The Shack

I know many of you have heard us speak of the “shack.” Dean and his buddy, George, have been hard at work over the past few months building a new wing to the shack, as well as decorating with some new/ready for Goodwill furniture. They are pretty proud of their little domain and have been spending oodles of time out at the farm during deer season. BTW, much to Leslie’s displeasure, Dean has decreased Oklahoma’s deer population by a few deer.

While the boys have been playing, I have spent some time in OKC with Leslie and shuffled back and forth to a few doctor’s appointments. After some thought, I have decided to take a course of radiation therapy starting next week. I will go for about 6 weeks and we are hopeful this will provide a good dose of preventative medicine.

I have also gotten in the Christmas spirit early and put up both of my trees and various decorations. I am looking for to a family Christmas and some good food!! I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving and wonderful Holiday season!

New York and Beyond

And they said it couldn’t be done…the Coales went to New York City!! We, along with our trusty friends George and Sandy, made our way through the northeast and beyond!

During our trip, we visited NYC, Boston, New Hampshire and various places in Vermont and Maine. Needless to say, it was a whirlwind trip, but we had such a good time.

Somewhat surprisingly, we really loved NYC. I knew we would have a good time, but I think we had some preconceived notions of what New York would be like. It exceeded everything we thought it would be. We saw the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, walked through the financial district and Chinatown and get this – we took the subway everywhere and didn’t get lost! We managed time to see the Broadway show, Spamalot, which was superb!

After NYC, we ventured to Boston where we got a great lesson in our country’s history, visited Harvard and ate some fantastic seafood.

For the rest of the vacation, we drove through the Northeast and saw mountains, rivers, covered bridges and did a little shopping along the way! Most of locals said we had missed the peak of the fall foliage, but it was still beautiful.

While our flight home was less than stellar, it didn’t dampen our memories. It’s always nice to be home, but this was a vacation I won’t soon forget!

Let's Fund a Cure!

NYC and Boston have been terrific. I can’t wait to get home and post some pictures about our trip. We’re having a blast!!!

On another note, Leslie has been busy raising money for the Susan Komen Race for the Cure in OKC. Sadly, I won’t be able to participate because I’ll be gone, but if you would like to donate some money to her total, that would be fantastic!!!!

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Susan Komen Foundation, please click here. They are working hard to raise money to find a cure for breast cancer and I am hopeful they will find a cure in the next few years.

More soon!

Amazing!

Sorry for the long delay. I wanted to wait to post until I had all of my recent tests back and had some news to report. I actually have some GREAT news to report, but I’ll get to that shortly. I finished my 12 weeks of chemo and actually endured pretty well. My hair has started growing again! It’s pretty funny looking…very fuzzy.

I went through another round of testing recently and have met with both my breast specialist and oncologist over the past few days. The chemo drug worked amazingly well and I am pleased to report that my breast tumor has been reduced dramatically. I am scheduled for a mastectomy at the end of October. To my surprise, my back tumors have also reduced to the point that oncologist says we don’t even have to do radiation. I think the power of prayer is an amazing thing!

Of course, friends and family also get some credit for my improvement. Not a day has gone by since my diagnosis that I haven’t heard from at least one family member or friend. I want to thank all of you for your love, support and kind words.

I will remain on various medicines forever, but what a surprise that my body responded so well to this first round of drugs. I couldn’t have ask for a better week!

We are leaving next week for NYC and Boston with our good friends, George and Sandy. I think it’ll be a celebratory trip and I can’t wait to have some fun! I’ll post all about it when we get back, so until then, thanks for your continued prayers. I couldn’t have done it without all of you!

Good News

It has been a great week! First, I celebrated my 43rd wedding anniversary this week. I can’t believe I’ve been married that many years, and I know many of you can’t believe that I’ve put up with Dean all these years! Ha! We celebrated by going out to dinner, which was a nice change of pace.

Best of all, I saw one of my doctors on Wednesday and things are looking great! A quick ultrasound exam showed that my breast tumors are breaking up and shrinking. It was really what I wanted to hear. We may extend my chemo since I am tolerating it well, which is fine by me. I was also cleared to go on vacation in October, which was fantastic news. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better week.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

I’ve been thinking about all of my friends who are headed back to school while I’m hanging out NOT preparing schedules, taking meetings and dealing with cranky parents. It’s all such a weird feeling. But, I have to say, retirement is still pretty great!

Despite being the heat of summer, we really have been busy. Cate stayed with us for a few days to go to vacation bible school. She was put into the “big” kids class (that’s 5 & 6 year-olds) and made lots of art projects. She especially enjoyed the pool party at the end of the camp. She can swim pretty well with floaties, but really wanted to swim to the deep end. Let’s just say she and Pa had some disagreements over swimming past the shallow rope. All that said, we loved having her. It was a nice distraction for us.

We recently attended a wedding hosted by our friends the Baxters. It was such a lovely event and we really enjoyed seeing all of our “old” friends and several former students. My friend Melinda came to visit over a weekend and Dean even took her to his shack. She really should feel privileged. Very few women have been invited to the shack (or frankly, even dared to visit)! Speaking of the shack, Dean and his buddy George have decided to expand the illustrious shack. After they get done, I think Southern Living is doing a feature on their beautiful creation! Ha! I will post a picture soon so you can appreciate their hard work.

I continue to feel good. I have five treatments left and we're upbeat about my progress. I hope to provide a more detailed update later next week. For now, I’m just ready for August to be over and the weather to cool down. Will this heat ever end?

Away We Went

Did you think I started a blog and forgot to update it? Our retirement actually hasn’t been too relaxing! In addition to the usual weekly treatments (more on that shortly), we traveled with the girls down to South Padre Island for short vacation. Padre probably sounds like an unusual choice for those of you who know us, but we go at least once a year to visit our Aunt Rene and Uncle Bob. It’s a happy coincidence that it’s a great spot to relax, breathe the ocean air and eat some great seafood while visiting relatives!

Being on the beach with the girls was an interesting experience. Cate loved the beach this time, while in the past she has not been so keen about the sand and rushing waves. Peri was a little more reserved. She loved the water, but seemed confused about the sand. I walked the beach by myself every morning to watch the sunrise. It really was beautiful. Best of all, we got to spend time with our relatives including our cousin Lauren, who is 14. She and Cate hit it off immediately!

With ongoing treatments, it was nice to escape reality if only for a few days. I loved being with my family and I think we all needed to get away. While the car ride was long, the girls traveled well and I think everyone had a great time. So now, back to reality!

I have eight more chemo treatments and I am still feeling pretty good. I get tired a few days after treatment, but I have still been working on many projects around the house. It’s never-ending! Leslie recently went with me to buy a wig, that I think I’ll be starting to wear this week. My hair has finally started falling out, but the wig will allow me to have “good hair days” every day of the week! Look on the bright side, right?

Hope all is well with you!

Beginnings

Hectic is the only word to describe these past few weeks. We’ve officially moved everything back from Arkansas and even after getting my first chemo treatment, I’ve unpacked most of the moving boxes!

Most importantly, after weeks of countless doctor appointments, I have officially started taking chemotherapy treatments. I will take one treatment every week for the next 12 weeks (well, 11 now). So far, the side effects have been few and I am thankful that I can continue my daily activities. We’ll see how the following weeks progress.

Throughout my diagnosis and beginning treatment, I have been blessed to have so much advice and support from friends and family. Thanks to everyone for your kinds words and concern. I especially want to thank Joyce and Wally for their endless time and boundless support. Your information and support has really made the past few weeks so much easier. Thank you!

On a brighter note, the kids have been spending lots of time here. Cate went fishing with Pa for the first time recently. She liked the fishing, but not the actual fish. We’ll have to work on that! We have started referring to the girls as “Princess One” and “Princess Two.” We are looking forward to a summer with the girls, who change every week. They rule the roost!

Hope all is well with all of you. More soon…

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Since we have a little extra time on our hands these days, we thought it would be great to start a blog keeping friends and family updated on our lives.

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