Subject: From Jennifer: Begorrah - I made it through the first week!
From: "Blum, Jonathan" <[email-masked]>
To: "Blum, Jonathan" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Matt Thornton" <[email-masked]>, "Paul Diaz" <[email-masked]>, "Todd Blue" <[email-masked]>, "Bill Mack" <[email-masked]>, "Josh McCall" <[email-masked]>, "Gary Jaroslow" <[email-masked]>, "Terry Davenport" <[email-masked]>, "Dave Easterling" <[email-masked]>, "Roger Durham" <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, "Novak, David" <[email-masked]>, "Carucci, Rick" <[email-masked]>, "Byerlein, Anne" <[email-masked]>, "Campbell, Chris-Legal" <Chris.Campbe
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 16:24:28 -0400

Here’s a note from Jennifer she had me send to her girlfriends today, followed by one from me.  I don’t plan to send another until she’s out of her radiation treatments in a few months and has been given a clean bill of health.  In the meantime, thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, emails and calls.  It has been greatly appreciated.  Best, JB

Hi All,

First, thanks to each of you for all the love and support I am feeling. It has really been overwhelming to me, in such a very good way.

And Begorrah - I have made it through the first week of being at home, thanks to my leprechauns - Jonathan, Mom, and Dad.

I've had follow up appointments every other day with my surgeon, and that has reduced my anxiety of wondering if everything is okay under my bandages. So far so good.

I won't give you all the gory details :), but suffice to say that my Mom is Florence Nightingale and we make each other laugh as we try to remember what we're supposed to do next as far as my daily recovery plan goes. (And luckily I can count the laughing toward my breathing exercises). Every other day that I don't have a doctor's appointment, I'm going to the nearby Anchorage Salon to get my hair washed. Jonathan and Mom tried to wash and dry my hair the day after I got home from the hospital, and the result was that I had clean hair and standing appointments at the Anchorage Salon :) It's so nice to be able to take hair out of the recovery treatment equation. And while Mom and Jonathan have been doting on me, Dad has fixed the mailbox, organized my giant closet of mailing boxes that Jonathan always threatens to toss out, fixed the starter on our grill, and documented with his laptop camera all of the pretty flower arrangements I've received.

So I just wanted to let you know that I am doing well, working on my breathing and arm exercises, napping as needed, discovering that there are many different locations I can find to sleep sitting up or propped up on pillows, and feeling pampered by my 3 leprechauns.

Christopher is home on spring break as of last night. He has grown a beard and I think I will encourage him to go out and be a mountain man hiking in the Red River Gorge this week as temps are expected to be in the 80's. Almost too hot to hike! But meanwhile we will play a lot of family games that I will be able to blame my losses on my limited arm movement. So what if holding cards doesn't require arm movement. It's all just slight of hand. Although you know if you've ever played a family game with us, quick hands are a must.

So happy St Patrick's Day to you.

May you find your lucky pot o gold, or at least  enjoy a tall mug of green beer.

xo,

Jennifer

_______________

And from Jonathan:

First, I have no idea what Begorrah means.  In any case, you should know that Jennifer is a remarkable person.  She is getting stronger each day and continues to be in very positive spirits, despite feeling tired each day.  I can tell you that our home looks like a florist shop - so many friends have sent flowers and they are greatly appreciated.  We have more chocolate than a candy store...YUM (great name for a company, by the way!).  And whoever came up with the idea of making pink the breast cancer color was a marketing genius.  We have pink, pink, and more pink.  As a father of two young men, pink isn't a color that we've had much of in this house.  Although it does remind me of the house we moved into in Laguna Hills, California.  It was pink stucco, and every single day I'd come home from work, drive up to that house, and say to Jennifer that we should paint it a different color.  I hated living in a pink house.  It was embarrassing.  She didn't want to repaint it because the bougenvilla that grew along its walls would have to come down if we did.  The bougenvilla also was pink.  Maybe it was owned by a breast cancer survivor - who knows?  After we moved to KY, we came back to visit and the new owner had painted the house tan. Wouldn't you know it - that lucky husband got tan.  But today if I lived in that house, I'd proudly keep it pink to let everyone know that my wife is a breast cancer survivor!  Two days after Jennifer came home, I sat and watched her as she slept in a chair in the Family Room.  It wasn't one of her good days.  I just watched her breathe, and thought how lucky we are that this disease was caught early.  While she was having difficulty, she was breathing and she's going to live a long life.  Others aren't so lucky.  I was also thinking that Jennifer still takes my breath away each day just as she did when I met her 30 years ago.  She's even more beautiful today, if that's remotely possible.  And all of you know she's as beautiful on the inside as she is when she lights up every room she walks into.  I hope all of you enjoy the same deep love Jennifer and I have for one another.  Those of you who know me know I'm pretty private and not this vulnerable in sharing my feelings.  What guy is?  But I can tell you I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be married to Jennifer, and together, we're going to put this behind us and enjoy life once again.  Lastly, you should know that Jennifer's parents have been wonderfully supportive and we couldn't have gotten through this without them.  If there's such a thing as angels on earth, they are.  Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts.  And please continue to send emails or call Jennifer - it lifts her up and is the best medicine of all.  Thank you for being such good friends.  Jonathan

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