Ana Updates 019 January 21st 2009 (English)

January 21st 2009


Ana has been hospitalized for more than 7 weeks and is continuing to do very well. She’s recovering movement in her arms and legs. She’s starting to sit up and hopefully will start to stand in the near future.

Yesterday was a busy day. In the morning Ana’s very best friend, her “other sister” Ana Ines arrived from Argentina and will be with us for 2 weeks to help take care of Ana and manage the kids. Ana Ines is also Chiara’s Godmother. Ana was so happy to see her.

Ana received another dose of her intrathecal chemotherapy (the one that goes directly to her spinal fluid). Since the last sample was clean of cancer cells now those applications have been reduced to once a week.

Today she will receive her other chemotherapy that goes to her bloodstream.

Ana was moved up to a new category regarding her swallowing and eating abilities. She can now eat real solid foods instead of the pureed. So now she can eat pasta, rice, shredded meat, soft vegetables and fruits. She still can’t eat a steak or something hard or tough. She flashed a million dollar smile and blurted the word “Lasagna!!!!” when she heard that pasta was finally an option.

After proving to be strong enough to sit for a while and following a very good suggestion from Jorgelina Allende we got Ana into a wheelchair and for the first time in weeks Ana was able to see something different than her own hospital room. We did a few laps around the 5th floor, and then Ana went for the real excitement when she asked to go to other floors so we wondered around the 4th floor and took her down to the lobby. We even went outdoors for a few minutes. She had some real fresh air.

On our way back to her room we tried drag racing against a few stretchers but got caught by the hallway police, our wheelchair was impounded, we need to go to traffic school and do 35 hours of community service.

All kidding aside it was really nice for her to get a change of scenery.

We also got a visit from “Lucky”. He’s an 11 year old French Hound dog. He’s a therapy dog that comes once a week to the hospital to visit patients who are dog or animal lovers. Ana spent a good amount of time just petting and smiling at Lucky.

She’s become extremely emotional and going thru very strong mood changes over the last few days. At times she will break into tears over trivial things like the door to her room being left open, and also about serious things like fearing for her life and anxiety about the future. The peaks and valleys can be quite extreme and it does wear you out, but its part of the path and from day one we knew it would be very long and difficult. We just have to stay strong and keep on that path.

In four days it will be eighteen years that Ana and I met. So the real path of our lives together started way before she got ill. When we married we chose a theme song that talks about that long path. It’s a song by Genesis from 1978 it was released a few years before Phil Collins had released his first solo album it’s called Follow You Follow Me. I’ve placed the lyrics at the end of this message and you can listen to the song at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvA8XsDku2o

On Sunday my brother in law Luciano went back to Italy. We will miss him very much. Luciano, just like his sister Nunzia was awesome with Ana and the kids. His caring for her with absolute love and devotion was beautiful to witness. He would feed her; make her do her exercises and even making delicious Italian gelato for Chiara, Eric and Sophia.

During this past month my Italian brother and sister in laws have been so wonderfully collaborative and helpful. If I stayed at the hospital with Ana I knew the children were in wonderful hands. If I stayed at home with the children I was in peace knowing that Ana was in wonderful hands. That kind of peace of mind during difficult times is really priceless and I will always be grateful for the time they spent here with us.

I know Nunzia is planning on coming back in April for Ana’s 40th birthday. Hopefully she will be able to.

To keep things exciting my sister Maria arrived from Washington on Friday with her husband Andrew, my 9 year old niece Emily and 8 year old nephew Julian for a 4 day weekend.

Our children were thrilled to spend 4 days with their cousins. Ana was ecstatic to see all of them.

Uncle Andrew carried most of the kid care duties while Maria and I spent a lot of time with Ana at the hospital. There were numerous visits to the hospital with all 5 cousins in full force. The most notable of all visits was yesterday afternoon when Emily, Chiara and Sophia put a Hanna Montana blonde haired wig on Ana and with a make believe beauty salon kit gave Ana the “full spa treatment”. According to Chiara she was transformed into Hanna Mom-tana. We have a few pictures and video that will be posted to the Facebook site shortly.

Friday we also had the Mass at the Good Shepherd and once again it was very nice to greet many of you. Thank you so much for coming and supporting us.

Actually the list of hospital visitors and people supporting us from near and far is impressively long. Each and every one of you is helping to make a positive difference in Ana’s recovery.

Some of you have come to the Baptist or Kendall Regional Hospitals, some to the Masses, some have sent post cards, some have prayed, some have cooked meals, some have made gifts, some have made donations, some have taken care of the children, some have taken care of Ana, some have sent positive energy, some have given blessings, some have done many of the mentioned, no matter what each has done all have given from your hearts and we will always be grateful for the enormously positive effect you have had on Ana.

We are slowly but surely approaching the moment that Ana will be released from Baptist Hospital and be sent to a rehabilitation center, who knows we might even be able to go straight home.

It’s a real miracle to be talking about rehabilitation processes and going home when a few weeks ago it was suggested to me that I start picking a funeral service.



Thank you,



Victor


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Here are the lyrics for Follow You Follow Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvA8XsDku2o

Stay with me,
My love I hope you'll always be
Right here by my side if ever I needed you
Oh my love

In your arms,
I feel so safe and so secure
Everyday is such a perfect day to spend
Alone with you

I will follow you will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be
I will stay with you will you stay with me
Just one single tear in each passing year

With the dark,
I see so very clearly now
All my fears are drifting by me so slowly now
Fading away

I can say
The night is long but you are there
Close at hand I'm better for the smile you give
And while I live

I will follow you will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be
I will stay with you will you stay with me
Just one single tear in each passing year there will be

I will follow you ...