Celebrations!!

This week we celebrated my father's 90th birthday, spending three days together as a family in Oceanside, CA. What a significant milestone and cause for much rejoicing!!

Being with Barb, from Texas, and Jim, who is continuing to recover from his cancer surgery and treatment, was a special treat.

We prepared most of our meals and even the birthday "boy" barbecued delicious steaks!!

We had a great time quizzing Mom and Dad about their lives and even found out some things we'd never heard before!!

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And another celebration took place in Regina this week, as KIM officially completed her chemo treatments!!! Originally the plan was for Kim to have six chemo treatments, but because of the extreme side effects she began to experience--severe heart pounding and neuropathy, etc--it was decided that she wouldn't have the final two. The oncologist admitted that she had been given a higher than normal dosage, so that she likely received five and a half dosages in the four treatments!! No wonder the side-effects were becoming so debilitating!!

On Friday she began to receive a drug that has been very successful in treating her kind of breast cancer--Herceptin. She'll get Herceptin every three weeks until Christmas. It doesn't have negative side-effects thankfully. So Tim and Kim almost feel as though they have their lives back again after six gruelling months of surgeries and chemo. Kim's helping Tim out in the barn and loving it--and of course Tim does too!!

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This coming Monday BOB will be having an xray and ultrasound to determine whether the stent that was put into his uretor is still open. It has already been replaced once since he received the first one exactly a year ago today!! His lower back pain has returned and we are hoping that it is due to a problem with the stent, rather than growth of the tumour.

I'll be flying home on Wednesday and you can be sure that Bob and I will be celebrating being back together again!!

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And there will be a big celebration in Fredonia, NY this coming Friday as our daughter-in-law ANN will be playing her graduation piano recital in fulfillment of her M.Mus. degree. We would love to be there, but David assures us that it will be recorded. There will be much rejoicing in their household when she completes these two years of graduate work.

We have SO much for which to thank the Lord.