A wonderful weekend.

It truly was.  Bruce had been out of town on our anniversary (Sept. 14th) so we had planned to spend last Friday night in Nashville to belatedly celebrate.  All things considered, this night could not come at a better time for us. My Dad and Step Mom met us down there and took the kids for the night.  We made the most of this gift of time and stayed at a very cool hotel, Opryland, ate at a fabulous new restaurant, Rolf and Daughters, and went to see a brilliant light installation at Cheekwood Gardens by the artist Bruce Monroe.   We left most of the cancer talk back in Madisonville and just focused on celebrating us and it was so refreshing. 

 On Saturday we headed over to Trader Joe's to stock up on healthy and power packed snacks for Bruce.  He has to double his calorie and protein intake during radiation and for a month afterwards and try to average 6 -7 small meals a day. Then we had a great lunch with my Dad and Step Mom and then headed back home.  Our very dear friends had planned a Last Hoorah before radiation treatment for Bruce.  They made a phenomenal feast of Bruce's favorite treats; fried chicken, mac n' cheese, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, biscuits, cheese and crackers, veggie dips, fancy cocktails with fresh juices and the crowning glory, a lemon poppy seed cake that put any I've ever made for Bruce to shame.   Huge thank you to Rhian, Hilary, Devin, Josh, John and Brandon for all the work they put in to make the night happen. 

I don't have a ton of medical updates for you today.   Bruce had his PET scan this morning and it will be a few days until we hear any results from it.  It was such a painless scan that he napped during it.  We have an appointment with a neurosurgeon at 1 on Wednesday in Louisville that should be very informative.  We are still waiting for the go ahead from the insurance company for the radiation to start.  Basically, they will start immediately upon approval which could come at any time.  Bruce has been approved for a standard radiation approach but  Dr. S is trying to get approval for a more focused format.  Because Bruce's cancer is more unusual, we've been told that getting approval for anything more than just a generic type of cancer treatment may be tough.   He feels that this other radiation approach could ultimately be much more effective and it's worth waiting for the approval.  Dr. S is on his third and final appeal to the insurance company.  If that gets rejected, Bruce will call them himself and try to fight for it.  That feels very very frustrating.  On a side note, after wearing the brace for close to a week now, Bruce is actually feeling less pain which is phenomenal.  Besides all that, life goes on....4th grade science fair, soccer practice and games, school council meeting, parent teacher conferences...keeping me a fairly busy lady.   As things start to happen, I will continue to post updates here.  Keep all those good thoughts, peaceful energy and healing prayers headed our way.  Big Love to you all!
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.