Checking Back In...

Thought I better pull myself out of my Holi-DAZE and post something! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was so nice - great company, great food, lots of good cheer. The kids had a blast!

The one bummer was that Peggy's eyes were really bad all of Christmas Day. She had a substitute nurse on Christmas Eve who was not familiar with her nighttime eye care routine. This caused Peggy's eyes to be bright red and very irritated all of Christmas and the day after. We could barely get a "yes" or "no" out of her.

Her eyes finally returned to normal yesterday and we did save some presents that the kids got to open in front of her so she could enjoy it. I was over there with Sawyer, Indy, and Jade. We invited Jade to spend the night last night since the girls are on Christmas vacation. They LOVE to play with each other, but they argue constantly!

Another exciting thing to share...on Christmas Eve Magda surprised Peggy with the finished painting of Father Damien that will be the base for the mosaic. It is so breathtaking and exactly captures Peggy's vision. Everyone that sees it can't help but get chicken skin! Magda's talent is so mind-blowing. This project is all coming together so beautifully. It is so exciting!

I'm going to be at home today catching up on all my computer work in between refereeing fights between Jade, Indy, and Sawyer. My work schedule at Peggy's is going to be a little erratic with Indy out of school. She returns on the 7th. Have a great weekend everyone!

Off to Molokai!

Tomorrow morning, Eric, Indy, Sawyer, and I are off to spend the weekend on Molokai with some good friends. Elroy and Peggy agreed to watch the grand-dog, so Maka will be staying at the house. I've been jamming around trying to get all my work and Christmas stuff done. I feel pretty good about what I've accomplished and so I am finally starting to get excited. Since we come back mid-morning on Christmas Eve, we had to get all of our shopping, wrapping, etc. done by today! But we did it!

We are going to be staying at some cottages in Kaunakakai - we don't have much planned beyond RELAXING. Eric and some of the others will be going on the hike down to Kalaupapa, but since the kids are too little, we'll just hang back at the beach. It has been a while since my last vacation and I'm really looking forward to leaving my computer at home!

Which brings me to my next point...I don't plan to check my email this weekend and this will be my last blog until after Christmas I'm sure, so hope everyone has a very merry Christmas! Peggy's been doing fine and is looking forward to the holiday festivities. Despite her list of issues for Dr. Davis, she seems to be in good spirits and health. Respiratory came by today and Lolo said that they said that everything looks great with the vent.

By the way, all Peg's Legs, the office girls have made little gifts for you - please take one from the basket in Peggy's room the next time you're there. Just a small token of our deep gratitude and admiration for all that you do! Have a great weekend and Mele Kalikimaka!

Oh - and one last very important note! I got a text from Kelly and she is going to be induced tonight or tomorrow! So baby is on her way! Congratulations, Kelly!

Peggy's Doc Visit Yesterday

Here is a report from Peggy's doc visit yesterday - her concerns and then Dr. Davis's responses:

1. 'Cuff is leaking 2 CC every other day.'
Cathryn took out 15 CC's and put 15 CC's back in. Please do not
manipulate with the cuff is possible.

2. 'Pain in stoma.'
The stoma actually looks good - no bleeding or raw skin. Pain may be
due to the trauma.

3. 'Having extreme hallucinations lately.'
Peggy says that hallucination usually happens in the late afternoon and
had 10 episodes of it so far but none today. Dr. Davis feels that this
may be related to the medications, possibly Oxycodone and Lorazepam.
We need to monitor. Please note the time of the day it happens and
what does Peggy see or hear.

4. 'Reflux is getting worse.'
Not discussed today although not new for Peggy. Please continue to
keep Peggy's head of bed up with feedings. Turn feeding off or hold
during position changes.

5. 'My tummy doesn't hold as much as it used to.
Peggy feels that 200cc of water at one time is too much so water
flushes were split apart
Water schedule changed to:

100 cc 1pm
100 cc 3pm
60 cc prune juice and 60cc of blueberry juice at 1800
100cc 8pm
100cc 10pm with meds

6. 'I'm experiencing choking every night and if I can't communicate that
I'm choking, I'm going to aspirate. This choking problem is the main
reason I'd like to start ALS drug

Not addressed due to Dr. Davis needing to go. But Cathryn put in the
communication log for the HCA nurses to ask Peggy if she is choking in a
yes or question rather then trying to have Peggy spell it out.

8. 'Toe okay'
Toe looks really good but please monitor and continue foot soaks, warm
compress, keep clean and dry.

9.'Skin breakdown on coccyx'
Duoderm to coccyx intact. Please continue to monitor for any
skin breakdown to coccyx, buttock, underbreast, etc.

Christmas Day Potluck at Peggy's

If you are able to join us on Christmas Day, please RSVP on our evite - see below:

Christmas Day Party Evite

One Week Until Christmas Eve!

Back in the office after a fun weekend. Saturday's book signing was great. Peggy had a lovely time and is doing fine after her g-tube and trach issues. Yesterday's party for Cian was perfect. The girls had a blast running around eating pizza and blowing bubbles. Peggy was up in chair for all the fun.

Brent the bagpiper came earlier in the day yesterday to play for Peggy. It always is so surreal and awesome hearing the big fabulous sound of his bagpipes echoing in the Nuuanu valley. Peggy loved it.

Makena (Elroy's son Bruce's daughter) and mom Briar are in town visiting with a crew of Makena's friends. They came by for a while for Cian's party and to visit with Peggy. So great to see them!

Donna Sullivan saw a chin strap for sale in the Walter Drake catalog. I bought it and brought it over yesterday for Peggy to try and she loves it! The great thing is that it only cost $3.99! We'll see if it works out...we'll give it a few days to see if it will really work for Peg.

I have some girlfriends in town from the mainland and so I've been hanging out, catching up. Later this week I have more friends coming in and we are all planning a trip to Molokai over the weekend. I'm looking forward to the break, but am feeling a little overwhelmed trying to get everything done before I take off.

As always, we will be doing Christmas Day at Peggy's in the afternoon. Everyone is welcome, please let me know if you would like to join us...we'll start around 3 or 4pm...potluck dinner, come one, come all!

Photos from Caroling Party

Here are some photos from Betsy's Caroling Party...and a note from Betsy:

A big mahalo to all who came to the caroling party for Peggy Monday night and brought their voices, food, wine, punch and gifts! Along with some fun memories, we've acquired a black "the face" jacket, a small folding umbrella and a plastic round green top with "Salassa" taped on top (can't imagine who that belongs to...) I'm just sorry I missed the Marita-Sawyer snowball battle on the back lanai!!!

Peg's Legs Photos on Shutterfly

Peggy at Queen's, But She is Fine!

Things have been a little crazy this week. This morning, Peggy had to go Queen's ER via ambulance. Nurse Eric was on shift when her vent started alarming low minimum volume. Seems as if the trach sprung a leak on the inside, which meant that she needed to get down to the ER right away before it became a real problem. Lolo came just in time to escort her down. She is doing fine and in fact, they even took care of her ingrown toe nail while she was there. Bonus!

True to form, Peggy still plans on attending Jeannie Anderson's Christmas luncheon, so we had Jeff come pick up Peggy's wheelchair (and Karen!) and took them down to meet Peggy and Lolo. I haven't heard how things are going, but I assume they are still on schedule. Karen did mention earlier that Peggy was in a bit of discomfort because they had put the wrong trach in at first and had to redo it. Ouch.

The crazy thing is that yesterday afternoon she was supposed to go with Karen and Marvel to Sonia's graduation from KCC nursing school (yay Sonia!). However, while getting ready, Peggy's g-tube popped out! Marvel was able to put it back in, but Cathy had to come to make sure there wasn't a leak. Everything looked fine and they were able to handle everything at bedside, but they made the choice to stay home, she the whole thing took a while.

Other than that, things have been great. Caroling at Betsy's house on Monday was so fun. I will put photos from Lynn online soon. Thank you to Annie and all the others who have helped decorate the tree and get the house looking festive!

Don't miss tomorrow's (Saturday) LAST book signing of 2007! Barnes and Noble Ala Moana at 4:30pm. See you there!

Let's Go Caroling!

Today we a great little going away party for Lehua since this morning was her last shift. We're gonna be getting ready in a bit to head over to Betsy's for caroling. Peggy's dad and brother left last night. We had a lovely family dinner here last night before they headed out to the airport. We got a few strands of lights on the tree, but we sure need help decorating - calling ALL Peg's Legs elves! Karen has told us that she is on strike. She has done so much decorating this year, she is over it. She says she is just not feeling the Christmas Spirit yet. Bah Hum Bug! So its up to us to help her!

To get you all in the Christmas decorating mood, I've attached a photo from this past Saturday's Santa photos at Kapolei! Too cute!

Barnes & Noble Ala Moana w/Artists, Wyland and Peggy Chun

Press Release:

Barnes & Noble- “Hawaii’s Artists” Signings with Artists, Wyland and Peggy Chun, to Support the Wyland Foundation

Honolulu, HI (12/6/2007) – Barnes & Noble-Ala Moana is extremely honored to have two of Hawaii’s beloved artists, Wyland and Peggy Chun with Shelly Mecum, in the store for two spectacular events just in time for the holidays. These events will take place on Saturday, December 15th at 3:00pm for Wyland and 4:30pm for “The Watercolor Cat,” with artwork by Peggy Chun and text by Shelly Mecum.

Marine Life Artist, Wyland, is best known for painting large, outdoor murals of whales and other ocean life. Wyland has earned the distinction as one of America’s most unique creative influences, and a leading advocate for marine resource conservation. An accomplished painter, sculptor, photographer, writer, and SCUBA diver, he has traveled the farthest reaches of the globe for more than twenty-five years, capturing the raw power and beauty of the undersea universe.

Peggy Chun is known in Hawaii for her beautiful and often whimsical artwork. This watercolor artist, now fully paralyzed by ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, captures the “spirit of aloha“ in her paintings and thrives on sharing her love of the islands (and life!) with the world. This debilitating motor neuron disease, ALS, has yet to slow Peggy down. In 2003 she lost use of her right hand. She simply painted with her left. In 2004 a weakened left hand sent the paintbrush to Peggy's teeth. These days, with only her eye movement unaffected by the disease, Peggy now paints digitally with the help of a computer.

Both of these remarkable artists demonstrate, at opposite ends of the spectrum, the difference just one person can make, and, they have proven through their own actions, that nothing is beyond our abilities! So please join us for a one of a kind day at Barnes and Noble-Ala Moana, where everything is possible.

The Wyland Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 that strives to inspire as many people as possible to learn more about our oceans and aquatic habitats and the life within them, and to encourage people to get involved. Barnes and Noble will be contributing a portion of the sales flagged to go to the Wyland Foundation on Saturday, December 15th, all you have to do to participate is say that you’d like to support the Wyland Foundation when you make your purchase.

This event is free and open to the public, please call 949-7307 for more information.

Watercolor Cat Book Preorder for January

Mutual Publishing has sold out of The Watercolor Cat! Our gallery at Peggy has sold out along with Walmart and Amazon. There are still books available at Barnes & Noble in Hawaii. In fact, Peggy and Shelly will be doing their last book signing of the year this coming Saturday, December 15th at 4:30pm at Barnes & Noble Ala Moana.

The great news is that Mutual will be doing a second printing, however the books will not be available until January. Mutual has asked that we send out a notice to see how many people might want to reserve copies from the second printing.

You can email me with your book reservations. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hope to see you at Saturday’s book signing!

Interview with Diving Bell Director on NPR

This interview is so interesting. It reminds me so much of spelling with Peggy and how poetic the letters sound as we speak what she spells...listen to this "All Things Considered" interview and hopefully the film will be showing again soon in Hawaii.

Diving Bell Celebrates Life of the Mind

Kelly Update...NO Baby Yet...

Many of us have been wondering...has Kelly had her baby yet??? The answer is NO. I spoke with Kelly today, so here is the update. Her due date is December 14th. She is very uncomfortable and it definitely seems like things are beginning to happen. She has mostly been sleeping since she hasn't been feeling great AND she knows she won't be doing a lot of sleeping when that baby comes. She has a doc appointment tomorrow. She assured us that she will keep us posted!

We Made it Thru the Storm!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we made it thru last night's stormy weather. Peggy's house never lost power (well, it went out only for about 5 seconds) even though some of her Nuuanu neighbors lost power for over 8 hours! We did run into one weather related snag...Marvel was stuck out in Waianae because of road closures and so she couldn't make it to her shift. Lolo came to the rescue, but couldn't leave right away, so Stephanie Doughty was showered and ready to help us cover until Lolo got there. We managed to save Stephanie the trip by having me cover for 45 minutes as a very rusty caregiver...but Peggy survived and it all worked out fine.

Very exciting news...Peggy's Dad Joe and brother John are coming to town for the USS Oklahoma memorial ceremony at Pearl Harbor on Friday. They arrive tomorrow (Thursday) and will be staying through Sunday. Joe will be staying at Peggy's and John with Jason and Jen.

Tomorrow night we are scheduled to go to the Pacific Club for an MDA fundraiser honoring Vi Jones-Medusky. Karen, Marvel, and I will be escorting Peggy.

Peggy's Back Home and Doing Great

So Peggy is back home with a new G-tube and she is doing fine. The whole ordeal at Queen's took over 4 hours and so they didn't get home until 10pm. Everything went smoothly with the g-tube replacement. Dr. Davis was unable to make it down to see Peggy, but they got to see another very cute doctor named Dr. Smith (Peggy always gets the cute ones!) who did a great job. He thought that the bubbling at her trach site was just from a slight leak or maybe positional. The bubbling stopped and she seems to be fine now. Her eyes were bad yesterday, but they are quite clear today.

We wanted to let everyone know that we are officially out of Watercolor Cat books. Mutual Publishing has run out of books. They are reprinting, but they will not be available until the end of January. So, if you need books, please go soon to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Walmart, or Sam's Club! We have a signing coming up on December 15th at Barnes & Noble Ala Moana on December 15th, so you can get them then or bring your books there for Shelly to sign.

Peggy Getting G-Tube Replaced at Queens

I got a call from Marvel this afternoon that Peggy's g-tube (feeding tube) had popped out and was not going back in. Cory from HCA told Marvel that Peggy needed to go to the ER to get it replaced, but that she didn't need to go by ambulance. So they called 5 Star Transcare who took Peggy down to the ER.

I got a call from Pat (the B on shift with Marvel) this evening. She said that they were still at Queen's because Peggy's trach was gurgling quite a bit and she was bubbling at the mouth/nose and so they figured they would have it looked at while they were there. Dr. Davis was in the loop and on his way to see them. I have not heard back from them yet, but I assume that they are doing fine and will be heading back home soon.

I'll update everyone as I get more info...right now I'm off to bed!