December.....Oh My!!!!!

I can feel the hustle/bustle in the air.....the hurry, hurry,, hurry pace that comes with the Holiday Season. And, as usual, I am fighting it with all my might. I am trying not to make any To Do lists, no HUGE meal plans, to shoulda, woulda, couldas. I am trying to hang on and just "be" with Richard, our family and our friends. This year it feels important to throw out all of the usual expectations.....and to bask in the glorious parts of the season.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. No matter how I do it....it always seems to be exhausting, but we had a great time with the Kids and the Mothers around us. I planned on Richard feeling sort of "icky" during the Thanksgiving week due to his chemo on Monday and was prepared to do most of the cooking by myself with Emily and my Mom's help....but he ended up being able to help and be part of the festivities quite a bit.

I think that we all knew that Thankfulness was not something that any of us would ever take for granted again. We knew that being together as a family was something to rejoice about. I loved the whole day. I cooked many new recipes that turned out delicious. I kept thinking, "This is a way to tend to my family. This is a way to love my family. This is a way to be a Mother to my children. This is a way to love my husband."

After I tucked Richard into bed on Thanksgiving evening, Alex and I stayed up and talked and talked and talked. That was probably the biggest gift he could ever have given me. My son is such a wonderful man....and I got a sense that he is making good choices for him right now. It was awesome to be able to sit there and listen and understand and not judge......but realize that my only responsibility is to love him with all my heart. It was an evening I will always cherish.

Richard and I are very aware of the next MRI on the morning of December 16th and then the subsequent appointment with Dr. Foltz on that afternoon. We are very anxious to see where we are at in this journey. We ask all of you to join us in creating an"improved" MRI that clearly shows that the chemotherapy that Richard is taking is working. We are picturing the two areas of suspicion to be smaller and less dense and that the defined tumor is still gone. Please take time to think of my beautiful husband and to help us design a picture of health. We both believe strongly that this can occur.

I wanted to let you know that our amazing Dr. Foltz has gotten a lot of "press" lately. I am including a site which has an article that was featured in the Seattle Times. I know you'll be able to understand just how special he is to us after you read this article. He, truly, is working miracles in the area of glioblastoma brain tumors.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008431867_braincancer25m.html

I wanted to download pictures of our Thanksgiving....but my camera and computer are not getting along very well. I will have them for you for the next post. Until then....love one another and remember that you are always close in our hearts. Rest and find peace during these busy times.

Blessings,

Sherri