Save the Date - Elroy's Birthday

Hope all you Peg's Legs can join us at the house to celebrate Mr. Chun's Big Day:

Drop by on Tuesday, August 7th 2007 at Elroy and Peggy's house to wish Elroy a Happy
80th Birthday!

We're having just a mellow Peg's Legs potluck for Elroy (we are also doing a
small dinner with his side of the family and a few of his friends the
following weekend).

The potluck party will be around 5:30...hope you can all join us to help
Elroy celebrate this milestone bday! It is our opportunity to say "thanks"
for all he is and all he does!

Climbing Trees

We had a big weekend. On Saturday, we went to the International Arborist Convention at the UH Manoa campus. They had competitive tree climbing finalists from all around the world competing there. They were actually climbing a bunch of the trees on campus. It was really cool. But the coolest thing was the "Fun Climb" they had set up on one of the monkey pod trees. Indy and Eric got all geared up and got to climb! Indy LOVED it as you can see from her BIG SMILE in the photo above. She was up about 20 feet in the air and wasn't scared at all! Like father like daughter. So awesome.

Last night we had dinner over at Peggy's house with Briar, Makena, Jen, Jade, Cian, and all of us. Marvel was on shift. Briar made fajitas - yum! Peggy had fun watching Makena read to the girls. See other photo above.

At the end of the night I found Cola with her whole head in the sour cream container. In fact, earlier in the evening I found her licking a bowl of potato chips on the porch. I moved it inside and forgot about it. I came out a few minutes later from the kitchen to find Eric eating the chips! He wasn't too pleased when I told him what I knew. And he didn't find it all at funny when I asked if he thought they were "low-sodium" when he was eating them.

I'm home today since Sawyer is a bit sick. He was up with fever all last night. He's doing better, but he's a little opihi. Lehua gave me an update by phone. She said that Cory was there this morning checking the cuff issues. They fixed the port, so now they are doing a 48 hour air leak test. NO ONE is to touch the cuff over the next 48 hours. Dr. Davis will discuss the issue with Peggy at tomorrow's doc visit. As we've said before, he doesn't want to change the trach unnecessarily since it will cause a lot of trauma.

Aloha Friday

Here are some photos from yesterday's Sea Life Park adventure. We had so much fun!

Just got home from Peggy's. We mostly played with Sawyer today. It was a fun day. Betsy McCreary is back - hooray! She read to Peggy from a fabulous book she got her called "Why Cats Paint". So Peggy.

We had a very special visitor this afternoon - Suzanne Maurer! It is always so fun to see her at Peggy's. She got to meet Lehua and Lisa for the first time.

Peggy was having some cuff issues last night. HCA's Eric called it in. Seems the blue stopper at the end of the balloon was stripped, so Cory had him tape it up and Cathy is coming this afternoon to replace it. We're still monitoring the cuff leakage which is a separate issue. Peggy also mentioned that she is still having problems with reflux.

We also were talking about Peggy's spelling and her eyes. We were talking about how it is getting more difficult to tell when she is looking up. Peggy has always looked up for "yes", but more and more she is now spelling out "y-e-s". So we were suggesting to her that from now on, when people ask her a yes or no question, she should look at the 6 for "yes" and the 3 for "no". Peggy was a little concerned that this would be limiting and confusing, but we assured her it was only for yes and no questions. I think she wants to make sure that she is still allowed to fully express herself, so please be sure to let her continue spelling after you get a yes or no. For example, Peggy may spell "no", but she might have more to say about it. In fact, let's face it, in MOST cases Peggy has more to say about it!

Have a great weekend everyone. We're planning to have dinner over at Elroy and Peggy's this coming Sunday night since Briar and Makena are in town (Briar is the wife of Eric's half brother Bruce and their daughter Makena is 12) - they are visiting from Santa Barbara

Puna Play Day

Brought both kids over yesterday afternoon to play with Peggy. Marvel and Julie got Peggy up in the wheelchair and we spent the afternoon cruising in the living room. Indy even got to go for rides on the "Puna Float" (see photos). Lynn Cook came by to hang out. Julie read all of us one of Lynn's stories from Holoholo magazine and also read a story that Peggy wrote about Jade and Indy on a zoo adventure (see photo). Indy loved it. Our friend Mike dropped by for a visit too. When Elroy came home, he shared some of his homegrown apple bananas with us. They are very good and he is very proud.

I'm going to be chaperoning Indy's school field trip to Sea Life Park this morning. Or "Seal" Life Park as Indy calls it. Should be an adventure!

Goddess Glamour Mouse

Haleiwa Arts Festival was a great success! We did great and Peggy had such a fun time on Sunday at the Festival. People were thrilled to see her there and she was mobbed as usual.

Peggy's doing great today. She had her doctor visit and the only real issue was Peggy's concern about her cuff again. Dr. Davis would like to monitor it over the next week before making any decisions. It was checked last night and today and there was no leakage.

We hope you enjoy this photo of Peggy's doc visit costume. Peggy and Hanna have titled it "Goddess Glamour Mouse". Perfect.

Haleiwa Arts Festival This Weekend!

We're getting ready for Haleiwa today. Peggy will be going on Sunday to the show. Marvel and Lisa will be taking her. The cab comes to pick her up at 12. She can try out one of her new neck braces when she gets up in the chair. Not sure if they will work since we only tried them in bed and it was a bit awkward. We'll see.

Peggy's eyes are red and irritated today. Her theory is that if the eye patches aren't on tight enough on the overnight shift then her eyes open and they get scratched and therefore red/irritated. Hard to say. It is also very windy today - I wonder if things blowing in air get stuck in the PM Gel and irritate her eyes? Just another theory...

Peggy was a little worried about Hurricane/tropical storm weather last night, but Marvel ran the generator and its tank is full, so we're prepared in case of power outage. But all in all Peggy's mood has been great. I think we all agree that last week's meetings really cleared the air and have brought a great sense of relief. Ahhhhh...

Come visit us this weekend at the show! Do some Christmas Shopping!

Peg's Legs Update: Peggy's Eyes

Here's the general update I sent out to Peggy's BIG email list...did I ever mention that I have around 400 people on the Peg's Legs Update list?!

Aloha Peg's Legs,

Hope everyone is having a great summer! Peggy has been busy (isn't she always!) with lists and projects. If you remember, she was working on a book with Shelly Mecum, well, we are happy to share that "The Watercolor Cat" will be going to press in just a few days and will be available for Christmas! So exciting. Peggy already has other book ideas in mind.

The Father Damien watercolor mosaic is another project on Peggy's mind. We are starting to recruit volunteers for the next stage of this big undertaking - the assembly of all the little bitty squares on the paper. Peggy is working on her detailed instructions and guidance for her assistants.

Peggy got to talk on the phone yesterday with her Dad and Sara who are having a quiet 90th birthday celebration this weekend. Hooray! Happy Birthday Joe and Sara! And speaking of birthdays...we have a couple more very special birthdays coming up...on August 7th Elroy will be turning 80! And on August 25th Sawyer will be turning 1! Yay for the Chun Boys!

It is important for us to let you all know that it is getting more difficult to read Peggy's eyes. As most of you know, she has only her ocular movement left. She is unable to blink her eyes and therefore they often become very dry and irritated making it difficult to use the spellboard with her on some days. She has not been able to use the ERICA computer for the past year because of her dry eyes.

The muscles in Peggy's eyes seem to be weak on some days. We have good days and we have bad days. As you can tell from above, she can communicate well enough to drive us crazy helping her with all her projects! Ha! We don't want to sound dramatic, but we do want to make sure that you understand that we have been talking with Peggy about what her wishes are once she loses her eye movement. No one knows when this will be - it could be weeks, months, or even longer - however, we feel good that we are planning with Peggy now while she can still communicate.

This is probably the hardest part of the journey for all of us. Thankfully, we are blessed with the amazing Peg's Legs caregivers/support team. Eric, Elroy, and I can't find words strong enough to express how deeply grateful we are for the care and love Peggy gets everyday. And not only do the Peg's Legs nurture and support Peggy each day, they nurture and support US and that's why we are still standing strong at year 5 of this journey.

Thank you to all of you for your continued love and support. Peggy sends her love to each and every one of you.

Me ke aloha,

The Chun Ohana