Donate To or Join Connie's Crew of Hope

Celebration of Life Atire

A few people have inquired as to the type of dress for Friday. What I have been telling people is to dress comfortably, no need for "formal" attire. Connie was a person that liked colors so feel free to dress colorfully for the occasion.

Hope to see you on Friday.

Through the Years

Friday's Celebration of Life

The location for the Celebration of Connie's Life on Friday has been secured. It will be at Floral Hall in Everett. The address is: 802 E. Mukilteo Blvd., Everett, WA 98203. The hall is located within Forest Park.

Saying Goodbye

Connie Alberta Chose

Connie Chose lost her year long fight with Leukemia on July 7, 2011 surrounded by family and loved ones.

Connie was born on July 7, 1951 in Renton WA, the third of five children of Albert and Laura Hohmann. Connie met Ron Chose in 1968 after being set-up by her older brother. They were married in 1970 and had two sons. Connie was a dedicated employee and worked many jobs, including as a roller-waitress; she then established a 26 year long career with Boeing in Everett, WA as an Expediter.

Mom was the life of the party; she had a magnetic personality and a strong spirit that drew people to her. Her sense of adventure found her and Ron in many distant lands, including Japan, Europe, Thailand, the Caribbean and countless destinations throughout the US. She could tell a story of her adventures that would light up the room and bring a smile to everyone. She was loved by all who knew her and she loved all she knew.

She is survived by her devoted husband, Ron, who has never left her side; son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Jackie, son and daughter-in-law, David and Lisa; grandson, Connor; and her little dog Maggie.

Viewing will be held at Floral Hills, 409 Filbert Road, Lynnwood, WA on Tuesday July 12, 2011 from 4:00 -8:00 p.m.

A private family graveside service will be held at Floral Hills on Wednesday July 13, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. with a viewing at 10:00 a.m.

A Celebration of Connie's life, open to all, will be held at Floral Hall, Forest Park, 802 E Mukilteo Blvd., Everett, WA on Friday July 15, 2011 from 5:00 - 9 p.m. Reservations are pending, so please see www.conniechose.blogspot.com for the latest information.

Thank you to the SCCA and the nurses of the 8th floor, her caring Boeing co-workers; and to all the family and friends who loved, encouraged, and supported Connie as she fought the good fight.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to LLS-Washington/Alaska Chapter, Attn: Light The Night Seattle, Connie's Crew of Hope, 123 NW 36th Street, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98107; or electronically at http://pages.lightthenight.org/wa/SeattleL11/ConniesCrewofHope.

Sad News

It is with great sadness I let you know that Connie Chose passed away last night, July 7^th at the UWMC.  Connie passed peacefully surrounded by her family.  Yesterday was Connie’s 60^th Birthday – a very special lady to have entered and left this world on the same date.

Connie’s family cannot thank you enough for your kindness, concern and love you have given to Connie and her family this past year.  We all will miss Connie but are so have blessed to have had her in our lives for the time we had.

I will let you know when plans are made for Connie’s “Celebration of Life”.

God Bless you all.

Linda

Connie - July 1st

Connie remains in the hospital and continues to struggle. This past week she had started running fevers, the doctors did a CAT scan and it showed abnormalities in her lungs. THey then did a Bronoscopy and after many tests and cultures they diagnosed Connie with Toxoplasmosis. She was moved into ICU on Wednesday and yesterday they had to put her back on a ventilator. The doctors are working hard to pull her through another complication. Of course this is rare in bone marrow transplant patients so the doctors are consulting with specialists in infectious diseases and doing research. We are back to waiting and taking it "day by day" or "hour by hour" the doctors tell us we should know more in the next 48 hours as to whether the treatment seems to be working. I wish I could pass on better news and hopefully soon I can. Connie is resting comfortably and is mildly sedated so she knows little of what is going on, that goodness for that.

I was hoping we could all have a big celebration as Connie's 60th birthday is on July 7th, but not this year.We will pray she is out of the ICU and on the mend by the then, but little chance she will be out of the hospital.

Thank you for all your kindness and prayers for Connie and her family, again they are going through a very tough time.

I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July weekend.

Linda

Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to all of you that are fathers – I hope you have a joyous day today with your children.

I wanted to let you all know that Connie is going through another rough patch, she was admitted to the UWMC last Tuesday, June 14^th.  She was having heart problems which the doctors are trying to control with the balance of medications.  She is still inpatient and at this point no one has said anything about a date for her to be released.  She is discouraged and struggling to accept her slow recovery, she knows most transplant patients are released and back home by their 100^th day post-transplant, but here she is still dealing with complications.

Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Linda (on behalf of Connie & Ron)

Answering Machine vs Voicemail

I guess it has been about a month since I sent out any news on Connie, so I will give you a little update.

Connie is doing ok, she is still very, very weak but she is stable.  About 10 days ago they did a bone marrow biopsy and it showed all ‘donor cells’ and no abnormal cells, that was very good news.  The doctors said her marrow is producing at about 10% and they would like to see it at about 40%.  Which did not sound very good to me but as you age the marrow just normally produces less effectively so 40% is not so bad.  Connie had still been going to the clinic daily but this last sunny weekend she got both Saturday & Sunday off.  That really lifted her spirits.  The doctors have taken her off some medications and are very slowly reducing others.  We are just thinking positively that she will continue on down her road with no complications and can begin to gain some strength back.  She does hate being totally dependent on Ron for everything.

I do need to explain to everyone who has called her, left messages and never got return phone calls.  Connie & Ron have an answering machine and they check it for messages.  Well they did not know that when they bundled their phone, internet & TV they automatically gave you ‘voice mail’.  They figured that out about a week or two ago and when they learned how to check it, they had over 250 messages.  Sorry but you all got erased, trying to listen to all those messages was much too overwhelming for her.  So please don’t have hurt feelings and don’t hesitate to give her a call again.

Connie is still supported with units of blood & platelets but not quite as often.  She has her up days and her down days but she is hopeful that life will someday allow her to have a quality of life when she can be active and spend time with her friends again.

For a long time the doctors told Connie “just take it one day at a time”.  Now they seem to be saying, “don’t think about tomorrow, think about next month”.  I guess they don’t want her to expect ‘too much to fast’.

I hope many of you have signed up for the ‘Light the Night’ walk this year to raise funds for Leukemia.  We have a team called “CONNIES CREW FOR HOPE”.    Connie has every intention of walking with us this year, at least as far as she can, then we will pop her into a wheelchair to finish around the lake.  Here is the link to sign up, I hope to see you there.   http://pages.lightthenight.org/wa/SeattleL11/ConniesCrewofHope

Connie thanks you all for your friendship and love you have shown to her & Ron these past 10 months.

Take care,

Linda

Join Connie's Crew of Hope at The Light the Night Walk

Each year, in communities all across the United States and Canada, families, friends, neighbors and teams from local businesses and national companies come together for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS’s) Light The Night Walk events to bring help and hope to people battling blood cancers.

Light The Night Walk events are evenings filled with inspiration. Carrying illuminated balloons – white for survivors, red for supporters and gold in memory of loved ones lost to cancer – thousands of walkers – men, women and children – form a community of caring, bringing light to the dark world of cancer.

Whether you’re a cancer survivor, supporting someone who is battling cancer or have lost a loved one, please join us and help Light The Night.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/wa/SeattleL11/ConniesCrewofHope

Where Has Connie Been?

Where has Connie been?  If you asked me that last week I would have had to tell you she was back in the hospital, which some of you knew and some of you did not.  Today I can tell you she is back home.  Yeah!!

In my last update I had told you that Connie was struggling on her road to recovery.  Well on April 29^th, a Friday afternoon, the doctors decided she needed to be admitted to the hospital and Connie did not put up a fight.  It had been a long couple of weeks at home and her road was getting bumpier as the days went by.  So once again in the hospital they ran her through the full gauntlet of tests, upon tests.  Of course they started her on treatment right away and started feeding her meals by IV.  She was having severe digestive issues and was rapidly loosing weight, had no appetite and could not keep all her medications down.  The doctors were able to rule out most things so knew is was the post transplant ‘graft vs host’ rearing its ugly head.  Her steroids were increased again and with the loving care she was given, she was released after 8 days – going home on Mother’s Day this past Sunday.

So again Connie is continuing on her journey, she is hopeful there will be no more bumps in the road, or detours she has to take.  She is now back to daily visits to the clinic until she is stable enough to be seen less frequently.  She is still being supported with units of blood & platelets and a continual balance of medications.  We cannot say enough good things about the care she has received, the nurses, doctors, PA’s & PT’s all have been amazing.

I would like to ask all of you who are able to donate blood and platelets to do it as often as you can.  Every person who receives a bone marrow transplant only lives because others are willing to donate their blood to support them through their treatment, you are literally saving lives every time you donate.  We have so many people to thank for Connie’s donations, not just her bone marrow donor but all those she receives blood & platelets from.

I really think Connie is up for some phone calls, don’t hesitate to give her a call.  She may be at the clinic and be hard to catch but keep trying.  She is tired of being sick and needs some normalcy in her life.  I know you will be understanding if you hit her at a time when she tired and not up to talking also.

Be on the look out for an email from Stacie very soon for this year’s ‘Light the Night’ walk to raise money for the fight against Leukemia.  Connie’s team raised the 10^th highest amount in the walk around Greenlake last September, I hope we can do as well or better this year.

I thank you all on behalf of Connie & Ron for the blessings you are to their lives.

Linda

Connie Released From Hospital

Connie escaped from the UWMC at 11:00 Sunday morning, she is joyous and thankful.  Her body is still weak but her mind is strong with determination to recover and make everyday count.

Her journey continues with a 7:15am appointment to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance on Lake Union Monday as an outpatient.  It’s an early appointment but she said anything is better than staying in the hospital.

We have found that Connie remembers very little of the past 2 weeks which is not such a bad thing, nor surprising.  She can now go back and read and look at all the wonderful cards that were sent to her during her “lapse of time”.  She asks lots of questions and we tell her what she wants to know, we keep it simple and let her know how far she has come.  Connie looks forward to a life full of promise, to gain strength, spend time with her grandson, meet up with friends and attend family functions.  She is hoping for a trip this year to see her son’s new house in Houston TX and a December trip to Hawaii.  She is keeping her positive attitude that “anything is possible”.

Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes and kept her in your prayers, it was a very difficult time for her family.

God Bless.

Linda (on behalf of Connie & Ron)

Connie - Sharing Good News

Just had to share some good news – Connie officially out of ICU at 1:00pm Monday April 4^th.  She is off many meds, heart and breathing at normal rate, she is eating food and drinking.  She is still very weak but knowing Connie she will regain enough strength to be out of the hospital in 3-4 days. (I am guessing).

As far as the bleeding in her lungs, the doctors seem to have brought that under control with the steroids.  Next Saturday April 9^th they will start lowering the dose of steroids, the next few weeks will give us a better picture of her prognosis.  She is not out of the woods yet, so please continue to keep her in your prayers.  For now all is good and we continue to take it one day at a time.

Linda