I’m back…. It’s been quite an emotional month! So I apologize for my absence. I promise everything with Larry is going as
well as expected- no surprises. That has
allowed me to take a short mental break from the blog-o-sphere.
On February 20th, our grandma, Enola Matson,
passed away at the age of 95! Her
health had been deteriorating in the past few months and the weeks before her
death were pretty difficult for her and my entire family. She is at peace now-which brings a great big
smile to my face. She was a one-of-a
kind and she meant a great deal to my brother.
My grandma adored Larry and put up with and even appreciated all of his
pranks and odd sense of humor. They
shared a love for the White Sox and ribs!
I was fortunate to be
able to speak at her funeral and I wanted to share a portion of what I wrote
with all of you….
(She
was known to many as Grandma, Grams, Eno, Ma, or Old Girl)
Grandma
was one of the most resilient people I knew.
As a teenager, she boarded a train from her small Iowa town bound for
the unknown big city of Chicago for nurses training. She buried 2 kids, lost her husband way too
early and kept living her life without one single complaint. Even while she was being poked and prated in
the hospital, she did not complain once!
Unfortunately, myself and my 6 cousins, have had to face tragedies,
accidents, and illnesses too early in our lives. But we’ve made it through – stronger and wiser. Why? Because we were taught and shown
resilience.
We’ve
faced these adversities with a ‘can do’, 'don’t feel sorry for yourself’,
‘never give up’ attitude or what
I like to call true GRIT. Why? Because
whether grandma influenced us or her 3 kids did we were taught grit, we were
taught you face adversity head-on , you give it your all and you do it without
asking for sympathy.
So,
as we say good-bye today, with all of the family under the same roof. Let’s honor the gifts we were given, lets
share the common bond that holds us together.
Each one of us is a strong individual, whether we are divided or united,
nobody can take away our resilience or our grit.
Many people cannot believe my
brother’s attitude when faced with cancer everyday. They cannot believe he has not called in sick
one single day since his diagnosis. The
only days he has missed were his planned surgery/recovery (he even went back to
work early) and his chemo days. In our
family there is no other way to handle adversity than with resiliency and
grit. Thank you, Old Girl, for showing
us how grit is done!
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| Grandma adoring her first grandson, Larry. |
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| Grams and Lar (I think at his confirmation) |
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| Lar and Grams at his wedding in September (how great does she look?!) |
Larry continues to get through this
round of chemo. This past Tuesday he
received his 4th dose, which means he is over half way to being
done. His oncologist has really had to
work hard on getting the medicine right to help with the neuropathy. I think she finally has it right…not to say
the neuropathy is all gone, but it is manageable.
Part of the ‘getting it right’ was
reducing the chemo drug that is responsible for the neurapthy, by 20%. I, of course, was very worried when I first
heard this plan. Dr. Stein explained
that the severe neurapthy he is experiencing is his body’s way of telling her
that the dose is too much. She was not worried
at all, therefore I am not worried (well a little).
His counts have been pretty typical
for a cancer patient going through chemo.
His 3rd dose had to be postponed by two days because his
counts were too low. But, in Larry
fashion, he bounced back after two days and a shot and was able to take it.
My life is now starting to get back
to ‘normal’ after a very tough month and a half. I have a lot of stored up stories for you all…
you just wait J
Sox it to it Lar…
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