Darren LeBlanc

Ok, it’s 4:43am and I need to get to sleep. I just finished my work (I don’t work during the day while misty is up – she gets my attention) so there is no time for much of an update. but I want to say that Misty moved her foot today and excitedly tried to communicate to me to look at it. Then later she moved her right hand and actually slightly curled her fingers. She hasn’t done that in months. Its a good day.

Here is a NEW GALLERY as well. Olivia was feeding hot chocolate to her plush Sneech.

I have had a good time putting together the website banners for each day of our little Five Years Ago Today campaign (not sure what we are “campaigning”). Misty has enjoyed briefly retracing our steps from our wedding and honeymoon through the images and journal entries (I show/read them to her each morning after they are up). In case you missed a day, I’m going to leave them all linked from here (I know you are so relieved *smirk*). I hope everyone had great day today. Ours was ok…nothing new (misty ate well again!).

Click on the image thumbnails below to see the banners posted from June 8-19.

I have this remote. It’s a universal remote that I purchased a few years back to control our VCR. We use the VCR as a tuner so all the channel changing gets done with this long grayish silvery remote. Well, every time we use this remote it breaks. I’m not exaggerating. Literally, every time we decide to change channels we have to use this remote…and every time it breaks. Somehow after every few stations it shorts out and I am forced to pop the back off and pull out one of the batteries. After replacing the battery, it works. This has been going on for quite some time now (over a year), so it should be understandable that I have become quite proficient with pulling the back off and thumb-nailing one of the batteries just a millimeter out of place, then clicking it back in place and hurriedly sliding the thin plastic cover back into its locking position. Remember, I do this every few stations…so probably 3 or 4 times every time I change the channel on the TV. But today, I was taken aback when I realized that I don’t even notice. This ridiculous yet necessary process has become ingrained in my mind. It’s like second nature. It has become totally normal. It’s amazing what you get used to.

Today, I carried my wife from her bed to the couch and back, twice. I dressed her in the morning and before bed. Two trips up stairs to the bathroom and one trip outside to the porch sums up Misty’s itinerary. I setup a lighting umbrella from my photography toolbox to block the sun from Misty so she could sit out there on the porch (she can’t be in the sun and I don’t have any big umbrellas). I weeded a garden for a few minutes. My mother-in-law showed up at my house at 10am to make breakfast for my girls. I didn’t go to work. I held my best friend’s new baby on Misty’s lap so she could see her. My mom picked up Olivia for 2 hours so I could make dinner and sit with Misty. I made coconut shrimp for Misty for dinner, but she got sick and was not able to eat. I emailed and got a response from my neuro-oncologist (there are only 100 of these doctors in the country). At one point, I quickly pulled out a Bible and read the book of psalms when Misty started feeling depressed. I brushed my wife’s teeth but forgot to brush mine till bedtime. I spent a significant amount of time worrying about how to get calories into my 27 yr old wife and was elated when she weighed in at a meager 95.8 lbs.  Probably not your normal day…but it has become totally normal to me. It’s amazing what you get used to.

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” – The Apostle Paul, Philippians 4

Yesterday was very discouraging because Misty had been eating well for days and she was still losing weight. She weighed in at 93 lbs yeserday morning. BUT, today she is continuing to eat well and when I just weighed her she was up to 94lbs. Not a big improvement…but lets hope this trend continues up for a while!

She is feeling ok today…we are going to attempt to make it out to my sister Shannon’s graduation. Hopefully there will be good seats with wheelchair access…

PS…I’m sad that my honeymoon pictures end in 2 days. I hope you have enjoyed them (i’m loving the process of going through and pulling journal entries). I’ll have to think of something else to keep me busy till 4am.

It’s Father’s Day…so let’s remember to be good Fathers. Let’s remember to make our kids feel loved above all else and to put them above our work, hobbies and even important church or community volunteer work. Let’s remind them everyday that they are talented, special, beautiful, unique, strong, and loved. Let’s display our words in our actions as well.

Sometimes we may not want the responsibility, but in a traditional family unit, dads are the single largest influence in a young girl’s self esteem…so give her a kiss and let her know she’s beautiful and gifted (both are equally important). And every boy looks to his dad for cues on relationships, work ethic and lifestyle. So, let’s treat mom right, work hard and live the way we do in church – each day of the week. Most likely, he is going to be a lot like us. And remind him that he has what it takes…every young man needs that question answered.

And pray every day that we can do it better tomorrow.

It rained tonight. Something serious. Thunder, lightning, the whole shebang. I haven’t seen lightning like that in quite a while actually. Well, after it was over I let Marmalade (my cat) out for a while. It wasn’t five minutes before it started raining again so I walked across the room and click the latch on the sliding doors opening them a crack to let her sneak in. Sitting down next to Misty on the couch I feel a spray of water on my leg. The cat had shaken her body and sprayed the wet all up my leg. I wasn’t too bothered by this, but as I looked down I got a much more bothersome surprise. There sitting on my throw rug was the tiniest baby rabbit looking up at me terrified. It’s body was soaked and it just sat there apparently to terrified to make a move. So I quickly reach for a recently opened envolope that was discarded on the floor close to where I was sitting. I fold the back of the envelope over its soaking body and gently squeeze to pick it up. A few steps and placed him on my porch, and locked the door to give it a chance to get away from my lovely cold blooded killer. I wish I could help her know the difference between mice and bunnies.   

At that very moment however, there was a beautiful image to accompany the slightly disturbing display of feline predation. Misty had fallen asleep with her feet up on the couch while Olivia lay next to her with her hand losely placed on Misty’s now protruding shin bone. They slept there together for a while. I didn’t want to interrupt. My girls are beautiful.

All in all, today was a good day. Misty ate very well – 3 solid meals – and didn’t experience anything worse than a mild to moderate “sick” feeling for a few hours. Also, and this really should take the headline over the rabbit encounter, we had some amazing folks put in a driveway for us today (there was grass where you would expect a driveway). Misty has wanted one since we moved in (a couple years ago….I know, I know) but I never got to it and now it would be too hard for me to leave her for the time it would take to do all the work myself. Well, a crew of guys donated a day of their life to build me a driveway and I gotta tell you, I’m so appreciative. It’s nice to see people showing the love of God like we really ought to be. Gentlemen, my hat is off to you.

I bought a scale.

Misty wasnt able to stand up on the scale in the drs office, so I need one to weigh her at home (to determine if chemo dosage changes). It works ok. I weigh myself, then I carry her and weigh both of us. I clocked olivia at 24.2 lbs. Misty however, was at about 96lbs. The last couple days have been rough. She hasn’t been eating so much…and starts to get anxiety (like panic attack quality) when I try to make her eat when she’s already full. She knows its important to eat…but its hard for her. Ah, the joys of cancerhood.

On the positive front, we are still ramping down on the steriods and haven’t seen and new symptoms or worsening of others…so that is good. Tomorrow morning is chemo. Hopefully, this week will prove better than last week. Tonight, I’m praying that Misty’s blood numbers (platelets and WBC) have come back into the normal range.

PS…I’m having way too much fun, making these Five Years Ago Today images. I haven’t looked at these honeymoon pictures in years!

A few years back when I was in youth ministry, I became close with a man named Joel Parker. His daughter and son (Alyssa and Ryan) were involved in my youth group and Joel soon joined the team as one of my youth leaders. He had quite a bit of experience in that area and proved to be a huge asset. Actually, he was a really dynamic speaker and even more importantly, he had a heart for teenagers like few people I know. He had a heart for people in general..and he gave of himself so selflessly.

I am speaking in the past tense, because I haven’t really known Joel as friend for over a year now. He has been in the hospital for a 17 months. A routine surgery in January ‘07  that went awry has left him battling for his life. He was discharged to a rehab center a few months back, but that only lasted briefly. He had to be admitted to the hospital again and there doesn’t seem to be any upward progress. His daughter writes “we honestly do not know how long this will be for”.

Well, I’m kinda sick of this. I don’t believe there is any good that can come out of him staying there any longer. Joel is a hero of the faith and I’m ready to see God reward him with his health. So, I’m going to be praying for Joel everyday (yes, I should have been all along, but I’ve been distracted with my own problems). I hope you will join me. Let’s expect to see something great happen in him.

You can contact me if you want to send condolences to the family, or get an update. I will put you in touch with his family.

I like to cook. In fact…at times I really like it.
Tonight I made dinner for Misty for our anniversary. Here is the menu:

Asian Pear Salad with Dandelion
Chilli and Thyme Sweet Potato Fries with Red Pepper Ketchup
Pan Seared Scallops with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
Coffee Ice Cream (no I didn’t make this)

I was so excited about this dinner. See, we really don’t do too much other than eat…so this was to be the event of the evening. Well…I went down in flames – maybe not flames, but it wasn’t my best…nor was even close. The salad was so-so and Misty didn’t like the roasted red pepper sauce for the scallops. It’s ok…I became pretty comfortable with failure at an early age when I would attempt just about everything above my skill level :) Today I’ve learned most of my strengths and weaknesses, but cooking is still a wildcard. Misty, being the most gracious person in the world, ate politely. (As an aside, I used both red and white sweet potatoes - I didn’t know white sweet potatoes existed until today when I found them at shop-rite.)

So…this brings me to post another nugget to my growing (though not very fast) list of Tips on Life (read: dumb mistakes Darren makes and learns from).

#2 -If you are trying something new for a special dinner, always have a backup old standard in the fridge. Something you have made before and your spouse likes!

And while we are here, I’ll give you number 3. I learned this one the hard way a few months ago on a trip for work but it never made it in a post…

#3 – When in a hotel, always test an iron on a towel before placing the hot metal surface on your only dress shirt. You never know when the black stuff is going to rub off (to mitigate this you can also choose to get a hotel near a 24-hr Walmart where new shirts are easy to find at any time.)

Finally got around to posting some pictures from a wedding I shot a little while back. Congrats to the newlyweds: Scott and Kristin.

Click photo to visit gallery:

Also, I must send some props to my little sister, Shannon, who rode shotgun for the wedding. It was her first big event, but she got a bunch of great shots. Like this one, this one, and this one.

And for those of you checking in on Misty, yesterday was nice. Misty was feeling pretty good all day and some family stopped by with a cake for her birthday. Other than that it was a pleasant fairly uneventful day. It was nice :)