Toni’s first “real” hair cut in 13 months!
Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Friday, October 10, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
A Milestone Today
Toni has finished her chemo treatments. She will now have a series of 14 treatments, every three weeks, of a non-chemo drug that has few if any side effects. One side effect that can result however is that it can reduce heart function. This would be our prayer request for this series of treatments.
(Milestones are placed to reassure travelers that they are on the right path, how much distance has been traveled and how much more distance there is to go)
Friday, April 4, 2008
A Wonderful Spring Day
It was a wonderful spring day to go and see dad's headstone for the first time. Mom was pleased with the ranch "brand" and windmill. The entching is of the bluffs behind the ranch. Reunion time is coming!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Third Chemo
Toni had her third chemo treatment Friday 15th and a week later she is just getting her legs under her. The side effects were different and in many ways tougher this round. Some insomnia, some nausea, some of those “mysterious” pangs, but primarily an extreme, knee wobbling, aching, fatigue! One result was that though we were up to 8 laps around the mall, (and actually had walked 15 laps one Saturday as a fund raiser for some friends going to Peru with SportReach Missions), we have struggled this week, to go one or two laps, when we did walked!
A few quotes:
Malachi, “I just love nana’s head with no hair!” (Grandson, age 4)
anny, “Nana put your hat (wig) back on!” (Grandson, age 2 ½)
Toni, “This infusion knocked me for a loop.” “I felt like a toxic waste dump all week!”
Psalmist, “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Ps 116:7-9, ESV
Thanks for your prayers and practical assistance! They were deeply appreciated this past week!
A few quotes:
Malachi, “I just love nana’s head with no hair!” (Grandson, age 4)
anny, “Nana put your hat (wig) back on!” (Grandson, age 2 ½)
Toni, “This infusion knocked me for a loop.” “I felt like a toxic waste dump all week!”
Psalmist, “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Ps 116:7-9, ESV
Thanks for your prayers and practical assistance! They were deeply appreciated this past week!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Second Chemo
Four Down and Twenty to Go!
The first four months are behind us with discovery, surgery, chemo and hair loss; only twenty more months to go! This morning I was thinking about the “Valley of Baca” and thought that we have found our experience to be similar to Israelites. As they travel through a barren land that claimed many victims we, like they, have found “pools of living water” that have allowed us to move “from strength to strength!” (As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. Ps 84:6-7, ESV)
Toni managed her second chemo even better than the first. It is still a mental and physical adjustment from her previously fast paced preference. Before we discovered “it” Toni had started memorizing Colossians, a book I am preaching through. Chemo has slowed that down significantly, it just is not sticking. I quizzed her on the first word today to get her jump started. Actually I joked with Toni that with her lacking sleep, having a foggy brain and needing to be careful about what she eats … if she starts telling really sick jokes she will know exactly how I live my life! We are up to 6-8 “center laps” at the mall nearly every day.
The hair thing has been interesting. She went to the door without realizing her head was uncovered and took two well dressed young men in dark suits with white shirts and a handful of literature quite by surprise. Toni has even taken her temperature with and without a hair piece because of how cold she can quickly get with out that silver-blonde adorning that was hers previously. It has been fun to watch Toni introduce kids to her new do! Toni did a hat and wig show for our grandkids and also for some of our other little friends. Today our youngest grandson told Nana to put her hat back on, several times!
We heard this week how one of our special little friends put two and two together and got five! When she was told she was going with her mom to visit Toni she was pleasantly surprised. She had been a companion of a woman who would visit her aging mother until she “went away” and of course our young friend did not see her any more. Because she had also been praying at the same time for Toni who was sick and because she had not seen Toni for a while, she concluded that Toni had also "gone away." But being a good four year old theologian, and when told they were going to see Toni, she asked, "Has Toni come back to life?" Mom explained that Toni had been sick and needs to take medicine but that she had not "gone away." She then exclaimed, "Oh, good I enjoy her so much!"
The first four months are behind us with discovery, surgery, chemo and hair loss; only twenty more months to go! This morning I was thinking about the “Valley of Baca” and thought that we have found our experience to be similar to Israelites. As they travel through a barren land that claimed many victims we, like they, have found “pools of living water” that have allowed us to move “from strength to strength!” (As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. Ps 84:6-7, ESV)
Toni managed her second chemo even better than the first. It is still a mental and physical adjustment from her previously fast paced preference. Before we discovered “it” Toni had started memorizing Colossians, a book I am preaching through. Chemo has slowed that down significantly, it just is not sticking. I quizzed her on the first word today to get her jump started. Actually I joked with Toni that with her lacking sleep, having a foggy brain and needing to be careful about what she eats … if she starts telling really sick jokes she will know exactly how I live my life! We are up to 6-8 “center laps” at the mall nearly every day.
The hair thing has been interesting. She went to the door without realizing her head was uncovered and took two well dressed young men in dark suits with white shirts and a handful of literature quite by surprise. Toni has even taken her temperature with and without a hair piece because of how cold she can quickly get with out that silver-blonde adorning that was hers previously. It has been fun to watch Toni introduce kids to her new do! Toni did a hat and wig show for our grandkids and also for some of our other little friends. Today our youngest grandson told Nana to put her hat back on, several times!
We heard this week how one of our special little friends put two and two together and got five! When she was told she was going with her mom to visit Toni she was pleasantly surprised. She had been a companion of a woman who would visit her aging mother until she “went away” and of course our young friend did not see her any more. Because she had also been praying at the same time for Toni who was sick and because she had not seen Toni for a while, she concluded that Toni had also "gone away." But being a good four year old theologian, and when told they were going to see Toni, she asked, "Has Toni come back to life?" Mom explained that Toni had been sick and needs to take medicine but that she had not "gone away." She then exclaimed, "Oh, good I enjoy her so much!"
Journey Update
Ten days into the chemo treatment Toni’s white cell count is holding strong … actually higher than when she started her chemo. Her oncologist was very pleased with how well she tolerated the side effects and her great white cell count. When I told the good news to someone, they mentioned that they and their children had been praying about it. They were elated! I was immediately reminded of the many who have told us that they are praying.
This is prosthesis week! This week the usual thing is to lose the hair. Yesterday, Toni and a friend went to a salon here in Cheyenne that provides free hair pieces. I wondered if this was a business move on their part or something else, but Toni came back with a wonderful story. The owner’s child was diagnosed with cancer and given 3 months to live, nineteen years later she is healthy and was actually in the salon at the time of Toni’s visit. This afternoon we drive to Colorado to get the second prosthesis that will provide symmetry.
Words are important, actually just a word is important. I visited with a friend last week who had walked/ran/sprinted with his child through cancer. After I came home from the time with him, I came into the house and said to Toni, “hope!” Now, we have hope and nuzzle up to Jesus often to smell the sweet fragrance of hope that flows from Him and through His Word, but it was wonderful to hear it from a believer who had learned to place his hope even more fully in the Sovereign Lord God, because of the his own family’s assignment with cancer. Hope in a Person and not a formula! Actually he said little by way of advice, he just said, “hope;” a hope that is anchored to the true Christ of the scriptures; hope that comes from the true God who saves and sanctifies and sustains. It is wonderful to chat with people about their ideas about how to prepare and maintain ourselves through this marathon, but it was special to visit with one who had run the race and won! Won, meaning became more like Christ!
I think we are both somewhat surprised at the emotional and physical energy depleted through the various aspects of Toni’s amazing, often still surreal, journey! The message paraphrase of 1 Peter 1:17 has been an encouragement, “You call out to God for help and he helps — he's a good Father that way… Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.”
This is prosthesis week! This week the usual thing is to lose the hair. Yesterday, Toni and a friend went to a salon here in Cheyenne that provides free hair pieces. I wondered if this was a business move on their part or something else, but Toni came back with a wonderful story. The owner’s child was diagnosed with cancer and given 3 months to live, nineteen years later she is healthy and was actually in the salon at the time of Toni’s visit. This afternoon we drive to Colorado to get the second prosthesis that will provide symmetry.
Words are important, actually just a word is important. I visited with a friend last week who had walked/ran/sprinted with his child through cancer. After I came home from the time with him, I came into the house and said to Toni, “hope!” Now, we have hope and nuzzle up to Jesus often to smell the sweet fragrance of hope that flows from Him and through His Word, but it was wonderful to hear it from a believer who had learned to place his hope even more fully in the Sovereign Lord God, because of the his own family’s assignment with cancer. Hope in a Person and not a formula! Actually he said little by way of advice, he just said, “hope;” a hope that is anchored to the true Christ of the scriptures; hope that comes from the true God who saves and sanctifies and sustains. It is wonderful to chat with people about their ideas about how to prepare and maintain ourselves through this marathon, but it was special to visit with one who had run the race and won! Won, meaning became more like Christ!
I think we are both somewhat surprised at the emotional and physical energy depleted through the various aspects of Toni’s amazing, often still surreal, journey! The message paraphrase of 1 Peter 1:17 has been an encouragement, “You call out to God for help and he helps — he's a good Father that way… Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.”
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
New Hair Style
Toni's new hair style ... about 3 inches came off!
1. Her head is now covered with short hair goats! But still very beautiful!
Song 6:5, Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me— A Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. ESV
2. God's is the one who determines hair style!
Matt 5:36, And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ESV
Originally written January 7, 2008.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)