Nothing new.

Hey everybody!  I know, I know.  There seems to be more and more days slipping in between my posts.  I just hate to tell you all that things seem to be the same, over and over.  Right now there doesn't seem to be much improvement/change and Mom has been so tired.  This may be weird to some people, but before Mom got sick, I usually talked to her every single day.  I'd usually call her on my way home from work and we'd just fill each other in on the day.  Staci is the same way and Dave talks to Mom and Dad pretty often as well.  Now, Mom just doesn't even really feel up to talking, even to us.  I've still tried to call her cell phone every day on the off chance that she feels up to talking, but it's usually Dad who answers to fill me in on what's been going on (more of the same) and to say Mom's not really up to talking much.  I think I went a whole week without talking to her and she knew I was trying so she put some extra effort out there and let me fill her in on my Sunday.  What's sad is that I could tell it really was a huge effort just for her to talk on the phone for a few minutes.  I'm so ready for this to get better and I know she is too! 

Aunt Sherrie, my mom's sister/best friend, and I email a lot (well I have to admit, she's much better at it than I am.  I'm terrible about checking my email!) and last week she sent me a poem that I think really applies to Mom situation right now.  She told me a little about it's author - a young boy named Mattie Stepanek who was the poster child for M.S.  This amazing boy only lived to be 14 or 15, but while he lived, her wrote some pretty profound things.  I thought I'd share this poem that Aunt Sherrie shared with me.

About Normal
Right, I don't know what Normal is anymore.
That's because Normal has been changing so much, so often, lately.
For a long while lately.
I'd like Normal to be Okayness.  Good health.  Emotional health.  Medical health.  Spiritual health.
I'd like Normal to be like that.  I'd like Normal to stay, like that.
For now though,
I know that Normal won't be normal
For a little while.... But somehow. . . . sometime . . .  Even if things are not Normal,
They'll be okay.
That's because I believe in the great scheme of things, and life.

Aunt Sherrie suggested that we change that last line from "I believe in the great scheme of things, and life," to "I believe in a true and living God who loves me, who will always be there for me, no matter how not normal my life may become."  All I can say to that, is amen.

The one other thing I can think to update you on for now, is that Mom's chemotherapy has been pushed back.  The original goal would have put her starting in a week or two, but she's just not progressing as quickly as her doctors had hoped.  She went to her new oncologist in Wilmington on Monday and that's when that decision was made.  She'll also be coming up to Chapel Hill tomorrow for a follow up with her surgeon (Dr. V is what we call him because he has a forever long last name that I can never dream of spelling correctly!) so he can check her progress as well.  I'll let you know if there's anything new to report tomorrow.