There are no words for the loss and a thank you

This post will start with something that we’ve been keeping a bit private as it’s not solely our story to share.  In mid-October, my wonderful father-in-law, Bob, passed away after a long battle with Lymphoma.  As you can imagine, this has broken our hearts and this healing is an entirely different journey.  To say that Bob is so very missed doesn’t even begin to cover it.  I am so grateful and honored for the love he showed me in welcoming me into the family and will always remember our family dinners with great joy.  I don’t even know what to say – I know that this hurts for all of us.

I had my last chemotherapy treatment on Friday, 10/21 and I am so grateful the toughest part of these treatments is over.  (That was 6 months of chemo with 16 treatments; a lot!) We want to say a big “THANK YOU” to all of you.  We made it!  At the risk of having a lot of cliches – cancer treatment takes a village, and we are so grateful to each and every one of you for being a part of our village – we couldn’t have done this first stage of my treatment without your incredibly generous and selfless support.  We remain humbled and thankful.  The meals, meal gift cards (which we’ll continue to use through the surgery phase…), rides, grocery runs, groceries, baked goods, ginger foods, cards, supportive and thoughtful gifts, ice ideas and ice holders, flowers, texts, emails, calls, other check-ins, comments on blog & FB posts, positive thoughts, entertainment recommendations, and everything else have been so helpful.  We never felt alone and that in itself was the most beautiful gift of all and helped keep us going – THANK YOU!   

A few notes on what’s coming:  As I noted the last chemo treatment was about 2 and a half weeks ago so if history is any indication, I’m through the roughest part for which I’m grateful.  Now for a few weeks of healing while I get ready for surgery on December 2nd.  The bi-lateral mastectomy is a fairly major surgery and I expect around 8 weeks of recovery.   My focus now is staying healthy and continuing to avoid getting sick while my immune system recovers from chemo. I also have to practice getting up from bed and chairs without my arms as I can’t lift anything that’s greater than 5 lbs for 6 weeks after surgery and that includes pushing oneself up and out of bed.  (Wish me and my lack of core strength luck here – it’s the thing I’m most nervous about – that and pain management because I don’t tolerate pain meds well at all!)

One other thing that is new news since the last post is that I’ll likely have 9 infusions of immunotherapy after surgery.  (Not clear on where this lines up with radiation treatment…) I’m a little bit bummed but it should be light-years easier than the chemo so that’s an improvement – doing this means I’ll fully follow the protocol of the study governing my treatment which should have the highest level of success which is a good thing.

Thank you again to all of you – we are so grateful for all of your support – we couldn’t have made it through this first stage without you – thank you so very much!

The now “standard” note at the end of posts for website navigation help:

Thank you for taking time to keep up with us and see how we’re doing as well as all the help!  Because, I think like me, much of the world does nearly everything on their phones…I’m adding this note to the end of posts to make website navigation easier if you are on a phone.  If you’d like to read other journal entries, please click here (oldest post is at the bottom of the page).  There’s also a “hamburger” menu in the top right of the webpage that can help you navigate between the journal, ways to help page, stay in touch, and welcome pages.   Please know that reading this page and thinking of us is help!   Thank you for your support in all forms! If you have any issues, please email [email protected].