Friday, November 16, 2007

The Longest Day


It has been a very long 24 hours for us. Gordon went to the urologist yesterday morning for a recheck of his bladder. Dr. said everything looked good, no visible recurrence of any of the bladder cancer. They took blood to run a PSA test and urine to send to pathology. Dr. said they would run a preliminary 'quick test' in their office first and would call with those results, but he didn't expect to find anything. Pathology tests would take longer. When we got home the nurse called to tell Gordon the preliminary result of the urine specimen showed "abnormal" cells in his urine. I called her right back to find out more, but she really couldn't tell me anything at the time, stating that the doctor didn't want us to worry about it. ???!! And she said we might not get pathology results until next week! I asked her to tell the doctor that we wanted to talk to him asap. I couldn't believe he would ask her to call us with that kind of information knowing our history. Of course Gordon was upset and I knew he would stress out over it until he had a definitive answer one way or the other. With everything he has experienced this year, he naturally jumped right to the conclusion that his cancer had returned. When the doctor called we were both gone; Gordon was picking up Lucas and some other boys at school and delivering our guinea pigs to their new home, and I was with Sonja at her follow-up appointment with her surgeon. His message was that he wasn't surprised at the abnormal cells since Gordon had "a couple of cancers" in that area (bladder and prostate) this year and the radiation seed implants might also cause an abnormal reading in the test they ran. This didn't do much to calm Gordon's fears, so he didn't sleep last night and has continued to obsess today. Finally, this evening the nurse called back to say the pathology report showed NORMAL results on his urine test. What a relief! Praise God! I think Gordon will sleep like a baby tonight and have a much calmer weekend.
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving with your families and/or friends, safe travels, and good weather--we need rain. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

The scariest thing you'll ever hear

is, "you have cancer."

It makes your heart stop beating. Life comes to a standstill. You can't breathe. Nothing will ever seem "normal" again.

We have been touched by cancer this year in a most intimate way. The great love of my life, my dear husband was diagnosed with 3 kinds of cancer earlier this year. Life, as we knew it, changed forevermore. He is doing very well, excellent, in fact. He has had 3 surgeries and several 'procedures' that have not just treated his diseases, but have cured them. One of his cancers is still being treated, but we have every reason to believe it will disappear. But, we don't give credit for his good fortune to the medical industry alone. PRAYER is the medicine that worked best. We praise God for His wisdom and mercy and know in our hearts that He alone is responsible for the healing of Gordon's body.

Once again we have been touched by cancer. My good friend, Sonja, has breast cancer. She will enter the hospital tomorrow for a mastectomy, to be followed by 12 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by 6 or 7 weeks of radiation treatments, and finally she will receive 5 years of hormone therapy. At first, of course, she was devastated, as were all the friends who love and depend on her so very much. But now as she stands at the threshold of surgery and treatment she is courageous, confident, even feisty! PRAYER is the medicine that works best! I am asking everyone I know to pray for Sonja's complete healing. We can see and feel the Holy Spirit working.

Of course the Lake Norman Piecemakers had a very special Prayer Quilt for Sonja. While the quilt was on the altar there were crowds of people waiting to pray and tie knots in her Prayer Quilt. No one seemed to notice the quilt was covered with very bare, pudgy bikini-clad women! She does, of course, love the quilt!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Marathon Men and Woman

Just when I start to brag about one grandchild, I realize I have to brag on them all--they are all so good! Following in the footsteps of her dad and brother a few weeks ago, Jessica entered her first half-marathon race on Sunday in Raleigh and we were able to go there and cheer her on. The weather was perfect which made for a beautiful day. We caught up with her just before the race started at 7:00 a.m. near the Wolfpack football stadium in Raleigh.



Then we drove all around the city to make our way back to the 7 mile (approx.) mark so we could cheer her on. That's when Gordon ("Pappaw to Jessica") decided to join in the race with her for a few yards.

We made our way around town again to find her at about the 11 mile marker, thanks to our trusty and knowledgeable guides, David and Jim.

Seeing her cross the finish line was a treat for us all!

But I doubt any of us was as thrilled as she was.
Congratulations, Jessica! Well done, indeed!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Keeping up

Whew! What a week! It's been hard to keep up with everything I HAVE to do this week, let alone everything I WANT to do this week! Did you see Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday night? What happened? Can you believe Sabrina was kicked off? I thought for sure she'd be in the grand finale. Oh well, my favorite is Marie Osmond--maybe it's because we're the same age. Who is your favorite?
I designed and knitted these last night, finished assembling them this morning. Aren't they cute? I WANT to make 5 more pairs before my class on Saturday, but I HAVE to catch up with the laundry... I also WANT to design some earrings using Size #6 beads, but I HAVE so many other things to do that I may not get to that for several more days. Also, I want to work more on my Maple Tree Shawl with the new Tencel yarn and beads, the Forest Path Stole with lace mohair, and I'm very excited about making the Modern Quilt Wrap by Interweave Press. If you click on the blue text you can download the pattern for FREE. I'm using a collection of Kid Mohair for mine.
Have you been to the new knit shop in Hickory yet? A Strand of Purls is on north Center Street, which is really Hwy 127. A quiet shop with a nice atmosphere. She has a knitting group on Tuesday evenings, but that's the only night she is open. The store is open Tuesdays through Saturdays. She will be offering classes soon. Hickory is one big puzzle to me; one-way streets, avenues, boulevards, and roads with the same numbers--were they trying to conserve numbers when they laid out that city? Anyway, Laura at A Strand of Purls told me about a new quilt shop there--it's on 2nd street off of Center (don't ask me if it's northwest, southeast, avenue, road, or parkway), and it's a one-way street going east! So you have to turn west on 3rd off of Center and overshoot it to come back east on 2nd to find it. I think it's called "Sew a Fine Seam." No other info available yet. Let me know if you find it and what you think.
Week Two of our Mystery Quilt class was yesterday. Sandy is doing a great job of teaching, and we aren't the best class. Experienced and accomplished quilters make the worst students. We are grateful to her nevertheless.
More soon!