Forum Index > Trip Reports > My wife's bucket list backpacking trip - White River 10/6-7/2017
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MtnGoat
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PostTue Oct 17, 2017 11:10 am 
Great story. I'm glad you guys hit the trail! Best wishes... I eat the weight penalty for the sketchy forecast trips and tie on a 16x20 tarp with four bungees, you can make a palace out of that for rain days and have plenty of dry room to stand up and move around under.

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
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zephyr
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
PostTue Oct 17, 2017 11:10 am 
HitTheTrail wrote:
At her celebration of life last Saturday she got up and gave a very emotional and inspiring talk about how loving support from family and friends supplies the energy to keep you going strong. She has also mentioned several times how much inspiration she has gotten from the comments from this post.
Oh my gosh. That's awesome to hear. You can let her know that her journey and strength are an inspiration to many of us. All the best. ~z

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Bootpathguy
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PostTue Oct 17, 2017 1:13 pm 
HitTheTrail wrote:
Interacting
Interacting
And she still smiles and laughs. Women are mentally strong and it's my belief that they have much more mental strength than men when it comes to times of sadness, stress, sorrow and grief. I see your wife has it. I've experienced it. I'm still experiencing it. I see it everyday in my wife. I've admitted it to her and I admire it. I envy her for it. It's a mental strength I'll never know that women have over men. Your wife is a inspiration Big Hug to all of you

Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
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Stefan
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PostTue Oct 17, 2017 4:31 pm 
HitTheTrail wrote:
At her celebration of life last Saturday she got up and gave a very emotional and inspiring talk about how loving support from family and friends supplies the energy to keep you going strong.
Your wife definitely displays great character of fortitude. Great!!

Art is an adventure.
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Bloated Chipmunk
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Bloated Chipmunk
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PostTue Oct 17, 2017 7:34 pm 
SingleShot wrote:
Not everyone finds a good partner to go through life with but it sounds like you two were a good fit. Best wishes.
ditto.gif up.gif up.gif Here's hoping you have many more happy trips together! smile.gif

Home is where the hiking is. "Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.
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Eric Hansen
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PostFri Oct 20, 2017 1:40 pm 
Thanks for posting the pictures of the celebration of life. Some 10 years back I had my first conversation with cancer and began thinking about the spirituality of aging - because clearly that was the territory ahead. And I realized that I needed role models that were older - folks well up there in years (80, for example) that were still working for the common good, still a welcome sight to people that knew them. I also realized that it would be easy, and perhaps even justifiable, to become a grump as I aged - that friends would be getting seriously sick or even dying. I'm happy to have found such role models - and thanks for sharing news of one more I can look to for strength.

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HitTheTrail
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PostFri Oct 20, 2017 7:03 pm 
Eric, Thanks for your input. My wife’s cancer was found by accident by her back doctor. She went in thinking here back fusion had failed. The x-ray showed a golf ball sized tumor in the middle of her spine. A follow up bone scan showed tumors in many places of her bones including her scull. One femur had a tumor so big they put a steel rod in it to keep it from breaking. She had a five-speed on the floor SUV she gave to our son because they told her not to use a clutch. The doctors said she could have less than a year to live at best. That was more than two and a half years ago. She took a very philosophical view on life and decided to take future developments as they came and maintain a positive attitude. She has good days and bad days but I never noticed her getting too upset about the whole situation. All her talk was about what activities we are going to do in the future. Then she got involved in the local cancer support group and tried to uplift and change attitudes down there. Also, at every chemo appointment she dresses up in some outrageous outfit to entertain the other patients in the big open infusion room. All the nurses can't wait to see what she will be wearing next. We have no idea what the will happen even a week from now but she doesn’t seem too worried about it. Good luck with your medical issues. And remember, it may not be the end of the world.

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Eric Hansen
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PostSat Oct 21, 2017 8:26 pm 
Thanks again HitTheTrail. Myself? Knock on wood, just fine for years now. Some ongoing damage, tinnitus in one ear from the chemo (cisplaten). Have you run into Bernie Siegel's book "Love, medicine and miracles"? It was a great help for me, helped me process what was going on, contemplate what it all meant. And come up with a narrative for myself. Siegel was a cancer surgeon who studied his exceptional patients, trying to figure out why some patients excelled. He thought it all came down to one diagnostic question "do you want to live to be 100?" His exceptional patients were "you betcha". Not for example, "yes, but I don't want to put up with this, this or that". Just simply an unconditional "yes, I do." Listening to your description of your wife leads me to think she is one of the exceptional ones.

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HitTheTrail
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PostSun Oct 22, 2017 7:56 am 
Eric Hansen wrote:
Some ongoing damage, tinnitus in one ear from the chemo (cisplaten).
My sincere condolences! Cisplatin was the chemo treatment I took also. As I understand it that is one of the worst. In addition to daily radiation my treatment called for three cisplatin infusions(one a month). I made it through two of them, mainly curled up in the pre-natal position feeling like I was going to die. Then I found out I may end up permanently deaf and maybe on kidney dialysis for life. I thought to myself…..uh, what’s the point! Why would I want to be deaf and on periodic dialysis forever? On the day of my final scheduled drip I went down and politely told them I was not going to do it. We had a brief conversation about the reasons and I left. BTW, my wife supported me 100% on this decision. Now I go in for a check-up twice a year and my (non-chemo) doctor tells me everything looks good and starts asking me about current conditions of hiking trails.

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Eric Hansen
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PostSun Oct 22, 2017 7:16 pm 
I should have edited my comment more carefully. Tinnitus is there, yes, but typically a mild chime and not a curse. Occasionally more than a "mild chime" but nothing deafening or near that.

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HitTheTrail
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PostTue Oct 13, 2020 5:59 am 
RIP mrs HitTheTrail 1952 - 2020.

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Sculpin
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PostTue Oct 13, 2020 7:31 am 
Very sorry for your loss. frown.gif I am certain that the positive effect she had on others will live forever. These are dark times but the light will return one day.

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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lookout bob
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lookout bob
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PostTue Oct 13, 2020 7:35 am 
Lloyd, please accept our sincere condolences. She was such a fighter and you were awesome and supportive. Savor your good memories and smile when you think of her.

"Altitude is its own reward" John Jerome ( from "On Mountains")
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RichP
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PostTue Oct 13, 2020 7:41 am 
Condolences and RIP.

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Bootpathguy
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PostTue Oct 13, 2020 8:22 am 
HitTheTrail wrote:
Interacting
Interacting

Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
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