Same drain, another day...

So... this picture was the result of a big family (and by family I mean Dad & the kids... Neely is right in the middle of everything, by the way) wrestling match inwhich Neely lost her pants. No one was paying much attention to Parker until we noticed that he was suddenly wearing some fuschia pants on top of the navy blue shorts that he started out with!! Neely got very disgruntled when she realized that they were hers and we couldn't resist the picture. (Parker was cracking himself up and saying, "sometimes pink is my favorite color". ha ha!!!)

I'm enjoying the cloudy weather today because that pretty much sums up my feelings on things. I'm recognizing a surgery pattern that goes like this... muscle through the first couple of days pretty hopped up on all sorts of drugs, settle in to a notion of this is how things will be for a little while and about 5 days in get to place where I'm completely annoyed that this is my current life! If things go according to the pattern, this should only last a day or two and then I'll move on to new issues. Most pressing... removing the drain (how much healing occurs in the 10 days between surgery and removal, do you think?? I'm banking on just enough to be QUITE painful!! fun...). After that I'll get a weekend in between drain removal and seeing my oncologist (Dr. Puhalla - whom we like a lot but she is the farthest thing from "gentle". She was the one who, without apology, told me that my life span would be dramatically reduced should that rib be cancerous. Can't wait to see what she has to say about the next phase...) who will be ready to give us the details on impending chemotherapy (talk about something hanging over you!!).

You have no idea how encouraging all of your notes, gifts, emails and meals are to us. It continues to amaze me the way God prompts you all to minister to us in so many different ways. I have dated each and every one so that when this crazy mental fog lifts I will be able to look back specifically and see how each act touched us exactly when we needed it. The kids are wild about the edible arrangements (the coolest one so far has had white & milk chocolate dipped bananas!! how awesome is that?? and if you are 4, it is beyond your wildest fruit dreams... ha ha). Beyond all of these things, please do not feel somehow inadequate if "all" that you are doing is praying for us because that is the gift that is beyond quantifying. It is the gift that gives us the strength to face another stripping of the drain, another painful day and the prospect of many more months. I can tell that so many of you feel that you need to be doing something more "tangible" than what you are doing, but truly we are being so well cared for at the moment and when we look ahead... I can now see why God has created such an overwhelming list of helpers. Depending on my response to chemo & radiation (and likely more surgery...), we are going to be needing meals and shopping and entertainment for our little ones for many days going forward. Eventually my mom will need to go back to work and Darin's mom needs to escape cancerland to take her much-anticipated trip to Edmonton & Australia. So... don't worry about helping... you will be called upon! :) Rest assured that your offers will not go unfulfilled. We are so grateful for your outpouring of love and caring.

So... Dryden is off to his golf lesson (Grandma has been scouting out some activities to keep them busy and what better thing for the summer than golfing??), Parker is headed to the basement to play Batman in his blanket cape, Neely will keep the remaining Grammy on her toes and I think that I am going to bury myself in some book that has nothing to do with cancer because I just need a mental break...