Update

 During my "journey", I have tried to embrace all elements of life that can promote healing.  At times, that has been very hard.  Seems as though I have just had way too many "rocks in the road", as John liked to say.

In the past 18 months, I have :

Watched my sweet husband be diagnosed and die from cancer

Undergo 50+ chemo treatments

Had 6+ MRIs and CT scans

Assorted X-rays, tests, and screenings

Leaking chemotherapy port which caused major pain and trauma (with ultimate removal and replacement) 

April 16th tornado that caused nearly $50K in damages to my house and destroyed so many of my beautiful trees, my neighbors' homes, a church, farms and crops, and our schools.

Hurricane Irene - more damage to my home and farm  and trees.

Had two very close friends have a cancer diagnosis, and undergo surgery and treatment thankfully, both will be okay

My brother-in-law Michael, seriously injured in a motorcycle accident (not his fault)

See my sweet Lab, Holden, be mauled and killed by a pit bull.

Had thieves steal thousands of dollars of equipment from my farm

Sell the farm and equipment we have owned for over 30 years - so many memories of the hard work John did everyday to provide for us

Start to lose feeling in my feet and hands (neuropathy) from the effects of long term chemotherapy and have damage to my mouth and teeth from dry mouth caused by chemo

 These are some of the bad things....thankfully, there have been so many more good things that have happened in my life.  If there hadn't been, I don't know how I would have survived.

As I stumbled through all these challenges, I have embraced my faith.  It has allowed me to find the strength to deal with all of this....and remarkably to remain fairly happy.  Don't get me wrong, there have been very dark days, but overall, my outlook remains bright.

Wagon still rolling....and seeking more ways to make life better.  More to come on that.

PCQ

I'm Back.....

Sorry to have bailed out on you for awhile.  Guess I just hit a wall with all that happened.  And when my pup Holden, was mauled and killed by a pit bull, guess it pushed my system into overload.

Just couldn't seem to get things going in the right direction.  After John's sudden death, I had to deal with his estate, then I had problems with my chemo port and after 4 months of horrid pain, I finally got the leaking port taken out and a new one put in.  At a cost of about $3000+ to me....not to mention pain and suffering.  Then there was that nasty tornado in April that nearly took my home and posted almost $50K in damages.  And my trees, it took my beautiful trees. Fast forward to hurricane season and hello Hurricane Irene.  More damage from water blown in crevices I didn't even know existed.  And what trees weren't damaged from the tornado, were pushed around by the hours of pounding rain and wind from Irene.  My chemo treatments continued to wreak havoc on my body, but I was managing.

Then Holden was killed.  It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

Can't believe he wasn't bald cause he sure shed a lot of hair.

He was one lucky dog, and we were lucky to have him.

PCQ