Skip to main content

5 years!



We did it! John was surprised at last, finally and for good! Mission accomplished...

But, wait, it's not really all about me and my planning and for-once-in-my-27-year-marriage surprising my husband. (Though in all honesty, I am pretty darn proud of myself, because it is no easy feat pulling anything over on this man! And believe you me, I have tried!) It is about the reaching the five-year cancer-free milestone. And about, celebrating life and love and family and friends. And that is what we did - despite a deluge of rain our party was not dampened!

 Thankfully many of the people that helped us make it through that very dismal time were able to be at the party. 

It was a time that proved it does indeed take a village to raise a child:

  - Patti and Don Beery and Sherry White who whisked off to Panama City with Matthew and Delaney for spring break as we headed to the Evil Empire for treatment. And when they returned, went above and beyond, to check in on Matthew and Delaney to make sure all was good.
- And Grandma - my energetic Mom, who came every week to stay here while we were in Ann Arbor - cooking dinner, running errands, sitting at cold baseball games, shopping and shuttling. It was an incredible gift and comfort to all of us.
- Kris VanLoon who acted as the point-person for all-things needed and given. Never has an Excel spreadsheet been such a blessing!

It was also a time that showed John and I how to lean on others and be supported:

 - My sisters, Kelli and Kerri (and their hubbies Dave and Mark) who acted as prayer warriors and confidantes so that I could be as sane as possible (and we know that is no small task!). Especially since Kelli was at the time on her own journey through cancer treatment and is now also cancer free!!
- John's assistant Cindy and associate Rachel who helped keep him afloat at work while he floated on the effects of powerful cancer treatment and the ones that helped him survive the pain of the treatment that was killing the cancer.








- My friends Pam, Chris, Aimee, Kris, Patti, Sherry, Karen, Cheryl, Renee (these are just the ones at the party!) who acted as prayer warriors, home support, sounding boards, sanity checks and in ways I cannot count or know or remember (but I'm still incredibly grateful!).
- John's friends Mike, Mark, Don, Pete, Ron,Breeza, Jon, TJ, Jeff, Marcea, Mike, Greg, Bill,Carl - some of them drove quite a distance to celebrate the distance John's come - are blessings in so many countless ways then and now.


 - Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jim - you are a gift to all of your nieces and nephews and provided such amazing support during our journey five years ago and it was the icing on the cake that you were there!

 - Aimee you get a double mention here because to John you were then his Nightingale. Once we got home, when treatment ended, the real crud reared it's ugly head and you were there to tame it, calm it  and put it in perspective. You provided nursing for the physical ails, comfort for the mental anguish and relief for both the patient patient and his at-times frustrated caregiver. 
 And last, but never ever least in our book or lives- Michael, Matthew and Delaney - if our friends and family were the support that got us sanely through the treatment - you were our motivation. I cannot fathom what your journeys were like five years ago, and many times I had prayed that I could erase it from your lives. I spent the first few weeks after Dad's diagnosis in worry and anguished over how it would affect all of you, but then I turned it over to God in prayer and truly felt His peace and strength and knew that He was doing the same for you. I needed His strength to help your Dad and His guidance to know how to help you through your Dad's cancer journey. Does that make sense? The celebration was a tribute to your Dad's five-year milestone but it was also a tribute to the three of you because you are amazing young people!

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Tough time to be a Pollyanna

Remember when 9/11 was just a date or a number you called in an emergency? Our lives changed dramatically post 9/11. For weeks after that September day, we seemed to walk around in a fog, like the haze that loomed over the now-fallen twin towers. I remember trying to minimize my obsession with the news, trying to keep the three little Piggins away from the enormity of the disaster. Remember when corona was simply a beer best served with a lime wedge? It now and forever will be instead associated with this virus that has upended our world in ways we could never have imagined. This tiny little, microscopic virus has brought the mighty to their knees. It has us quarantined and distancing socially (though I believe we've been doing this emotionally for years) and working from home. As anxiety peaks, our economy tanks. As toilet paper and hand sanitizer flies off the shelves, we are looking for new ways to stock our pantries. A good friend observed, "I never thought I'd...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christmas cards

I sat down to reluctantly address Christmas cards. While our list has slowly dwindled through the years it's still a sizeable number, especially when it's viewed as a task approached reluctantly . Know what I mean? Some Christmas 'tasks' are a lot less taskier - like decorating or shopping or eating or opening presents. I mean, there's a whole different level of enthusiasm associated with 'tasks' that aren't viewed as tasks - I can't ever remember a time when I sat down to reluctantly open a present or eat a Christmas cookie! Anyway, I approached the Christmas card addressing with a less-than-positive, more bah-humbugish attitude. I poured a cup of coffee, grabbed the markers (I had to have a green, a red and a black one), the list and of course the envelopes (which John had already stuffed with the card). I turned on some Christmas music, but not too loud or it would distract me (and it really doesn't take much to distract me. Squirrel!),...
Post a Comment
Read more

Treatment begins

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today is the day I begin, at last, treatment. Today is the day I begin to kick cancer's ass. Today is the day I start infusing ugly, nasty, side-affect laden, toxic chemicals for the greater good. Today is a day that I wish I could rewrite the script for completely deleting the part requiring me to need breast cancer chemo. And yet, here it is and at 1:15 EST I will be at the Cancer & Hematology Center in Holland. It's where I will be a lot for the next five months. It's where I will, I'm sure (and surety is something I have less of these days as I know not how I will respond to chemo), create new friendships and forge bonds with people that I am currently unfamiliar. Because that's who I am; a lover of people and a woman that wants to know and love on all the people she comes to meet.  I don't know why I have breast cancer but someday I will ask God (along with a whole bunch of other questions!). I do b...
Post a Comment
Read more