At Peace

Leroy Sievers
June 16, 1955-August 15, 2008

No one has lost a battle here.

If anything has happened in these past couple of years on this blog, it's that we've all learned how to face life head-on.
Not death.

And Leroy's been our pied piper. I'm not sure he even knew where this trek would take him, but we've followed him because of his strength and courage and willingness to get off the beaten path and make a new one.

Most of us are not that brave. We need the Leroys in our lives to show us.

These next few weeks, months, whatever it turns out to be, will be no different than when this blog began two years ago.

We live life here.
We don't sit and wait for death.

There will be no battle lost.

- Laurie
(Leroy's wife)

Adrian Sudbury

July 15, 1981-August 20, 2008

Don't worry about a thing,
cuz every little thing's gonna be alright.

Bob Marley - Three Little Birds
(one of Adrian's (and my) favorite songs)

I will amend what Laurie said to include Adrian. Leroy and Adrian have both been shining examples of strength that I have followed and will continue to follow in my own cancer journey.

Now they are both gone, within a week of one another. I am sad, but also relieved that they are no longer suffering.

They both had so much to share. They are at peace now. I wish their families and friends the same in the coming days they face without these amazing men.

If you are so inclined, click on each of their pictures to read their blogs and learn more about two of my heroes.

As far as me and my above-mentioned 'journey', I am feeling okay these days...not great. Very tired, very achy...have I mentioned that? Ha...well yeah, every step I take, every move I make hurts...especially the first few after I've been laying or sitting down for any length of time.

Some of that is the plantar fasciitis, but the rest of it is every single one of the joints in my body...especially my hips and shoulders. I swear it feels like I'm ancient way before my time. This is just one of the lovely side effects of Coumadin.

But it could be worse...

I am extremely relieved to not have chemo every three weeks, I have now officially missed three treatments...so, that's cool (and scary). I think (know) that I would be feeling much better than I am if not for the ongoing clot and Coumadin saga.

My PT/INR this past Monday was in range, but a little on the high side of normal so the dosage got tweaked again. I think this is pretty much how it will be from here on, just reacting to whatever my numbers are each Monday.

I have a CT this coming Friday (8/22), PT/INR again on Monday (8/25), then I see Dr. McK next Friday (8/29) to discuss the CT results, my clot saga, and where we go from here.

***

I just learned today that Sean will be in KC beginning on Sunday, so I am excited to see him and his family again. We are planning for me to go see him in Grand Rapids in the next month or so. I've never been there, so I'm excited about that too. I'll probably do a combo of flying & riding a train to get to him. I've never ridden in a train as an adult, so that'll be something new for me.

Yeah so, I'm not very experienced with public transportation. I just had my very first (and so far only) ride in a cab a few years ago with Michelle and Terri when we went to The Levee the night before Race for the Cure. Of course we racked up our fare when we had the driver take us through the McDonald's drive-thru on our way back to our hotel...which was only, like, 2 miles away.

***

I am trying to decide whether to go out of town this coming weekend to go see Terri, or stay in town and attend two different parties that are going on Saturday at the same time on opposite sides of the city.

If only I could be in three places at one time...I want to do them ALL. Why is it that you can go for weeks with nothing going on and then all of a sudden everything hits at the same exact time?

If I am too sick from the contrast dye of the CT I won't be going anywhere, so I guess I'll worry about one thing at a time for now.

Wishing you all peace.