The Mount Will Trail

 Sunday afternoon I took a hike around the Mount Will Trail in Bethel/Newry.  I had hiked up the trail to the South Cliffs last year but never completed the full loop until now.  The trail has a parking area for about 10 cars and is located right across the street from the Bethel Transfer and Recycling Station on Route 2.  I headed up the North Ledges Trail deciding to travel counter-clockwise.  The terrain is steep in some areas so you need to be in moderately good shape to tackle this.  The overall length of the trail is 3.25 miles and along parts of the trail you’ll see some Trilliums growing this time of year. 

 There are nice views from the North Ledges looking out to Hanover and the Bear River Valley but I think the view from the South Cliffs is the best.  Here you can see John and Tim Carter’s Farm (Middle Intervale Farm) just on the other side of the river, Mount Abram and downtown Bethel to the south and the Mahoosuc Range to the west.  I sat on this cliff for ½ an hour enjoying this view while the warm thermal updrafts blew in my face and kept the bugs away.  It was wonderful. Click here for some addtional information about the trail from the Town of Bethel.

Cancer

On April 25^th Lauren had a portion of her lung removed (a lobectomy) to remove a cancerous mass which was growing within.  After testing the mass it came back as related to the cancer which she had in her kidney that was removed just 13 months earlier. This means the cancer has travelled from her kidney to her lung and for us….it is scary. Although she was scanned from head to toe and is now clear of any cancer….it still makes us worried.   

Lauren did fantastic during and after the surgery and was back at home in just three days.  Of course she is still healing and runs short of breath quicker than before but all in all she is progressing well.

We know that with some cancers people go through radiation treatments or chemotherapy but so far we’re being told there is no other treatment for renal cancer other than removal.  On one side of the equation this sounds good because we know what some of the side effects are to these types of treatment but on the other side of the equation; we’re asking if nothing further is done, isn’t there a greater chance of it returning?  So we are confused and are hoping to get another opinion from an expert in the field as soon as we can. 

In the meantime we have experienced, yet again, the love and support of family and friends who were able to visit and send good wishes our way and even deliver us some home cooked meals during this time. Thank you.