December 24th - 31st: The Whoville Feast

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2006 11:14 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Just a few last minute preparations but otherwise we seem to be ready for Christmas festivities here in Orinda. Besides the usual gift exchange, food will be the dominant theme culminating in a feast that would make all of the Whos in Whoville cast an envious eye toward our table.

Keith hung up his stocking for Kirby and the gleam in his eyes as he imagined how much Kirby was going to enjoy his gift in the morning was quite evident. In a way I suppose that is the same feeling we all seek on the eve of Christmas as we take the time to appreciate all the people that enrich our lives.

In that spirit, all of the Kelley’s extend a Merry Christmas to all of our friends, especially so in a year when our friends and family have been so caring and generous toward us.

Be safe and enjoy.

Spot Quiz: What did the Whos in Whoville feast on in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas?'

Answer (in binary code of course)

01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01010111 01101000 01101111 00101101 01110000 01110101 01100100 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110010 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01010111 01101000 01101111 00101101 01110010 01101111 01100001 01110011 01110100 00101101 01100010 01100101 01100001 01110011 01110100

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2006 11:04 PM, PST

“This meat is exquisitely done” Keith

Parent’s Note:

And not only that, the root vegetable gratin, tomato pudding, home-made rolls, applesauce, and salad were good too. Simply put, it was a great feast.

Kirby scored a cat-nip filled snowman, a set of “bizzy” balls, a sparkly thing on a stick, a peacock feather and some fancy feline treats all stuffed into a new knit stocking (which by the way is larger than any other in the household) with the words “I’m a lucky cat” on it. As much as Kirby appreciated all of the loot, his most favorite treat was a small morsel of canned tuna mixed with water. He meowed loudly and his tail twitched constantly as Keith carried the bowl down the hall to his dining area.

Keith and Scott had a great day as one might expect with gifts to open. But more importantly, Keith was really feeling good again physically with few lingering effects from surgery on the 14^th.

What a great Christmas present that is for us.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2006 09:18 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

A quiet day and a quick journal entry tonight. Keith and Scott both had friends over in the afternoon, so a lot of laughing and giggling emanating from the rooms where they were playing their games.

Tomorrow, if the storm hasn’t washed the roads out, we’ll try to get out and stretch Keith’s legs a bit – we don't want cabin fever to set in....

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006 10:30 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

This has been such a great week for us and especially for Keith – mainly because there has not been a lot of medical news to report. It doesn’t necessarily make for great reading but who cares as long as Keith is feeling good. He has been enjoying playing games and hanging with his brother. And yes, the roads were clear and we motored off to the mall to buy some shoes and a sweatshirt for the boys. Keith put some mileage on his legs and was rewarded by being able to spend some gift money at the game store.

At dinner tonight we were discussing how this website has been a great tool for us to stay in touch with our friends and family. And also how great the ‘Charlevoix’ community has been in supporting us through so many journal entries. To all of you who share a Charlevoix bond and to our wonderful friends a special thanks.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2006 11:05 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today was a carbon copy of yesterday, except we didn’t get Keith out of the house. He was very happy to stay at home and play video games with his brother thank you very much.

When I asked him on our 1 to 10 happiness scale what today measured he answered “good”. Ok, so it wasn’t the numeric answer I was seeking, but he explained later that it was great day.

This was a lab draw day, and the first in a week. When the results were returned it showed Keith’s platelet level to be above 300! This is the first time since his diagnosis in August that he has broken through the magic 300 level on his own (300 and above is considered normal). Armed with this information, Josie has been encouraging Keith to wiggle all of his loose teeth and get ‘em out of there ASAP!

Keith is sitting with me as I finish this entry and offers the following input:

Pink Mink
Purple Nurple
Green Spleen
Blue Stew
Red Bed
Gray Neigh
Black Snack

I then offered the following input:

Time for bed......

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2006 10:42 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today was a ditto of yesterday’s carbon copy of the previous day.

Keith’s Michigan cap is in full preparation mode for the Rose Bowl game. Rumor has it that the team is sending a covert contingent of coaches and physical therapists to our house in the next day or two to put the ‘cap’ through the necessary exercise regimen and to review the latest playbook strategies. There was some talk of sending the cap to the Claremont Hotel and Spa for a long weekend of therapeutic treatments, including fashionable brim curling and logo embroidery enhancements, but due to the recent series of small earthquakes (3 to be exact – all of which we felt) that occurred directly below the Claremont over the past week that plan has been scrapped – too dangerous. The cap will spend 24 hours in a maize and blue hypobarric compression chamber receiving purified oxygen harvested from mid-field at Michigan Stadium while listening to piped-in recordings of Bo Shembechler’s best locker room motivational speeches.

USC simply doesn’t have a chance against the ‘cap.’


Keith thought a few more words added to his phrases would help...

Pink Mink Stink Drink
Purple Nurple Surple Flurple
Mean Green Bean Spleen
Chew Blue Gnu Stew
Red Fred Bed Head
Gray Sleigh Neigh Spray
Black Quack Snack Pack

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2006 11:13 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today was a reenactment of yesterday’s ditto of the previous day’s carbon copy of the day preceding it…..with a couple of exceptions. Keith had a school friend over and they had great fun together for most of the afternoon and later a couple of friends and their families were over with their boys so more time for fun and games. A very social day of sorts for Keith, but unfortunately Kirby spent most of it cowering in the back hall closet, especially when the drum set became the focus of activity.

Not necessarily Keith related, but an interesting aside….Yesterday I took Ann on a day hike in the nearby Diablo Foothills Regional Park to test out my new digital SLR camera. It was a beautiful day, lots of interesting fauna – quails, and hawks as well as a small herd of cattle munching the new grass alongside the trail. A beautiful and dramatic landscape and some decent photos were captured but we later realized that Ann’s new cell phone had somehow slipped out of her pocket at some point along our trek in this huge, wide-open space. Armed with a challenge, and undeterred by the insanely small odds of recovering it we set out again today determined to find it, intermittently pausing to call her phone and then listening for some sort of faint ringing response as we re-traced our path. It reminded me of NASA trying to communicate with one of its lost Martian rovers. Eventually we successfully ‘pinged’ it and there it was, recumbent in a tuft of grass none the worse for wear despite its overnight camping experience. Even more remarkable, it was not sullied by one of the multitude of fresh cow patties dotting the grassy landscape.

Tomorrow is tree dismantling and decoration removal day along with further preparation for Monday’s big game at the Rose Bowl. Keith continues to feel great and seems very happy.

Reality makes its appearance again soon though, as Keith will have surgery again for a second bone marrow harvest at Stanford on the 3rd of January. It’s no fun, but we've been through it once before so it should be less of a surprise. This will be followed by another round of chemo, his sixth cycle, at Children’s Oakland sometime soon after. Then we head back to Stanford later in the month or possibly early February to undergo the actual bone marrow transplant procedure. More on that as it gets closer.

Best wishes from the Kelley's for a happy New year to all.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2006 11:23 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

I won’t start this entry by saying that today was a replay of yesterday’s reenactment of Friday’s ditto of the previous day’s carbon copy of the day preceding it. So instead I offer a simple checklist of Keith’s activities today:

Slept in ‘til 9 ü (ahhhhh…)

Pet Kirby ü (purrrr…)

Logged on to WOW ü (must level up…)

Pet Kirby Again ü (meow…)

Still Feelin’ Great ü (yeah…)

Showered & Changed Broviac Dressing ü (zzzzzzz…)

Visited Friend’s House ü (let’s go play WOW…)

Made and Ate Sushi ü (yummm…)

Visited Neighbor’s House ü (I have a video game…)

Rose Bowl Readied "The Cap" ü (on three, hut one…)

Determined to Stay up ‘til Midnight ü (we’ll see…)

Determined to Beat Cancer in 2007 ü (absolutely…)