Seven years tomorrow!

Today is the first day of my vacation, and tomorrow, June 12th, is my seventh wedding anniversary!

 I am one lucky woman. My husband is my best friend. He's really smart, kind, honest, hardworking, and loyal. And did I mention tough?! Last year he kicked stage 3 lung cancer's ass! He's almost 100% back to normal after having had a lung removed and then chemotherapy. I am in awe of his strength!

I wish I had a good picture of us together. We had a cheap camera when we got married (we eloped after 7 years of dating!) so although we have photos from then, they are all pasted in an album and are not in a format I can share. The year after that we bought a better camera, so here are a couple of photos from around our first anniversary instead.

 

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary dear husband! You're the love of my life. I'm looking forward to the next 7 years!

One year already

Today it's been exactly one year since my husband came home from seeing the doctor and said, "I have cancer." Without a doubt, it was the worst day of my entire life so far. We didn't have any information at that point beyond the fact that there was a tumor in his lung. I choke up whenever I remember that day, the fear and despair and sense of unreality (like a waking nightmare) of the hours and days that followed. Life changed dramatically, unequivocally, forever. We were so frightened of what the future would hold.

Now here we are, one year later, and the tears keep flowing again...but they're tears of happiness and gratitude this time. Gregg is healthy again. The cancer is gone. He continues to improve each day, and life is almost back to normal....but held so much more dear. What a wonderful Christmas this is going to be for us! All we need is each other.

Hold your loved ones tight during the holidays, and every day. They are your most precious gifts.

Too much cake!

Friday was my husband's birthday, and I ordered him a a special cake for the occasion. What I didn't know was that his workmates had done the same thing! So we've been eating cake all weekend and I really need to find someone to give the rest of the leftovers to. Too much of a good thing is still too much!

They were both awesome looking cakes though! Check out what our local bakery came up with for the "fish dude":

By the time his work cake made it home, it was missing some parts!!

The inside has chocolate layers with raspberry filling.

The sweetest word I know....

.....is BENIGN!!!

My husband, who already beat lung cancer earlier this year, had to go for a colonoscopy on Wednesday. We were terribly worried about it, as his father died of colon cancer. Then, when the procedure was over, the doctor told us he had removed three polyps, two of which were quite large. He was concerned that the size made them more likely to be cancerous, and we had no option but to wait on the pathology report.

While waiting, my poor guy ended up getting admitted to the hospital. He started throwing up after he got home from the colonoscopy, and when I took him to the ER they found that not only was he really dehydrated, but his white blood cell count was very high. They were concerned that the procedure might have resulted in a perforated colon, which is rare, but deadly serious. So they had to run lots of tests to make sure that that had not happened. Thank goodness, it hadn't. They are not sure what caused his spike in white cells, but everything is back to normal now and they think he is ok.

And this morning, the doctor came to the hospital room to let us know that the pathology report is in, and the polyps were all benign! I can't begin to tell you how relieved we were. Nothing is worse than waiting for test results like that. We were so very afraid of the worst.

Later tonight, GB will get to come home, with a fresh clean bill of health. Now that the colonoscopy is done, we are certain that he is absolutely cancer free all over. I am beyond thrilled!

Benign: the sweetest word I know.

The twelth of June

Today is my wedding anniversary.

Six years ago today GB and I got up at dawn, drove to a nearby courthouse, and were married by a notary at 8am. We exchanged vows in front of a fountain, which came on and splashed us just as he put my wedding ring on! It was funny and sweet, and afterwards we drove to the coast and camped at Huntington Beach state park. It was a lovely vacation spent on the beach, by the marsh, and wandering through the nearby sculpture garden. Huntington Beach and Brookgreen Gardens will always be two of my favorite spots on the face of the earth. A week later, we came home and announced our marriage to our family and friends--yes, we eloped! Everyone was so surprised!

It has been a good six years. Many things have changed, and we've been through lots of joys and trials, but we're still happy and in love. I can heartily recommend marrying your best friend--it was the best decision I ever made!

Happy Anniversary, my love. May we celebrate many, many more happy years together. I would marry you all over again!

A morning in June

It's a beautiful, warm, sunny morning. Everything is lush and green and full of life outside my window. The fledgling sparrows are all over the bird feeders, young squirrels are on tiptoe underneath snatching seed (with one wary eye on Ginger the whole while) and scores of bees are cavorting in lavender blossoms. The blueberries are hanging heavy on the bushes, and are just beginning to turn a pale, faint blue. The copious amounts of rain we've received this year are filling out the walnuts in our trees, and this may be the year we finally have a nut harvest. Another sunflower has bloomed next to one of the bird feeders, and stands a proud 5 feet tall, overlooking the herb patch. The neighborhood smells of lemony magnolia flowers, large as dinner plates and opening in dozens of trees; gardenias, and freshly cut grass.

  In short, it's a wonderful morning!

And best of all, GB has been feeling better and better. So much better, in fact, that he is off for the very first time this morning at one of his aquarium maintenance jobs. This is his first day going to work since December. I am so proud of him! And finally, there is the beginning of a feeling of hope inside me that finally, finally, things may be getting better and back to normal for us. 

Welcome, June!

Fiery daylilies blooming in the backyard this morning.

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!

It's beginning to look....nothing like Christmas

So, true to form, December is rolling up it's sleeves and preparing to have it's way with me.

I've posted before about how bad stuff always seems to happen to me around Christmastime. Well, yesterday my husband finally went to the doctor after almost a month of having a "chest cold" that he couldn't shake. It kept getting worse and worse until I insisted he go get it checked out. He is the kind of guy that will try to "tough it out" and get better on his own. Sometimes that isn't such a good idea.

Turns out he has a bad case of pneumonia. They almost admitted him to the hospital. As it is, they sent him home with lots of drugs and a breathing machine and instructions to come back in a few days for a CAT scan.  The initial x-rays they did showed a lot of fluid in his lungs and they have to make sure it responds to treatment.  I think the doctor scared him a little, which may be a good thing.


He hates going to the doctor.  He's also very suspicious of drugs, and rarely will take so much as an aspirin unless he really, really has to.  I've been nagging him for two weeks to go get this "cold" checked out.  He finally gave in after a full month of being sick.  I wish  he would take better care of himself and make his health a priority.  He works too much, for one thing, and when he gets sick he will rarely take time off .  I appreciate his strong work ethic and good intentions, but it's foolish to ignore or try to "tough out" illness.  And it scares me that he does so!

So this December I'm hoping we don't have to spend the holidays at the hospital.  The doctor gave him a big shot of an antibiotic on the spot, and four prescriptions to fill.  The CAT scan of his lungs in a few days will determine whether or not he can stay at home to recover.  Even if he can stay at home, it's going to be a while before he's fully well.  So.....

.......I'm beginning to think this will be the year we skip the whole holiday celebration.  I just haven't had the time or energy to do anything, unless you count stringing two strands of white lights on a houseplant! (Seriously, that is the whole extent of my holiday decorating.)  We had already discussed not exchanging gifts this year with our families due to some members having financial hardships, so we haven't done any shopping.  Between busy retail jobs and GB being sick,  there has hardly been a thought given to anything like that in our house this year. I am surprised to find that (at least at this point) I don't really care much.

 I know this is a time of great fun and excitement for most people, and I hope I don't sound like Scrooge. I will continue to try to post little bits of holiday stuff here and there for the blog party.  I hope everyone reading is having a wonderful Yule/Christmas/Hanukkah/holiday. I've been enjoying all the holiday blog posts out there. They add a bit of holiday sparkle to my moments of free time. And holiday sparkle is something I seem to be lacking this year!