Summer Happenings

It's hard to believe that the summer is drawing to a close and a new school year is about to begin. I always hope that summer will be a slower pace and I will have more time to catch up with friends, put aside agendas and "to do" lists and have time to relax. While that was not the case this summer, the Dillon girls have enjoyed a good, but busy summer.

June started with Maggie's dance recital. She danced ballet and lyrical numbers and did a beautiful job! Maggie spent four weeks of her summer at Seneca Hills Bible Camp. First week out of school she went for orientation at camp for summer staff. Maggie's summer camp title was "crafty". Maggie helped direct campers who visited the craft barn. Her scope of responsibilities also included providing child care for camp staff children and guest missionaries' children. She also was responsible for some cleaning details in the administration and staff dormitory buildings. It was fun to celebrate Maggie's 16th birthday.... and we did so at least three times, with family and friends at various locations. A special birthday present for Maggie was a long weekend in Tennessee with our dear friends Charlie, Teresa and Rachel. Maggie had a wonderful time and was spoiled royally! Between her weeks working at camp and assisting with teaching summer dance classes for little girls at her dance studio, Maggie has been studying her questions and will soon be taking her test for her driving permit. Maggie has decided not to run cross country this season, but hopes to keep some running in her schedule just to stay in shape for track in the spring. School begins again August 31st, so Maggie will be squeezing as much as she can into the next couple of weeks.

Kate successfully completed her on line philosophy course at the beginning of summer. The rest of the summer Kate has delighted in reading books of her choice for pleasure. Kate's official work for the summer was PT twice a week and working on strengthening her weak leg muscles. She was also blessed with a little part time job helping an elderly couple in our church several evenings a week. Summer is also a good time for the significant time it takes at Children's Hospital for check ups and monitoring several of Kate's ongoing health related issues that are residuals from her intensive chemo and radiation treatments. Our check up with Endocrine and her yearly ACTH test confirmed that we must continue to treat the adrenal insufficiency. Her adrenal gland has shown only a slight increment of improvement. Her endocrine blood work also diagnosed hypothyroidism, caused by damage to the thyroid as a result of radiation. She has begun taking synthroid to address this issue. Our hope is that with this we will see a decrease in Kate's fatigue level. When Kate saw her oncologist in June, she commented that she had hoped Kate's walking/gait would have shown some improvement. Last Monday we addressed this issue...Kate had an EMG - nerve conduction test to see if there has been any improvement in the nerve damage (resulting from her cancer treatment). Those of you who have experienced an EMG know that this is not a pleasant experience. It involves electric stimulation (like little shocks) and a needle probe to test nerve activity at various points on her body. When the EMG was complete, Kate texted a friend and said "the torture is over", yet she handled it all with grace and not a complaint. In comparing Kate's test results today with the EMG done in January 2009, we were glad to learn that some healing is taking place in some of the nerves, but disappointed to discover that some damage is still occurring. The good news is that there is more healing occurring than the ongoing damage. The neurologist explained that nerve regeneration is extremely slow. She affirmed keeping up with the PT to prevent more atrophy to Kate's weakened leg muscles that are not being stimulated by healthy nerves. Likewise, good nutrition is essential to repairing her nerves. An evaluation in audiology revealed the hearing in Kate's right ear has dropped off a little more. The audiologist tweaked her hearing aid to compensate for this additional loss and we are thankful the for no change in the left ear. Kate's classes begin again August 30th.

My summer started with a much needed time away in Colorado visiting my dear friends Debbie and Tom. I came back feeling much relaxed and refueled ready to jump in to a busy summer. I have been working at my friend's flower shop during the summer wedding season. I call this my "therapy job" as I enjoy this creative outlet, being surrounded by the beautiful flowers and the sweet fellowship I enjoy with the girls at the shop. In addition, I have been tutoring and taught 6th grade summer school. While I've felt like I've caught myself coming and going it has been a blessing to have these work opportunities for the summer when I am not subbing. As the summer comes to a close we have several special events on our calendar. We will be traveling to Kentucky for a long weekend to visit some dear family friends. It will be wonderful to enjoy some time away and to share sweet fellowship and laughter with our friends. Another highlight in these last few weeks of summer will be a night out on the town in Pittsburgh. When Kate's cancer reoccurred in 2006, we received an incredible Christmas blessing from a very special group of people. One of the many gifts that we received was a gift certificate to the Pittsburgh Performing Arts. For one reason or the other, most of which were scheduling issues, we have not yet used the tickets. When we heard at the beginning of summer that Phantom would be making it's last run in Pittsburgh this summer, we knew that was the show we wanted to see. We are thrilled to be going to see Phantom of the Opera. The end of September one of Kate's dreams will come true when we attend the Chris Tomlin concert in Pittsburgh. Kate has long been a fan of Chris Tomlin's music and some of you may remember that through the networking efforts of our dear friend Bob, Chris learned of Kate's cancer journey and back in 2007 wrote her a personal note of encouragement and dedicated one of the songs on his CD to Kate. In March of 2007 while Kate was in the hospital for her stem cell rescue, she learned that my brother Kurt was going to a Chris Tomlin concert for his 40th birthday. Unbeknownst to Uncle Kurt and Aunt Tina, Kate contacted Chris and his team and surprised her uncle even further with back stage passes to meet Chris after the concert. At that time, Kate told Chris that she wished that it was her coming to the concert, but that one day when he came to our area, she would be sure to be there.... and so that dream is about to come true!

While blog updates are few and far between these days, you our family and friends are always on our hearts and many of you are prayed for regularly by the Dillon girls. We thank you for your continued care, concern and prayers for us. How thankful we are that at some point in time, God allowed our lives and paths to cross with yours. While time may pass and the distance between us is great, our hearts are forever joined by His love.