In Closing and On Continuing...

This post picks up where we left off at the one year mark. The news is still good! But effects linger...

The Next Year After...

As we thought about 2017 and on to 2018, we remained thankful for the many gifts we have received along the way. Time to spend with friends and family – the delight of a weekday lunch together or greeting the kids off the school bus. Potluck dinners and pizza night with friends. The importance of human connections. The young ones in our lives with their optimism and wonder at their expanding worlds and capacities. We are also so aware of and feel deeply the losses, illnesses and challenges faced by others around us. Friends with cancer, concussions, work challenges and changes; friends losing parents. People around us taking on new studies or new horizons. The great human condition.

A loving kindness meditation, came to mind in the midst:

"May you be loved; may you be safe; and may you live life at ease."

This then is our hope for you in 2018 and beyond,

With love,

Fast Forward to 2024 

 As of November 2024, we are both well and thriving. I am about to retire. We’ve moved houses, sheltered through COVID-19, and brought into our lives two beautiful and playful cats who came to us as kittens in 2020. We are grateful for each new day and the people and resources in our lives. Angie’s shoulder is strong and pain-free. I have lingering effects from my treatments, but these are manageable. Recently, I have developed chronic but mild lymphedema in my left arm. I have ongoing mild neuropathy in my hands and feet. I’ve added a podiatrist to the team.

I remain on an aromatase inhibitor (Letrozole) thankful that my body tolerates it well. The plan is that I will take it for a full ten years, based on updated clinical studies supporting this longer period in my situation. Emerging research however, suggests that Letrozole can have cognitive impacts (all that missing estrogen). This is, of course, of much concern. I will be monitoring and doing what I can to boost my brain!

Thus, while I called the Blog (from which this book has been generated) “A Breast Cancer Year”, the better descriptor is Breast Cancer Years... While my body isn't the same, all is manageable and better than the alternative! We continue to live and thrive in spite of (or in partnership with) our brushes with injury and treatable cancer.