Luis and I are both big believers in prayer – and we’ve never needed prayers as much as we do now facing our fight with cancer.

We’re so lucky to have so many loved ones – and loved ones of loved ones – keeping us both in their prayers!

 

Prayer Blanket

I wanted to share with everyone something that my mom made for me. It’s a Prayer Blanket. It includes a stitched in section of my Grandma Paulin, who beat breast cancer back in 1970.

My grandma was a strong woman to beat breast cancer. 1970 was a time when cancer just wasn’t very beatable.  When she was diagnosed, her first question was “How long do I have to live?” But her doctors thought she could beat it, and she did. Years of chemotherapy & additional surgeries, but she beat it.

It’s nice to know that I have her genes. The genes of someone who fought and beat cancer. That I come from a family that fights and beats cancer.

Additionally, my dad took this blanket to St. Albert the Great – my old grade school & parish – and had the blanket blessed by the pastor with holy water.

Thank you to both of my parents for all of your love and support!

 

Prayer Map

Everyone in my family and countless friends and colleagues have been praying for weeks, and soliciting prayers on my behalf. I’m on so many prayer lists – it’s simply overwhelming.

Luis, along with several members of my family, are keeping track of where we have prayers coming from. We’d love to get prayers from all 50 states!

We’re off to a good start. Be sure to check out the new Prayer Map page we’ve started. If we’ve inadvertently left out your state, please let us know! And if you have friends or family saying prayers for us in a state that’s not yet recognized, please leave a comment either here on the blog or on my Facebook page!

VIEW THE FULL PRAYER MAP PAGE.

 

Lazy Weekend

Luis and I had a pretty lazy weekend. That’s always our favorite kind, but I am especially thankful for it now as a means to just clear my head and prepare for the week ahead.

On Friday, we had our “First Friday” lunch. That’s a monthly BetAmerica-sponsored lunch. In San Francisco, the whole team goes out for a nice lunch; remote employees like me join in by having a BetAmerica sponsored meal on the day. Usually, I end up at Chipotle. This month, we went out for my ‘last’ Sushi meal. My oncologist has forbidden me to eat sushi during treatment due to the pathogens that may be present on raw fish. That makes sense of me, but Michelle says that it should be fine. Convincingly, she asked if I thought if everyone in Japan with cancer refrains from sushi. Hmm…

We’ve watched a lot of I Love Lucy this weekend. We’re watching on Amazon Prime, which has a “Best Of” series – so not every episode. Somehow, they’ve left off the classic Harpo Marx episode! I’ll need to find that for download somewhere.

We went out for lunch with my parents to BoomBozz. It’s only a couple blocks from our house, so it’s a short walk… but in 15 degree weather, it felt like forever!

My parents have also volunteered to do our laundry for us during the months of treatment, from pick up to drop off. Takes me back to my college days! We’re thankful for every bit of help we can get – even something as simple as a household chore being taken off our plate.

Today, we went over to play a game of Monopoly at my parents’ house. They had their first fire of the year burning in the fireplace, and cooked a big pot of chili.  It all made for a fun, care free afternoon. Despite the huge advantage of being the banker, I was the first player to declare bankruptcy; Luis claimed the victory on the strength of his Boardwalk-Park Place monopoly and Hotels.

 

THANK YOU!

I know I do this on almost every blog post, but I just want to thank everyone for reaching out and offering prayers, good thoughts and support.

It doesn’t get old, so I won’t stop thanking you!

Every time I post a blog update or a Facebook update – it’s two-fold. I like to keep people updated on how I’m doing because I have a lot of people caring about me and wanting to know what’s happening. But I’m also greedy for additional prayers and good thoughts every day!

The love and support has been overwhelming, in the best possible way. I’ll walk into chemo on Tuesday knowing that I have an incredible support system and hundreds of loved one praying for me and holding me in their thoughts.

I am so sorry that I’ve not been able to respond to everyone individually. I read every comment, every text. They all motivate me, keep me strong.

Thank you for all of the Get Well Cards, the phone calls, the Facebook comments, the emails, the text messages. I’ve received financial support, care packages and baked goods. I’m thankful that BetAmerica has been so flexible with my schedule, as I’ve needed to attend dozens of medical appointments over the past two weeks.

And I won’t ever get tired of saying THANK YOU for being there for us when we needed it.

 

Much love,

Merv