After dealing with multiple issues with this blog, I think (cross my fingers) they have all been been locked down and brought up-to-date. GoDaddy’s people have been very helpful at getting things resolved and I’m ready to start blogging again.

Since I didn’t get a chance to do a end of year post, I’ll hit a few of the big things with more coming later.

In May, we suddenly lost my dad. He had a massive stroke on a Saturday, slipped into a coma Sunday night and left this world forever on Monday night. It was a tough weekend for our family and I’m glad all of my siblings were able to be there by Sunday morning. On Sunday, he appeared to be sleeping or unconcious but would squeeze our hand at significant times. We feel fairly strongly that he was able to hear what was going on, even if he didn’t possibly fully understand or be able to communicate.

We are so thankful for grace that carried us through that difficult time. Decisions seemed to be made for us and his passing was peaceful! Daddy loved to talk to people and I can’t imagine how difficult it would’ve been for him if he would have survived but without the ability to communicate. The left side of his brain was where the clot was. Many people reached out to us that week and our church family went above and beyond to care for us.

When my parents moved into a house behind us nearly 2 years ago, we new it was an answer to prayer. After losing Daddy, this arrangement has been a double blessing, allowing her the chance to spend a year in the “new” house with him, and now to live independently with a BIG move already behind her.

Last summer I was starting to have pain in my abdomen, along with other unusual symptoms. I was diagnosed with a bad case of fibroid (non-cancerous) tumors. The recommendation was a hysterectomy, and it’s a good thing we did and soon, as it was discovered after the surgery that I had cancer in my uterus. I  had a second surgery 5 weeks later, including checking lymph node tissue. Thankfully, the lymph nodes were clear! My stage was 1B. This is an aggressive cancer so chemo was highly encouraged. I started treatment in January, giving me a chance to recover from the surgery, and spend a lovely Christmas with my family, without worrying about recovering from a round of chemo.

I am halfway through the regime of 8 treatments. Thankfully, I’ve been able to tolerate the treatments well. Okay, so I did have a terrible reaction on the first treatment that still feels a little traumatizing, but they were able to give me what I needed to counter the reaction and so far I haven’t had any more “episodes,” PTL!!

I usually have some achiness for a few days after the treatment. Taking Claritin (contains a nerve blocker) helps a lot! By Tues or Wednesday I’m usually feeling back to normal again, and my only physical reminder is my lack of hair. 🙂 At least my lashes and eyebrows haven’t totally flown the coop yet! I’m assuming it must help to have naturally thick ones.

The diagnosis of cancer was a big blow, not having any idea that I would be facing it. Well, not really an idea. My decision to have surgery sooner rather than later was partially based on “what if they are missing something?” Only the Lord knows what my future looks like but I want to live each day as “normally” as possible. I have been surrounded by love and caring support. I feel nearly overwhelmed at times when I think about it! I want to pass along blessings to other people.