Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Lightning and Cancer

We missed a month! I was not going to let that happen. What have we been doing?? Well . . . cancer and Lightning.

As I wrote in another post, Don's mom has breast cancer. She had to have 8 rounds of chemo every other Wednesday until the beginning of October. When she finished the last round, we started setting up her surgery. She had to meet with the surgeon a couple times and then a mammogram and an MRI. She had her surgery on November 2nd and then lived with us for a few days while she recuperated. The next thing is setting up her radiation. She had all the follow-up visits with her surgeon and oncologist last week and this week, I took her to radiation oncology for the initial consultation. She goes back next Tuesday for the mapping/planning appointment. She will start with 5-day-a-week treatments on the Monday after Thanksgiving. These treatments go for 6 to 6 and a half weeks.

She is really doing well though. The tumor responded well to the chemo. Her surgery also went great. She has been widowed for over 3 years now so it is very important that we walk through this with her. It is definitely something that we don't want her to go through alone.

There was cancer, homeschooling, gardening, and . . .Lightning!



Caleb joined a homeschool flag football team this year. Practices started in July and went 3 days a week through August. Then the games were added to the schedule in September. We were doing football 3 to 4 days a week for most of the weeks in September and October. It was a huge commitment but it was so fun.

Caleb did a great job and kept improving but the best part of the whole thing was that it was about so much more than football. There were several of us moms who set up our bag chairs at the practices and talked and laughed for the entire two hours. It was such a needed "social" outlet for me while we were walking through breast cancer with Don's mom.

The coaches for the team are wonderful, godly men who are not only focused on football but also the character of the boys. The team ranges from age 12 to 18. It was such a blessing for Caleb to be around young men older than him who were filled with character and spiritual maturity. He not only improved in football as the season progressed but he also gained some awesome friends. We were sad to see it end!

But it ended great! The team went to a tournament in Kansas where they took first place. Then we had a banquet last week and we will wrap it up with a team and coaches party this Friday at our house.

Here are a couple pictures. Caleb mostly played guard or center.