Some goodish news

Last week, Pam's off week from treatment, she went in for a PET/CT of her chest. The results were delivered to us prior to her 10th of 12 treatments on Wednesday of this week. Dr. Veeder entered with the words "I actually have some good news for you." That's a switch. Previously he has resigned himself to statements such as "...while it isn't good news, it could be much worse..." or "...guarded..." or "...cautiously optimistic..."

The scans didn't light up any cancer cells. In particular the lumps that we have been watching that Pam discovered post-surgery didn't react as cancerous tumors. This is good news. This doesn't mean that we disregard their presence (as I recall only one of the three tumors removed last December actually lit up during these same scans...so we'll keep an eye on them) but good news is always welcome.

During the past couple of weeks Pam has focused on just getting rest. At this point in treatment she is extremely run down. She budgets her energy with the goal of getting some exercise each day (walking with the girls), dance class for Erin and picking her up from school, making it to track meets for Josh (thanks to my niece Kayleigh), and church. Fun comes in little doses. A couple weeks ago we made it to a reception thrown by Kenny for his wife Gina, a one year breast cancer survivor. Kenny knows how to throw a party. Helps when you have that many friends and the room (The Lariat Club) as well. Gina has been such an encouragement for Pam and it was wonderful to celebrate with her/them. It was also a rare moment when I got to hang out with other husbands who find themselves in the care giving role. It was me, Kenny and the Sally(ies) husbands. You could tell who we were by the tired and confused looks on our faces. Speaking of caregivers, I have had the pleasure of bumping into Angie a couple of times within the past two weeks. She amazes me with her strength and smile. Click her name to see her story, and please pray for her and her boys. I am pretty confident that the majority of people reading Pam's blog are women, so Angie's current post shouldn't shock you too much.

Darbi and Kim took Pam to the major sponsors dinner for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure last week. She had a great time and got to connect with her surgeon (Dr. Mammolito) for the second straight week in a row (she was also at Gina's reception...everyone was at Gina's reception...seriously). She also reconnected with some of the women she used to teach with at Mossville Grade School. You won't be seeing any pics from the most recent treatment Pam went to. Her guests for the day wouldn't even agree to blue dot photos for the blog. I thank Thing 1 and Thing 2 for all your help on Wednesday.

Since this post contained some pretty good news, I don't feel so bad attaching the video below. Nothing wrong with having some fun and sharing it. The challenge I issued (which I got from professional challenger Rick Bryne) was simple...eat three saltine crackers in 30 seconds. I feel I must protect these guys identities by not using their actual names, so let's just say that both Mr. Gergen and Mr. Cross failed the challenge, but gave us all a good and much needed laugh. Their manly overconfidence disappeared within seconds of the start.

Joshua 24:15 ...But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.