At the moment, this may seem like a long shot of a Thank you... but Thank you Phil and Amy Mickelson for the autographed photo of Phil. As many of you who love golf, like Andrew, know the Michelson's have also been going through a personal battle with cancer themselves. Amy Mickelson was diagnosed with breast cancer in May and from what I read on ESPN.com, is currently undergoing her own treatment and surgery to beat this disease.
With a very sweet and heartfelt letter from Andrew's best friend, Phil and Amy were kind enough to lift Andrew's spirits with this very personal gift.
To Phil and Amy .... I'm sure the both of you have been asking yourselves the same thing Andrew and I have been asking ourselves, Why us? Why Andrew?.... I guess, why not. We, as I'm sure you are, are lucky enough to have a great deal of support and love from the people around you. It's this support that helps us to get through each day and look forward to the ones to come. Though we are not celebrities or in the public eye, I hope to one day bring more publicity to Ewing's Sarcoma and the young children that are effected by this disease. I hope that with Phil's celebrity influence, you and your family will be able to bring more awareness to cancer research so that one day in the near future families like ours don't have to go through the pain of this terrible disease.
Andrew and I promise to keep Amy in our thoughts ... please remember to keep Andrew is yours.
Thank you again......
Monday, July 13, 2009
Lost but surely not forgotten...
The ultimate realization that you are a cancer patient is when you begin to lose your hair. In an effort to preserve his beautiful head of curly black locks, Andrew's dad and I cut his hair back to a manageable length over 2 weeks ago. But today while he sat at work, trying to keep his mind busy, his hair paid the ultimate price for the strength of the chemo and has begun to fall out. I think you can only prepare yourself so much for what the treatment will do to you physically and mentally. Luckily, I remind Andrew everyday that though he may be and now look more like a cancer patient, it's your overall attitude that will determine how he fairs during this process.
Andrew's attitude has had its ups and downs over the past few weeks but with the love and support of our family and friends (and the extra Lexapro that crush up and put in his cereal every morning -- just kidding, or am I) I know he's going to get through this too.
Overall he had a pretty good weekend and even made it to a BBQ at Rob and Courtney's house yesterday. Though he was tired and we cut our visit short, it was nice to be around people who were talking about other things than cancer. Thanks to everyone who was there who kept him laughing and entertained (as you always do). It was a wonderful distraction for both of us and I hope we can do it again soon.
We also received a welcome and unusual surprise this weekend with which we are not sure who to thank. In the mail on Saturday, Andrew received an autographed photo of Phil Mickelson. The strange part was that there was no note attached and no return address on the envelope. We would love to thank the party responsible for this kind gift, but no one has yet to come forward to claim their Thanks!! So if this person/party is reading the blog, Thank you and please come forward for personal recognition!!!
For now, it seems as though the rest of our week will just be filled with work and a doctors appointment on Thursday for Andrew. Andrew will be checking back into the hospital next Monday to begin another treatment cycle. This one will be a 5-day inpatient regiment. The doctors hopes to keep his nausea under control so that his 5-day treatments can then become outpatient in the future.
So as Andrew begins to lose his hair, I ask that all of you remember that his hair may be an outward reminder that he has cancer but it does not change anything on the inside. When I first met Andrew, his hair was long, curly and down to his shoulders. He reminded me of Pauly Shore in the movie, In the Army Now. He used to say that his hair was his power and strength and that he couldn't cut it for fear the two would go away. I now think the opposite. I think his power and strength is in losing the hair and still having the strength to fight. The hair loss is cancers way of telling you that it has allowed the chemo to start killing healthy cells off too but if we never let it kill Andrew's spirit, his hair is all we will allow it to take. So to the cancer and the chemo that is trying to rule our lives I say, "You may have the hair for now and it may be lost ... but to Andrew .. the power and strength will never be forgotten!!!"
Ciao .........
Andrew's attitude has had its ups and downs over the past few weeks but with the love and support of our family and friends (and the extra Lexapro that crush up and put in his cereal every morning -- just kidding, or am I) I know he's going to get through this too.
Overall he had a pretty good weekend and even made it to a BBQ at Rob and Courtney's house yesterday. Though he was tired and we cut our visit short, it was nice to be around people who were talking about other things than cancer. Thanks to everyone who was there who kept him laughing and entertained (as you always do). It was a wonderful distraction for both of us and I hope we can do it again soon.
We also received a welcome and unusual surprise this weekend with which we are not sure who to thank. In the mail on Saturday, Andrew received an autographed photo of Phil Mickelson. The strange part was that there was no note attached and no return address on the envelope. We would love to thank the party responsible for this kind gift, but no one has yet to come forward to claim their Thanks!! So if this person/party is reading the blog, Thank you and please come forward for personal recognition!!!
For now, it seems as though the rest of our week will just be filled with work and a doctors appointment on Thursday for Andrew. Andrew will be checking back into the hospital next Monday to begin another treatment cycle. This one will be a 5-day inpatient regiment. The doctors hopes to keep his nausea under control so that his 5-day treatments can then become outpatient in the future.
So as Andrew begins to lose his hair, I ask that all of you remember that his hair may be an outward reminder that he has cancer but it does not change anything on the inside. When I first met Andrew, his hair was long, curly and down to his shoulders. He reminded me of Pauly Shore in the movie, In the Army Now. He used to say that his hair was his power and strength and that he couldn't cut it for fear the two would go away. I now think the opposite. I think his power and strength is in losing the hair and still having the strength to fight. The hair loss is cancers way of telling you that it has allowed the chemo to start killing healthy cells off too but if we never let it kill Andrew's spirit, his hair is all we will allow it to take. So to the cancer and the chemo that is trying to rule our lives I say, "You may have the hair for now and it may be lost ... but to Andrew .. the power and strength will never be forgotten!!!"
Ciao .........
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