Hello All!
First of all, I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. As you can see from the photos above, we had a wonderful and festive holiday – filled with lots of family, friends, food, and fun! Thanksgiving has always been an important tradition in our family, especially our annual Macy’s Day Parade party. However, as I am sure you can imagine, this year was a particularly poignant holiday for us, as we are all much more cognizant of the many blessings we have to be thankful for. First and foremost, we were all extraordinarily grateful for the fact that my mother was feeling good, looking great, and able to enjoy the holiday weekend to its fullest! This is something we were not sure would be possible considering the proximity of the holiday to her surgery. However, not only did Vivi get to participate in the multi-day celebration - she was even up to her usual mischievous antics.
After a lovely morning parade party, which included appearances by some of our oldest and dearest friends, such as the Bergman boys, we enjoyed a tradition we have not had in years – Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Since my two older brothers, David and Marko, have moved to the east coast, we have traded off having the dinner at one of their houses. However, seeing as we were not sure about what Vivi’s health status would be during the holiday, we decided it would be best to plan a dinner within walking distance to her bed. I have to say, although it was simply a contingency plan, this year’s dinner was one of my favorite Thanksgiving meals that I can remember. Again, celebrating a holiday, the entire point of which is to be thankful, was particularly meaningful to all of us this year. It was a truly special moment to be sitting around a huge table, surrounded by my whole family (sadly, minus my sister and her children), hearing nothing but chatting, laughing, and chewing. I most especially enjoyed watching my mother sitting across the table from me, looking healthy and happy. While this has unquestionably been one of the toughest years our family has ever faced, we have quickly realized that such hard times can also manifest some rather extraordinary moments. Thursday night was no exception. While it certainly would have been easy to simply focus on the hardships of this past year, our family, per usual, took this as yet another opportunity to simply be thankful for each other and the many other blessings we have in our lives.
The following day, we headed out to New Jersey to my brother David’s house for our annual post-Thanksgiving make-your-own pizza party! While Vivi tried to play the C-card and get one of us to make a pizza for her, she ended up making her own “practically burnt” (the way she likes it) margarita pizza – or so she claims. I am still convinced my father ended up making it for her, in the end, which is just typical (cancer or not)! In any case, it was another evening of lovely family togetherness and fun.
For most people, a full Thanksgiving dinner followed by a full-on pizza party would be enough food to last them for at least a few weeks - not our family! On Saturday, we headed up to my brother Marko’s house in Connecticut for a feast of burgers, fries, and milkshakes. No joke! While none of this is in any way, shape, or form, on Vivi’s diet, we figured she deserved to indulge for the holiday weekend, especially as she would be heading back into treatment the following week.
That takes us to the present. I am currently sitting in Vivi’s hospital room at Sloan (private, of course!), as she is getting her first hydration treatment and prepping for the start of her new chemo regimen tomorrow. The new regimen will entail two chemo treatments during week 1 (this week) – one through an IV, and the second (which will be on Wednesday), through a port that goes straight into her abdomen. On Thursday, she will receive one more hydration treatment, and, if all goes well, she will go home that day. She will then have the weekend off, but will need to return to the hospital next Tuesday for week 2 of treatment. Week 2 will entail an overnight stay in the hospital to receive one more round of chemo through the port, and an additional hydration treatment. She will then have a little time off, and on day 21, she will start the cycle again.
In case some of you are not up to speed, Vivi has to receive her chemo treatments as an in-patient due to the complications she had with her heart during her first two rounds of chemo. This is also the reason the doctors want to make sure they keep her very well hydrated, as dehydration seems to be a significant factor in what triggered these heart complications during the first go-around.
Needless to say, this new regimen is going to be extremely intense, and very tough with all the hospital time (although, I am starting to think my mother prefers it here in her private room with a view). However, right now it seems she will only need to make it through three rounds of this chemo, and then she will hopefully be in full remission by late January!
After that, Vivi will be checked every three months to make sure that the cancer has not reoccurred. Unfortunately, ovarian cancer has an extremely high reoccurrence rate. However, seeing as Vivi has had a better response to her treatment than anyone would have expected, as well as the fact that she has stayed so seemingly healthy (outside of the cancer) through both her chemotherapy and the surgery, we have all reasons to believe that she can beat the odds! So what seemed to have been a not so hopeful scenario when Vivi was first diagnosed, has now turned into, what seems to be, quite a little miracle. Something I said many thanks for while sitting around that table on Thursday evening, and will continue to pray for as we head down her continued road to recovery.
I have said it before on this blog, but I attribute this miracle to several factors. First, anyone who knows Vivi, knows she is just one of a kind. Her positivity, sense of humor, and continued zest for life, has undoubtedly allowed this process to be as seamless (even fun, at times!) as possible. Additionally, I truly believe we have all of you to thank. This was the other blessing I have made sure to give thanks for – not only on Thursday night, but every single day since we have started this journey. We could not be luckier to be surrounded by such extraordinary people in our friends and family. The undying support, love, prayers, and thoughts that continue to pour in are just simply overwhelming. I now know first hand that love and laughter are truly the most powerful medicine on earth.
So although Thanksgiving is now over, I would still like to give thanks – to all of you – for everything you have given to my mother, as well as our whole family, through this challenging time. We honestly could not have gotten through any of this without you.
I hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday season, and may your lives be filled with as many blessings as we have been offered this year.
As always, I will keep you posted on Vivi’s progress…
