Update for April 26

Introduction Guess what? With John's recent hip surgery, the tables are turned! I'm getting to play the role of "caretaker" - that is if my friends will let me and if John will play "patient"! Mostly he likes to do it himself, fudge on the rules, or you have to tease it out of him, "do you need this?", "aren't you supposed to have a pillow under your leg?" Where I lose out are those tea and newspaper in bed; cleaning out the cat box, and love for clean kitchen countertops.

Of course this was all compromised by my great caretaker, Beth McKenzie, who was with me while John had his surgery, and then Kathy Pritchard took over bringing dinners, morning lattes and constant texts, "do you need anything?" Bob Ogg called with his concerns about our abilities and bringing lattes, and Mac, our construction contractor, took on Ed, the cat's neurosis and spring fever and just being here "in case"! Unbelievably, dinners kept appearing from various sources and one of our funnest ones was when we finally kidnapped Carol Gordon and Kathy into staying and eating with us!

Thanks for all your prayers, positive thoughts, visits and food! The surgery did not turn out to be the simple scenario (slip the liner out) that the Doctor hoped for. When he got in there, the hip was "dead" and had fluid and so he did the right thing by replacing the ball and using a few screws to hold the alignment in place. A few days later after monitoring his blood, he gave John a blood transfusion to get him back on his feet faster (at little too fast in my opinion!). Anyway, John is actually feeling better in this recovery than he did from the initial one done a year ago January. Wer're glad to have it behind us and he's looking forward to golf by July.

Update for Kerry. But enough about him! And yet, there isn't much to say about me since the last blog when I listed some of my main helpers and focus, i.e. Amy Haynes, Joanna Lester, Debra Shorrock, and Julie Rae O'Conner. I'm on schedule to meet with a nutritionist, Holly Greenwood, tomorrow. One thing I know she'll get me going on is tracking the food that I'm eating (food diary). I'm hoping to match my food up with how I'm feeling and seeing if I can link the pain, stomach aches, energy levels.

My friend, Olleke, recently returned from a tour of Bali and in listening to her stories, I'm taken by the spiritual and positive nature that their culture embraces. I need to introduce a regular ritual in my life to help me be in that positive frame of mind. What do you all do on a daily basis?

Featured Friend(s) - Sula Boyle (my Granddog) In my blogs I haven't yet mentioned the great comfort that I get from particularly my dogs, Sula and Katie. I've never met such a sensitive soul as Sula. When we get together she wiggles her long body in a direct and loving greeting. It's not about "where are the treats", but just a "hi, I love you" greeting. She's one of my trainers for being a grandmother! Thanks Sula!

Update for April 15

Introduction. Can we all believe it??? April 15 - the deadline for taxes to be filed! (That is Ed, the cat, on the desk helping with taxes.) Doing tax work has been a mainstay in the Boyle family since 1981 - Now the Boyle boys Pat and Colin enter into the fray! Initially, John tried out H&R Block in Lansing Michigan while waiting for me to finish a Masters degree at Michigan State University. He liked it enough so he got a tax season job back in Missoula when we returned. Two blocks from our house was a neighborhood accounting firm, Byington, Deveny and Meyer. Three young graduates were buying out a guy ready for retirement, Keith Byington. It's been history ever since only with a lot of change and growth. Today includes 6 partners (4 women) and a staff flexing from 23-30 depending on the season. They've moved from the small house to a beautiful new building down by the Clark Fork River staying within the Missoula downtown. They've also been blessed to be a "family"; celebrating weddings, families of dogs/cats and 13-15 children and 1-2 grandchildren that Santa Clause checks on each year. (You need that "naughty or nice" check given that tax season is just around the corner and the poor spouses are getting ready for the workload each year). So congratulations to the Staff and spouses ! All will be celebrated at the annual "Tax Season Party" down at the Caras Park Tent with the clients tonight! Weather temps usually hover around 45 degrees so wear your coats and long under wear!

Second Round. My last blog (March 28) summarized my year with cancer. This year I am now free of the Cancer Center - at least chemotherapy for now. That seemed to scare some people or so I assume since I got a few sympathy cards and some viewed me at home in bed with the nurses at hand. More reality is that I'm getting a handle on my pain medication which I was always taking. It's true that I'm walking that line of life and death, but I'm choosing to live in the moment and on the side of living. For my supporters -- it's most helpful to refrain from assuming the worst about me (and sharing that) and with sharing your experiences of others with cancer. I love hearing from you about your life (positives and negatives) and your positive thoughts and prayers. Email or text is a great way to communicate (kmcmenus@msn.com or 240-6650 (text)). Short visits are good too (email/text to schedule).

Update. I feel that I'm enjoying life and that is so wonderful! But I admit that I have bad days filled with anxiety. Perhaps it comes at the start of bedtime or waking with too many thoughts for the day. Some helpful things will be to get more exercise back in my life and keep the structure going.

Efforts:

Amy, my naturopath, has me drinking what I call "glug" juice. It's Haelan 951, an asian formula of fermented and nitrogenated soy. It's not intended to replace other therapies that I've taken but works to disarm cancer cells and enhance my immune system. I also hope to engage a nutritionist to better fit my diet to my needs.

Joanna, my energy healer, continues to help me access the higher guides and to know of their support and efforts.

Deb, Bodytalk, continues to access my body intelligence and facilitate communication between physiological factors and my brain's consciousness.

Julie Rae O'Conner - is my new body work healer. She does a form of Thai Massage.

Thanks to the Many!! For the warm, sweet thoughts and for the many meals and treats that have been dropped by. If I list I know I'll miss some, but know that we feel very grateful. It has kept us going while John has stayed home and done taxes and I've recovered from the seizure and stabilized. I'm feeling much stronger now; I'm not in bed, but doing the regular chores around the house and going to my therapies.

Next Steps. On Monday, April 18, John will undergo hip surgery to remove a metal sheeth from a "metal-to-metal" hip replacement that he had done in January 2010. One of the unforseen side effects is that the metal can come loose and enter the blood stream. He started experiencing pain in December and underwent blood tests and a MRI which determined that he had elevated levels of metal in his blood. So we've got a new support crew coming in -- Beth will be staying with me shortly and we will rely on the Boyle family and other friends to provide additional support. (We're getting kind of used to this!)

So I'll try to keep this Blog more frequent to provide updates on John's progress.

Featured Friend(s). Everyone! I'll write more as we move in to the next few weeks. Just know that you are all a blessing!