The View from Here

Good Morning to all of you following this infrequent summary of Deb's health Deb's overall health, as related to cancer remains the same. Scans are repeated with the same overall results. A spot of breast cancer remains on her liver. Deb was fortunate to loose her job as of May first. She ended almost 35 years of employment with Kemper. She was fortunate in that she received her severance shortly before the State of Illinois Insurance Department (I think that's correct) took over Kemper (Lumbermen's Mutual Company?). Oh yes, the other development. In addition to having me around every day, she has two teenage daughters, Harumi Katori from Japan, and Emma Bonde from Denmark. YFU (Youth for Understanding) worked with us to select Emma in March. Emma, a wonderful, beautiful girl (a Bond girl?) arrived August 8th after a flight from Denmark to Germany to Dulles airport in Washington D.C. to O'hare. Looking a bit tired and lost, she arrived about two hours late. We loaded her bags and took the long drive home. She met and charmed Strider (the wonder dog) and settled into our family and hearts. Harumi, called Katorine, was a wonderful development that happened in the beginning of September. YFU asked us to pick up Katorine at O'hare and be a welcoming family for her. Get her started in school and they would place her with a permanent family as soon as possible. After two weeks we decided to keep her and she has been a terrific addition to our family. She has been fun, and we have been learning about Japanese customs and language. She is affectionate and very happy. She helps with everything and is a great friend to Emma. Who would have ever thought that we would have two 16 year old students at the same time. But what a great development so far. The girls share a lot; classes, friends and us, they have charmed the family and each other. Katorine's patience and Emma's fluency in English compliment each other and they are both great students with lots of "A's" on their report cards. Deb cooks every night and she and I rest during the day until the girls get home at 3:15 PM. So Deb has a lot to keep her busy, something she worried about from May to September. We've traveled to Milwaukee, Galena and Chicago, and this month we plan to go to Michigan. Our vehicle is equipped with a DVD player, so a trip of any real length allows the girls to sample our collection. Homework keeps both Deb and I active. I personally enjoy having Deb home and the twins here. The holidays are just around the corner. Wow, where did this year go? We take Emma and Katorine through Halloween (their first) followed by Christmas and Thanksgiving. Every day is a new discovery about Japan or Denmark. Every day brings new challenges and sometimes a crisis or two. It's great. I always like to remind myself to live in the moment, love large and limit worry. God Bless you all.

Good News

Hi everyone,

Deb's CT scan results were good. No new cancer and the cancer present on her liver hasn't changed.

We view this as good news and a blessing.

Other than that, there isn't much to report. We continue to enjoy our small group and the emotional support of friends and family. Deb will have another CT scan in six months, I assume.

Thanks for keeping up with us.

God Bless all of you.

Dan

Merry Christmas 2012

Here is our Christmas thoughts for all of you,


December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas to all, and our wish for a Happy New Year.

This Year has been a special one for us, with all the surprises we could want and God’s blessings through all of the year. We didn’t send a letter last year because when I put one together, it seemed much too sad, and in reality, 2010 had some bright spots too, brought into focus by looking backwards over time.

We celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary in 2010 and decided to go back to Montreal and see if anything had changed. Our trip had all the mystery of France, with a convenient North America location, coupled with a side trip to Quebec City, for the crowning Francophile experience. We stayed at the Queen Elizabeth, as before, and got caught up in the Montreal, Philadelphia hockey play off game excitement. Chicago won the Stanley Cup, the first since 1961, and I was very proud to be able to watch the games and root for the Blackhawks.

A year ago Deb was diagnosed with right side breast cancer, confirmed by a biopsy, a shock really, especially since all the exams had been normal. Chemo started in early December and a mastectomy followed in May. The good news is that Deb is doing well and getting her strength back, slow but sure and still working full time. The breast cancer had attached to her liver but is thought to be stable. She will have another CT scan Monday to see how things look.

I had my right hip replaced in May, so for almost a month we convalesced together, enjoying our time together at home. Deb returned to work and eventually so did I, for a week, and then retired on August first. Not only do I really like being home, Strider is thrilled to have me here so she can nap on the love seat next to me.

I was in Michigan in August to visit Kathi, Erin and Kris. Kris and Bud live in the Grand Rapids area so I spent some time with them and the grandkids, Mitchell and Madelynn. Then I went to the Pontiac area to visit with Kathi and Jim and to attend a Pontiac Central High School band reunion. I think my friend Peggy and I were the oldest ones there. I’m glad I wasn’t asked to play anything.

Erin and Quinn were visiting in the area so we all congregated at Kathi’s and later had dinner at the Clarkston Union restaurant. Erin’s husband Rob, a career USAF member, returned from his yearlong duty in Korea, and they have now moved to his next duty station near Pensacola Florida. Erin hopes to be there long enough for Quinn to complete high school. Quinn is sixteen.

Sadly, we put Gabby, our cat, down in June. She was sixteen years old and had come to have just too many health challenges to go on without being miserable. Our vet and her team sent a nice sympathy card and Gabby’s paw prints to help us remember her. It is so difficult to lose a loved pet, after so many years. It’s hard to believe Strider is nine years old now.

We are part of a great small group through church that has helped us keep our balance through all the ups and downs. There have been times and days in the past year that we were scared, overjoyed, angry, in denial and riding the roller coaster of emotions as our situation evolved, but through it all we were comforted by great friends, family and most of all our Lord, who marked a path for us through this year and gave us the strength to survive.

Someone wrote that the secret of happiness is to walk slowly through life, savoring the exercise, and to make no left turns while driving. Three right turns make a left turn, as you all know. And statistics show most senior driver’s accidents come during left turns. I want to be around to continue my driving Deb up the wall.

We have enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and look forward to Christmas and New Year. We hope and pray for healing for Mary as she battles leukemia, Jack as he treats for skin cancer and keeps an eye on his lymphoma, currently in remission. We mourn the passing of our friends Jill and Herman from cancer, and the health problems that seem to visit everyone we know.

This year we have tried to look at our life and feel the contentment that comes from knowing that God has given us so many blessings, and that He has only asked us to be good stewards of those blessings and to share them with others. We are certainly blessed by your prayers and petitions to our Lord asking for healing for us and we’ve seen the results of those prayers in the recent positive medical exams.

God Bless each of you in 2012

Dan, Deb and Strider, the wonder dog

Another Christmas Reflection

Happy Thursday everyone,

I sit here today looking at Christmas present and back at Christmas past, reflecting on all that has gone on since we started this epic battle with cancer.

I read through some of the past posts and I enjoyed reliving the emotions I felt at various times, certainly a roller coaster, but tempered by the lens of time.

I guess I look at the last five years as a test in some ways. We've tried to meet head on the challenges of cancer and then it's return, and I honestly can not imagine someone with a better attitude and more grace than Deb has shown throughout all of this. Where others may have given in or given up, she has been the epitome of courage and focus. I'm so proud.

The fight has taken it's toll. She is spooked by the cancer that remains in her liver and will always believe that her future is compromised by the probability of further cancer. And that's not to say anything about all the side effects that she has endured and remain.

Her hair has come back beautifully, and everyone marvels at her appearance and energy.

We believe that God has brought us through this season for a purpose. He has blessed us with so many gifts and we must remember to thank Him in everything and be content, because he is our Lord and Savior and will guide us with His word.

He will be with you also, all the way, that faithful God. Every morning when you awaken to the old and tolerable pain, at every mile of the hot uphill dusty road of tiring duty, on to the judgment seat, the same Christ there as ever, still loving you, still God.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller

It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
Author:
Emmet Fox American Unity Minister, Metaphysician

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. [John 13:35]

We mourn the loss of Herman and Jill to cancer recently, and dear friends Mary, Jack and Logan who are fighting cancer. It seems this fight will never end.

Thank you for your prayers. Having cancer is sometimes lonely, sad too, not knowing the final outcome. But knowing someone with cancer gives each one of us the opportunity to make a difference. So call and be available, give love and hugs as they are the best medicine.

God Bless,

Dan

Reflections

October 26th and while the grass is still green, the leaves are either in color or on the ground. Isn't it something that time seems to go so fast except between November and March? Strider is curled up beside me, while Val cleans our home. Deb is working and, John is here to do some electrical work for me. The sun is bright and a gental breeze blows. Deb is getting her strength back and continues to amaze me with her positive attitude and reliance on good doctors and our Lord to see her through this cancer thing. She goes to the various doctors who then examine her and give her a clean bill of health. My retirement is still a novelty to me, but I'm liking it more all the time. Please pray for healing for Jill Bryan, Mary Krummery, Mary Keller and Tom Brown. So many people with medical issues. Thank you for keeping up with us. Without all of you, we wouldn't stand a chance to continue our feeling that this too shall pass. God Bless all of you, Dan

A little of this, and a lot of that

Hello everyone, This is a quiet Thursday evening with Strider snuggled up beside me and a warm laptop computer keeping me, well, warm. Deb is out to dinner with dinner group two and so here I sit felling very content and peaceful. Deb had a CT scan a week or so ago and the results were good. She was told that her lung nodules improved, but she doesn't remember ever hearing anything about her lungs before, so that's a puzzle she will have to solve when she visits the doctor. The cancer med she takes each day is starting to bring about side effects including irritability. She continues to work, God bless her. Treatment continues for lymphedema in her left arm, and there has been progress. There will be a transition to something she will wear daily and something different for night time. This will replace the therapy she gets at Centegra three times a week. Nothing else much going on with us. I'm enjoying retirement. Lots of little projects and I've taken Strider to the park so she can explore being a dog. We continue to get great support from our small group and others from church. Friends old and new pray for us and we feel the warmth of love and good wishes. God has blessed us with abundance and we are grateful. It seems to me that giving thanks is more than a seasonal thing. I'm convinced that I should start each day with my personal thanks for a great mate, my family and my health. And for the friends that have suffered through this last few years of Deb's trials with understanding and patience, we couldn't ask for more. Our friend Jack is still treating for skin cancer, but his lymphoma is dormant, while Jill Bryan suffers through chemotherapy and the side effects that brings. Please pray for them as they battle the uncertainty of health and healing. God Bless you all, Dan

Earthquakes and Rain

Dear Friends,

This afternoon finds me watching the earthquake coverage for the east coast and being thankful that we are not involved. What fear something like this must generate in people who remember the recent Japan quake.

Fear is something that we know first hand, and fight all the time. Fear of suffering, death, losing loved ones and being out of control. We all realize that we should calm ourselves and have faith, but when the bottom is dropping from the market and homes are selling for 60 percent of the asking price just two years ago, it creates plain old fear.

So I can understand how Deb would feel about the liver scan scheduled for September ninth. There is already cancer present, we know, and the last scan was several months ago, so a bit of fear or concern would be expected. We will know more after the scan.

We see some good results in the lymphedema therapy, with a steady decrease in the retained fluid. That has Deb feeling better.

With September 11th coming soon, it's not too early to remember those who died in that terrible tragedy.

Being content is the hardest thing to do, but if you can pull it off, you will find much more satisfaction in life.

God Bless,

Dan