What a year!

Livin' it up during infusion -- December 19, 2012

Guess what?

A year ago today, Harv had his colonoscopy.  It was not a good day.

Guess what else?

A year ago tomorrow, Dr. Whitt told us Harv had cancer. That wasn't a fun day either.

And you know what?

A year ago on Friday we found out it was stage 4. It was a kinda scary day (a lot kinda scary).

And, for the rest of 2011, we were filled with uncertainty, fear, chaos, trying to plan for the unknown...

But guess what?

For all of 2012, we have been encouraged and loved and filled with HOPE.

Part of that reason is because Dr. Lin was an encouragement -- by simply proceeding with an optimism that made us a little less fearful.

Part of the reason is because Dr. Pietro removed the ugliness from Harv's colon.

Part of the reason is because we have been surrounded by people who have loved us, and prayed for us, and helped us.

And, part of the reason, is because God has given Harv's body a wonderful response to the chemo and has given his body the ability to respond with few side effects....

And, all of those things have made our lives much richer and fuller... and HOPEFUL.

We met with Dr. Lin this morning and the plan is for Harv to come back in 3 weeks for a PET/CT scan which will be followed (probably the next day) by some more chemo (but no Avastin). And, in the meantime, a consultation with the surgeon will be scheduled so we can plan the liver surgery. Dr. Lin says that the surgery is a big deal. He and Dr. Park (the surgeon) will discuss the details of how/what will take place -- and what is best for Harv's situation.  The decision of whether to kind of burn (something called Radio Frequency Ablation (Definition here) ) the smaller tumor or cut it out has not been made. But, they'll do what they can do to get rid of that smaller one and cut out the remaining yucky section.

And, so... Harv's upstairs killin' some more cancer...and I'm down here giving thanks for an amazing support group (which includes family, friends, doctors, nurses, aides, classmates, co-workers, counselors, & nice people everywhere) who have helped us not only survive this year, but who have made it a year full of blessings beyond our imagination.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a 2013 full of peace, love, joy and HOPE.

We love you.



I interrupt this flow of posts about cancer to bring you just some plain ol' Carrie thoughts.

We'll be back on Wednesday with an update on Harv....

I believe in gun control. I don’t understand why people feel that they need access to guns… I know it’s our constitutional right, but WHY do we need them? HOW exactly am I safer if my neighbor has a semi-automatic weapon? And, who needs a machine gun to go hunting?

But that’s not my point today. My point can be found in the following disjointed thoughts:

• The one who killed those children did not own a gun. All four (!!!!!) guns belonged to his mother. (Why did she need FOUR guns?)

• He was obviously mentally disturbed. And, I believe he would have found a way to kill someone or something regardless of the availability of guns…but having guns available just made the situation way more awful.

• What prevented him from getting the mental help that he needed? It saddens me that he was so disturbed and found no help that calmed him. My guess is that he was tortured in his mind for a while… he was messed up. He was in pain. It doesn’t excuse the killings, but it’s an explanation.

• Everyone is upset because there were so many children killed… not just children like in the Columbine massacre and the other situations, but kindergarten children. And, I’m upset about that, too, but every.single.day. there are thousands and thousands of people (whose lives were just as valuable as those 5 and 6 year olds) around the world who are killed…. They live with perpetual violence. They are children and adults who just happen to live in violent parts of the world, or who live in the middle of drug dealing/gang wars, etc. They see violence. They die. They watch their families die. Every dang day. And, because it’s not at “home” we don’t feel it, but it’s there.

• I agreed with people who said that the media is focusing too much on the perpetrators of these crimes and less time on the victims… and then I read a point that makes sense. The media is just doing its job… We don’t want to know, but we also don’t want to NOT know. We’d blame them if they didn’t report and we blame them if they do report.

• I think the bottom line is that we’re all sad. We’re all grieving. We are trying to blame someone so we can explain things… It can’t be explained in a way that we’re all gonna like. It was awful. The killer was in hell before he shot the first bullet. He should not have had access to guns. Those twenty-some people should not have died. AT. ALL. 

(P.S. I don't want to get into a debate...I know you won't all agree with me and that's fine...)