When friends near and far are asking how I’m doing and why I haven’t updated the blog, I know it’s time! 🙂 The short summary is: I’m quite well, praise God! Life has been full in many good ways the past couple of months, and computer challenges made it difficult to update the blog. We are so thankful for the generous friend who gave us a new  computer which I have sufficiently figured out and am thrilled to be able to use! (Apparently you can teach an “old dog” new tricks! haha!)

Time and time again I am blown away by the generosity of people! There are so many stories I could tell from the past couple of months, and I hope to at some point. Let me simply say we feel very blessed on many fronts!

The numbers are good!

Here’s the health summary:

The clinical trial drug seems to be working very well! I have better days and worse days, but overall I feel better than I have in many months. The side effects are mostly manageable and overall seem to continue to decrease. I am always looking for the patterns, wondering if I change my eating habits will the GI effects diminish, for example, … but so far there is no discernible consistency. One day I’ll be mostly fine, and the next I’ll be napping all afternoon / evening. Fatigue hits hard and startles me, like running into a wall. But I’m learning to adjust my expectations and try to do things when I can.

One day in the summer I wanted to walk through a long and hilly, sandy path to the lake. I’d heard the waves were gorgeous and I really wanted to see them and play in them. My 8yo was with me and I said, How about we try walking to the top of the next hill and see what we can see. I really didn’t think I could make it all the way there, but wanted to try a little. Each time we got to the top of a hill I asked her if we could try for the next one. We kept reaching for these little goals then re-evaluating, and amazingly we made it all the way through from hill to hill to the lake. The colours were beautiful, and the scenery spectacular! I wished I could have brought my camera! We played in the waves which were huge for a lake and reminiscent of the ocean. My daughter was thrilled that I could play and climb with her! I didn’t stay long, but thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity, then turned around and headed back. I felt exhilarated and exhausted, but mostly spent the walk back praising God and thanking Him for giving me the strength and courage to make the trek, and for the joy of the whole experience.

This past week was tiring, with all the usual routine tests and appointments that happen every 3 weeks, plus the CT scan which I have every 6 weeks. I have to take meds before the CT scan to help prevent allergic reactions, and that means setting my alarm to take them once or twice during the night. I am grateful for the meds and the care, and the good people with whom I interact, but having things on three days in a row and missing out on sleep takes so much more energy than one might expect. I was very tired going into this week, but yesterday was feeling amazingly well. Sometimes these gifts of energy and ability come as beautiful surprises!

There have been so many beautiful gifts and surprises this summer, and I would love to tell you about them all … but today I have groceries to buy! The summary is that we’ve had many joyous visits with friends, the kids all seem to be settling into their new school rhythms well so far, and we are feeling very loved and blessed. I hope to fill you in on more details in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your love, prayers and support. We cannot find words to tell you how grateful we are!

Beautiful blooms!

Setting up for the usual tests