Our Work Is Never Done

It is another weekend at Purple Ranch Lavender Farm. There is always something to do and see at a lavender farm and I just love sharing all the interesting sights.

Since Mom and Dad live on eight acres, there are plenty of chores that need to be done. One chore that we did not get the opportunity to do last year was the mowing of the back pasture.

My nephew Jake decided he would like to help so we drove out on the tractor and mowed about 4 acres of pasture. Jake loves to sing so I was thoroughly entertained with the song about Fred and Old MacDonald. At times we both sang and it is amazing how loud you can sing (even off key) and you can't even tell because you can't hear much over the engine of the tractor.

I did learn one thing driving the big tractor. The turn radius on a tractor like that is not quite what it is on the John Deere riding lawn mower. Jake had gone up to the house by this time so I was riding by myself. My brother and my nephews built a paintball course out at the back of the property with old tires. I was trying to mow around the tires and it was a little muddy. When it gets muddy the tractor has a tendency to slide instead of turn. When I realized that the tractor was going to slide and not turn I kinda wiped out the stack of tires I was trying to mow around. Since I had been riding on the tractor for several hours, I kind of forgot that if I pushed in on the clutch the tractor would stop. I'll remember that next time.

Another interesting bit of trivia. Did you know that the bouncing that you do on a tractor for 4 hours is the equivalent of 26,277 steps on a pedometer and that equals 12.4 miles which means I burned 709 calories in one sitting. You see you have a lot of time to think while riding in circles on a tractor dodging tires and trees.

Well, thanks for joining me on my Purple Ranch adventure. Until next time.

Lavender, Take me away!!!!!

Purple Ranch Roving Photographer

Well it has been another eventful weekend at Purple Ranch Lavender Farm. I moved into the 21st Century this weekend. My husband Jer and I went shopping for a digital camera. We made our purchase and as my family will attest, I have taken pictures of everything that moved and a lot of things that didn't.


After 125 pictures here are some of the favorites from this weekend at Purple Ranch. As you can see, the puppies just love running through the lavender. Amazingly enough, they miss the plants when they are running. We call it "The Lavender Slalom."

Here we have the puppies, Hope and Rollo in their own version of the Indy 500. Enjoy the race.

Until next time,

LAVENDER

DON"T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!

Purple Ranch VP Pet Handler

I am sure you are all dying to know how the Vice-President Pet Handler fared several weeks ago, (February 1st, 2nd & 3rd), during our Purple Ranch trip to Canton. Just thought I would share a little about how Jer’s weekend went with the (4) canines.

But, first let me give you a little description of the canines in question just in case you are wondering.

Bonnie (Mom’s Shiba-Inu)
Bonnie’s been a little sickly lately but has been to the vet and they determined that she had an internal infection which caused some hair loss (kinda brought back memories of chemo). She also has allergies to some foods so she therefore eats special food, organic treats and (3) kinds of medicine which she hates.

Hope & Rollo (Blue Healer, Lab, Rottweiler Mix)
Bink, Jake and Jon’s Blue Healer, Lab, Rottweiler mix. Now these two are hard to describe but I will give it a shot.

Hope is the sweet one with the black eye patch. She also likes to chew anything that doesn’t move including the rug from our entry hall. But it was old and worn out so this will give us an excuse to get a new one.

Then there is Rollo. Rollo is the size of a colt and about as rambunctious. He throws his affection around liberally and when he wants in the house he stands as tall as I do with his feet on the back door. As you can tell these pictures were taken before they grew into horses.

Wylie (Jer & Bren’s Shiba Inu)
Now Wylie is just spoiled. What can I say? His kennel is our queen size bed and he knows it. He rules the roost and we are just his pets. He high-fives for treats and howls and talks when he has something important to say. Whether we think it is important makes no difference.

Now put all of these various breeds and personalities together and you have an award winning America’s Funniest Home Video in the making.

How the Weekend Went

Bonnie is a sweet little thing as long as other compadres don’t get within 50 yards of her food. Then she turns into a cross between a pitbull and a rottweiler. She loves her new food and treats, but as I stated earlier, she hates the medicine she has to take. So, and these are Jer’s words, she has an alligator trap for a mouth and once it is shut there’s no opening it. He tried putting it in her food but she ate everything around the pills. He finally was able to pry open her mouth and toss the pills to the back. After a few times of her spitting the soggy capsules back out Jer was able to get them down. (He swallowed them with a glass of water and he feels much better now.) The jury is still out on Bonnie.

On to Hope and Rollo. These two are just too cute. Somewhere in the Purple Ranch manual we lost some translation or there was a snafu in communication between Bink and Jer. Because Bink neglected to inform Jer that the puppies are let out of their kennels to do #1. Given massive quantities of food. Put back in their kennels for 15 minutes. And when I say 15 minutes you better have a stop watch going. They are then let out of their kennels after the 15 minute rest to do #2.

Since there was a snafu or language barrier between the above mentioned males, this is what occurred with these two Edwardian Hotel guests:

Jer let Hope and Rollo out. They did #1 first but not all of #1. They were fed massive amounts of dog food and left to roam for awhile. But during this roaming, Rollo was not informed that he needed to do #2, so he frolicked with Hope during this time. Jer puts them both back in their kennel thinking all business is taken care of.

When Jer returns to let them out a second time, Rollo had done #1 & #2 in his kennel and as soon as he jumps out he proceeds to shake and fling #1 and #2 all over Jer and the patio. (Those of you who don’t know Jer well, might not realize that Jer has a rather weak stomach when it comes to picking up dog #2. Which is the reason I am our pooper scooper around our house. Jer was excited to inform me that he didn’t even throw up when he had to clean out Rollo’s kennel and give him a bath. So, man I am thinking that went well. Unfortunately, this happened a second time due to the lack of direction or miscommunication between brother and brother-in-law. But Jer is a quick learner and Sunday was a new and better day.

Now, as I said before Wylie is the spoiled one. His home is his castle and beware to anyone who storms its gates. Well, he was okay with Bonnie because she has stayed at the castle before on numerous occasions. But no one saw fit to introduce Hope and Rollo to the king of the castle. Big mistake!! Wylie proceeded to go outside and do #1 on the door to Hope’s kennel, not once but twice.

Now, I know those of you that don’t have dogs are just dying to go out and get a puppy because what better way to learn discipline, character, patience and perseverance.

By the way, Jer told me this morning he has fired himself from his position as Purple Ranch VP Dog Handler. You just can’t find good help anymore.

Purple Ranch / The Cancer Story

I decided to start my Purple Ranch blog with my story. You may ask why that would be important. Well, since you asked I will tell you.

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005. It was something that my family was not prepared for and would never have expected. It always happens to someone else, or so we think. My Mom had recently retired and had always dreamed of starting and owning her own business, Purple Ranch. Due to my health issues and her mother's failing health, my Mom put her dream on hold for 3 years. Now you need to understand that my Mom was 67 when I was diagnosed with cancer. Coming out of retirement, she was thrilled to have the time to start Purple Ranch and was not expecting to be thrown into the time consuming task of taking care of her daughter and her ailing mother.

Anyone who knows my Mom understands what it means to love unconditionally. She gives of herself tirelessly, not only for her husband and children, but also for all the extra friends that they bring along as an extension of her family. She is the one I always turn to for love, guidance and I also am privileged enough to be able to call her one of my best friends. When I was diagnosed, her life was put on hold. I will never be able to repay her for the boundless love she gives and her never ending supply of unselfish giving. I dedicate "Counting My Blessings" to my family who gave unselfishly of their time and energy to help me heal and my friend Jan, who supported and encouraged me, fed me Cafe Brazil breakfasts on "Chemo Days" and crowned me "Queen for a Day" at my last treatment.

The following is my story as it was published in the book entitled "TORCH" (Tales of Remarkable Courage and Hope). This book was part of a collaboration of 25 amazing women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. These women decided to tell their stories in order to help others with this dreadful and often fatal disease.

Published in TORCH "Tales of Remarkable Courage and Hope"

Counting My Blessings
By Brenda Edwards

I was 42 years old and I had no idea I had cancer. I attended a baby shower on October 17, 2005 and when I returned home I began to have pain in my abdomen. I was unable to sleep all night and contacted the physician on call on Sunday, October 18, 2005. After taking antibiotics and still not feeling any better on Monday, I called my physician and he recommended I go see him that morning. By that Monday morning my abdomen had started swelling.

My regular doctor recommended I see my gynecologist. After doing so, it was recommended I have a sonogram and CT scan. Before I received the results of the tests I went to lunch with my Mom and sister. As I was eating lunch I received a phone call from my bosses' wife asking how I was doing. She was Vice President of a physician's group for a local hospital system. She recommended I see an oncologist and told me she would make sure I could get in to see an oncology specialist. I called and was able to get an appointment.

I believe God was working in my life during this time. I initially had an appointment with my regular gynecologist and he had recommended surgery. Prior to the phone call from my bosses' wife, I had planned to have a regular physician perform my surgery. After my bosses' wife called and recommended I see a specialist I had previously cancelled an appointment with the specialist. When I called back my appointment had been given to another patient. The nurse said if I could come in at 7:30am the next morning (Friday, October 22, 2005) the oncologist would see me.

I believe God stepped in at this point to direct my steps. When I arrived at the oncologist's office I was filling out paperwork. As I was sitting there with my Mom and sister, an old friend walked in with his wife. He is a strong Christian man and as soon as he saw me he hugged me and asked if I was there to see the doctor for me. I explained that I was and I knew from that point on that there would be more prayers for me.

I met with the oncologist and he reviewed my test results. He sat with my mom and me and explained that I would require surgery and he would perform the surgery if I wanted him to.


I must be honest and say that I was probably in shock up until this point. I had to have so many tests and at this point I was nervous as I had lived 42 years without ever having any type of surgery and I was facing the prospect of having major surgery. My surgery was scheduled for the next Friday, October 29, 2005.

The day arrived for my surgery and I had a migraine. So much stress and not eating the night before the surgery had taken its toll. I arrived at the hospital with my husband, Mom and Dad, brother, sisters and best friend. When it was time for me to go in to be prepped my whole family stood up and formed a circle. We held hands and my brother prayed for my safe keeping and a successful surgery.

The surgery took longer than expected and my family was told that I had cancer. My doctor took my Mom and husband into a room to tell them the news. My Mom told me they both broke down but they decided together that my Mom would tell the rest of the family because Jerry was unable to talk about it at that point.
I was finally brought to my room. I was still groggy from the anesthesia but as I was wheeled into my room I could see in the dim light my family surrounding my bed. My husband Jerry leaned over and with tears in his eyes he whispered to me how much he loved me. He then told me that they had found cancer in one of my ovaries. As tears trickled out of my eyes, my dad leaned over and whispered in my ear that he would trade places with me if he could.

I did not realize that while my family was waiting for me to come out of recovery they had already made a list of who would be staying with me each night in the hospital as they were going to take turns. When my sister Sherry stayed with me she helped me bathe. My brother Cliff and my nephew Jon stayed with me another night. You never realize how much love your family has for you when they sacrifice their time and energy to help you get better. I felt so humbled by my family's love and caring attention.

Looking back now, I realized that everyone was in shock around me. I know there are certain steps that most people go through when they find out they have cancer. It starts with anger at God and asking "Why me? It then moves to feeling sorry for yourself because it is you, then on to depression and many other emotions that are hard to deal with.
I honestly never experienced any of those emotions. My first thought was what do I need to do to fully recover and so began my amazing journey.

I think that cancer is often harder on the loved ones around you. The one with cancer is often so involved in fighting the disease and your loved ones often feel helpless in the fight. They struggle with how they can help you and they often don't realize that their just being there and praying for you daily is the best medicine they can give.

When my oncologist came to see me to explain the results he told me I had Stage 1C ovarian cancer. I asked him what he recommended for my treatment. He said he thought I should have 6 chemo treatments to kill any cancer cells he may have missed during the surgery. I agreed and then began the long process of recovery from the surgery so that I would be ready for chemo.

Since my husband worked during the week, we decided that I would stay with my Mom and Dad during the week so they could take care of me and I would go home on the weekends to be with my husband.
I must say my Mom and Dad were the best and I could not have done it without them. My Mom made sure I ate well in order to gain back some of the weight I had lost during my surgery and recovery. We started walking at the high school track in the afternoons and sitting on their front porch in the evenings. On the weekends my husband Jerry would stop by and pick me up to take me home. He did all the grocery shopping, housecleaning and took care of our dog. My dog even mourned when I was not at home. I was truly blessed and God had much bigger plans for me.

I decided before my chemo treatments started that I would shave my head. One of my fears was that I would be standing in the shower and a large clump of my hair would fall out in my hands and I would be devastated. So I made an appointment with my hairdresser to have my head shaved. Another thing I did not realize when I was in surgery was that my family had discussed shaving their heads when it came time for me to have chemo treatments. They did not want me to be alone during that devastating process. I have heard it said that a woman's hair is her crowning glory. You don't realized how very true that is until you shave it off.

My appointment with the hairdresser arrived and my Mom and sister Diane went with me. My sister brought her camera and a bottle of champagne. My Mom decided she would shave her head first before I had to shave mine. She will never know how much that meant to me to have her show her support in that way. They made it an adventure filled with laughter and the sharing of memories that will live with me forever. My hairdresser gave my Mom a mohawk before she shaved all her hair off and we took pictures. When it came time to shave my head my hairdresser cried because she had been giving me perms and cutting my hair for years and she was getting ready to cut all my curls off. I think it was more devastating to her at the time than it was for me. She shaved one side of my head and then we laughed and took more pictures. As a final salute to the loss of hair, we raised our glasses in a toast.

When I arrived home my husband and dog greeted us at the front door. I felt so naked without my hair. I kept touching my head in disbelief as my head had never been that smooth. My husband walked up to me with tears in his eyes and told me how much he loved me and how beautiful I was.

We had another head shaving party at my Mom and Dad's house. My brother Cliff brought his hair clippers and shaved designs on my sister Diane's head (and of course we took pictures) and then I got to shave my brother's head. Diane was always there to record each event with pictures. In the meantime my middle sister shaved my niece Rachel's hair off and she was a senior in high school. She attended her senior prom with very little hair. She had long beautiful brown hair that reached to the middle of her back. All her friends at school thought she was ill when she shaved her hair. In my eyes she was more beautiful then than she had ever been in her life.

My Dad went to his hairdresser one day when I was staying with them and he didn't tell Mom or me what he intended to do. He told the hairdresser he wanted her to shave his head. She said do you want a level 1 or level 2 shave (that means the level of hair you want to shave off). My Dad told her to give him a "0". No hair. She asked him several times if he was sure before she shaved him bald.

My nephews David, Jake and Jon were 15, 8 and 7 at the time I was diagnosed. I was afraid I would scare them with my not having hair, as they had always known me with long curly hair.
They took it all in stride. My oldest nephew David let me play golf with him and when my hair starting growing back my nephew Jake called me Aunt Diane because with my short hair I resembled my oldest sister. My nephew Jon made a bear for me. He drew it on paper and my Mom helped him sew it together. We called him "Irregular Bear" because his arms and legs were different sizes and his head was not totally round. Jon wanted a pocket sewn on front with a heart shaped button. In the pocket he printed a note that read "I love you Aunt Bren." To this day that bear means so much to me as it showed the love that my nephew had for me.

I have many funny stories during this time. I believe if you can't see the humor in the situation it will be tougher on you in the long run. One of the funniest stories was we were at my Mom and Dad's house one morning and the UPS delivery guy showed up to deliver a package. We heard a knock on the door and Mom thought he was at the back door and Dad thought he was at the front. Dad stuck his bald head out the front door and Mom met the guy at the back door with no hat or wig on her head. The UPS guy must have thought we were some type of cult as he took off running to his truck when he saw my Dad with his bald head sticking out the front door and my Mom answering the door with her bald head.

After we all had our heads shaved we picked a Saturday when all my family was in town and my husband was available and we spent 5 hours taking pictures of all of us bald. Those are my most treasured memories. The family I love dearly, shaved their heads in support of me. Each time I look at those pictures I realize that it is not the hair that matters it's the love that shines from the heart when you see the family you love so much without their hair. How can you measure that much love? I don't think that is possible.

After my leave of absence for my surgery ended, I returned to full time work except on the week's that I had chemo treatments. I thought returning to work would be the most difficult time and I approached that day with much trepidation. You see my crowning glory was gone. I had shaved off all my hair and had purchased several wigs to wear. You always think that everyone will be able to tell that you have on a wig. Of course everyone at work already knew I would lose my hair but you still have this idea in your head that they don't know. And you will have to face people that don't know you have cancer and there is the fear that people will point and whisper about the lady with no hair or the funny looking wig. I had lost 8lbs during my leave so very few of my clothes fit. Everything just hung on my body.

When I walked in that first day back at work, my boss Brad had a new boss that he was meeting with that day in our office. When I walked in his boss was with him and he walked over and gave me a big bear hug. I say that because my boss is 6'4'. He engulfed me in this huge hug and tears filled my eyes because I knew at that point that I would be ok coming back to work. My boss was an attorney so he is normally very stoic and reserved. You could tell he was thrilled that I was back and that was exactly what I needed upon my return. I received more hugs that day than ever before. The support they showed me meant the world to me. I often laughed and joked about my various hats and wigs. One day around Christmas I received a Christmas hat from one of my good friends at work. It had white fur around the brim and a long red pipe cleaner sticking out of the center with a white fur ball on the end. When I walked the white ball on the top wobbled back and forth. I went in and out of my bosses' office and he acted like I didn't have anything unusual on my head. Another day I wore a flower pot hat that my aunt and cousins had sent to me during my recovery. The hat was in the shape of a flower pot with big long stemmed flowers sticking out of the top. My boss again just walked by my desk told me good morning and went right into his office as if I didn't have anything unusual on my head. From that point on I wore some rather unusual hats just to see if I could get a reaction from him.

One of the toughest things about chemo is that it affects your memory. The reason this was tough for me was that my memory was one of the things that my boss always complimented me on. It was very difficult for me to remember things he asked me to do, often as soon as he asked me to do something, I forgot it as soon as I walked out of his office. I started carrying a notepad with me every time I went into his office and I wrote everything down. It helped me to remember things and I don't think he ever noticed the difference in my lapses in memory. By the way, my memory improved after my chemo treatments stopped. It took many months but it did improve.

I had six chemotherapy treatments and my Mom sat with me through them all. I also had a girlfriend who came and sat with me through five of the six treatments. She would show up with French toast or bacon and pancakes for us to eat during my treatments. Due to the chemicals injected into my body during this time it was hard to be hungry for anything as everything I ate had a chemical metallic taste. But Jan would always bring me something to eat and my Mom always packed a bag with snacks for me to eat during the 5 hour treatments. On those days we sat and talked and shared many memories.


It had become a tradition for me to cook dressing for our Thanksgiving holiday. I am from Louisiana so everything I cook has a Cajun flavor. This was the first year that I did not have the energy to cook. My Mom, sister Sherry, and older sister Diane did the cooking. It was odd not helping with any of the tradition of cooking. We celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends. Christmas was really special. We draw names for gifts in our family and my brother had drawn my sister's name. Her gift was framed pictures of our family photo session "Bald is Beautiful." When you see the love that shines through when your family has no hair, it is an amazing thing. It puts everything else in perspective. Everything else is small stuff compared to your journey with cancer.

The week of my 3rd treatment, my grandmother passed away. This was a sad time as I had not been able to visit with her in the nursing home since my surgery and chemo treatments. I had a treatment on Friday and then on Saturday, I rode with my parents for 6 hours back to Lake Charles, Louisiana to attend the funeral. Hurricane Rita had just hit the gulf coast and Lake Charles in particular. There was so much damage in the area where my grandmother would be buried, that there were no hotels within a hundred miles.
We had to stay in a hotel in Lafayette, an hour and half away. To complete the funeral arrangements we had to drive back and forth to and from our hotel for several days. My grandmother's request was that her granddaughters, nieces and great niece be pallbearers at her funeral. That Tuesday I was able to be a pallbearer for my grandmother. I can still picture my sisters, cousins and niece all dressed in black carrying my grandmother's casket. It had been an emotional journey.

The fourth treatment came along and I was more tired than usual. I did not realize that I had a bleeding ulcer. On the Tuesday after that treatment, I woke up not feeling well. I could not walk without getting dizzy. I called my doctor and the nurse asked me to come in immediately. My blood count was so low that they checked me directly into the hospital from the physician's office. I was given two pints of blood and then scheduled for a scope. They found the ulcer, cauterized it and then released me on Friday. I was back at work the following Monday.

I never missed a treatment until the last one. My blood counts were too low and I had worn my special flower pot hat for the final one.
I had to go home and try again in a week. I arrived for my treatment again and still my counts were too low. Each time I had to call my husband to tell him it was postponed again I could tell he was more worried than ever before. Finally, I arrived the next week and my counts were good enough to do the treatment. I called my husband to let him know and he just broke down and cried.

That evening after my treatment I went home and sat down with my husband. I had not realized until that moment, how hard the treatments and cancer had been on him. He had been trying to be strong for me but at the same time he sat on the couch every night worrying and praying. I finally understood what this whole process had done to him. In his being strong for me he had been holding in all his worries and fears. That night he broke down and cried over his fear of losing me. I explained to him that if God saw fit to take me from this world I was ready and that is what gave me peace through the whole process. Being human my husband told me that I might be ready for that time but he certainly wasn't ready for me to go. I explained to him that he needed to talk to me about his fears and worries because I could not make it through this journey without him.

I completed my chemo treatments in March of 2006. I had my one year checkup in March of 2007 and I continue to improve everyday. This cancer journey has taken me to places I never dreamed. I consider it a blessing from God that I have taken this walk with Him. I thank my family, friends and all those who prayed for me during this time and have continued to celebrate the many milestones that have occurred since then. There were many who prayed for me that I have never met. I hope to one day meet each of you and thank you personally for the prayers. I could not have made this journey without you.

I believe God allowed this to happen to me for a reason and that prayer played a large part in my healing. It made me and the people around me more aware of the wonderful thing He gives us called "LIFE". This life I live on earth is by no means the best place I will ever see. One day God will call me "home" and what a blessed place that will be and what a blessed life I have lived.