Hello dear family and friends,

It is so awesome to be able to blog when I have such good news. I did go in for my 6 month check-up and the Doc was so pleased he gave me a big hug- not his usual approach. Anyway, I had a CAT scan, and the whole blood test routine and everything looked really good. My blood is almost back to normal, with a little way to go for the white cell count, but I haven’t had any colds or sickies since chemo. I have had a battery of other tests- that go with my regular physical, and everything is clear. I just finished a double duty 10 day antibiotic routine to get rid of a pesky stomach bacteria, that had no symptoms, but they want to clear because it could become cancerous. Last of these will be a colonoscopy, and then I hope I’ll be finished for a while. Anyway, thank you again for all of your prayers and energy, because I am sure they have had a major effect on my recovery. I’m sure I have mentioned this before, but they consider ovarian cancer a chronic condition, that can recur, but can be treated. So I am thrilled to be clear or NED—no evidence of disease, and it does really give me a unique appreciation of life, my family and friends.

Anyone who knows me well knows I am a longtime Notre Dame fan. We were the Sacred Heart Irish in a small county-seat, Falls City, NE, which was pre-dominately Protestant, and my mom had gone to St. Mary’s, across the street from ND for college before co-ed. Clark and son Luke graduated from ND, and we all remain fans. We went to the ND-USC game on the Sat. after Thanksgiving, to have a good visit with Luke and see ND remain undefeated and No. 1 in the country, and beat USC. We got home and swung into action to do a Thank you party for my friends who helped so much during chemo, with meals, driving and moral support.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Clark’s cousin, Robert Jones and family in SF. They live near Presidio so we took a pre-dinner walk down to Baker Beach, for one of the most spectacular views of the ocean and GG Bridge you could ever see. I do hope you and your families had a beautiful Thanksgiving together. Know I am so thankful for all of you. Please do remember me and all of us in your prayers, as we do you. I hope the season of Advent will be rich and fruitful for you. I am still trying to reach out individually, so until then, the blog is my best buddy.

Love Annie/Noel