Zen Hospice Journal 1/31/13 -- Holding Steady

John Gregorin on ukuele, Jean, and Anne
Jean's room at the Zen Hospice, 1/30/13

Jean is more wakeful today and yesterday than she was Monday and Tuesday, but she still is not talking much. Today the only visitors were her inner circle, Karen Creech, her sister Anne, and Matt. But yesterday was a different story.  In chronological order:

John, Matt, and Jean
Jean's room at the Zen Hospice, 1/30/13

Jean met John through the Bay Area folk dance community, and they have been friends for over 15 years. In the summer of 2011, after the tumor was discovered, John and his girlfriend Sue visited us at home twice, working all day with us in the orchard, then cooking us dinner.

Gale Myra Pico and Jean Lewis
Jean's room at the Zen Hospice, 1/30/13

Gale is Matt's sister, the eldest of the six Pico siblings, and a compassionate woman who struggled valiantly against her mental illness.  Gale was actually the first of Matt's siblings she met, and the one she sees most frequently.

Zen Hospice Chorus
Jean's room at the Zen Hospice, 1/30/13

Some of the Zen hospice volunteers participate in a chorus that serenades guests in their rooms.  Here they are singing for Jean.

Zen Hospice Journal 1/29/13 -- Somewhere in California it's Already Springtime

Jean at the Zen Hospice 1/28/13
Squeezing wrist exercise ball,
Wearing T-shirt for the Waves To Wine MS Ride

In Brief

After getting out of bed Friday and Saturday, Jean worked with her squeeze ball Sunday morning, and you can see the defiance and determination on her face.  But soon afterwards she started having more problems with nausea, and Monday and Tuesday she slept most of the day, needing to postpone some visits.  It's possible that the fatigue Tuesday could have been a reaction to taking Ativan to stop a tremor, and we're hoping Wednesday will be better.

Dept. of belated gratitude: Thank you everyone for keeping us in your thoughts...

Bed Four's corkboard at the Zen Hospice 1/29/13

Some of Jean's visitors and their gifts have not been acknowledged, and some of Jean's most devoted friends have not visited the hospice at all.  Here's part of that story, from the corkboard and other photos.

Beverly Epstein made the blouse hanging in the bottom left.  If you look closely, you might be able to tell that the tag on the inside has a picture of Beverly and her horse.  Along with the garment, Beverly gave Jean this note. 

If you feel like wearing something "busy" with personality here you go.  Paisley, buttons, beads...it has a little of everything.  If someone lost a button on their shirt, you could certainly give them one without it being missed on this top!

...May your days be filled with sunshine and your nights be warm with memories.

Ian Austin brought the rose drawing, above and to the right of the blouse, when he visited on January 24.

Inside the Fleur-de-lis card

Our good friend Craig sent the card with the bright stickers above and to the left of the blouse, as well as the one with the gold fleur-de-lis to the right of the rose drawing.  There part of a wonderfully creative series of over 50, which Craig started sending when Jean was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2011.  The sticker card is in honor of "Romney Navy" day, the other of "Gilding the Fleur-de-lis Day." This is typical, and Jean has been doing her cheery best to honor the holidays as Craig proclaims them.

Amy Garber took the picture, of Jean and her sister Anne at our house on Wood St.

Pam Cory brought the Michael Jackson icon at the very top.

Roger Weise sent the print of one his oil paintings, to the right of the icon.  For more on Roger's art, go to www.rogerweise.com.

And finally, Denise Heick and Linda Peters brought this resplendent rose bouquet with them when they visited Jean on January 24.

...and thank-you universe for the hope from something that cares not at all about us

Acacia tree, Laguna & Fell
1/29/13

 We do have seasons in the Bay Area, including a definite winter, even if our temperatures rarely fall below freezing.  We shiver in warm winter clothes, hemmed in by short days, just like the rest of North America; and then along comes late January, and life is sweet again.  The acacia tree is always an early bloomer, its abundant bright yellow blossoms proclaiming, "Things have changed."  There's a short row of them planted at the corner of Fell and Laguna, just four blocks from the hospice.  This week, obdurately unaware to the human dramas unfolding nearby, their blossom buds began to open.  If one happened to be taking a break from sitting at a beloved's bedside, and was delighted by the sight of this new growth, one might return to that bedside with a vague sense of renewed hope.  The currents of life run richly all around us, one of them may yet carry us to safety.

Acacia blossoms close-up

Jean, the Huron High Years

Jean (left) and Linda, 1972

Linda Hutchins, friends with Jean since grade school, provided these photos of herself and Jean when Jean was 16 and attending Huron High in Ann Arbor.  For a little more on Linda, see

  http://1853woodst.blogspot.com/2013/01/jean-grade-school-years.html

And for a lot more on her art work, see Linda's web site
  http://www.lindahutchins.com

If you have memories and appreciations of Jean in her Huron High years that you would like to share, please send them to 1853WoodSt@gmail.com.

Jean (facing camera) and Linda, 1972

Linda and Jean (on right), 1972

Clockwise from left:  Beth Hutchins, Tammy Burns, Jean Lewis,
Linda Hutchins, Stuart Hutchins, and Bobby Burns.  1972 

Zen hospice journal, Saturday January 26

Charlie Freschl with Jean

Lindy Ruddiman, Jean and Anne
Having a picnic at the Zen Hospice

Today was good.  When she woke up Jean felt strong enough for a conversation, and then she hung out with our friend Karen Creech, who had volunteered to spend the night.  At lunch time she had a special treat, a visit from her friend Lindy Ruddiman, whom she met on a Prairie Home Companion cruise to Norway in the summer of 2007.  Lindy brought wine country treats from her home in Napa (including red wine, lasagna, fruits, and nuts), and she, Jean, and Jean's sister Anne had a picnic on the patio.  Of everything that happened today this may have been the very best, it meant the second day in a row that Jean had been out of bed. And Per Anne, this meant less trouble with swallowing, since getting out of bed increases lung function.

Jean with her mom Sylvia and Lindy's mom Betty
Prairie Home Companion Norway Cruise, August 2007
Photo provided by Lindy

There are many things to say about that PHC Norway cruise, and some pictures we can post on the blog.  Here's a little on the background. Sylvia and Jean are both Garrison Keillor fans, but Sylvia hoped to convince her late boyfriend Ben Creech (Karen's dad) to go on the cruise with her. But then Bed died suddenly of heart failure in April 2007, and Jean went back to Ann Arbor to pay her respects and comfort Sylvia.  While she was there, Sylvia asked Jean to go with her in Ben's place, and Jean was persuadable.  This was during the time when Sylvia began showed unmistakable signs of dementia, and Jean was a devoted daughter.  Even without considering the cruise, it was not unusual for her to spend six weeks a year in Ann Arbor helping out -- in stark middle-class terms, that meant every day of paid vacation she earned on the job, and then some.

Anne Lewis and Melba Elguezabal
Cranialsacral therapy

Charlie Freschl and his wife Melba Elguezabal visited in the evening. Charlie and Matt have worked together developing software at Bank of America since 1986. In years that's over a quarter century, but Matt likes to think of it in terms of life events.  When they met, Charlie and Melba were recently married, wanting to start a family.  Now they have a son and daughter in college.  Guille, the daughter, is in a pre-med program at UCLA, and recently sent us an encouraging email discussing her volunteer work with patients with life-threating diseases.

Flowering plant from Charlie and Melba

Melba has also become an old family friend.  She has had problems with migraines, and as luck would have it, Anne has learned a technique called Cranialsacral therapy that could possibly bring her some relief.  Cranialsacral therapy is based on cranial osteopathy, and is practiced by massage therapists and chiropractors as well as radiation oncologists such as Anne.  The photo shows Melba getting the treatment, which she seemed to find pleasurable.  Melba said she would tell us if it caused any change in her headaches.