Maya Road and Me

Not Much To Say

except that we started my dad on hospice today. he had a rough week last week and it shows. as heartbroken as we all are, in our minds we knew one day it would come to this. and before this week i didn't dare google the phrase " final days of lung cancer " but i took a deep breath and i did so over the weekend.

the good news is that my dad is comfortable. even tonight he was wriggly around after i had fed him some food and i asked him if he was feeling any pain and he shook his head no. my dad is alert when he is awake. he is aware of who we are and he will nod when he is hungry.

it is going to be a busy time here for us. i have 3 aunts arriving in the next two days and my sister is coming tonight so she can see my dad for a bit while he is alert and aware of us. 

each day i hold my breath before i call my mom in the morning to ask if my dad had a good day or not. and each day we deal with it with baby steps. 

tomorrow is a new day and a day for hope for a good day for my dad. 

Creating

More soon but here is a class I will be teaching in March at Crop and Create in Winnipeg, Canada!

 

New Day

Each day is a new day. A chance to do over what I might have failed at yesterday. A chance to spend some time with my mom and dad. Even though the tradeshow was 3 weeks ago it has been a flurry of activity at my house.

So a couple of things about my dad. He and my mom are settled quite nicely in the 24 care facility near my house. It is nice because when my mom asks "when will you be over", I can say "in 10 minutes" and that is the most it takes. And while it is hard to see my dad in the condition he is in, he is actually doing better than when he arrived. 

My dad has been super weak and tired. Last weekend however, he was actually able to sit up and almost pull himself up into his wheelchair. That is a tremedous step for him. My dad has PT 2x a day 5 days a week. They ask him to walk down the hall with a walker. They ask him to do speech therapy, leg therapy and more. And he does it every day. But it has made a difference in his strength.

And in the process he has gained about 4 lbs since he arrived. So the funny thing is that my family has always been a family of super healthy eaters - rice, veggies, not a lot of salt and lean meats make us happy. My dad has been ok with that but he loves all you can eat buffets and whoppers too. So the last couple of weeks, we have been getting him whoppers, fries and cookies. We figured at this point the chances of a heart disease is small compared to the lung cancer and he might as well enjoy it. My dad can still down a whopper in about 10 minutes so once a week, we let him go all out.

And with all of this, I had signed up a while ago for a 15k on February 11th. I was on track with my training until 2012 arrived and everything sorta tumbled down on us and my training went to almost nothing. But when the day and the 20F temperatures arrived, I remembered my CHA canvas where I talked about my goals this year:

And one of the main ones was to run the 15k. And I thought about how my dad was getting up every week day to do about 1- 2 hours of PT and I just curl up under a blanket and sleep the morning away. And so I ran the race with a dear friend:

And I was in 3 layers of clothing, fleece hoodie, tights, ear muffs, gloves and more. And honestly it sucked a bit. But every time I felt like quitting, I thought about my dad. I thought how he would loved to have been able to see me run and that kept me going through the wind, the blisters on the feet and the rumbles in the tummy. It was hard but I imagine the journey my dad is taking now is no stroll down easy lane either.

But at the end of the day little things, like when I see my dad's face light up when my kids go and say "hi gung gung" and they hold his hand and he smiles (which he doesn't do a lot of anymore), it is all going to be ok. I know that.

I hold dear photos like this:

When my little girl asks if she can spend the night with her "gung gung" and "paw paw" at their place and everyone that knows her knows that she never asks for anything like that. Those are moments I hold dear to my heart.

It's been a long couple of weeks but I will be back soon to share some projects I am working on. I have some classes I will be teaching in the next two months and I am super excited about the classes.

 

Inspiration

 

I often times get asked where Deb and I get inspiration from when we are working on new products for Maya Road. It comes from many different places; I might get it while I am thinking during a run or my sister might say "hey read this article in the economist" and that might spark an idea. Or we might be at Target and we see a color that begs to be turned into something wonderf. We have ideas that we keep on a spreadsheet. Some catch like wildfire and we will get turn it from idea to product in under a month; some need to simmer like a good soup and it will stay on the list until the time comes.

My sister was here this week so we could get my dad and mom settled into their new place. We got about 10 new ideas almost to the final stages of production during the time she was here for the next show.

In between the visits, we also put the final touches on our latest Design Team Challenge Inspiration Book:

8 of our designers took the challenge and created something inspiring for everyone. We asked each of them to only use only 7 Maya Road products to come up with a tag. I know for some of them only using 7 Maya Road products is a true challenge!

They did an amazing job and I am totally inspired by each of their works. Inspired like I want to dig out my supplies and start creating a tag. If you would like to download a copy of this Inspiration Book - check out the blog post about it here and download a copy for yourself!

More soon.

 

Happy Stuff

 

My parents and my hubby's parents always taught us the importance of hard work. These are qualities we have been working on instilling in our kids.

Last Friday in the midst of everything going on in our lives, we stopped and watched our son test for his karate belt. Noah has been doing karate for a couple of months now. Except for a couple of sick days, he has been diligently going and practicing 2x a week.

And when it came time for the belt presentation, Noah's sensei commented on how hard he worked, how much time and effort he put into his practices and that he paid attention and listened and did what his sensei told him. For that, he was awarded with two promotions on his way to a yellow belt:

I was so proud of him. When Noah started, he asked me when we would be taking him to Japan. I told him we would when he got his black belt and he is well on his way.

And while my dad and mom weren't able to be there, during our visit over the weekend, Noah happily did his drills to the delight of my dad and and mom. I am glad that my MIL and SIL were able to watch Noah test last Friday and he was so happy they were able to see him get his two promotions.

And Noah and I had a chat that night about hard work. We talked about why that was and is important. I want him to grow up working hard. And I want him to want to work hard.

 

5 days

So a small update on my dad. It has been a flurry of activity here in Dallas getting my dad settled into a new location. While we were at CHA, my dad was admitted to the hospital and the subsquent diagnosis told us that the treatments were no longer working. With that fact, in place, my dad was moved to a facility for rehabilitation and to help him get stronger a day before we got home. 

When we got home last Thursday, Deb was actually waiting at the gate for us as she flew in so we could figure out what was going on. The place he was at was not going to work for him. It was actually rather upsetting. My mom was not allowed to stay with my dad. My dad was not getting any help when he pushed the nurse's button. It was just a chaotic place; my dad was in tears that my mom couldn't stay with him. Deb and I were upset about it too.

So Friday morning, we decided we needed to find a place that would give my mom (and us) the help my dad needs at this point. By the end of the day, he was in his new home. My dad is much happier there. My mom is too. We feel the same as it is at most a 10 minute drive from my house so seeing my parents 1-2x a day is an easy thing. They are soon getting wifi and with that they will be unstoppable with Netflix in tow.

My sister's family also came into town - it can be a mad house at times with 5 kids 5 and under but my dad seems to enjoy seeing all the grand kids.

David went over and got my parents hooked up over the weekend with their TV for the big game:

My dad is doing therapy to help him with his strength 2x a day. He hasn't been able to walk a lot but I am happy to report the last two days he has walked with a walker to the PT room. That is a big task and I am proud of him.

This is how I always sorta see my dad here with the boys from about 5 years ago:

And in reality, my dad doesn't look a lot different. I joke with him that he looks tan from the radiation treatment (one of the side effects). He is still of sound mind. He has lost a bit of weight. His hair is gone now with the radiation. The major change is that my dad doesn't speak as much and rests a lot. I know he is tired.  

He will still crack a joke once in a while and also his love of fast food is still around. 

So we are going to continue to look on the bright side. My dad is now in a place where he can rest and get some help for my mom and he is close enough to us we can visit every day. This will be our new normal and we will enjoy our time with my dad while we can. We also know what we believe and what my dad believes. The end of this life is only part of the journey.

Hoping you hug and hold your families tight today.

A Small Update

 

I am home. It has only been 6 hours since I have been home and my sister is here too. The news on my dad is that at this stage it looks like the cancer has advanced to a stage that is no longer really treatable by radiation or chemo. I won't go into the details but we agree that taking on any more would really not benefit him. It is almost shocking to see how my dad has changed in the week since I have gone away for the tradeshow. 

But he is doing ok. We want to move him somewhere where he can be comfortable and enjoy his time with my mom while getting some support. 

At the end of the day, all of our journeys at least on this earth has to come to an end. I can know and accept that and we will do our best to spend our time with my dad and mom the best we can. I continue to marvel at the little things, my dad is still of sound mind. He has no pain at all. And once we get him settled, I am hoping to bring the kids to see him so he can smile a little bit.

Good night.