TURN ON YOUR VOLUME
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
A family that shaves together, stays together
We had such a great visit with Sam's sister's family; boat ride, pool session, dinner and our niece even had her first manatee sighting, we miss them already.
Unfortunately, yesterday Brandon discovered that his hair has begun to fall out. Surprisingly, Brandon is pretty okay with the idea, Sam shed a few tears but we decided to make light of the situation. So today was the day, OFF WITH HIS HAIR! Brandon's brother in law, Alistair, decided he would join Brandon's journey in hair loss and shave his head as well. (A majority of Brandon's other brothers in law have been honoring Brandon with shaved heads or balding, whatever you want to call it, years before his diagnosis ;) Our 11 year old niece even told her mom she wanted to shave her head for Uncle Brandon, although that is extremely sweet of her, we talked her out of it.
Set up outside Brandon's grandparents condo right on the inter coastal, Alistair went to work. Brandon's hair was shaved off into the ocean, let's just say he is as handsome as ever. Nephew Brener was next, mohawk to be like his Uncle B and then Brandon shaved Alistair's head. Quoting Lindsay, "a family that shaves together, stays together." All 3 of our guys look great. Alistair and B took it to the next level & decided to shave each other's armpits, taking it a little too far?!? mmmmm... Maybe. Below are a few pictures, more to come.
Enjoy!
B&S
Unfortunately, yesterday Brandon discovered that his hair has begun to fall out. Surprisingly, Brandon is pretty okay with the idea, Sam shed a few tears but we decided to make light of the situation. So today was the day, OFF WITH HIS HAIR! Brandon's brother in law, Alistair, decided he would join Brandon's journey in hair loss and shave his head as well. (A majority of Brandon's other brothers in law have been honoring Brandon with shaved heads or balding, whatever you want to call it, years before his diagnosis ;) Our 11 year old niece even told her mom she wanted to shave her head for Uncle Brandon, although that is extremely sweet of her, we talked her out of it.
Set up outside Brandon's grandparents condo right on the inter coastal, Alistair went to work. Brandon's hair was shaved off into the ocean, let's just say he is as handsome as ever. Nephew Brener was next, mohawk to be like his Uncle B and then Brandon shaved Alistair's head. Quoting Lindsay, "a family that shaves together, stays together." All 3 of our guys look great. Alistair and B took it to the next level & decided to shave each other's armpits, taking it a little too far?!? mmmmm... Maybe. Below are a few pictures, more to come.
Enjoy!
B&S
 |
| Brandon, Brener, Alistair |
 |
| Little B's turn |
 |
| Damage done |
 |
| Really? |
 |
| Alistair's turn |
 |
| During |
 |
| Before |
 |
| Mohawk |
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Good Morning Florida
Oh happy days...
We are really looking forward to today & this coming weekend. It is all about family! We've been lucky to spend quality time everyday with PaPa, MaMa, Uncle Kevin, Becky, and cousin Cali. We spent yesterday with Brandon's Uncle Larry and David and Sam's sister's family is crossing the state to spend the day/night with the Ream's. Plus the Whitton's are crossing the pond and back to the good old USA AND Kels will be joining us soon. Uncle B sure has a soft spot for his nieces & nephews and I know seeing all these family members will put a smile on his face.
We had another appointment with Dr. Green yesterday, all Brandon's levels are back up & he is off his anti-infection medication. He is even riding a stationary bike every morning!
We hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season with their loved ones.
With Love,
B&S
We are really looking forward to today & this coming weekend. It is all about family! We've been lucky to spend quality time everyday with PaPa, MaMa, Uncle Kevin, Becky, and cousin Cali. We spent yesterday with Brandon's Uncle Larry and David and Sam's sister's family is crossing the state to spend the day/night with the Ream's. Plus the Whitton's are crossing the pond and back to the good old USA AND Kels will be joining us soon. Uncle B sure has a soft spot for his nieces & nephews and I know seeing all these family members will put a smile on his face.
We had another appointment with Dr. Green yesterday, all Brandon's levels are back up & he is off his anti-infection medication. He is even riding a stationary bike every morning!
We hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season with their loved ones.
With Love,
B&S
Saturday, December 24, 2011
It's a Wonderful Life
Merry Christmas Eve!
Sorry about the delay in posts, too much fun in the sun. To recap our first week in Palm Beach: Saturday night was our arrival, our trip from PHL to PBI was pretty uneventful, we loaded up on hand sanitizer and braved the flight down here, Brandon did great! The first few days on beautiful Singer Island were a little rough, Brandon was just not Brandon. He felt a little off, still on crutches, and his body basically felt like he just went through round 1 of chemotherapy. Brandon and Sam spent most of their time breaking in the Ream's new condo. I spent a lot of time reading on the balcony and Brandon took a lot of naps. Gary and Becky brought us dinner every night and plus the condo has everything we need; DVR, PS3 and an amazing view, so trust me being stuck inside wasn't too bad;) The only bad part about those first 2 days was the inability to make him feel better. SNAP! It is Wednesday, Brandon wakes up feeling a little more energized and even wants Jimmy Johns! By Wednesday night he is talking more and acting more like himself, thank you God. Thursday morning arrives and Brandon is back!!! POOL DAY!!! Yes! We head over to Brandon's grandparents new condo and head up to their pool, Brandon walked 20 laps, his first steps in 4-1/2 weeks, I was so proud and most importantly he was feeling great. Did I mention that Thursday night Brandon decided to toss his crutches over the balcony into the ocean? Well, not literally but he no longer is using his crutches.
Friday morning we had an appointment with our oncologist at the Palm Beach Cancer Center, Dr. Bobby Green. Dr. Staddon at Penn is close friends with Dr. Green and had arranged that we could see him for follow up appointments while in Florida. The facilities were great (even had valet parking, fancy) and we felt really welcomed by Dr. Green. Brandon had blood work done and Dr. Green went over some precautionary steps for our weekend. These couple days are Brandon's most susceptible days for infection. Don't worry we are piling up on hand sanitizer and doing our best to steer the germs away. We will meet with Dr. Green again on Tuesday morning for a follow up appointment which will then be Day 14 of this cycle.
That brings us to today, Christmas Eve (Christmas in the Tortorello household) We woke up this morning and celebrated "Christmas" morning with Sam's family via skype. All 5 of Sam's siblings plus their spouses plus our 7 nieces/nephews gathered at Sam's parents house because Santa Claus came! We were on skype for almost 3 hours watching gifts being opened. Best part of being and aunt and uncle of 9 (soon to be 11) is their faces on days like this. The kids would open a gift and then walk up the computer and show us what they got, it was like we were sitting right there. It was a great day, we are now looking forward to Christmas day with the Ream's.
Just a quick note to say thank you again for all the phone calls, emails, text messages, facebook messages, tweets, cards, packages etc. Brandon and I are extremely blessed to have such amazing friends and families. We are in great hands and feel very loved. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
I will sign off on a fun note, Brandon and Sam know 3 people who got engaged last night. A big congrats to 2 of Sam's cousins and Brandon's best friend, Noah (and Abby)! So many things to be happy about, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Brandon's first steps, laps in pool
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Wow
Bear with me the next couple of weeks I will be posting a lot of pictures...... This is a pic Brandon received today from one of his best friends, Tim Shaw. Tim plays for the Tennessee Titans #59, he not only tears it up on the field but is a great guy. Thanks Tim, this made Brandon's day.
Friday, December 16, 2011
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Bonjour ! (Sofitel is a French hotel) 50 degrees here in Philly on December 16th, I guess IT IS ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA, who would have thought? We truly have been blessed with this beautiful weather; Brandon, crutches, and snow would have made for an interesting week.
Enough weather talk, let's talk about Brandon. I last left off with the Home care nurse hooking Brandon's port up to fluid. The first night back to the hotel after treatment was somewhat iffy. His nausea got the best of him and caused loss of color and extreme fatigue, BUT he slept through the night, which was a huge positive. He went through most of Thursday having good moments and bad moments, mostly good! All in all we felt like yesterday was a better day than expected. He has been eating saltines, bananas, oranges, applesauce, chicken noodle soup, Gatorade, ginger ale, etc., he does not always have an appetite but between Becky and I we are force feeding him. The more energy the better! Trust me his sarcasm has not changed one bit. Pretty much our day was spent mostly resting and myself and Becky taking turns slipping out to do some shopping. Last night we watched the semi finals of the NCAA women's volleyball championship, sad not to see PSU playing but we will be cheering on the ILLINI all the way. GO BIG TEN! Again, another decent nights sleep and enter Friday.
We had an appointment with our oncologist, Dr. Staddon, first thing this morning. Which meant I needed to disconnect Brandon's port from his IV. Maybe nursing school is my second calling? (Brandon would beg to differ) His favorite line this week, "Are you trying to kill me?" Anyways, 8:45am at the doctor's office, we are starting to feel very welcome at Penn, as we now know the doorman,receptionist, nurses, etc all who are all invested in B's progress. The doctor's appointment was a success, Dr. Staddon was very pleased with how things were going and gave us the okay to head down to Palm Beach for the holidays! If you listen really closely, you can hear Brandon and I jumping for joy. (Well maybe Brandon is not jumping but you get the idea)
Although we are very sad we will not be making the trip home to spend Christmas Eve with the Tortorello's, we are excited to get down to the sun and begin Brandon's recovery process. We hope to rest, relax, work out and soak up the sun in Palm Beach and of course have a very Merry Christmas!
Next stop Singer Island, Florida.
With Love,
B&S
Enough weather talk, let's talk about Brandon. I last left off with the Home care nurse hooking Brandon's port up to fluid. The first night back to the hotel after treatment was somewhat iffy. His nausea got the best of him and caused loss of color and extreme fatigue, BUT he slept through the night, which was a huge positive. He went through most of Thursday having good moments and bad moments, mostly good! All in all we felt like yesterday was a better day than expected. He has been eating saltines, bananas, oranges, applesauce, chicken noodle soup, Gatorade, ginger ale, etc., he does not always have an appetite but between Becky and I we are force feeding him. The more energy the better! Trust me his sarcasm has not changed one bit. Pretty much our day was spent mostly resting and myself and Becky taking turns slipping out to do some shopping. Last night we watched the semi finals of the NCAA women's volleyball championship, sad not to see PSU playing but we will be cheering on the ILLINI all the way. GO BIG TEN! Again, another decent nights sleep and enter Friday.
We had an appointment with our oncologist, Dr. Staddon, first thing this morning. Which meant I needed to disconnect Brandon's port from his IV. Maybe nursing school is my second calling? (Brandon would beg to differ) His favorite line this week, "Are you trying to kill me?" Anyways, 8:45am at the doctor's office, we are starting to feel very welcome at Penn, as we now know the doorman,receptionist, nurses, etc all who are all invested in B's progress. The doctor's appointment was a success, Dr. Staddon was very pleased with how things were going and gave us the okay to head down to Palm Beach for the holidays! If you listen really closely, you can hear Brandon and I jumping for joy. (Well maybe Brandon is not jumping but you get the idea)
Although we are very sad we will not be making the trip home to spend Christmas Eve with the Tortorello's, we are excited to get down to the sun and begin Brandon's recovery process. We hope to rest, relax, work out and soak up the sun in Palm Beach and of course have a very Merry Christmas!
Next stop Singer Island, Florida.
With Love,
B&S
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