It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update – sorry about that. For about two weeks I let myself kind of forget about this journey as much as you can with some limited range of motion and giant scars. But the beginning of this week brought us straight back to reality with the looming radiation appointment.
Let’s start with the fun stuff, shall we?
In an effort to keep me resting, we headed up to my grandmother’s cottage for nine days. My brother’s family, my parents and my grandmother were there and several other family members came up for a few hours or an entire day. It was great to spend some time with everyone and the beach was an added bonus. We ate plenty of ice cream as our favorite ice cream shop opened back up for the first time since COVID shut them down. There were card games, a Hawaiian themed day, a birthday party for my niece, some boating, and lots of digging.
Once we were home, I jumped back into a more normal rhythm with cooking, cleaning and getting to be a more “full time mom.” I was a little nervous about that transition but my body allowed me to do most things without too much adjusting. Friday night brought the first soccer practice for the older three boys and the first Mommy Wyatt date that I can remember in years. Wyatt and I packed our two hours with toilet cleaning (his choice), a Kiwi crate and some whippy dip ice cream.
Saturday Andy and I surprised the boys with a big family outing to the Reds game and the post-game For King and Country Concert. Our seats were just off the third base line for the game and between that and the all they could eat passes, I’m not sure which made the boys more excited. Little did they know that they were going to actually get to go on the field for the concert. Being 100 feet from the stage at your first major concert may spoil other concerts for you – needless to say, they had fun. Sunday we continued our weekend of activity with a trip to the Airforce Museum with friends. It was on our way home from the museum that reality really set back in for me big time. I had moments of realizing it was coming before that but Sunday evening it hit HARD! Waves of emotion and struggle became the pattern for the next three days. I’m thankful to both Andy’s parents and mine for helping with the boys as I processed and went to my appointment.
Wednesday morning brought my newest appointment in a new office at the Thomas Center. I think I have been in all but one office in that building now and I don’t count that as an exciting accomplishment. I’m grateful for the doctors and treatment centers in that building, for sure, but no one wants to have to visit all of them. Anyway, on Wednesday we met with the radiologist to hear more about radiation, get our questions answered and to do the mapping necessary to keep moving forward with my treatment plan. Thanks to an old friend and her husband who is also an oncological radiologist, many of our questions were answered before we walked in to this appointment but we did still have a few that we needed answered before moving forward. I do really like my radiologist and the technicians who will be doing the radiation treatments themselves. It is super helpful to have a care team who is willing to listen, be patient with you and to answer your questions.
As of now, I am scheduled to have one final prep appointment on Monday and to start radiation treatments on Tuesday of next week. Then it will be an appointment every weekday – minus Labor Day – for 25 days, which is from next Monday through September 19th barring any changes. This date is obviously the best case scenario. There are side effects to radiation that could slow the whole process down – please be praying that none of them pop up during the course of treatment.
Things We are Praising God For . . .
- Time to have fun as a family.
- Family to help out when we need a minute.
- Good friends who will listen.
- Knowing people who can help us figure things out.
- Friends who know things we don’t know.
- Strength and range of motion returning.
- Andy’s understanding of where I’m at even before I say it out loud.
- Good pathology reports.
- Growing hair.
- Plenty of books to read.
- Andy’s ability to work from home.
Things We’re Currently Lifting Up . . .
- Radiation treatments.
- Homeschool year that is starting the same week radiation treatments start.
- Minimal side effects including but not limited to skin that can handle the radiation, no lymphedema and minimal fatigue.
- Protection for my other organs (especially my heart and lungs) since they are in the path of some of the radiation.
- Emotional strength – this process is LONG.
- Continued increase in range of motion. I still have some tightness and limited range on my left side.
I’ll try to update again after a few radiation treatments. Thank you for continuing to lift us up and be part of our team.