Good News!

The experts at Dana Farber have completed their review of Kelly's slides, reports and films. Their opinion is that the area of concern noted in the July MRI is not cancer cells, but rather tissue damage caused by the radiation. Considering that, they have placed Kelly under close watch and wait status and will perform another MRI in 4 months. That time frame will allow Kelly's body more time to heal from the radiation. For now, a mastectomy is not necessary. That is pretty big news, and certainly a relief to everyone!

We are all cautiously optimistic that the initial two lumpectomies, subsequent radiation and treatment with Tamoxifen may have done the trick. But we are wise enough to defer to those experts who say that they must closely monitor Kelly and can't pronounce her out of the woods just yet. We are in total agreement that it is best to gather more data points before taking irreversible surgical action. The doctors feel that watching and waiting will not put Kelly at any further risk, for now.

There have been many, many people praying for Kelly, and we thank you for those prayers. They certainly seem to be working. Please don't let up now - she still has a ways to go.

I just spoke with Kelly and Eric. We all agree that this has been an emotional day, one that has all of us drained. I wish I had the energy to call each and every one of you to share this good news personally. For now, this is the most that I can do, so please don't feel offended that I didn't call.

Once again, I encourage you to follow the link to Kelly's Journal found at the top left of this page. I expect she will be ready to post there again in the next day or two.

Thanks so much for caring.

Catching Up

It has been quite a while since I last posted. I feel like I have been on medical leave. My condition? I have been experiencing brain drain.

I thought that when we returned home from New York we could parlay some of the steam roller action we had been living into a whirlwind of activity at home. It was a good plan. Our non-stop days of grand kids and travel suddenly seemed like a run away train that jumped the tracks. Screeeeeeech! Everything came to a grinding halt. Time for some much needed, but not planned for, down time.


It is good to be home, good to see our friends and good to sleep in our own bed. We have a list of "things to get done before we go back to Albany", but in the week that we have been home we have barely made a dent in it.

Thanks to those of you who have called or sent notes, wondering what has been happening. Simple explanation: brain drain. We are starting to get a grip on things again. It is time to get back on track.

Kelly had her appointment with the plastic surgeon in Boston on Tuesday of this week. I think it went as well as any of us could have hoped. Let me point you to Kelly's Journal for a reasonable summary, rather than have me go over it all tonight. You will find a link on the top left of this page. I will fill in with more information as it becomes available.

Kelly has a lot to consider now. She is still waiting for the Dana Farber staff to pass judgement on the slides, reports and films that St. Peter's in Albany sent to them. It is nerve wracking to wait for this info as it can impact on the total treatment plan depending on whether the two medical institutions agree or disagree on the diagnosis and treatment. We are back in the waiting room.

In the meantime, life goes on and we try to make the best of it. We are getting active in our community again, we are keeping doctor and dental appointments, we are back to making plans for finishing the basement and we are gathering our strength.

Thanks for all the love and support you have all been sending our way. I feel like we are storing "nuts" of love and kindness for the long winter ahead. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.

On The Road Again

It's Sunday evening, almost 9 o'clock. The children are tucked into their beds. The men are reviewing the latest news about Hurricane Ike. The dishes are washed and our bags are almost packed.

We decided today that it would be best for us to head for home. At this point we are just marking time here, waiting until Kelly's surgery is scheduled. Our time will be better spent taking care of business at home, knowing that we will be back here later in the fall for Kelly's surgery.

We will leave tomorrow morning and head west to Freedom, in the Southern Tier of New York State. We will spend the night with my baby sister, Annie, and her family. We don't get back to western NY too often to see family so this will be a good opportunity. We will take our time driving back to Griffin. We need time to decompress and time to get a little extra sleep. Can't wait to be back in my own bed!
We should be back by the middle of the week.

Olivia is pretty sad tonight. She doesn't want us to leave. Sam is a little more indifferent, but he will surely be asking for us the minute we go. But, go we must. It has been a long month away from home. We really enjoyed our vacation to Cape Cod and we loved being near our family. Still.....home is in Griffin and it is time to be there for a while.

We had a nice family dinner this evening. Kelly and Eric joined us. Every one was in good spirits and the food was excellent. The little ones entertained us as only they can. Liv made one of her special concoctions for dessert(remember my turkey and chocolate sandwich?). This time it was chocolate sauce, sprinkles and walnuts. It was a big hit with Eric. We had a tasty apple pie as a back up.

I will miss times like these. I will miss spending time with the munchkins, telling them stories, exploring nature, role playing together. it is hard to see their tears when we go. As I always tell them, "We'll be back."

I will continue to post here, especially as news becomes available about Kelly.

Thanks for reading and for commenting. Watch for more soon.

A Special Sam Day

School started this week for both Olivia and Sam. Liv jumped right into a full day of second grade on Thursday. Sam is in a new school this year, a Montessori school. To integrate new students into the early primary class, students were scheduled for successively longer days. On Tuesday Sam was in class from 8:20 -10 AM. Today, Friday, we picked Sam up at 11:45.

It is a real treat to spend time with the kids one at a time. On Tuesday we took Olivia out to breakfast after dropping Sam off. Today we took Sam to McDonalds for lunch. Mickey D's is one of Sam's favorite places. His mom and sister prefer not to go there so Sam was really delighted to go . He can be a rather healthy eater and today was no exception. He chowed down on his chicken nugget Happy Meal including apple slices and a vanilla milkshake. He also ate a good chunk of my burger and fries. He was one happy little boy.

To round out our special time together, Papa suggested we stop at the hardware store. We needed to have a key made; Sam viewed it as a field trip. First stop was to try out all the Cub Cadet lawn mower tractors on display in the center of the store. Then he and Papa walked the aisles admiring various "guy things". Eventually, Sam found a bottom shelf display of lock mechanisms for doors. He sat on the floor and worked the metal pieces back and forth, marvelling at the smooth movement of all those parts. He didn't really understand how the mechanism worked but, in his mind, it was a thing of beauty.

Have I mentioned yet that Sam is 100% boy? He has an inate ability to do all manner of boy things without ever being shown how. He immediately knew how to drive his battery operated jeep. He pretends to drive his dad's lawn mower, complete with pedal action and shifting motions. He is constantly striking kung-fu poses, jumping and rolling, and trying to dismantle anything with screws. The rougher the play the better, as far as Sam is concerned. He is agile and fearless, almost reckless at times. He is one of those boys who will someday be found driving his mom's car because she left the keys in it......and he will probably be no more than 10. It tires me out just to watch him.

I don't know how the conversation got started today, but Sam declared that his parents were girlfriends. I explained that girlfriends meant they both had to be girls and since his dad was definitely a boy, a better description for his parents would be that they were a couple. Sam innocently asked, "A couple of what?" Tom thought that was pretty funny. Guess he thinks like a guy too.

One of Sam's favorite "quiet time" things is to have me draw on his back. He cuddles up to me and says, "Do it again!" He rarely can figure anything out but he is always delighted to try. It is my secret way of getting in a few hugs with an unsuspecting cutie.

How can anyone resist that smile.

Hands and Hearts

I learned how to knit today using only my fingers and yarn. Olivia, who is seven, taught me. This wasn't my first attempt, but it was the first time I was successful at it. Liv had patiently taught her dad and Papa the simple steps, though their fingers were large and clumsy. I just couldn't get the hang of it. Today she declared that she would be holding a very special, one person class so that I could try again. I did it! I have no idea what earthly good a long, skinny length of loosely "knitted" yarn might be, but I know I can produce one if I need to.

Liv learned how to finger knit at camp this summer. She was introduced to the craft by some grandmotherly type who was there with her grandchild. Another kind soul showed her how to knit using knitting needles, but the finger variety was much more appealing to Olivia. Erin learned how to crochet at the same parent/child camp. She has been turning out scarves at an alarming rate. Guess what we are all getting for Christmas.

Earlier in the summer Liv attended another camp, at a private girl's school, where she was introduced to weaving. She was quite taken by that. In fact, she is requesting a loom for Christmas. Busy little hands.

Seems our little bohemian girl is quite taken by producing textiles. Perhaps this will be her niche in the art world. She comes by her love of hand crafted things honestly. Her Grandpa Ross is a skilled woodworker who produced a beautiful accoustic guitar for Dan last year. Her dad is always creating something in his shop from jousting lances to beautiful furniture pieces. Her mom is an accomplished tole painter and loves to make pottery. Her Papa is very skilled with a camera, and I like to dabble in all kinds of paper arts. Yes, Liv comes by her artistic bent quite naturally.

Kelly came to visit this afternoon. She had just gotten word about the passing of a friend who also had breast cancer. Though she tried to hide her sadness, it was obvious that she was feeling distress and probably a little vulnerability. When asked, Kelly explained to Liv about why she was so sad. Liv took it all in and then suddenly disappeared. She came back with a beautiful little card she had made on the spur of the moment with a simple message: "Kelly, it will be all right". It was just the right thing to say.


Kelly had brought along a project she was eager to complete. She asked Liv to help her. Another member of Kelly's on-line breast cancer group is hospitalized and very ill. Kelly was making a collage for Courtney to display as a reminder of her strength and the need to keep fighting. It was a pleasure to watch aunt and niece cut, paste and then adorn with loads of curlicues of sparkling glitter glue. Liv created her own poster for Courtney to help cheer her up. Flowers and colors and sparkles galore. Certainly Courtney will understand the love that is a part of these two great works of art. Little hands; big hands. And lots of heart.