Kathy Angerman steadily climbing the ladder 12 feet for cleaning cathedral ceilings at home because his grown children repeating it became too dangerous.
She responded by pulling its smaller, 8-foot scale to set up ?? and take later on ?? Christmas crown and other Christmas ornaments above the fireplace.
Pleural mesothelioma may have changed his life, but he did not steal his love of life and his constant sense of adventure.
"I do not know what my kids would do now if they knew that I still get on the scale," said Angerman with a laugh. "But I had to take my crown this year somehow. And I was careful."
The portable oxygen tank next to her slowed his pace today. It takes more traveling cross-country bus she already had so much fun. But it has not dimmed get-up-and-go attitude, or this sequence inspired by the independence that has always defined it.
Instead of lamenting a cancer that overwhelmed her, she celebrated the five-year survival mark (first diagnosis) last fall in the same way it will celebrate five years of the anniversary of the salvage surgery later this month. She plans to celebrate again in March ?? marking a full year without chemotherapy.
"I'll just make myself an Old Fashioned to celebrate," Angerman said. "I make a lot of excuses now to celebrate my life."
And with good reason.
A Miracle walk
Angerman turns 72 in February and believes anything is possible by faith in God and to find good doctors.
"I am a walking miracle," she said. "We all know mesothelioma does not stop by itself, and that chemotherapy does that as for so long. So there's really no other way to explain what happened, except that God has been good to me. "
The last two CT scans showed no new tumor growth, who left his exalted but still cautious about its future. Its next review comes at the end of March.
Angerman, who lives in 30 minutes from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was diagnosed originally August 30, 2010. she was aggressive pleurectomie surgery in January 2011. After a long recovery, she spent much of 2012 traveling by bus across the United States, see the places she has always wanted to visit.
she heard jazz in New Orleans, and country music in Nashville, Tennessee. she ate a barbecue in Memphis looked at the Dixie Stampede in Branson, Missouri. she traveled alone and made new friends along the way.
When the cancer started growing again in 2013, she enrolled in a clinical trial of immunotherapy drugs at the University of Chicago Medical Center, who stopped growing for about six months.
she restarted chemotherapy in March 2014, but after a year's absence of tumor growth, she stopped, tired of how worn it made her feel. It is alive now, in spite of arthritis in his hips disappears.
"I do not know what I will do if or when the doctor told me that the cancer grows again," she said. "I can not believe I turn 72 soon. I never thought that I get to 70. The oxygen, which is a pain in the neck, lugging around everywhere, but he did not yet stopped. "
Survivor stays on the Go
She still takes trips with various groups, made his own groceries, and visits Walmart and Target, among other stores. Although she walks slowly, it grows even faster.
"I'm just going to stores that have trucks because I have to rely on something and need a place to put my oxygen tank," said Angerman. "I still have to go out and do things every day. the more I do it for myself, the better I feel. It gives me more self-esteem when I make for myself. and what drives me. "
Angerman lived alone for many years. Her children are grown and raise their own families. The ex-husband is long gone. She kept a careful log of doctor visits, prescriptions and treatment options, taking notes and asking questions constantly.
Although his children and friends have supported all along, she made her own well thought out health care decisions.
There was his insistence on a second opinion after her original oncologist gave him less than a year to live and insisted chemotherapy and radiation were his only choice. She found and chosen his surgeon Carbone Cancer Center at the University nearby.
She considered another clinical trial in Chicago today. The issue could be three-hour drive in each direction. The son, who took him to Chicago for each treatment earlier, took a job out of state. Yet Angerman does not sit at home and worry and wait.
"You can not give up, sitting in a chair, watching television and accept what is going to happen. I understand people and the family always wanting to help. I need help with some things now and everyone is so nice, but there are many things that I do for myself, "she said." and that is good. "
the Christmas decorations stayed a little longer this year and get out the ladder was not as easy as in the past. She asked a neighbor to take this time. something she would never have done before.
"I can not afford to fall from the ladder and break a hip," she said. "I have to be careful and move slowly. But that does not mean I will not go there again. "
