November 2023

I met with my oncologist, Dr. Shinde.  She prescribed Tamoxifen, a pill that will block the effects of estrogen in my body.  My cancer was hormone generated, so this will hopefully limit the cancer in coming back. I will need to take it for 5 years.

I wanted to document the puzzles at radiation.  Every day I'd try to fit a few pieces in as I waited to be called back for radiation.  It was fun to see how much progress was done each day.  It made me wonder about the other patients who also worked on the puzzles throughout the day.

After 15 days of radiation, I was done and could ring the bell.  I was a lot more emotional than I thought I'd be.  It was hard to leave school with the kids and make time for radiation on top of the other stuff happening in life, but I was so grateful that I didn't have the exhaustion that they said I might have.

One of the side effects was this annoying rash.

Emily had allergy testing done.

We went to Sub Zero as a reward for reading the Book of Mormon for 30 days.  You choose your liquids and ingredients and then they use nitrogen to turn it into ice cream.

My parents came down for our 5th grade Hope of America program.  Mom helped roll up the flags. She had foot surgery and had a boot and a scooter.

We went to Menchie's afterward for a treat.

Our Young Women didn't have a chance to do Girls Camp this past sumer, so we had an all-day activity to kind of make up for it.  We drew names and got white elephant gifts at DI.

We got drinks at Fiiz and then had donuts out in the parking lot.

 

Then we went to Rush Funplex.

 

We went to Matheson Jr. High's Multi-cultural night.  Megan performed with Dance Co. and with Perfect Harmony.

This burn showed up several days after I finished radiation.  You can see the line where the laser went and the scar from the lumpectomy.

Some Kitty pictures.

 

It's hard to see her, but here is Kitty hiding behind my clothing.  She sits on the shelf and goes back behind my sweaters to sleep. 

October 2023

The kids and I went for a drive up in the mountatins after Sunday General Conference.  The leaves were so beautiful!

  

Tyler and Megan participated in Cyprus High School's Homecoming Parade.  Tyler wasn't able to get his trumpet out of the band room so he handed out candy.  

Megan marched with the Matheson Dance Company.

I had the opportunity to be a chaperone for the Matheson music department to see the operan "La Boheme" at the Capital Theater.  It was awesome!

Tyler was in a basketball tournament with A-Train.

I met with the radiologist and got 5 little pin prick tattoos for radiation.  I also had a phone appointment with the oncologist and found out the cancer is not aggressive and I wouldn't need chemotherapy.  Yay!

 

A local sportswear company called Zyia allowed Granite SD employees to go to their warehouse and choose 3 articles of clothing for free.  While I was there, they said they hadn't had as many people show up as they had anticipated, so they let us choose 5 articles!

 

Tyler went to homecoming with his friend Lucca and his date.

We went to Montana for our fall break. We stopped in Rexburg, Idaho on the way up so the kids could do baptisms for the dead.

 

One day of our break I went to help out in my sister, Kimberly's, 1st grade classroom in Butte, MT.  My parents took the kids to see these clay structures.

The kids and I went to the local theater to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour.

The girls made friendship bracelets.

The kids went to a hay bale maze.

I started radiation on October 17.  I was able to get the 3:45 appointment, which meant I needed to walk out of the school with my students each day to get there on time.  I went for 3 weeks Monday-Friday. The whole radiation process was really fast after I got my robe on.  I laid on a "table" and the technicians lined up the lasers with my tattoos.  Then I had a monitor places on my abdomen to show my breathing.  At some points throughout the treatment I would have to hold my breath and keep it above the line so the radiation would be away from my heart.  The whole thing was about 10-15 minutes.

Emily would leave sweet surprises in my backpack for me.

 

 

 

One of my students gave me this "bag of sunshine" and  BYU sweatshirt (even though they are Ute fans). It was so sweet!

 

Emily and Megan went to a friend's Halloween party.  Emily was a squishmallow and Megan was a pirate.

We went to the Hogle Zoo for "Howls and Growls."  Teacher's got in free and up to 4 guests could get in for half price.  It was fun to see the animals before it got too darek and the kids got candy.