What a great week!

This past week has been full of fun things! Monday, October 24 - I got to spend a few hours with my grand daughter, Haley. We went to lunch and then shoe-shopping for her birthday. However, we found some shoes she really loved but they didn't have them in her size - of course. We bought some Lalaloopsys instead. Still a successful day together!

Tuesday was an unforgettable evening. An organization called "Happy Chemo" hosted a free night at the Hale Center theater in West Valley, for all breast cancer survivors. Jan Kunz and I got tickets and then found out that we could each take one person as a guest. Kathy Howard and Rachelle Clark came with us. There was a guest speaker and refreshments the hour before the play began. We decided to make an evening of it, and left early enough that we could go to dinner first. Part of the "unforgettable"? We had a slight hitch on the trip up - nothing dangerous or life-threatening -- just . . . . interesting. That's all I'm saying.
We did get dinner in but missed the pre-play part. Oh well - all of the survivors got these lovely flowers.




It was actually about twice this long but it got bent in half during the play. We all got to sit together and had a marvelous time watching "My Fair Lady". SO fun! Thanks ladies for a great night!!!!

Friday night was Milagros night. Saturday was the ward Halloween party - only one person there figured out what Kent and I were - way to go, Marnae!
Sunday the Robins kids had their Primary program in Sacrament meeting. Kent and I went. I think it is one of the best Primary programs I have ever seen. So well organized, everybody knew all the words to the songs, they had 3 microphones for the speakers so it moved smoothly - awesome!
You know what really made it a great week? I felt good! The further I get away from treatments the more I realize how good I DIDN'T feel. Now I look forward to things and am not wiped out by small things! Yay!!!!

Oh, and we got our Jerusalem itinerary today. We fly out Wednesday, December 28 at 11:05 am.

Since my last day of radiation

Remember the flowers that my friend, Becky, brought to our celebration luncheon on Wednesday? Well, they just keep getting more and more beautiful as the roses open. Here is a close up of them:



Friday, October 21, was a fun day. Well it would have been better if I could have gone to hear Kent's presentation in the BYU special collections library. But, I was getting ready for a grand kid Halloween party. Kent, of course, did great even without me there but HE missed a really fun party. :)

I may or may not see them on Halloween, so I had them come in their costumes. Pardon the "aren't my grand children cute?" moment as I share their pictures:

Ethan, age 8

Aspen, age 9

Haley, age 7 [Friday was her birthday!]

Max, age 3 [my choice for a picture was blurry, or back of head!]

Lexi, age 6

Crash, age 6

Jackson, age 12

Sadly, two of my grand children live far away and couldn't be here. Skylar, age 5 and Zoe, age 19.

Of course we played games: This one was a relay race. They had to pick something off of the plate and completely eat it before they could run back and tag their team mate. Jackson and Crash are concentrating on chewing!

Their teams wait anxiously!

After all of the games, we had treats!

Saturday was another fun day. In the morning Kent, Penny, and I decorated the front of the house with things from our garden.

I just need to add some pumpkins around the bottom!

Kent and I were given tickets to BYU's football game. So we spent the afternoon there. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time. The picture is actually of our son-in-law, Dave on the chain gang.
I think I may have overdone things a bit. I started not feeling well at the game. We left just a bit early and I came home and slept. This morning I feel much better! Awesome weekend. :)

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: NONE!!!!!!!

I AM FINISHED!!!!! Everyone at radiation was so excited for me - these are my new wonderful friends - all gave me hugs and wished me well. Thanks to all of you for your kind and excellent care.

These are my main therapists - love these people:
Brooke, me with my certificate and sparkling cider, Brooke 2, Gary

This is my sweet doctor - Dr. Clark, who gave me a hug before I left. You are wonderful, Dr. Clark!

This is Liz and Vickie, my awesome nurses. They loaded me up with creams etc. to help heal my burns! Thanks you two!!


I'm a real "red-neck"!

Here is what happens when I leave my camera unattended! I am behind those closed doors getting radiated - they're playing! :)

"Self-photo" - can you tell? Dr. Clark is pretty tall and their first try pretty much cut his face in half. This one is a tad blurry - but he's mostly there!

The perfect end to a great morning - lunch with friends! Aren't they beautiful? From left around to right: Penny Bird, me, Yvonne Harrell, Becky Buckwalter, Pam Hassinger. Love you guys! I totally forgot to mention those beautiful flowers - from Becky. Thank you so much. All of you MADE MY DAY!

ATTENTION!

Hey - my intelligent daughter redid my poll on my hair - I don't see anyone voting! Come on people. ;)

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: 1!

Yes, I can still count - even backwards! I know that yesterday I was holding at 3 but they called me late in the day and I was able to go in for my treatment! I just returned from the 2nd treatment this week, so I only have 1 left! Woo hoo!!!

This is the waiting room - for waiting. The longest I have ever sat in this room is 15, maybe 20 minutes. That was yesterday when they were trying to get the machine to work before sending us all home. Sometimes I don't even make it to the room before they take me in to the radiation room.

Notice the lovely, warm, blankets in the warming oven! My fav!!!!

RADIATION DAYS LEFT:Still holding at 3

This is where I get radiated. But, today the machine wasn't working so I still have 3 days left!

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: HOLDING AT 3

Saturday was a lovely day. For the first time in over a year, Kent and I were able to go to the temple. It felt SO good! In the afternoon we took a ride on the Alpine Loop and it was incredibly beautiful. Here are some pictures:


These were taken as we entered Provo Canyon.

Isn't this breathtaking? The picture really doesn't do the scene justice!



Before we finished the drive, we sat in a picnic area and read for awhile.



Then we continued the amazing sight seeing.



Look at these colors!



The picture just doesn't capture the actual brightness of these Aspens!


Before we headed back down, we went on a short walk along this beautiful path



Aren't we blessed to live in a place where we can be surrounded by this kind of beauty in a matter of minutes??

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: 3!

This is where I change. Behind me are the little lockers for my things. Notice the lovely gown and some hair. Can you see it?? :) [Yea, me either!]

Since this picture was taken - my head really looks hairier!

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: 4!

This is the cute receptionist, Jen. She didn't like this picture - I thought it was cute, but

I took another. She greets me with this smile, everyday!

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: 5!

This is an example of "Treat Wednesday". Always yummy stuff.

When I bring my camera, and leave it with the therapists - they take their own pics. Sometimes of themselves, but today of what THEY see when they do my radiation. Here are the pics:

This is me!

RADIATION DAYS LEFT: 6!

This is where I go every day, Monday - Friday.

Saturday Cancer Walk

Three of my daughters and I did the "Making Strides for Breast Cancer" walk on Saturday! We did all 5 miles in about an hour - woo hoo!!!!

The walk was held at Liberty Park in Salt Lake. First we checked in and we each wore a sticker "In Honor of . . . . ." This is what my 3 girls put on theirs. :)


"Lifting Hearts" is the name of my support group and they made these shirts for us to wear.
After we checked in we wandered around a bit and I got this free hat and medal because I'm a survivor. :)

This is us before we walked:

This is along the way!

Since we finished much sooner than we had anticipated, we all went breakfast together. Yum!!
Thanks for the wonderful morning, girls - I love you all. You are awesome!!

What do you think?

Ignore the failed attempt at a poll, top left. I'm not very good at this stuff. Anyway, I'm taking a poll to see what people think my hair will look like when it comes back in:

Color:

Curly or Straight:

Thick or Thin:

Reflecting back and looking forward

These are some of the sweet people who take such good care of me during radiation:

Brooke & Brooke

Melanie, Gary, and Lindsey? I honestly can't remember her name :(

In addition to these angels, another blessing came yesterday. Remember how cold it was here?? [38 degrees when I went to radiation]. Well, I was cold, to say the least. In the waiting room they have a warming oven full of nice heated blankets! Heaven!!!!!!!

As for today - I have so many different emotions swirling around inside me right now. I'm so happy to be nearing the end of my cancer treatments (only 8 radiation to go!) yet I feel a bit "lost" without a cancer schedule to follow. I know that sounds weird. But I have spent the past 7 months thinking about, fighting against, and sharing my feelings about cancer. Now, thankfully, it is time to move on. On one hand I am thankful to be going back to Jerusalem -- It will fill my time, my mind, and my soul. It represents a victory in my fight. On the other hand -- It scares me - for I won't be here with all of you. I will continue to blog and I hope you will follow along and once in a while comment so that I know you're there!!

This will probably sound weird to most of you as well - but when I think back on what I've dealt with since March I feel sadder and more anxious than I did when I actually went through it. When Kent and I met with Dr. Rich earlier this week, I was not excited about seeing him. I felt solemn as I walked into that chemo room. Yet, my mind knew that we were there to talk about going back to Jerusalem - about getting on with life! That I wasn't there for chemo. Is this making any sense at all??
And going the other direction, most of the time when I think of the future I am happy, excited, and optimistic. Yet sometimes the fear of the unknown creeps in. I even worry that I have been BLESSED so much that there must be something really bad coming. :)
But, we could all do the same, couldn't we? None of us knows what our future holds - which is a good thing. We must just go forward, sometimes partway into the dark, and trust that God is there to guide us even when we can't see. I DO know that to be true - for it has happened many, many times in my life. But, it doesn't stop me from getting scared sometimes!

Thank you, Jan, for your words of wisdom and experience - it helps a lot! Thank all of you for reading along and loving me anyway!

Guess What?

Kent and I are returning to Jerusalem beginning Winter semester! Actually, we will probably leave right after Christmas so that we can have some time to regroup before the students arrive.
Most of you know that they asked us to go back soon after we returned home in April. But it was completely based on my health and well-being. That came first. Kent and I decided that we wouldn't even discuss it until my treatments were finished - which will be at the end of October. We wanted to focus on fighting the cancer and anything else seemed irrelevant.
As time has gone on, and I've been SO blessed throughout the treatments, we - especially me - began to think more seriously about going back. Are there lots of reasons why I don't want to go back? Oh, yes! In my "logical mind" I can easily see why we shouldn't go back. However, somewhere in Proverbs it says "lean not unto thine own understanding." But, "in all things acknowledge God and He will direct your paths for good." Or something similar to that.
Well, there are things that have taken place in the last few months that I have tried to ignore, but can no longer do so. Here are a few of them:

1. When the new faculty arrived in Jerusalem in August, one of them posted a picture of their family on their JC apartment balcony. When I saw that picture I had a surprising reaction. I felt an ache in my heart - like WE should be there too!
2. Remember my conversation with Dr. Rich about a month ago? I mentioned that I felt "lighter and more optimistic" than I had in a long time. Well, what I didn't mention was the real reason for that lightness. :) Dr. Rich didn't just tell me to get on with my life but to go back to Jerusalem. He thinks it will be the best way for me to heal. When he told me that I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
3. When we first returned home, Jim Kearl told us that since we didn't know how things would go with my cancer, they would need to replace us at the Jerusalem Center. But, they haven't been able to. So far, they have only found people who could go for 1 semester at a time.
4. There are other things as well, but the bottom line is, the answer to our prayers about going back has been "yes, go back."


We have been SO blessed throughout this cancer adventure that we owe the Lord big time! We know that this is what He wants us to do at this point.

Heads wins

I have microscopic baby fuzz on my head! :)