Special Deliveries.

How could I be so blessed?  I have such an 

awesome wonderful support team!  When I 

went to my mailbox, there was yet 

ANOTHER card from one of my besties.  

While we are certainly loving every 

moment of our weekend, 

in the back of my mind is the fact that 

Mike's test results are cooking at the 

oncologist's office.  Part of me wants 

the good news of those results this 

moment and the other part of me, the part 

that is fighting with Mike's high blood pressure, 

does not evenwant a little tiny peak.  

Anyhow, our family will be faced with reality 

on Tuesday when we receive the results 

determining our Dad's continued participation 

in the clinical trial.  In the meantime, I 

continue to skip over to the mailbox, 

think about the sweet prayers and thoughts

 of our family and friends, and bury myself 

in the busyness of the comings and goings 

of each day.  

Here's to mailboxes, cards, prayers, good

thoughts, hugs, kisses, sunshine, 

singing . . . 

Words of Encouragement.

Encouragement has taken on a WHOLE new

meaning for me over the past year.  I cannot

tell you how much it lift my spirits to 

receive a simple text or phone call during

the day.  It is AMAZING to realize all of

the people who are interceding on behalf 

of our family.

Today was no exception.  I received texts

an emails with the exciting news that

friends and family members were praying

for our Dad during this trial.  A sentence 

from a friend goes a LOOOOOONG way.

It is so incredibly wonderful to know that

we are not in this storm alone.

As if a text is not enough . . . it is incredible

to scamper out to the mailbox and have an

uplifting card in the mail from a besty.  We

are incredibly blessed to have such wonderful

people in our corner.  We know that each

of them has been chosen by God to be

with us as prayer warriors and supporters

during our trial.

The BIG day is August 31.  Mike has

a PET/CT scan on that day.  We will

receive the results after Labor Day weekend.

The results will determine whether or

not we will be eligible to continue with

the clinical trial.

Onward.comrades.

Strippin'!

Woohoo!  My new vintage CHRISTmas 

fabric jellyroll strips arrived today!!  You

can just imagine the little peck on the

cheek that I gave my FEDEX guy after

he delivered this bundle of joy right

to my doorstep!!  In between my other 

quilts, caring for hubs and the boys,

writing that dissertation, and caring for

our home . . . I am goin' to be strip piecing

a CHRISTmas quilt that will adorn our

home during the holidays!  CHRISTmas is

only 138 days away for those of you

who aren't counting!!!

Hubs had day one off today from our

clinical trial.  Tomorrow we will 

celebrate day number two off and then

on Friday we will resume the fun

with our five days on again.  I do

so love the five on two off schedule.

It allows us to catch up on all that we

missed while Dads was sleeping.  We

are thinking that the tiredness may have

subsided a tiny bit and are praying that

next week only gets better.  We are

more than grateful that his blood

pressure is now under control, allowing

us to participate in the clinical trial.

Santa's Workshop

Now that chapters 1-3 are cooking again,

I have a few moments to breathe and

catch up on CHRISTmas projects!!!

You can find me blaring my Broadway

tunes and praise music down in 

the workshop.  . . . grateful for this little

respite from typing, thinking, and reading!

Husband has doc appointments the

first three days of the week, which

always keeps us hopping!  I am excited

that we have been able to continue

with the clinical trial even if my man

is more than a wee bit tired!!

Blessings for a wonderful week!!!

Yum! Yum!

White chocolate . . . peanut butter . . .

marshmellows . . . milk chocolate chips . . .

rice crispies!!

Need.I.say.more?

Today we started week two of the clinical

trial.  We had two glorious days off.  Mike

finally woke up the second night.  It was

fun having him watch the Olympics

with his eyes open and snuggle on the 

couch.  When we took the pills this

morning, I told him that I would see

him on Wednesday!!!

Time Out.

 Thanks to my BFF Susan, I actually stood

up . . . got dressed like a big girl . . .

 stood up from typing my dissertation 

proposal and went do a little shopping . . .

 talked girl talk . . . shed a few tears . . . 

shared TONS of laughs . . . 

and had a fun little dinner at my new

fave spot Cafe Rio.

I have NEVER been through anything

like this before in my entire life.  I have

remotely known others at church who 

have gone through similar trials, but I

can tell you one.thing:  Family and

friends cannot be underestimated for

their support.  Sometimes it just takes

someone to pull you by the hair and

drag you out of the house even for

a few moments . . . it does the soul

wonders.

Mike finally woke up a little bit

late this afternoon and evening.  We

celebrated the fact that he was up

and reminded ourselves that it is

back to TK1258 in the morning.

Holy.cow.  It was great to sit with

him and watch the Olympics and to

share a meal.  On the positive side,

I will have five days to type, type,

type while he sleeps away as one

of the dramatic side effects of 

this treatment.  My dissertation 

proposal is progressing nicely and I

plan to resubmit it by the beginning

of next week.  I am really pleased

with the progress.

Onward.comrades.

The Trial Continues.

TK1258 has succeeded in kicking my

dear husband's behind the past several

days.  He is tired, tired, tired . . . drug 

through the keyhole tired.  A couple of

other not so pleasant symptoms have also

presented themselves!  We are excited,

however, as we have the next TWO days

off from treatment.  We have had several

fun cozy days around our new home and

have been excited to support our Dad 

as he began this clinical trial.

Smoothies are just about the only thing

that sounds good to our Dad.  He works

on finishing them throughout the day.

Mango seems to be his favorite and we

are only to eager to provide them for

him.  As a result of being homebound,

our family has really enjoyed the

Olympics together this year as well

as the rain that hit our rooftops last 

night and today.

We continue to count our many

blessings, especially our supporters

in our family and friends.  Thankfully,

new mercies and hope come each

morning and give us all that big

jolt that we need in order to help our

Dad through the day.

I have gotten oodles done on my

dissertation and should be ready to

submit my proposal to my mentor

by the end of the week or the beginning

of next for certain.  It has been a 

crazy couple of days for sure as we

miss our Luke.  It is waaaaay to quiet

around these parts for us . . . 

Here's to TWO days off!!!

Onward.comrades.