Infusion #5

I'm sitting here with my neighbor Sandy, waiting for the chemo to come from the pharmacy.  We do a lot of waiting around here!  This is a "small" treatment,  I expect everything to go perfectly.  And the good news is, with this treatment, I'm more than half way done!  I can't wait to get to #9 and schedule the next scan.  I want to see my bad boys eliminated!

This is my fourth time at Huntsman this week.  I brought both girls up to meet with Annie, the social worker, and I met with her once as well.  Last weeks treatment kicked my butt, I had a rough few days early this week.  I'm grateful for the resources I have available to me up there, it's an amazing place!

I've had visits with some great friends this week!  This is Rebecca.  I met her at a Women's Retreat up in Idaho three years ago, we clicked immediately!  It's always been so easy to talk to her, like we've known each other forever.  She came to visit on Wednesday and brought bagels with cream cheese for breakfast.  It was great to have some time and catch up with what they are up to!  She's an amazing lady, and I'm grateful to call her my friend.  She has hard things going on in her life too.  I'm glad we can support each other in our trials. McKinley had the day off from school, so she was our photographer.






A couple of  times when I've gone to see Annie at Huntsman, she's given me a gift card to Smiths.  Gift cards are donated to the hospital by individuals and companies.  I go to Smiths a lot, but not really recently.  We've had so. much. food. brought in, that I haven't really needed to go to the store for much!  So I was brainstorming, thinking of how I could use the gift cards, and it came to me.  CEREAL!  All we eat in the morning is cereal, and I usually buy it at Costco because we go through so much of it.  But my people are getting tired of Costco cereal.  So I thought I'd surprise Brooklyn, after she saw Annie yesterday.  I told her about the cards, and that we were going to go spend them on cereal.  She lit up, and giggled the whole time we filled the cart with cereal we never buy!  She'd say, can we get this?  Can we get this one?  We did buy a couple things that I would consider "sugar bombs", but most of it is OK.  She was so pleased, it totally made my day!


Yesterday I got to see two more great friends.  Wanda was here from Tridell.  We went to lunch at Zupas before she had to head back home.  I always love to talk to her!  She was  a great mission companion, she lifted me then, and she lifts me still.  She also has hard things happening in her life.  Really hard things!  Wanda, I'm praying for you!

Last night we went to an event put on by Huntsman, "Take a Night Off Cancer" at the Grand America.  We went with my friend, Sharla and her husband, Kevin.  I worked with her at Temple Square last winter.  It was so fun to talk to her about some of the hilarious things that happened, and remember those fun times.   I loved working with her and Gidget, we laughed so often and so much, it hurt!  We ate dinner at Royal India and then headed to the event.  It was a great event with healthy desserts, dancing, photo booths, etc. etc.  I ran into a few of my other cancer friends there too.  Over the years, I have met this network of people who are or have all dealt with cancer.  When you're going through it, it seems that EVERYONE is affected by it in one way or another.  I'm pretty cynical about pink ribbons and fund raising campaigns that tout finding a cure.  Despite millions, probably billions of dollars spent on cancer research every year, I doubtful there will ever be a "cure", only better ways to treat it.

I've been thinking this week about the opportunities I've had to see so many friends the last few weeks and be blessed in so many ways.  Sometimes it takes a crisis like mine to remember / realize that the most important thing is the people you have in your life.  It's that connection with people and the good you can do in the world that are the most important things in life.  We don't have a lot of material wealth, but we have been richly blessed by the people in our lives and the circumstances of our lives.  I wouldn't trade that for anything!