Highs and Lows

First things, first…the pizza was yum! By Sunday night my appetite had improved quite a bit, just in time for pizza. Betty made a gorgeous salad and I really could not bring myself to eat any. But, pizza…I had my fair share!

The pizza oven and the party were a huge success. Mike, Michael and Vince manned the oven, but Michael really took charge and seemed to enjoy the work. Mike had made a pizza peel using some wood from he had here and some purple heart wood my brother Paul had sent back with me from Kansas City last year. The pizza peel was a little beefy and the boys got very creative in finding tools to use to work the pizza in the oven. In the end, they discovered that using cherry wood made the oven super hot and the pizza cooked and handled beautifully from then on. 

What a night! Eva had come up with Michael, and Nora, a dear friend of Maggie’s drove up from Portland as well. Maggie and Michael had each invited friends to join us and Lizzy and Vince had invited a couple of friends and a number of neighbors. Then it was us along with Betty and Jennifer and that was perfect! 

The pizzas were plentiful! Betty, Lizzie and I had all made dough to see what might work best. I’ll try to list the variety of toppings that we had available, though each pizza was lightly topped as that is what works best in the wood fired oven. Here are some of the toppings: cooked red sauce, raw red sauce, pesto, pine nuts, salami, italian sausage, crispy pepperoni, goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, goat mozzarella, manchego cheese, parmesan, feta, figs, honey, anchovies, onions, mushrooms, mixed roast veggies, basil and I’m sure I’m forgetting something! We had birthday s’mores to end the evening. The pizza and the shared neighbor party was a huge success and a blast! First of many we hope!

The weekend is winding down. Nora and Eva headed back to Portland. Michael gets to stay one more night. I’ve had plenty to distract me from thinking about possible outcomes tomorrow. I’m assuming I’ll continue on chemotherapy of some kind or another, but that is just an assumption.

I’m sorry to report that our Rudy is doing poorly. Yesterday she seemed quite off and today even more so. We are not going to make her go through another night, she is in too much pain. She will eat her favorites, pumpkin, banana and peanut butter, but she won’t drink any more water. She is showing some other signs that she is at the end of her life. She has been such a trooper through this. She has had some bad days and then rebounded nicely, but she has gone on with this growing tumor long enough.

I can’t even try to make sense of the timing of her illness and mine. It is just too sad. I’m going to spend the next hour rocking her before we finally call the doctor to come here or we’ll take her in. 

I’ll let you all know what we find out tomorrow. Requesting extra prayers….some for Rudy and some for me.

lots of love

Janet