Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Training Post # 11...With A Thankful Heart

I don't know how time can pass so quickly. Perhaps being busy makes a person not feel the days come and go.

I will catch everyone up to speed on the life of this 68 year old girl.

First of all........I have reached my fund raising goal for the 3-Day for the Cure, and exceeded it. I am over $2,400.00 as of today.

It is with a grateful heart I thank everyone for their support and financial donations. In order to walk the 3-Day for the Cure, I needed to raise $2,300.00.

Thanks to all of you I have met that goal, and with each step, will say a name of anyone you would like me to be walking for. With each step I take, if I can put a name to it, something wonderful happens inside me.

I am already walking for a few I know by name.........

Sarah
Angel
Lynn
Pat
Kathy
Karen
Curt
Betsy
Jennifer
Michelle
Vicki
Tina
Ellen
Janice
Keri
Mark

I have had to put my walking on the back burner for a few weeks. There are some business circumstances requiring my attention, and a fund raising garage sale at Sarah's this week, and a visit from my son and his family next week that I am preparing for.

I can't miss my life while I am training. I will train again. But, first, I get to see my son, his wife, and two of their sons next week. We have not seen them for a year and a half.

I brought them home from SC for Christmas, 2009, because I anticipated the death of my niece, Briana, and I wanted us all to be together. Then, Sarah was diagnosed with cancer and life was redirected. I smile. That is a nice way to put what has felt like a trip to hell.

I can't wait to see my son and his wife and their boys.

I want to hold them, hug them, hear their voices and laughs, and feel them as they live in my house for the days they are here.

Memories are going to be made. I want to be here. I don't want to miss life in the moment. God will help make me strong enough to carry out my training after their visit.

I will train.

I will walk.

I will walk for the names anyone sends me.

I will say your loved ones names with each step I take.

With all my heart I thank everyone who has supported me in my training and in my fund raising goal.

If you want to see my progress...my reaching of my goal...just click on the link below.......

http://www.the3day.org/site/TRC/2011/TwinCitiesEvent2011?pg=peditor&fr_id=1626&px=5787663

With a grateful heart I say good night.

I will keep you updated on my training.

I will keep you updated on my life.

Life is to be lived.

I intend to do just that.

Love,
Judy

Friday, June 10, 2011

Training Post # 10 .... Good Report On Sarah


Ok........so a breath can be taken and a sigh can be heard around the world...a good sigh!

Sarah got the results of her endometrial biopsy and everything looks normal!!

I am so pleased, happy, ecstatic, thrilled, relieved, grateful and probably a few other adjectives as well. I am blessed. We are blessed.

So, now Sarah and I will walk with a spring in our steps tomorrow. Sarah will be coming over to stay the night tonight and we will get up and walk our 13 miles tomorrow. It is a big day! It is the biggest training day yet, and Sunday is a 9 mile day. We have already walked 9 miles this week. That totals 31 miles for the week!

I will see if I will be able to do it all. I am a bit under the weather, but am going to just go slow and pay attention to how I feel. We will walk in my neighborhood and will use my house as our home base to eat and rest. I have a yummy casserole in the oven that we will be able to scoop and heat in the microwave....instant nutrition!

I am very close to raising my $2300.00. The sooner I have my fund raising done my team will be able to check in online and make decisions about whether we will stay in the tent community or in a motel.

I think I need about $172.00 yet and then I will have met the goal.

If anyone has been thinking about donating and just hasn't done it yet, please do, or if anyone would like to consider donating it would be wonderful.

Your support really does help me walk. I say the names of my supporters as I take my steps and for some reason it helps, and even brings a smile to my face.

The link to my personal page is listed below. You can check my progress and see just how far I have come and how far I have yet to go.

Thank you everyone so much for your encouragement and your hugs and questions about how I am doing in my training.

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2011/TwinCitiesEvent2011?px=5787663&pg=personal&fr_id=1626

Hugs,
Judy

Friday, June 03, 2011

Update On Sarah's Appointment Today

I am at Sarah's house now. It is 3:30 p.m. and we are home from the doctor's. She had an ultra sound, a meeting with the doctor and an endometrial biopsy.

The ultra sound looked good...no fibroids or polyps that would cause the bleeding, but the thickness of the edometrial lining indicated she should have a biopsy.

Anything 4mm and under would indicate NO biopsy needed. Her reading was 6.3mm...so not too high...anything like 10mm or above is what they see if there is cancer.

So, things look good so far and we will get the results of the biopsy maybe next Friday, June 10 or early the following week.

We are tired and we plan to walk tomorrow over in my neighborhood. The doctor told Sarah to let her body guide her as far as the walking goes.

Our walking schedule for tomorrow is 12 miles. We will see how it goes. Sarah will be staying overnight at my house and we will give ourselves lots of time to walk and rest and walk and rest and then rest and rest and rest and rest : )

Your thoughts and prayers lifted me high this morning. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and care. No matter which way I would ever fall, I know I would land on a blanket of angels.

Hugs,
Judy

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Not A Training Post Tonight....A Post About Keeping My Wits About Me

(Dante's Prayer) Click to play.



What better way to calm one's spirit than with music and nature.

Today has been a day of questions and uncertainty and what ifs. It has been a day of telling yourself not to worry. It has been a day of going about living as if everything was normal....as normal as it is when your daughter had cancer...and is, as far as we know, doing ok.

But......for the last three days my daughter has been bleeding.......on Tamoxifen.

Bleeding on Tamoxifen can mean any number of things I guess. One of the things it can be is a symptom of endomedrial cancer. It might just be her body coming back to a pre-menopausal state. Chemo shuts down your hormones and can put a young woman into menopause.

I might not make much sense tonight. I will do my best.

We have learned through this journey that what statistics say is not always true. Sarah's 36 year old cousin, Briana, died of uterine cancer, a cancer that strikes women my age...........68!! Briana died of it!!

Her main symptom was profuse bleeding that wouldn't stop. So, when my daughter was bleeding profusely for three days, we take note.

Sarah has contacted the oncologist's nurse and her gynocologist. She has an appointment tomorrow for an ultra sound, a doctor's appointment and a potential uterine biopsy. That is a "maybe biopsy" based on the doctor's appointment I guess.

I will be there. That doctor's appointment will be at the same office where she was told she had breast cancer. That alone, has some anxiety for her.

We are all believing everything will be ok. That is the mind talking. Funny how your body goes where your mind can't stop it.

For those who pray......pray.

For those who don't.......hold us in your thoughts.

Thanks..........hugs, Judy