My Journey with Triple Positive Breast Cancer

Ken and I enjoy driving to the office using country backroads. I took this photo last Friday,  when I wasn't sure if he'd be returning to the office. (No worries, it's all safe and good - Marigan is driving... actually, if you've driven with Marigan you know it's neither safe nor good! 😉) If you've ever had imaging done where you were required to hold your breath, you know how good it feels when they say, "And breathe." Until the next time you have to hold your breath, that is. 😒 This past week has had moments of breath-holding and moments of relief. We have felt the power of prayer and thank you for your support. 💗 I apologize for the radio silence; this week had been booked off for a vacation way back in December of 2023. Obviously, this was not the week we had anticipated!  I plan to create another blog specifically for Ken, so this post will be short.   If I had to leave a review for the past couple of weeks... As I mentioned in the last blog po...

  Hello, family and friends!  Welcome to the inaugural version of The Makus Year in Review letter,  otherwise known as Life Was Too Busy Before Christmas to get the Letter Out. 🫣(Besides, the year wasn’t over! 🤷)  Our sunroom, aka. Blood Money Build (built with funds from my Critical Illness Insurance payout), was completed in January and has become the most used room in the house. When we planned the sunroom, we thought building it as a private addition to the master bedroom was a good idea and still do, though the need for guests to traipse through our bedroom is slightly awkward. 🤨(Yes, I always usually make my bed…now.) The bird feeders outside the windows host diverse bird species including Pileated, Hairy, and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, and the usual passirines.(And yes, they all have names, such as Robert Junior, the Downy Woodpecker. 🤭) Combined with the antics of Freddy the squirrel, and Joey and Zoey the Mule Deer, we are well entertained! K...

So this is 50? Hmmm, can I take a rain check? No, I'm not afraid of getting older; I hope I get very old! I'd just prefer to go back a year or two, maybe four? Yes, 2021 sounds delightful. Well, not really, but better than 2025; so far, it's been a real downer.  So why was this birthday so awful, you ask? Well, February 19, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day we found out my husband has Stage 4 appendiceal carcinoma which is just a fancy way of saying he has cancer that started in his appendix, then burst and spewed cancer cells all over his abdominal cavity, where they promptly began to multiply like Mennonites. (Says the Mennonite mother of only 3.)  I'll get to the details later, but suffice it to say, The Big C is back.  We thought we'd banished him (I call him Carson Noma), but he's a sneaky little fellow. Ken noticed some tummy discomfort in mid-October, but because he was on call and didn't want to burden his colleagues, he just kept working. ...