I love October!!! November, however...

October is my favorite month - hockey and basketball are underway, football is almost halfway through, the world series has begun and Kelsey's fall league softball games are played in beautiful weather with the gorgeous fall colors surrounding our mountains! It is also breast cancer awareness month. I personally am getting a little sick of the color pink this month but am thrilled that cancer awareness is everywhere.

A couple of weeks ago, a few of the ladies from our church came over to our house bearing a gift - they had sewn a beautiful pink and black quilt, with quotes of inspiration on various squares throughout the front of the quilt. They asked if I would please give it to someone they thought would benefit from the comfort it could offer, made with love. I happily accepted it knowing how much comfort our friend Lisa found in the prayer blanket made by Nick's aunt and the prayer blanket and quilt Nick received, also from his aunt and from family friends.

Today we were inspired to meet a new friend, Joann, who is also undergoing treatment at Huntsman. Our nurse, Katie, introduced us and as we handed Joann the quilt, tears streamed in surprise and thankfulness. I admitted I had nothing to do with making the quilt, I can barely sew on a button - I was just the happy messenger. It was a good day for all of us.

Nick, meanwhile, went through two types of chemo all of last week - one in pill form, the other by iv in the outpatient clinic. This week he is only one one - the iv - again daily through Friday. He seems to be doing very well, just fatigued. Next week on Nov 3rd, he will have a ct scan of his abdomen, mri of his head and neck and finish with a chest x-ray. The following week on Nov 10th, we will meet with Dr. Andtabacka to discuss the results and all the details of the surgery in Boston (he is the Huntsman surgeon coordinating with the other surgeon at UMass). We have a lot of questions.

On Monday, Nov 15th, Nick will have a laproscopy to see what an actual camera can pick up in that tummy of his... if the cancer hasn't gone crazy, we will head to Boston the next day or so. We should have an idea when we have the results from Nov 3rd so we'll have a little time to make some tentative travel arrangements.

This is why I'm not too crazy about November this year. The good thing is that Nick gets to take a break from chemo for awhile. Hopefully, we hope to be back home before Thanksgiving, take off to Newport Beach for some much needed r & r the week after and then Nick has plans to go to Vegas the first week in December for the national rodeo finals.

That's it for now! Thank you all for the love and prayers!

Lori