Christmas 2012
A year of great times with family and friends, a critical medical issue, yet ending with hope.
A wonderful cruise to the Bahama's in May with Jim's high school class of 1962 - 50 years! It was amazing to not have seen these people for 50 years, and to still enjoy trememdously their friendship. Thanks to the organizers, we just had a simply wonderful time.
Then to NY for what we thought would be the summer. Amy had different plans and wanted another family vacation so we could be all together again. For Amy, living in Denver, the opportunities are too few so we looked for some alternatives and guess what - ANOTHER cruise to the Bahamas! What a fantastic time with the whole family. We flew to Greenville, and the cruise left from Charleston the last week of July.
front row are Dave's 4 - Paige, Cole, Kate, and Brooke
back: Lucas Droste, Amy, her husband Bruce, then Bev, Ben Droste, Bridget, Jim, and David
When the cruise was over Bev wanted to remain in SC to be able to attend a DAR meeting the first weekend in September so Jim decided to spend August in North Dakota again continuing his annual 'fantasy vacations' where he thoroughly enjoys driving the big trucks hauling grain, and huge tractors cultivating the fields. Finishing early, he went back to SC for a week and then we were to fly back to NY the 2nd week of September to relax and be with our friends there and to see the leaves change.
It did not work out that way! Bev had some medical issues starting during the cruise, which were finally diagnosed as pancreatic cancer the first week of September and all plans changed. A medical procedure to install a stent led to a critical week in ICU but she recovered from that and we then found that the biopsies proved the cancer to be 'neuroendocrine' - and that treatment could give a good chance of control if not a cure! That type of tumor exists in only 5% of the cases so we are incredibly lucky. The treatments are one monthly shot, and a pill a day with extensive monitoring and she has had few side effects. We expect in January to know if the medicines are doing the job on the tumor. A photo is worth a thousand words:
For Thanksgiving, Amy and her family came from Denver and we celebrated at David's.
On Saturday, Bev's sister and brother and their families came and it was wonderful to all be together!
So many have been incredibly helpful to us through the past 3 months that our appreciation and love
can not be expressed in words.
Our friends in NY took care of closing down the place there, and the son of one of them
even drove our van down to South Carolina.
The blessings of great family and friends was never more obvious to us than in 2012.
Love from
Bev and Jim
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