Shana Bearden

12-29-07 Saturday
Yesterday at about 1:00 P.M. April, TJ and Lily came into town and Shana got really excited to see Lily. Lily got in my will when we met with all of them at a local restaurant for a late lunch. I came into the restaurant with Wes and Brad and Lily lit up and screamed “Popi” and ran right past the outstreached arms of Wes and Brad, both of whom she adores, straight to me and jumped in my arms and gave me a big kiss. She was definantly in my will at that point. She promptly wrapped me around her finger for the rest of the day and she knew that she could get away with anything she wanted as long as “popi” says its OK. She and I played all day. We returned to the house and opened presents between April, TJ, Lily (who scored heavily) and the family. Lily got a rocking pony, railroad set, toys and at 2 1/2 years she has learned that presents are a good thing. She kept coming up to Shana and I and saying “more presents?” Shana had a great time watching and playing with Lily and seeing April and TJ. We all like getting the family together and just hanging out.
Later in the evening we went to our good friends and neighbors, Don and Kathy Segreti, who had a graduation party for Alex their son who just graduated from Texas Tech. What was supposed to be a small party turned into about 75 people and Shana and all of us went there and Shana was able to stay for about 3 hours and have a great visit with many of our friends that we have not seen in quite a while. Shana had a great time and stayed until almost 11 PM when she and I and Lily came home leaving the rest of our crew at the party. When we got home, Shana was laughing at how Lily had me under her thumb. Shana kidded me all night because Lily, who has her mothers party genes, didn’t really want to go to bed. So, Lily conned me into giving her a bubble bath, multiple drinks of water, rubbing her back, telling her a story and putting on her favorite pj’s. When I finally went to bed, Shana was laughing at how I had been “played’ by my granddaughter. She was right of course but it was fun and I would do it again. The kid can sleep when she gets home but she needs to spend time with us now.
It was REALLY good to see our friends for the first time in a long time and I hope we can do it again soon.
Of course, My angelic kids stayed at the party until at least 2 AM and came home with a serious buzz and made a lot of noise going to bed. But they seemed to be very happy because they also got to see a bunch of their friends that they grew up with. It is really cool that as our group gets older, many of our kids stay in touch and can say at their very young ages that they have friends they have known for almost 20 or more years. Thats kind of rare today. Its fun to listen to them talk about their days in elementary school and junior high. Some of the stories have been obviously exaggerated but are repeated as the gospel to great effect.
Brad, who may have inherited my party genes and has a second life I have no idea about, came in bleary eyed at about 4:30 AM. I had awakened just before he came in and had walked around the house turning off lights that the other kids had left on. He came in and went to a hall bathroom and I went into the back playroom and guest bedrooms which are on the back of the house. When I ran into him in the hall bathroom I was coming from the back of the house and it was obvious that in his state he was having a hard time dealing with the fact that I looked like I just came into the house at this hour. He was confused and confronted me like an angry parent saying “..and where have you been?” I just told him it was a long story and he obviously was confused and thought I too had been out until almost 5:00 am in the morning. When he woke up this morning, he still couldn’t quite figure out what I had been doing out until 4:30 am. Appearantly, the tables have turned and it is OK for him to do it but not me and he is still confused as to what exactly was going on.
When we got up on Saturday, Lily helped me fix breakfast for everyone but some slept in until almost noon. I had to go to work for a while today and the gang hung out at the house watching football and visiting. In the afternoon, I had scheduled a massage and facial for Shana, Chrissy, April and Antoinette at Daired’s salon. I had made arrangements with them to wear masks around Shana and to do a special massage for Shana because of her stomach. They did a great job and all 4 girls said they had a really good time. When I got home, I got to play with Lily until the girls returned and we watched football games and ate pizza until Shana went to bed at about 11:00 pm.
So, the last couple of days have been really good and Shana has shown a lot of strength and energy. She loved seeing our friends and visiting with her kids and Lily. By the way, Lily has learned that Shana, “Nani”, knows how to say the word “No” and that Papi does not. Therefore Lily knows on which side her bread is buttered and she carefully picks who she asks for things. She is pretty sharp.
Also, on Saturday there was a cheer for each of you in the Chears and Jears section of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Thanks for all you do for my Shana.

As April posted early this morning, we finally got some good news yesterday on a couple of fronts. Shana’s red blood count, which had fallen dramatically, was much improved today and her anemia seems to be doing much better. You can tell the difference in her speach since it is much stronger and she has much more energy the last couple of days. They were contemplating putting her on whole blood to build her red blood count but vetoed that when she showed so much improvement. Also, her fluid is coming back but much more slowly than before so there is now some hope that the chemo is doing some good and that may effect whether she has surgery in early Jan or late January, 2008.
Shana also went to the cardiologist for her report after wearing a monitor for 24 hours back before we found out about her cancer. Shana has always had a fast heartbeat and regularly suffered from a skipping heart beat. She comes by that genetically since both her mom and dad had the same problem which is very common among eastern european (Czech/German) family lines. Her heart is structurally very sound and in good shape but where the average person will have 4-6 extra heartbeats a day, Shana has about 3000 extra heartbeats a day. That is probably why she was able to stay so thin, that is an extra 1 hour workout per day without even trying. They expect the heartbeat to slow as she becomes less anemic and intakes more fluid that stays with her. This info is being faxed to MD Anderson hospital today.
Shana and Jim got out for the first time in about two months and had a date to the Movie Tavern to see Charlie Wilson’s war. She did real well and had a good time. It was good to get out and just relax for a while. A note of historical interest might be that during the 1980’s I had a meeting with Claire George (mentioned in the movie as Director of Operations for CIA), and the Mosad, the Israili intelligence agency, and others over the weapons being deliverd to the mujahadeen by the various arms dealers mentioned in the movie. I had known the arms dealer during my time working for government and they wanted him vetted by someone they knew. As I get older I have a much better view of some of the things I have done in my life and their importence. I guess in a way I’m sort of a Forrest Gump because I have been around a lot of significant events in my life. I don’t know that I impacted many of them but sometimes I get surprised when I find out what impact a non-special event in my life had on others. Wait for the book to come out……
April, TJ and Lily arrive today and we are looking forward to spending the New Years with them and celebrating a second Christmas with Lily, our grandchild. Also, we will be celebrating the graduation from College of Alex Segreti (Texas Tech) and Jeff Jeffries (LSU) this weekend. Congratulations to two really great young men. Both are looking for jobs so if you know of one, let me know and I’ll pass it on.
12-29-07 Shana looks really good this morning and has a lot of energy and actually got up and fixed breakfast this morning. That is the first time in a couple of months that she has been able todo that herself so we are looking toward a good day. You have a great one too.
Jim