The holidays were GREAT with Kayli and Jenna here, but of course, it passed too quickly. Schnell vorbei.....
Wendi went home with the girls to get them started back at USU and BYU. She was wondering if the trip might be too much, too soon and she was right.....but went anyway. How could she not go, right?
It was a busy time getting Kayli settled in a new apartment and with a new semester. She had most of her valuables and important documents stolen from her apartment in the Philippines, so they had to get a driver's license and things like that. Can't hurry the DMV! Thanks to Grandpa and the truck, they moved her stuff from Ogden to Logan and Wendi stayed an extra day or two to see Derek n Jess and others in Provo.
Since she's been back in Germany, we've had an appointment with the Oncologist. It went well and we like this guy. They don't recommend a CT right away to check things out. He said we could do one in a month or so, or even wait about 6 months. The one month wait is to allow the body to heal after being hammered by the chemo and radiation all those times. We go back to his office in a few weeks and we'll reassess. We have a follow-up appointment with the German radiation folks in about 10 days, so we'll see what they say.
Probably the biggest cancer news is the prescription we received at the Oncologist. If Phase I is an operation (my terminology), Phase II is chemo, Phase III is radiation, we just entered Phase IV this week. The pill is called "Tamoxifen" and it doesn't have a great reputation. Phase IV lasts - recommend sitting down for this part - 10 years. Well, kinda. It used to be five years, but they now recommend 10. It is some kind of hormone blocker pill, taken every day, that prevents a reoccurrence. Most patients that Wendi has talked to have not gone the full five years, but some period of time less than that. It has some tough side effects, different for everyone, of course. So far this week (first pill taken on Monday) Wendi has had bouts of super tiredness, sleepiness, insomnia, 'fogginess,' low-grade headache, dizziness, stomach aches/cramps and such. It seems to be a little better as the week has progressed, so we'll see how it goes.
We're not great at posting on the blog when there is a lot going on, so we may be even more sporadic in Ph IV as we just press on with life and do our best. We'll try to post monthly (?) and, of course, when we have an appointment or scan or something.
We've settled in to the new semester and have had a great time at all the basketball games for Kade at Youth Sports and Alex on the Ramstein JV team.
Jenna might turn in her mission papers tomorrow!
Thanks, everyone, for your support---
Marküs
Heart-attacked on last day of radiation
Winter wonderland in our town
Notre Dame
From the Trocadero
We went to the top and had a great view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
