Happy Birthday, Julie

Julie’s birthday was Sunday (Oct. 25th); she is handling the transition to “over 49” quite well and so far seems to be suffering no excessive side effects. She and Much Older Sister flew to Portland to spend the birthday weekend with Slightly Older Sister. Ikea, Goodwill, and Spanky’s Consignment Store were party central; in fact, Julie consented to tour Ikea in a wheelchair in order to conserve her strength for the other venues and for playing with the great-nephews. In retrospect, she would probably advise other wheel chair users not to allow an inexperienced push person to be their escort through a store like Ikea that is crowded with lots of turns, but fortunately none of the bumps turned into bruising. Also fortunately, by the weekend Julie’s flu had calmed to cold status and this week she continues to feel a little better every day.

Chimiothérapie Round 5 is Tuesday Nov. 3.

Family Photo

Back row, left to right - Joseph holding his son Joey (2), Jennifer's husband Jesse. Middle row, l to r - Joseph's wife Christy, Joe, Julie, Jennifer holding son Isaac (4.) Front row - Janessa, Jillian holding little brother Jackson (4), and Julianna.

Chemo Patients Should be Officially Excused from the Flu

Unfortunately Julie's last chemo coincided with the flu's big surge in our area; about the time her post-chemo symptoms were at their worst, she also developed either the flu or a really fantastic imitiation of it. She had a fever today in addition to the cough she's had for several days so Joe took her to urgent care; she's bringing home medication that will hopefully help.

Round Four

Julie had chemo round four (of six) today. All went well, and now she's facing several days of being extremely tired. She also saw her surgeon today who said that Julie's tests indicate that the chemo is doing what it is supposed to do (beat the cancer into submission - my words, not the doctor's!), and that her body is tolerating well the assault that chemo is.

Julie continues to have blood draws several times a week to monitor the blood thinner she is taking to prevent a recurrance of blood clots. (10-18 Correction - Julie only goes in once a week for a blood draw, at this point.)