I am not quite sure but happened to the month of August, and it probably has to do with starting things out with emergency brain surgery at the end of July, but it seriously felt like the month that disappeared 😉. Besides all of my health stuff, there have been lots of other things happening, and I want to make sure and document them as well – even simple things like the kids getting to play in the hottub together.

Kevin also had his follow-up from his hand surgery. They gave a brace that he has to wear for the next four weeks to stabilize his thumb as he continues to heal, but luckily with this, unlike his cast, he can take it off the wash his hand and shower, etc. Even though he still has very limited use of his right hand, this alone makes things so much better for him.

I have been keeping up with my daily walks, and depending on the day, and what treatments I have had, I am able to do more or less. It has been one of the keys to my mental health (and physical health) the past few weeks. Lily usually takes me, but sometimes it is Derek, or a friend. It is such a blessing to be able to move and be out in nature.

I had the best visit recently. One of the mothers of my past students, Nancy, who is also in the PTA, brought by the sweetest basket from the PTA. She also brought her son, Matthew, and it was so wonderful to see him and give him a hug. Such a blessing!!

I have been spending a LOT of time in my bed recently, especially the first few weeks after surgery, and Kevin and I discovered that both of our pillow shams have gotten big holes in them – and they are to the point where I couldn’t actually repair them. It is funny how something so seemingly simple and unimportant can bother you so much when you are faced with it constantly. And because of that, even though it is way down our priority list, I started looking for a new duvet set. (The old one was about 13-14 years old and it had served us well.). When I finally narrowed it down, I had my sister, Wendy, help me make the choice between the top two, and she was amazing. Not only did she help me make the decision, but she had a 20% off thing for Pottery Barn, and then gifted me the set 🥹. Such a blessing.

The other day, I also had the best time getting to go to dinner with my friends Erica, Janilee, and Brandi (who just happened to be visiting from Las Vegas). It was so nice to get out of the house and be with friends. Definitely a balm to my soul to not only be out of the house, but to get to talk and laugh with friends.

Moments like that are such a blessing, because my body seems to be on a rollercoaster of ups and downs. For example, on Friday, the 29th, I was in the emergency room. As all the steroids have worn off, my back pain (one of my original symptoms caused by the tumor on my lumbar spine) has come back full force. I actually woke up in the middle of the night with such terrible back spasms that it hurt to breathe, move, or just be. My oncologist, Dr. Ulmer, wanted me to go into the ER to get a CT so the could make sure that my tumor hadn’t fractured anything. We were there for about two hours, and they gave me some meds that helped cut the pain enough so I could breathe and sort of function, and luckily the CT came back clear. While we were there, my friend Kelly came to see me and offer some comfort while we waited for the results.

I was still in pretty intense pain over the weekend, but I had the most wonderful gift and blessing – Pamela, my kindred spirit, college roommate, and one of the best friends I will ever have in my life, flew out for twenty-four hours.

I have always felt like God handpicks certain people to be in our lives, and Pamela was definitely one of those people for me. One of my freshman roommates at BYU (I don’t know how I would’ve made it through college without her), and although we haven’t lived near each other since, she has always been a blessing and support to me. We spent her time in Texas talking, laughing, crying, laughing, and crying some more. Kevin said that he hasn’t seen me that happy in months. I cannot even express how grateful I am for my Sweetpea!

One funny thing that we laughed about over the weekend, was that children of the 80’s all learned the same bizarre – and often incorrect – information. Like only using 20% of our brain (which her son Hudson told her was completely false because we use our entire brain – true 😂), or how every white van was a kidnapper van, or quicksand. We laughed and laughed about quicksand, and how it was literally in every movie or TV show. We were all convinced that we were just going to fall into a pit of quicksand at any moment 😂. (We also realized, that because the entire country only had the same five channels to watch, and we all watched the same afterschool specials, etc, it made it so our entire generation got fed the same information. Nice.)

Well, since Kevin and I are dealing with my diagnosis in sometimes strange ways – like laughing about things that are totally not funny – he had started saying to me, “Could be worse. It could be stage four lung cancer.” We laughed way too hard at that, but realized that we needed a different phrase, because it really wouldn’t be the best thing to say in front of our kids. So, after all the talk with Pamela about quicksand, we changed it to “Could be worse. It could be quicksand.” We even got shirts to go with it, because really, it could fit any situation. (And in true fashion, when I said it in front of my kids, Arthur comes back with, “Well, you know that quicksand is actually very rare and has to to with the shifting tides.” Ha ha ha! Good times.)