No news is starting to be good news

The daily grind of the Allemans

I was reminded the other day that it has been a while since an update. I know in this journey there have been bad quiet moments and good quiet moments. These are the good ones.

Reset

When we finished the BIG Chemo in July last year, we thought that Michele would be feeling back to normal, and life would resume. Thank you to all our friends that did not make a point to tell us that is not how Cancer works. There is a big lesson in that folks. Sometimes the truth just needs to be discovered.

It was clear that we needed a reset on our thinking. We needed to give a better chance for the doctors to adjust the medicines and see how they worked. We have known since the first round of the maintenance cycle that her recovery was taking a long time. We thought that it may have been a side effect of the radiation treatments.

Her body is reacting differently to these meds than the average person. Not bad. Simply different. It is never comforting to hear a doctor say that he was concerned.

Bone Marrow Biopsy

The good Ol’ poke in the hip. Michele had one terrible incident attempting to do this without sedation. Now we are used to going in for sedation when she needs to do this biopsy.

The bone marrow is where the Cancer truly lives. All other measures are “Indicators”. We must do these pokes every four to six months. Her results this time were again “Negative for residual disease”.

YAY!!!!!

She is continuing to stay in remission. That also translates to her challenges are related to the medications and not a return of the disease.

We are already seeing positive results

I am happy to say that her platelets are continuing to hover around eighty (80). This number is the strongest it has been since early fall. Her white blood cell counts are continuing to bounce between low and normal. Which is what is expected during the cycles.

She has more energy now too! Which is good to see. Especially with the sun and heat returning to Seabrook. We did take a moment this Sunday to venture out on the boat. Just the two of us. It was windy and overcast. We found rays of sun and anchored and say and read our books. A simple pleasure that we missed.

Our days are full

We love our home offices so much that we tend to be up early (at desk around 7:00 am) and still going into the evenings (8:00 pm). Sure, we have conference calls, Doctor appointments, and visits with our newest granddaughter Bella.

We are taking short and long walks around the neighborhood where we talk about the latest ideas and approaches to the insurance business. Illness challenges you to innovate. We group text among friends with updates and jokes. Something I wonder how our parents may have done years ago.

We throw kitchen dance parties from time to time. We laugh about trivial things… a lot. We are winning. We also know that any day now another curve ball could come our way. Our mantra is that Today is the day. It is all we have and continue to make the best of it.

Our friend group is the best. Each has had their own trials and we continue to support each other. When all the jobs, illness, and money are gone… We will all still be laughing and joking until the cell service ends. I think that may be a good title for a modern tale of living life.

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