Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

I wanted to take a minute to give you an update on me. On December 13, 2024 I finished 6 months of chemo. I had scans on December 18, 2024, and today I saw my oncologist to find out my next steps in my cancer fight. Well, things are a little up in the air. The scans looked pretty good, with no new cancer spots popping up in my lungs or elsewhere. My oncologist, Dr. W, wants to confer with Dr. J, my radiologist. He thinks I may be a candidate for more radiation on the lung. But Dr J is out for a couple of weeks so we will have to wait until early January to find out if I can tolerate more radiation. If I can, then radiation may kill some of my cancer spots. Based on my history, Dr W is sure more cancer will appear in the future, and we will probably treat with chemo. But I will have a break at least through March. YAY!!!

So… There is no cure for my cancer, but the goal is to control and slow the growth. I may live several more years. Dr W says he has patients who live 10 years with ongoing chemo. So I don’t expect to be going home to heaven any time soon. 🙂

I am not writing now. You may remember that I started writing an inspirational Christmas novella several years ago. Last December I had picked that back up and was working on it in January when the email from the pastor of my old church came and sent me into a tail spin. I still haven’t recovered from that. But I have at least 3 months off from chemo so maybe I will get some energy back and be inspired to work on that. Or maybe something else. This summer and fall I spent my time sewing and knitting to donate quilts and hats to the Roger Maris Cancer Center.

The annual payment for this website is due in January. I am debating renewing. I am not writing right now, and as you can see I am seldom out here. That is partly because the chemo completely wiped me out. I am also setting up my budget for 2025. Cancer is expensive and I could put the money for this website to something else and just use my Facebook author page to keep in touch with readers.

I hope that wasn’t too whiney or depressing! I am really looking forward to having a few months off of chemo. And the fact there is no new cancer detected is really encouraging too. That means the chemo (as unpleasant as it is) is working, and that is worth it. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Love, Maddy