Sandy Beardsley
Living with a Brain Tumor
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April 2006
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04/24/06
Round 6, Spring… and MRI Time
Filed under: General
Posted by: Dan @ 8:20 pm

My apologies for the long gap in the posts here. Some of my readers have been getting restless and downright unruly, so here’s what’s been happening….

Sandy finished her 6th round of Temodar chemo on April 7. It went about the same as the previous round — some nauseousness, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, intestinal tract shutting down… the usual fun that she’s gotten accustomed to for about 10 days out of every month. The first half of April found us both in a bit of a depressed state of mind. But now that the weather has improved and spring really feels like it’s happening — with trees budding and wildflowers thick on the hillsides — our spirits have lightened. Sandy came up with a good line recently… “In the garden of friendship, hope blooms.”  And we count our blessings for all our friends, even those we have not met yet, like the many people who write comments or emails to Sandy.

We just got back from a great weekend trip to see Sandy’s parents, her brother and his wife, her niece and her baby daughter. A real nice reunion and celebration of her father’s 81st birthday. He’s also a brain tumor survivor (had surgery 10 years ago). So to celebrate these two cancer survivors (and me surviving getting hit by a truck) we headed off to climb Manastash Ridge - about 2000 vertical feet of mostly steep trail hiking. Sandy was first to the top and was on her way down, not expecting her dad and I to make it, when she found us hiking slowly but steadily upward. We all made it to the top, signed the log book and headed down after awhile (which was harder on us than going up). Sandy’s dad used to do this climb of Manastash every week, but had not done it in years - partly due to his age and other health issues. So it was a real joy to see him and Sandy together again on this high beautiful place. Sandy is still ecstatic about it — what a gift. See photos of the day HERE

Sandy’s brother and I also got a good little epic bike ride in the day before Manastash hike — yep, we’re training for the LiveStrong Ride in July — I’m still real sore and can barely climb stairs (and maybe halfway back to the strength - and lack of pain - that I had before getting hit by a truck while riding my bike a year and a half ago) but it feels great for the soul to even be out there riding again. As one of my heroes Dr. Bob always said… “It’s Another Day in Paradise.”

So don’t forget to help our team and the Lance Armstrong Foundation with a donation. Each team member has to raise a minimum of $500 to ride. Click on the link at upper left, then click on “My Team Page” when you get there. You’ll see a list of our team members you can click on to view their personal page and donation form. Please donate to any of them with less than $500 of their goal.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Sandy’s MRI. She is getting them every two months now. We have to wait until Friday to meet with her local oncologist to get the results. Sandy has been feeling good lately so we’re not expecting any change. But any extra prayers and energy you can send her way this week can only help. MRI time was always tough in the past when they happened every six months, so this two month schedule is of course tougher still, and coming around way too fast.

But hope still blooms….

Good night,
Dan

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