slowly but surely (11/2)

Craig is feeling pretty good. Still a little nausea at times and tired but he is able to do some things around the house. etc. Not much to report here. Tomorrow will be a week since chemo-day and they said a week on a week off. It is hard to tell if the side effects are still lagging are from the cancer itself, the chemo or the medicine that are suppose to help the nausea. Everything seems to have a side effect. He is to the point where it is hard to weigh the options of being a little nausea vs. a little loopy from the nausea meds. I still struggle with when to push and when to keep my mouth shut. When I say something I regret or push too hard then I tell him I am saying this for his own good. He always says he knows my intentions are good.

The girls went to school today and yesterday and Hannah stayed home with us. I am working a bit since I work from home. I love my job and it is great to do something that doesn't involve cancer. I hope that Craig gets to the point in his treatment that he will have time and energy for something else. I think it would be good for him to think about something else for a change. He started reading Lance Armstrong's book but he says it makes him more nausea to concentrate on one thing. It would be good to get back to that or another book that will help him get back up for the next treatment.

I signed up for cancerwise on the MD Anderson website. It is a cancer newsletter with a TON of information in it. I found this pod cast on it about pancreatic cancer. http://www3.mdanderson.org/streams/AudioPlayer.cfm?xml=communications%2Fconfig%2FCNL-Pancreatic-Cancer--mp3
If you haven't read the stats on this cancer it may shock you but if you listen until the end the doctor tells a story about a patient that wanted to refuse treatment b/c of the stats and the docs at MD Anderson talked him out of it. I am not sure what treatment plan he went on but the spots on the liver are gone and his CT scan is clear after 2 years! This of course not typical but still gives me a lot of hope!! He also mentions the chemo regime that Craig chose, Folfinox (sp?). Anyway, might be worth listening to, it is about 12 minutes long.

Can you believe it is November already? I went to say where did my October go? But it was eaten up by cancer. Stupid cancer, I really like October too.

Craig just got ice cream out of the freezer and it didn't hurt his fingers so that side effect has gone away. He was especially concerns about that one b/c so many nurses had said you will only make that mistake once. geez.

I also wanted to thank everyone for the cards. Looks like a Hallmark in the living room. We do pick them up quite often and read them again. I am always looking for inspiration scriptures.
Here is my favorite today: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12
Joyful? hmmmm.... tough one but He wants us to be joyful and I think the more trust you put in Him the easier this it is to be joyful. We still have so much to be thankful for. There is still joy in our house. There is struggle but there is joy. We have three amazing little girls. If you tip Hannah over and squeeze her collar bone she giggles so much she can't catch her breath, so hilarous. Emily is doing art and crafts a lot these days and the stuff that she draws is actually recognizable. :)

There was another scripture I was going to post and now I can't find it. I am sure it is at the bottom of a diaper bag or something... more to come.

Hope everyone is having a good week.