I'm NEVER this busy. Secretly, I'm enjoying it all.
I'll try to post tomorrow - WITH pictures.
In the mean time, don't worry - all is well with me - just moving along quickly!
Please pray for Jesse's mother. She fell (hard) when we were visiting her at the nursing home last Sunday. She was admitted to the hospital via the E.R. yesterday. She fell so hard against the toilet, she knocked it off the floor bolts and it fell against the wall. She's VERY bruised and sore. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!
Be Blessed ~
Still too busy to write.
Unfortunately, that means a lot is happening and my posts would be more interesting than usual (rolling my eyes!!!) ones! Just don't have the time to write.
I'm doing fine. Will catch up on here soon.
I have an appointment this morning on the other side of town. I don't do well with morning appointments, but didn't have a choice with this one. I need to stop at the post office to mail something to my two "Lori" friends.
JanaLyn's birthday party (a pool party) on Saturday was nice, I have pictures. And we went to see her yesterday with 2 gifts from PoPo and Granny. Yesterday was her REAL birthday!
Talked to Jaiden and Nikki last night. Jaiden is as cute as JanaLyn. I can't help but think they would be friends if each lived closer to the other.
Need to take a quick bath and get dressed. So, I'll bait you with my "interesting" tidbits from my life - to be revealed ASAP!!!! (oh brother!)
I'm rarely at a loss as to what to do with my time. Well, that's not exactly what I meant. I'm not at a loss because I have a list with 92 million things to do, and every minute of my time has been busy this week. I just have to pick and choose what I'll do next.
A picture I colored for JanaLyn's room. I have an oak frame for it to match her furniture.
I continue to clean out the cupboards and closet in Rissy current room.
My dresser is full of boxes of tapes from Charity Ministries.
I don't know when, but it needs to be ready when my mother-in-law moves into our house. I don't want it to be up in the air and make it look like she's imposing on our family. We really want to make this transition as easy as possible for her.
My mother-in-law has had some wheezing, so they called, yesterday, to tell Jesse they were getting a chest x-ray done. But, they never let us know the outcome. Probably getting her out of that stinking rehab/nursing home would do her a world of good!
A skort and cotton sweater for JanaLyn.
We have JanaLyn's birthday party (this Sat.) to prepare for (choose gifts. buy, wrap . . . ) and then our out of town company will arrive next Thursday or Friday. That Thursday will be Luci's 8th birthday. We are waiting for the company to be here (their 3 children), and will have her party on Saturday, the seventh. So, we need to choose gifts, buy, and wrap those for Luci, as well!
In the mean time, I bought these awesome coloring books from Amazon.com. They were under the "buy 3 get the 4th one free" plan, so I bought eight. Some for JanaLyn and some for my girls.
I'm copying the pages we want to color and we are working off of a copy, rather than the book. That will make the book last for ages! And, YES!, you read correctly the word "we" as far as who is coloring.
So very relaxing! Now I understand "art therapy" - it's not about the art, it's about how conversation comes naturally when you are so relaxed.
Two neighborhood children have been here this week so the children could enjoy themselves in an air conditioned house. Interesting what you learn while listening to the conversations of 5 girls!
The books are full of intricate and tiny things to color with markers or colored pencils. I enjoy the pencils because you have control over shading colors.
I'm getting ready to take a quick bath and go to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping, early. Jesse wants me to stay out of the heat, as much as possible. While the girls are in their therapy session, I'll go to the Wal-Mart near the doctor's office and shop around for gifts for Luci.
I should fly, like this fairy, and get myself in gear and out of here!
Not bad - just entirely different from what I had envisioned.
We had planned to visit a friend's church with his family. Jesse was influential in getting them to attend church and his friend is very proud of his new church. So, the plan was to attend the service, not the Sunday school class - since it's in Spanish! LOL!
Late Saturday night, Jesse's brother called and asked us to meet halfway between his city and ours for dinner at Red Lobster on Sunday. We started meeting at Red Lobster, several years ago, to celebrate birthdays. A friend of his brother always joins us.
We got there at 11:30am, before the church crowd, and the food and service were good. I ate waaay too many delicious garlic biscuits and drank cup after cup of coffee (also delicious) to try to wake up. Another Sunday of feeling sleepy. I can't figure out what makes Sunday's such a sleepy day for me. It never used to be that way! We've found a way to order our food so it costs us less. We make a selection of 3 different foods for a combo plate. Rissy wanted steak and coconut shrimp - so we ordered the steak and 2 orders of coconut shrimp, with a green salad and baked potato that we split. Annamarie and Jesse ordered steak (for Annamarie) and shrimp & scallops for Jesse. They split their salad and rice. It worked out well, price wise, and then his brother's friend ended up paying for everyone's dinner! Another surprise!
The city where we meet is about an hour's drive from our house and his brother's. By the time we got back home, I was tired and stayed on the bed reading, for a bit, to rest my back. I'm sure the heat index of 110 - 115 degrees didn't help my lack of energy!
I got up and took Luci to a party decoration store and she picked out what she wanted for her birthday. Really pretty and vivid garden flowers in purples, pinks, yellows, and green. We also bought some things for gift bags for the guests. We didn't stay there long, as the place was miserably hot. The cashier informed us the a/c was broken! The same thing happened on Friday, when Jesse surprised us by taking us out to eat. No a/c there either.
No one was wanting a huge dinner (Sunday was the day I had planned to cook a turkey!!!), so the girls and I ate popcorn, fruit, or the apple/pineapple dump cake I'd made! Not very healthy, but it sure tasted good!
JESSE was asked to play golf, and left at 5pm to go with our neighbor, his cousin, and the neighbor's pastor. He didn't get home until after 9pm. This is the family that had the little boy with complications due to a staph infection and the teen daughter who needed surgery on a broken thumb. They're the family I took a meal to, a week or so ago. I haven't seen the mom since then, but Jesse has talked to the dad outside (the driveway). It's been interesting to see how quickly God has grown a relationship between parents and children! I've lived here almost 6 years and haven't met but one or two lady neighbors.
Anyway, the girls' friend, Abby, is here playing today. They are here for a while, and then back across the street at Abby's house. It's too hot to play outside. You know it's hot when the TV weathermen tell you to bring your pets inside! *********************************************************************************************
I have bought some things for JanaLyn's birthday (her party is next Saturday) and will most likely finish that up while Annamarie and Luci are at an appointment tonight. Rissy can go with me and she is usually full of great ideas for gifts. We also need to think about Luci's birthday.
We have family coming from out of town and we'll have Luci's party on Saturday the 7th. I can't wait for them to get here. We always have a good time together.
I talked with my friend, Lori K., last night. It was a good conversation and I was happy that she sounded quite a bit better than she's sounded the last few times we talked. It's still a slow recovery, but she should start feeling progress each week, from now on.
So, eating a Sunday dinner of turkey and visiting a friend's church didn't happen, but we still had a nice family weekend together, and that's the most important - FAMILY TOGETHER!!!
FINALLY, my friend, Lori K, is home from the hospital. She had an awful time with nausea one day last week. I called and she was in the restroom about to vomit. She sounded miserable. A C-Section incision is so painful when you cough, sneeze, or laugh . . . I can't begin to guess the level of pain produced when vomiting.
Bless her heart! I feel so bad for her.
Although she sounded weak yesterday, she *did* say they let her go home. Now she has to rest around her 5 children and husband, who is running the house in her absence! Lord, bless them all!!!!!!!
Please continue to pray for her recovery and her level of pain, as she heals. She admitted she is exhausted and wanted prayers. This was a very invasive sickness and surgery; and, her body has virtually been assaulted in almost every way. She has some pain pills, but they can only do so much.
Please keep her in your prayers and message me if you would like to send her a card.
Thursday I went for my MRI of the cervical spine (head and neck). It lasted a lot longer than I had anticipated. And, rather than use the vein in my right arm, as I suggested, my left arm was first tried and the dye bubbled and burst the vein. That dye burns when it is outside of the vein. REALLY BURNS!!!! I haven't heard the results, but I'm guessing there wasn't an emergency of any kind, or my doctor would have been immediately alerted.
I have developed numb arms and, specifically, thumb & index finger deadening and tingling, at night. Also, if I talk on the phone for very long when my elbow is bent, my lower arm begins to go numb. The oncologist suspects carpal tunnel syndrome, and the MRI was to rule out tumors (my tumor marker count is well within normal limits) or damage to my spine.
Don't known when I'll hear the results. My sweet oncologist is soon due to deliver another son and I won't see her for a while.
I got a bunch done yesterday. I kept moving at a steady pace and never really experienced any back pain.
* Cleaned up a bunch of paperwork on my desk * Sorted or deleted a bunch of email * Hand washed the china cups and plates we use for breakfast & lunch, and a few other items * Finish laundry - the towels * Washed a bunch of Ebay stuff that came in (blouses and bras for me, 1/2 slips for the girls) * Ironed a few shirts and skirts and a dress of Rissy's * Cleaned up the kitchen counter tops. * Went to get a turkey from the garage freezer for Sunday's dinner. It was stuck to the bottom of the freezer. * I took a knife and chiseled all of the melted water/ice from the bottom of our freezer.
* Hoping my hard work pays off and the freezer becomes more efficient to run! * Wrote in my journal (I don't write daily - just when the Spirit moves me) * Graded the children's summer school books * Looked through the catalogs that have been piling up, threw away all but Yankee Candle & Christianbook.com * Made a last minute decision about dinner: Paprika Chicken (recipe below) with a salad
Jesse mentioned, last night, at the dinner table, he thinks we should take a family vacation. He never did when he was younger and he thinks is would build good memories for the girls. We don't have any place we're dying to go see. My family is too far away and we don't have money for a trip to San Francisco & Tahoe.
He mentioned Amarillo (is dad & step-mother) but there isn't really anything to do.
The children like to see their Nana and PoPo, but that isn't a "real" vacation. By that, I mean, there isn't much for them to do except visit adults.
I threw out the idea of Branson, MO - specifically, Silver Dollar City. It's close. I've heard many good things about the place. We'd have to stay several cities away to find an affordable hotel. But I think the girls would remember seeing how nails were made and glass blown, etc. in the old days. AND, the terrain is beautiful, compared to flat, barren Oklahoma.
I think Jesse is pretty serious about taking a vacation.
We have out of town company coming for a week, during the first half of August. So, we need to make vacation plans around their visit.
If Stephanie could house sit here, that would be a big relief, as far as pet care and mail/newspapers picked up.
I don't see how we have the money to go anywhere, but Jesse insists we can do it.
Of course, I need to consider my energy level and how long I can sit, walk, stand before hurting.
We've all been through a rough 18 months and it would be nice to do something together that's really fun and will be remembered for years and years.
Our oldest granddaughter's birthday is July 26th and I've been searching for gifts for her. She is a gifted artist, so I found some "adult" coloring books (Coral Reef, Butterflies, and Fairies in a Garden) on Amazon.com and bought a huge box of colored pencils. I want to go to Hobby Lobby and get her a good pencil sharpener. We use one in our home school that is stainless steel and takes forever to wear out!
JanaLyn is growing up so fast. All of the girls are!
I *NEED* to be thinking about Luci's birthday, because it's 10 days after JanaLyn's birthday. I haven't given ANY thought to what Luci wants to do for her last birthday party. After age 8, we don't do "theme" parties or give party favors to guests.
Each child gets a special dinner, a choice of dessert, and the whole family to share with the birthday person.
The last I heard, Luci wanted a Mardi Gras (sp?) party - with masks everyone could decorate and wear. Sounds like a mess, doesn't it?
I guess I should bring up the subject today and see what she really wants for this famous Last Wish Party!!! LOL
We are well into the summer here. Temperatures in the middle to upper 90's and lots of humidity. The heat index, this past week, has been dangerously high - around 110° to 115° - VERY dangerous for people AND animals.
Jesse bought the girls a Slip and Slide and they enjoyed it for two days, but said, yesterday, it wasn't working right. (sigh!) So frustrating! Everything breaks these days. I guess a sprinkler would be similar to the Slip and Slide, but not in their eyes.
I've started doing quite a few things differently this year. Keeping a journal. Writing snail mail letters to people on pretty stationery. Reading more books. Logging and reviewing each book I read. Drinking my coffee from pretty china cups and saucers. Eating lunch from newly purchased china plates (all different patterns - less expensive that way) and Sunday dinner at the formal table with white tablecloth and the china & silver. Another tradition I've started this year: I go to the grocery store at the end of the week and pick up something special for Sunday's breakfast. Sometimes donuts. Sometimes muffins. Sometimes apple fritters. Tomorrow I have 2 cheese Danish coffee cakes, 1 strawberry Danish, and 1 raspberry Danish. I couldn't decide which looked best, so, obviously, I bought all of them! It makes Sunday mornings less hectic. I quit trying to make scrambled eggs to go with it. I leave the boxes on the kitchen bar for everyone to choose and eat when they wake up. We are just about finished with our boxes of ice cream from Braum's - another tradition I've started. I make a trip on Sundays, after church, to buy ice cream. Jesse stays in the car with the girls, and I go in to pick out 4 different boxes of ice cream. Everyone has to wait until we get home to see what flavors are in the bag.
Last time I got a Lemon Sherbet that Jesse said was really good.
The only flavor I tried that no one cared for was Chocolate Malt. We ate it, but wished we hadn't bought it!
I weighed 25+ pounds more last year, but eating ice cream doesn't seem to be putting the pounds back on me. We don't eat it everyday. Maybe that's the secret to enjoying it and not being punished with a weight gain!
I've lost a few more pounds since my birthday in April. I've lost a great deal of interest in eating since my taste buds work one meal and not the next. I cook for my family.
AND, my hair continues to grow every week. I'm able to wear a kerchief style headcovering, again. I use metal snap clips to hold it in place. It's so much warmer than the Mennonite thin cap, but I'm just plain tickled to have hair that is long enough to get in my eyes when the wind blows!!!!
I will try to have Rissy take pictures of me showing my hair length and my kerchief style covering.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2 tsp. paprika 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1 tsp. ground red pepper 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves 1/4 cup butter 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of ChickenSoup (98% Fat Free) 2 green onions, sliced (about 1/4 cup) 1 container (8 ounces) fat free sour cream
Directions: Stir the flour, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper on a plate. (I shook mine together in a large jar before pouring onto a plate.) Coat the chicken (I cut mine into 2" - 3" square pieces) with the paprika mixture.
Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 10 minutes or until it's well browned on both sides.
Remove the chicken from the skillet. Stir the soup and green onions in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the sour cream.
Last night, I had no green onions, so I used some onion powder . AND . . . I didn't remove the breasts from the electric skillet, I just poured the soup on the chicken pieces, then mixed in sour cream, turned off the skillet, covered it, and waited for the soup and cream to melt together.
ALSO, another hint, I keep the dry ingredients mixed in a jar, which cuts down on prep time. It's a spicy flavor and is good on regular chicken (fried or baked) or pork chops..
In large Pyrex baking pan, mix apples and crushed pineapple. Spread out evenly in baking pan. Sprinkle cinnamon over fruit mixture. Spread dry yellow cake mix over fruit mixture evenly, do not mix with fruit. Cut butter into small pats and place on top of cake mix. Crush walnuts into small pieces and place over entire cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until golden brown on top.
Jesse is working today in the heat. I don't know how he can stand it. He left early and had some bushes to trim, etc. I don't know that he is doing any mowing. Hopefully he won't be gone so long today and can relax tonight and all of tomorrow.
His work is feast or famine. There is no work in winter except cutting limbs that fall in ice storms, and cleaning leaves from flower beds in the fall. We sure enjoy having our dad home in the winter, though!
It',s early and I am barely awake. In fact, I don't think I am awake yet.
I've had many inquiries about my fiend Lori K. - her surgery and recovery. Since some of you live in Europe, and are getting ready to go to bed for the night, I decided to post the latest info, now.
I talked with Lori last night, right before I left for church.
She said the surgery had become much more complicated than expected and her surgery lasted about 4 1/2 hours.
They encountered bad stuff that needed to carefully be separated or scraped from good tissue.
The oncology doctor said her report was clean and not cancerous (Praise GOD!!!!!).
She has been moved to a larger room; not because of her large family visiting, but, because it was a more cheerful room and the other room had been rather dreary and depressing.
There is no talk of her going home, just yet. They are waiting for her to pass certain post op mile stones. One mile stone being her ability to manage pain without the IV push button. She is in a LOT of pain and moving in any direction is difficult for her. I gave her a few clues that I remembered after having an emergency C-Section years ago.
Her infection and the raging fever have been brought under control. In fact, the fever was gone when she woke up from anesthesia.
She still needs prayers. Any of you who have her address, I know she'd appreciate a note or card. For any of you who do not have her address, you can contact me for my P.O. Box Number, and I'll forward any mail immediately upon receipt.
I go this afternoon for my MRI of my cervical vertebrae and skull. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I have some symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. They want to check my neck and head, first, to be sure there are no fractures or hidden tumors (which is most unlikely).
If it IS carpal tunnel, I don't plan to do anything about it. BUT . . . that would sure explain why I've been dropping things and why my elbows to fingers go numb at night while I sleep!
I think I better quit here and try to wake up some more before I consider typing anything else! I'm definitely dependent upon the spell check this time!!!
Be Blessed ~
P.S. Definitely asleep, here. I forgot to run the spell check. After hitting the edit button, and running the spell check, I found only one word misspelled - - - - - - - LORI'S NAME, for crying out loud!!!!
I was too tired to get on the computer and write anything on Xanga.
The news was good.
The surgeon said things went very well. There was some complications of additional areas being affected by the growths, and those had to be cleaned carefully, but her husband said the surgeon seemed to think all of the bad tissue is gone.
They are pumping her with IV antibiotics to try to get control and kill the infected areas. In doing that, hopefully, there will be a reduction of her fever.
The biggest things she has faced were fever, infection, and pain.
At this point, Lori thinks the post op pain is easier to deal with than the pain she's endured for the past week. That ought to give us a clue on how severe her pain used to be!
I won't try to call her until Wednesday. I want to give her more time to sleep off the anesthesia and to become accustomed to moving with a stitched up area in her abdomen. That's never any fun! (I speak from experience!)
I'll pass on whatever I hear!
Thanks for your prayers for my dear friend.
I love her to pieces and hate being here when she is there!
I talked with Lori K's husband this morning. She was sedated and resting before this afternoon's surgery. Please continue to pray for her. I will post news, as I hear it. I asked Doug to call me after her surgery, but I know he has 92 million other calls to make, too.
************************************************************* What is it about me and Sundays, lately? l almost fell asleep in church yesterday morning, and yesterday was the day I was speaking and giving my testimony. Uh oh!!!!!!!!!!!
The pastor's wife commented, afterward, "You didn't even look nervous, were you?"
No, that doesn't make me nervous. Speaking to crowds (much larger than our church) has never been an issue for me. Yesterday was easier, in that I made some basic notes and let the Holy Spirit guide the words that came out of my mouth. I have so much more confidence in God's ability to deliver a message, than my own ability!
What I had prayed would happen, DID happen. People came up and were encouraged to seek God for ANY type of difficult circumstance in their life. Although my testimony is a cancer healing testimony, God's faithfulness, to His children, isn't limited to only physical ailments.
I have no idea how long I spoke. The pastor gave me the green light to go, and I told him, if I talked too much, he was to take take the old vaudeville cane and hook it around my ankles, then give a tug! I never saw a cane and he hugged me afterwards (he isn't talking, due to pain from a tooth that was pulled), and gave me a smile.
I'll get a DVD, at some point, and then be self critical, while I review it. That's just the way I am. I've always expected so much from myself. Much more than other people expect.
I think I'm called an OVER ACHIEVER.
But, back to the sleepy part of my story. For the last several Sundays, I've come home from church and taken a nap. Last week, I slept REALLY hard. Although I felt sleepy, yesterday, I never fell asleep. I rested my back by lying down on the bed for a while, but there was enough brain activity to make me less than relaxed.
SO, I didn't sleep.
Right after church, we at leftovers for lunch.
But . . . last night, Jesse cook charcoaled chicken legs and thighs (they turned out P.E.R.F.E.C.T.). We also had corn on the cob and a potato salad I had made Saturday morning. Add to that some fresh cantaloupe slices (from Jesse's uncle's store), and it was a delicious summer meal.
I made a simple yellow cake with chocolate frosting for our Sunday dessert.
It tasted perfect, too. A very moist cake!
I guess with the sleepiness and all the good food, it was so VERY EASY for me to fall asleep, last night. Soon after my head hit the pillow, I was in a deep sleep.
There's just something about Sundays that is making me VERY sleepy! Maybe because Jesse is home and we try to relax and not make a stressful day of chores, etc.
This is my newest cup and saucer acquisition. The dessert plate is one of the new ones I bought in April or May.
This morning, I tried a new recipe of bran muffins with raisins. I had been looking for packaged mixes and could fine them no where. So, we broke down and bought a box of bran, and I found some online recipes. The muffins turned out really tasty (no sugar, just 3 T honey) and I felt like I was doing something good for my body - except for the cup of coffee that sat next to the muffins!
This is a relaxed day. I'm caught up with everything except mending a few items. And, I have 3 or 4 things to iron. This is the night that Luci and Annamarie go to their special therapy classes. Stephanie was gone this week end, but I'll call her later to see if Rissy and I can hang out at her apartment, until the therapy session is finished.
That's my news; everything else I *could* write about would be dreadfully boring. So I don't believe I'll put anyone through that and just say my simple, "good-bye," now!
I spoke with Lori yesterday afternoon. I have some information, of which she said I could share.
She went back to the Emergency Room (for the third time) on Thursday, and they admitted her. She wasn't able to get her fever under control (100° - 102°) and was still in quite a bit of pain. The fever is what the doctor had wanted gone, before doing surgery.
As of yet, they have NOT been able to bring the fever under control. BUT, they are going to operate anyway and do a total hysterectomy. Surgery is scheduled for 1pm on Monday.
She sounded better and said they weren't having to use Morphine on her, so at least the pain has subsided a bit. That is what most people have been praying would happen.
She's never had abdominal surgery, so please pray that all goes well, that God guides the surgeon's hands, and that they get EVERYTHING right and she won't need a future surgery or procedure. And then pray for an uneventful and speedy recovery - they say 6 weeks.
Regarding her being online: Her computer is downstairs and she will NOT be using stairs for a while, so she said she would NOT be able to post. If any of you have Facebook accounts that link to friends of hers, please post something there about her surgery and recovery.
I gave her a bunch of Bible Scriptures that helped me through my cancer sojourn. Some Scripture was good for building your faith in God, and other Scripture was directly related to healing. I told her I had little Post It Note type flags all through my Bible. Pink flags are for breast cancer passages and blue flags are for faith passages - because God is "true blue" and faithful to His children!
I'll give her another call this evening, but then I'll speak with Doug, and not bother Lori, until she feels strong enough to call me and talk.
Message me if you need anymore detailed information.
This is going to be a jumbled up blog with a lot of different topics.
NUMBER ONE:
SOMEBODY'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED!!!!!!!!!
Is it Y-O-U????????
Or, is it Y-O-U???????
What do I see here??????
What an easy life he has . . . you know?!!!!!
NUMBER TWO: The weather continues to rain and rain and bring more rain.
The great rains have brought two tragic deaths in the city. Young teenagers who decided to swim in a swollen creek of rushing water. Maybe not even swim, but wade or walk. The rapids took one teen boy and the next night a teen girl. This is known as a very dangerous creek whenever the heavy rains come. It causes deaths each year - almost always teenagers. So sad.
Unfortunately, the color of this picture is accurate. Our pool is greenish!
The heavy rains have beaten and stripped our neighbor's lovely crepe myrtle trees of most of their blooms.
Our own small crepe myrtle is protected by bigger trees around it and it has done quite well, in comparison to the neighbor's mature trees..
Our beat up rose bush. There is only one part of a flower left, and it's hanging on for dear life.
Jesse tries to mow when he can. Customer's call and want to know "WHEN???" You can't mow when the ground is soggy wet without damaging the lawn with track marks. So, he runs out, between storms, and tries to keep up.
Of course, like they say, "The plumber's house never has the plumbing working properly!"
And, our grass is the last to be cut. It's trying to overtake many things.
This is a step, or is supposed to be. You can't tell with the tall grass blending the planting area, the patio, and the lowered lawn together!
The grass is slowly growing OVER things - like pink toys and garden hoses!
NUMBER THREE:
I had a wonderful report from the oncologist, yesterday. The MRIs and PET scans from last week not only showed no tumors growing, but the small lesions are also shrinking. The reports contained more comments on my degenerative conditions (some bone spurs in my lower back and a few shrinking discs), which is simply "old age" and not life threatening!
I am going to have an MRI done on my neck vertebrae (the PET scan said all was clear) to see if there is any damage from cancer to my neck that we don't know about. I drop things a lot and my hands and fingers go numb when I bend my elbow to talk on the phone, or sleep (with my hands under my cheek). I have also developed shaky hands. My oncologist tends to think it's a carpal tunnel problem. The MRI will rule out tumors in my neck. She has changed the medicine that prevents hot flashes (Prozac) to another similar pill. I picked it up tonight and we'll see if the "shakes" get better. Prozac is known to cause shaky hands.
It gets to the point where you have to decide if the side effects are something you can live with, because of the over all good of the medicine. She upped my time released morphine dose (added mgs) because I told her I was in pain all the time; however, the degree of pain varies. She thinks she can get rid of the pain completely and make me more comfortable each day.
Can you say, "Dry Mouth"?????????? The lab reports they call "tumor markers" are well within normal range. Another good report.
NUMBER FOUR:
Because several people have inquired, I wanted to update about my friend, Lori. But, I haven't been able to reach anyone by phone. I *do* know it was seriously considered that she should have surgery next week. Since I haven't talked to anyone since that last piece of info, I can't really tell you much.
I will make an edit to this post if I should receive new information tonight or over the weekend.
In the mean time, please pray for her relief from the pain she has endured. And, pray for her family to be cared for. They attend a church that is helpful and full of support; but, five children is a big job for Lori, and I can't imagine what a job it is for someone else to step in, someone who doesn't have a routine established.
Just don't have the time to write.
I need to stop at the post office to mail something to my two "Lori" friends.
They encountered bad stuff that needed to carefully be separated or scraped from good tissue.
Uh oh!!!!!!!!!!!
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