Sunday afternoon update

It's Sunday afternoon. We have just returned from a great hike and a stop at Baskin Robbins. I am taking it easy on the couch while writing this update.

This past week has been an intense time of planning and gathering information. A few logistical items to note: My dear Aunt C. has agreed to drive with us out to Seattle and my powerhouse mother-in-law is coming to be with us for a week when we return to Bozeman. I have asked my dad to do all the internet searching to find us a rental house to stay in while we are there. It truly takes a team to make this all work out. So thanks, team.

Someone did a very kind thing for me this week. A friend of a friend whom I have never met just had a double mastectomy at the beginning of May. She is my age, with 2 little kids. She took the initiative to call me up and came to my house to visit. She showed me her chest and what the surgery looked like 6 weeks afterwards. And I have to say, it's not nearly as bad as I had imagined. Granted, she had her reconstruction at the same time as the mastectomy. But it relieved an enormous amount of anxiety on my part to see what this actually looked like. I was very touched by her bravery to reach out to a complete stranger.

On a more difficult note, this week I also met with a fertility specialist. We haven't really shared this with many people, but we have been trying to have another child for awhile. A doctor finally identified the source of the problem as a physical blockage. In January it was removed, and all systems were go. We were moving forward with "The Beta Project" when this cancer diagnosis hit. As we have learned more about chemotherapy, we are both reeling with the news that it will probably leave me sterile. This news is probably more devastating than dealing with the loss of my breasts. There is one option available to us, which is to use IVF techniques to freeze embryos and use them in several years when I am cancer-free. So along with all the other decisions that we are making, we are trying to navigate this one as well. It's complicated and difficult and requires us to do a lot of soul-searching in a very short amount of time. If we decide to move forward with this, we will need to return to Seattle after the surgery and prior to chemotherapy for the procedure. There is a window of time in August when this could happen. We would appreciate prayers for wisdom and honesty as we deal with this. We need clear heads to make the best decision that we can.

Thankfully, the Livestrong Foundation runs a program that helps cancer survivors with the financial costs of preserving fertility called Fertile Hope. If we decide to go this route, the Foundation will help to offset the costs. Over the past week or two, I have received amazing information and personal advice from their staff on this topic and more. I can't say enough good things about this organization and am looking forward to supporting them in the future.

Our workday this Saturday was a bit of a bust, but we did get some good work done and had a good time in the process. We had one dear friend plus my brother show up. Our timing seems to have coincided with the first nice summer weekend in Montana. And our PR wasn't that great either. So we will try again on July 10th. In a perfect world, Brett and I would spend 2 weeks in Hawaii while a complete team of carpenters finished the house. But since we don't live in that world, we will keep working away.

Grace has just invitated me to play Pokemon Cards. So I will sign off for now.

Love,
Susan