Happy 2018!

Hi Friends! Happy 2018! I am alive and well and have had the best Christmas! Forgive the lack of correspondence, but it took all my braincells to figure out the logistics of packing to go to cold climates for 2 weeks including gatherings for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, a bachelor(ette)party, rehersal dinner, a wedding and then several days with our grand daughters! I have been living life large and God has been so gracious to me! Throughout this whole trip I felt good, ate as best as I could (many thanks to those who hosted me and went out of their way that I could eat organically!!) and had a blast! Yes - I did have to take naps and I did wear out, but did not get sick despite everyone around me coughing and sniffling! (ate a lot of airborne and zicam)
The temperatures in Iowa were well below zero, with the record being -23 degrees. Montana was positively balmy at 34 degrees Brrrrrr!! Southern California was very nice to come back to! I must say though, it was beautiful while we were there.

I/We received with one blessing after another while on the vacation.
-Our travel was relatively smooth, compared to some of the problems that others had.
-I felt decent to travel - not too nauseated (just kept taking nausea meds!) and was a reasonable traveling companion (Todd did not have to drag me along - I could walk next to him and enjoy the adventue.
-Despite the cold, our vehicle ran smoothly and we had no problems!
-We spent Christmas with our new daughter-in-love’s family and they were so warm and welcoming - lots of great conversations and laughs! We felt a part of the family - what a gift!
-It was wonderful to spend time with dear lifelong friends and family that were able to make it to the wedding. Because our side was quite small, we got to spend some really good time with our friends and have conversations that don’t normally get to happen because the group is so big!
-In addition we celebrated not only the wedding but new years!! It was so frigid that the cold froze the lighter stick for the mortars! We had to resort to matches! Some went outside for the full. freezing experience - some watched from the window - guess which one I was?
Our daughter-in-love and I watched wrapped in a blanket and applauded those brave enough (crazy enough) to go out!-It sounds life a small thing, but to have the energy to be a part of the preparations, the parties —- Life —- Oh it was such a precious gift!
-For both our boys, I had prayed for their wives-to-be from the time they were in diapers - that they would love the Lord and “get” our boys. It is such a blessing to see prayers answered in such a beautiful way. We are deeply thankful for our daughter’s-in-love!
-From wedding celebrations, we flew to Montana and met our new grand daughter and that was a great adventure as children always are, bringing joy, laughs and chaos all at the same time!
-Blessings incuded spending time wih both granddaughters, playing pretend, reading books and snuggling the baby....it was heaven! The icing on the cake was watching Todd do ballet with the 3 year old! It was so cute and funny — “c’mon opa!” “No opa - like this” loved it!
-The newlyweds traveled to Montana to spend time with Gretchen and the girls since they were not able to attend the wedding, so we got some more extended family time - again, a real gift!
-We flew home Sunday night and had pretty smooth travel....
All in all, lots of blessings that I am so thankful for - but mostly that I could be there and participate on the level that made me feel like i was really healthy and not wrestling with stage IV colon cancer...
Several people commented that if they did not know about my condition, they would never have know....Thank you Lord!

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. Ps 86:12

Yesterday was back to reality - blood draws, doc appointments, grocery store and Mount Washmore...Today stated Chemo 16.

At my Oncologist appointment I found out that they had sent out the tissue for testing to see if I am a candidate for some additional medicines to be done on top of the chemo.....Sadly I am not...One more door closed...
She also talked about clinical trials which is not something I really want to try. The whole conversation really threw me for a loop and reduced me to tears — sobs to be exact....
We will see what God has in mind, as they are sending out the tissue for further eval to see if there are any receptors that would work.

The stats that I usually put at the beginning are pretty much the same - weight, sleep are good, eating well, though the trip had me eating more sugar than is good — but home made christmas cookies are to die for! And the white-chocolate-raspberry wedding cake was the best I’d ever had! I need to get back to walking again!  

Praying that the ill effects of eating sugar did not encourage the cancer too much!
Praying that the chemo does its work and that the week delay did not give the cancer an additional edge!
Praying that they can find something else to stop the progression, so that clinical trials are not my only resort.....

I love you dear friends/prayer warriors and pray that you had a meaningful Advent and Christmas season. We are so thankful for each of you!

Thanks for checkin’ in!