Update 10/30/23: Goodbyes Are Hard

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Today, I said goodbye to my hair. I had a brief moment of tears, but my kids kept me laughing so much, the tears quickly faded. A few days ago, I allowed Grace and Sophia to cut my hair and do anything they wanted to it since Grace wouldn’t be here for the shaving of my head. Needless to say, I was more than ready for it to be shaved after living with an ugly haircut and bangs for 3 days. 

Kids butchered my hair. I hated it, but it did mentally get me ready for shaving it.

Micaela had fun taking some 0.5 photos. While she was taking pictures, we heard a bowl drop that the kids were using to give Sophia an Amish bowl cut. Micaela snapped a picture of me laughing with all the kids antics. I love that she caught this moment…joy in the middle of the hard.

Sophia kept her word and shaved her head to keep me company. Her initial response was regret. She’s slowly coming around and accepted her hair. Her sweet friend, Nadia, stopped by to encourage her. Jess, her mom, is also going through chemo, so we took a bald photo together.

Lots of huge emotions happened today. I received a call from the genetics department and my test results showed that I do not have PMS2, which is a form of Lynch syndrome. We may send the tumor in for molecular testing to see if we can figure anything else out about my puzzling case, but this news was huge! I didn’t realize how much it was impacting me thinking that I may have a genetic condition that I could pass on to my kids or worrying about my sisters possibly having to be tested for this as well. The test did discover a VUS, which isn’t uncommon with these genetic testing. If they ever discover something about this genetic mutation, they will contact me. She said about 90% of them turn out to be benign, so no need to worry about it.

Trying out different head coverings.

This is a funny story. I had to cut Wayne’s toenails, and Shan said he had to get me proper attire to protect myself from Wayne’s “missiles”, aka toenails. So he grabbed me goggles and a mask! 🤣

Wayne continues to work hard at therapy. We have an appointment this week to pick up his AFO for his foot. We are hoping this might give him the stability he needs for his foot that is dragging. 

Joella has been struggling the past few days with all that is going on. I allowed her to stay home with me on Sunday. We were able to spend some quality time cuddling as we watched the service online. After church, we enjoyed an afternoon of Hallmark Christmas movies in my room as the guys watched football.

Joella was able to enjoy some fun with her friend this last week. This helped distract her and gave her a break from hard stuff. She even got to ride a horse!!

My friend, Carla, also took Joella and Sophia on a hike this weekend. They both had a great time being out in nature. I can’t wait to join them in the future!

We enjoyed a call with Abigail yesterday. It was great seeing her! We can’t wait to see her for Thanksgiving.

Prayer Requests:

- Please pray for Wayne’s right foot to get strength and for his walking gait. 

- Please continue to pray for my nausea and some of my lingering side effects. I just bought cooling gloves and socks for my next infusion to try to limit the neuropathy damage from treatment. 

- Praise: Grace made it safely back to her team. Thank you to Ken and Alissa for driving her! Naomi made it safely home and enjoyed her college visit at Grace.

- Please pray for our kids as they walk along side us. I know they are going through a lot.