The Pings: Jon, Jenny, Elton, Rafa and Charlotte

I joined the Facebook page “I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who hate cancer”

http://www.facebook.com/edittopic.php?uid=6710076973&topic=13573&action=4#/group.php?gid=6710076973

Under the discussion forums, I joined the group “Who did you join this group for?’.  There are a lot of sad, but honest comments.  Here’s my reply:

Who did you join this group for?

“My dad, who is super, dooper awesome, and the best dad and grandpa in the world.   He loves to spend time with his grandkids and taught them to fish, build a club house, garden, and overall, how to be a good person.   Dad is fighting stage 4 transitional cell cancer that has spread to his lungs, liver, peritoneum,  and brain.  He has gone through 4 months of daily chemo, 2 weeks of whole brain radiation, a radical nephrectomy, and now, a IVC filter placement, multiple blood and platelet transfusions, and brain surgery.  Yet, he is still smiling and happy to be alive, sitting in his ICU bed, surrounded by his family.

I hate cancer.  My dad is my hero, and I love him.”

Dad had a rough weekend.  On Friday, he had a CT scan that showed a progression of the tumors in his lung and liver and a blood clot in his right lung.  On Saturday, he was really lethargic, falling and wasn’t moving well, so I called Dr. Okazaki, his oncologist, who made a house call and encouraged Dad to visit the ER.  Grant and Jonathan had to carry him down the stairs because he couldn’t move the left side of his body.  When he got there, we found out that his brain  tumor was bleeding, the swelling in his brain was getting worse, and his platelet count was really low.  He was admitted to the ICU (thanks Dr. Yates) and that night, Dr. Wong, our vascular surgeon put a filter in his vena cava to prevent blood clots from traveling into his lungs, he got a platelet transfusion, and started on mannitol (a diuretic to help with brain swelling), IV Decadron (a steroid to help with his swelling), and hypertonic saline (for his low sodium).   And on Monday, Dr. Gerber, our neurosurgeon, took Dad to the OR and removed the clot and tumor.

Here’s a picture of the surgical incision and his central line.  The incision itself is pretty small– about the size of a golf ball– and it didn’t bleed or hurt very much.  Thus far, the surgery seems to have been successful.  Dad is sitting up, alert, eating a ton, off hypertonic saline and manitol, and moving the left side of his body. He even shaved himself this morning!  Yeah for the Straub Hospital team.

Check out our new super fancy Wave Walker 14′ Hydroped Kayaks!

It’s a early Christmas present for us!  We wanted to take advantage of our waterfront, but a boat was too much maintenance and too expensive, especially since we don’t know how to sail.  So, instead, we decided to buy low maintenance, (semi) inexpensive kayaks.  They are pedal kayaks, so it’s not as strenuous on our upper body, and they have a great steering mechanism, complete with a rudder, water proof storage, and adjustable chairs.   It’s actually a very easy, smooth ride and not nearly as stressful as a real kayak or boat.   Kudos to  Jonathan who found them on Craigslist, brand new, for half off the original price;  He jumped on this great deal, and we are now own two fabulous kayaks.

Crystal and I decided to brave Black Friday at Ala Moana this year.  We woke got there at 6 am, and found ourselves in a very packed mall.  Crazy.  In fact, we waited 30 minutes JUST TO GET INTO the Disney Store, and waited in long lines to pay at a bunch of other stores.  Thankfully, we survived and after three hours of mega shopping, we got a bunch of great deals– tank tops for $5 at Old Navy and  20% off of everything at the Disney Store.

The line to check out at Old Navy.  Super long.

Black Friday was a very busy day for the Pings– I work up at the crack of dawn (literally) to fight the mobs of angry shoppers at black Friday shopping with Crystal.  Later in the day, I battled the crowds once again and went Christmas tree shopping with my family, and at night, we dealt with the pushy car salesman and bought my new Honda Fit!  It was an busy, busy and very long day, but overall, we were successful– new clothes, five Christmas trees, and a new car!  I really can’t and won’t complain.

Here are my most favorite pictures from Tree shopping.

Janell helped me select a 6 foot Noble Fir.  Dad said the Nobels are the best, so he bought us the best.

Loading up the truck:  We got five big trees on to Dad’s truck and delivered them to their new homes.

It was quite a haul.

… in my fridge… Two big takeout boxes, and six small boxes of Thanksgiving goodness.  That’s a lot of leftovers.

2010 Orange Honda Fit Sport.  Love it!!!  It’s Orange–I fell in love with Vince Torres’s Orange Mazda 3 hatchback in Oregon, and have wanted an orange car since.    The Fit has four doors, a hatchback and a very roomy interior.  It gets great gas mileage (over 30 miles per gallon on the highway!) and has 10 cupholders and driverside and passengerside airbags.  It’s a great package for a very reasonable price.  Plus, it’s super cute!

We purchased our Fit today via Cars by Costco at Windward City Honda and traded in our old Nissan.   This was our first new car buying adventure, and while we dedicated over 20 hours of our life at Windward City and buying cars are not the funnest experience, I’m so, so happy to drive my new car!

After many, many years, it is time to say goodbye to our old Maxima.  It is a 1995, originally bought Mom and Dad Ping in Florida and given to Jonathan when he graduated from Cal.  I have been the primary driver of the car since we moved to Portland, and it has been a very reliable, trustworthy friend.  It survived multiple, multiple dropped morning cups of coffee in the interior, two decent sized dents, four states, and a million odd bumper stickers.  So, alas, the car is slowly falling apart and it is time that I finally got a “doctors car” (according to mom).

More car adventures tomorrow, but we’re heading to the dealership today to pick up my new buddy.

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a family Thanksgiving at our house tonight and it was a delicious night.  I cooked my first Turkey since college, and used Alton Brown’s Good Eats recipe.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html After an adventure with the brine (I spilled briney turkey water all over our floor), we ended up with a delicious and very moist turkey.  I even used the pan juice and giblets to make a very rich, calorie filled gravy.  Props to Jonathan for carving the big boy and getting extremity messy for the sake of great food.

A collection of my favorite photos from the day:

Crystal came over early to make Julie’s sweet potato mash.  Three sicks of butter, a ton of pecans and sugar.  It was delicious!

Rafa and Elton passed the time by watching the Dog Show on TV.   Rafa barked at EVERY SINGLE dog on TV!  It was hilarious!

Jonathan’s cranberry jello with pecans and grapes.  It was very pretty in the jello mold.  Also very delicious.

Gathering around the spread… Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach gratin, green bean casserole, crab legs, chinese cake noodles, mazemeshi rice, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cranberry jello, corn bread, home made bread, picked cucumbers.  It was an eclectic mix of food, but it all tasted so, so good.

Aunty and I enjoying Thanksgiving dinner.