Jonathan is 30!

Today I dedicate this blog entry to my son, Jonathan. He says he’ll never read my blog, at least not now. He’ll read it someday after I’m gone, so hopefully in 44 years when I’m 100!?

But on July 14, 2023 he turned 30 and we had a party for him with some of his family & friends. I asked several family and friends to write him a note or letter and several did which blessed him immensely so thank you. 

I’m so grateful to call him mine, but really he is God’s first and I’m his mother steward. What a gift and treasure. Our past week together included him joining me for an infusion, celebrating his actual birthday with song, gifts, food and a bonfire! And tonight we went to Northstar Café and I shared with him my letter. May it bless him every day!

Grateful to be your mom!

Another Happy Tuesday

“Happy Tuesday!” That’s what we often say on the days we coach Special Olympics Floor hockey because of our sweet athlete, Lisa, who often says it because she’s so happy to be able to roll around in her wheelchair and play floor hockey. She’s a light in this world that brings us immense joy. 

Tuesday, July11th indeed was a happy one starting out at O-dark thirty when my son Jonathan and I drove to Columbus, OH. We were gifted with this sunrise! Good morning Lord!!

 This was his first time ever joining me for my cancer treatment. I asked him to document what actually happens at my appointments. Often I meet with my oncologist first but this time it was an infusion only. Here is a snippet of how things go. 

Starts with getting vitals. BP, temperature and O2 check. 

Then my port gets cleaned and accessed before they draw blood to make sure my blood count is good enough to receive the Herceptin and Perjeta medications.

Then I wait for the medications to be mixed and they attach that IV to my port and hang out for about an hour. I get a lot of fluids between the saline and 2 bags of medications so I will unplug and walk to the restroom 2-3 times in that visit. Other than that I chat and visit with whomever I’m with  it’s like being at a coffee shop with friends sans coffee!

Finally, I jokingly say I get deported aka have my port de accessed and off I go to enjoy the remainder of my day.

Jonathan shared before arriving that it’s very hard for him to do this and see it but afterwards he and I went for lunch at my favorite spot, Alchemy Kitchen (my favorite part of infusion days). There my once-blue haired friend Maddie works and is always generously sharing free treats from their organic menu and is full of the joy of the Lord!

Then Jonathan and I went on a bike ride and we were blessed with time together to soak in nature and the treasure of friendship and an unbeatable bond between mother and son! 

Then my hubby John and I had the privilege of heading to the YMCA for our Special Olympics Floor hockey where we are blessed by a group of angels on earth to wrap up my Tuesday!! 

A happy Tuesday indeed!!

Gratitude In Everything

 

Three weeks ago I was reminded that I am still being treated for stage 4 breast cancer as I had my port accessed once again at The James Cancer Center.  But ALL praise be to God because if it weren’t for that little reminder of my infusions, I wouldn’t even know I was living with this crazy diagnosis! I truly feel perfectly healthy! And Nooo, I do not take that for granted. I have too many friends and acquaintances that are really struggling physically and they’re in a similar boat as me. As for me, I continue to thank God for my miracle of feeling amazing day after day! Breathing is deep & full still. According to Dr. Sudheendra, my ribs have scar tissue but no more fractures, my lungs are the best they’ll ever be at this point as I’ve managed to overcome clogged lymph channels, my swollen lymph nodes have disappeared and who really knows if there was cancer in my liver!!! I have energy. I’m not nauseous. I have no pain. I’m continuing to live life more fully now than ever! I have so much to be grateful for!

My days are filled with only a few things and one of those is continuing to sell almost all our earthly possessions and another is getting our house ready to sell. We updated our bathrooms and a couple weeks ago I spend 14 hours power washing our driveway, sidewalks, deck and front stoop. I took a picture before finishing to show the difference it makes!!! 

I don’t know if it’s because I’m more aware of the creative beauty in the little things around me, but when I noticed this rainbow last week, it seemed especially brilliant and more rich in color than usual! It’s always a sweet reminder of God’s promises to me! 

Many know I love mountain biking. My mountain bike coach and friend, Brenda, paid it forward last summer when she fulfilled on a promise to me that if I was ever able to get back on a mountain bike after being re-diagnosed that she would drive from Wisconsin to Ohio to ride with me. She also gave my young friend, LillyMae and me the gift of a free private basic skills clinic for 2 full days. She allowed me to record her teaching us so in the future LillyMae and I could pass on those skills. Well almost one year later, here we were coaching up LillyMae’s little sister, Zoey, on her first official mountain bike ride with the big girls!! I loved being able to see the joy in her as she learned new skills and we sang through the trails our song of Gratitude!!!

There is so much to be grateful for and this year I was especially aware of the gift of freedom I have every day. In fact the BOOM BOOM of the fireworks this year caused more than just oooohs and ahhhs. I was aware of the sacrifice so many have made so that I could experience freedom. Freedom to blog openly. Freedom to say what I believe is truth. Freedom to proclaim Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Freedom to carry my pistol when I want to. Freedom to attend church. Freedom to have and read my Bible without fear for my life. Freedom to choose any doctor I want. Freedom to stand up for what I believe is right or wrong. So, yes, this year I felt more pensive around the sounds of fireworks. Thank you if you participated in me having any freedoms. 

I had a day last week where I needed to take time to be by myself and praise God and focus on Him without all the distractions. So I went to my bench and sang Gratitude by Brandon Lake, prayed and quieted my mind. I hiked a bit and breathed in the summer air!

Then I got my cup filled once again as I flew to Florida to spend time with these lovely folks. My granddaughter is 7 months old already and that means I have had the gift of time with her that I wasn’t sure I would get to enjoy. Here we were melting in the southern Florida sun at 97° with lots of humidity and yet, I could easily smile as my heart filled up as we watched a parade and saw a few fireworks!!!

But mostly this past week I got lots and lots of Saileigh cuddles and snuggles, kisses and smiles!! 

I especially took advantage of her snuggles on my last evening where I held her to sleep and let her take a full 1.5 hour nap on my chest. Doesn’t really get any better than that! 

Thanks to my thoughtful daughter, I got an adorable yellow T-shirt with my grandma name of Granita!! Little Saileigh’s outfit is rife with lemons too so we were a perfect fit of you know what a Granita is.  

And that was how the last weeks have passed for this lady. Full full full of gratitude!

I did share that I’m working on a surprise but it’s still in the works. But when it’s ready to share, I certainly will. It will fill you too with Gratitude!!!

Father’s Day Week

My dad lost all three of his dogs in the past few months and this dog loving man was without a canine best friend for the first time in decades. He asked my mother daily for a new dog but she needed a little break from dog hair and all that comes with these furry friends. But…he asked anyway…every day! So when I chatted with my sisters it was clear to me that getting dad a new puppy for Father’s Day was going to be the perfect gift. It didn’t take much convincing to get mom on the same page so this became, according to my dad, THE BEST Father’s Day gift he’s ever received! Thankfully our cousins in Peoria, IL breed the top Brittany spaniels in the country and they just happened to have a beautiful litter ready 8 days before Father’s Day and had one available for me to purchase!! Providence? Synchronicity? God’s timing? Luck? Call it what you want…but my dad is now the proud owner of this gorgeous male Brittany puppy he named Gunner. Thanks to Dogwood Brittanys this daddy of mine now has his hands and heart full! Thanks also to my family who pitched in and made it financially possible! 

Then onward to my favorite Illinois working farm where Wendy and Rich hosted me for a night and treated me to the freshest farm food and goat milk, unbelievable strawberries, and I got to see and learn about the goings on at this organic farm where a dog, cat, goats, chickens and sheep have the best lives and fruits, flowers, herbs and vegetables get to grow in the richest Illinois soil with kindness and love spoken into their very DNA! This is a slice of Heaven on earth for me to bask in the garden and barn with Wendy as we share life and perpetuate a sweet friendship with spoken and unspoken understanding. I love that our goodbye always ends with a hug that is filled with longing for the next time. 

The next several days I rejoiced in the fact that my body is capable of such physical activity as hiking and mountain biking because I got to venture to northern Wisconsin where my mountain biking coach and friend, AKA my shred sister, Brenda lives. I met Brenda on a Facebook page called Mountain Biking Ladies a couple years ago and she became one of my greatest sources of encouragement during my cancer journey. Because coaching is her life, I fully believed in myself as I did my first gravity style mountain biking with her last week!! Her coaching company For The Love Of Bikes is something everyone who owns a mountain bike should check out!! We also hiked new glorious Wisconsin trails and fished at her private lake where we relaxed in the quiet paradise of Harrison Hills near Tomahawk, WI. 

Then back to Rockford, IL for a couple nights to see my family a bit longer. Lys and I rode twice, and I had a few short but cherished conversations with nieces, Aunt Ro, sisters and my beloved parents!  I got to puppy sit that energetic bundle of love too!! This may not be the year for an award winning flower garden with Gunner as the guardian, but it sure made me smile to see the innocent curiosity of a 9 week old puppy!! 

After a long drive back home to Ohio, I was thankful to sleep in my own bed again after a week and spend a day with my hubby.  He bought me a surprise gift that I recently shared that I was interested in having!!! Now my woods will get cleaned up and I’m going to have some good dirty fun!!

God is so good to me. I have beautiful family and friends and I’m a rich woman. 

I know my days may be numbered, but then again aren’t we all walking around with an unknown limited amount of days? I choose to be grateful for this past week and today and right now. Every second of life is a gift. 

Gratitude Everywhere

Where to begin? Gratitude. Always Gratitude!

This weekend was one of those where this mama’s heart got filled up because my adult kids chose me and desired to see and hang out with me! My daughter was in town for a wedding and hung out with us on Saturday, plus she asked this very willing Granita to babysit my sweet granddaughter, Saileigh!!! My son, Jonathan, is still in town from a short return from living in Mexico and joined us, plus my Chinese son, Alex, flew in recently from China to introduce his new lady friend and to see his American mom!!! We all hung out together as a family and had precious time together! I thank God for this gift!

I had the opportunity to hang out with these fine ladies and I took Journey on her first hike with me and her big sis, LillyMae. I’m grateful my body feels well enough to hike!

As many may know, I love mountain biking (green trails mostly). Last week I got to take another young lady on her first mountain bike trail ride and she did great! No Fear is not only my bike’s name but it’s how she approached the trails! Of course I informed her that to celebrate she needed a victory bike lift! Her Daddy would be so stoked to see her bravery and fearlessness! I’m so proud of you, Zoey! Plus I’m grateful that a friend of mine offered to give her a free kids mountain bike after telling him about her need for one! Shout out to Skip Torres!! You’re an amazing human with a big heart! 

I’m still pursuing a dream of creating something special for the cancer world that I’d love to see come to fruition. It’s one legacy that I would really be grateful to leave behind and see the idea grow into a reality for all people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I have the vision but not sure how to make it manifest. It all started here on this trail in Yellow Springs, Ohio at John Bryan State Park’s mountain bike trail called Abracadabra. Hopefully, in the near future it will happen. I’ve emailed my oncologist to see if she would support my idea so I’ll see if she responds next week. As this unfolds, I’ll keep my readers up to date. If anyone is an entrepreneur and can help me and wants in on my secret and is willing to join me in making my dream come true, please message me. 

Tonight I listened to an interview with Brandon Lake. He’s someone I’d love to tell my story to about how his song Gratitude literally has been my anthem as the cancer in my lungs clogged my lymph channels so much so a year ago that I could hardly breathe or walk 15 feet without supplemental oxygen and how God miraculously cleared them to the point where I can effortlessly breathe, hike and bike daily! As the lyrics say, “You’ve got a Lion inside of your lungs so get up and praise the Lord!” I was filled with gratitude when I couldn’t breathe and I’m filled with gratitude now that I can! That’s something I can choose no matter how I physically am doing or feeling! This Gratitude is something worth celebrating! Here is Brandon’s Gratitude once again. 

Hiking, Hubby, and Florida

A couple weeks ago when I did a hiking/camping trip in Wisconsin, my poor feet had that barking dog feeling after 7 miles of hiking the Ice Age Trail with LillyMae and Coach Brenda.

This got me thinking that I needed fresher, newer, more comfortable hiking boots since the Keens I wore were probably 5 years old. I have visited our local REI store thrice last week and finally settled on a couple higher quality pairs of hiking footwear…La Sportiva hiking boots and La Sportiva trail running shoes. The craziest thing I discovered is that my feet may have have grown and instead of getting the usual size 6, I ended up purchasing 7.5s!!! I also discovered that that brand runs smaller, but I also learned that due to feet swelling when hiking, many long distance hikers get footwear that’s a little bigger than their normal size. Therefore, after hanging out at REI multiple times and trying on lots of boots, I’m the proud owner of some new hiking footwear for my next hiking adventure coming up in June where Brenda and I will crank out 4 full days of long hikes to finish several sections of the Ice Age Trail in SW Wisconsin. I’m so full of GRATITUDE that my body can physically do this much strenuous activity even with the frequent charlie horses and slight neuropathy in my feet! I have nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for!

A week ago Friday was a very special evening where some of John’s and my friends joined us for a surprise dinner at The Golden Lamb restaurant as we celebrated his retirement a little more officially, despite him not wanting any fanfare. God has blessed us with so many beautiful friends! John was indeed surprised and pleasantly so!

Before heading to Florida I got to get out this past week with some girlfriends and hike a few miles with Andrea, Jess and Doni! Each of the ladies enrich my life and I do not take lightly the time I have to spend with them. I take no days or hikes for granted! I see beauty in the flowering weeds, the un-mowed grassy trails, the fallen trees across the paths, the soaking rain while hiking as well as the smiles, laughter and meaningful conversations. 

Saturday I made my monthly trek to Florida and it started with my Mother’s Day gift of a massage with my daughter! 

Then I had the pure joy of babysitting my granddaughter, Saileigh, and to meet up with my mama and sister, Paula, as we all took turns caring for Saileigh’s every need. To have 4 generations together for the first time since my grand parents were alive was such a blessing. 

While we were in Florida there was some excitement one evening where a large black bear walked behind the house. Thankfully it was uninterested in anyone and just ambled by! 

However, this did put my mom and sister on a bear hunt to get a photo of its footprint the next day! Here they are ready to stave off any unwanted bear!