Bad news and good news

We have had an interesting week.  Should I start with the bad news, or the good news?  I guess the good should always win out.  The good news isn't great news, but more hopeful news.  We finally got Caitlyn into the Rheumatology specialist on Thursday--well, let me back up a little.  We have been looking for answers to Caitlyn's jaw issues.  Dr. Guinn, the jaw pain specialist that she's been seeing for 6 or 7 months determined that Caitlyn is still losing bone in her jaw and is not stabilizing.  He said that because he can't stabilize her bone loss, there's nothing more he can do for her.  He then suggested a specialist who deals with arthritis--in this case, arthritis of the jaw.  We called the specialist and the soonest appointment we could get was nearly two months out.  While waiting for that appointment, I called a chiropractor that had been recommended to me who does some heat laser treatments for pain. He was willing to work with Caitlyn without cost unless she felt that the treatments were helping her. These treatments did not help, but he mentioned that we should call the Dr. back and tell them we wanted to be on a waiting list for cancellations, which we did.  Caitlyn and Roy both received blessings from our home teachers on Sunday; and on Monday or Tuesday, I had a call from the Dr's office that there was a cancellation, which we felt was an answer to those blessings and also our fasting and prayer.  Roy and I took her to the Dr. on Thursday morning.  We still have no definitive answers, but the specialist is pretty sure that she has arthritis in her jaw (and only in her jaw, thankfully).  She goes in for an MRI on Tuesday morning.  She also had a battery of blood tests to check her for anything that could be causing her pain--such as thyroid issues, Lupus, etc.  The hopeful news is that this Dr. will be able to start treating her for more than just her symptoms. Hopefully she can get to the root of the problem and start treating her.  She did say that arthritis drugs usually require a lot of trial and error, but at least we have a direction to pursue.  

The bad news: Well, I mentioned that Roy also had a blessing from our home teachers.  He had a biopsy last week on his prostate and we were awaiting the results.  He received kind of a courtesy call from his doctor since his next appointment wasn't until next week.  He does have cancer.  That's all we really know at this point until we talk to the doctor, but he made it sound like it is a slow growing, highly treatable cancer with a high cure rate.  Glenn, if you're reading this, I'm sure Roy will be calling you.

I put these things at the first of the letter because they pretty much consumed my week, but we did have some fun, too.  Roy and I went to St. George Monday and Tuesday--Roy had business.  We began the business with the French meal at Jeremiah Johnson's (Roy's co-worker) parents restaurant in Santa Clara. The Granary.  This was the 2nd annual dinner for clients and prospective clients.  Again, it was super delicious and very rich.  We started off with our own Brie pastry with cherry preserves.  It was delicious.  Of course, we didn't eat it all (if we had, it would've have been our recommended calories for two or three days).  We also had pork roulade with blue cheese, avocados and spinach inside.  Dessert was a little lighter, poached pear with cream.  

this is the brie pastry.  It doesn't look very appetizing
in the picture, but it was delicious

Tuesday, after Roy's conference he had to attend, we went hiking at Snow Canyon, and then went to dinner and a movie (Passengers).  The movie was entertaining, but not fabulous.  We stayed one more night and headed home Wednesday morning.  I was in charge of book club at my home on Wednesday evening, so we had to get on our way fairly quickly.  For book club we discussed the book "Queen of Katwe"  A non-fiction book about a girl in Uganda who was born in the slums and had very little hope for a life outside of these slums.  From a Christian ministry, (the mentor also began life in the slums) she learned to play chess, and it changed her life.  Roy and I rented the movie and watched it over the next couple of nights.  It was very uplifting and I recommend both the book and the movie. The book was more detailed, but the movie made it real.  

Saturday we continued the move-in process.  We're pretty well settled, but the garage hasn't been taken care of.  Caitlyn helped us to store the snow tires and all the extra carpeting. 

Today in Relief Society we talked about women role models.  I didn't comment, but I thought about what I would say if I did.  I can't think of a better role model than my mother.  She was everything a woman should be.  Kind and tolerant, always serving, always giving.  I asked my mom once, "If you had it to do over again, would you still have seven children?"  Her answer: "I would have had 9 if I could have. One between you and Phil, and another between Phil and Nan." This answer really affected me and probably helped me in some of my decisions when I was having children.  Children are undervalued today.  I think if we knew how important our posterity will be eternally, we would all be more willing to bring children into the world.

 Of all the women in the world--famous women, accomplished and intelligent women...I can't think of any woman in the world that I would rather be like than my mother.

I also have a bond with grandmother Cook.  After Thomas died, I read her book, "He left us with a Smile."  I knew that the poem of the same title was about her son, Glenn, but I didn't realize that the entire book was probably written as she dealt with her grief.  Every poem seemed to point to that pivotal moment in her life.  I grew closer to her as I read her book, than I ever could have in life.  I was only 10 when she passed away, and though she lived with us for a year, I only have vague memories of her.  She truly was a woman that I would want to emulate. And then there were my mother's mothers.  Her own mother died at 33.  I can't even imagine how it would have been for Henrietta, as she knew she was dying and leaving behind four children.  Her sister stepped in to care for the children, and was later married to my grandfather.  She was amazing to take on four of her sister's children, and her sister's husband, and give them all a happy and fulfilled life.  As I was thinking of these things, I realized we have come from a long line of truly wonderful women, but I don't know much about any of them.  I guess that's something I could work on in the future.  

We ended the week as we end many weeks--dinner with the family.  Everyone was there but Elise and Andy, Max and Mav, whom we missed.  Below are a coupe of pictures from the evening.

There were enough eggs in the coop for each grandchild to bring one in.
(dangerous, I know)

These three couldn't carry eggs yet.

I just realized there are no pictures of Ruby or Finn--they didn't get eggs either :(