So people having been asking - How’s Jacqui?

So people having been asking - How’s Jacqui?  How is she feeling?  What’s next? – so I guess it’s time for a little update.   

Summer flew by, starting with the flood and then Jacqui moving out at the beginning of July.  Tyler got busier in his job and is rarely home, and we’re almost feeling like empty nesters again – he’s looking forward to making us real empty nesters again! 

It was summer - road trips and plane trips, lazy, long dinners on the deck, tomatoes from our garden, weddings, bare feet, being warm  

Now it’s fall – long sleeves, routine, falling leaves, jackets, dark mornings and evenings, chilly air and appointments.... 

So to answer the questions:   Jacqui is doing well - living in her new place, enjoying work, going to music festivals, hanging with friends, making plans to go to El Salvador to build houses in January.  She looks healthy and is feeling really good...

What’s next? 

On Monday she went for blood tests

October 14^th –  CT scan -  yes thanksgiving day 

October 21^st - Tom Baker Clinic for a checkup and meet with her oncologists to find out the results of the scan

October 28 – another follow up visit 

I’ve hesitated even talking about this and now even typing it puts a lump in my throat and I am back to reminding myself to breathe.  I don’t want to seem fatalistic or pessimistic, but no matter how positive we may seem - it’s scary.   

I have to think back to that blog I wrote awhile ago about turning around into the darkness (the unknown) and just taking tiny steps to see what it holds.  "So much has been based on what I can see within the light, maybe I need to use other senses and accept the darkness (the unknown) and the beauty that is hidden within it."

So I can go into this two ways: 

Walk in slowly, shoulders hunched in protection, my arms folded around me, breathing shallowly and my eyes squinty in case something looms up that I don’t want to see.  
 

Walk in confidently with my arms open, a smile on my face – expecting the very best – positive thoughts, making plans, future hope - savoring every moment...come what may.

I'm doing a bit of both - trying for more of the second.

So if you are so inclined, we would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.