Hendrickson Family Announces New Book Club

Big Moan................Another book club! I would have chosen a catchier title to make sure that everyone reads this post, but I know how you blogging junkies are since I am proudly within your ranks. It really doesn't matter what is written or how it is written, just the fact that it is in print and on the blog makes it worthy of your time. Therefore, no catchy title necessary.

So here goes the pitch for the new Sha-Jen book club.

If you heard about the Sha-Sha book club's selection "Jane Eyre" (one of my personal favorites) and thought that it sounded interesting, but old English classics aren't your thing----the Sha-Jen book club is here to fill that void.

Did you hear about the Sha-Greg book club and think "That isn't my cup of tea"? We are here for you.

There are so many bonuses about the Sha-Jen book club and I will list just a few:

The Book is FREE
Only two chapters to read a month
You have two years to read the book
You will gain insight, revelation, and testimony.

Is the suspense killing you? What is this book, where can I get one?

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith


The Sha-Jen book club is really a book club that we are all currently a part of.

On Saturday, I was sharing with Mom my goal of reading the manual prior to the Relief Society lesson so that I could be more prepared to learn and participate (also part of the goal includes bringing the manual with me to class). Mom joined in this goal and will be reading and studying it as well. If a woman who has undergone two rounds of chemotherapy in the past month and is on the eve of bone marrow transplant can make this goal, than we all should be able to. So we ask all of you "Blogging Stalkers" to join our ranks! Stand up and be counted! Post to the comments and let us know that you are on board for this fantastic ride!


P.S. There is also a great article in the January Ensign that details the production of this book (which took years), its sources, and content.

Little Vietnamese Sweat Shop

I came it to relieve Greg tonight and found Mom's door closed. I have to tell you folks that I'm lucky to be alive because when I opened it a serious backdraft flame shot out at me. No wonder Greg was nodding off...it was hotter than a Palm Springs summer in there! But we do whatever it takes to keep our little lady comfortable, so the door remained closed. It was time to change her toenail polish so I got out the polish remover and started making fun of mom in Vietnamese so she would feel like she was in a real nail salon. Although I didn't have callus remover ("you need it") I sweated away and got her all pretty to return home next week. Just at the point when we were seeing psychedelic rainbows from the fumes, we opened the door to air out the room and provide a much needed relief for this little Asian worker.
Aside from a fajita pita from Jack in the Box, we didn't do much else for the night. She was all tuckered out from the 5K she ran with Greg earlier in the day so she retired early. We also said goodbye to the new gold bedpanist, Michael, for he will be off for the next four days tiling his house (such a Renaissance man). Crazy to think we only have a few more days up here in 358 East!

Walk the New Walk: Update from the PM shift

The PM shift started very eventfully as mom unveiled the new loop walk. I understand that this walk was devised while Jon was care-taking and it doesn't take long to see his stamp. the walk loops around the Kidney Center (no going in there!!) past the Hope building, fakes toward the Annenberg Health Sciences building and then descends down a path through an underground security passage into the back of an unnamed building. Mom tells me that they wandered around in the basement of the building for a while until they realized that it was the main hospital building and they were able to return to her room (though it was just as likely that they would find themselves in the experimental dismembering lab). What you would expect from a Jon shift: lots of adventure and a little bit of luck.

We spent most of the afternoon reading in Three Cups of Tea. I didn't realize how boring a reader I must be, but on two separate occasions I found I was putting myself to sleep. Thank goodness for all those peppermints in the room that mom kept throwing my way or I would still be sleeping on bed chair right now. The book is good and quite inspiring (though, I just don't anticipate any books on tape folks offering me an audition). The most freeing thing of the day, however, came as I walked into the room around noon and mom and Shalaine were reading the part of Jane Eyre I had spoiled. Now that the H is burned to the ground and Mr. R's B is D who knows what awaits our diminutive heroine (this qualifies as a cliff-hanger not a spoiler comment).

SLICK RICK REPORT

Ricky is concerned that he has been bumped to page 2 as far as the family health is concerned and made a big case for getting a little press time. He proposed that there may be some out there in the vast audience of the Chrome Dome Diaries that may be a little bit interested in what was going on with him. I had to agreee with him, at least to the point that he likes to see his name in print, and so here goes. We successfully got Rick home from the hospital on Christmas Eve Eve after some major surgery and a week in St. Josephs Hospital in Orange. That was quite the challenge staffing two patients in two different hospitals in two different counties. However, "Hendrickson's never say can't" and so everyone stepped up and we pulled it off. Thanks to the Orange Co. clan and Nurse Kim who helped out for a day. He had the rod removed from his back and had an infectious area debrided. He has MRSA and so is now on IV antibiotics for the next 6 weeks and I have gained a new title of IV nurse. Each morning and evening I hang his IV's and montitor them for 2 hours. He is doing really well, I think because of the quality of his IV nurse, and should be full speed in the very near future. I know he's getting better because he's more prone to disagree with me than he was a week ago. All in all, Ricky is real happy to say adious to 2007 and hopes that 2008 is a much better year, and that is a major understatement.

Stalker Alert!

For all you lurkers our there, I just want to let you know that it's ok to post a comment. We would love to hear your feedback and mom checks (ok, I force her to read) the blog daily and I know she would appreciate hearing from all you out there in the sidelines. We all know your only as good as your last post, and when it goes uncommented we (ok, I) feel like a bloging failure sending my words out into the cold lonely world with only punctuation to keep them warm. You don't have to be a memeber of anything but the Loving Baldy Sharon club to comment, so stop lurking and make yourself known! However, I should also point out that if you prefer to be a little creepy crawly quiet lurker, we still warmly welcome you to the blog with open arms. Very silent no one will ever know it's just our little secret open arms.

white blood cells in the front, let me hear you grunt!

The walking cadaver (also known as Dr. Young) has sleepwalked his way back to his musty coffin abode never to return until the next full moon (or next weekend, whichever comes first). Which means today our little chubby cherub, Dr. Dreisbach, was back in action. Hooray! Three cc's for Dr. D! And on his little angel wings he carried not only smiles and rainbows, but lots of good news for our little lady.
First things first, all of mom's labs look pretty good. Her GRANs (combo of all the white blood cells) are starting to go up a little. This is a good thing, as now we want her body to start making them again. I know, it's hard to switch your brain over to voting for the little guys after routing for their demise for so long, but it's time to back the home team once again. At this point in treatment they tend to hover a little, going up one day and down the next, but if we see a steady increase for 3-4 days in a row, that's a great sign. So let's hope they eat their Wheaties and do their thing. Platelets are being lazy and just slowly dipping (think of platelets like little Dr. Youngs). They are at 9 today and hemoglobin is at 9.5. Dr. D says that sometimes they will switch between 9 and 10 for a couple of days before they start to hold steady and increase. So, he wants to hold off on transfusing today. He was extremely optimistic about how she is doing and (MOM'S DISCHARGE DAY SPOILER ALERT!) would like to get rid of her early next week- Monday or Tuesday. He eased her fears about going home and said that she is doing great and will be totally fine and that he actually feels guilty still keeping her here. I guess he doesn't know about the chaos that awaits her at the homestead.
He then gave her the best of news and said that when she goes home she can eat pretty much whatever she wants, no more dietary restrictions. Break out the carrots and onions, cause it's going to be a PAR-TAY! However after she has the bone marrow transplant, she will be on meds to suppress her immune system, so will need to be careful again. He also said it would be a good idea to get rid of all the plants in the house. So we need to give everyone's favorite palm springs plant man, Wayne, a ringy-ding to get his bum over and start getting those mold carrying death traps outta there.
I also asked our little bright eyed rosy cheeked friend about the rest of us getting tested for bone marrow. He said there really is no point. Siblings have a one in four chance of being a match and as for children, she has a better chance of getting a match from Australia. Or I guess China would be more likely. So look for mom to have strange cravings for fried rice and kitties in the future.
p.s. Mom wanted me to be sure and mention that Dr. Young told Dr. D that the sickest patient (meaning mom) was the easiest patient. I guess this means he was doing cartwheels and handstands in the other rooms.

The 1st annual Golden Bedpan awards

Is Mary the grandmother that you never had? Are you sick to your stomach about Michael leading the poles? Did you vote for Renee because you thought it was that one hot chick on the floor and just found out that it is actually the short chubby male night nurse? Are you thinking to yourself right now, "Hey! I like that guy, buddy. He looks like a little curly haired cherub." Well, then do something about it! Only 22 hours left to vote on your favorite nurse of Eisenhower 3 East. You have until 9am Wednesday morning to cast or change your vote. Remember, evil triumps when good men do nothing. And if the idea of Michael taking home the coveted Golden Bedpan is pure evil to you, get those fingers atyping.


The front runner in a rarely witnessed act of emptying "The Hat".