Dear Friends and Family,

I think I will make this my last journal post.  I've neglected Caring Bridge for quite a long time, but don't worry.  No news has been an indication of good news.  I'm doing fairly well, but I've had a bunch of things going on.

The biggest thing is that I bought a house three doors down from my current one. I wasn't really thinking of moving, but I knew the owner, and had been in the house before. I knew it would solve some issues of my current home. The new house has a bathroom upstairs, a bigger living room with a fireplace, room for a full-sized washer and dryer, and more kitchen storage. It is also four doors away from my current nextdoor neighbor, who is a racist bully with serious anger management issues.  He and his wife have been harassing me ever since I put a Black Lives Matter sign out last summer. The police recommended that I take out a personal protection order, but neighbors have tried that before and it has only enraged him more. (This couple has been a problem for the neighborhood for over 20 years.) This new house gives me some space away from them, but doesn't allow them to force me to leave a neighborhood I absolutely love.

So I have been packing, which is difficult to do for more than a  couple hours or so. I still don't have much stamina or muscle mass due to chemo. In addition, I've started the aromatase inhibitors (the last step in my current oncology adventure), which give me joint pain and fatigue. It's frustrating to be so limited in what I can do, and frankly depressing to think about taking these pills for the next ten years. But I am adapting. If I lie down and hold very still for fifteen or twenty minutes, I can often get a second wind. Every so often, my body demands deep, long, naps that I've dubbed a chemo comas.   They used to happen about once a week.  The frequency increased to nearly every day when I started the pills, but now that is tapering off to every week or two. I've stopped fighting the chemo comas and now I just listen to what my body needs. I've also been asking for help from friends and I hired a professional organizer to help with purging and packing. She has been amazingly helpful!

My hair is slowly growing back. Check out the gallery for photos. In some light my hair looks tow-headed and in other light it looks salt and pepper, heavy on the salt. I'm actually kind of excited about the grey hair.  

This Tuesday, I leave for a 16-day vacation. The first half will be spent RVing around the Olympic Peninsula with my dear friend, Wendy Bloom. I've never RVed before, but I'm thinking about buying one when I retire.  It would be a great way to travel with the dogs. However, I thought I'd better find out if I even like being in an RV before I buy one!  I'm really looking forward to the trip.  Wendy is just what I need right now. We both like to hike, she'll take care of me without coddling me, and we both are good at making each other laugh. Hopefully, hiking will help me build strength and stamina.

The second half of the trip will be visiting Reda in Custer, SD. She just retired last month and this will be her first full summer of snow birding up there since she moved to Arizona.  Just like Wendy, she and Jeff are just what I need right now. 

Then I come home and take possession of my new house. There will be tons of work getting that in shape and getting the old one on the market, but it will also be very exciting to be in the new place.  It's a lot to do all at once, but I had no plans to buy a house when I planned the trip. Nevertheless, I'm confident it will all work out, eventually.  Local peeps, stand by for news of an upcoming house-warming party.  The house is a great space for entertaining with a huge deck and a shady backyard.

Thank you, one and all, for all your help and support during these past six months.  You have been wonderful!  Don't worry about me.  I'm feeling better nearly every day.  I feel like I have beaten cancer and come out stronger on the other side.  But let's not let my wellness keep us apart.  I will try hard to be better about keeping in touch.  In turn, please feel free to contact me anytime.  My phone number is 734-395-5876, my email is Lbirdhouse@comcast.net, and my new address is 3362 Beaumont, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.  

 

Much love to you all,

 

Laura