Like stepping out into sunshine again...

I had finally gotten to a point where I could go through all of my fall and Halloween craft goodies and came upon this little booklet....

I had started with a FB  and Youtube group called "Listers gotta List", she gave us prompts every month and then we could journal. This was a new idea for me and I had latched onto it pretty strong... It was such a shock to see this as I had just started a bit late in September.  But I was so enjoying it... then Chris had got his cancer diagnosis....I should have journaled through the whole process but I just couldn't put the words on paper....made it too real, too scary at the time.

Literally our world stopped as we knew it....all of the joys and hardships of our lives went away...and we went just into survival mode....chemo, hellacious surgery, more chemo, infections, poor blood counts, all of it just became our only existence.  To keep him alive and have him survive this onslaught! 
We are all struggling to get back to life, and frankly so happy for the struggle....Chris is doing so well ( thank you all) and recently had an MRI and CT of his chest as bone cancer of his kind goes there a lot....it was totally normal!  ( Thank you again ) He is in PT for strength in that leg and chomping at the bit to get back to his life....this is where the patience comes in....we are not done with this particular road we travel but I can see the junction ahead.  But we can breathe again...almost a year to the date we are back into everyday life and it is so sweet....

And so, this morning I am grateful for this chance to begin again.....

For me, this photo says it all....blank pages... waiting to be inspired and filled with the joy of living...again!

Thanks for stopping by....

We are done with Chemo!

Can you tell he is happy here?????

It has been a grueling 9 months, from diagnosis to chemo to surgery to more chemo.  They had to stop the chemo at 4 more to go as his kidney's were not functioning right.  He was ecstatic to say the least, and a bit worried....his one doctor at Mayo told him that they have a specific protocol they follow as far as the number of treatments, but there are many who cannot finish it for a multitude of reasons. It made all of su feel a bit better hearing that.

He was told by his Ortho doc that he no longer needs the brace, and he can put 30 pounds of pressure on the entire foot now, not just walk on the ball of it.  He is building muscle and it hurts like hell!

Chris is a trooper....no if, ands or buts about it!
We are both exhausted and sleep a lot....making up for all of those lost hours along the way.
I cannot wait to see him with a full head of hair and eyebrows again...

....so glad that when he starts to feel better it will just continue to get better and better.  No more one week of feeling human and three weeks of the month feeling beyond horrible.

Hopefully in a month or so he will be back to work at least part time.  Oh, and he can drive now....not sure how I feel about that one!  lol

We are feeling extremely blessed to have all of the support in the form of prayers, well wishes and help from our families and friends. Couldn't have done this without you.

 THANK YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, on to living life as we knew it....:)

           This is the family on Chris' 32nd birthday, he wanted to have it at Peter Piper Pizza!

Thanks for stopping by.....

Easter....already?

It seems like we are in a time warp...our weeks consist of appointments for chemo, doctors and bloodwork. We are both growing weary, but hanging in there.

The really GOOD news is he has had the last of the real nasty chemo combo treatment this week.

It is a combo of first Cisplatin and then Doxorubicin.  It takes three days inpatient.
The Cisplatin is a horrible drug that causes nausea, vomiting, hair loss, loss in ability to taste food, hiccups, dry mouth, dark urine, decreased sweating, dry skin and other signs of dehydration. 10 days after he has it his body goes into a state called Nadir where he has no white blood cell count at all...he gets so weak he cannot even talk.  It scares me every single time!  The other drug is Doxorubicin which is no picnic either but near as nasty as the Cisplatin. In between this combo after a two week rest he gets Methotrexate back to back for two weeks.  He is in for 5-6 days each.  The Methotrexate only takes 4 hours to drip in, but then the remained of the time he is given a drug called Leucovorin every 4 hours to get his kidney function back to normal.  We should be done with the chemo the last week of June.  We are throwing a BIG party!

His leg is healing nicely and hopefully in a month or two he will be able to put full weight on that foot.  The new bone growth has to be substantial before he can do that....

Spring has come to Arizona in a BIG way, everything is blooming.  This is my one and only rose bush and I do nothing to it but cut it back once a year...

I just love this time of year!

 And guess who sent me a goody box???  Yup...Kris from Blissful Elements.  I had purchased the vintage Easter candy boxes, but look what else was in the box!

Kris, you have no idea how you lift my spirits with your generosity and kindness!  Thank you my friend!

I am wishing all of my family and friends a Joyous Easter!  Have a wonderful weekend, we are crossing our finger that we can have a BBQ on Sunday...

And what would this time of year be without at least one picture of my beloved Peeps!

A box kindness arrived......

Years ago when I first started blogging I got to meet Kris Hurst who blogs at Blissful Elements.  I have gotten many wonderful holiday graphic CD’s from her over the years.  She sells at Etsy.  I was scrolling through her blog one day and happened on some items she had made to sell locally and I just fell in love! Hopefully next year they will be in her Etsy shop too.

People….she makes the boxes and all of the lovelies that go in them!  I contacted her as I just had to buy some of these as you all know my love of retro Christmas kitsch!
We talked back and forth and she asked me for my address….I told her I would pay for whatever she made….she said it was a gift…..I was so touched!  

First she sent Valentines, and not just any Valentines there are really big ones and little ones and adorable repro boxes for them! The photos do not do them justice….the large one are almost a foot tall! Adorable retro boxes remade by her, just like the Christmas ones....such a neat idea!

Then I opened another little package and this was inside….

One big box, with a medium box filled inside that and then a smaller box inside that with tags!  So many pretty images and SHINY BRITE boxes! Reds and greens, pastel pinks and mints!

These are the wonderful cards that were in the one large box….

Behind these cards was this image….

the photo is glued to the back…:)

as well as this one too…..

here is another size and style of different box….had sweet cutouts in it…

The smallest box had tags….the most adorable tags….

Needless to say I was overwhelmed…..such kindness….with all of the pain and heartache we are suffering as a family, this was such a gift !   I cannot think of words that convey how I feel Kris! 
Thanks for all of this wonderful Christmas Kitsch!

An Update on Chris:
I want to take a moment and thank everyone who has prayed, called, sent notes, and supported us through this journey we are on….we are halfway there, the surgery is done, the damn cancer is out….I am going to show you a photo of the evil that wanted to take my son….warning…it is GRAPHIC!

This is a normal femur bone….

This is what the cancer had done to his femur….this shot is of the bone on it's side...

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They ended taking most of his femur, but replaced it with a cadaver bone and flat brace…he will never go through an airport machine without lighting up all of the bells and whistles!  We have between 12-24 more rounds of chemo, depending on the results of the biopsies….but the cancer is out of my boy!  Thank you God!