Remember the long, hot days of summer when you were a kid?  Harper Lee describes them best.  "People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County." (To Kill a Mockingbird)  While our days are hot, they don't seem to be as long as they used to.  How did it get to be July?! 

It's been over a month since receiving word of Cindy's cancer returning.  While I want the world and time to stop and grieve with us, it seems that the "longest" days of the year are whizzing by.  There is little regard to what I want. 

One of the side effects of either the tumors themselves or the radiation / steroid treatments, is that Cindy is unable to sleep for more than 5 hours at any one given time.  The lack of sleep does not help with her feelings of being "disconnected" and generally foggy in the brain, but it does help address the dilemma of not having enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be done.  She finds that evenings and late night hours are her best functioning hours.  She often can be found burning the midnight oil.

This past Wednesday was her last radation treatment for awhile.  Yippee! We won't know for a few more months how well the radiation worked in reducing the tumors.  The swelling and radation activity is still too great to determine the rate of success.  It will quiet down in a month or two at which time another scan will be conducted and I feel positive that the size of the tumors will be drastically reduced.  The fact that she can curl her toes so much is an excellent indication of some success. 

Now that radiation is complete, she can also begin tapering off the steroids.  While these drugs have been good in reducing symptoms and increasing motor skills, they carry other side effects, which are not altogether comfortable.  It will be good to have her body cleared of these.  As expected, her hair has been lost and the neuropathy in her feet and fingertips has returned.  The neuropathy is a result of the last chemo treatments and the Taxol drug.  It's not as bad as it had been a few years ago, but has now flared up again.  What hasn't been lost is Cindy's spirit.  She remains strong, determined, motivated, faithful and at peace. 

Today the entire Reed and Cindy Gardner gang joined the rest of the Gardner Clan for a family reunion at Aspen Grove.  They will be gone for over a week.  What a glorious time to have a reunion!  Cell service is sporadic up in the mountains, so for those who might try to text, call or email Cindy, don't be alarmed if you recieve no answer for about another week and a half.  Know that she is well and spending valuable time with loved ones.  She will also be busy defending her title as champion Rook player.  Notes left on her blog are greatly appreciated.  Cindy also has loved getting cards, letters and text messages.

Chemotherapy will start soon enough, but for now her body will have a bit of time to recover.  For a while she will be in "no hurry", have "nowhere to go", and just spend a few long summer days with family.