Gotta Keep Things In Perspective

Oct 11

Written By

I liked this farm. The man with the walker has lived there all his life---except for four years when he was away. Owen LOVED the cows...he really didn't want to leave. Leo thought it smelled worse than dirty underwear.

Here's a Gina update on Judi:

Hello to all,

Most of you are aware by now that Judi's cancer hasreturned. This was such devastating news, and the last two weeks have beenvery difficult on numerous fronts. There are no further surgical options,and chemo is the only method available to help stave off this insidiousdisease. Her oncologist has tried to put together the best chemo treatmentavailable at this time including the use of one type that does not yet have FDAapproval. Her regimen for chemo is much like the last rounds--four days ofchemo one week followed by two weeks off.

Since learning the cancer has returned, I wouldlike to say her life has been like a roller coaster with a few dips and somestrong gains. If I'm truthful, it has been much more in sync with thestock market--a huge downward slide. I'll try to explain for those of younot in close contact. Judi is a fighter, so when chemo was offered, shequickly accepted. She was told that the chemo treatment this time would bea piece of cake compared to the earlier rounds. She was already notfeeling well before the chemo was begun, so the idea that it would be easier wascomforting--until the Monday night of her first treatment. It made herill. Tuesday was a repeat. Wednesday was a little better. Thursday was the experimental chemo and wasn't too bad immediately. Duringthe weekend, however, she developed mouth sores as a side effect, and it hurt toeat. She was already wiped out and definitely needs to eat, so this was aproblem not to mention the continuing nausea. When we went back to theoncologist on Tuesday, he was surprised to learn of the mouth sores so early inthe treatment, so he put her on a prescription to alleviate those. Herwhite blood cell count was also down, so she had to go in every day this pastweek for shots to help boost that. The GOOD news in all of this is thatthe bloodwork on Tuesday showed that the chemo had "punched the cancer numbersdown".

Today is Saturday. She still feels wiped outbut has been cheered by the visit of two friends from Greensboro, NC. Theywill leave tomorrow, and a friend from Atlanta will arrive and stay untilTuesday. Judi wants to sort through some books, and Liz will help her withthat while she is here. She will have her bloodwork done again Monday tosee if the changes in some of her meds are helping. Please send positivethoughts her way that she can regain some energy in order to better endure thenext round of chemo starting a week from Monday.

Those of you who have ridden out this storm withher know that she absolutely adores the surgeon from Emory who did the Whippleprocedure last October. She already had a followup appointment scheduledwith Dr. Kooby for Friday a week ago. After four days of chemo that week,we headed to Emory so she could say her goodbyes to Dr. Kooby. It was ahappy, sad and amusing meeting! Happy because Judi wanted to see him; sadbecause she got her last big bear hug from him; and amusing because these twoexchanged professional articles that each had just written and submitted totheir respective professional journals. Now I'm not a betting person, buteven I would bet that Dr. Kooby has never had another patient with whom heexchanged professional articles! His was focused on pancreatic cancer inthe half of the pancreas where Judi is affected. Judi wrote anintrospective article for the Journal of Therapeutic Recreation with a maintitle of "I Love Pumpkins" with a secondary title about the role of therapeuticrecreation in oncology. The main title came from the fact that about thistime last year when she spent 12 days in the Emory University Hospital, friendsfrom all over showered her with pumpkins--cards, gifts, etc.--with which wedecorated her hospital room. Anyway, she took a copy of this paper to Dr.Kooby who even asked her to sign it for him. Then he started telling herabout his article and said, "Wait a minute. I want to get you a copy--I'mreally proud of it." I just leaned against the wall aware I was witnessingsomething on the surface that was mutual admiration of two people focused onhelping others through their writings but underneath was a recognition that theyhad not been able to help each other to the extent they bothwanted.

I will keep you posted from time to time as we seehow things progress and how Judi handles the future chemo treatments. Sheis thinking through many things right now and raising many questions in theprocess. Answers will come in time. For now what I can tell you forcertain is that she is SO VERY appreciative of the cards, emails, flowers,gifts, phone calls, car rides, visits and so on. As she grasps for answersto so many things at this time, she does not have to grasp for the answer ofwhether she is loved. Thank you!

Gina

This puts my day in perspective of course because I have spent large amounts of it listening to whining and crying and downright tantrums. Isn't 6 too old for that? It's wearing me out. I insisted we do something that I...yes ME....wanted to do and it ended up as less than a success. Hopefully some of the pictures look o.k. as otherwise the day's pretty much a total loss. Oh, and can we get rid of these FUCKING miniature black bugs swarming around me?

Oh, and yeah.....we brought the van in to be fixed as it needs a couple of things done and Ernie takes it to Chicago next week and we'll be going to South Carolina next month.....

$2,400 later.....

Yup. The same month we're in debt from our Kane Welch Kaplin party. sigh.

Of course....as I said....gotta keep things in perspective....and the party was worth every penny of debt but geez....