September has been a busy month. Today marks 6 weeks since Lauren’s stepdad Irv unexpectedly passed away. It’s still hard to think that he is gone, our Sunday dinners and visits to Lauren’s parents’ house are different. Everyone experiences different punches in their life and when they come, you learn how to adjust and cope to your new normal. We continue to remind ourselves how fragile life is and how important it is to make the best of the one you are given because you never know when your next punch is coming. We talk about Irv every day, have him present in our home and are doing the best we can as a family to move through the days of losing a husband, dad and grandpa.
Amongst all the chaos, we were able to take some time and celebrate Chris’s younger sister, Tamara, as she got married in Colorado last week. It was a beautiful wedding set in Marron Bells, Colorado. What was to be a 2.5-hour commute from Denver to Glenwood Springs turned into a 5-hour commute due to big rigs not knowing how to drive on the I-70…our return trip back to Denver unfortunately had the same issue – our luck in travel was becoming unlucky. Despite all the traffic, we had a wonderful time and highly recommend a visit to the area, it was really beautiful. Congrats again to Tamara & Jason!
September 26th was a huge milestone. It was 2 years ago that Lauren finished chemotherapy. It’s weird to think that was that long ago, it feels so much longer than that, but it is all still so vivid in our minds. As we are gearing up for Lauren’s annual PET Scan, which has been a bit of a shit show to get scheduled, we know that once we see Dr. Vandermolen on October 7th and he confirms Lauren is still cancer free, we can fully embrace and celebrate being 2 years past chemo completion. We are reminded at how ridiculous insurance companies are, yet how wonderful they can be at the same time. 2 years ago, they fully delivered on everything we needed. Now, they are a pain in the ass. They denied Lauren of her PET Scan, despite it being ordered by Dr. Vandermolen because they did not feel it was medically necessary. Shocking for them to determine that since they are not doctors and they don’t realize that Lauren is a high-risk patient due to her BRCA2 gene. Lauren’s PET Scan is scheduled for October 3rd and we will receive the results from Dr. Vandermolen on the 7th at her monthly visit.
The walk for The Pink Journey Foundation is in 6 days! We are excited to see everyone and celebrate this life we get to live. We hope you can join us, if you don’t feel up for the walk – come out to The Beach House in Seal Beach and enjoy some breakfast! If you want more details, check out our previous post from September 2nd that outlines everything. We know everyone is busy, but these walks make us really proud but also we feel so comforted to be surrounded by other families who have walked in our shoes and we love to share that with family & friends. The support of everyone showing up for us means the world.
Stay tuned for the results of Lauren’s PET Scan and for any October updates!
Much love,
Chris & Lauren
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