Day 376, and We are OUT OF HERE!

This has been quite an experience packing up. There are so many memories here.  In just a little over a year our lives have changed forever. We now have new life long friends. The RMH has been so good to us.  In a creepy way we all miss 3 West. Those nurses and staff were like family to us. That is were we raised our kids for 8 months.
I asked the kids about their favorite memories. Here is a random list of things they came up with. You can probably guess which one of us came up with them.
Tree swing, play rooms, McDonalds, Riding their bikes to school, the 1st day of school, the zoo, Caltrain, Bart subway, Young Women church groups, new friends, Meals, 3 West, CVICU, Shambaac, Chloe, Leaf, JoJo, Annalees, Dinner at Dr Meada's, church activities, Christmas day on 3 West, the marshmellow war, Evening walks with the Berlin, Plants vs Zombies, Thanksgiving in the Sobrato room, 4th of July in the CVICU, cousins, friends, and relatives visiting, biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, trips to Monterey, Marina, Santa Cruz, and Half Moon Bay,  Baby sitters who watched our kids, Date nights, going country dancing with my wife, bike rides, walking the Dish, phone calls from Lindsey, Everything about VALENTINES DAY! Chin hair, Sierra's ZERO report, kids surviving school, basketball games, the circus, the 49er game, the cooler on Valentines Day, Kevin, just to name a few.

Thank you for a great ride.
See you in Oregon

 Thee Kevin

 and Mrs Ginger

 Roger from the front desk, they are the ones that gave us our stickers for 376 days.

 Mandy and Sandra

 My Calif office. Thank you Shawn, Ron, Neal, Bruce, and others at Mannett.



       'Stuff'

The sticker wall. Right now Lindsey and I are taking it down. There are many memories on this wall.  There is a date and location on each sticker, sometimes 3 West, CVICU, Short Stay, Surgery, School, Caféteria.  That wall kept us going.

 

105, Remembering Caleb

I would be ungrateful if I didn't share my feeling regarding Caleb and his family. We have mentioned them occasionally over the months but now he deserves his own entry. 

He was a cute little 6 year old with an incurable lymphnode disease. Him and his mother Jennifer, his Dad, and 2 sisters Renee and Evelyn have been here since February 2012.

Lindsey got to know him quite well in the hospital school. For many months Lindsey and Caleb would visit in school both being followed around by nurses and equipment. On Wednesdays Lindsey and Caleb would play games together. His favorite game was Museum. Lindsey said he loved to smile.

As Lindsey got her transplant, Caleb  got worse.  6 weeks ago, they were told he would never leave the hospital and would eventually pass away there.  I don't know how a parent deals with that. There was always hope with Lindsey, there was always options.  Still are.  But not for Caleb.

4 days ago, Caleb was sitting up playing a game with one of the nurses. He quietly laid back, and died... Just like that... When his mother got there, she just held his body, for over 5 hours she just sat there with her 6 year old.  Now she does not know what to do. Who would?  He has been her life for 15 months.  Often she calls or goes over to 3 North and can't understand how there could possibly be someone else in Caleb's room.

I feel so bad for his parents. They don't have the support group we have been blessed with. Now as we are excited and packing up, she too is packing up with her 2 girls.  It doesn't seem right that we are both leaving but under totally different circumstances.

God has a plan for each one of us. I don't understand how/why we are going home with 5 healthy kids and Jennifer and her husband are going home with 2 of their 3. We have prayed and will continue to pray to God who will somehow, someway, comfort that good family. I have a ton of respect for them.

Please remember how blessed you are.
Jason



103, Galbraith's, Shek's and Hansen's

These are some people and events we don't want to forget.  After church yesterday we went to the Galbraith's for dinner. Another very nice family. About have him talked into coming to Oregon for the October deer hunt.  She is due with her 7th any day.

Today, Memorial Day, we went to the movie Epic with Jen Shek and her family. Kids loved it, we all did. Afterwards we went to a Chinese restaurant for some authentic food. Kids didn't eat much but I loved it. Sierra's good friend, Annalee Soohoo, came along. She is 1/2 Chinese so she was showing us the 'right' way (and the fast way) to use chop sticks.

This afternoon we were invited to go with the Hansen's to the Golden Gate National Cemetery. It is a military cemetery which has about 137,000 service men and women. Very good experience for our family, especially on Memorial Day.

Tomorrow we are back to work. Lindsey has her last day of PT. She needs to be ready to go. They will be doing testing on her to see her progress.  Then off to school. Sierra has English and Math finals (late night ahead of us). Megan has basketball practice. Hunter has his 1st grade class party. Gage is Gage.

Other news, Rogilio got his heart. Waited since Nov 15. He was on the Berlin and took our room when we moved out. Same day, Kaleb, cute little boy in Lindsey's school finally passed away. He had an incurable disease. Very sad for that family. Chloe, who was on the Berlin the same time as Lindsey, is back in the hospital with a high fever and vomiting. They hope it's 'just a bug' and will pass, but needs to be here to watch.  It's the new reality for all these families. 

Last few days we have been sharing our favorite memories of living here. I will share in another blog. (I need to go)

 Galbraith's clan

 One and only Liz Niccum

 Dick and Mimi Peery

 Steve and Barbara Young

 Another visit to the tree swing. Still a Hunter favorite.

 Gage explaining the rules.

 Chinese food with the Shek's and Annalee Soohoo.

 Stacy and Jen Shek

 The one and only Michelle Hansen.



 At Jeffery's with Georgia, Hart's daughter and Lucy. 

 

 

102, Monterey & the 17-Mile-Drive

Thursday evening we had dinner at Dick and Mimi Perry's. Very nice couple. He reminds me a lot of Blaine Allen. Telling stories and making jokes at everything. Very funny guy!  They have a way of making you feel really good.  It is unfortunate that in the last few weeks we are here, we are getting to know the personalities of many people in the ward. We have known who they are, but now we are getting to know what makes them tick. All those months in the hospital we were unable to get out much.  This ward is making it hard to leave.

Friday was Hunter's 1st grade play at school. It was a typical cute little 1st grade thing.

Sierra had her Social Studies final. It was a tough one. Hang in there kid.  Stacy and I are pretty proud of how she is doing. Given all she has been through this year, she is doing great.  She has had to deal with rejection, ports, plasmapheresis, 12 hour IV's, side affects, head aches, tests, hospitalization, biopsies, sister living in the hospital, then add on top of that going to 7th grade at a large school, and meeting new friends.  She is hanging in there.

Saturday ended up being a very fun day. We decided not to go to Reno for the basketball tournament. Megan would have only played in one game on Saturday. The rest of the games are on Sunday and Monday.  I'm not comfortable with my child playing sports on Sunday.  It wasn't worth it to her (and us) to travel 4.5 hours for one game then back. So we decided to go to Monterey.  That ended up being a good decision.

Before we left, I helped with the moving of some people in the ward.  They are in East Palo Alto moving to Salt Lake City. There was much that needed to be done. Stacy packed up 4 more boxes of 'stuff'.  It's going to be interesting to get everything done and packed before Thursday at 1:00.  The kids (especially Gage) is getting so excited to head to 'Eastern Oregon'. Every time we get in the Suburban to go somewhere, he thinks we are going "home to Eastern Oregon."

We left for Monterey around noon, and got there around 3:30. That is one thing I will NOT miss. The traffic! Bumper to Bumper, stop and go and stop some more, all the way. Good grief!! Coming home we made it in 1 hour 20 minutes.  Having said that, I still would rather be sitting on a freeway with my family than in the hospital. Still grateful.... Once there we went to the Old Fisherman's Wharf' for lunch then walked around and looked at the shops. Then we embarked on the '17-Mile-Drive'.  Ben Galbraith recommended it, so what the heck. It was a pretty drive through the famous 'Pebble Beach Golf Course'.  This is where they have hosted the US Open in '72, 82, 92, 01, 10 and in 2019. We saw a couple of nice 3 and 4 point bucks and the thought did cross my mind.....my 300 Short Mag....  Anyway..... we then stopped along the beach and looked at the tide pools.  After Megan's Oregon coast trip, she was excited to show her sister and brothers what lives in tide pools.  We then saw some beautiful ocean views and enormous mansions. We found a 2 acre lot for sale, no house, just dirt along the ocean. We all took guesses on the asking price. The closest was $4 Million. Not even close. Try $10,000,000. Wow! We took a picture of the mansion next to it. It was a fun drive.

After the 17-Mile-Drive, we stopped at some sand dunes. The kids had a blast (except Sierra)!  These were the things we couldn't even dream of  back in the day.

Sierra's post IVIG headaches came back in full force.  Usually 2-3 days after her IVIG she gets these horrible headaches, lots of tears and pain.  We felt so bad for her.  We gave her all the pain meds we could, but mostly she has to suffer through it. She missed the tide pools and sand dunes.  Again it's the reality of what she / we have to deal with.  I'm so proud of that kid. She will have IVIG monthly for years to come. She never complained.  She is a mature beautiful young woman.

Hunter at his "Field Days."  Lots of fun.

Hunter's 1st grade play. It was from the book, "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" by Verna Aardema. Very cute!

Hunter with his 1st grade teacher Mrs. Powell.

 

Old Fishermans Warf in Monterey

 Birds on Old Fisherman's Wharf

 Yummy Crepes

 Tide pools along the 17 Mile Drive

 Pebble Beach Golf Course

 The mansion next to the 2 acre lot for sale. There were 'houses' like this all other the place.

 She really does like being out of the hospital

 Hunter is way up there getting ready to slide down the sand. Upper left corner

Kids jumping off the dune. They were having a ball. Wish Sierra could be here. She was in the suburban in tears of pain with her mother. 

She is doing a little better today, but no run away.