First Follow-Up

I realize that I haven't been in communication much, and am so grateful to Patti and Heidi for updating this blog. This past week has been a tough one--physically and emotionally I am just spent and it takes every bit of energy to breath, eat, sleep and shower once a day. I'll even admit that I haven't flossed every day--just a few times! I have been reading the messages and cards that have been sent, and feel so overwhelmed by the love and support our family is receiving. The flowers, gifts, meals, rides for kids, housekeeping help and errands run have meant so much to us--I wish I could send a thank you note and hug personally to everyone. Please know of my love and gratitude for all you have done and are doing--you are truly serving as the Lord's hands in our lives. I am also so grateful to Vern who willingly goes to work each day and carries such a heavy load; and all my extended family--especially my angel mother. She says that she's doing what any mother would do for a child, but my sister and I know better.
I went to see Dr. Webb today to have the staples removed and things are progressing along slowly, but steadily. My body is still bloated with loads of fluids, which makes it difficult to move much and breath, but we are working on getting those drained off. The pathology reports appear to show that it is ovarian cancer in both the abdomen and the breast. The cells appear very similar in both places, and although they can't completely rule it out, Dr. Webb said it would be just "weird" if it was two separate cancers. I told him there were quite a few people who would probably agree that I was slighly "weird", but he assured me that everyone thinks they're different from everyone else! Anyway, the good news is that ovarian cancer typically responds better to chemotherapy than breast cancer does, so we are hopeful that they can find a "chemo cocktail" that is going to be just perfect at eradicating this! I get to be one of the topics of the day again next Monday among the cancer specialists in SLC and then we'll hopefully get a game plan going. Because of the extent of the surgery, we've been led to believe it will still be a few weeks before I'll be ready for that.
I am really missing all my friends and family, and I don't mean to "shoo" people away from calling or visiting, but I am still so weak and it's difficult for me to talk and visit much. I have a long road ahead of me, and will certainly need the calls and visits in the future. Thank you for your prayers--I still need them so much and they have been what has sustained me these past couple of weeks. Love always, Kim