Round 1 of chemo is done. Thursday I went in at 7.15am. They first checked my bloodwork to make sure my body could handle the chemo. I waited for the results. All good. Then, I got some anti-nausea medicine and a bolus. Then waited. I got hooked up to my chemo IV a little after…

Step 2 starts tomorrow (Thursday) for my IV chemo. Every 2 weeks (give or take) for 9 rounds I will get FOLFOX. I am all sorts of nervous, but also confident. Nervous because this is the first round. The unknowns. Anxious to know how my body will respond. 46 hours of take-home chemo. How will…

Thursday May 9:Again, here I go, not knowing how to start a post. I should say something witty. I should be encouraging and positive. But I am really not feeling either of those today. Today has been a hard day. I am tired. I’m not in any pain, for the most part. I’m just tired.…

My little sister got married this past weekend. I should probably stop calling her little as she is 34 years-old and I am 40. Maybe the appropriate word is younger sister. It was a great weekend. Lots of laughs. Lots of good food, keto and not. Lots of good memories made. But she asked me,…

The dust has settled after a wonderfully hectic week. Auntie Margee (Liz’s sister) has a new last name, Coach Mike has now become Uncle Mike. We got to reconnect with existing family and spend great time with new family. We ate and drank too much. I reconfirmed my status as a baby whisperer. Liz laughed…

I finished radiation today. I think in my head I was imagining Chariots of Fire concept: epic music, slow mo, strong. The reality was not that. If the Chariots of Fire had a blooper reel, I would be in that. So think more of crawling my way to this finish line with tears and sand…

I’ve been trying to think of something to write for a couple days. I have had some ideas but they don’t pan out. And then I thought I could just give an update and be done. The update is we are in week 5. After today (Tuesday), I have 5 more radiation treatments. Then I…

These flowers are called lily of the valley, and I picked them this morning from the back side of our house. They only produce flowers once per year in spring, and only then for a few weeks. Their smell is amazing – it’s incredible that such a tiny little flower bell can produce such a…

My oldest child was a preemie, born at 34 weeks. I had preeclampsia. I remember going for a check up and my blood pressure was 200+ / something else high. As I was wheeled to labor and delivery, I thought I was going to spend the next 6 weeks pregnant and in the hospital. I…

There’s my one lame attempt at an eclipse joke. But it’s also suitable for my mindset right now. We just spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge outside of Cincinnati (this was planned prior to Liz’s diagnosis), the kids had a blast and in the end that’s why we went. But I couldn’t help myself…