Reentry

I realize that there has been quite the lack of posts lately and I apologize for those of you wondering how I’m doing and feeling and what the latest is with my health.

After seven months of being provided at least three meals a week, my meal calendar stopped.  I can’t thank you enough for providing food for my family during this time.  It prevented them from going hungry and kept us out of Chick-fil-A every night.  It truly was amazing how you literally were the hands of Jesus by you preparing dinners for us.

So it was a bit of a perfect storm.  The same week the meals ended (which I asked for them to) was the same week we got Garrett back from Texas, the same week Garrett started school (he’s going two days a week to preschool), and the same week that CBS started back.  (I know I’ve mentioned CBS many times on here.  I don’t know if I have mentioned that I’m the Class Coordinator which means the start up process is one of the busiest times for me.)  I also thought it would be a good time to ween Garrett from his paci, start back Hamilton’s piano lessons, start Luke’s first season of TBall, and plan two birthday parties.  (Ever have one of those moments where you could pause life, hit yourself on the head, and say “What was I thinking?”).

I think I was so excited for life to be ‘normal’ again I jumped in on the deep end of the pool rather than slowly reentering on the zero-entry end.  Whew!  Today is the first day I have felt like I could take a deep breath and just float.  Thus, the reason why you are able to read a post from me.

I received my last ovary-suppression shot Tuesday.  I won’t have another one since I’m getting my ovaries out at the end of October.  I’m still going to physical therapy once a week.  My cording has come back with a vengeance – much worse than it was the first time.  They said it would take time for it to completely go away – so for now I continue with PT and my at-home exercises.  They also gave me a compression sleeve and glove to wear to try to release some of the tightness. Please pray the cording will release!

We are celebrating Luke’s 5th birthday this weekend.  Next week is Fall Break for my boys so we will be taking it easy.  We have family pictures scheduled and then Mark and I leave for our ‘Cancer Free Celebration’ trip a week from today!  I can’t believe it is finally here.  Mark surprised me and booked this trip soon after my diagnosis (8 months ago – amazing it’s been that long).  He would send me pictures periodically as encouragement and something to look forward to once all of this was over and behind us.  I hate I still have a surgery after we get back, but there is still much to celebrate!  Much to look back over and ponder on how far we have come in this journey.

I will make sure to post some pictures upon our return.  For now, I appreciate you reading and keeping up with me.  I am so blown away by your consistent care and concern.

Sincerely,

AJ

P.S.  I’ve been hat-free for a few weeks now.  It’s much darker than I thought it would be.  Here is a picture of Mark and me on our way to his 20th high school reunion last weekend.