A Year Later

I guess when things get good, I don't share as much of my life with people. There's something about 'getting it all out there' when times are tough, that it really helps in the recovery. Thank God things have been okay since Bryan's brain surgery.

So, here's what has happened since my last post in July 2010:

Right after Bryan blew the disc in his back, we found out that Bryan's mom, Judy, had cancer again. She had noticed that her abdomen was swollen and a little uncomfortable. She went to the doctors in June and they gave her a clean bill of health. In fact, she was six years clean, no cancer. In fact, they said that there was a 99% chance she would never get cancer again. Well, they never checked her abdomen. This cancer came back full force. She started chemo and was doing really well....

Through the fall Bryan started losing a lot of weight. We attributed it to stress from his mom's cancer and the fact that he was no longer on steroids from his brain surgery. He had other strange symptoms, so he went to the doctor who sent him to another, who diagnosed him with Graves disease: hyper-thyroid.

Thanksgiving was spent in Wyoming and Judy was dealing with the effects of chemo, but still hopeful that it was doing it's job. We celebrated Christmas AND Thanksgiving since everyone was in town.

December was a rough month. I lost my friend Stephanie Bush, who I met through the Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day walk, lost a neighbor/mom/friend named Diane Gray who had brain cancer for only six months, Darcy's good friend Calvin Seidler died driving home from college for Christmas, and on the day of Calvin's funeral, we got news that Judy's cancer had grown so much that radiation wouldn't touch it, and they gave her two months to live.

We drove back up in December, before Christmas, and spent the last days with Bryan's mom and the rest of the family. I brought Darcy & Codi back home January 1st (we all had the flu), so they could get back to school. Bryan couldn't bear to leave his mom, and I'm glad he didn't. Judy passed away at home on January 6, 2011.

Judy left behind an amazing legacy. She supported the town of Riverton, WY and the cancer patients who live in Freemont County. She donated thousands and thousands of dollars to the Tough Enough To Wear Pink Foundation that takes care of these people in the community.

Thank God for Judy. She is missed every day. We all have another guardian angel watching over us.

(pictures to follow)

Gayla
August 28, 2011