I graduated!

Day 4 done! The nurses came and sang to me: For she's a jolly good fellow... and gave me a rose. I got a little teary. Hadn't expected it. But I also remember April and thinking that June 28 would never get here.

We watched cooking shows today. Saw some good stuff and some not so good stuff. The thing they all do is taste the food to show just how good it is but sometimes the cooks aren't convincing. How can we believe it if we can't smell it? I got a few ideas. We'll try them soon.

The next few weeks will be filled with a couple of appointments. Bloodwork, oncologist, removal of the port, radiologist. I should get my schedule for the radiation. Something like 25 to 35 sessions, every day except weekends and holidays. This is the easy part. So they tell me.

Another thought, I was promised baldness. I still have little hairs hanging on. I suppose they might fall out with this treatment, but who knows. I want to have a nice, smooth head but I may not get it. Like Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek. There's a small patch of hair around my crown, Nate calls it my "island." "Let me see the island." Weirdo.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers. They hold us up. Love ya!

Saturday; June 23

A brave soul posted under "Something Real." A little too real? Oh well. The hives are mostly gone. Mine also became stress induced. I yell at the boys and the hives pop out. Grr.

I did feel well enough on Thursday to cook and clean a little. Yesterday we went to the zoo for a few hours. I get a few days' reprieve before my LAST treatment on this Thursday. I still have my eyebrows and eye lashes. The nurse said maybe by the third or fourth treatment they might go. We'll see.

Gotta run--going to lunch!

Pictures

I'll get this one out of the way first. You've been dying to see me in electric blue. It doesn't really work.

This is the SASSY one! Here's a story--I went to our local grocery the first time after we moved. The salesclerk, who was from Europe, looked at me when he handed me the receipt. He says with a European accent, "You gotyour hair cut." What could I say but, "Yes." Then he says, "You look like you could be from Europe." I said, "Oh--thanks." And had to walk fast out of the store because I was laughing. I know it's a cheap thrill, but I'll take them when I can.

This one seems to be closest to my old hair. Sorry it's fuzzy.

Something Real

So I've gone on about how surreal this whole thing is. Breast cancer, an oncologist, this port in my arm, radiation later... you've heard it already. Below is the real stuff and you may want to skip these details. Reader discretion advised.

Here's the real stuff: my taste buds die on my tongue for about a week following treatment. Doc asks if food tastes different. Not really, only coffee. That's a crime. It does end up feeling like I chewed chalk. Not like Tums, like white chalk from school. My intestines don't quite know what to do. That's real. Real slow or real fast. And how about the messed up monthlies. Doc told me I wouldn't have it and I seem to have it more. Hmm. I guess I got too excited about the prospect of nothing. I also have hives. Not from the treatments. I think it started from getting sunscreen in my eyes that hyped up my histamines that led to soap sensitivity. Washed hands with antibacterial soap and spread it all over. It went away and came back. I got a steroid from the doctor to deal. Benadryl wasn't working. That's all for now.

Wednesday, June 13

Hello all--

I did do better this time. Drinking gallons of water daily helped me keep my faculties. I'm not sure exactly how much I drank but I never let my glass stay empty for long. The movie--we watched The Big Chill that night. One of my favorites. I didn't take the computer this time. Laverne and her friend, Rosemary, drove mom and I to my treatment. The nurse said we were having a party. It was nice to talk the day away.

Meredith visited from Boston. She and Jay took the boys to the aquarium. Mom and Meredith took the boys swimming. On Tuesday Aaron graduated from kindergarten. (Kindergarten graduation--such a concept.) We all went and learned that Aaron wants to be a lifeguard. Would you believe mom and Meredith actually made me unpack some of my clothes boxes? Of all the nerve...

From Nate: He received several certificates. One was a paper plate award which named Nate as the "Ace of Spades." This means that he was a high achiever this year. Some other paper plate awards were: the bookworm, the dreamer, bright star, inspector gadget, the three musketeers, He also received a Citizenship Certificate for being reliable all year. The last certificate was for Academic Achievement. Nathan is thrilled that school is over! We will be learning Spanish this summer. The teachers and the fifth graders played volleyball. The teachers won 20-3. Nate's favorite thing at the aquarium was that he got to pet stingrays. He also got splashed by stingrays when they swam fast towards him. There was a flash flood display where everyone got splashed from the rushing water.

I wanted to say thanks for all the other support we've received. Kathy has coordinated meals for us. We've had five meals, every other day starting each day of treatment. We have all enjoyed trying new dinners and the boys love the desserts. I don't do too much with desserts. We might have ice cream or cookies. We've had some great brownies, a chocolate eclaire custard dessert, cakes, pies, and cream puffs. All things that the boys want me to continue to make. I also want to thank Tina for requesting things for me like setting up gals to pack, going to appontments and watching the boys. Lastly, I'm certain my words are not enough to say thanks for all of the prayers. I thank God for you daily.

Third treatment

Thursday is my third treatment. I'm ready. I will talk to you soon!

Catching up

Ahhh--our internet is back. Still needed more phone calls to get it done. Crazy. But now I can look up some recipes. Jay wants a chocolate stout cake. That one's not in my cookbooks. It hasn't been bad to be in a townhouse. I liked that it was smaller. Until I wanted to send the boys to the basement that we didn't have. This house doesn't feel like "my" house yet. It will though.

Here's last week:
June 2, 2007 posted on June 5

Without internet for 5 days. It was supposed to be connected last night. Jay’s spent 8 hours (several different calls) with Qwest to get the problems ironed out. He thought it was taken care of on Tuesday but not so. Actually, they didn’t have the order for it today. The order that was requested at least three times. All service was to be completed on May 25: transfer phone and internet. Jay found out the seller hadn’t turned off their service which prevented our service from being turned on in the new house. No one could get in touch with them. Jay faxed our deed and other paperwork to Qwest on the 25th to prove our ownership. We did get the phone on Wednesday. And no internet on Friday. So he called today. The only thing that needs completed is a tech guy needs to re-route our service to this address. No one needs to come out here. It’s all to be done in their system remotely, electronically. And no one could do it today. Unbelievable. Not sure how many people Jay talked to today. It wasn’t pretty for two hours on our end. He wasn’t unreasonable, just frustrated that this simple thing couldn’t be done.

We don’t have phone books. Jay couldn’t look up Lenscrafters today. We couldn’t look up Dominoes either. I can’t blog. Same with maps. No Google Maps or Mapquest. I can’t look up recipes either. Jay looked up custard from a book at Walmart. A book! Such a dependence on the internet.

I was going to ask for help to clean the townhouse; however, it’s done. Mom and I went over to wash clothes on Wednesday. I cleaned the bathrooms. And Mom finished emptying the odds and ends left in the kitchen. We took that stuff to the new house. It was then time to go get the boys at school. I dropped Mom and Aaron off at the townhouse so Nate and I could go to an appointment. When we got back, Mom had vacuumed the whole townhouse. She was on the last room. Nate went right up and scared her. Why that’s so funny as I think about it I don’t know. Aaron had also mopped the kitchen. He calls it “weird mopping.” He dances and spins in circles and does mouth music. And somehow the floor gets clean. Thursday we went back for the clothes that were left to dry and finished the kitchen. And that’s that.

Friday was a do-mostly-nothing day. We decided to quit after Mom dropped a globe on her toe. That was the end of our organizing. So we watched a funny Tyler Perry video—a Madea video: I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Aaron started baseball last night. He’s in the first & second grade level. He will have some games at 8:15pm and 8:30 pm. Some days that’s my bedtime and way past Aaron’s.