The Kofford Family relocates to Colorado after 40 years as Californians. In December of 2007, Grandma Lorraine is diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer. Sadly, she passed away on Dec. 26th, 2008 after a year long courageous battle. Follow our journey as we keep Lorraine's memory alive, and as we learn to appreciate that each day we are given, is a gift to be enjoyed!

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
~Maria Robertson

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Hello from Longmont, Colorado!! This is Annette... Denise allowed me the privilege to do a posting today. First, the weather was beautiful yesterday, but today is partly cloudy. I hear you're getting quite a blast in Northern California today! Batten down the hatches! We aren't supposed to get any of that weather here, so I'll hopefully have good flying weather on my Sunday return.



You are anxiously awaiting to hear how Lorraine's doing, aren't you? Well, I spent most of the day ... okay, all of yesterday ... with her at the hospital. She is doing amazingly well!! We never ran out of things to talk about, which is always the case with us. We laughed, cried and hugged lots.



While I was there, we met with the radiation department people, nurses, techs, and doctor. She also received physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy yesterday, which will be the norm for the next week or so. She's getting very comfortable with the use of her walker and her right leg and hand are getting stronger.



Lorraine's attitude is always so positive and upbeat. She would love to hear from you. She is the same Lorraine, but sometimes can't find the right word, or is a little confused, especially in stressful situations. Give her a call if you can and let her know you are thinking of her! Every time she heard from any Red Bluff friends via your blogs, cards, notes or phone calls, tears welled up in her eyes knowing you were thinking about her. The Longmont United Hospital's phone number is: 303-651-5111. Also many of you asked about sending flowers, so I asked at the hospital's information desk and they said to either get flowers from their gift shop (the flowers there looked nice) or, they highly recommended calling Longmont Florist at 1-800-932-4876 or order online at http://www.longmontflorist.com/



Many of you have indicated you would love to help in some way... for the moment, just keep in touch with Lorraine in the weeks to come (radiation and chemo begin Monday) so she can hear those familiar voices via phone or mail from home. Your prayers are also a comfort to everyone here.



Today Denise is meeting with the social worker to see what's needed for her homecoming and to do other errands. Ashlyn is getting worn out from all the late night activity, so I stayed home with her so she can sleep in. Ashlyn is my new buddy!! What a sweetie.



Denise is hanging in there, concerned about the future, but I encourage her to take things one day at a time. Lorraine and I are so proud of the job Denise is doing caring for her mom. There is so much to do and think about.

You should see their house! It's gorgeous!! I have the basement all to myself which is like a studio apartment. I have to admit that I overslept this morning! Denise's home is so festive with Christmas everywhere and a Christmas tree in every room!! She is so talented.



I wish I could word things eloquently like Denise (I keep telling her she should be an author). She seems to have recovered from her fall, but her knee is still tender as is her pride.



My love to all friends, Denise's friends (she appreciates your support through all this more than you know), Denise and Lorraine's family, Tom's Family, and DKG sisters... oh, and my family too!



Love to all,

Annette

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the nice blog update Annette. You did a wonderful job. I am sorry to hear about your fall on the ice Denise. Ouch!

Kyle is having a great time here in CA. He had fun at Tom's house for a couple of days and now we got him! Yippee! The boy's couldn't wait until he got here. I asked Kyle if there was anything he wanted while he was here in California and he said "Yes" - In & Out Burger! Ha Ha, We can handle that! To In & Out Burger we go for dinner tonight! haha...

I will e-mail some pictures to you!

All our love,

The DeClercq's

Lorri said...

Hey Denise and fellow readers...speaking from experience, it will be a great help to send some meals Denise's way and if you are in California, gift cards are great. For a list of resturants in Longmont, please email me at steerfamily@q.com
Love, Lorri

Kim said...

Loved hearing from Annette today and so glad that Denise got a little break. You do so much for everyone else Denise, it is great someone is watching out for you this week as well!
Lorri, thanks for the thoughts on the meals using gift cards for us out of the area. Love that. I'll be getting in touch with you about that list soon.
We have had some wild weather here in Redding today. Wind gusts up to 80 mph. We were without power for about 3 hours this morning but we are doing well now. Glad Colorado is a bit more calm than here this week!
Give Lorraine our greetings and love from Redding!
Always,
Kim