Has it seriously been a year?

It's been one year since Dad was diagnosed with a glioma in his brain. There are times that it feels like time is standing still, and other times where it's hard to believe a month has flown by. A lot has happened in this year (the following is not inclusive):

• 60 blog posts, 3247 visits by you all, 489 unique people following the journey
• Five trips to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota
• 33 radiation treatments (completed in September)
• 6 weeks of chemotherapy, and then monthly doses to keep the tumor at bay
• More visits to the ER than we care to remember (Methodist, Lakeside, Urgent Care)
• Stereotactic brain biopsy to figure out what we were dealing with
• Nearly two months where Dad just slept and not much else
• Strength training, physical therapy, home health nurses
• An ambulance ride when a bad reaction to the anti-seizure medication resulted in dangerously low sodium
• Hospital stays for the first diagnosis, low sodium, blood clots (legs and lung), biopsy, and extreme fatigue
• Mom back behind the wheel as the only licensed driver in the house
• Upgrade to the home phone to have unlimited long-distance
• 8 round-trips from Portland to Omaha in 2008, 3 round trips from PDX to Omaha in 2009 (Southwest Airlines gets my vote as best airline with flexibility and not charging me to change the date on my tickets - which has happened a lot)
• One fantastic round trip from Omaha to Portland for Mom and Dad in March 2009
• Convertible rides, pushing the grandkids on the swings, greeting a new granddaughter
• A return to mowing the lawn (with the riding lawn mower) now that it's spring-time in Nebraska
• Never-ending kindness and caring from neighbors, friends, medical professionals, my team at Intel, and family to get through this all. All of the care packages, snow-shoveling, mail/paper pick-ups, phone calls, visits, cards . . .the show of support has been overwhelming. Thank you.

Return to Mayo's on Sunday for the early Monday morning biopsy. Dad should be in the hospital Monday night, and released to the hotel Tuesday. Wednesday is our appointment with the neurologist to talk about pathology results and next steps. Plan to return back to Omaha Thursday. I'll try to post nightly in Rochester on the blog as things settle down for the night.

Have a good weekend!