Hi Gang:)

I feel like I have less and less to report to you all...I suppose that's good news? It's all getting boring now - a follow-up scan every 3 months, medication is working as it should with very little to no side effects, leg/foot/arm progress is still progress although slower than I would like, emotions seem to be "as expected" which I guess means I have mostly good days with a few teary ones thrown in to keep my perspective and to keep me grateful and humble. In general I would love to forget that I have cancer but honestly it's a good reminder every now and then - a reminder of what's important and also how quickly things can change.

I had follow-up lung scans and a brain scan done over the last few weeks and official doctor reports say things look good! Lung tumor measured about 1.5cm (it was 6cm pre-medication), all tiny brain lesions are undetectable, medium size brain tumor is barely detectable, large brain tumor is behaving. Behaving means it has not filled with fluid again and is continuing to shrink. When the tumors are cystic (fluid filled) they sometimes don't follow the rules so we keep a special watch on this one. I attached a brain MRI from pre-surgery in November and the one we had done last week (pre-surgery on the left, current MRI on the right). The tumor is MUCH smaller and the brain swelling and bruising has disappeared. Our bodies are pretty amazing.

While my brain images continue to show off, my doctors and physical therapists continue to remind me that I am still in recovery and to not ignore the healing process. Aka NAPS. I have been told that sleep is very important to brain healing. I happily follow that prescription:) The brain challenges I've had include brain fatigue, over-stimulation, can't find words, can't put sentences together. For those of you that I was so fortunate to run into at Girls Night Out in Poulsbo, my apologies if I said anything weird or inappropriate or rude. Please know I usually have to give myself a few seconds to respond to questions or comments so when I'm under pressure to respond quickly it can sometimes come out weird:( Plus all of you say THE NICEST things to me and really I would have to say that even pre-brain tumor I wasn't very good at knowing how to respond! And, I know you guys - you are thinking to yourself "half the time I can't remember what I walked into a room for". While I appreciate the sentiment this forgetfulness feels different, like my brain is searching frantically for the word I'm looking for and it's literally just not there. That file has been deleted. I tested myself one day on a drive home from Kent, I was wearing a bright yellow shirt (of course under 14 layers because this freaking weather) and I asked myself "what color shirt am I wearing today?" I could not answer. So if you ask me a question or say something nice to me and I give you a blank stare, this is probably why. Also know that after our conversation I will go home and analyze every single thing I said and how you might have received it which is nothing short of ANNOYING.

Hard to believe we are 6 months into this nightmare but the good news is that it's slowly becoming less of a nightmare. Life does go on, even after a Stage IV cancer diagnosis. I mean, it has to because what else is there? The world keeps spinning, the seasons change (except here in the PNW), and there is change in life daily. So we just keep moving forward the best we can. We are doing our best to think positively - in fact we have embarked on a house remodel of epic proportions. This includes moving from the 4,300 sf main house to the 1,000 sf guest house and then tearing down and rebuilding the main home. If there was anything that says "I plan to be around for a long time" it's a house remodel right??

In March our friends extended a somewhat spur-of-the-moment invitation to stay with them in Maui which we surprisingly accepted. I say surprisingly because we already had two other vacations planned for spring, we were embarking on the house remodel and move, and I was still having challenges with fatigue and mental capacity. It would have been very "us" to decline because we had too many other things going on. But we thought, why the hell not?? Isn't this what we are supposed to be learning from this diagnosis - what's important? Spending time with people we love and enjoying this one life? And as you can probably predict, we had a wonderful time and we are so thankful we said yes. And in case I haven't mentioned the weather enough the sunshine was healing and so needed since we are stuck in the Groundhog's Day of PNW weather. Rain again you say? Shocking.

All that said, I don't have much else to report. Next scans will be some time around August, I have set a goal to wakesurf again this summer so I am working hard at the gym and rehab, and oh...I was interviewed on a podcast that is hosted by a friend of mine. She asked some really good questions and I tried hard to not ramble and say "um" too many times. I'm not sure I succeeded at that but if you're interested in hearing more of this story I would be honored if you listened. Here is the link to Self Care Simplified, episode 54.

K. Be good. xoxo

P.S. I got new glasses!!