That was a long Break!

Of course, that's an understatement. The surgery was almost a nightmare. They could not find the kidney stone and really didn't do any surgery. However, I had a terrible time recovering from the medication. My cancer grew and then we tried another chemo and it shrunk some again. As of today I am still considered stable. Never thought anyone would say that about me!


Life is still great and loving it.


Stay tuned.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Well, I guess all the laughter, tears, prayers and good wishes are working for now. The good news is that the tumors have shrunk to about 50% of their original size. The Duke and I are happy about it in different ways.
His comes from the fact that I will be around longer, mine is from the fact that I now get to remodel the kitchen because I'll be cooking in it for a while longer. Some times you just have to negotiate for the right things. You see, I am truly ready whenever the Good Lord thinks it's my time. No worries there. In the mean time, I have some things to do that are important to me and probably me alone. One of the most important is trying to mend a relationship with my oldest daughter. I'm not sure I will ever see that happen, but let's face it, prayer works.
Another is to travel. When the Duke and I were honeymooning in Yellowstone we bought one of the Passbooks to the National Parks. I'm looking to fill it up if we can. Anyone have a great motor home they are looking to see go somewhere else? That's the next plan after the holidays.
This is the second time I have learned that I really do get to live my life one day at a time, and I really am blessed that I get it. Plan the plan and not the results they say.
Well, the Duke is doing dinner tonight. What a great life, I have 2 men cooking for me. How lucky can one lady get.
Keep Laughing....

Round Tw0 & 2 Days till Round Three....

This is what chemo can do for you too! Someone said recently that they would like to blog about some of the funnier things that are happening in their life, but were afraid they might offend. Who in the right or left mind could be offended by this reworked photo. I wonder if Cheryl Burchell recognizes the real me. After all, she sold us our wedding rings also. I was even seen lunching at the Red Lobster on the day of offical hair loss with a sweet silver haired old lady. What fun I had and I hope the man I bought the coffee for knows how much I appreciated his reactions. It was like watching a movie on someone's face for about 20 minutes. Thank you for the laughter you brought to my friend and I.
Seriously though... I would rather have a 100 stares of "what the He__!" than the stares I get when folks realize that you don't have hair and they rightfully assume you have cancer. Bet most of them guess breast cancer....Wrong...it's adenocarcinoma....stage 4. And there is no stage 5 as they say. Tomorrow we find out if the chemo is helping or not and I won't lie and say I'm not nervous. I am. But for one of the few times in my life I am not afraid. The Good Lord has been watching over me all this time and what will be, will be. In the mean time I am going to live my life like I love it and encourage all of my friends (including the ones I haven't met yet) to do the same.
I watched with envy the other day at the marvalous people on "Oprah" the other day that seem to look at it like I do. Enjoy and celebrate what we have. Not what we think we deserve. Life is good.

Circle Of Life

Okay MamaJD...here goes.

Some days are just better than others. I think having 'Flower' in the kitchen at 2 AM was one of those days that was better. I was sound asleep when I heard a scraping noise coming from the kitchen. I had accidentally left the kitchen door to the garage open just enough to encourage a night time raid from my puppies' playmate. Fortunately, Chewy stayed asleep under our bed. Duke was sleeping soundly along with the 2 house cats. It was up to Chico and I to encourage our 'Flower' to head back out to the big barn and get some sleep. Fortunately, Flower left under very pleasant terms. Her tail remained in the down position the whole time she was in the house. Perhaps finding a new home for her is high on the list of things to do.

I think this might have been a pre-cursor of things to come.

Shortly after this I was admitted to KMC with chest pains. I just thought it might be time for another stent. I had one put in 4 years ago and things have been well since. Imagine my surprise when they took a chest xray and discovered that perhaps I had lung cancer. WOW, did I receive excellent care at KMC? I now have my own male nurse that likes to tie me up and one that says he is going to keep me in bed. Ladies, they are cuties and I'm here to tell you that it doesn't get any better than that. They certainly kept my mind off of the immediate future. In the nurses defense, they were superb and totally above board. We just happened to hit a couple of moments in time where humor seemed to be the best medicine. If they read this, they will know who they are, and I want to thank them again for all the kindness that I was shown. That goes for the women nurses also on the 3rd floor. Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

After more tests and a biopsy, it has been confirmed that I have adenocarcinoma. What a trip. So life is coming full circle and I am truly blessed. There has never been a time in my life that I have felt so loved as I do right now. I have such a wonderful family and great friends and a loving God, that there is no way any of this can go wrong. It doesn't matter what happens.

It seems to me that we get so few chances to have a moment of clarity and this is one of those moments for me. I learned a long time ago that life is truly what we make of it and I certainly know that I can open up a lemonade stand with this one. The only thing I want to do is walk through the future tests, the chemo and whatever comes down this road with grace and dignity. Humor is my way of dealing with it right now and that feels pretty darn good. Skunks or no skunks, good news or not...life is what it is and it RIGHT now.

It has certainly helped me to write and I am grateful I have a place to do that. Thanks MammaJD.