July 26, 2009

• Birthday Girl AND More Good News!!!

  First of all, today is the day our first born granddaughter turns SIX YEARS OLD!!!!!  AND POO!!!!  All I have are pictures of JanaLyn from Independence Day a few weeks ago.

                                                 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANALYN!!!!!!
                                                       Granny is waving at you!

                                     

  She is having a swimming pool party at her apartment complex and I'm sad that I can't go and see all the children have fun.  This will be the first birthday I haven't been able to take part in OR take pictures of.  The party is supposed to start at 11am and end at 12:30pm.  Looks like there will be no rain after all (yay! thank you, God!) - which is always a bit of a concern when something is planned for a lot of children OUTDOORS!!!  JoAnn is taking Aolani over there and coming right back to watch me.   I sent her with my camera and I'll hopefully get a few pictures of the pool fun!  Jesse had a job (this weekend) to cut down a tree, but no one was available to help him until Sunday.  So, he'll be gone, today, until the early afternoon.  While JoAnn is gone, I have to promise to sit in one place or stay in bed to protect me from falling or doing something stupid. 

  After the swim party, Stephanie said she would bring her sisters and Aolani back here - that way I could watch JanaLyn open the few gifts (VERY few)  we have for her.  I wasn't able to shop, nor did I have any creative ideas this year.  The ONE gift I wanted her to have won't arrive until next Tuesday.  A "Hello Kitty" boombox.  She'll have a CD from us today, but no way to play it - except for her mom's player - and a card with some money to help redecorate her bedroom walls - "now that she is older"!!!  I sent JoAnn with a ribbon (like an award ribbon) JanaLyn can pin to her shirt that says she is "SIX YEARS OLD TODAY"   That ribbon has been passed down by my youngest girls (as they've each turned six) and I guess it will stop with JanaLyn, since our other granddaughter (Jaiden) will be six next year but lives in another state.

  
                           (Last week, I walked out to the backyard and found floating bodies in the pool! 
                                        I guess if they aren't face down - that's a good thing!!!)

  So many things aren't functioning the way they used to in my life - the way the house is run, my brain (LOL!) , etc.  This has truly been a year of letting go and letting God send helpers from left and right - always at the perfect time.  I've been so grateful for everyone who is has helped in a tangible way with my children, helpers to do every day household chores, helpers that saw to it that I (or my little girls) got to appointments or had something fun to do, instead of sitting inside all summer, etc.

  I was thinking last night about how many very small things have changed, too.  I was soaking in the tub and realized my tub was cluttered with different bottles of body wash.  Normally, I would pick what I wanted to use and hop in the bath or shower and return the bottle to the closet when I was done.  Now, with "chemo brain" and other debilitating factors, I find I *HAVE TO* leave cluttered bottles on the tub because several times I've gotten in the tub without ANY soap . . . or a towel!  My once UNCLUTTERED bathroom sink is littered with bottles of pills - the ones I have to take throughout the day.  The shelves in my closet are the same way . . . little pill bottles lined up like little soldiers.  If I put those in the usual baskets where I keep my prescriptions, I'd be digging in there all the time.  Despite the necessity, the disarray bothers me. 

  For this brief time in my life, things have to be the way they are (in disarray) and it isn't always to my liking.  HOWEVER . . . I choose to look for good in EVERYTHING and play my "Pollyanna glad game"  -  even during some of the most difficult and challenging circumstances I've had to endure.  And BELIEVE ME . . . I have many things to be grateful for and to smile about.

                                     
                                               JanaLyn is one thing and "Bucky Boy" ~
                                        the horse we've had so long the paint's rubbed off!

  Another thing for which I'm grateful . . .

  My newest news? . . .

  When I went to chemo on Friday for my Neulasta shot and a bag of IV saline to rehydrate me, the doctor's nurse came into the chemo room beaming.  She walked right up to me and announced my "tumor markers had come from 99 to 50-something."  She said that with the biggest grin on her face, as she winked and walked away. 

  I was thinking to myself about the 3 surgical steel markers they put in my breast when they did the original biopsy, and then it dawned on me, "I haven't had a scan done - how does she know what my tumor markers look like?"  I asked the chemo nurse to clarify what I had heard, and she said the doctor's nurse was referring to blood work and that left me further confused (a state in which I remain almost 24/7!!!!).  She told me to ask the doctor's nurse to explain what she meant by "tumor markers."   I caught the doctor's nurse the next time she came around the corner.

  Heres what was explained: 

  There is a blood level that tells how many cells are quickly multiplying within the body (typical of fast growing cancer cells) and my count had gone from 99 to 50.  So, to be sure I understood her I asked, "So when I started out here in March my count was 99 and now it's around 50?"

  Her eyes popped and she grinned, "NO!!!  When you came here in March you were in the 100's regarding your tumor markers.  You've dropped more than 40 counts just in the past two weeks!  That's phenomenal and not a response to chemo therapy we see very often!  This is TERRIFIC news!"

  The reality hit me - after the doctor had told me (on Thursday) my tumors had dissolved to her touch and she was almost giggling with glee as she examined me; and NOW, the nurse had the same countenance when she told me of the rapid decrease in tumor marker cells - THIS MUST BE SOMETHING THEY DON"T SEE OFTEN AND THE STUFF THAT MAKES *THEIR* DAY BRIGHTER!  Working in oncology surely has it rewards, but I bet they don't see great news on a daily basis.

  So, such are the words of this SECOND good report . . . but I still tarry with my emotions and realize it is still only MAN'S report . . .  and, it is the report of the Lord for which I will faithfully wait.  I'm immoveable and my truth and trust is based on God's Word - HIS WORD, only.

                                

  The support of my family and friends continues to astound me - so many kind words and touching gifts.  I've never received this many flowers for anything else in my whole life.  But, gifts, flowers, cards, phone calls, and emails continue to arrive with the good wishes and congratulations from many who have watched me walk through this first round of my cancer fight.

                          
  One of our pastors and his family stopped by Friday night to fellowship with us - but they didn't come empty handed . . . MORE beautiful flowers were delivered to me.  We laughed and laughed and had the best time.  We always do with them, they are such a great family and so down to earth.  Their children are beginning to feel more comfortable in our home and Sister Tanya mentioned the peace and joy that she feels every time she steps into our house.  I'm glad she expressed that, because despite my enjoyment I receive from interior decorating and liking our home to look nice, I would never want to make it so stuffy that guests felt uncomfortable or on edge for fear of ruining something in our home.  People are first place in our home - not things!

                                                                      
                         Speaking of decorating . . . this was moved from the fireplace mantle
                              to the foyer window sill - hiding my "smell good" industrial
                                                     room deodorizing unit!!!!
                   (Seriously - do you recognize that little beige box from a public restroom wall?!!!)

  Yesterday morning the doorbell rang and it was yet another floral delivery service delivering a beautiful basket of live plants and trimmed with my very favorite thing - A BIRD!!!!   A darling fat little bird!   It was from someone at church who barely knows me (she's been to our house once to deliver a meal) and I was, once more, bowled over by the outpouring and love AND PRAYERS that have come my way!

    

  In the midst of my newest redecorating (translated: moving things I already have to different rooms!) frenzy, I found Chirper curled up and ready for a picnic on a basket I had temporarily set on a table!

  
  Poor little guy - the picnic basket was empty.  He was all dressed up and had no where to go!

  He's been faithfully by my side again, ever since I arrived home Thursday evening.  I think he smells the chemicals in me or senses me on the sloping downside trip the chemicals in chemo therapy take me.  Last night, I had a rough night and the pain has begun again (the LAST time for chemo pain!!!! yay!) and I'm fairly uncomfortable today.  Chirper follows me around like a little guardian angel.  He's been such a sweet little friend.  He's there for me,  day or night, ready with a nuzzling kiss and purr.  Sometimes he just sits and stares at me.  JoAnn has (more than once) had to pick him up from the bed and take him to the kitchen so he'll eat his dinner.  After a few short moments of being away from my side, he returns to the bedroom, with his food half-eaten in the kitchen.  What a dear pet!  When I prayed and gave him the middle name of Elzabad, meaning God's gift, I had no idea what type if gift God had in mind when He sent this cat my way!!!!

                                         
                                                             Smiling is a good sign, too!

  Recently, I've been told by several more people that I should write a book when all of my experience is said and done - and the thought of doing so is taking root in my spirit.  I will pray and ask God for guidance, if that is what He would want me to do as part of my testimony.  A new challenge - getting something published . . . I don't doubt that if it's His plan and will for me to write a book, He well set everything in place by planning and ordering the steps for me to take.  It won't be a gruesome, disappointing task, but a task that I joyfully will complete.

                                  
                                                                        Sweet JanaLyn!
                                                         HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE!!!

  Be Blessed  ~

  • 12:37 pm
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