Three Months Later and I’m Still Fighting

 

I’m sorry I didn’t post sooner, but I discovered that once a week chemo was a bit difficult. I’ve got a few things to bring you up to date on however first I would like to thank those of you that are still here despite my absence. Also thank you to the ones that have sent me cards in the mail. They have meant so much more to me than you might realize!

At the risk of boring you with yet more medical news, I’ll try to bring you up to date. Since we last spoke, I have had 12 chemo sessions. Certainly more than I had expected. My most recent CT scan did show some small improvement in my cancer. It is still there, but some of it has shrunk just enough to consider surgery! This is what I have been hoping for! I saw my oncologist July 15 and he said he would like to look at surgery around the end of July or the first part of August. I’ve been waiting for a date all this time but we all know how medical dates go, or it’s more like how they don’t go. I received a call this morning that the surgery won’t be until sometime in September or possibly even the first part of October. There is a good reason for the delay though. It seems this is a much more serious surgery than I realized. It is a Cytoreductive surgery or some even call it the “Mother of all Surgeries”. That’s not saying it’s the worst possible surgery, but as cancer surgeries go it is serious. Part of that reason is because I have cancer in several different areas of my body. It started as ovarian cancer and spread through my omentum. (I didn’t know what that was either!) It then went into my colon and caused all kinds of trouble. I even have a bit next to my lungs. (not in them) So they will be going after the cancer in all these areas in this one surgery. There’s another reason to make it difficult to set a date, I will have two surgeons and finding a date that works for both of them is not easy! Even after I have surgery I will be going back for yet more chemo because they know they will not get all of the cancer.

I am hoping to get a surgery date next week but I’m sure not holding my breath. There is another possible problem. Since I have to wait longer than expected, there is a concern my cancer might grow again. Because of that I may have to have more chemo while waiting. That’s up to my oncologist and I know he doesn’t want me having chemo too close to the surgery date. If I need to have more chemo I’m ok with it. As I’ve said, I’m in for the fight.

In the meantime, we have had a variety of things going on in our family, but all good. My sweet great-grand daughter, Juniper celebrated her first birthday July 12^th! That girl just brightens my heart in so many wonderful ways! Our family has had a variety of get togethers as we have celebrated many birthdays. There is nothing I love better than family get togethers!

Like so many of you we have gone through quite a few heat waves and we are in another one now. It’s been hard on the people as well as the animals like this squirrel here!

I promise he's ok, just wiped out from the heat!

We went out to eat at a favorite bar-b-q restaurant with my son Chris and his wife Kristi when I had a short chemo break. I don’t know when I’ll get any hair back but I have a variety of these chemo hats that work in the meantime!

Myself & Tom at Jack Stack

Today we will have the family together once again at Chris’ home. We will be celebrating my 73^rd birthday! Man I’m getting old!

 

 

Hello!

I’m back!  Well, I haven’t been away but I’ve not been posting much recently.  I’ve felt bad about having this blog and then not writing much this winter.  I’ve even considered stopping blogging but I don’t really want to do that.  This has been a winter of many distractions that have kept me away from the computer.  I’m hoping to change that.

So, what’s been going on this month?  Both of my grandchildren have had birthdays.  Annika turned 26 on the 3^rd and Gavin turned 20 on the 15^th!  I cannot believe how quickly they have grown to be wonderful, caring, young adults!

The bird feeder stays busy these days!

February has been the month for extreme winter weather for us.  We have had big snows each week.  Our temperatures have stayed below freezing almost constantly which keeps us inside most of the time.  I usually buy groceries each Thursday but all month it seems we have the most snow and ice on Thursdays!  I don’t mind changing my shopping day though as I keep enough food in the house for storms.  We’ve had to change a few medical appointments due to snow and ice but that is not unusual around here.

Our deck has remained snow-covered
except for what the wind blows away.

I love to feed the birds, especially in this weather.  They offer much entertainment for us and our two cats Sophie and Zeus. 

Sometimes the squirrels help
themselves to the bird food.

Have many of you gotten started on the Wordle games?  I enjoy doing them especially since it is just one game and done each day.  I have a tendency to start on games and not know when to stop sometimes and Wordle keeps me from going down the “game rabbit hole”!

There is not much exciting to write about at the moment here but maybe that is a good thing!  We are having more snow today so I’ll probably go out tomorrow if the roads are clear.  I’m sure we are all looking forward to Spring but I don’t really mind Winter because there is so much beauty in all four seasons.  Take care everyone and I will try and be back much sooner!

 

Hello

I may not be blogging much lately but I’m still here and still reading all your blog posts.  My friends here are very important to me and I am grateful for your friendships.

June is always a busy month for us.  My daughter-in-law Kristi's birthday is June 4^th, Tom’s birthday is June 23^rd (yes tomorrow!) and of course we celebrated Father’s Day this past Sunday.  In between all that Tom and I both have had several medical and dental appointments and we have had people we hired to come out and do some work around our house.  It’s been kind of crazy around here!

We hire someone to come out and clean our gutters around the roof of the house twice a year.  There are many trees in our neighborhood and the gutters seem to fill up quickly.  Tom used to do that job but it is much too dangerous for him now with his balance problems.  Last year we found a very nice man that is a teacher at the high school here.  He has a gutter cleaning business on the side for additional income and he has been a blessing to us.

This month we also had tree trimmers come out to trim the trees in both our front and back yard.  We have a row of Osage Orange trees at the back of our yard and they grow quickly plus the winters here can be damaging to their branches.  About every five years or so we have them trimmed to prevent potential problems.  Some people say we should have them cut down but I love having trees around the house. 

I was trying to capture the sunset and you can see some of the trees I'm talking about here.  In the summer they fill in and provide a lot of shade.

Some of you may recall in my last post I was concerned about some medical tests I was going to have done.  I had both an upper & lower GI test and they were not as bad as I thought they would be since I was sedated for both of them.  They did do a biopsy from each test and it took two full weeks before I got the results.  Fortunately, both of the biopsies were benign however the one from the colonoscopy was a precancerous adenoma.  I was told I have a high risk for colon cancer so I will have to repeat that test every five years instead of every ten.  I am, of course, thrilled both tests were benign and I feel quite fortunate I did not put them off any longer.  A colonoscopy is one of those tests we never want to have done mainly because the prep the day before is not a fun thing.  However, I have learned the importance of having that test done because it truly can prevent cancer.

We are hoping for things to slow down a bit for us in July and maybe I'll even come up with a more interesting post than this one!  Take care everyone!

Cat pictures just for fun:

Sophie says Hi!

Zeus says I'm sleeping, don't bother me!

 

Birthdays and Graduations and Anniversaries, Oh My!

June has always been a busy month for our family and this year is no different, pandemic or not.  My daughter-in-law, Kristi, celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks ago.  For the first time in three months we went to their house in order to celebrate her birthday with them. 

Last night we celebrated my husband Tom’s birthday with the family.  His actual birthday is later this week but it is easier to get everyone together on weekends.  We went to his favorite barbecue restaurant and then came back to our house for cake.  This was the first time we actually went in a restaurant since early March.  I must say the restaurant did an excellent job of social distancing.  They even had employees in the parking lot telling you where to park and letting the waiters inside know that you had arrived.  We did not go in the restaurant until the table was ready and then they took us directly to our table.  There was a QR code on the table that you scanned with your phone and then you received the menu on your phone, thus doing away with physical menus, so nothing would be shared between people.  It seems like there is a whole new way of doing everything these days.  Tom did have a very nice birthday and we really enjoyed seeing our family again.  He actually gets a double celebration this weekend because tomorrow is Father’s Day here.

Tom's Birthday Gifts

Next weekend our grandson, Gavin, will be graduating from high school!  We were not sure if there would even be a ceremony due to the Covid restrictions.  However, many of the restrictions were lifted in our state last week.  His graduation will be held in a much larger auditorium than would normally be required in order for there to be socially distancing seating.  There are only seven tickets available per graduate and each family will sit together but be spaced from everyone else.  Gavin is our second and last grandchild and I can’t believe he is graduating already!  We are very proud of him!  

Then just two days after Gavin graduates my son and his wife, Chris and Kristi, will celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary.  Time does go fast!  My brother, Charlie, also has a birthday on July 4^th but he lives out of the country and I have already mailed him something.  This is definitely a busy time of the year for us!

Tom and I have been very good about following all lockdown restrictions since they started last March.  We have only gone to the grocery store and have worn masks when there.  We have not spent time with family at all until this month.  Since many restrictions have been lifted, we are not breaking any this month but we are seeing family each weekend.  With the exception of the restaurant last night and the graduation next weekend we are not spending time around large groups of people and even those are guided by social distancing rules.  It is so strange that in these pandemic days there can be a concern about even being with your own family.  I am thankful we are able to see our family now while many of the restrictions have been lifted.  However since the state has opened up, we have seen a slow but steady rise in the number of cases of Covid and there has been some mention of the possibility of another lockdown.  I certainly hope that is not the case but if so, at least we have gotten to see family a bit now before we lockdown all over again if necessary.