Healing Continues - Life is Good

Hi VP's...it's amazing that I can intuitively hear when you guys need a blog update. The last couple of days I've been saying to myself..."I really do need to get an update on the blog." So VP's...here I am to confirm that Brenda is alive, doing well, and continues to heal. It's still very slow, but we can see progress and that's a beautiful picture.

We leave for Houston next Sunday (October 4th) and have 2 very full days of appointments on Monday and Tuesday...the 5th and the 6th. Now we really have nothing against Houston, but we are jetting back to Phoenix on the evening flight on Tuesday the 6th. Yes...we're nervous about this and are using all our spiritual resources to live through this with the intention of Brenda's "TOTAL WELLNESS." We are visualizing only instructions from the doctors to go home and heal some more and we'll see you in 3 months.

The mantra that we are using is this: "We are happy and grateful for Brenda's total wellness." We say this over and over and live with this intent. We would love if you would join us in saying the mantra as part of your prayers for Brenda. Envision what this looks like...jumping for joy, hugging poor embarrassed Dr. Hong, planning Thanksgiving at the cabin with friends, enjoying the wonderful fall desert weather, getting out and walking with the family...well you get the picture. Visualize only what you want to see for her...no negative content, only the discussion of wellness. The more that can say the mantra the more intent on total wellness the universe will bestow. Have you read "The Secret?" If you have, you'll totally understand this concept. If you haven't read the book...it's well worth it and just might add to your life.

So we went up to our cabin in Strawberry which is about 2 hours north of our Mesa home up in the mountains with the tall ponderosa pine trees...it's heavenly up there. Since Brenda is a little anemic, she was dressed like "Nanook of the North." You would have thought it was late fall instead of late summer. It got down into the low 50's at night and that's cold for our desert bones!! Ha! The pictures I posted will give you the visual. My Mom came with us and we really did have a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the cool mountain air. We'll go back up in October and then we'll begin to plan our big Thanksgiving celebration with all our friends. It's an annual event up there and it's always a hit...good food...good friends...good times...Life is Good!! And this year we'll celebrate "Total Wellness!"

Brenda has been using the energy she has to work on her garden. We went and got 2 yards of garden soil at the nursery the other day and Bren actually unloaded the entire trailer herself...her energy is slowly coming back and I just let her do what she can do so she can build up her stamina. She still sleeps most mornings and then stayes up all afternoon and evening. Bedtime usually hits her about 9:00 or 9:30 PM. She really is doing great. She still can't breathe out of her nose and her throat is still sore, but the medicine helps with that.

I've been busy doing home repair projects...just the normal things when you have a house...things break and you need to fix them! I've also got Tanner enrolled in Basic Obedience class on Monday night and Abbie and I go to Rally/Obedience class on Fridays. It's so good to get back training the dogs. I'm sooooo looking forward to the weather cooling off so we can walk during the day. Today it hit 105 so we still have a little heat left in the Arizona desert.

Last night our dear friends Beck and Julie got us all (FREE) tickets to the Western Conference Title WNBA game between the Phoenix Mercury and the LA Sparks. We took their little boy Ryder with us and we all had a ball. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe before the game and then found our seats were in the second row!!! It was a great game and we all felt like it was our normal routine. That felt so so good. We used to have season tickets so this was just like old times. We saw several folks we haven't seen in a while and it was good catching up. On top of all that, the Mercury WON!!!! How good is that. Now they face the Indiana Fever for the title. GO MERCURY!!!

Tonight is steak on the grill, veggie casserole, and strawberry shortcake for desert while we watch the Phoenix Cardinals play the Indianapolis Colts...it's the big Kurt Warner and Payton Manning faceoff. Hopefully it'll be a good game. We love football season!!

So dear friends...all is well here in Mesa. Remember the mantra for Bren...you all have been so fabulous with helping us through this journey that I feel I can continue to ask for you help with visualizing this very positive intention. "We are happy and grateful for Brenda's total wellness."

Hope this post finds you all well...we bless your light.
Dee, Brenda, Abbie and Tanner

No News Is Good News!!!

Hi VP's...I know...I know!! I can hear you all collectively yelling at me for not writing sooner. Sorry VP's...there's been a ton of things to do to get resettled back here on the home front. I've had great intentions every evening, but I've just been too pooped to blog. It's amazing what collects on your personal "To Do" list when you're gone for an extended period of time. Plus we've taken...well actually I've taken... this opportunity to do some house cleaning. We're definitely to the point that if something comes "IN"...something needs to go "OUT." I bet most of you are in that exact position with your households.

Really...no news from me IS good news. Brenda is very slowing coming back to life...thank the Lord! I have pictures I'm sharing with you to prove it. She still sleeps most mornings but has gotten herself up and showered in the afternoon and we run errands or she putzes organizing her office, working in her garden, playing on the computer, visiting friends, or cooking. Most of you that know Brenda know that she is a fabulous cook. The good news is that she's eating human food again and not the kind that comes in a can that you have to put in your stomach via a bag and a tube. Thank the Lord again! The bad news is that she can't taste a dang thing!!! They said that would take 6 to 9 months to come back so we have begun to rate the food according to consistency!! A girls' gotta do what a girls gotta do! I'm working diligently to get some weight back on our girl. She has lost about 30 pounds during this ordeal but I think we have stopped her weight loss and now I'm trying to put a few pounds back on her. Yes! I'm nagging!

Brenda's neck wounds are all healed up but her throat is still sore and she still can't breath through her nose very well. That makes sleeping and trying to keep her mouth moist a real challenge. She's on a very low dose of pain meds and have cut out some that she just doesn't need any more. Progress is slow, but it's still progress and that's a wonderful picture.

We have arranged our return to Houston and are visualizing only good news from Dr. Hong that there is no sign of the cancer and we have instructions to just go back home and continue to heal. We sure would appreciate it if you would help us continue to visualize this. We're looking at just good news, huge smiles, and an enormous weight off our shoulders until the next scans...probably in December or January. Will you all help us with this? I know the power of the village is still with us. We're flying in to Houston on Sunday October 4th and then have doctors appointments, lab tests, and scans all Monday and Tuesday. No offense to all the wonderful professionals at MD Anderson, but we're flying home Tuesday evening. (Oct. 6th)

So Brenda sends you big healing Hello's from home sweet home...with the dogs running around...and the beautiful desert out our back door. It's SOOOOOO priceless to be back home...her healing will be speedier, I'm sure.

We wish you all well...the football season has started, we're going up to our cabin this weekend to enjoy the Arizona rim country, and let the dogs run and run and run!! More pictures will be on the blog shortly I'm sure.

Remember...no news is good news...
Dee, Brenda, Abbie and Tanner