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!

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?