Old proverb: "To speak the names of the departed is to make them live again."

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Maxine Fieg Has Surgery

Here is an e-mail your editor received from Marsha Fieg Adams, eldest child of Maxine and Dr. Bob Whiteside.  I hope you all will sharpen your crayons and send cards and letters to Aunt/Cousin/Sister-in-law Maxine and let her know she is not only in our minds but in our hearts and prayers as well.

Hello Judy,

Would you please let the Fiegs know this:

My mom has a tumor just below her jawline (discovered very small last Thanksgiving) which was thought by all who examined it to be a salivary gland needing to be removed.  By surgery date a few months later it was as big as an egg.  When they started the surgery they realized it was actually lymphoma, the pathology report says "diffuse large B cell lymphoma." 

She had some severe post-op complications: 6 hours after she got home from the surgery, we had her in the ER, then in the ICU for 2 days, in the hospital for a week.  These were blood pressure, heart rate, atrial fib, horrible nausea problems.  Plus her neck had so much edema she looked like a sumo wrestler.

Her first appointment at the cancer center was last Friday and she will have a PET scan next week to see where else it might be.  Before we went she was determined to not take any treatment, but after talking with the Dr. I think she may try chemo and see how it goes.  The area is too risky for radiation.   We are also concerned how the chemo will affect her heart, besides the easy to vomit problem she has. 

She really does want quality, not quantity of life and has made this clear to all of the family and the Dr. If she takes no treatment, she probably has less than a year; my brother is saying 6 months in his mind.  Her oncologist has not offered a timeline.

She is not much of a phone talker but loves to get emails and cards with a little note.

I'll keep you updated.

Love,
Cousin Marsha

Sunday, March 3, 2013

How Can That Be? Another Fieg Quiz!

1.  When Judy Kestner has spare time on her hands, as often as not she can be found wandering the South Texas monte with her friend Susan Foster spying on wildlife with her binoculars.  Among the animals she has seen is the titmouse which is:
A.  A pregnant prairie dog
B.  A lactating Norway rat
C.  A suckling mole
D.  A black-crested songbird

2.  The recently married Diana Fieg Doyle, formerly Diana Monaco, has, among the decorations in her master bedroom, three color prints of:
A. Colorful wildflowers of the Catskills
B.  Currier and Ives snow scenes with horses and sleighs
C.  Copies of bucolic oil paintings in the style of the Hudson River School
D.  Battle scenes of the Civil War

3.  When he was stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California, Ed Fieg and his wife Barbara Harris made frequent auto trips to the Midwest to visit their relatives.  In the course of their trips, Ed always endeavors to spend time "in the rocking chair."  The rocking chair is:
A.  A hand-crafted pioneer recliner situated on the porch of a popular B&B
B.  A 5,500-foot mountain summit from which 13 states can be seen
C.  A special oscillating seat that can be used in the car to prevent back strain
D.  A position taken between two speeding tractor-trailer trucks to prevent being stopped by the police.

4.  When streaking across Utah on I-80 along the Great Salt Lake, Ed Fieg noticed that the highway patrol had painted on the side of its door:
A.  A shield, because it's the Freedom State
B.  A star, because it's the Constellation State
C.  A sunburst, because it's the Sunrise State
D.  A beehive, because it's the Beehive State

  5.  When Lisa Fieg boarded an airplane in New York to visit relatives in Iowa, she was stopped by eight inspectors who confiscated her:
A.  Pocket knife
B.  Cigarette lighter fluid
C.  Nail polish remover
D.  Tweezers, to avoid a tweezing catastrophe

6.  The Brown Booby, a sea bird spotted by Judy at an inland freshwater lake in South Texas, is named such because:
A.  It has two small mammary glands
B.  It is flightless and its waddling walk makes it appear comical
C.  The name Blue-footed Booby was already taken
D.  Of its stupidity in dealing with mankind.

7.  For a number of years Marsha and Bill Adams resided in northern Iowa just across the Minnesota line from the city of Worthington.  Not far off is the city of Keister, which in German means:
A.  Keyhole
B.  Keystone
C.  Kite string
D.  Buttocks

8.  When Diana Fieg Monaco and Bill Doyle recently tied the knot, the name of the officiator was:
A.  Brad Pitt, same as the famous actor
B.  Ann Romney, same as the wife of last year's Republican presidential candidate
C.  Judy Sheinlein, same as the T.V. judge
D.  Lisa Puglisi, same as the daughter-in-law of Doris Fieg Holm 

9.  Largely due to a preponderance of the birth of females, the Fieg family line is down to three male heirs of child-rearing age carrying the name (Brian, Eddie Jr.and Max) and one who is a child (Caleb).  Susan Fieg Williams' husband, Ed, is a descendant of the vaunted Carabelli clan of the Cleveland, Ohio area.  The number of male heirs carrying on that famous name in the next generation total:
A.  267
B.  333
C.  966
D.  0

10.  In the mid-1600s in the recently settled New World city of New Amsterdam (now New York City), a Fieg ancestor by the name of Jan was forced to invent a last name for himself to distinguish his family from those of  the many other Dutch Jans who were living in the area.  The name he chose was Voorhees.  Today, from that one individual have been counted descendants numbering more than:
A.  26
B.  120
C. 333
D. 100,000

The correct answer to every question, as many of you may have guessed, is the letter D.

D-d-d-d-dat's all, folks!