The Hoffman Family Newsletter 2012

Merry Christmas!

Here we are!

In case you're wondering about the TNT photo...

Well, that photo was taken at the Science Museum in Chicago at the 

Myth Busters exhibit when Jenny and I visited Nick this spring.

We had a great time!

Nick was a wonderful host.

We saw improv theater, the Myth Busters, and Nick's new condo!!!

Nick's new condo is awesome!

I went to Mass at a church near Nick.

The Mass was celebrated in Polish.

Quite interesting, and part of a wonderful experience.

I was very impressed with Nick's condo.

He has a wonderful view of Chicago from his condo.

Nick is busy with work and enjoying his condo.

Jenny is doing well.  Her counts have been stable for the last 6 months.

We are so thankful for that!

She's still working for The Hartford.

Jenny gets tired easily so that limits her activities to a degree.

However,

Jenny and I were able to do some fun things in the Cities together.

We visited the Aquarium at the Mall of America.

See the photo of Jenny with the sharks' mouths?

That was part of the visit to the Mall.

Jenny and I also enjoyed the pirate exhibit at the Science Museum.

Honestly, I think that I had more fun at the Pirate Exhibit than she did.

Other than that, Jenny keeps busy with her kitties, 

Walter and Marvin.

I'm still busy making beads.

I love that job!

I've made a lot of beads for 

Beads of Courage this year.

Beads of Courage is an organization that helps children cope with serious illnesses by using beads to mark each step of their treatments.

Check out the link.

I was featured in a couple of magazines this year.

I also attended the Bead and Button Show again this year.

I love to attend that show.  It's always so much fun!

Oh, I let my hair go gray!  People don't recognize me.

I'm okay with that, too!!  :)

Now for Pixie Marie.

 

Pixie gets her own collage!!

She sleeps a lot.

However, she is now a registered therapy dog.

She passed her test and had to have 3 observations after that.

Whew!

She did good!

I am hoping that we can get out on our own soon.

Since it's the holiday season, no one is in their offices, so we haven't ventured out on our own yet.

Our group, Puppy Love, takes off most of December and January, so we won't be with the group until February or March.

I'm hoping that she and I can get out locally to visit people who might like to pet and enjoy a dog.

She can't wear her heart unless she is doing her volunteer work, so,

she hasn't worn it yet, but I am hoping soon.

That's our year in a nutshell.

We had our ups and downs, but, this year was better than others.

No matter what, we are family.

That's the most important thing of all!

Merry Christmas!

May 2013 be a blessed year for you and yours!

 

 

Happy Birthday, Jenny!!!!

Just wait until she sees this!!

Her eyes are going to roll, 

and

she's going to say,

"MOTHER!"

Then, I'll know I'm in trouble!

te-he~!!

Another Beautiful Person in my Life or HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENNY!

See that smile on her face?   Even though she has been through so much in the last year, that smile pops up in good, as well as, difficult and painful times for Jenny! 

Happy Birthday, my beautiful daughter!
You have brought so much joy to my life, and, for that, I can't thank you enough!

When I think of the first time I held you in my arms, bundling you tightly as we were taught to do, then seeing that familiar look of determination on your face as you struggled and succeeded in pulling your arms out of the tight blanket, I knew I was in for a ride as you grew.  What a ride it's been.

I thank you for being my daughter!
I thank you for being the strong, determined woman that you have repeatedly shown yourself to be this year!
I thank you for making me so proud of you!
I thank you for choosing me to be your mother!
Happy Birthday, Jenny!  I love you!
You are one of God's greatest gifts to me!  
Mom

Doing the Happy Dance as I Cry!!!!!

We just got home from Jenny's post transplant visit with the doctor.  She is 100% cancer free at this time!!!!  There was no cancer detected in any of the tests--none what so ever!

The Stem Cell Transplant in a very simple NutShell

You might remember that in January.

Jenny and I were at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, so that her stem cells could be collected for a future

stem cell transplant.

That was then.

This is now.

On Thursday of this week,

Jenny had her stem cells returned to her body.

This is how it went.

With the chemo having been given on Tuesday

and a Day of rest on Wednesday,

Thursday morning, the nurse brought in the first of 4 packages that contained Jenny's stem cells.

This was package #1.

The stem cells were then hooked up to the IV Pole.

The nurse did this.

Jenny's identity was checked against the name and numbers on the bar code of the bag of cells.

The nurse then hooked the line up to Jenny's port,

and 

the stem cells were then infused back into Jenny's body.

All four bags of cells were returned to her.

Now,

we wait.

When The Ripples of Hope Begin to Flow

Hope! Does it spring eternal? Not always, at least, not with me. When it's your child, when it's cancer, hope is very difficult to feel.

Yesterday, hope finally lifted it's beautiful head and showed a smile and light. Jenny's M Spike, the major cancer marker for multiply myeloma, the cancer which invaded Jenny's body and was diagnosed in July, was .0--No cancer detected!!!!!! Six months into treatment, no cancer was detected!!!

Today, I feel hope!

Thank you, God!

The Journey Begins and Continues

The door is shut. The house sitters are in settled into the house. The car is packed. The wind is cold, but the roads are open. The weather is good.

Jenny and I walk out the door and head off to Mayo Clinic for her stem cell harvest. This is the next step in Jenny's journey to a cure for her cancer.

The doctors at Mayo will harvest Jenny's own stem cells and freeze them so that they can be used at a later date. We don't know when Jenny's stem cells will be used for her stem cell transplant. That's up to the doctors. We are hoping it will be a long time before that happens.

This step, the harvest, is now. We will keep you updated. Jenny's caring bridge site can be found here.
Look for progress up dates there.

Now the journey has begun. The first step is taken.
We are on the road!!!!

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Today is the day! I won't say how old Jenny is, but 33 years ago today my beautiful daughter was born!

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

You are an amazing young woman! Nick, Walter, Marvin, Pixie, and I love you very, very much!

Wooo Hoooo

The news was good! The cancer in Jenny's body is responding to treatment. Two important protein markers were down. The infamous "M Spike" is down by 50% and another protein marker is back in the normal range! That is a true relief! Thank you for all of your prayers. They are most appreciated!

A Quick Update!

The visit with the oncologist yielded:

1) A good treatment plan for Jenny

2) The information that Jenny's cancer is NOT aggressive

3) The doctor's consider Jenny's cancer chronic and not life threatening.

Needless to say, I am most grateful and relieved.

Isn't that great news?

FOR JENNY

As you know from reading my blog, my daughter, Jenny, was recently diagnosed with a cancer of the plasma cell of the blood called multiple myeloma.

Knowing that her medical bills will be adding up, I have added a section in my Etsy store called FOR JENNY. In this section there are 10 items all earmarked FOR JENNY. I plan to give the monies from these items to Jenny to help her with her everyday living expenses. As each item sells, I will replace it with another.

This mini set of spacers is one of the items that I have listed in the FOR JENNY section of my store. There is a variety of items in the FOR JENNY section, so have fun browsing!

Some of my Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things.



Jenny or DD --------------------------------------------------------->










Nick or DS ------------------------------------------------------------->














Pixie Marie
---------------------------------->
She's a princess!








Melting Glass
Making Beads
Facebook
My Laptop
Beautiful Beads
The Bead and Button Show
The Gathering
Twitter
Dr. Phil
Oprah
Diet Coke
Candy
Etsy
Wet Canvas
Lampwork Etc.
Mexican Food
Torch Bugs
Email
Popcorn
Cell Phones
Fruit
Veggies
Stephanie Plum Novels
Biographies
And the list Goes on!

What are some of your favorite things?

When Mom Goes to Visit Jenny

Marvin had low expectations of my visit.
He made it clear that it was far more important for him to groom himself
than to purr for the camera.
Walter, who learned to open cabinet doors on this visit,
chose to ignore the
new human in his life.
He also waited for Marvin to groom him.

Jenny no longer gives her mother a chin or an elbow.
As an adult, she merely sticks out her tongue.
Such is the wonder of children and grandcats!
So. until the next visit.
Back at you!
Truly, I love them dearly!

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

I remember that little girl that used to give me a chin when she got mad at me. When I told her to stop, she would, but then she'd give me an elbow.

I knew when she was 2 days old, I'd have my hands full, and I did! We were told, as new parents, to keep our babies bundled. I did. Then, on day 2, I saw that determined little look on her face, and her hands were out of her bundle.

Now, I see a beautiful, young woman so full of potential and unconditional love!

I know I'm in trouble when I hear, "Mother!" I used to be calleld Mum when she was young. Times have changed. Our lives have changed, but this will never change.
I love you! Nick loves you!

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Fat Cow Mini Moo

I've finally got a web page! Take a look at this and tell me what you think. I opted to use a site called Fat Cow. Fat Cow is a web site that offers inexpensive web site hosting. I decided that I am not ready for a full blown web site, so I opted for their Mini Moo. A Mini Moo is only $5 a year and consists of one page which you can use for contact information. The only other expense that I had was $20 for a domain name. All of that was very reasonable to me.

When Jenny was home for Memorial Day weekend, I asked her to help me with my mini moo. I honestly tried to develop it myself, but I wasn't familiar with the tools that Fat Cow provides. For Jenny, it was no problem. She put together this page for me, but Jenny has told me that she plans to change it later because she wasn't happy with what she did. Well, I liked it, but we'll see what she does next.

So, today, is the great unveiling! Drum roll, please. tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Presenting Rosebud's Lampwork Beads! My domain name is: rosebud101.

So, what do you think?

For Where Your Treasure Is, There is Your Heart!

I saw a mosaic when reading another blog.
The mosaic I saw was peaceful and beautiful.
The writer encouraged others to try this.
I did.
Now, is this cool or what?
They truly are my treasures!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you, Jenny, for letting me be your mother.
















Thank you, Nick, for letting me be your mother.

















Spike, I love you, too.

















I am truly blessed.

I hAd lUnCh with the KiDs!

If you think it's hard to take YOUR children anywhere, just think of how hard it is for ME to take my children ANYWHERE and have them behave!
In spite of the fact that they are 31 and 29, respectively,
I can't take them anywhere without them saying,
"Do I have to eat this?
"Why did we come here?"
"I wanted to go to Burger King."
"I'm a vegetarian."
Sometimes, I think it's easier just to take Spike out to eat.
He will only lift his leg and, well, you know.
He's not fussy.
He doesn't refuse to eat his food.
Oh, well, I guess that's just the way it is.
Sigh!
Actually,
I loved it.
It was good to be together again,
and
it was all in good fun.