Heading Home

It’s been an interesting week. We’ve battled record amounts of skiers and illness, but still managed to have some fun.

Our friend Allen spent two nights in a local hospital thanks to some nasty kidney stones. Luckily, he is doing well and will be traveling home tomorrow, also. Texas was on spring break with Oklahoma this year and needless to say, the slopes were packed!!! We didn’t get to ski as much as we wanted, but still had fun.

It will be nice to be home. We understand that there was some major rain while we were gone, so we’re wondering what our yard looks like! Hopefully, not a swamp!

Not So Quiet

Wow, retirement sure isn’t as quiet as I thought it might be! Since I last wrote (which was too long ago…sorry!), I have kept the girls, finished radiation, visited south texas and now I’m in Colorado! I know, the life of a retiree!

I finished my radiation treatments and start another round of testing next week. I am hopeful for good news towards the end of April. My blood work looks good and I am feeling very good. My left arm has been very swollen due to lyphodema, which we thought would happen because the mastectomy and radiation. I am wearing a sleeve throughout the day and doing special physical therapy, but I am learning to deal.

I am staying busy with volunteer work, church activities and doing Grandma duties.
Sean and Leslie took a quick trip to Las Vegas and we kept the girls over the MLK weekend. We had a blast. Cate has become very helpful in the kitchen. She loves to make salad, cookies or fruit salad and “decorate the table.” In Cate-speak, this means setting the table for dinner! Peri is quite the pistol and totally lives up to the her nickname, “Pepper.” She is very vocal and much more aggressive than her older sister. We often say Cate looks like Sean and acts like Leslie, while Peri looks like Leslie and acts like Sean. They are opposites in every way.

Dean has been working on improving the ponds out at the farm and piddling around the shack. He has taken some time to teach some clinics and judge some contests, which has been a nice treat for him. I think he has really enjoyed getting out, but not having to deal with school everyday is nice!

We did travel to south Texas in January after we learned Dean’s Uncle Bob had died. We were so glad to be able to attend the memorial service and see family we hadn’t seen in years. While we wish the circumstances could have been happier, being with family is always a blessing.

That’s it for now. I am hoping to post some pictures of our ski trip when we get home. I hope all is well with all of you!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

No, I haven’t disappeared; I’ve just been really busy! We’ve been going non-stop and I haven’t been too good about updating my blog!!

Christmas was great. The kids came and stayed for several days and it was so quiet when they left! Cate has discovered the Wizard of Oz and watches it constantly. I took some time and made her a Dorothy dress and Santa brought her some “ruby slippers.” I just love this picture…our little Dorothy. She calls Peri, her little sister, Toto. Guess that sums up their relationship!

Dean and I have been running here and there. I have been in radiation therapy for the past six weeks and I go every weekday. Driving to Shawnee every morning has been a little tiring, but luckily, I only have two treatments left! I have tolerated the treatment pretty well, -just a nasty burn on part of my skin. I will be glad to coast for a while and hope my next round of testing is positive. I feel good.

On the brighter side, Dean and I just bought a new car and we’re so excited. We got a Lincoln MKX. Fancy, I know, but I figured I deserved a treat and a new car fit the bill!! We actually haven’t been driving it too much and park far away from people when we do. We’re so protective of that car. It’s like our new baby.

Dean has been busy at the shack and went to OKC to help Leslie and Sean clean up their yard after the ice storm. His next project is getting the pond ready for fishing with granddaughters!

I hope all is well with you and I’ll try to do a better job of updating my blog. Happy 2008!

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!