Not the news we were hoping for

So, the Cancer is still there. We found out on Wednesday, start 9 weeks of chemo on Monday. I don't really know what to say at this point.

In case you didn't see this - here is a note from Dan. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us these last couple of days - knowing you are out there and thinking of us is an incredible support. Even if you don't hear from us, know that your words and kindness have touched us immeasurably. Thank you.

So, from Dan:

Hello all. Well, we found out this morning that we wound up on the wrong side of that 50% number they gave us, and have some work to do before getting this cancer gone. Chemo is scheduled to begin this coming Monday, so that hopefully the hair can fall out just in time for Christmas pictures. The schedule is this: all day chemo from Monday through Friday on Week 1, then just on Monday for Weeks 2 and 3, and then doing that whole cycle twice more, for a total of nine weeks of treatment. A casual glance at our spankin' new 497-page Lance Armstrong LiveStrong notebook makes it clear that chemo comes with several unpleasant side effects along with the excellent main effect of eliminating this brand of cancer in about 99% of cases. However the most disturbing side effect, obviously, is that I will not be able to drink beer.

So, it is going to be an interesting few months, particularly with Em getting more and more pregnant by the day and trying to take attention away from me, but we're timing out to be done with this stretch right before Superbowl, which is the most important thing. Thank you so much for all of your support - we'll try to keep you all up to date as we move into this next phase.

Love to you all - D&E

State of the Union

First, let me start by saying that Thanksgiving this year was wonderful. Absolutely fantastic. We ended up with 16 for dinner and people brought some of the best food we have had yet. We deep-fried one turkey and rotisserie-ed the other – both were fantastic. We missed Aggie and Becca, but I again represented with the Mashed Taters and artichoke dip and all the newcomers this year know where these recipes come from. Now, here is a little of what is going on in our house:

Dan – is feeling well these days. He seems to be fully recovered from the surgery now and we are starting to adjust to what this plan of attack means to our daily lives. He has another Big Monthly Appointment this week with all the scans and tests – in the long run, it really is reassuring knowing how closely this is all getting watched.

Will – he is such a three-year-old. We are trying our second attempt to potty train which is an adventure in itself. I have a hard time writing about him these days because it seems like every story we have about him is a little saccharinely sweet. You know? He is at a really fun age for language development and life seems to follow almost every “You know you have a preschooler when…” list that has ever been written so I don’t really have much to add. The thing about him, through all the ups and downs and three-year-old-ness, is he is just a really good kid. I was talking to a friend recently who hadn’t seen him in a while and she gave me about the best compliment anyone could when it comes to him…she told me saw a happy and secure little boy. Of course I am slightly panicked about what we are about to do to him by introducing a whole new factor of “the sibling” into his life, and how to teach him about the dynamics of that whole new relationship, but hey one step at a time.

Me – I am doing well. I am at a great point in the pregnancy where the morning sickness and fatigue is now totally gone, I’m not so big that I’m uncomfortable, I can eat fruit and vegetables again and I can feel the baby move each and every day (many times a day – he’s a lively one). Work is going well – very busy, but there have been new challenges that I have been given and been able to “rise to” as it were, so that always feels good too.

And that, my friends, is the current state of affairs around here.

Backlog

Oh my lord I have been behind with the picture stuff. I was looking at my Flickr account today and realized I hadn’t uploaded pictures since basically June. Now, we take a lot of pictures in this household so June to November meant that there were a lot of pictures sitting on my camera waiting to be uploaded onto my computer and tinkered with.

So, I dug in and wow, yeah there were a lot of pictures. Luckily (I suppose) since my old camera sucked at focusing the majority of them didn’t turn out, so I didn’t have TOO many that could even be remotely fixed with my limited knowledge of photoshop. But once I started looking at the pictures that came from the new camera? There are almost too many to choose from. I think I got so used to taking 20-30 pictures hoping that 1-2 would turn out that with the new camera I now have 20-30 pictures of almost exactly the same thing that are all good. In any case, that got overwhelming so I've only put up pictures from July and August so far.

Here they are: July/August Flickr

And here are a couple of my favorites – they are (shockingly) out of focus, but I don’t care terribly. I like them anyway.