Sunday, September 28, 2014

Fighting On

I'm here! It's been nearly a full year since I've posted on this page--and I'm sure all sorts of friend bloggers have assumed I've given it up for good--but I'm here.

I posted on my Not Writing Anything Anymore blog a few weeks ago, resolving to make blogging on both blogs a priority. But then life threw in the biggest of big wrenches, and I had no choice but to switch to what is more important: my husband's welfare.

My husband, on his way to run an Olympic length triathlon in Arkansas, ended up in an emergency room in Alabama with acute pancreatitis. Three weeks later, after a CT scan, tons of blood tests, and two ultrasounds, doctors concluded its cause was a 3 cm cancer tumor in the pancreas. Filled with anxiety (for the prognosis for pancreatic cancer sufferers is extremely bad), we went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, where they determined his cancer was operable (thank God!), and where, a little over a week ago, he underwent the Whipple procedure. (It's a BIG surgery--look it up online, and you'll see how serious it is). Through his fight, he's adopted the mantra of his favorite college football team: Fight On! I've even ordered shirts and hats with the saying on them, for him, his friends, and our relatives to wear.

A week later, we were heading home from Jacksonville when the doctors called, and the news is now much more positive. The cancer was caught far earlier than it usually is, and after six months of chemotherapy, Richard will most likely live a long life without pancreatic cancer ever returning. Yay!

Our lives have been turned upside-down, though, and I found that even reading was impossible while I watched over him in the hospital. It was only when tests of the tumor were complete and we were given the great news that I could even concentrate on reading a book again. Now it's time to put my focus back on writing.

Richard was told by a friend who had beaten ovarian cancer that he had to concentrate on more than the cancer, and she told me the same--I had to have more to do than support him and rehash the cancer stories over and over. So that is what I am doing. I'm getting back to my mermaid novel, back to painting (I have accumulated several castles I want to paint), and back to playing piano. All three will soothe my soul through this, making it easier for me to soothe Richard's.

If you've read through this whole thing, thanks for visiting! Hopefully I'll have worthwhile stuff to share with you in the future!

6 comments:

  1. I understand.
    It's a terrible a frightenig thing to face. I have several friends in similar positions, not least Dave Renfro, who despite chemo and tumours on his kidneys did a marathon last week. But these days the treatments are so much more efficacious, my friends little boy, six years old, diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier in the year, has survived surgery and chemo, and is said to have a very good chance of a full life, whereas eight months ago his prognosis was bleak.
    It's hard, for the patients and for those who love them.
    Stay strong, love each other, and don't forget to see the good, and the beauty, and the laughter in the world.
    You'll get through it.
    My best wishes to you both.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so sweet, Soubriquet! We are moving into chemo on the 13th, ahead of schedule. So many people are working to help us, and we are hopeful that all will work out well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, I'm so sorry to hear of the trials you and Richard are facing! I am so glad that you caught it so quickly, and I hope that the treatment makes the prognosis better and better. I know it's very difficult to concentrate on anything else while facing something like this, but I hope you can find a way to let yourselves (both of you!) e diverted occasionally, for some ease and refreshment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right, Phyl. There is no way we can just concentrate on all of this struggle. I find myself looking for diversions, ways to forget what is going on, if only for an hour.

      Delete
  4. Glad to read that it seems that the cancer was caught early enough and your husband will make a full recovery. Wishing you both all the best

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'll try to keep posting to the blog, but most of my posts will be about things other than the cancer treatments. If you want to FB me, just enter my name. I think I'm the only one with my name on FB at all.

      Delete