Lovebuch family happenings

It’s been a wild ride these last 2 weeks. With the fear of not knowing how much time I had, the beginning days were frenetic-- packing-in as much as possible and constantly re-evaluating priorities. However, pretty soon I started getting decent platelet bumps and it seemed I didn’t have to rush quite as fast. Last Wednesday, after 2 bags of platelets on Mon and Wed, the platelet post-count was 49. I decided at 49, it’s time to get out of Seattle for a night. If not now, then when? I have a platelet buffer in case of a nosebleed and energy is good. Briana had her eye on a rustic hotel on Whidbey Island called the Captain Whidbey. Bree booked a room for Friday night, we left Alpen with grandparents, and were off for a marvelous trip to Whidbey! I can’t believe I didn’t explore Whidbey more -- it’s relatively close (1 hr), gives an island life vibe, and is full of Pacific madrone. What else could you ask for? Friday was a little drizzly in the PNW, but the island is partially in the Olymp

  August 19th, 2020 I just wanted to share an update that has made me so happy and given me so much joy. On Monday, I received an email from the director of philanthropy at Point Blue Conservation Science that brought tears to my eyes and peace to my heart. It started as so. Dear Derek and family, Something very special happened last week. We began receiving donations in your honor from many of your college friends. They shared your blog post and the beautifully written tribute to Point Blue and Cornell which I shared with our Palomarin Field Station staff… By the end of the week Point Blue had received over $15,000  in gifts in your honor. With that we were able to create the attached internship in your name and a permanent outdoor space for family and friends to visit at the Palomarin Field Station. You may name the internship in any way you wish. I was speechless, choked-up, couldn’t believe that response from friends and family to the donation. An internship in my name?! At one of

Don't be too fooled by the happy picture. We're doing our best to maximize the time I have left. Behind these smiles there is processing and grief. Last Tuesday at my clinic visit, I was told that they found some abnormal blasts again in my blood.  Life turned upside down after talking about future options with Dr. Cassaday. At this point, there aren’t many options. I’m not in good enough health to attempt any more therapy. And even if i were to be in a better state, there is nothing on the table that could lead to a long-term remission. Therefore, I’m choosing to maximize quality of life in these last days. My timeline is uncertain (like everything in the cancer world, no surprise there).  Estimated time with my course of action is anywhere from 1-4 weeks. It all depends how fast the ALL takes over and pushes out my platelets and red blood cells out. It also depends on my stomach behaving and not having a bleed. A bad stomach bleed or nose bleed with low platelets wo

This post will be an update of the last 2 months. Which have been fairly busy with healthcare stuff. Too much time has passed for some details, but I’ll write below what I remember. It turned out longer than I expected. The post begins on memorial day weekend down in Portland We drove down for the long weekend to celebrate “G’s” (Peggy’s) birthday. Things were going pretty well before the trip: I was feeling more energized, able to stay awake longer, and my  appetite was good. However, I never made it to the celebration because at 1am on the first night (Friday) I woke up with nausea that wouldn’t leave and then soon was vomiting blood in the upstairs toilet.  I woke Bree, who suggested that Byrne should drive me, since he is a night owl and still awake. Both Byrne and I got on our phones to look up the best ER. That was a weird feeling, being under pressure to get to an ER, but balancing care quality and distance. I had already prepared some for this scenario to go to OHSU, since th