Hi there! I am signing on just to share a little happy news! Found an email from Carol very early this morning and I wanted to share these excerpts:

"I would not have missed this week at the shore for anything. It has been a perfect build up…rested up nicely from the day at JH…which seems to tire me out, funny when it was really only hydration. But each day I have done better and better and now I am so close to the “old me.” Family and friends started arriving yesterday and I can tell on the look on people’s faces, they are surprised at how GOOOOOOOOOOD I look! Thinner, but good.

The bride is doing wonderfully! Not a hint of stress in sight. She is a picture of peace and grinning happiness! (even yesterday when the wine merchant told them….oops, sorry, we are 5 cases short on the red wine that you ordered! /She just said..okay, well talk to my dad, he’ll work out a substitute! Cute.) and she is totally non-plussed by this rain. (although I heard you had a torrential downpour yesterday…that never made it over here. over cast yesterday but no rain yesterday.)

I have been so good allowing everyone to boss me around to rest. And actually I just get up, walk out of the room, come into our bedroom here (which is SO quiet b/c it is fully separate from the house (no second story)) and I hang out…sometimes I nap, sometimes read. all’s good. It’s been fun to watch the gardeners transform the yard. The tent is up and it doesn’t take up as much room as I was afraid that it was. I woke up this morning to the pitter patter of rain and thought “boy Lord, you are adding weather-trust to Christine and Erik’s faith walk in this wedding!! But weatherman says sunny tomorrow! "

So . . . as you can see . . . Carol is feeling energized, strong and happy!

And I just wanted you all to know :-)

Sally

PS Watch this space! Photos to come following the wedding!

Update time!

Well let’s see, I was a mess at the Hopkins appointment last week. True to form, Sally beat us up there, so that when Frank pulled up to the drop-off, Sally had a wheelchair ready, had primed Ella Mae (my wonderful chemo nurse who is a total crack up – but SO dedicated) and I just wobbled in and up to oncology where I flopped into the bed and they took some blood (potassium is down, mom is feeding me sweet potatoes!) did the whole blood pressure thing (not great) but then I had a nice long nap as the IV pumped a few bags of hydration and some steroids (oh yeah) – I was told my cheeks pinked up nicely and finally I quit returning tummy contents! (There is a theory that the nausea is from STILL coming off the pain meds, and possibly not the chemo. We’ll see.)

Dr. Dan even made a bedside visit. (oh! Pray for Dr. Dan and the team…they make their big presentation on their very successful clinical trial next week) in the end, Dr. Dan had Ella Mae take me off all chemo, put me on 3 anti-nausea drugs that poor Frank had to administer every 3 hours….Andrew volunteered for the 2 a.m. dosing! Nice to have a nocturnal 21 yr old home for a few weeks! But the drugs kicked in after a few days and, that, along with a ½ steroid pill, now have me eating like a trooper.

My mom (Ruth) arrived from Cleveland last week to take charge of all cooking and over-mothering….and she is doing a great job of it! Those of you who know my mom, won’t be surprised that she insisted on driving alone (in her new car!) from Cleveland to DC. (Couldnn’t be here without her wheels!) As I remind Frank, who even HE is feeling overfed, cooking is my mom’s Love Language and she is loving all over us!

So, I am eating, gaining some weight, more tired than I would like to admit, but trying to save up energy for the WEDDING! Next week is the big week with all the festivities. We are having tons of rain back here, so may I ask you to please BOTH pray for a cure for cancer AND a nice sunny weekend next weekend for the wedding in our backyard at the shore.

I will post wedding pix, if you will indulge me. After the wedding, I go back up to Johns Hopkins to jump back into the fight. They are going to put me back on the same meds, so that means every 3 weeks I will go for an infusion of Oxaliplatin and then each day I will take morning/evening doses of Xeloda chemo pills. (I understand it’s a pretty common combo.)

I know I should be so happy that my stomach has calmed down from the every hour (3 hours max between bouts of vomiting..it was terrible!) but on the other hand, I feel as though I am “off meds” and what about that cancer???! I find that I am worried about it. So please pray that God has stopped the cells during this time of “no chemo pills.”

We got an email from Ella Mae who wants me back up at JH tomorrow morning “just so I can lay my eyes on ya…” So back up there we go tomorrow for some blood letting, and check over. I also have an appointment on Thursday before the wedding, so Ella Mae will have me all spiffed up for the weekend.

Thanks again for your prayers for the doctors, me, Frank, Andrew, Chip (flying in from Miramar on Thursday), Christine & Erik and Sally!

Love,
Carol