Thank You All

Wij willen jullie bedanken voor alle steun, liefde en betrokkenheid

Zonder die steun hadden we niet geweten hoe we het hadden moeten redden

Liefs

Ruud, Mees en Kikki

Straight to heaven

Van Westerpark tot New York

Onze lieve Claudia wilde nog zoveel

Helaas moest ze het leven dan toch loslaten

Bussum 07-03-1971

Amsterdam 04-02-2013

Correspondentie-adres

Van Bossepad 10

1051 MA Amsterdam

Claudia is in uitvaartcentrum Westgaarde

Ookmeerweg 273 Amsterdam

Alwaar geen bezoek

We begraven Claudia op vrijdag 8 februari 2013

Om 12.00 uur

 op begraafplaats Sint Barbara

Spaarndammerdijk 312  Amsterdam

Aansluitend is er om 14.00 uur -zoals Claudia zo graag wilde- high tea in

Studio De Zaal Egelantiersstraat 139  Amsterdam

We vinden het fijn als je voor Claudia een gekleurde roos meeneemt

Sick & Silk

I felt off the last couple of days

Why? I don't know

Yesterday was the worst day

I couldn't move

So I kept in my bed all day long

Today a little better

Checked my blood 

The platelets where monday 25 and wednesday 26

Monday again a blood check and hopefully my chemo...

And I got a very early and nice birthday present!

Pierre and Nina gave it to me

A silk shawl from Officine Generale

Out of Pierre's second collection 

I hope he will conquer the world with Officine Generale

Lower, lower, lower

Stupid platelets

Getting lower and lower

Causing bloody noses and bruises

Got them checked last week monday, friday, today and have to come back next wednesday

Black as ice

Kikki, not posing for a picture of Janis Joplin by Anton Corbijn

exhibited in De La Mar Theatre

We have been to Andre Hazes, the musical.

It was great!

First we ate sushi at a restaurant with a conveyor belt. Kids favourite food!

children had a lot of fun

And this was after a long day of ice skating.

Mees went on a skate tour with Sjoerd, 40 KM!

And at home, behind our house boat, some more skating on our private skating rink

Black ice!

Beautiful

That still hurts a little

How I longed to be on the ice as well...

I wasn't good in many things but I loved ice skating

Will my children remember that?

I was not able to show them yesterday...

♫♫ Make it a better place ♫♫

I got a bracelet today from Marichelle

A snake wrapped around a string

check her website http://bymarichelle.com

Wikipedia: Snakes have also been widely revered, such as in ancient Greece, where the serpent was seen as a healer. Asclepius carried a serpent wound around his wand, a symbol seen today on many ambulances.

And last sunday I also got another bracelet with a healing stone from Marieke

There's no harm in trying

And I love my charms

Getting things done

Getting a new passport in trendy Bos en Lommer.

Everything in motion for NY!

Did I already tell you we have booked?

We are going to the City That Never Sleeps, for 9 days!

Today I had my blood checked 

My platelets (bloedplaatjes) are low

Can't have my chemo next monday

But have to go to the hospital anyway to let my blood checked again

If it's still too low then I will get a transfusion

Move on

kids wanted to ride the sleigh in the Westerpark after school

So me and Ruud went along with the dogs

It was already getting dark

But the children had fun and Ruud and me had fun as well

Carpe Diem (en alle andere cliché's)

Stupid, stupid, stupid cancer

When did something work? Also this one doesn't

Some grew (in my lungs) and some got smaller 

My oncologist recommended to stop the chemo's 

and to keep on writing the prescriptions for pain

But I'm not ready yet

I want to continue the chemo's

So each monday I will get Adriamycine

And I will keep some hope it will prolong my life

I have to go to NY at the end of march!

Stupid cancer!

Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder

Walking the dogs

The dogs didn't want to be in the picture

How I love winter.  The snow, ice

Last monday I had my chemo

And a CT Thorax

Next monday I will know if this chemo is doing something

I really want this one to work, just a little bit?

I'm doing ok

Days go by

I try to walk the dogs

Do something useful

I feel no pains with a little help of morfine

My lungs are doing better with the oxygen

♫♫ It's just another manic Monday ♫♫

Sitting at the dug-out at AFC.

The sun was shining and Mees played well. E-top SDZ against E-top AFC. 

The game ended in 4-4. SDZ could have won, but they didn't

Tomorrow a chemo treatment and a CT Thorax scan

I don't like mondays

At the moment I feel ok

Sometimes there isn't much to tell

I'm organizing our trip to NY 

But it will be for real when we have booked our plane tickets 

The Look of Love

We are producing a trip to New York. Not so simple with an invalid dragging along

Because I need oxygen and morfine 24/7, a place to stay without stairs, does the insurance think it's ok etc

A friend was here today and she took me to the park with the dogs.

Three muddy mongrels in the back of her Mini Cooper.

There was a Hipsta moment but I forgot to take a picture

After a week of sitting inside it was nice to be in the sun

But my Blog needed an update and this picture I still owed you 

A photo of my tattoo. 
The tattoo is handwritten by Ruud.
The look of love.

A song by Dusty Springfield

The song was Ruud and mine when we just met.

Sunday 6 januari

Nothing to tell but hereby an update:

Thursday the boys burned the christmas tree

Friday we went with "La Familia Mayor" there!

to restaurant Fa Speijkervet. A treat from Grandpa! The food is nice

Yesterday I slept mostly

Today we took it easy and had some friends here

Tomorrow back to school.

My health:

I think I get more energy, more breath
Less fluids maybe?
We will know tomorrow. I have chemo but also a Thorax Photo and a meeting with my oncologist
Also we can ask her about NY... Can it be done?

Oh! And Kik made some some hamburgers
Cupcake hamburgers

Another beautiful day...

I had a better day, today

A good thing because we could go to the circus, the four of us

A dear friend, Hans, arranged tickets for The Christmas Circus in Carré

David Larible, world's best clown and a friend of Hans, has an act

So funny but also sometimes really tender

My feet are getting better, less fluids

My breath is getting better

Are we able to go to New York???

Hopefully!!!

Wishesssss

There is a Holy Place at the most Northern point of Ireland

Brigitte and family burned me a candle there. 

Doet, Me, husbands and children lit Chinese Lanterns, 孔明燈, for our most sacred wishes...

Wild West

Exciting night! We had a shoot out in front of our door!

It appeared to be a machine gun shooting

Mees and me where lying together in the big bed only 6 meters away

We thought it was fireworks...

Look at http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/21187887/__Dode_bij_schietpartijen_A_dam__.html

The second time in my life I'm confronted with a gun shooting!

My health:

My body is holding fluids due to a high blood pressure in my lungs

Problem areas are my feet and behind my lungs

Resulting in really short breath and appreciating my Uggs more and more

Foutje, bedankt!

Parool, zaterdag 22 december 2012

The Maya's made a wrong prediction

The world still exists

Mijn foutje leidde wel tot een ziekte

Doomsday

It's Friday 21st of December 02.50 uur

Still it's not the end of the world

Bummer! I thought all my problems would be solved.

We would all go down together!!!

But you never know, still 21 hours to go...

O, Denneboom

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY!!!

Love this time of year

Love my Christmas tree

A story with almost every Christmas ornament hanging in the tree

Tomorrow Kik and Mees will buy their ornaments for this year

Me and my health;

My stupid left lung is not working as it should

At home I now have 24/7 oxygen

My view

Our weekend was great. 

It was a culinary weekend.

1st evening.... Cuichine was very nice

Saturday we had brunch in Antwerp and did some Christmas shopping

2nd evening we dined at Kint&Co

And to finish it on sunday we had a Slow Food Lunch at Kint&Co

In between we were at the house sitting in front of the fire place 

So this was my view during all the diners

Nice view

The only bummer this weekend was that I had some new pains

So while we waited in hospital yesterday

I had the same nice view: this handsome guy

We were at AVL all day, from 10 to 5

No chemo because the doctors wanted to know where the pains came from

So all day long tests, waiting, waiting, talks, waiting, waiting, treatments

Results:

too much blood pressure in my lungs

So they gave me another pill

Burn baby burn

Esther burned one in Maastricht

Away

Yesterday afternoon we already sat at the fireplace at Jacq's and DJ's country house.

Went to a really nice restaurant in Antwerp, "Cuichine", eating fried soft shell crab, yummie

Woke up with the sun on the fields (now gone...)

It's nice to be away with the two of us

It gives us a little bit of peace of mind

Feeling weird

Strange days

Are it the long dark days before christmas?

I feel really strange

How do you go on living with "strange"

I told a friend that it feels like a "vacuum"

I try to go out

Today a walk in the park and "appeltaart" at the Espresso Fabriek

Tomorrow with Ruud to Zeeuws Vlaanderen. Time together!

♫♫ The hills are alive ♫♫

Just in Dutch:

Wie heeft de gouden tip?

Ik wil heel graag met de kinderen, kan buiten schoolvakantie's om, naar een zeer fijn familiehotel (of heeft iemand nog een andere accommodatie in gedachten) in de bergen.

Mijn wensen lijstje is:

Niet belachelijk duur (liever budget)

klein ski gebied, overzichtelijk

Familiehotel incl. diner en ontbijt aan de piste

Ik wil met vliegtuig en dan maximaal 1 uur in auto tot hotel

Ik kan namelijk niet veel dus voor mij moet het makkelijk bereikbaar te zijn, fijn naar mijn kinderen kunnen kijken, genieten van de bergen

And some candles can't hurt

A dear friend, Jacqueline, in China

Marieke in Teipei

Bring them on!

Heaven

"Dessert Heavenly Mud"

Dining out in our own home

Jet & Jan cooked us a dinner. And stayed to eat it.

Weather Alarm

Yesterday no "Weather Alarm" in Amsterdam

Went for a realy nice walk with Doet and the dogs

Sun, snow, dogs and talk

What else can one want?

I'm feeling strange

Could it be the long, dark, days before Christmas?

First snow

Can you see it?

We went out around midnight

First snow this season

Shall we wake up the kids

They would love it!

Nope, We lett the dogs out and now to bed!

A little sunshine

Mom was here to spend some time. I took the chance to go out with her and the dogs

We had crispy cold sunshine

Hadn't been out of the house in two weeks so it was time.

Some sweet love from the kitchen

Ruud made us yesterday

Guinea fowl (parelhoentje) in pancetta with fennel and tagliatelle....yummie

Zie de maan schijnt door de bomen

My favourite three

"Sinterklaas" in The Netherlands

The start of a warm time, one of my favourites

Next weekend all my beautiful decorations will find their place in the christmas tree

Something to look forward to

Today I heard I will change my chemo from 2 weeks up and 1 week free to chemo every week!

Every monday!

So no christmas holidays for me. 

But hopefully something that works.....

Morfine addict

Thursday late afternoon AVL thought I could go home again

I had my own morfine pump

"Thuiszorg" was arranged

Happy to go

Have to get used to the bag hanging day and night on my hips

With a tube going into my arm

It is so really sick

It shows