round 7 of chemo is in the books

Well, round 7 has come and gone, pretty much sticking to the same script: take the chemo pills On Monday night before bed on an empty stomach, (continue until Friday), sick from Wednesday through Monday. The 'sick' part feels like being on a bumpy, week-long plane ride while hungover. 5 days of pills... 23 days of recovery,tests, physical therapy, occupational therapy(trying to get my left arm and hand to work again), doctors appts; and as much 'normal' life as I can pack into this period. The next big thing for us our May 14 appt at UCLA to get the scoop on the vaccine program.... More to come on that, later

Big news! We're in...

We have recently been accepted into UCLA's vaccine program. It's been a 4-plus year journey to get to this point and could not have done it without the help of so many people. God has shown us some amazing things over the past 5 years. At many points, I wondered, "Why are we going through this?" and begged for better understanding of the situation. Every time I started thinking "What's the use?" Something would happen that would make things clearer, Mind you, Many of the things that happened were not pleasant,warm and fuzzy, but downright painful and confusing but there was an underlying purpose that provided direction: Faith. It has been my lifeboat.

Excuse me, but I don't speak whinese

We have been working with our youngest about asking for things in a 'big girl' voice. somehow, she has developed a habit of whining for nearly everything. It gets so irritating. I have realized that it's not just her. I can hear the same whining from adults in the post office, the grocery store, the news; and because we're in an election year, candidates for public office and their 'handlers'. It's ridiculous. I remember when people would mention the weather in idle conversation, now whining has replaced 'do you think it's going to rain? '. If you're disinclined to agree with me, just listen for one entire day. You'll be amazed at how whining has crowded out genuine conversation. It's a new national past time. So I'm proposing to all the whiners out there the same advice we are giving our 5 yr old: use a grown-up voice and you'll get better results. Now, I'm signing-off because I feel whine coming on and I don't want to be a hypocrite. -Skip

We want more of your blood...

Well,yesterday, I had more blood drawn to see if I'm still in the running for the vaccine study @UCLA; the first time around, they did the wrong test, so I hope this time things will come together.

It's a battleground out there...

And the war against cancer goes on... post last round of chemo. I'm feeling pretty good, I believe I owe it to the small army of friends& family that have rallied to make our lives ( Osgood family) much easier many thanks to those of you that have joined the fight with us. Like the new blog? I changed it thanks to a very uncool prankster on the last one. Look, I just want to use this thing to get information out to people who care about us, so go find some other place to keep you busy-'nuff said.