Monday, September 22, 2014

More trials of life and I'm still building boards

Just when you thing you've got things undercontrol, expect the unexpected. If you've been reading my intermittent posts on this blog you would have read about my brothers trials with diabetes, totally out of the blue and in retrospect, his timing was pretty good. My timing was pretty good and we got him the care he needed and now he is doing great. Fast forward another month and a half and Jay is doing great, still needs his insulin, but he up to #170 and feeling good. As all this transpires, I am still finding time to build a board here and there and continue experimenting. The new boards are the best yet and have the MST husk technology which allows me to build a 3 dimensional base contour with a Ptex base and get all the curves right. Then back to my story, we have a great trip to San Onofre to go spend time with family and friends and surfing. Two days later, Anne has to check into the UCSF medical center ICU, her multi myeloma has mutated into plasma cell leukemia. After much soul searching, a roller coaster of emotions and $400K in medical, a good reason to have insurance for all of you who don't; Anne came home, after Chemotherapy, Leukopheresis, bone marrow biopsy, quinten cather, pic lines and a view of the city from her room. Having a loved one home gives me good reason to build yet another board. Tomorrow or perhaps the next day that would be 9/23 or 9/24 she goes back to UCSF for phase two of her Chemotherapy, then in another 3 weeks she gets to come home for another week. Beyond that there is the transplant phase and that will take another 5 months and we need to find a place within an hour of the hospital as she will be undergoing an Allogenic transplant, that is donor stem cells from someone else, hopefully a close family member will be a match. Between visits to the hospital, time alone at home, some of these boards may be my best work yet. Love your family, hug your wife, your kids and cherish every minute. Chief JG