Not Much Going On

It has been kind of quiet since I last posted. Lauren is trying to adjust to her new chemo. She has had a lot of neuropathy due to the Oxaliplatin, but it is getting better. She can now drink cold drinks again and her hands aren't bothering her as much. I keep trying to see if she wants to go swimming, but she is afraid the water might be too cold and zap her. With all this hot weather, I think the water would be warm enough. She has really been tired from this new chemo. She tries to get out and about, but tires very easily.

Lauren did manage to go to one of her favorite places this past weekend. The Italian Festival in downtown Akron. They block the downtown off for a few blocks and have all sorts of vendors. They also have entertainment in an amphitheater and fireworks to Italian music. We all went on Saturday night. Gio's family belongs to a club called The Carovillese Club. They have a booth every year at the festival where they sell sausage sandwiches. They are delicious. Gio's Grandma belongs to the Sicilians Ladies Club and they sell all sorts of homemade cookies. We had some of those too. We also had strombolis, frenchfries, pizza, and elephant ears. We didn't all eat all of this. Some had one thing, some had another. The fireworks were awesome as usual. Sorry I don't have any pictures from the festival. I didn't feel like lugging my camera around.

Lauren and Gio have been working on his house. I went over one day with Lauren to help her work on stuff. It is tarting to look really nice. So much better than when they first started out.

I have been having a hard time with things, so I went to the doctor on Friday. If you don't have a doctor you like and live near us, you might want to consider our family doctor. His name is Brady Steineck and he is with Community Health Care in Louisville. He is the most compassionate, caring doctor I have ever had. We all love him so much. He is fairly young, but very good. He takes his time and really listens to you and tries his best to help. Anyway, he prescribed Zoloft for me. The first day I took it I felt way too drugged up, nauseous, and had a headache. The next day I took half a pill and still had side effects, just not as bad. Each day the side effects are lessening, but still there. Everyone says it takes a week or two to feel the good effects, so I will give it a try. I am not sure if I will go to the full dose or stay at half. I feel kind of weird writing this here, but I want to be honest and let everyone know what it is like to walk in our shoes, good, bad, and ugly.

I would like to say Happy 77th Birthday today to my dear Mom, Tommie Bachman. She is such a great person and gives us all so much support. We love you, Mom!!

Please say some prayers for our dear friends, Kim and Sharon. They are not doing well and could use some extra prayers. There are so many others that need your prayers too. There are just too many to mention by name. So, maybe when you pray you could ask God to help all people suffering from Cholangiocarcinoma. It is such a brutal cancer and we are losing so many friends.

 I am now going to look through my pictures and find a nice one to post. Thanks again for all of your support. We will all continue the fight.

Love, -Pam

Kind of blurry because it is a picture of a picture. This is Lauren being held by her big sister, Kristen, on the day she came home from the hospital after just being born.