General Update

 

General post

From Paul:

 

Cycle 17 of 24

 

This week Doris had her interim blood labs only, but it designates the beginning of a new cycle of her treatment. The treatment has not changed since January of this year when she received her last infusion.

 

There are 24 four-week cycles, after which we expect there will be some tests to determine how deeply her treatment has found success. The doctor has indicated that there may be a PET scan, CT Scan or a test for RMD (Remaining Minimal Disease). It is possible that she may undergo a repeat of biopsies for a lymph node and bone marrow. While those experiences are not much to look forward to, they will be much more promising at the end of her treatments, especially with what we hope will be positive results.

 

This week we had a couple of modified walks. They were modified because we spent less time in the green space and more on the streets. When Doris was diagnosed, the doctor encouraged her to keep moving, if only for a ten-minute walk. We generally strung multiple ten- to twelve-minute walks together for a day’s walk. There are benches spaced along our trails, which we find useful for a rest. Initially she was hitting a pace of between 32 and 33 minutes per mile on the greenspace trails near us. During these early treatment times, I took a camping chair with us so she could rest when needed, because the benches were too far apart. Recently she has hit a pace of upper 27 minutes per mile, and lower 28 minutes per mile. The modified walks we have taken this week have a pace in the 25 to 26 minutes per mile. These modified walks in the neighborhood do not have benches to rest on, so these walks are without a rest, and are typically at least one mile in length. I am encouraged by what I see as progress. Today Doris was able to attend the full two-hour meeting block for the first time since May of 2025.

 

 

 

From Doris:

I often learn life lessons from my daily activities. The past few weeks those lessons came as a result of sewing a quilt top. Making the 36 quilt blocks was a relatively easy process. Arranging the blocks together was more difficult than I had expected.

 

The quilt is a “scrappy” quilt. It has 18 different fabrics (all 2.5 inches wide) sewn together in strips that are placed diagonally. Each block has two halves. Stripes go one direction in one half of the block and a different direction in the other half.

 

I asked Greer for input and she gave some, but even Greer, my quilt doctor, found it very difficult. I asked Andrew to use AI to help me design a picture of the finished quilt top using the blocks I had sewn. That completely failed!  AI actually moved fabrics into locations they were not sewn. The AI picture was visually pleasing, but impossible to sew because it created blocks I had not sewn.

 

First lesson learned…if I start something, I am the one who has to finish it.

 

As I began sewing the blocks together, I kept making mistakes. Without meaning to, I placed the stripes backwards or upside down. It took me awhile before I figured out my problem. I was not looking at the pattern carefully. I assumed I knew how the blocks should go together because this pattern was similar to another pattern I had previously used. It was similar, but I had missed the differences.

 

Second lesson….for everything created, there is a designer. I need to look to the designer for help.

 

If I had looked closely at the picture of the pattern, I would have seen the design. I would have saved myself hours of work picking apart my mistakes. Although the pattern looks unruly and chaotic, in reality, it has a definite design.

 

My life right now often feels chaotic and without design. However, my Heavenly Father is my creator. He knows the design for my life. As I look to Him and trust Him to guide me, my life will turn out just the way it was intended.

 

I have decided to name this quilt MCL (mantle cell lymphoma) to remind myself in future years to look to my creator for guidance.

Scrap qult top