Spring morning

It's a beautiful early spring day here in my part of the world. The trees are budding, daffodils are blooming, birds are busy with nest building, and the air is mild. The days are decidedly longer now. Everything smells fresh and new.

Today is Gregg's first (the first of four) chemotherapy treatment. We are hoping that the side effects will be mild and manageable, and that the next two months go by quickly. Soon all the medical treatments will be over and we can enjoy the rest of the spring and the summer ahead. We are all getting healthy and strong at our house: we're walking (Gregg, Ginger, and me) about 3 miles a day and eating right. Ginger looks trim and strong. Gregg is getting healthier by the day. I have lost 36 pounds since late last summer, and am working on resolving my own health issues.

The spirit of spring is all about change, and we are changing our lifestyle to a healthier way of living. We want to live to see and enjoy many more early spring mornings together!

May we all see positive change manifesting in our lives as the earth reawakens.

Brrrr.....

Well, Lady Winter is back. It's 22F this morning and windy.

I think I need a thicker sweater......

Brrr!!!!!!

Minding the details

This has been a very strange winter, weather-wise. It doesn't seem like we've had a winter, actually. Everything is budding and blooming a full 3 weeks early. I hate to think of a late freeze killing everything off, but I can see it happening. I know the farmers are worried about fruit trees budding out at the beginning of February. A few years ago we had a mid-April deep freeze one night, and lots of crops suffered that year, especially things like peaches and pecans.

Although I am a bit uneasy with this freakishly warm winter, I have to admit there are good things about it. I'm enjoying the flowers that are making an early appearance even though I am a bit uneasy for them. I love tulip magnolias, and they are bursting into bloom all over town right now. The flowers never last long, and since next week the lowest forecast temperatures are only in the mid-thirties, there isn't much danger of a freeze having a chance to do any damage. I'm glad. I think they're beautiful and I look forward to their brief stay each year. We've also been seeing forsythia and daffodils all over the place.

The full moon is so beautiful this week. Gregg and I have been taking walks around the neighborhood almost every night lately. Tonight while the full moon was still low in the east it was a gorgeous peach color. I love seeing it rising behind the tall pine trees in our neighborhood! We went out very late last night and the moon was almost directly overhead, shining silver down on the three of us. Lovely.

I have been very busy in the last few weeks, minding the details of daily life. Gregg is improving all the time, but has still not been well enough to do any heavy housework or to go back to work. I have had to shoulder more of the household responsibilities, as well taking care of him and holding down my job. I keep meaning to blog more, and then each day I wind up collapsing into bed, exhausted. But I intend to get better about blogging more regularly. I have learned so much already from this experience that I want (need) to write about some of it. When I'm not so tired! :)

Today we met with an oncologist for the first time. Gregg starts chemotherapy later this month. It will include 4 "sessions" (IV meds) spaced three weeks apart, which means it will be early May when he finishes up. Gregg is almost more afraid of the chemo than the operation. I was terrified by the operation; chemo doesn't seem nearly so scary to me as having a lung removed! I am sure he's going to tolerate the treatment very well, since he did so well with the surgery. I married a strong, strong man!

Winter weather (or the lack thereof)

I hope everyone in the northeast is enjoying the snow this weekend. Further south we're being treated to mild, rainy weather that seems more like March than January. I am grateful for the easy winter we've been having (since Gregg can go out and walk and get exercise which is helping his recovery) but I must admit I've been craving a little bit of real winter weather. So much so that I had myself fooled into believing we had snow on the way yesterday!

I was at my Yahoo! homepage and clicked on the weather icon. The forecast showed snow showers for two days with accumulation of up to 5 inches! I got so excited, I called Gregg in to see, and we both were exclaiming how we just couldn't believe we were going to get that much snow! After a full 5 minutes of excitement, I happened to glance at the top of the page....and instead of my default location, we were looking at the forecast for New York City. Sigh. I felt like a real dumbass!

So that's as close to real winter weather as we've gotten here in SC. There is still time, of course, but we're probably not going to see as much snow as we had last year (and all of it together didn't even approach 5 inches!) I envy those of you that have beautiful, snowy winters.

Midwinter morning

A fragrant cup of coffee, a good book, and a cold January morning outside my window....a husband sleeping peacefully in the next room....the sound of birds at the feeder outside chattering to each other....and a warm, cozy home to enjoy it all in...I am content.

What a peaceful, lovely way to begin the day. All I have is all I need.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Slowly but surely, things are improving and we're beginning to see a possible light at the end of the tunnel.

Gregg had surgery to remove his left lung on Jan.5, and he is now at home recovering beautifully. His one week follow up with the surgeon (one week after discharge from the hospital) went very well! He is healing quickly and should be almost back to normal in 2 to 3 more weeks.

Although no cancer has been found anywhere else in his body (even the lymph nodes at the bottom of the lung they removed were clear) we will be meeting with an oncologist and Gregg will most likely have one round of chemo. This is just extra insurance that they got it all. They said he can have plenty of time to get good and recovered from the operation first.

I am so very thankful that Gregg is probably going to be ok. This has been a horrible, traumatic experience and I hope that by this summer we can put this behind us and get back to a somewhat normal life. Gregg quit smoking cold turkey before the surgery, and has done very very well with it! So hopefully between that and a super healthy lifestyle he can live a long, cancer free life. Of course, he will have to have frequent checkups to catch any recurrance early, but they said that besides the tumor in his lung (most certainly caused by cigarettes) that he was amazingly healthy and strong. The doctors and respiratory therapists also continue to reassure us that he can live a very normal (even active!) life with just one lung. The human body is an amazing, adaptable thing!

I am so very, very thankful. More updates to come....

Update

This is reposted from Facebook, since I am too exhausted to do much of a blog post right now. Gregg had surgery to remove his left lung on Thursday, and he is doing great! :) The final pathology report came back, and although the tumor was large, the lymph nodes on the bottom of that lung were clear of cancer, and the surgeon got a clear margin all around it. We are looking at one round of chemo even though no cancer has shown up anywhere else, just as extra insurance. That won't be until after he finishes recovering from the operation, though.

Facebook message:

To all of our friends and family that have given us support, love, prayers, and help during this difficult time: Gregg and I are grateful from the bottom of our hearts to have so many wonderful people in our lives. It is astonishing and humbling to receive such an outpouring of kindness and concern. Thank you all so much. I don't know how to express all that it has meant to us.

Gregg is recovering beautifully. His surgery went very well and he seems to be healing quickly so far. He is in the CVICU and will be for the duration of his hospital stay. We are hoping he will be coming home on Monday or Tuesday.

I cannot say enough good things about the amazing staff at Mccleod Regional Medical Center. The level of personal concern, professionalism, and attention from everyone has been exceptional. In particular we are grateful to Dr. Vinod Jona and Dr. Gregory Jones for going above and beyond in every possible way. Words cannot express how very, very grateful we are for their skills and the urgency with which they treated Gregg's illness. The entire hospital staff has been absolutely amazing.

Hanging in there

Just a quick note here to wish everyone a happy holiday season and blessings of health, happiness, and love in the coming year.


Gregg and I are hanging in there.   After getting over the initial shock of the diagnosis, somehow we managed to have a quiet, sweet Christmas together.  We put aside the fear for a couple of days and stayed at home with each other.  We took walks at night with Ginger to look at the stars (so bright in the cold winter sky!) and the neighborhood decorations.   We ate lots of junk food, and spent afternoons watching old John Wayne movies in our pjs.  On Christmas Eve I lit beeswax candles on the mantle (I love their warm light and faint smell of honey) and we sat together and enjoyed the quiet and the peace of the holiday.


Now the tough part begins.


This week Gregg will begin a series of doctor's appointments and tests to find out more about his cancer diagnosis, and what the next few months will hold in terms of treatment.  We are frightened about getting the full diagnosis, but not knowing and imagining the worst isn't a good position to be in.


Today is his first consultation.   We are extremely fortunate to have the head of the pulmonary department at a local hospital as a personal friend.  We have been close to him and his wife for years and he is the first person Gregg is meeting with to see what needs to happen first.  He is not only a very good doctor (and a lung specialist) but he is young, serious, and has advanced very rapidly in his field.  I know that he will help us assemble a great team to fight this. And most importantly, Gregg feels comfortable with him.  I know he will do everything in his power to help us.


Please everyone hold us in your thoughts this week.  Any and all prayers, thoughts, messages, and love sent our way are greatly appreciated.


I wanted to include one of my favorite pictures of my husband here, taken last summer during our trip to Virginia.  He was studying a small creek and the native aquatic plants growing in it.  It was a beautiful path we were standing on, as you can see.   We were celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary:

I intend to get this wonderful man well and strong again. That is all that matters to me for the coming year, and all I can hope for in 2012.