Blessings

Things continue to improve daily though Jim is having trouble seeing this through the fog of his unhappiness. Yesterday he walked at the mall with his Mom and didn't seem to have issues with the car ride. He even drove his beloved truck, "Steve".

Last night he and I went to our first Head & Neck Cancer Support Group meeting. Each person told the story of what type of cancer they had, the type of treatment, how long ago it was, and usually shared something about one or more issues experienced. There were some horrible stories that really made me realize how lucky we are. I also realize how blessed we are that there are so many people that have had head or neck cancer and are so willing to help others. As one guy told me, he's been cancer free for years but he attends all the support group meetings because he just feels the need to give back. Others helped him and now its his turn to help.

Jim came out of the meeting with mixed feelings. Felt good to hear from others that have had this and are doing well now. Was nice to get some valuable tips. But the message that he is doing exceedingly well compared to how others were at 2 weeks after treatment and that he is being impatient and expecting too much from himself did not go over quite so well.

I'm working on a mental list of the things that we have to be thankful for related to Jim's cancer. Some of these items are:
1) his cancer was found right away; he was sent to a specialist immediately after going to his primary care physician (others had years of struggle before getting a correct diagnosis),
2) the cancer had not spread,
3) treatment began immediately (I'll risk getting near politics and say thank heaven for our US medical system and for our health insurance!),
4) Jim did relatively well during his treatment; no major complications nor illnesses
5) Jim's been able to swallow pills the entire time. This astounds others who have been through this treatment and has been a blessing for me too because it meant I did not have to grind pills to be taken through his feeding tube
6) Jim's been able to swallow water through all of this ... if he had not he might have had to go through therapy now to learn to swallow
7) Jim's ability to talk is much better than expected.
8) Jim did not lose weight during treatment. (granted, he lost weight after the biopsy and since treatment ended but there are so many stories of people losing 50+ pounds so we ARE blessed!)
9) I am thankful we are living here in Denver near Jim's Mom; it would have been very tough without her
10) we have such great support from family, friends, church, Boy Scouts, etc. And this situation gave us the opportunity to get to know some of them better

Actually there are many more blessings that could be listed. God is good!