Sunday, June 27, 2010

A VERY Quiet Sunday

The day dawned bright and beautiful - complete with the wonderful tolling bells 
signaling the call to worship!

We spent the entire afternoon outside under the awning.  Chemo recipients are warned to stay out of direct sunlight and naturally, they make sure you can here at Leonardis.  

I went for another stroll with my camera when the 'infusion' of six-dice reached saturation point. :)







I can't decide if the unique 'natural' look here around the Leonardis is intentional or stems from neglect.  There are other highly manicured properties round about that suggest the latter.  

This farmer has been hard at work bringing in the hay since the rain has finally stopped.

For a long time today, I was on my bedroom balcony following the antics of a large hawk, 
circling hungrily above the farmers freshly cut field.  

I captured this view of the mountain range on our return from Munich the day of Mom's CT scan.
It was taken at no less than 160km/hr from the front passenger seat of Victor's mad-cab.  LOL.

After Mom's rather harrowing experience with the CT scan (the needle dislodged partway thru the process) Victor thoughtfully made a drive-by viewing of the Castle he so desperately wanted us to see while we still had the chance.                              
                                      ***********
This is the former summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria and is located in the west part of the city in the middle of one of Munich's most beautiful parks. Five generations of Wittelsbach rulers were involved in the construction of this Baroque castle.
The building of Nymphenburg Castle  began in the reign of the Elector Ferdinand Maria: overjoyed by the birth of his son and heir, Max Emanuel, he had the central section built for his wife in the style of an Italian villa (Agostino Barelli, 1664-74). In about 1700, Max Emanuel commissioned Enrico Zuccali and Antonio Viscardi to extend the castle by adding galleries and pavilions.

Hit the link above for a cyber tour of one of Europe's most famous castles.

A glorious sunset for mom one evening as we entered her room... we view it as a heavenly benediction of our second sabbath 'rest' here in Germany.

And now, a progress report on Mom:
Once her blood sugar and blood pressure levels stabilized she actually had her best day 
(based on how she 'felt') on Friday the chemo day.
From there, three days have passed and she is steadily declining in how good she feels.
Metallic taste, loss of appetite, an overwhelming fatigue, nausea and over-all body soreness.
I just put her to bed and to sleep (I think) with a foot massage and she said even her teeth hurt.
This is not unusual of course to chemotherapy but I think we had both naively invested too much stock in the alternative meds countering those effects. 
As the saying goes:  This too shall pass.  
Be assured that she is carefully monitored to see her through these next few days as she climbs her way back out of the chemo reverie.  She sleeps a lot and I sit beside her reading a lot.
Prayer for regaining strength in body & spirit are always much obliged.