Pretty uneventful weekend, but even the routine activities become much more calculated and characterized with self-monitoring.

Last week, James called and said he probably should not come over this weekend because his roommate has Covid, and now the other three of them are being tested. His test came back positive, along with the identifying symptoms of achy, feverish, coughing. So, Friday and Saturday he stayed in bed. Also, during the weekend, two of Ed's officers were exposed to Covid, and one of them came to our house right before he went on the call that exposed him. Luckily, Ed dodged that bullet.

Saturday morning, Ed wanted to venture out to the AT&T store for some "training" on his new phone! He is quite technology challenged! Our plan was to head to Walmart afterward, but at that point, he was just too tired. The tiredness is dominating his days now, making him frustrated and mad at the situation.

He goes in for bloodwork, and is going to ask for something that might help the fatigue. Other than a transfusion of healthy blood cells, I don't think there's much they can do.

Tomorrow is Emily's birthday. She'll be 38. I plan on baking a cake - seems like our birthdays are more for the grandkids' enjoyment, but they say grandchildren keep you young, so a cake and party hats it is. Cheering up is now part of the arsenal.

2:00 pm - Ed called from the doctor's office. Routine blood work showed great results. They were even surprised at how well his blood is tolerating. He also was encouraged to find out that the adverse effects to cold will diminish after about a week. Of course, it will come back after the next infusion, which is August 24.

I shared our news with my family - sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews through our group message. I also called my Aunt Ruth Ann and Uncle Carl in Lamesa. Uncle Carl is a retired Methodist minister, and has been a support and source of prayers my whole life. He re-baptized me when I was 16. He counseled me when Emily was born. His prayers uplifted us during Katrina. He has been a rock and consistent throughout all of our trials. So, delaying telling him really doesn't make sense.

This is like being told that we have to evacuate because of a pending storm! You run around trying to pack in a frenzy – grabbing essentials, then batting down the windows and doors so that you can come home to a protected safe haven. You finally have time to reflect on what you may have forgotten. We should ask for support and prayers immediately, and not wait until we are overcome by the storm. There are still hundreds of our friends and colleagues who should be told, and who will eventually be included. The circle will grow, increasing the support and prayers.

The first week was spent chasing around to different appointments, learning something new and more discouraging each time, building layer upon layer of “cancer” information until we were overwhelmed with information overload! We are just now settling down in the reality of this thing; trying to cling to the words:

“Cancer is only a word. Not a sentence.”