This was a fun day after Thanksgiving. No Black Friday craziness. Jon/Alyssa came over in the morning. Michancy, Jon & I went to Target, a pot dispensary, and a wine store to stock up on stuff. Then in the afternoon, we went to see Frozen 2 at the Universal AMC. Larry and Michancy stayed back. Frozen 2 was very fun. The first Frozen is still probably the better of the two, but undeniably entertaining regardless. In the evening, we played Pictionary, which Larry was able to enjoy too. Drank a good amount of wine that night.
Thanksgiving! This was a long day. It was raining fairly steadily that day, continuing the fun from yesterday’s intense amount of rain. Was able to relax in the morning but then went to go and pick up mom (Michancy came with) from Duarte for some Thanksgiving fun. Happily traffic in LA during Thanksgiving weekend is basically amazing, so no issues except for having to drive in lots of rain. Mom was ready, of course, with the way this year has been for her, it’s just sad to not see her the same as she was just a year ago. Regardless, got her back here. Nicki was here by then and she had brought an insane spread of food as appetizers. Insane. Every platter had individual labels. She’s too good for all of us.
Jon and Alyssa were flying in this day, as that was the only time they could get seats for all 4 of them (including Stacey and Rachel) together. So they weren’t coming in till later that day, so we ended up doing a bit of a 2-stage dinner as my mom just really isn’t able to relax or wait. Even though she had brought soup with her, and she ate it, it was already ‘when are we eating turkey’? I wonder if it’s social anxiety at this point and she doesn’t know how to deal with people anymore so she’d rather just eat and get it done with. Anyway, that’s what happened – we got the turkey heated up along with potatoes and green beans, and the food was great, but we had all been snacking on the spread Nicki had brought so I didn’t eat with her, although I sat with her. That was around 3, and once she ate, she basically was ready to go home. So Michancy & I drove her home and then we were back around 4:30 or so, and by then, Jon & Alyssa had arrived.
It was great to see everyone. We had a very nice dinner with everyone, with people spread out across the living room eating. So much for needing the card table – at least I was ready just in case. What was funny was that General Tso, Bugsy, and Tigger were very popular with Stacey and Rachel. Sveta then came over while we were all recovering and after Jon & Alyssa had left back to their hotel, which was nice.
Michancy arrived! The effort was a little more than expected as she flew in to Burbank to keep things easier, but her flight got diverted to Ontario as the weather was such shit that day. So while I had gone to Burbank to pick her up in the morning, that was for nothing. So while that situation was getting sorted out, Joel and I went to Whole Foods in Sherman Oaks to pick up my Thanksgiving order – surprisingly, it wasn’t the shit show I was expecting. Sure, the parking lot was crowded but what is nuts is that somehow you can get a spot there. I think because it’s a smaller store that you really aren’t chilling there, you’re shopping and going. Anyway, our order was ready pretty quickly and we were back home to store the goods in the refrigerator, which was nicely empty after clearing it out on Monday night to try to make sure we didn’t have an insane trash situation and get everything out for the Tuesday pickup. With last week’s skipped trash situation, it was a bit of stress. Today was also the day for Larry to get his portable pump removed – I had expected to be able to go but Michancy’s flight was now hopping over from Ontario to Burbank at that time, so I instead picked her up while Fran and Joel went with Larry to take care of that (and get my caregiver leave forms, which frustratingly were only half done but happily Fran caught that before leaving). By the evening, we were all home and happy to be inside due to the rain!
I write a hostile headline like that and you think I’m just going to be ranting like a madman. I won’t be. It’s actually been, for the most part, a very good month.
First, I Turned 42
Eh, maybe that’s not all that exciting or great, but it was time spent with friends and I can’t complain too much about where things are. Knock on wood.
Larry made birthday cupcakes for me – I am definitely on board with that. I think he may have been even more motivated because of the cake caddy that we bought when bringing a cake over for my mom’s birthday!
On the night of my birthday, a few of my bestest friends went over to the French restaurant in Highland Park called Cote Est. The same people who run this also run Barbrix and All’acqua, so you know it’s good. And this was no exception – we ended up spending like 3-4 hours there just eating, drinking, and having a fun time.
We Got Some Very Good News regarding Larry
Larry got a follow-up PET scan done the Friday before my birthday, but we didn’t get the results for a few days. Larry’s 9th round of chemo occurred the week following my birthday, which was also a week when Fran & Joel came back out to visit and spend time with their boy. So it was very much a happy coincidence that while they were out here, we also got the news about the PET scan results. On Wednesday’s follow-up to remove the pump, one of the nurses let us know that he’d seen the results and while Larry would need to talk to the doctor, the results were realllly good. And then on Thursday, they were all there for the Nulasta shot and had a chance to talk to Dr. Arzoo – and he basically said that the triplet chemo we’ve been doing has created results that are as good as could be hoped for.
Larry’s liver had been previously covered in hundreds of spots, which we knew about but didn’t actually want to see the pictures of. We still haven’t seen pictures, but there’s basically only one 4x4cm spot remaining in his liver after the chemo he’s been getting…which is incredible. The reason we didn’t have a parade though is that the reality is that this is still not over. Dr Arzoo wants us to continue the current regimen of chemo, meaning basically finish it up through the end of the year. I think we can push to at least reduce the oxyplatin as that is causing the neuropathy and Larry’s neuropathy symptoms are getting more intense and longer to recede. We have to roll that back before the nerve damage is permanent.
Then there is the fact that this is considered a chronic condition – and that there will be some form of reduced chemo for at least another year. Nothing as long and intense as what he’s getting now, which is good, but it’s not that we’ve ‘beaten the cancer.’ We actually may never ‘beat’ it – at least for the time being, but medical breakthroughs happen all the time. Anyway, we have an appt with a UCLA liver specialist this week (he is the doc we spoke to about a second opinion this summer) and we should hopefully be able to get more information about next steps, whether it’s continued chemo or who knows, maybe some kind of surgery to cut the spot out? That’s all guesses on my part, but it will be good to have an idea of what the next phase is. But the fact is, while there’s a lot of ‘Yeah, but’ above, the chemo did its job and Larry is in a far better state than in July. We just are processing the reality of his condition.
Fran & Joel Came Out for a Little Bit
They came out and stayed at the newly opened Hyatt Place down the street from our apartment on Central Ave in Glendale. It’s a perfect location for them as well as us, as it’s on the way to all the restaurants from our place. It was wonderful that they could be around when all this good news was coming through about Larry’s cancer, plus it was just nice to spend time with them. We did take them out to eat a few times – and in fact, we ended up going back to Cote Est just a week later than the last time we were there as it’s really that good of a place to visit!
I also ended up getting my birthday gift from Larry while they were out – Larry was way too kind and got me a new Apple Watch!!! I am a huge fan of this thing and a few weeks into owning it, I can’t imagine not having it. It’s just the best device. It’s the freakin’ future.
We did take Fran and Joel to visit the latest at the Glen LA, but I figure I’ll group those pictures together at the bottom of this post as then we took Michancy this weekend to see it and there was some significant progress witnessed this time too!
They wanted an LA brunch before leaving, so we took them to one of the fun places in Hollywood we’d been to before, Madera. Goood times and good food, and loud music. 🙂
Processed With Darkroom
Dear Evan Hansen w/ Nicki
It has been a little bit of time since we’d seen a show (Come From Away back in May, I think, when we saw that in NYC) so when Nicki reached out to see if we’d want to see Dear Evan Hansen at the Ahmanson, it was like duh. It was on a Saturday night so we had the ability to get some food beforehand, so we met up at Bottega Louie for a fabulous Italian dinner, then took an Uber to the Ahmanson. Last time that Larry & I had been there was seeing Les Miserables 25th Anniversary staging of the show – which was an event unto itself. Anyway, concerning the show itself – I really liked the staging and the music, but the story and plot were a bit interesting to consider. Obviously, it’s a damn musical – but it’s not that the situation was fantastical or unrealistic, it was that the main character is taking advantage of a situation that benefits himself and another family…only up until the truth of the situation gets out. I’m being vague to not spoil anything, but it’s just hard to feel sad or empathy after a certain point with Evan Hansen as it’s like, come on, dude, this is fucked up. So yeah, it was good….but also, I didn’t love it because of the above. Whaddya gonna do.
Fireball Island!!!!
I subscribed to a Kickstarter for Fireball Island early this year as hello, Fireball Island was one of my favorite games as a 10yo kid. I don’t know what happened to my original game (probably grew out of it and thought I was too cool for school) but when I saw a post on Kotaku about this being Kickstarter’d, I was IN. I was IN for a lot too, as I ended up basically buying nearly every option. Happily, they met their Kickstarter goal by a LOT and for the last few months, the updates were all about production and getting distribution lined up. This past month or so was all about the games going out, and I was hoping it would be here for Thanksgiving and happy day, it was delivered! We did get to play it finally with Michancy and I gotta say, I love it. The new version has a lot more sophistication and structure to it, but there’s nothing so satisfying as getting to launch a fireball and it takes out your intended target. It’s wonderful.
Michancy Visits for Thanksgiving
It isn’t Thanksgiving if Michancy doesn’t come down to visit! It had actually been since last Thanksgiving when we saw her last, but a lot of curveballs were introduced obviously this summer, so not unsurprising. It was really good to see her. I think we had hopes to have been in the new house by this point, but that was not the case and so Michancy did get to enjoy the fact that we rearranged the office to allow for a bit more room when the air bed is set up.
On Thursday, Thanksgiving ended up just being the three of us as mom wasn’t feeling well, so we had a lot of food (from Whole Foods, again, as that option is the best option around for hosting Turkey Day). We did drink plenty of wine but it was NOTHING like last year’s ridiculousness. Still can’t believe how much wine was drank then. We also played Fireball Island and I am so happy about that. We went and saw Widows on Friday (it was okay, but somewhat disappointing), ate plenty of good meals, she got to see the house in its most current state, and then on Saturday she took off back to Vegas. Her luck was awful though as there was an accident at the top of the Cajon Pass, holding her up for almost 3 hours. Then it only got worse, and she finally got home like 8-9 hours after leaving. That is not good. I wouldn’t be surprised if she never came back this way again! But we loved having her around so much.
Larry and I have had the remainder of the weekend to ourselves – first we did go to my mom’s yesterday to have Thanksgiving Round 2, as one can’t not have a turkey dinner this weekend. She also has a good amount of turkey leftovers too for further meals. Today Larry & I had brunch with Nicki and her sister and mother, who were in town for Thanksgiving. Went to Republique in LA which was wonderful. Then we went to see Ralph Breaks the Internet and it was fantastic. Stay through to the very end of the credits, especially if you loved this part of the trailer:
And now it’s the end of the 4-day weekend! BOOOO.
Updates from the Glen LA:
Before you leave though, here are pictures of the place at the Glen LA. The first set is from the second week of November and is when we saw that we had tile in all our bathrooms and all the exterior work was finished! It was exciting.
No more scaffolding down at Phase 2
We also have a garage door!
The tile has been installed and it looks great
Apparently we get overhangs on our Great Room patio
Our patio is done
Larry and Fran in our future great room
The tile in the great room half bath
Up on our finished roof deck
Looking at Phase 3
Happy sight – the gas meters are in on Phase 1
The best news that visit though was the fact that the gas company had FINALLY connected Phase 1. At least part of it. So people in Phase 1 finally closed escrow on their homes – not only that, while we were there, we saw some of those people moving in! It was kind of…stunning. It’s actually going to happen. Our date is currently the later half of December – we’ll just have to see if that holds. I have my doubts, but you never know.
The next set of pictures are from this past Friday – and while in the set above the tile was down, the hardwood floors were not. Well, that’s not the case anymore! All the floors are down, except for carpeting on the stairs, which won’t happen till the very end. Even more, there’s running water in the unit, along with toilets and sink fixtures. No power or gas yet, but it’s coming along!!!
We have sidewalks now
We have a stone overhang
AND we have wood floors in! Protected by paper though.
We even have toilets and running water
Our tankless water heater is in place too!
Our front door sidewalk
We even have faucets
Larry in the wooden-floor closet
Our roof deck landing
Anyway, on to December 2018. Let’s end this fucking year right.
So tonight’s episode of Jeopardy! was the one in which I saw the Returning Champion win his episode, and it is now very surreal to realize the NEXT EPISODE OF JEOPARDY! WILL BE THE ONE THAT I AM ON. I can’t wait to un-hide the posts I’ve written about my experience.
And this has been an interesting Thanksgiving episode thus far. It was a small affair with me, Larry, and my mom, and the food all came out pretty damn great. But our kitchen sink decided to stop draining water shortly before mom came over and before Larry had started to cook. FUN. Then today, while we were relaxing and watching the Blu-Ray of the Beatles’ 1 that Larry had gotten me as a gift for my birthday last year, our fucking TV shorts out. IT SHORT THE FUCK OUT. We’ve had it for just under 3 years at this point, and it’s still a great TV. So after considering maybe just going and getting a new TV, instead I ended up calling a TV repairman service and after describing what we had seen (freakin’ SPARKS had shot out from the back of the TV where the power cord connects to it), they have to order a new power thing and so I’ve got an appointment on Friday to have it repaired. No Big TV for a week. Happily, we have TVs in both the office and the bedroom, so it’s not as if we have to talk to each other that much, but our living room is now a place for rest and contemplation. FEH.
