This project has been taking much longer than we originally envisioned. Its not that anything was in that bad of shape. There are certain things we want changed or updated. We have cats, and over the years we have learned that when working on a home improvement project we need to be able to seal it off from the cats, or completely pick-up and close-up the project when we walk away or who knows what they will find, do, or get into. So, we made the decision that we would not move-in until complete so we were not contending with cats and home improvement at the same time. In addition Brad and I are both working, volunteering, and living our lives.

Usually when I’ve taken a long hiatus from posting we’ve been doing some work and I just haven’t sat down to put a post together, or I am waiting for Brad to preview a post before publishing.

I was actually working on 2 posts at the same time, just not haven taken the time to complete them.

I was catching up on posts, and in reality we were moving along fairly well, and Brad had high hopes that we would be moved in before 2024 came to an end. We had some good news and some not so good news.

Good news – Alex paid an unexpected visit! He was in state and proposed to his girl-friend!!! He wanted to pop the question in Madison, where they met, and then wanted to tell the parents in person. Lauren is a wonderful young lady, and we are super happy that she will be part of the family.

Not so good news – I had been having some issues that come with being a woman in her early 50’s – lets just say not fun. Anyhow, I was going through the process of getting things checked out and figuring out what my options were for some relief. Running to appointments chewed up time, and Brad wanted to accompany me to support me. Mid-July I got THE call. Endometrial Cancer. The whirlwind of appointments started. I was referred to a gynecological oncologist, and she wanted a blood test and CT scan before she even saw me.

CT scan resulted in more appointments. First was a trip to the ER for contrast allergy. Then an nodule was seen on one of my adrenal glands, so a referral to endocrinology to rule out any issues before hysterectomy. A lab visit with a dozen blood tests, and a value below normal postponed surgery. A prescription supplement raised the value to where it belonged and surgery was back on. My time was devoted to getting as much done at work as possible before going on medical leave. I am the only one in the office at our church, so while the staff at our sister parish could help people, the work load had to be prepped or wait for my return.

I had to have a regular physical and fit a routine mammogram in before surgery. Surgery went well, but healing was slow going. Cancer was contained to the lining of my uterus and had not spread, my oncologist said I am considered cured. I do have to have routine checks every 3 months. I also had to have 3 follow-ups after surgery to be sure everything was healing correctly.

Shortly after surgery the endocrinologist office called to schedule a follow-up. The nodule is stable and just needs monitoring. The issue is my parathyroid is secreting too much hormone. He ordered bone density scan to check that it wasn’t giving me osteoporosis yet. So far so good.

I also had a breast MRI to be sure everything is ok there – it is thankfully.

So after 6 months I finally got back to something, anything at the house. I finished taking up the old floor in the upstairs bathroom. Yes, I had proper PPE on not knowing what the floor was made of. It felt good, no longer dealing with anemia I had more energy that I have had for a long time.

We attended Lauren’s graduation with her Masters degree in spring. Shortly after our return we had a serious conversation about how long this had been taking. The focus had to be shifted from everything else to finishing so we could move in. We picked up the pace on work, but made time for the church picnic and a camping trip with Brad’s family.

In an effort to help us, our friend Frank had arranged for help hanging drywall, and set a date with Brad. We had a deadline that was not self-imposed, and the clock was ticking to finish everything that would be contained in those walls. More about this in the next post.

Our new goal is this year. We’ll see how things go. Hopefully life has settled down for a while.