The Twelfth of Never......The Drip Stops Here!

Remember when you were a kid (oh so many years ago) and you couldn't wait for the grand finale at a fireworks show. They would salvo everything they had left all at once and fill the sky with color and light. Yesterday when Gay returned from her last chemo treatment, our good friends greeted her with a floral equivalent of a fireworks finale. The picture here just doesn't do their incredible generosity justice. The very expensive bottle of champagne made the display all the more vivid! We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends. Yes, her chemo treatments are OVER and we await the PET Scan on Wednesday to see how she's doing. (I thought we had to bring a dog or a cat for this)! We'll really need your thoughts and prayers for that test.

The nurses at the Hospital gave her a diploma for being an "A" patient and I'll enclose a picture of that (if I can remember)! I think you get an A for showing up on time for the treatments but it's a nice touch nevertheless. As you can see from the right picture, I DID remember!

I'm having some problems getting the pictures where I want them so please bear with me. They're pretty self-explanatory and I'm sure you can figure out which is which. I'll be putting two more pictures in and can't wait to see where they end up!

Well, they all ended up everywhere but at least they're in the Blog. One is of Gay taken with an equally folically challenged friend at a party recently. She's doing the Susan Powter look and our friend looks so much better with her hat.

The other picture is of Gay and yet another "Biddie". Please see a previous post on just what or who a "Biddie" is. She didn't want her name mentioned but let's just say it begins with a "V" and ends with an "E". No it's not "Valve"! We so enjoyed her visit and generosity.

Gay had that PET Scan this morning and we're awaiting the results. We'll leave this afternoon to watch grand daughter Darby run in a cross country race. I'm still not sure how you do that but we'll be there rooting her on. Tomorrow we'll be heading to South Bend to watch our Irish beat the Stanford Cardinal (I'm not sure if that's a color or a tree; it's certainly not a bird)!

We return on Sunday (hopefully) and should have her test results by then. You all will be first to know so again PLEASE keeps those prayers coming. We thank you for your support. I'm Dennis Strojny and I approved this message!

Number 11..........The End is Near!

Gay had her eleventh treatment today with only one more remaining. As per the previous posts, she didn't get sick and came home to beautiful flowers. It's hard to believe almost three months have past since we got the bad C word news! Your incredible support definitely made this long journey tolerable for us and we cannot thank you enough.

We played golf for three days up in the NC and TN mountains this past week with sixteen great (and fun) couples from Pinewild. Gay ran out of gas the third day but still played well. To put things in perspective, your humble scribe ran out of gas on day one! We were both in the money for two out of the three days and it helps to have good partners (I partnered with Gay on day three)!

Our Irish got hammered by the MSU Spartans on Saturday and I am semi-depressed. I have to remember that some billion Chinese had no idea that this tragedy occurred to put things in proper perspective! I feel much better now!

I'll be back next week. Stay tuned and keep those prayers and wishes coming.

Number 10.........The Return of the "Biddies"

"Biddy" in the dictionary means "a woman, especially an old gossipy one" and the plural is "biddies". Gay's Dad in his infinite wisdom gave her and her friends that perfect nickname. Two of the biddies (Loretta and Cookie) came down from Baltimore to join Charlotte in the weekly "drip watch" so there were a total of four in our little town. A warning should have been issued!

The "girls" sat with Gay and her quilt during yesterday's procedure and naturally Gay was so thankful for their presence and support. Yes, they returned to a wonderful display of "Monette" flowers. The Monettes (Gay's Monday golf group) hasn't missed a week with those flowers and, frankly we're getting kinda used to them!

Gay and I returned from South Bend on Sunday and witnessed a defeat of the Skunk Bears ( the University of Michigan). All of the rain throughout the game was quickly forgotten and a win is a win. I didn't get to say that much last year! We lit some candles personally in the Grotto and that and your prayers seem to be working. Today we got the great news that her cancer markers were still improving. Keep up the good work!

I promised I'd include a picture of Gay in the Under Armour "doo-rag" that son-in-law Keith gave to her. Now you have to admit she looks "menacing"!

Number 9........Three to go!

Gay received the ninth in her series of chemo applications and this one was the tough one. She does really well with the taxol alone but has some difficulties with the zometa. She doesn't have any sickness issues but the stuff does a number on her energy level. The poor thing only played four rounds of golf this past week! Again the zometa is for her bones for you new blogsters out there.

We head over to Charlotte tomorrow to celebrate the ninth birthday of our youngest grand daughter Kali and we'll then leave from there and fly to Chicago. We have about a two hour ride to South Bend to watch the Irish take on good ole Michigan. I've always requested prayers for Gay and, if you have a few to spare, send some to Notre Dame. After last week's showing, they're really going to need them!

The Drip goes On (Number 8)

Because of the Labor Day holiday, Gay got a one day reprieve from her treatment. She did "the drip" on Tuesday and returned to more wonderful flowers (and food too). Luckily the chemo treatments have been relatively benign (I like that word) and Gay has not become sick from them. The last thing we need here is a "Hasten Jason, get the basin" incident around here every week!

As some of you might know, football season is upon us and we were worried about traveling on airplanes to get to South Bend to see our beloved Irish and the Notre Dame Grotto. We just received clearance but, because Gay has to be wary of infections, she must wear a surgical mask (and the ever present hat) on the airplane. This is going to be like flying with Michael Jackson but we have to do what we have to do.

The Irish play San Diego State tomorrow so please include them in your "Gabby" prayers. We need all the help we can get!! We'll be off to the Michigan game next week.