chemo #11

Today is chemo #11. My Aunt Marsha is going with me. Hopefully it won't take as long as the last one. I am getting more run down as the time passes. Thankfully I still don't have the extreme fatigue that many people have but I have noticed that my energy level is lower. Some days it is low enough that I want to take a nap but if I do then I have a hard time sleeping that night. Kind of a catch 22. Some good news is that my eyebrows and eyelashes are almost back to normal. My hair is coming in thicker but it is also grayer than I remember before. It is still pretty thin in the front on top of my head. Once that fills in I think I will go without my scarfs when I go places a lot more. It is kind of funny to see kids faces when they look at me now without a scarf. They aren't sure what to think whether I cut my hair that way or if I just have a bad haircut. Either way they are confused. Having a scarf on still gives me an opening to explain to them why my hair is so short because they are more curious than confused.

I have been very busy lately. David and I went away last weekend for our 18th anniversary. We have a good friend who has a cabin up by Brighton Ski Resort. He let us use it for three days. We left on Friday morning after the kids went to school. We stopped in Salt Lake and went to the temple and then took a quick tour of the Conference Center. The temple session was very peaceful. I went through for a lady who was born in 1752. I really notice my energy level being lower when I walk with David or Shawn. I didn't have a hard time keeping up with them before I had cancer but now if I try to keep up with our normal pace I get a little winded. I have never been to the gardens on top of the Conference Center so we decided to take a quick tour. Our friends, Gale and LaDee Jensen, from our ward, are missionaries serving at the Conference Center on Fridays. We were lucky to catch Gale as he was finishing another tour so he gave us a personal tour of the gardens. We headed up to the mountains after that.

It was so beautiful yet a little chilly at the cabin. We just relaxed, watched movies, played games, and put a puzzle together. On Saturday we walked around Silver Lake which is by the parking lot for Brighton. It is flat and very easy to walk around. The whole walk is about 1 mile. The last time we came with the kids we saw lots of small wildlife. This time there were too many people and most were being very noisy so whatever wildlife there was around would not come out. We did see several ducks and two squirrels. On Sunday we attended church at the chapel by the lake. It was so beautiful looking out the windows at the mountains and all of God's creations during the meeting. I was so grateful just to be able to be there and be able to enjoy everything. I am also grateful for 18 wonderful years with my sweetheart, David. He is so good to me. I am grateful that we found each other and that we were sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. I hope to have a lot more time with him and my kids and to be worthy of all eternity together. It was fast and testimony meeting. Their branch was having a fast for the missionaries in their area so most of the testimonies centered around how missionary work has effected their lives. It was a wonderful meeting. After church we packed up and went home. I was so tired that I ended up sleeping for several hours when we got home. It is amazing to me that I can get tired when I really didn't do much but sit around for 3 days.

Marsha should be here in a few minutes to take me to chemo so I need to go. I just wanted to let everyone know that Mariah is going to be baptised on Saturday, September 27th at 1:00 in the afternoon then Shawn will be awarded his Eagle for scouts at 3:00 the same day. Mom and Dad received permission from their Mission President to come home for a week so that they could be here for these two wonderful events. We would like to invite everyone who would like to come and participate in honoring both of them to join us. I have a few invitations I will be sending out but I don't have the time or energy to make one for everyone so please join us if you can and forgive me for my lack of energy in getting announcements out. Gotta go. I love you all. Thank you for your support.

Candace