Random

I saw my oncologist yesterday morning, after having labs done and talking to my study coordinator.  Dr. Prystas was so positive about the way my body has responded to the current regimen; the study drug Ibrance (palbocyclib), the hormone shots, and the Herceptin.  She said that we'll keep doing what we're doing if / until tumors start to grow again (cancer cells mutate and spread, that's why chemo can't always keep up with it.)

We've both been working hard outside this week, spent basically all day and into the night working on sprinklers for the front yard.  I ran drip lines through the flower bed while Mat (with a little help from Isaac) glued pipe and got it ready for sprinkler heads.  I cut down the old shrubs from along our back fence and have a huge pile of stuff that needs to be cleaned up.

I needed a chainsaw for what was left after I used my
hand saw all day yesterday.

This is "most" of the pile, really old Euonymus and snowball bush

Mat was boring out a hole in the sprinkler valve box and caught his left thumb today, so part of our day was spent at Instacare.  He ended up with stitches 3 layers down, 5 stitches on the outside.  SO GROSS!  We'll be in San Fran when he's supposed to have the outside stitches removed.  Hopefully we can find a clinic that will just do it for us.  I got the email link for our tickets to Hamilton today.  SO FREAKING EXCITED to see that!  I managed to make reservations for campgrounds near Lake Tahoe and near the Golden Gate bridge.  Hopefully we're that lucky as we make our way up the coast!

Life is Good!

Earlier this month we got to go on a retreat with a foundation called Inheritance of Hope.  The purpose of their Legacy Retreats is to help people with a terminal illness know how to leave a legacy for their families.  We got to connect with others who understand what we're going through, make a legacy video for our families, go on a river trip, a tour of the Biltmore mansion, we had a date night at an amazing restaurant with all the couples (while the kids had an amazing time at a trampoline park with our volunteers!)  Leaving a legacy was one of the first things I worried over after my diagnosis.  What would my legacy be?  How would my kids remember me?  What could I do to make sure grandkids know what I was all about?  For me, it's all about telling my story.  The material things I have won't mean a whole lot, but if I can communicate my love and admiration for my family, tell stories about my life, impart some wisdom . . . THAT'S the most important thing for me.

I'm working on digitizing everything that isn't, creating digital scrapbooks for every year of our lives together, writing my personal history - and if I manage to get through all of that, I'd love to make some books with ancestor stories as well.  We've got some really remarkable people and stories in past generations!  And the great thing is, today I got the gift of MORE TIME!

Stable patchy sclerosis of the left iliac bone.No findings of progressive thoracic metastatic disease are present.No evidence of abdominal or pelvic metastatic disease.

I had my CT scan today, the results came through this afternoon.  I've always had to wait until the next day to see them!  Greatest news ever!  My mind is a little bit boggled by this news, that I've had no evidence of disease in the last 3 scans??  Incredible.

In other news, McKinley turned 10, she
is super and awesome!  We'll have a friend party this week.  She got sushi for lunch, and a case of her favorite Ramen from the asian store.  This ramen is WAY better that Top Ramen from Smiths or Walmart.



We've managed to train the dog to do *this* when we're eating.  He only climbs on the table when someone leaves dishes there and he thinks he can get away with it!  We have the kitchen blocked off completely.  He'd have a hay day with all the dishes and food that sits around in there!

After we get home from our trip, we really need to have someone professional come in and help us fine tune his quirky stuff and make him an even better dog with better trained people!