Tuesday I took the day off of work to go with Bruce for a day of radiation and chemotherapy. Chemo is a long day, about 5 hours of sitting in a room, chair after chair of adults receiving their infusions. I am too comfortable in this setting, Bruce is becoming too comfortable. We were sitting next to another man, who was 48, and has stage 4 esophageal cancer. His wife was with him as well. We all had so much in common: raising children, working parents, in the throws of the "business of life...." We gradually progressed from solemn to laughing, joking about the "C" word, the hair loss of her husband, getting used to the "new normal", enjoying each day.
The long day, soon whittled away, together the 4 of us, coping, laughing and learning that the 4 of us had something much stronger than cancer in common,much greater, much more important. We learned on Tuesday that the 4 of us were believers. We shared FAITH. They shared their motto "God's Got This", I shared our bracelets, they decided to get their own bracelets, and we all left happy & hopeful. Stage 4 Esophageal cancer and they are still happy; THAT is FAITH!

Happy Thanksgiving,
Joanne

The little things

Isn't it the small things in life that bring the most pleasure? Sometimes I forget that and need reminding. I get caught up in the mundane; laundry, school work, driving around...I look out the windows in our home, but do not really see. My mind is elsewhere, right now especially it is on Bruce and all he is going through. Today, I looked, I really looked outside and saw the beauty of the marsh, the sun

, the trees. I decided to move our Sunday dinner, the dinner prepared by friends from my school, outside on the dock. To sit under the canopy of the oaks, overlooking the beautiful marsh grass, smelling the pluff mud and soaking in God's gifts. So with the help of the children, we set up a table, placed flowers from our yard to decorate and insisted that poor, tired Bruce come out and eat with us. He did. He came, he ate, and I could see him become energized by nature.

I also took the time to lay out all the amazing mail we have received to sustain us through our journey. It is beautiful and treasured, each and every letter, card, message. Thank you for everything. Enjoy this Sunday.

Gratefully,

Joanne

Celebrating with family

Tonight was a celebration of hope and faith. We gathered at Outback Steakhouse with Gayle & Jim and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Tonight we laughed and took pictures. We are celebrating tonight...Bruce has his first infusion of chemo tomorrow....but we believe that the first infusion and every infusion after that brings him closer to healing. We believe.

The healing begins

Updating all of you amazing family members, friends, and friends of family & friends.....It is real, it is starting. Bruce starts radiation tomorrow and chemo on Thursday. I am so relieved that his mother will be here tomorrow so she can go to his first chemo with him. We are planning a very special celebration tomorrow night. We are celebrating the beginning of the healing process. We know the healing process will be difficult, uncomfortable, humbling. We know God can show His healing power through these doctors. We will be celebrating tomorrow night with our family, at Outback Steakhouse, where Morgan & Rhena work. We are looking forward to family time together and we want Bruce to enjoy a delicious dinner before chemo.....

A heartfelt thank you to all of you. The cards, the response to our 10 days of prayers, has been amazing and has given all of us the strength to smile, to laugh and to take one day at a time. I posted a young picture of Bruce, I love this picture....

Love to you all,
Joanne

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Last night we received lots of gifts! We had facebook posts of encouragement. We had the promise of dinner today prepared by my FoJo family, phone calls from family & friends.....

The doorbell sounded at dinner time, and my friend Carol was on the porch, smiling, of course. She is "heartfelt" fun loving and awesome. We ate pizza,laughed and shared our DAY 2 of prayer together, so warm and wonderful. We did homework with Michael and talked. What a gift!

I woke up to take Bruce to MUSC for his tumor marking surgery, and Rhenabeth had written sweet note of encouragement. Morgan sent me a text, I am blessed. I am in the waiting room, not sad, hopeful! And thinking, because I over think and overanalyze... The medical community has been my life for so so long, over 20 years I have been at home in hospitals and as a caregiver. It is both familiar and strange, however to be on this end. To see the radiation markings on my husband, to wait in the waiting room for him to get out of surgery, to see others start IV's or access his port; procedures that for many years I performed as a nurse to the many children in took care of who had cancer. I had no idea how it felt to be the family of the patient. I remember that every shift I prayed that I would be able to see Jesus in every patient I took care of, and that I would be able to provide the best care for them I could. Some days were
better than others, but I used to think," it is a 12 hour shift for me, but it is this family's life...." a reminder to myself....I hope all Bruce's caregivers feel and come to know how appreciative we are for what they do. And I hope they see Jesus in Bruce!

I

It really is NOT so bad on this side. Not when you have the family & friends we have. We are surrounded by family and friends, and we are grateful

The beginning

Tomorrow while most are still asleep Bruce and I will head to MUSC for the docs, once again, to put Bruce asleep....a minor surgery before radiation starts next week. The kids will get up and the coffee and breakfast will not be waiting as usual, they will be fine because they are so much older, but it will feel different for all of us. It is different because treatment is now underway. We have had butterflies in our stomaches. We have felt the uncertainty of anticipating change, we have been wearing our Blue for Bruce bracelets and praying a lot. But tomorrow we board the train and really start our journey. Tonight we are enjoying our Wednesday night shows and my co workers are generously planning and preparing the dinner they promised us tomorrow. They are feeding our family and I am so grateful. Tonight we will read one of the notes we received from family and friends.

God's peace,
Joanne