July 2022
On July 2, we had a barbeque at Josh and Kasey’s house
because Nicole was in town. Chloe, Morgan, and Phoebe went to the fireworks at
Rigby Lake with friends that night. Kory and I didn’t want to deal with the
crowds, so we went to Jared and Karna’s house to watch them from their front
yard—they live right by the lake.
On July 3, we went to Mom and Dad’s to visit, and we tried
on little caps to practice for me losing my hair with chemo.
On July 4, we went to the LaBelle flag raising and breakfast
at 7:00 am. We dropped Morgan off at the Idaho Falls parade to meet up with
friends and then Kory and I headed to Victor. We met up with Kory’s family and
watched the Victor parade. After that, we walked around the booths set up in
the Victor park. We went back to Kory’s dad’s house and had a barbeque. Kory
and I headed home and had a nap, and then we went to Rexburg to watch fireworks
at my Aunt Ann’s house—their neighborhood puts on a great show. It was fun to
see a bunch of my family and cousins and aunts and uncles.
On July 5, my friend Paula came over for a visit. She moved
to Oregon about a year ago.
On July 6, I met with Dr. Shull at Teton Cancer Institute,
who will be doing my chemo. He decided to do some different chemicals so I
won’t lose my hair. He said twelve doses of chemo and six months of treatment.
I stupidly asked what stage of cancer I have and he said a 3 or a 4. I don’t
really know much about cancer, but this really shocked me. I think it’s because
it has spread throughout the abdomen and stage has to do with how much it has
spread. They still don’t know if it originated in the colon or the ovary, so
they are kind of treating it like both. If I don’t respond to those chemicals,
they will try different ones. I was depressed for a few days after that, just
worrying about chemo.
On July 7, I got a CT scan. I had to fast and drink this
really thick, yucky drink that was hard not to throw up. The scan itself was
quick and easy.
On July 8, I went to the Rexburg temple to watch Paula be
sealed to her parents. There were a lot of friends from the English Department
there. Joelle and I were the official witnesses and the Papworths were proxies
for her parents. It was a cool experience. Afterward, we ate at Applebee’s.
On July 9, Paula, Joelle, and I climbed the R Mountain. It
was a short hike and it felt good to do something strenuous. After that Kory
and I spent most of the day sorting through the garage, making DI runs. We
actually made enough space that Kory can park in the garage.
On July 10, Kory and I spoke in sacrament meeting, and I
played the piano for the choir. It was funny, because my first week at church
someone asked me to play for the choir, because someone else said, “There’s no
way she got out of Marilyn Gee’s house without knowing how to play the piano.”
That made me laugh. The ward has been so sweet and awesome. I talked about
Grandma Browning and Grandma Shirley in my talk and afterward a bunch of people
said they knew the Brownings. That night, Ken and Jody stopped by to visit on
their way to Yellowstone. He will be taking a full-time position there as a
park ranger in the Fall, which is amazing!
On July 12, Kory and I and Morgan and Chloe had dinner at
Austin and Leah’s and had fun playing on their waterslide in the back yard.
Kory and I continued organizing and cleaning out he garage. We took lots of
trips to DI and the dump, and I even managed to get rid of some books. Chloe
used her amazing put-it-together skills to help us put a golf rack together.
On the 13th, I had my port for chemo inserted
below my collar bone. I was pretty proud at how calm I was for the this
out-patient surgery. They just gave me relaxation drugs and number the area to
do the incision. I thought I would be freaked out being awake throughout it,
but I was fine.
On July 15, our Idaho Falls house officially went on the
market. We were thrilled to have an offer by July 18 and things have been
moving forward smoothly with the inspections and etc. We should sign on August
15. It will be sad to say goodbye to the old house, but it will be nice for
Kory not to have to be maintaining the lawn over there.
I worked on staining our lawn furniture for a week or so. It
was kind of satisfying to get them all done. We love our little piece of land
out here. Every morning a mama deer and her two babies come and eat in our
yard. It’s fun to watch them.
On July 26, Kory had his 59th birthday. We had
everyone over for tacos and pie—Kory is a pie lover, more than a cake lover.
After that, we went over to Rigby Lake and the kids played in the water and
rode the kayaks. When we were packed up and heading to our cars, we realized
that Quinton lost his car keys in the lake. We called a locksmith to come open
the car, and then Isaac drove Madi and Quinton home. They had to call another
locksmith to let them into their apartment and then a tow truck to tow his car
from Rigby Lake to the car dealership to get a new key. It was a bit crazy.
On July 27, we had the Gee Reunion. We started with the kids
doing a scavenger hunt, then we had dinner at Kristi’s house. After dinner, we did
a Lip Synch Battle, which was awesome! Kory and I did “500 Miles.” Then we played nine-square and other games
until it got dark. David and his family stayed with us in Chloe and Phoebe’s
room, while they were gone to Colorado for a concert. On Thursday, Morgan and I
joined everyone for bridge-jumping out in Chester. Morgan was pretty brave and
jumped in a few times. That night we had dinner again at Kristi’s and then went
out to the sand dunes to play around and have a devotional. On the 29th,
Kory and I joined everyone for a hike to Cress Creek. That afternoon they played
water balloon battle ship, but Kory and I were both hot and tired, so we stayed
home and rested! That night we had dinner at Kristi’s and visited.
On the 30th, Kory, me, Morgan, and Caleb went to
Lava Hot Springs to meet the rest of the kids who had been camping. We had a
great time playing with the grandkids. Morgan and Leah jumped off the higher platforms.
On the 31st, Kory and I sang in church and my mom
played for us. That night we did a fireside for the FSY counselors at BYUI.
Because Kory is a seminary teacher and has experience with EFY, we were asked
to be session directors for an FSY session at BYUI. We had a large session (1200
kids), so there were lots of counselors and staff that ran the show.
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