Thank you

The Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, our pastor asked Jon to speak to our church family about our experiences over the past year. If you're interested in hearing what he had to say, click here. When you get to the page of audio files for Tri-City Baptist Church, select the file titled "PM Nov 25 2009 John Bixby Testimony". I did not speak that evening, but what Jon said is an accurate reflection of my heart too. The thanks that Jon extended to our church does not stop there. Many of you have supported us is different ways. We're thankful for all of you.

Jen did a great job. She trimmed my hair just a little (since there's just a little there), and gave me a lesson in how to man-handle hair like this. It feels nice to have my hair "fixed" again.

I know some of you who read my blog have been through cancer treatment, and I have a question for you. I'm loosing my eyebrows and eyelashes again. They are coming out in significant quantities. Is this normal? Am I just getting back into the cycle of growing and loosing hair?

Gilead has his first tooth! And he's diligently working on his second one (and third, and fourth). I'm having a hard time believing he's old enough to be getting teeth. But no turkey yet. He is eating cereal though and doing so well. He's eating much better than my others did when they first started cereal. He also rolls over from his tummy to his back and grins and giggles a lot. His big brother, John, is the very best at getting him to belly-laugh. John's such a clown, he makes us all belly-laugh.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of thankfulness.

Here are a few pictures of Gilead's progress over the months.

May 18, 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

A Big First

My hair started growing back in September. Now there's enough of it that I need my first hair cut in a very long time. I'm going this afternoon at 2:00! I don't know what I want now or in the future, so I hope miracle-working Jen has some very good ideas.

It's very curly now, and poofy in the wrong places. I have duck-tails around my ears and on the back and top of my head. Kind of like Betty Boop, I guess. But it's fun to have hair, and it still doesn't take too much time. I can't make it do anything besides what it wants to anyway.

It's been a year since my surgery now. I have so much to be grateful for. Everything is still looking good. I'll continue to see the oncologist every few weeks for various tests. My arm continually stiffens up due to the radiation, but I'm exercising regularly, and that should keep it healthy and limber. Some ladies aren't able to do much serious exercising after all the treatment, so I'm thankful I've recovered well. So far, I've had no incidents of lymphedema (painful swelling in the arm due to having lymph nodes removed). Changes in altitude can sometimes cause the onset of lymphedema. We are planning to travel to Greenville, SC for Christmas and that's quite an altitude change. I will be holding my breath.

I'm planning my annual day-after-Thanksgiving shopping trip! I can drive myself all over town! Last year, Teresa (my sister) and I went out for the day, in spite of the fact I had just had a mastectomy. We had a fun, fun day, and I felt pretty well. But it sure will be nice to be feeling normal on such a busy day.

Life Goes On

I tried posting pictures of Gilead, but did something wrong. I'll try again soon. Meanwhile, we are going on with life as usual. I am homeschooling the kids again, and that's going well. My energy seems to be about normal - I've been surprised how fast I seem to have gotten over all the treatments. My hair is coming back very nicely and getting wavier every day. It's still very, very short, and very, very easy to take care of.

Cara had oral surgery yesterday to have 4 impacted teeth removed from her chin. She's recovering well, but since the teeth were substituting for a significant amount of bone, she can't put her chin in harm's way for several months (that is, no pillow fights, no sports, no wrestling with her siblings or any other kind of rough play). The surgeon said this is the optimal time to recover from this surgery since she's growing so fast. Normally it would take a year to fill in all the missing bone, but at her stage of growth it should take only 4 to 6 months.

Biopsy Results

The doctor called yesterday evening with the biopsy results, and everything looks normal. We were very relieved to have that news. Normally other steps would be required to confirm that cancer really is not in the enlarged lymph nodes, but because these nodes are located directly above a major blood vessel and because they are relatively small, the next step of biopsies cannot be done. Dr. Schroeder (biopsy doctor) feels that the results are trustworthy, and the only thing to do now is to monitor these areas with regular visits to my oncologist which was in the game plan anyway.

Thanks for all the encouraging notes. There will probaby be more of these ups and downs over the next years, but we've gotten through the first, and I won't bother worrying about the future.

Ultrasound

Yesterday was the ultrasound on the supsicous lumps around my collarbone. I would have posted earlier, but we got home last night and had a very fun family evening which I didn't want to interupt with lengthy time online. This morning our electricity has gone off twice.

The ultrasound results were inconclusive. Now I realize that a conclusive result would have been bad news. The doctor told me that he would not be concerned about the lumps (after viewing them with ultrasound), but because of my history he wants to do a biopsy. That is scheduled for next Thursday, October 15, at 1:00 p.m.

Thanks so much to all of you who donated to The Race for the Cure. My friends raised over $1000.00! I really appreciate you all donating to this foundation. Some folks have asked about Susan G. Komen's association with Planned Parenthood. I have done some research, and I am posting an exerpt from a letter I wrote to someone else. I hope this answers questions you may have.

I had read some articles concerning Komen's involvement with Planned Parenthood in some areas of the country. Komen's Denver affiliate provided me with some information about that too. From what I understand, Komen gives funds to Planned Parenthood in areas that don't have other breast cancer screening services available. (Evidently, in certain places, Planned Parenthood offers breast health services for women.) Komen claims that their funds are carefully monitered so that they are not used for any purpose other than breast cancer screening. In Denver, however, Komen works exclusively through St. Joseph's Hospital for treatment and screening. St Joseph's Hospital is well known for its stand against abortion. I don't know how Komen operates in other cities, so folks will want to check out the policies of each individual branch.

Correction: In my comments, someone posted a link that I had not seen. The information at this site says that Denver's Susan G. Komen did donate to Planned Parenthood in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. I did not know that Denver Komen gave funds for breast cancer diagnosis outside of the Denver area. I'm sorry for posting inaccurate information.

Quick Update

Just wanted to let you all know that Gilead weighs 16 pounds, 2 ounces! He had an appointment yesterday, and is still doing just great.

I have an appointment for tests next Friday, October 10. Maybe I'll have news after that.

Thanks to all of you who donated to The Race for the Cure. You all donated more than $1000 on my behalf! I know other ladies will be appreciating your generosity.