One Year Post Diagnosis

All in all it's been a pretty good weekend (and surprisingly a really good year!). Friday night was our dinner celebration at Jimmy Macks in honor of the three Nichols men...Levi for being recently unemployed, Jon for still being alive, and Kelsey for being newly employed. To be more specific, Levi had his last day at TDS and will begin a new job as an apprentice welder/glazier next week. Kelsey took in a job application to Papa Murphys and the manager was so impressed with him he told him he'd hire him the day he turned 16 (December 27). Jon's story is self-explanatory. When we were at SCTW on Tuesday I said to the nurses, "Now I know you have a lot of long term survivors here but honestly, do you have anyone who looks this good a year out from a pancreatic cancer diagnosis? I mean the guy is still working out three days a week and his blood work is perfect!" They fell all over him as he flexed his muscles and smiled. Yes, I know I shouldn't encourage his ego like that but I just couldn't help myself given the one year mark.

Saturday I had my annual Food and Clothing Drive at my office. We donate all of our services in exchange for donations of food and clothing for the Federal Way Food Bank. It's always a busy but rewarding day. Jon was feeling a kind of crappy all day (his crash day has moved from Thursday to Fri or Sat) so I drove him to meet with his new renter of the famous "Meth house" Saturday night. After signing the lease and eating dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant he felt much better :)

On Sunday morning we got up early to drop our dump trailer off for our friend Brian only to discover it was Daylight Savings and we could have slept in for an extra hour! We settled for Starbucks and church, with a nap this afternoon. I have received a couple of good emails from our friend Kelli Hutton, we were hoping to have a chance to see her today but no luck. Paul's service is Tuesday and we plan on zipping through chemo to be there when it starts at 1pm. She sounds like she is doing as well as could possibly be expected under the circumstances.

One thing that was really weird for me this weekend was that all of the kids were out of town. Elizabeth went with David to Cheney for Eastern's Homecoming, Kelsey and Levi went jeeping, and of course, Staci lives in California. It felt really strange not having any of them around for 48 hours. I am grateful that the three of them live so close and that we get to see Staci as often as we do. With any luck there will be a few more grandchildren on the horizon.

Jon just got done working out and said his aerobic capacity was a little low. It's usually the first thing to go with chemo. He has two more sessions then his week off. I wouldn't be surprised to see his red count down a little on Tuesday with him showing a few side effects. The four weeks on/one week off program seems to be working pretty well and keeping his side effects to a minimum. I guess we will know for sure when we get the PET scan in December. So when everyone asks me what I want for Christmas this year my answer will be 1.A negative PET scan or 2. Liver tumors under 4x7.5cm and amenable to ablation.

I am so grateful for every one's love and support in the past year. I can't say enough about SCTWC because I know without them my husband would not be alive. The medical treatment, holistic approach, hope and encouragement they have given us is beyond words. Thank you to all of our family, friends, and health care providers who have encouraged, prayed, loved and supported us through our cancer journey. The road ahead is still long and arduous but with all of your help I know we will persevere.