Life gets interesting . . .

Activate . . . 

This is a piece I completed a couple months ago.  It is painted on cotton with organza overlays and then quilted.  The story of the creation is beautiful to me and I will share that next week.  But it really captures where I am tonight.  It is time for me to "Activate".  

Intense Times . . . 

I want to share this piece of my work as it is titled "Intense". I created this the end of 2018 as a reflection of the intense feelings of life we were experiencing from the impact of a grand son's cancer - my mom's death - extreme drought and fires -  difficult life choices - difficult times in our country . . . 

From February 2020 until now, we have all experienced the impact of the pandemic and related extreme hatred, fear and divisiveness.  

From September 2020 until now, we have experienced even more "Intense" times from my own cancer fight!  

I am a believer that if you live a long life, as I have, you must go through lots of "Intense" times.  

My cancer update . . . 

I wanted to share where I am in my breast cancer treatment with my family and friends. I have not written in my blog since last May. This is a summary of the year and where I am now . . . 

I started my treatment for breast cancer in November 2020 after the diagnosis the month before. I had heavy chemotherapy infusions every three weeks consisting of 4 different chemical drugs through March of 2021. Two of the most fierce of the chemo drugs ended in March and my treatment plan was to continue with the other two drugs through infusions every three weeks through October.  

In April, after surgery, the pathology showed that I was free of all the cancer in my breast and the two involved lymph nodes. It was "highly recommended" that I continue with the chemo infusions and move forward with radiation once my surgery had healed. That combination was to add additional "insurance" for remaining cancer free. I decided to do both. The 33 days of radiation ended the first part of July and I continued with the infusions through October.  .  

I continued to have CT and MRI scans as well as echo cardiograms throughout the year as recommended with continued positive findings. Yesterday, I had a diagnostic mammogram recommended following the end of treatment and 6 months after the surgery. It showed no sign of cancer. I continue to be cancer free and my recommended treatment plan from over a year ago is complete.  

I am blessed and looking forward to continued healing, regaining my strength and my brain working better. I know I will need to focus my energy to continue to eat the right foods, stay at a healthy weight and become more physically active.  Those are the next steps of my "staying cancer free" treatment.  

What is next . . . 

I was a member of our local Artists Gallery but I left the end of August as the continued chemo was impacting my strength and our Covid numbers were so high again that I was not comfortable working in the public. The gallery is a cooperative where the members work shifts each month. I will not go back to the gallery as I want all of my time to focus on my life with my Bob, my family, my friends and my art.  

I look forward to becoming more prolific with my creating. I have lots of ideas and dreams and I am feeling I am "on fire" with so many things I want to do. 

I will be activating this blog on a weekly basis with it focused on my renewed energy and focused on my art. I have lots of ideas for creating new art.  I want to share more with other like minded mixed media artists. I will share more on all of that throughout the next months.  

Thank you so much for your love, your positive thoughts and for being with me on this journey.