Dear Kids,
Happy New Year, wonderful children and grandchildren of mine! Let’s hope 2023 is a good one for everyone. Whatever problems you suffered in 2022, let’s hope they leave and don’t come back. I think it’s wonderful to start a new year.
Next Sunday is already the second one of the month, which means it would be book club. Maybe we should put it off one more week so everybody can finish recovering from Christmas. That would put book club on January 15 and then Super Sunday would be the 29th. I’ll call around and find out what everybody wants to do, and let you know. I have a copy of Fantastic Mr. Fox if anybody wants to borrow it, but I’m sure the libraries all have copies. You can probably read it in one sitting. The illustrations are all really clever.
Yesterday afternoon Dad and I went to a New Years party with my brothers and sisters, at Andy’s house in Orem. The party ran from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. That shows how old we’re getting. Our first New Years party went until midnight, and then we started quitting at 10 pm. And now it’s 4 pm, so everybody could get home before dark. Pathetic! But it was fun to talk to my brothers and sisters, like always. Everybody was there except for Katie and Ben. Mark and Kate came, which was the first time I’ve seen them since Kate’s cardiac arrest and coma a year ago. She has made remarkable progress and is able to carry on a thoughtful conversation now. Oh, Barbara wasn’t there either, because she was sick. She’s moving out of her senior apartment and buying a house in Pleasant Grove, so she’ll have a more normal life. (Neighbors who aren’t all old people.) Rylee and her fiance, and Tyson, too, are all going to live in the basement. What else? Charley came by Uber, because he can’t drive. He has seizures and falls, so his life is really precarious, but we’re all grateful he’s still with us. Richard and Jeanne are here from Canada, and it was nice to see them. We didn’t have a real meal, just Christmas leftovers, but we were all able to stuff ourselves.
I had a CT scan last Tuesday and then on Thursday we met with my oncologist. The news was pretty good. My tumors had grown about 20% after my chemo in the summer, and now they’ve shrunk the same 20%. Best of all, they’re showing “cavitation,” or holes, where the avastin has been attacking them. I know my good fortune is due to all your prayers for me, and I thank you for it.
Lots of love, Mom
