Taylor's KFCU Commercial

A few weeks ago, Taylor was called upon to play a part in a commercial for Katahdin Federal Credit Union in Millinocket! Here is her debut.

Congratulations, Justin!

Justin received word on Wednesday, that he had passed his Professional Engineering Exams in Civil/Structural Engineering. Needless to say, he is very happy and we are so proud of our #1 son!

Final Pathology

Good news abounds!!! We received final pathology reports yesterday on the Mama's alien that she'd been growing and it's official. Pending clean reports every 6 months for the next 5 years, Mama is likely to do just fine. There was no other tissue involvement or metastasis. All the cancer went away with the kidney. So thanks be to God above!!!

There's no place like home.....

And no, we're not getting reminisent about the land of Oz. We are just enjoying the fact that the mama has made good enough progress to have come home from the hospital on Thursday morning. While it has been a few very tough days keeping pain under control and keeping her down, Mama is home and on the mend. All the flowers, cards, and visits from friends have helped tremendously and she is soooooooooooo incredibly appreciative of all that everyone has done for her. From the prayers to the meals, all of our family and friends have taken it upon themselves to keep the family well fed both in body and spirit. Thanks to all who have given of themselves!!! God will bless each of you!

4 days and counting.....

Life changes so very, very fast. On Friday it will be exactly one month since I was diagnosed with renal cell cancer, and on that day I will hopefully be having it all removed and that will be the end of it. While getting rid of my kidney and the mutation growing inside of it doesn't present much anxiety and dread, the thoughts of surgery, recovery and then the subsequent CT scans, X-rays, and labs every 6 months for the next 5 years and then waiting for the answer to the question, "Has the cancer returned?" produces a bit of anxiety. And distraction. I have been so incredibly distracted this week that I haven't been able to accomplish much of anything that is productive.

I do look forward to having the summer off though. I'll be able to get my nursing class prepared, and I'll have the chance to sleep in the mornings. I am hoping to learn how to use my mother-in-laws knitting machine, finish some of my projects that I started a long time ago. I also look forward to catching up on some reading. Have a bunch of new books and think I will also read the Harry Potter series again. So while I have a nasty disease and will be having a pretty nasty surgery, there are some good things coming out of it. The ability to "stop and smell the flowers" so to speak is something I will truly enjoy.