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Several weeks ago some friends from Pinewild went up to Ohio to attend the PGA golf tournament at the fabled Firestone Country Club. They are friends with the English tour player Paul Casey and wanted to root him on in the tournament. On the third day (Paul made the cut) they asked him to sign a personalized Firestone flag for Gay. He graciously complied and went on to shoot a 65 right after that. "One good turn deserves another". This is just one of the many examples of our incredible friends' generousity. The flowers are here every Monday after the treatment and the many meals are overwhelming (and very tasty)! We certainly thank you all.
Gay had her seventh treatment this past Monday and again seemed to get through it quite well. The taxol is doing its job killing the weak cells (hair) and from the marker results, seem to be doing a number on the cancer cells as well. Gay is now thinner than I am up top and is into some really neat hats. Gay's not a member of a group called the "Knit and Nips" (Knit one, drink two!!) but they all gave her a spectacular bunch of hats for her collection. The enclosed picture shows one of her many hats (this one is from daughter Heidi) and that incredible Firestone flag. My son-in-law Keith gave her a Under Armour "doo-rag" and we'll include a picture of Gay in that in future postings. You've got to see that one!
Again, the marker results are comforting and definitely going in the right direction. Five more to go! Please keep checking back on her progress and keep those prayers coming too.
Gay shoots an 80 two days after her last treatment and the women of Pinewild are already questioning possible performance enhancing qualities in Taxol. A number of them are willing to wear the silly hats involved with it if they could shoot an 80.
Meanwhile hair coloring company stocks have plunged and Gay's hairdresser (and colorer) has declared Chapter 11. The comb and brush industry is at an all time low. More soon.
Yesterday was the sixth of Gay's twelve chemo treatments. Hence the "half time". There were no marching bands but daughter Heidi drove over to sit and watch the drips go in. Dear Charlotte Conradi had been doing that for the first five weeks but Heidi decided to volunteer for this week and give Charlotte some much needed time off. The procedure takes several hours and the girls talked girl talk and went down to the "Wig and Hat Shop" at the hospital for some comic relief. Yes, the hair is falling out but she still has a long way to catch me and hers will return (SIGH)!!
I hate to be repetitive but all of our friends continue to amaze. I mentioned the "Monettes" and their flowers and I'm including a picture of last week's "welcoming after treatment"! Friends keep bringing delicious foods and some are including Gay in their particular Sunday church services. A problem has arisen as the poor announcers at the churches don't have a clue how to pronounce the name"Strojny"! I had the same problem with my flight attendants in my past life. As long as the prayers get here, we couldn't care less if our name is butchered!
Gay has an appointment with her oncologist tomorrow for her next status report. We'll keep you all up to date as we get news.
On Monday, August 11th, Gay had her fifth treatment with Taxol only. All the better as that other stuff made her tired and achy. Personally I'd prefer another type of "fifth" but that's me. Next Monday will be "halftime". She's starting to get a little "thin" up top but otherwise no adverse effects so far.
We're over in Charlotte now "babysitting" and I don't have access to my pictures here. Gay's Monday golf group (the Monettes) makes sure that fresh flowers are always awaiting her after her treatment and I'll include a picture when we return. The support from everyone is overwhelming and we thank you all.
We had our annual New Jersey Day golf tournament yesterday (which Gay started) and she couldn't play because she wasn't feeling well (and her brother Tom was visiting). She really has to be feeling yukky to skip a golf game! We were worried that the new "soup" recipe really hit her hard but now the concensus is that the two days golfing in this blasted heat was the major contributing factor. She's heading out to play right now so things can't be too bad. Naturally I advised her to quit if it gets too hot. (I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV)!
The good news. The Oncologist called yesterday to tell us that her cancer "markers" (whatever they are) were improving "significantly" and the "soup" appears to be working. Obviously your prayers, candles, angels, etc. are working too so please keep 'em coming!
Another Monday has come and gone and the fourth dose of chemo (out of twelve) is in the books (and Gay's veins too). A new ingredient has been added to the Taxol soup called Zometa which is supposed to work on the evil in her bones. She played golf over at Pinehurst #4 before the dose (she and her partner won, by the way) and left this morning for Fayetteville for another game of golf in temperatures in the high 90's. She should be returning soon and will swim and exercise in the pool for an hour or so. Believe me, Gay's energy level is not down.
Speaking of the pool, Gay noticed something new in the waterfall and pointed it out to me yesterday. All of our friends and neighbors have been so kind and generous and it looks like one of them is quite creative (and most likely wet)! I'll try to enclose two pictures. The bottom will be the waterfall from across the pool and the top will be a close-up of Gay's discovery. Some dear sweet person put a little angel in a recess just to the left of the Notre Dame rock. Yes, I have a Notre Dame rock!
You'll have to look very closely at the top and larger picture. Just go the the left of the ND and look in a little crevice in the rocks. This blew us both away!
We're supposed to be getting some preliminary results of the chemo soon. I'll put it in the blog as soon as we hear it. We've got candles, angels, and all of your kind thoughts and prayers going for us. Again we couldn't go through this without you.
This is for all of you new visitors to our blog. I just realized as I get more and more verbose (Dennis...not you!!!), the original posts of Gay's battle are now lumped (poor choice of words there) under "older posts" at the end of the blog. These (especially the first one) explain Gay's situation, how it came to light, and what we're doing about it. The latest posts are up to date accounts of her progress. Feel free to read the older ones and comment if you wish. As I said before, this blog is truly a "work in progress"! I'm a pilot, not an author!
This post has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Gay's progress. I just posted Krissy and Jason's three kids and now I'm adding a picture of Heidi and Keith's Darby. She is 11. It's not easy being a grandfather blog master!!
No special reason for this post. It's a new month and I want to see if this thing notices that. Gay had a meeting with her oncologist today and everything seems to be going well. We found that the chemo is cumulative but she's been taking the full dosage since she started. Just got this picture of three of the grand kids today. Looks like daughter Krissy is working on her Christmas card! That's Kali (8), Kyle (12) and Kendall (10). Hoping to get a picture of Darby soon too.
