November/December 2017 Catch-Up

-
God's love was revealed to us in this way: God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. -I John 4:9

I'm choosing to just quickly write events out in list form with little commentary purely for memory-keeping purposes. Fair warning - I am considering converting to a private blog. As the kids grow older (I have a teen and preteen!), I want to protect their stories and I want the freedom to document our life with honesty and transparency. While I would hate to lose touch with all of my readers after so many years, it just seems like it might be time. Still giving this some thought.

Camden was diagnosed with the flu. He's all good.
Untitled

Brian's dad had a heart attack. He also appears to be all good.

I made a quick 3-day work trip to Greensboro, NC (my first visit to NC, btw). If you've ever wondered what the presidential suite looks like, this is one small part of it.

Untitled


Brian and I spent the day together during my last scan day, mostly at Vanderbilt, but we also had a chance to grab lunch and it's worth mentioning. Milk and Honey is a new, adorable coffee/food/bakery in Nashville and I can't wait to visit again. We also tried out a new coffee spot - Sump Coffee was interesting, but I'll probably cross it off the list and move on.

Untitled

After the first basketball game of the season, we had a 3-week break. Back in action now and Camden scored his first career points. After a couple of games, he appears to be the 6th man, which is fun. I'm certainly not suggesting he's a star, but the personal progress he's made is pretty remarkable.

Untitled

Work has been intense, but is slowing down for the holiday season. I only have 1 more day in the office and 1-2 more days working from home and then I'll be finished until January 2. This has also been a fairly intense 5-6 weeks of chemo in terms of side effects. While the cancer is receding, chemo side effects are in full force. I'm hoping to have a little chemo break over the holidays, but that isn't confirmed.

Brian's parents came to TN for a quick overnight visit. I did not even snap a one single picture.

My grandparents rolled and baked my Christmas cookies for me. So sweet and helpful!

Someone gave Rory play make-up, and she experiments pretty much every day. It is not subtle.
Untitled

I'm reading books #55 and #56 for 2017; my goal was 60.

The school Christmas program was Friday night and Camden surprised us with a solo.
Untitled


Untitled


We're facing about a 20% overall income reduction as we move into 2018 and life has felt a bit like a living version of Murphy's law with both vehicles needing work, unexpected expenses, etc. But God has also shown Himself so faithful and we've been reminded time after time that finances are no big deal.

I'm headed to Nashville for my regular Wednesday schedule of lab work, doctor appointment, and chemo. I have a friend coming to keep me company and I'm ever hopeful for a smooth, quick day at Vanderbilt.

Happy Wednesday, friends!


Comments

Joan B said…
As someone who does not know you, but has read your blog for years, I would be sad to no longer have access to it. However, children deserve their privacy and I would totally understand. Whatever you decide I want you to know that I love your writing and wish you and your family absolutely the best!
11:43 AM
Ramsh said…
I also completely understand why you would consider converting to a private blog. However, selfishly, I would very much miss this blog:) I have followed along for years and look forward to your posts.
2:37 PM
Michelle said…
I understand why you may leave blogging, but I hope that you won't. While your children say that they wish for privacy, when they are grown they would give anything to go back and read what you post. I know that my now grown children would love to read my posts of their growing up days!

Merry Christmas, and may God bless your family!
7:00 PM
Vicky said…
Count me in, too. I adore being able to check in here and truly see how you're doing, but would respect your decision of course. How fun to have "play" make up for Rory. Her personality continues to shine through your photos of her. Isn't it satisfying to see our kids achieve those milestones like scoring career points? Each goal my son makes, is it's own celebration even now. It hasn't lost its luster in all these years. Congrats to Camden! Praying you can have a little chemo break and that it continues to knock your cancer back when you go back to it again. Merry Christmas!
1:45 PM
To China and Back said…
Same here... have been following you since you picked up your daughter in Korea (about a year before we picked up ours). Will miss keeping up with you and your family if you go private, but understand the considerations for your children.
10:20 AM
J.S. said…
I have been following your blog for many years and would truly miss keeping up with you. Although I don’t know you, ovarian cancer has touched our family greatly. Your posts have been such an encouragement to me. With that being said, I totally respect why you might want to go private with your blog. If you do, please know that I will continue to pray for you. Merry Christmas!
10:39 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Scoop

-
Our meeting with Dr. W today was fine. Not encouraging, but fine. I don't know why I expected better news, but I think it's hard not to hope that the bad news you hear is somehow wrong; that they've somehow made a mistake. Basically, the cancer is still the same as prior to chemo. Possibly a little larger, but he said it was hard to tell. He was glad that it had not returned to my bowel or colon (because that was a large part of my initial surgery), and my chest and lungs are still clear (apparently, this is the next place the cancer would go). It does not change my stage of cancer (still 3c), and remission is still a possibility, but he said that it would be very tough to get there.  There are several more drugs that we can try, which is good, but unfortunately they each have a success rate of only 25%. It's a little too early to be considering clinical trials because hospitals who hold the trials like for the patients to have tried the more main-stream drugs firs
Read more

Late Night Ramblings

-
Image
1. Thanks to Andrea for driving me to chemo today. I'm always a little anxious on the way in and the very few times I've had to drive myself, it's been a little lonely coming home. But not today. 2. A fellow chemo patient today thought I was in my 20's. Score.  ("score" would be a term I'm borrowing from Becky ) 3. I did not wear a scarf today to chemo, and all the nurses and doctors did a double take since they didn't recognize me. So wierd. I recognize me with hair, bald, and with a little puppy fluff. 4. Dr. W. is adding Avastin , a new drug which will help prevent cancer cells from growing, to my current Gemzar routine. Good news is that it won't make me feel any worse. Bad news is that in a small percentage of patients it causes severe side effects involving blood clots, kidney failure, ulcers, and holes in your bowel. Good times. 5. I've been instructed to head directly to my primary care doctor for blood pressure medic
Read more

Scenes from the Soccer Field

-
Image
So I may not have apologized yesterday about the number of pictures, but I am definitely going to today. Because  coughcough thirty coughcough just might be excessive. And probably my family will be the only ones who look at all of them. But I don't care. :) By the way, we completely lost and did not even score a goal yet again. Rory tried really, really hard. This team was head and shoulders bigger than we are, way more coordinated than 4 year olds should be and their coach kept their A team in the entire game. Even after scoring some 15 goals. Oh, well. Rory still enjoyed herself. Which way is the goal again? Notice her position in this picture. Notice how she passed the girl next to her? No, I am not competitive at all. Not sure where the other team is. Oh, wait. There they are. See how much bigger they are? You'll notice she almost always runs with her mouth open. Either that or her tongue hang
Read more