No Hill For a Climber, Home Lymphedema Therapy

Lymphedema is abnormal swelling that can develop in the arm, hand, breast, or torso as a side effect of breast cancer surgery and/or radiation therapy. Lymphedema can appear in some people during the months or even years after treatment ends. Loraine has a problem with this now, therefore we are now doing therapy for it…

No Hill For a Climber, One Year Post-Mastectomy

This month, we are now one year out from Loraine having her double mastectomy for breast cancer. And what a year it has been. Despite how tough the last year has been for Loraine and I, we have both done our best to remain positive, yet that has not always been easy. With cancer, some…

No Hill For a Climber, New Breast Prosthesis

The last month or so has thankfully been uneventful since Loraine finally healed from her radiation treatment burns and the subsequent infection. It has been quite nice to be able to catch a breath for a change. All I can say is the last year has been quite the eye opening and learning experience that…

No Hill For a Climber, We See a Rainbow!

What a glorious sight it is when you behold the beauty of a colorful rainbow following a  severe storm. For at least a moment, we can forget the disaster that has come our way when we spot these gifts from God. We know there will be more storms to face in our path through life,…

No Hill For a Climber, Radio-Necrosis

Loraine completed her final radiation treatment on June 15th. That should have been the end of the doctor visits until later this month, but that is not how things turned out. The radiation treatments burned her pretty good, second degree burns to be exact. We were not expecting this, nor were we prepared for what…

No HIll For a Climber, Radiation Burns and Side Effects

I sat down to write this morning with a plethora of things to say and now, I found that the stress of our situation with Loraine’s breast cancer has caused me to suffer a little bit of writer’s block. I hope I do not get to be too rambling with this piece… I do not…

No Hill For a Climber, Barrage of The Mind

With cancer of any type, one must steel themselves against the constant barrage to your mental state. If you are one who is weak, you had better learn to stiffen your upper lip, as there will be a constant assault on your sanity after a cancer diagnosis. If you are not tough, you had better…

No Hill For a Climber, Wrapping Up Week 3 of Radiation

Loraine is now close to wrapping up her third week of radiation treatments for her breast cancer, and there are three more weeks to go. Sometimes it feels as if we will never get out of the hurry up and wait mode of thinking. Getting her into her treatment protocol seemed to take forever because…

No Hill For a Climber, The Journey Continues

Monday, May 4th, after four long months, Loraine’s battle against breast cancer is finally going into its next phase. With all that has transpired since her double mastectomy it seems like an eternity has passed. Hopefully we can put most all of this behind us once she has completed her course of radiation treatments. Of…

No Hill For a Climber, It’s a New Day to Move Forward

The last year has been tough as hell for my dear wife and I to say the least. We took in her brother who was terminally ill with Hepatitis C, advanced cirrhosis of the liver, and liver cancer. To add to the complexity of his illness, he had developed hepatic encephalopathy which created different states…