Things NOT on our Summer Wish List

At the beginning of the summer, David and I made a Wish List of all the places he would like to go this Summer. The list had 13 places on it. We have knocked out 6 things and will hopefully cross off 2 more this weekend. Well, on our way to a wish list place this morning, Dawson shut the van door on his finger and it turned about 5 different shades of purple. So, we headed to the Silverside Medical Center (I love that place for this kind of stuff!) which was NOT on the list! The finger is not broken and we went on with our day.

Not good news

This is a tough one to write. We found out today that the cancer has metastasized to my lungs. There are a few spots on each lung, in addition to lymph nodes in the surrounding areas. Fortunately, it was caught early and I have had very little physical symptoms, just an occasional cough.

We are taking the boys out of town this weekend and then I will begin chemo next Thursday. The drug I will receive shouldn't hit me as hard as the last round did. I will receive it 1x/week for 3 weeks and then get the 4th week off. After about 3-4 months, the doctor will run more scans to see how the cancer is responding and then determine how much more to give me.

We are trying to wrap our brains around this. I have Stage 4 cancer and I can't get past that label yet. The doctor has approved me to continue training for my 3-day walk. I asked him if he thinks I can walk 60 miles and he told me to simply do the best I can. I really feel a burden for this cause and hope to be able to cross that finish line, having walked the whole thing. But, I need to just get through this first cycle of chemo first.

This has broken our hearts and we are squeezing our boys a lot tighter and longer these days.

I was determined!

I was determined to get that photo card! Photos of the boys at the Philadelphia Zoo yesterday.

My monkeys!

I couldn't believe Dawson rode this camel and the ponies without protest. He is really turning into a little boy.

The boys checking out their Spiderman and Pirate faces in the mirror.

Translation: web shooting and "Argh!"

I took the boys to the zoo yesterday. I had all of these great pictures to post and I was trying to do it in the semi-dark so I wouldn't disturb when family. Well, I put the picture card in my computer and it seems to have "eaten" it. Apparently, I slipped it into one of the larger slots and now don't see it. So, at almost 2 a.m., I have a tower in my lap and am shaking it, trying to get this thing out. Anyway, the boys rode on the camels and ponies and had their faces painted.

I see my doctor in about 7 hours to see what the scans show. I think I have bitten down almost every nail I have and have had some brutal headaches over the last few days. Oh, and I can't sleep, too. I don't think I will be winning "mom of the year" anytime soon either. My patience has been very thin. It is just hard to have sympathy for a screaming Dawson who can't reach his toy while in his car seat when I am facing much bigger problems.

Physical challenges (or impossibilities)

I thought it was time for a funny story. But, I am warning you - I will be discussing the practical use of certain female parts.

We had our yard sale over the weekend and we were talking today about how I sold my breast pump at the yard sale. These things sell for over a $100+ in the stores and I told Dave how much someone paid for mine. His response was, "So you don't want to try nursing again?" My response: "Um, how would that work exactly? I don't have that equipment anymore!" I honestly didn't think he was being an insensitive jerk, but rather found it encouraging that he doesn't think about the physical changes that have happened. Anyway, we had a good laugh.

Thank you, thank you!

We have just closed shop on our yard sale and did better than ever expected! We had people just driving by to drop off a donation and many people had us "keep the change" when they had paid well over the asking price. We sold a majority of the things and can actually see our garage floor again.

Thank you to everyone who helped and donated. We are amazed at how well this went. The weather was perfect and all of the customers were very generous. THANK YOU!!!

Yard Sale

I finished my testing today and am now racing around getting ready for our yard sale tomorrow. This is a reminder that we are having a LARGE yard sale tomorrow and Saturday at our home from 8 am - 1 pm. Thank you to everyone who donated their treasures. We have enjoyed seeing the variety of items.