Let Me 'Splain

So it's been forever. 

I offer no excuses and make no apologies.

Life has been busy lately.  Busy but good.  And I think after a year of turmoil, we're starting to settle into a routine.  Routine isn't something I ever thought I'd miss and/or look forward to, but after a chaotic year, there's great comfort in routine.  So things are good now and I thought I'd share some good with you.

The Good Stuff: The early garden is planted and has survived the weird Ohio spring.  Greens and onions are ready to be harvested and served with a pot of beans and a pan of cornbread.

The "Very" Good Stuff: My mom is finished with radiation, has a beautiful head-full of hair and only has one step left in her treatment, which ends in October.

The "Divinely" Good Stuff: God has been so good and answered so many prayers lately!  After a traumatic (or maybe dramatic) period of growth, I feel like I'm walking closer with Him everyday.  When you finally, really "get" God's grace and the freedom that only comes through Jesus, what an experience!

The "Finally" Good Stuff: Only 15 more school days til I have my kids to myself for 3 months :)

The "About Time" Good Stuff: We're making huge strides in remodeling our basement (after 8 years of putting it off) and we're adding a ventless fireplace and gas cookstove for something akin to off-grid, emergency cooking and heating.

The "I Can't Believe It!" Good Stuff: I'm about to be an aunt again.  Twice.  A great aunt to boot.

The "B.A." Good Stuff: The Mr. bought a new handgun for me that's made concealment much simpler.

The "Learning" Stuff:  I made my first batch of soap last month and while I'm far from proficient at it, I'm learning more each time.

The "Nerdy" Good Stuff: The Mr. was inducted into the Honor Society at Wittenberg and is the class president.  You think he was hard to live with before.............................; )

The "Least of These" Good Stuff: I finally found a ministry to plug into at church: mission support.  It's fantastic and I literally get to help people all over the world, from orphans to AIDS patients to widows to underground missionaries to single moms and the working poor in my own community. God is so good!

I *think* postings should come at a more regular clip now.  The aforementioned routine definitely makes posting a less daunting task, yes?  Anyway friends, I've wasted too much of the day blogging.  Got thistles to pull and groceries to store.  Take care! 

P.S.  If you *really* want to follow me, you can friend me on FB @Andrea.Lynch.31

A Cancer Update

The past 6 weeks have been a real whirlwind, but I think we may be on the downhill slide now.  Yay for downhill slides!

Me first, as my story is short :)  If you recall, a routine exam with my GP ended up with a diagnosis of skin cancer in late January.  Well, praises to God, they removed the entire lesion in one surgery, the incision is all healed up and it appears the scarring is going to be minimal.  I'll have body scans every 6 months, likely for the rest of my life, but that's a minor inconvenience compared to surgery.  I picked up a big, loose, lightweight cotton shirt for gardening and a bottle of self-tanner so that I don't frighten people with my pastey-whiteness this summer. 

Things are progressing nicely for my mom too.  She finished chemo treatments (Taxol) in late January and will continue taking Herceptin (every 1-2 weeks) til October.  The only hiccup in her treatment so far has been that her mediport was improperly positioned; it had to be removed and reinserted on her right side in order to begin radiation on her left.  That stunk!  It was a simple procedure, but had the doctors collaborated a little more at the beginning, it would have been totally unnecessary.  Anyway, she's 7 treatments into her radiation with another 24 to go.  Thankfully, they're quick, painless and far less damaging than the chemo.  Just a few more weeks, and Mom should be able to go hatless/wigless.  Her hair is growing in very quickly, fairly thickly and appears to be the same color/texture as before chemo.  No curly-red surprises!  Boo!  Anyway, 4 more weeks of radiation and this journey will be nearly finished.  Thank you God!   

Weekend Blowout

I haven't talked much about Mara's birthday.

I had ulterior motives other than being busy.

We had a blowout this weekend for Mara's 6th birthday.

And to celebrate the end of Mom's chemo, we threw a tandem surprise party.

It's sort of funny, if you ask me...Mom ended up doing a lot of cooking for her own surprise party ;)

Mom had seen the basement all decorated up for Mara's birthday,

but we saved the banner til last minute.

My party girl Miss Mara.

Mara loves, loves, loves her Grandpa.

The gang's all here.

We had around 30 people in attendance including neighbors, family and friends.

Mara got her long-awaited La La Loopsy cake.

And Mom had a few surprises too.

Far too often we reserve get-togethers for end of life.

At death beds.

At funerals.

During upsetting times.

This time, we celebrated life;

A new young life and a life continued. 

Moving On...

Things went well at the doctor yesterday.  He allowed enough time in his schedule to excise the guilty party then and there, and scheduled an appointment for a body scan in 2 weeks.  The good news is skin cancer caught very early can be treated without surgery through immuno-therapy.  The bad news is I'm very young to be seeing skin cancer and it's something I'll have to stay on top of for the rest of my life.  He gave me a bit of a scolding about sun-related skin care and told me absolutely no more sunburns.  Ever.  Under any circumstances.  So I'm looking for a big straw hat for gardening purposes this summer and maybe some SPF200 sunblock :) 

So the really exceptionally good news is....today is my mom's last chemo treatment!  How awesome is that?  She has a couple weeks break and then begins radiation...but compared to 6-7 months of chemo, a month of radiation should be nothing. 

I think the worst may be over.

Just When I Think Life Is Returning To Normal....

So I'll skip the intro and get straight to the topic at hand. 

Skin cancer. 

I was diagnosed with skin cancer earlier this week.  I'm blessed that it's not a killer; it's a nuisance and it will likely continue to be a nuisance til my last breath.  Next week, I meet with a surgeon to discuss the pathology reports and we'll go from there.

For Pete's sake, make sure you make and keep your yearly physical exams with your doctor.  Talk with him about any suspicious spots, lumps or bumps and follow through with treatment, even if he's "99% sure it's nothing", as my doctor did.  Know your skin.  Skin cancer doesn't always *look* scary.  It doesn't wait til you're 40 years old.   It doesn't always affect areas subject to frequent sunburns. 

I'm proof of all those things. 

Bright Spots in the Darkness

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, friends. 

Yes, it's been a while. 

No, nothing is wrong.

We just needed some time off.

Okay, to be totally honest with you, I think we've been in survival mode for the past 6 or 8 weeks.  Just trying to ride out the tremors and get through the holidays and start the new year full of hope.

So that's where we are now.

Full of hope.

I think 2011 can go down in our family history as the crappiest, most miserable year on record.  It was anxious, quarrelsome, frightening, aggravating, distressing, depressing and I'm so glad to see it end.  2011, a pox on you and your house.

But now things are starting to look up a bit.  We've crossed 2 major hurdles as a family: Thanksgiving and Christmas without Jeff's mom, all the while dealing with my mom's cancer.  And we survived.  And even in the darkness, there were bright spots:

Christmas Eve service with my father in law. 

The reading of "The Stable Where Jesus Was Born" before opening presents. 

Christmas Day, the kids attending 'Big Church' with us instead of Sunday School with their peers and upon witnessing Communion, their 147 questions about why we do that. 

My brother-in-law and his family making a 4 hour drive to spend the 26th with us. 

Remodeling the kitchen. 

Delivering homemade peanut butter fudge and baklava to friends and neighbors. 

All bright spots.       

So now that we're through the holidays and the decorations are put away and we're recovering from the rich foods and frantic schedules, I'm daydreaming about spring and starting seedlings in the basement.  Adding perennials to the landscape.  Learning new skills.  Anxiously watching for those extra minutes of daylight each day.  There's hope and brightness and normality in all those things.

How would you describe your 2011?  What are your hopes for 2012? 

Another Quick Update

It's been a few weeks since I updated you on my mom....she's the cute one in the Ohio State sweatshirt, by the way.  Not implying that Chris and Violet aren't cute.....but back to the subject.

She's 3 weeks into her second series of chemo.  Doing fairly well.  Taxol doesn't cause the fatigue that the first drug did....in fact it makes her rather hyper.  Yeah.  That's what we need.  My mom hopped up on drugs.  She's working through some side effects such as chills, aches, sleeplessness (due to the crazy hyper-drugs).
 
But her bloodwork is good. 

Weight is good. 

And..................

Her hair is growing in.

8 more weeks and we'll be through with most of this mess!