Life does not end with a stage IV diagnosis (really!)
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Caryn, I so agree, one type,of cancer per person! Waiting with you for your results! I love all the baby news. Miles is such a sweetie and has such a sweet smile. And yeah, Kandy, so glad to hear of Harper's safe arrival. I am so glad your daughter lives close and you will get maximum time with him. I babysat my Delilah today for 10 hours while my daughter and her husband and the big kids went to six flags. She was a doll and I had so much fun with her, took at least 300 pictures ,,, truly! BLuefrog, Oh how I love the birthday gift. That is something you will treasure forever!
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Caryn, Miles would be absolutely tickled to know how many smiles his picture elicits!
Wishing you excellent results - fingers and toes crossed.
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Thinking of you this morning Caryn, hoping for answers AND B-9 results.
Bestbird is right, the number of ladies gushing over this roly poly little guy might embarrass him in later years but for now his adorableness factor is "off the charts". Enjoy!
I'm pretty sure I've shared this thought before, but I once read that grandchildren are our reward for not killing our own children.
Have a wonderful week lovelies.
Amy
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HahahaAmyQ, Good one! I should have at least 3 by now if that were the case! Caryn, Miles is one handsome little acrobat. Hope those thyroid results are a big fat negative.....
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Caryn, hoping for the best for you with the thyroid issue.
Your grandbaby Miles is super cute! He looks so pleasant; and, I think he resembles you
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Caryn, he is absolutely adorable!!! I had a chuckle reading your post about you giving the toes in the mouth a try!!
Prayer for good news on you biopsy🙏
Julie
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adorable picture, Caryn.
Baby toes! Squeeee !!!
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Love all the grand-baby pictures and congratulations to all of you with newly arrived grandchildren. They're all just beautiful! Thanks for sharing and keep 'em coming.
Wishing you great results on the biopsy, Caryn. My fingers and toes crossed as well!
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Thanks for asking about the biopsy. My endocrinologist let me know that the cell sample showed no cancer, butdespite three samples, they didn't get very many cells. We are going to repeat the biopsy in three months. As I recall, and this was about 20 years ago, I had the same issue with thyroid biopsies back then. So, I'll take it as good news and just grit my teeth and do it again in three months. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I babysat for Frankie last night and had a delightful time. She loves that I bring my pj's with me so we both put on pajamas as she gets ready for bed. I keep a toothbrush there and she loves to squeeze toothpaste on both of our brushes. A nice way to end the work week.
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Glad to hear no cancer, sorry you have to repeat the test in three months though.
So cute with the pajamas and the toothpaste. Sounds absolutely delightful.
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Here's a pic of Miles and my SIL as Miles attends his first MLB game.
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miles has an awesome smile in all the pics. Keep them coming.
Mary
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Caryn, I agree, let's take that as good news. Sure hate you have to repeat it though, bummer. Miles is so cute. Here is a pic of Harper. He went this week for his newborn pics.
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kandy,
He is beyond adorable. I know you are loving every minute with him.
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Caryn & Kandy, great photos of the boys
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Miles and Harper certainly are beautiful.
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Who loves the smell of newborns? I wish it could be bottled and sold. Don't even get me started on what cuddles do for blood pressure...instant drop for me. Holding a newborn truly IS the best medicine.
Amy
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Love the baby pics. My are too young children and so not ready, 18 and 23. But I cannot wait!
Caryn - ugh on redoing the biopsy, but good news for now
I am on Cape Cod for the weekend - Hermine is not going to be any sort of threat, so headed to the beach today. Both of my kids are home and working!! I must have pleased the gods this week
Happy Labor day to all
Nel
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Harper and miles - adorable boys!!
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Love the baby pics. And like Amy I wish we could smell that great new born smell.
Mary
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OK ladies, I have a confession to make. I'm not really a baby person. (Gasp! I know...you probably just made the face I make when people say they don't like cats!) But really, these are some of the most adorable babies I've ever seen! Kandy, that one in the basket takes the cake. How sweet! And Caryn, Miles in the little baseball jersey and tasting his toes...too adorable for words!
DH and I just got back from our 7 day New Orleans 10th anniversary vacation. It was perfect! We did all the touristy stuff...Bourbon Street, Ghost Tour, jazz at Preservation Hall, riverboat tour, Beignets, Cafe du Monde, Garden District, rode the Streetcar, toured Mardi Gras World, French Market, Frenchman Street art market... had a wonderful time! I forgot about cancer for 95% of the time we were there. Pure bliss.
We did, however, have one incident and I'm pretty proud that I didn't let it get me down. We ran into one of those "hey, spend 2 hours listening to us give you a sales pitch on why you should buy a timeshare with us and we will give you lunch and a free tour of your choice and another one half off" things. Really it was great because we got to go on the riverboat tour for free which we had earlier ruled out because of expense. And the sales people were really nice and we did enjoy talking to them, but you know...they try to pressure you into buying, and we really didn't think it through when we said we'd do the tour. At the end they add up how much you will save over a "lifetime" of traveling. She asked how long we thought we'd live...80? 90? 100? Then they asked how many years we thought we would be traveling. 25 or 30 more years at least? I can't blame the saleswoman...she couldn't have known how much that question would hurt. I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, "sure...lets say we will live to 90". Poor DH was looking at me like "i'm so sorry we got into this". Then she kept asking if there was anything other than price that would keep us from buying a timeshare. I wanted to scream "yes! I have stage IV cancer and I don't know if I will be traveling next year let alone for the next 25 years! I can't even imagine 25 years!", but I didn't. I held it together and my DH firmly said thank you, but this is not for us and we tried to get out of there as soon as we could.
After we left I could feel that dark cloud creeping in. I'm sure you know the feeling. My eyes started to sting and I had that lump in my throat. A year ago that conversation would have thrown me for a loop, but I choked it back and dusted myself off and decided I wouldn't let it ruin our day. DH and I had one long tearful hug and that was it.
Now I have the post-vacation blues topped off by learning about all the sweet ladies we lost here and on Facebook over the last week (I think I counted 6 altogether). It is quite a reminder that we need to live while we can and love while we are here.
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Shutterbug, oh I so wish that incident hadn't happened to you and your DH, but it sounds like you made it through and didn't let it ruin your vacation. I know that feeling of that black cloud, and it is tough to break out of its impact sometimes. Good for you for getting past it. I am glad you had such a good time in celebrating your anniversary in New Orleans. I just have one question for you......where are the pictures?
Lynne
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Shutterbug,
Major kudos to you for biting your tongue and not letting that saleswoman have it. I know how fine that line is between the sunshine of the moment and the dark cloud of the future.
As a resident of South Louisiana, may I say that I am impressed with the list of attractions y'all hit. But hey, New Orleans is all about THE FOOD girl. So, where and what did y'all eat?
Too bad y'all didn't score tickets to the Saints-Raiders game yesterday. It was incredible, even though the good guys lost. ;-)
Louis
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Oh Shutterbug, I truly know where you are coming from. The things people say can cut right through you. I have found that even people that knows what's going on can say things that hurt. My Mom told me when I was first diagnosed that I didn't have anything to complain about until I had lived with my problems for 50 years. Lol. I hope that happens. Anyway, so proud of you for not letting it ruin your day.
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Shutterbug, I am sorry about the saleslady myself bringing it all up front for you and of course the passing of facebook/BCO members just this week would have capped it off. Other than that cloud it does sound like a lovely vacation. I agree with an earlier poster, pictures are always great to see and the food must have been spectacular as Kandy noted above. I still visit the dark places here and there since I am fairly new to the stage IV stuff, just started brain radiation, but am finding the dark stuff is only some of the time, I can function normally most of the time. My biggest worry is having to lose my hair again
. If that is all I am worry about right now it can't be all bad. Most of you have probably been through that multi times. When it comes to the dark fearful stuff, I just feel it if I need to. Good example was when I accepted the whole brain radiation (No other treatment available to me given the aggressiveness of the breast cancer and the fact it is HER2 positive and IBC to boot), I cried for about 10 mins. Then I dusted myself off, turned off my tears and went about my day. I have to turn them off sometimes since I cannot cry 24 hours a day. I find if I do a few tears when needed here and there, it is not as overwhelming.
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I love reading everyone's posts and seeing how you all are out there LIVING. In the spirit of carpe diem, I cashed out a retirement fund and am going to make some fun, color outside the lines choices. Up first, buying day of, exorbitantly priced tickets to Adele. My daughter and I went and it was incredible. We made such a special memory. I've lived my life within so many rules; I'm stretching my own limits and enjoying my "retirement"now.
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Glad that you got to see Adele and getting to enjoy retirement on your terms.
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Bluefrog: Good for you! I'm planning to treat DH to a weekend at the Inn at Spanish Bay (Carmel, CA) in the VERY near future. It's very expensive, but heck, I probably won't make it to Europe, so I don't mid spending the $ if it can help us forget about Mr. Cancer for a couple of days.
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Rachel - How happy the two of you look! What great memories for your daughter. I have friends who saw Adele in Detroit and said it was amazing! Glad you went!
Lita - a weekend away is sometimes even better than a big trip - less stress and more relaxation. And forgetting about cancer for a few days is priceless! Enjoy!
Thanks for your comments everyone. It is nice to know you all understand how those unexpected moments can really throw us off balance. I think it was being reminded that the rest of the world gets to make plans for the future without the dark cloud on the horizon. Truly, though, the rest of the trip was wonderful. I'll post a few pics below from Instagram. The pics on my camera will have to wait.
Louis - we don't really follow sports, but everyone was in their Saints gear on Saturday night on Bourbon street. As for the food...we never had a bad meal. Neither of us are seafood or fish eaters, though, so our selection was pretty limited. We loved Little Vic's Sicilian Street Food (where I had my first ever affogato - ice cream and coffee). We ate at Cafe Amelie for our anniversary. I chose it because of the beautiful courtyard. I am so in love with the courtyard dining. So much more relaxing than sitting on the sidewalk of a busy street.
Anyway, all the food was wonderful. We even had some pretty spectacular martinis!I agree with spoiling ourselves. I've always been more concerned with saving for tomorrow than living for today, but cancer has helped me put that into perspective. I'm still a saver by nature, but I no longer stay in the cheapest hotels or look for the cheapest dish on the menu. We gotta live it up ladies!
Working from home today and dealing with a sick 17 yo diabetic cat. He stopped eating yesterday (and he LOVES to eat) and stopped purring when we pet him, so we knew something was up. Being 17 we were prepared for the worst, but it turns out to be an upper respiratory infection. Not eating and drinking enough has caused some concern about his kidneys, but the vet says if the antibiotics take hold and we get him to eat he should be fine. If it isn't one thing it's another! You take the good, you take the bad...
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Here we are the day of our anniversary with the masks we bought. Such tourists!
And Jackson Square in the morning.
And you all know what these are!
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