hard because I can’t stand over something and stir or chop or slice. There is one recipe I have that I love and is really non labor intensive, so I’m making that tonight for dinner, but….I like to cook!

I am very thankful for my parents’ help (and my brother’s, when needed.). It can be hard to feel like a bump on a log and I hate having people clean up after me because I feel like the world’s biggest slacker. But…allowing people to help you in a part of growing in humility. So I’m growing, I guess.

The hope is that I’ve kicked this infection and I can resume regularly scheduled programming soon. I see my ENT next week and I’m going to see if we can do some antibiotic rinse in my sinuses to keep them happier long term, because I’ve been getting a lot of sinus things lately and I don’t really want that to continue (especially if my body can’t tolerate the antibiotics anymore….fingers crossed we can still do them.). So we will investigate some long-term solutions, if there are any.

All this to say that, yes, in life we have setbacks, sometimes huge setbacks, an it can seem like we’re not going to recover from them. But most of the time, we get knocked down and we get up again. :)

Seven Quick Takes Labor Day Edition

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Hi! Happy Long Weekend, US readers! :)

If you’re a subscriber, this post just landed in your inbox. If you’re not (and why not may I ask?), then: Ave Maria Press is having a Labor Day Sale! 10% off everything with the code LABORDAY21 at checkout!

So be sure to get your copy of Living Memento Mori (for yourself or friends!).

In the post I also talk about Ave’s new note taking bible. It’s great! And it’s also included in the sale! So you can check out my notes on that.

The sale runs through 9/6 (Monday). Hop to it!

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OK so in the last quick takes I said I was feeling better. Hahah I LIED. By the 26th I felt so crappy that I didn’t have the energy to make coffee. So I called clinic (called=emailed) and got a script for Cipro which is making me feel better.

However, Cipro is a strong (as in, it’s used for plague and anthrax) antibiotic and can mess with tendons. I don’t really like that, but I like that cipro works. I’m on antibiotics all the time as a matter of course so there’s not a whole lot to pick from when I do get sick that’s in pill form. It’s basically Cipro. So I’m used to it, but I don’t really like it. I mean I like feeling better but it’s still a nasty bit of work.

I have less than a week to go on it so that makes me happy, because then I can stop freaking out about my tendons!

And yes, I am getting back to normal energy, which is great.

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Since I want to not mess up my tendons, I’ve been doing a lot of sitting, which means reading and knitting mostly. Fortunately my Aunt Mary (who is also a bookworm of the first degree) sent me a box of books so I can have something to do while I sit! She sent me We Are the Brennans, Klara and the Sun, and A Swim In A Pond In The Rain.

So far I’ve read Brennans and really liked it. I’m reading Klara now, and I’m looking forward to Swim because I like Russian literature. (Mostly. I still need to read War & Peace which is in my library, mocking me for not reading it yet.)

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In Knitting, I have a lot going on but there was a Great Knitting Mystery Adventure this week.

I got a lot of yarn….

And then wound the pretty champagne colored yarn (Quince and Co Crane) for a project.

I was confused on said project. I posted it on Facebook to numerous excellent knitters. WE WERE ALL SO CONFUSED.

Finally, we figured out what to do. It was insane, my friends. Many minds were flabbergasted about this pattern.

But WE DID IT.

BEHOLD.

Anyway now it’s chugging along and is going to be a gorgeous shawl but man, figuring out this pattern was ROUGH!

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The rest of the yarn will be used for two shawls (I LOVE SHAWLS, OK? I really do. They’re so fun.) and a cowl. And yes, I am going to start my sweater soon!

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What are your weekend plans? Mine involve two dinners, lecturing at Mass, and…that’s it. :) But one of the dinners is for Tiffany’s 40th birthday!

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You know Tiff as the mom of Billy, most likely. Well, she’s pregnant again (with a little girl this time) and today is her 40th birthday!

Here she is with Billy…

And this is one of my favorite pictures of us. :)

Labor Day Sale at Ave Maria Press!

Happy Friday everyone!

There will be quick takes later but I wanted to post this first—Ave Maria Press is having a Labor Day Sale! You can get Living Memento Mori for 10% off through Monday! (As well as everything else they sell.)

Enter LABORDAY21 at checkout and there you go!

Another great resource is Ave Maria Press’s Notetaking Bible. I’m using it for my Bible In A Year studies. I’m ridiculously picky about Bibles and especially paper—I use fountain pens, sharpies, all sorts of markers, and I want them to work and not make a mess. That doesn’t happen with this bible—seriously. I can use fountain pens to make notes and there aren’t issues with feathering. (Sometimes, depending on the ink, it can bleed through a bit, but it’s not a big problem and it hasn’t happened often to me.)

It’s also a one-column Bible, which I like because it’s a lot easier to read!

There’s the hardcover or the imitation leather (which is the one I have). Take your pick!

So go shop! :) Enjoy!

Seven Quick Takes: Truth, Cold Bug, and Babies!

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Hello! Happy Friday!

Last week I didn’t write because I had a nasty cold/virus bug thing. It wasn’t the plague. :) But I had some dental work two weeks ago to replace an old filing, and some grossness must have come out during the work and flown right up to my left sinus cavity. For teh first few days it was just sort of sore throat, but then it became a nasty cold that had me pretty well sidelined. Sigh. At least I can take cold meds now—I couldn’t pre-transplant!

Anyway, mostly over now, which is good. Yay!

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This next bit is something that’s been gnawing at me for awhile, but it came to full flower yesterday. That’s the movement of people to not tell the truth. Not necessarily intending to lie, per se, but to not be accurate with their words.

During COVID, I’ve noticed this a few different times, and especially now with vaccinations. There seems to be a persistent myth—and it is a myth—that people who are immunocompromised can’t receive the vaccinations.

We can. I have.

So I’ve taken to calling people out on this—nicely!—when I see it. yesterday on twitter, I did this. The response I got was (and I’m paraphrasing): “well, we only have 140 characters, so we don’t have space to make distinctions.” I was told (and this is a quote) that I was “mincing words.”

No. I was being accurate.

The words we use do matter. That’s not just because I’m a writer and words are what I use to earn my living, but I think we all know that words can be dangerous or healing. Truth or lies matter, and facts matter.

It matters that people believe what’s true, which is that immunocompromised people can get the vaccine. Some people cannot get it, just like all people cannot get every vaccine. (I can’t get the shingles vaccine, because it’s a live vaccine.)

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Being told that it’s mincing words to want to be accurate—to be truthful—was very strange to me. (besides the fact that to “mince words” means to not be truthful or to beat around the bush. When people say “let’s not mince words”, they mean, “let’s be totally honest.” )

When I studied journalism and wrote for my college paper, the goal in writing as to get across the facts in as few words as possible, because all journalists (well, and all writers) know about words counts and space. To say that a word or character limit doesn’t allow you to be honest is…..weird.

I think it also bothers me as a Dominican. The motto (well one of the mottoes) of the order is veritas— “truth.” The order was founded to spread God’s truth throughout the world, not the “truth” that the Albigensians believed. Truth is important, in every sense. Jesus called himself the way, the truth, and the life. Truth isn’t “mincing words”.

So that’s been something I’ve been thinking about lately.

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Another thing I’ve been thinking about? BABIESSSS.

Here’s some Patty:

“Mom, I LOVE PAPER TOWELS!”

She’s 13 1/2 months old, is working on more teeth, and is walking like a champ. She can also walk while holding her mom’s phone and have a “conversation” (in baby talk) with you. And she kisses the screen, which I think is adorable. Her big siblings have gone off to school, leaving her and Johnny (seen above) at home with mom—at least until Johnny starts pre-school in a few weeks. (He won’t go every day).

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And in other BABY NEWS—My sister is pregnant! I’m an auntie! Yay!!!!! This is my first niece or nephew and I am insanely excited. Of course baby blanket knitting will begin as soon as my sister lets me know what colors she wants. I’ll be making the same one I made for Patty, just different colors.

Patty snuggled under her blanket. <3

Since Mel and her husband live in Colorado, I won’t have to worry so much about using wool, like I did with Patty, who lives in Texas! I kept worrying that she’d overheat under it, but she seems to do A-OK with it and takes her blanket everywhere, which makes me very happy. I hope that my niece or nephew love her/his baby blanket just as much!

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I’ve been re-reading/re-watching the Harry Potter series. (And the baby’s bedroom is Harry Potter themed!) And while I do that, I’ve done some HP knitting….

For Christmas last year, Mel got me Knitting Magic, a book of Harry Potter projects. These are the horcrux washcloths, so there is a set of seven. I started with Harry, and then made Hufflepuff’s Cup.

Hufflepuff’s cup—it’s not as easy to see as Harry, but it’s there!

Next up will be Ravencaw’s diadem. My Ravelry notes are here.

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The local school district has started back here, and Patty’s siblings all went back on Tuesday:

Has school started back where you are?

Long Time No Yarn Along! :)

I know it’s been FOREVER since I’ve done a yarn along for you, so here we go, I owe you one!

So the first thing is finished objects, or FOs in yarn speak.

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This is a finished Free Your Fade shawl from Andrea Mowry. I just adore her designs! (I have to weave in the ends and block but it’s off the needles, so finished for our purposes!) I used Wonderland Yarns fingering weight yarn in Egypt (light blue), Seography (bright blue), and Jerusalem (all the colors!). Egypt and Jerusalem are limited edition yarns for their 2020 Around the World collection, and as of right now, Jerusalem is still available!

This is an amazingly fun shawl to knit—very relaxing, very portable (I took on the wedding trip!), and a lot of fun when it comes to color combinations. I am definitely knitting another ASAP. (You could also make it bigger!)

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In progress: a sweater!

From Jacqueline’s website

Jacqueline was one of the starts of Knit Stars 6, and she talked about how to adapt patterns to fit your body, which I loved. The pattern we got in her class was this sweater, called Ursina.

I’m going to be adapting that as my new project. I want the length to be more full length, not cropped. (I don’t like cropped). I love the v-neck that isn’t too deep, and the shaping at the bottom which points to the face—all good things! This is a top down sweater which I’ve never done, but I have a knitting friend who is doing it with me so we can help each other!

For my yarn, I chose Quicne and Co Lark (the same I used for my cardigan project), but this time in the Limited Edition Blue Balloon color way (which, as of this writing, you can still get!)

SO MUCH Blue Balloon to wind!

Blue Balloon was also offered last year and I grabbed some to knit a Hawthorne Shawl (which is currently hibernating, bad me!) But I just love this yarn and the color is perfect for me!

I knitted a swatch but I was off a tiny bit on the gauge, which, not to brag, is rare for me, so I’m trying again, going down a needle size (to a 6, instead of the recommended 7). I’ll see if that helps.

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In progress: Confetti Shawl

I belong to a knitting/yarn club where every quarter you get a special skein of yarn, a unique pattern for that yarn, and fun surprises. This was the yarn for summer—it’s a cashmere blend! I didn’t want to make the pattern that was included, so I decided to use another pattern they recommended, a shawl called “Confetti”. I haven’t cast on yet, because I wanted to finish the Free Your Fade at the top of the page first before I started another shawl, but the time has come to cast on with this guy!

I might not do the picot bind off—we’ll see. I was supposed to do it on Free Your Fade but I was so confused when I looked it up that I said, FORGET IT. I don’t like to be too frustrated with my knitting, so I just did a basic bind off.

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In progress: Rosarium shawl

Quince and Co—in case you haven’t realized—is one of my favorite yarn companies. In fact, it’s my go-to for good, quality wool in solid colors. I’ve never used their Finch fingering weight yarn, though.

Well, that’s about to change. I just had to get some of their birthday limited edition in Parakeet!

image from Quince and Co’s Facebook page

(Yes, I like blue, OK?! :) )

Quince describes this as a tonal variegated yarn, so I’m really excited to knit with it. At first I was thinking of a shawl that was two colors, but then I thought, wait, what about Rosarium?

A rose garden—but that’s also where we get the word “rosary.” So….a Marian blue shawl? AMEN! I can do that! I had been waiting for a good yarn for this and voila! I think this will be amazing. And since it’s fingering weight, it will be a lightweight shawl that’s an easy size to throw over a dress or short sleeved top for Mass or anything else, really. Catholic knitting! And also it’s a solid color, which none of my shawls are, so it’ll be a nice addition to my shawl wardrobe.

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Texas yarns!

I have a cowl planned for the Texas Tulip yarn, and the matcha is still sort of up for grabs. Like Rosarium, it’s waiting for the right pattern. I might do it up in the Confetti pattern if I like it—we’ll see!

Teas Tulip on the top, matcha on the bottom.

-Books!-

As for books….

I re-read Tokyo Ever After (love it), and read Artemis, the only one of Andy Weir’s books I haven’t read. I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series, and I’m currently on Chamber of Secrets. I’m also reading No Man Knows My History, Dominican Spirituality, and Emma.

Accommodations are not a "perk"

An example of a lung function test result graph

As the talk about masking mandates ramps up again, I want to say something to all schools (high school and up)—where students and faculty can get vaccinated.

If you are requiring masks for all students and faculty, then please provide accommodation for students and staff who are hard of hearing/deaf and/or cannot wear masks.

When I was in high school and college, my lung function took a huge hit. As a sophomore in high school, I contracted non-infectious TB, which really destroyed my lung function. In college (also my sophomore year!), I almost died. I spent two weeks in the ICU battling a bug that only one other person in the world had ever had.

For the rest of my college career, I had between 19-25% lung function. In my senior year, I began transplant workup. I was sick.

I also started to lose my hearing my junior and senior years in college.

If I had been forced to wear a mask, I would not have been able to attend school. I’m not kidding. This isn’t a “psychological reaction” to wearing masks. It’s a fact, based on my heart rate, my rate of exertion, and my breathlessness when I wear masks and attempt to do anything now, when I have 54% lung function!

I could not have carried all my books around my high school building, let alone my small college campus. I would have not been able to breathe. I would not have been able to go up the stairs in my dormitory. I would have had to drop out of school, because there’s just no way I would’ve been able to do anything like get to class or understand what the professor was saying. This is not hysteria or hyperbole. By the end of my senior year I couldn’t get up a flight of stairs without being severely out of breath.

My heating loss was fairly mild in college. In fact I didn’t get my first set of hearing aids until after transplant. But who knows if it would’ve been more of a problem if I couldn’t have see my professors’ lips?

Please. If you are in a position of authority to set mask mandates in a school or business, please provide accommodation for those of us who need it. We aren’t making it up, we’re not trying to be dramatic, we need to be able to breathe and understand what’s happening in class.

Seven Quick Takes: Links! Health! Patty!

I know that’s not a sexy title, but….

I’ve been writing about COVID related stuff a bit in the past year. And as we start to talk about masks and lockdowns again, I thought it would make sense to have an index post about COVID-related things.

The reason I feel this way is because I have, not to brag, a lot of hospital experience. I’ve been a patient in a hospital for many years. I know hospitals. I know lung stuff. I know about risk assessment and personal health.

So I feel like I should share my insights with you, for whatever you think they’re worth.

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COVID, antibodies, and transplant life: posted 5/24/21

This one is a bit of an outlier because it deals with transplant a little more specifically, but it also talks about acceptable risk a bit as well.

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Prudence, Acceptable Risk, and Medicine: posted 5/10/21

This was originally going to be a two-parter, but I haven’t written the second part (yet). The first part deals with exactly what the title says—the fact that every medical “intervention” (including taking Tylenol) has risks associated with it, and it’s our job to assess risks for ourselves.

It also talks about how people are in hospitals every single day, in ICUs every single day, and on ventilators every.single.day, because this is totally forgotten in reporting.

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Hospital 101: posted 11/23/20

Basically: “yes you can be in the hospital and not feel terribly crappy.” And, “No, being in the hospital does not mean that you’re going to die.”

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COVID and lung function: posted 7/7/20

Yes, you can recover lung function after being really, really, REALLY sick! If my crappy old CF lungs could do it, yours can too!

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So that’s the listing of the “big” COVID posts. I have some other things scattered in Quick Takes and various places, but these are the long forms, so to speak. I hope you find them helpful.

Here is Patty as reward! :)

She has EIGHT teeth! And can say cheese!"

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I went swimming for the first time in two years! YAY! It felt so great to be back in the water!

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And finally I wrote two posts this week! ICYM them:

An awesome clinic visit

The state of the Writing Wicket

Writing: The State of the Wicket

“Woman Reading”, Edouard Manet

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about a second book. (Including from my doctor!)

“Are you writing one?”

“What are you writing about now?”

“So you’re writing a second book, right?”

Welllllllllllllll.

(It’s not bad news, don't worry.)

Here’s the deal.

For someone to get to write a second book, the first book has to sell.

Yes, it’s true. It all comes down to money. A publisher has to see sales to think, “Oh, OK, this person has an audience, so it’s worth our outlay of cash to support this person’s writing and give them a book contract.”

So, yes, if you want another book, you have to buy the current book.

I know so many of you have, and I am incredibly, stupendously grateful for your support. Everyone who has left reviews, or written blog posts, or bought copies for friends—I love you. I am so grateful to you.

If you would like to buy a copy, her are all the places you can get it:

Amazon

Ave Maria Press (they often run sales, and I always post about these on the blog and on my social media accounts)

Barnes and Noble

As a NOOK book and on Kindle

Books a Million

Indiebound (you can also order it through your local indy bookstore!)

Wal-mart

Also your local Catholic bookstore or indie bookstore can order it for you. Just ask them! They will do it!

I hate, hate, hate selling things. I hated selling candy bars for school, cookies for Girl Scouts, and cheese and sausage for choir. I HATE it.

But I know that if I want to earn any money writing, I have to ask people to support my writing. Which….I hate doing!

But it’s necessary.

If you already have Living Memento Mori, you can also get Catholic 101, my ebook about the basics of Catholicism, inspired by the years I taught first grade CCD. You can download it, read it on iPad or Kindle, or even print it out! You can gift it!

AND newsletter subscribers get 15% off the $5 price!

Another way is to support my Patreon. It’s more behind the scenes notes on creativity and what I’m working on than here, and it’s somewhat sporadic in posting, but there re goodies you can get and things that I only post there. So if you’re really interested in my inner workings, or just want to support my writing, that’s the way to go. Memberships start a dollar. You can become a patron here!

OK after all that, Patty cleanser!

She has EIGHT teeth now!

OK so on to fun things: projects!

There are a few projects I’m working on.

The first one is Catholicism and Outlander, and I talk a lot more about that over on Patreon. I’m in the research phase of that one right now! (Which means reading and watching TV, POOR ME!)

The other one is a really, really basic knitting series. As in, yes, needles come in packs of two (I seriously did not know this). I know that I wanted something like that when I was starting, and it didn’t exist, and even “beginner” books were not really for beginners! So I’m working on that as well.

And that, my friends, is the state of the wicket!

Yearly Testing Wrap-Up!

Yesterday was a very, very good—albeit hot—day at the New Resort, where I had my annual testing—the sixteenth edition!

Yay!

In short, everyone is very happy, and things are GOOD!

So, if you’re new here, let me give you an overview.

“Yearly Testing” is exactly what it sounds like—in-depth testing that I have done every year (duh) to see how my body and my lungs are working post-transplant. This is a great way to update baselines, to get a full picture of my body, and see how things are going. The “menu” changes from year to year. In the first five years, I got a CT scan every year, and a bone density test, and an ECHO and EKG. (I dislike ECHOs muchly, because I hate being touched around the breastbone area, and where do ECHOS take place? RIGHT THERE.)

This year, I had: lab work, full PFTs (I’ll explain that in a second), a chest x-ray, a treadmill test, and a bone density test, in addition to a visit with my doctor (Dr. K, whom I love. He’s from my hometown!)

My bone density test was a few weeks ago and it was fine. I am actually very proud of my bones. Prednisone can affect bone density, leading to early osteoporosis and other unfun things (and CF can do this too, since we can have poor absorption of nutrients—I don’t have this problem). So, my bones are excellent. Yay!!!! (I do take Vitamin D and Calcium supplements in addition to my love of eating dairy. :))

Testing day (Monday) kicked off with a visit to the lab. I have to say it’s much nicer now than when all the COVID things were in place, like temperature testing and all that. You can actually move through the lobby and hear people! (You still have to wear a mask in the hospital.) A very nice nurse accessed my port after we called clinic to get my blood orders because they were not in the computer. (This was repeated throughout the day, and I think it was tech gremlins, as opposed to the nurses not putting them in, because my nurses are conscientious like that.)

After that I had my “lunch break”, where I went to the local French cafe.

I mean, don’t you feel like you’re in France?

Here’s a tip for when you have to do things you don’t want to do, or are less than enthused about, or if you’re having a long day: plan good points in your day. For me, it’s stopping at this cafe and having delicious lunch. It’s a nice way to recharge and layer not-fun things with fun things.

(It’s not that I mind all the doctor appointments. I’m used to them. But it is a long day, with a lot of driving and meandering through medical halls in a place I’m still acclimating to [so I don’t always know where things are!]).

After this I headed to the main hospital for my chest x-ray (which, really, I could do in my sleep by now, just give me the button, folks) and “full” PFTs.

Generally PFTs involve something called “spirometry”—and that’s all I do at a regular appointment. This measures lung capacity (I’m massively simplifying here, if you want more, here you go) by having you take in a deep breath and then pushing it out hard and fast. So when I say I have X lung function, that’s how I know. I usually hang out in the 50s, which is good for me. This is because when I had my transplant, my donor was taller than I was, so my lungs had to be trimmed, so that lessened capacity, as it were, and my surgeon also nicked my diaphragm, which also affects function. But I mean, 50 something is a hell of a lot better than nineteen percent function, which is what I had pre-transplant. But it does mean that I don’t have “normal” capacity, and this is why I dislike wearing a mask so much—it feels like someone has clamped their hand over my mouth. And I did notice yesterday that I lost about 4% oxygen saturation when I had a mask on. So. Take that as you will.)

Anyway, for yearly, we do all the tests, which also measure exchange of gasses in your lungs and other things like “tidal volume” and diffusing and all sorts of things. I just look at the numbers. Unlike at the First Resort, the screen here is turned away from me, so I can’t see the numbers on the screen and have to check them out using MyChart or asking my nurses! But my doctor said they were good, so I’ll take that as they went up, or they’re the same.

After all this, I made a trip to the local yarn store, because I MUST GET YARN, and that was fun. I will discuss all this in a massive yarn along that I owe you and which will come in August. :)

And then it was back to the hospital for my visit with my nurse, Kim, and my doctor. We talked about results and basically everything is great—I killed it on the treadmill test and was super happy.

(Oh, sorry, treadmill test—basically you walk on a treadmill for 6 minutes while the machine increases speed and incline. I did much better than in February, probably because I’m back to living my life again, YAY!, and I feel much stronger. My oxygen saturation was 98-100%! Which is EPIC! YAY!!!!!! And my heart is doing its thing! Yay heart!)

As one doctor told me last year, “We just have to not break you.” At 16 years, that’s really the goal.

But the other thing? I don’t have to go back to see my doctor for a YEARRRRRRR.

via GIPHY

Now, some centers have their patients hit this milestone after, say, 10 years. Or even five. I have been going every three months because, back in Ye Olden Times, my doctor’s office was on my way to work, and do to PFTs, which I need to do every 3 months, I had to actually go to the doctors’ office, because that’s where the PFTs lab was. So it made no sense to go in and not see my people!

However, now, the Resort is on the other side of town, and it makes less sense. So this is a GREAT thing! I can do labs and PFTs at a building off campus and just having those done is easy-peasy and takes less than an hour. So I can still have my fun French lunches and get my tests done so everyone is happy.

Obviously if something goes south, I will report it ASAP and then I might have to come in, but that’s how life is all the time and I’m used to that.

But this is a great thing and I’m really happy that one, my doctors are happy, and two, that I feel so much stronger and more fit. A lot of this is from, like I said before, just getting back to living my life, and also seeing Patty and Di and their family and going on vacation, but all of this is, again, LIFE. As in, not sitting at home not doing things! YAYYYYY!

So that’s how that went, I am very happy and thrilled that I had a good appointment and can now relax for a good long while! (Yes, I do get nervous about finding all these places and paring and all that stuff. It’s just part of the transition—going from a place where I had gone for thirty-six years and that I could walk in my sleep, to something big and new. It’ll get better.)

A Wedding (with a special guest)

After two tries—thank you, COVID!—my cousin Kelly finally married her fiancé, Vladimir (or Vlad, as we call him) in a lovely ceremony in the ‘Burgh.

It was a beautiful ceremony. I knew it would be, because Kelly and Vlad have great taste, but Kelly is also the principal flute for the Toronto Symphony (yes, I like to brag on my family when I can), so the music was exquisite, with some special touches. The first one was that some of the music was in Croatian, because Vlad’s family is from Croatia.

The second was, well, this:

This requires some explanation.

Kelly’s mom and my mom are sisters—my mom is number 3 out of 8, and her mom, Patty, is 6 our of 8. This piece of music was written by their father, our grandfather, Francis. He was a trumpeter, composer, arranger, and elementary school music teacher. He had a “side gig”, I guess we’d call it, called “Orchestra for Little Fingers”, where he arranged and composed music for young players. He used to put on classical music in the family room and then have my brother and I name what instruments were playing.

He met my grandma at Duquesne University, where they were both studying music. They both sang in their church choir. So, music is important to our family, and almost everyone plays or sings, or does both.

My grandparents on their wedding day.

He died 11 years ago. Of course we think about him often, but especially in moments where there are big milestones, like births or marriages. So I was thinking about him anyway.

And then as I was flipping through the program, I saw this.

I didn’t even know he’d written this. I have no idea if he’d written more parts of a Mass setting or not. It’s a piece of music I’d never seen and none of us had ever heard performed—this was the premier.

It was gorgeous. Of course Kelly’s friend, who was the vocalist, sang it beautifully. But it, itself, was gorgeous. To see his writing brought back memories of seeing his pens and watching him write out manuscripts.

There may have been tears. Maybe. :)

OF COURSE I enjoyed getting to see Patty! (more on that in another post) This was her first time meeting the extended family and of course everyone wanted to see her and her siblings.

And since the wedding fell on Kelly’s birthday, there was also some “Happy Birthday.”

(Also do I even need to tell you that hugging my grandma felt amazing?)

Weddings are always special, but this one in particular? Yeah. It was darn special.

Congratulations, Kelly and Vlad!