Karen Kashian

Dear Friends, 
If you are reading this it is because we have spoken over recent months about my metastasized melanoma diagnosis and the fact that I'm on targeted therapy drugs. They are oral, so I'm grateful that I don't need to go through chemo or radiation. Those methods have not been effective against melanoma.  Since early December, I have struggled with moderate to extreme fatigue - one of the side-effects of this regimen. It makes getting to work, and keeping up with all the details of life a challenge.


All of you have extended your loving care to me, and many of you have offered practical things such as providing a meal now and then, or being on call for shopping. I am deeply grateful. Your greetings, your hugs have meant much to me, and still do. If you are one who is challenged to keep up with your own life on a day-to-day basis, please know that a word, a hug, a smile still makes as much of a healing difference as providing the practicalities. 


Some of you heard in church last Sunday that my mother has been in and out of the hospital for a concussion sustained in a fall just after the January 4th snow storm. She was lucky not to have had any breaks or fracture, and very lucky that she did not go into hypothermia while lying on the ground for up to 2 hours before someone found her. She came home this past Tuesday and both my brothers are in town to assist her while she navigates post-concussive syndrome. We are working with her providers to determine if she's still capable of living on her own.


On the bright side, I am traveling to Costa Rica on Saturday, January 27th for two weeks. I have not traveled internationally since my trip to Transylvania with the choir in 2010. I have been dreaming of visiting CR for at least 20 years and had booked my airfare just before I had the biopsy done last summer. I will be with four other dear old friends, including my best friend from San Diego, so I know I will be in good hands.


With love and gratitude,
Karen