Heading back into surgery Oct 29th

Hey there,
Long time, no post!  It's been a wonderful summer filled with relaxing moments with family and friends.  Stu has been very healthy and as always remains super positive.  Stu celebrated his 50th birthday with Ken and some close friends.  It was awesome!   My 50th was celebrated over and over again!  I really think 50 is the new 30!!

Stella completed an internship at a biotech company that a great friend connected her too.  She had such a great time learning new skills and meeting some really amazing people!  Her boss was our friend and she really liked learning from him.

Jaida attended summer school, camps and had lots of playdates.

Stu and I both have friends from work, from Amsterdam and all over constantly integrating us into their plans, from stopping for lunch from the east bay, to dinners, to hosting my birthday... so many friends and so much love! Thank you.

Now Stella is back in high school as a cheerleader and caption of the JV cheer team.  She spends her weekends slumber partying with friends and enjoying teenage life!

Jaida is happily adjusting to middle school.  She has made some really awesome new friends, and she still really enjoys those friendships she's made from elementary school.  She is enjoying running, playing soccer and the many girl scouting events she gets to take part in.

Stu and I have traveled to LA almost every week for a clinical trial that Stu is in since November (new trial started April 2019 after the last surgery).  We just go for the day, which isn't such a big deal.  We've run into a few friends on our flights out of San Jose, which is such a bonus!!  We like our doctor and the staff at Providence very much.
Huge thanks to Grandma Nat for driving Jaida back and forth to school while we travel.

Stu has been dealing with inflammation since the November 2018 trial.  The doctors think that he is getting so much inflammation due to the clinical trial actually doing its job. But it's becoming too much once again and so Stu will need to head back into surgery on Oct 29th.  We hope that the surgery will allow him to talk more and relieve the symptoms.

We have our family and friends both new and existing jumping in to offer help make Halloween week special to the girls. Thank you!!!  A huge thanks to my sister Lynda for once again taking vacation time and staying with our girls so that they can just be at home while we are away.  She has been amazing! Everyone has!!  Shout out to Ken for always stopping by with a cute niece or nephew to make everyone's world better (they are adorable!!), for being an awesome uncle to the girls!!  He's a great brother!!

We'll let you know when Stu is up for visitors via this blog.  We will be in LA thru  10/28 through 11/3 if anyone wants to reach out to me to set up visits.

Happy Fall everyone.
Sandi & Stu

Happy Summer Everyone!

Whew! We've been busy over the past few weeks!  We have been traveling to LA for a new clinical trial in Santa Monica.  We just go for the day and we are home by 8pm, so don't think of us as always out of town.
Stu is feeling really good and responding well to the clinical trial, the chemo and to the new device he wears called Optune.  This device sends electrical waves through his head to slow the growth of bad cells.
Stu gets the chemo just once every 6 weeks, he gets the clinical trial medication once a week with 2 weeks on/1 week off. Stu wears the Optune device on his head as long as he can every day.  It doesn't hurt, but it gets warm sometimes which makes it hard to be out in the full sun at high noon.

We snuck away during his week off of treatment to go to Kona Hawaii for a little summer vacation. We left a very hot Northern California to hit 90* temps in Kona... not quite as tropical feeling as we had thought.  The pools, beach and snorkeling with Manta Rays were all still amazing.  All in all, it was a really relaxing trip.

We are hunkering down now for the rest of the summer as Stella has an internship at a really amazing company with a wonderful friend overseeing her progress and education.  We are so proud of Stella for taking the leap and trying out a work experience like this!

Jaida is in summer school and is having the time of her life! She absolutely loves her classmates and it's pretty likely that not much actual work is taking place....

We are keeping Grandma busy helping out with the driving on our travel days to LA and she has been really supportive of our kids busy social activities.

Stu is totally up for visitors!  Please text both of us if you want to stop by... sometimes Stu doesn't check his phone, whereas mine is usually near me.  My cell is 650-776-6476/ Stu's is 650-776-6559.

Happy summer everyone!
Stu and Sandi, Stella and Jaida too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Stu and I have just been trying to take things easy, so that he can recover from brain surgery #4.  Ok, I needed a little recovery time too. Surgeries take a toll on everyone involved!

Now that all that gunk in Stu's head is gone he is able to finally get off loads of medications and really heal.  We will start a new attack plan in a few weeks, once Stu gets the go ahead from the doctor.  Stu remains in really great spirits with a big smile to start each day and the occasional salsa sashay as we listen to morning Shakira songs on Alexa. The dog gets lots of good walks in with Stu and I, and we've rewatched all of the GOT episodes to date! 

Although the speech isn't totally back yet, Stu gets his point across pretty easily!!  He is up for seeing friends, getting calls and texts, as well as emails. If you want to visit, just shoot him a message.

We are going to spend the weekend watching The Man in the Iron Mask, Zorro, The Count of Monte Cristo and finish off with the latest episode of GOT on Sunday! Stu really wants to see some sort of sports in there (we'll see). 
I'm looking forward to Mother's day weekend and I hope you are as well!
Hugs to all the mothers out there!  You are awesome!!
Sandi (Stu, Stella and Jaida too)

Last Night at UCSF!! (Goal Achieved!!)

Stu woke up at 7:30am and impressed the Doctor so much that he feels Stu is ok to go home at some point tomorrow!!
For tonight and tomorrow Stu will be on the 8th Floor of the Long Building (L Elevator) room 835/Bed 1.

Stu is open to visitors, however we aren't sure what time he'll get his checking out. 
Send me an email early in the day if you plan to stop by so that I can keep you in the loop.
Yay!!!
Sandi

Recovering Nicely!

Thank you so very much for being in our corner! What an incredible group of friends and family we have!  We've gotten emails and posts that have lifted our spirits and helped Stu to know he has an awesome support team.   It was a rough day, as it isn't easy to let someone operate on your brain... nor is it easy on a mom, a wife or kids (or anyone who cares really)... but you certainly make it better to know we've got some positive energy coming our way! 

Stu got out of surgery late today and is recovering in Neuro ICU for the night.  He is doing great!  The doctor said Stu is the best patient ever :). 
Stu told me almost immediately that he will be coming home on Friday.  I'm going to wait to hear what the doctor says, but I love how goal oriented he is. 

I'll post Stu's visitor status tomorrow.

Thank you for being there for us.
Sandi and Stu

Time for surgery again

Thanks for checking out the blog.  Your support through all of this has been so awesome! Thank you!

It looks like I'm heading back into surgery this Wednesday at UCSF. 

Sandi will give updates as she has them.  

I'll likely stay in the hospital through Saturday then come home.

Please send emails to me at selefant_2001@yahoo.com or you can post comments on the blog.  Please don't send texts.

Thanks again for your support.

Stu and family

March Madness!!!

(Stu 3/21/2019):  March Madness is upon us!  I really do not care who wins (but might as well be Michigan!!!).   Ashby is taking us out for the Regional Finals!

My tumor is still there:  a little decreased in size, but a bit crazy because there is necrosis which could increase in size.  I'm going back in a month as the doctors are keeping a close eye on my brain.

A new wave of favorite cousins made to it town.  Cousins Beth & Jason and I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, drove down Lombard St, toured Alcatraz Island (and even met a former prisoner), ate hot fudge sundaes at Ghirardelli Square, hiked through Big Basin State Park,  played around at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and lots more!   Next, we have Cousin Ally visiting from Florida.  Maybe, we will do similar things!!!

Ken, Mom, and I just returned from Israel.  We went to a cousin's wedding, visited the Dead Sea, Masada, Wailing Wall and a amazing times!   That was my first time to Israel and it was awesome!!!

We also celebrated Stella's 15th birthday by attending Jaida's performance as a flower in the Jungle Book, which was held at her school.  Later Stella and I took the cousin's to Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero for artichoke soup (yum) and berry pie (double yum)! 

More later!