12.12.22

Today was my third round of chemo. One more round of this one, AC (Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide) and then we move on to the other chemo drug, Taxol. It’s crazy how fast time goes! I mean, some days do seem to crawl by, but for the most part I feel like I blink and it’s been a week! (Hey that rhymed. haha!) I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it. (Ok I’ll stop! haha)

We took the kids to Duluth on Thursday to see the lights at Bentleyville. This was our 3rd year going. They love it. Not sure what they like more: seeing the lights or swimming at the hotel. From there we headed down to Iowa, which surprisingly only added an extra hour to our trip! Aunt Amy took all the big girls to the Nutcracker. They had a blast!! We celebrated Christmas on Saturday. Then on Sunday we got to celebrate my brother, Hans’, birthday. The big 5-0. According to Madi he looks 30. I’m hoping I got whatever gene he did so when I’m 50 someone will say I look 30!

As the saying goes: no news is good news. Things really have been going well! Whenever anyone asks how I’m doing I say “I can’t complain”. And it’s true! Thank you all for lifting me in prayer. Last week one of the devotional titles I read was ‘Lighten the Load’. Boy, have I felt that! I really believe the only reason I’m doing so well is because you all have been covering me in prayers. And I so appreciate that. More than words can says!

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galations 6:2

I asked my nurse today in her opinion what seems to be worse for patients. The chemo I’m doing now or the one I’ll start in January. I’m kind of scared to start that one… One of the bigger side effects of Taxol is neuropathy. She said the one I’m doing now tends to be harder on patients than the next one. I was kind of shocked. I expected her to say the opposite. She said a lot of patients on AC tend to suffer from nausea. You guys! Thats “never” really been an issue for me! My stomach feels a little off the first couple of days after an infusion but I wouldn’t give it a second thought if I wasn’t going through what I’m going through.

What a HUGE answer to prayers

It made me feel a little better about the next round, but I’m not holding my breath. That one is going to be a bear. A lady from our church just finished her rounds of chemo and radiation and passed along her ice packs for me to use. ❤️ The hope is by icing my fingers and toes I can hopefully mitigate some of the neuropathy in my fingers and toes. So y’all are gettin a little glimpse of a future prayer request I’ll have.

Some fun pictures for you to enjoy from the weekend. And today. Like I said we celebrated Hans’ birthday on Sunday. It was the first birthday we got to spend with him so that was really special!! I said we should have done the first birthday cake smash. He disagreed. haha. (If you don’t know about my parents adoption story send me a message and I’d love to share it with you. It’s a great answer to prayers story!) This morning I had labs, a follow up with the doctor, my physical therapy, and then chemo. On my way home I stopped for a few groceries. It made for kind of a long day- I was gone for over 6 hours! Aaron came home around 3:20, then we left to get our Christmas tree!! Talk about a busy day!! But I figure I have to take advantage of the days when the fatigue hasn’t set in yet! Plus I’m a little stubborn. We could have easily got a tree from a parking lot in town. (And no one would have blamed us for that this time.) But the kids love going out and cutting our tree and I didn’t want them to miss out on that. Plus I needed to get my steps in so it was two birds with one stone. Work smarter not harder, right?