THANKSGIVING--Quarantine Style

Intro

Due to my coming surgery (Dec 2nd) and the rising COVID risk, Pete and I were alone this Thanksgiving, maybe for the first time ever. We both come from large families so usually we are celebrating with others on Thanksgiving. I thought it would be really hard and lonely for parts of it, but overall, it was much more fun than I expected. It went something like this...

November 26th--Thanksgiving Day

We slept in and had late breakfast. Then late morning we signed on to a Zoom with Luke and Karl & Erica (& Wendell (5) & Sophie (2)). Karl and Erica had arranged games we could play online and once we got started, the time just zoomed by (no pun intended). We played games, each from our own home and computer, for nearly 3 hours. We played Mad Takes, scavenger hunt, Boggle, Lie Swatter and Drawful. It really was amazing how much fun we could have playing together virtually and not in person. I recommend giving it a try. There are a lot of choices online.

Jules' Lefse!

We had a feast of leftovers for lunch, which sounds sad but it truly was delicious! Then later, we had a Zoom call with Pete's mom and our son Luke. It was nice to connect and Luke even provided some live music for us. We touched based with a few others during the day via phone and had a nice walk around the neighborhood. 

Lefse Time:  For nearly 40 years, it has been my habit to make lefse for the whole Bonde clan at Thanksgiving, about 30 or 40 lefse. I grew up making lefse with my mom and I LOVE this tradition. So even though we didn't have a big dinner on Thanksgiving Day, I made lefse for supper. We supplemented it with fruit and were quite satisfied with our dinner. We went to sleep grateful for each other and for the virtual family connections.

November 27th--Thanksgiving Day #2

We slept in again. But with the day wide open and no contacts with others, it started out feeling excessively lonely to me. I'm used to having more contact with family the next day, sometimes playing games or doing puzzles together and eating leftovers of course. 

Our Gifted Thanksgiving Feast

Lucky for us, someone had planned to deliver us a treat. Around 3:30pm, our sweet friends, Mike & Judi, delivered an entire Thanksgiving dinner to us that included a whole turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and even 3 kinds of pies! I am quite certain we will get 4 or 5 meals out of it. It was delicious and definitely changed the feeling of the day for me. After that, Pete and I had a lovely evening cozying up on the couch and watching a show and relaxing together.  Thanks again Mike and Judi (Erica's parents).

Something else new...

Jules' rainbow turkey--2020

After years of wanting to do this, I finally took the time this Thanksgiving to color the turkey provided in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper each year. I chose to go with rainbow colors. This felt like the best expression of hope I could offer this year...a rainbow of colors representing a promise given by God to God's people thousands of years ago at the end of the massive flood. On behalf of frustrated people everywhere I am embracing this promise, that we will survive all that 2020 has brought and find a new beginning at the end of it and in the new year.

Conclusion

Traditions are wonderful things. We can build great connections with family and friends around our tradition but sometimes life calls us to be flexible, to let go and just be with what is. 2020 has been full of the practice of being flexible, sometimes frustrating us. But I am happy to say Thanksgiving was quite delightful this year. I am grateful for what we had. Thanks be to God!

Looking Ahead

Three days from now, Wednesday, December 2nd, I will have my lumpectomy surgery. So now we make the last prepartions for that. It will be outpatient surgery so I'll be able to go home afterard, for which I am grateful. I am confident it will go well even as I acknowledge that I won't really know what it is like until I get through it. I am glad it will soon be over.

Thanks again for all your prayers for my healing from cancer and all the kindness offered through cards and gifts and conversations and messages. I am so grateful for all of you! May your kindness come back to you tenfold!

With deep gratitude, Jules

A Life of Gratitude Creates a Life of Abundance --Jules

PHASE TWO OF TREATMENT: SURGERY

Good Morning Dear Friends and Family,

Now that chemotherapy is done, it is time to plan for the next phase of treatment: surgery.

I had my breast MRI and chest CT scans last Friday. They showed that my tumor had shrunk from its original length of 4cm (which is quite large) to 1.7 cm. This is significant change. The chemo worked! The scans also continue to show that all of the cancer is contained in the one tumor. No other activity is showing up on the scans. 

Then we saw my surgeon on Tuesday. He was also impressed with the response of the tumor. I will be having a lumpectomy, which is the smallest surgery one could expect from breast cancer. I am grateful. The surgeon was very encouraging about the surgery, that it would much easier to handle than my chemotherapy.  He also was encouraging about the radiation that would follow,  saying that the risk of radiation is so small, it is worth doing.

HERE'S THE PLAN:

• November 18--I will begin my quarantine to prepare for surgery. this means no in-person company for Thanksgiving. Sorry guys!
• Surgery--December 2nd, 11:00 am--I am scheduled for my lumpectomy. He will remove what's left of my tumor and also take a lymph node out just to be sure there is no activity in the lymph system. This is an outpatient surgery.. I will NOT be staying at the hospital.
• Radiation--3 to 4 weeks after surgery, I will begin radation treatments. The treatments will last 4 to 6 weeks. I'll get more details on this later.

HOW I AM:

I am feeling pretty confident about this next phase. I am excited that surgery means the cancer will finally be gone and I can leave it behind in 2020, literally. I grateful that I will have less side effects to deal with. I look forward to continued healing and gaining of strength in the new year. 

I am noticing my energy returning in tiny increments but each little thing matters. Yesterday, I did some closet cleaning, even worked up a sweat. How cool is that!

Meantime, I have a long, long way to go on healing from the neuropathy. That may take six months or longer? 

Other days, I am sad, that this coming holiday season will not be people coming together. I am sad for myself and for all of us. I pray we find fun,  creative ways to deal this challenge. 

Some of the things that are helping me are regular Zoom meetings with friends. Each Thursday, I meet with my book group from church. Wonderful conversations! Each Tuesday, I meet with two of my writing friends. We give ourselves an assignment and then read to each other what we wrote for that assignment, as well as check in. Each month, I meet with my peer group and my Morningstar Singers choir as well. And I have a goal of reaching out to one person beyond these walls each day.  This may seem like a lot to some of you but when you compare it to how many people we used to see daily as we worked and played and lived, it is not a lot. But it is enough to keep me going.

I am blessed to be so rich in people resources! Thanks again to each of you for your love and care and encouragement and of course, your prayers and songs.

May you each have a blessed Thanksgiving!

with all my heart, Jules

and greetings from Pete as well

Jules' Cancer Update: CHEMO IS DONE!

YES! YES! YES!

 Good News!

I am officially done with chemotherapy! 

As of this moment (November 4, 2020), I will begin the detoxing and my body will have a chance to recover from all the poisons. I am so excited!

What's next? I will have my CT and MRI scans on Friday. I will meet with the surgeon next week to determine what happens next. 

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

CHEMOTHERAPY: APPROACHING THE END

Breast Cancer Update—November 1, 2020

What a chaotic and miserable ride the year 2020 has been so far! With COVID and civil unrest and the chaotic election campaign and then for me, breast cancer! It’s all a big messy pile of tangled garbage to me! I found my cancer lump the week George Floyd was murdered and I’m ending my first phase of treatment the same week as election day! Ugh!

It’s been nearly 5 months since my breast cancer diagnosis, and I am almost done with the chemotherapy treatment phase. I have one more Taxol treatment on the calendar this week on Wednesday. I have an agreement with my oncologist that this last treatment is negotiable. I will meet with her online Wednesday morning before my treatment to make that final decision.

Throughout the treatment so far, I have been hit rather hard with side effects caused by the chemotherapy drugs. Even the doctors and nurses have said that I have had more than my fair share. Currently my feet are quite numb, especially my toes and foot pads. This causes me to be a bit unstable as my feet don’t really feel the ground. In addition, I have neuropathy damage in my fingertips as well. My fingers are also clumsy as a result. My fingernails are also extremely affected by this. There is some pain with this but mostly it is unnerving and makes me shaky. Throughout the treatment I have had lots of issues with digestion and intestines as well. In addition, I usually have a couple of days each weekly cycle when my bones in my legs just ache. Most recently, I’m having some episodes that cause my arms and legs to tremor for a bit.

And now, nearing the end, I am starting to have hope that as I detox from this, my body will find ways to recover and heal. At least that is what I pray for.

What’s next? This coming Friday I will have my follow up scans to see how well we did. I am praying for a good report. I won’t really know the answer until I have my consult with the surgeon the following week. And then we will see what’s next.

Meantime, I am and have been grateful to know that all of you are there holding me up in your hearts. Your prayers and friendship mean so much to me. I have even had the chance to have a couple of longer conversations with friends recently, conversations that remind me how precious each of you really are.  I can’t thank you enough. Truly! Your support means the world to me, even if you have not heard from me.

And now I pray for peace in our country, for God’s arms to wrap us in his abundant love and grace and fill us with wisdom for the next steps.

As I enter this next phase of my cancer treatment and the election comes to a close, I’d like to share this thought with you:

When all seems lost in the chaos, lean into the LOVE you know is real! Lean into the Holy One, lean into the trees, sun, and wind. Lean into the friendships and people you trust. The trees, the sun, the ground, your friends and the Holy One will never stop supporting you. Let that LOVE you KNOW fill you to fullness! Let that be the LOVE you breathe in today! 

This is going to be my new daily practice this week. I’m going to lean in to that LOVE! I invite you to do the same!

Peace be with you, Jules