Chemo session #11 in the books! Only one more session to go. In just 15 days (hopefully) I will have done my last session and get my pump disconnected for the last time! It seems like it's been a long time coming but at least now i really see the light at the end of the tunnel. I asked the oncologist what the plan will be after session #12. I will have a follow up with her 2 weeks later to check my blood work and then I will follow up every 3 months with her and do blood work. In December, I will have another colonoscopy.
Jason had a family gathering here in So. California last weekend. He brought the girls with him but Cole had come down with strep throat so he and Jessica stayed home. I didn't get to see much of them, but I enjoyed a sleepover with Baily, Lindsay, Ella, and Hannah on Friday night. Then on Saturday, we joined Jason's parents on Saturday night. Bailey turned 13 on Tuesday. I can't believe I have a teenage granddaughter.
On August 19, our 9th grandchild arrived. Jackson Robert (called JR) was born to Jennifer and Chad. He was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and only 18 3/4" long. We are hoping to get to see him soon.
Chuck is going to become a driver trainer for new employees who just graduate from trucking school. He will get a truck upgrade. He has to go to a training and we are hoping it will be in Phoenix so that I can join him. That will give us a chance to meet JR and see his sisters.
I am doing well on my own so far. I have been busy packing. Our house is officially on the market and we've had an open house already. The new house isn't ready for us to move into yet but it is coming along beautifully.
I did get to go to Randi's first day of school. She was so excited! The teacher called on her as an example of how to sit at your desk, push your chair in, and how to put your finished papers in the box.She thought she was really important. Her class is a K/1 combo.I know she is going to have a great year.
I also have met with friends several times this week. On Sunday, I got to shop with 2 former Ramona teachers at the outlet mall in Camarillo. On Monday I met some retired Ramona teachers and a former Ramona teacher for coffee. Then I met some Las Flores teacher friends for lunch. On Wednesday, after che3mo, I met with 4 of my cohorts from Ramona. I also found out that the sub who is going to start my class is one of my favorite subs. She is the daughter of our case manager wh0o used to be my aide. I have known Sidney since she was just a little girl. I am excited for her to be starting my class for me.
I am going to try to go visit my sister-in-law in Hawaii in October if my health permits. (Dinah, if you're reading this, sorry I haven't let you know yet). She is moving back to California in November so I figured it would be fun to go relax there while I still have a place to stay. I need to be sure I am up to the five hour flight and I won't be able to do as much as I usually do, but it will be a good way to prepare for going back to the classroom.
I still appreciate all of the prayers, phone calls, cards and messages I get from all of you. I would not have made it through these past 8 months without all of the support. Please continue to pray that I will get my last treatment on schedule and that all of my test results will come back showing that this has worked.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
August 18, 2012
Well, all I can say is that it's a good thing that I only have 2 more treatments to go. The nausea has been so bad these last two times that I don't know that I could take it if I wasn't so close to the end. I did have chemo this week. Thursday started out pretty well. I even felt well enough to go meet Chuck in Chatsworth where he was waiting for a run. That's a story in itself which I will go into in a while. But Thursday night became pretty bad. I also saw my primary care physician on Wednesday so my day at Kaiser was pretty full. But at least i didn't have to make a separate trip up there!
Chuck was home last week on the 7th. He was due to go back to work on the 12th. He recently got a "new" truck and it needed some work. So he checked it into the shop before heading home. On the 11th, they finally took the truck into the shop to start repairs. Needless to say, it wasn't ready when he was supposed to report at 9 AM. They said it would be ready about 5 PM. He headed out there, got his truck (it was done) and started out of the yard. The truck started emitting smoke and making noises so he took it right back to the shop. They had it fixed by Tuesday night and he had to make a pick up in Chatsworth Wednesday morning. He got to the loading dock to pick up his load. When he went to pull away from the dock, the truck wouldn't start! And, he was blocking the company's loading dock. They sent a mechanic out after having Chuck check all the fuses. It was finally fixed Wednesday evening but now he was stuck where he was till he had hours again. That's when I decided to meet him and maybe go to lunch. I knew if I did, he'd get a run and sure enough, after being there about 10 minutes, he did. But it was to pick up in Santa Ana Friday morning so he got to come home for another night. It has been nice having him here. We signed papers to list our house and even started packing some things.
We will be moving later this month or the beginning of September. We are just moving about 3/4 of a mile from where we are now but we won't be on the corner lot on the main street! I am looking forward to that. I know that I will feel a lot safer. It's a bigger house, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room. For most of the time, it will be big but when family come to visit it will be nice. When Jessica's kids were here last month for a week, it was awfully crowded. The older the kids get, the more crowded it becomes!
Einstein is doing great! He misses all the commotion with Jordan, Amity, Randi and their dogs but he loves to follow me everywhere. He's even getting pretty good at chasing a ball. I am going to get a second dog to keep him company before I go back to work.
I am going out to Jordan's new place tomorrow to see it. I will spend the night and get to go with Randi to her first day of school. She is really excited and can't wait to show me her school. They have had fires this past week and some people had to evacuate but they were ok. They are expecting some more lightning strikes this weekend so we are praying for no more fire!
I am obviously not thinking too well right now so I think I'll end this. Thanks again for all the prayers, love and support. It really does help!
Chuck was home last week on the 7th. He was due to go back to work on the 12th. He recently got a "new" truck and it needed some work. So he checked it into the shop before heading home. On the 11th, they finally took the truck into the shop to start repairs. Needless to say, it wasn't ready when he was supposed to report at 9 AM. They said it would be ready about 5 PM. He headed out there, got his truck (it was done) and started out of the yard. The truck started emitting smoke and making noises so he took it right back to the shop. They had it fixed by Tuesday night and he had to make a pick up in Chatsworth Wednesday morning. He got to the loading dock to pick up his load. When he went to pull away from the dock, the truck wouldn't start! And, he was blocking the company's loading dock. They sent a mechanic out after having Chuck check all the fuses. It was finally fixed Wednesday evening but now he was stuck where he was till he had hours again. That's when I decided to meet him and maybe go to lunch. I knew if I did, he'd get a run and sure enough, after being there about 10 minutes, he did. But it was to pick up in Santa Ana Friday morning so he got to come home for another night. It has been nice having him here. We signed papers to list our house and even started packing some things.
We will be moving later this month or the beginning of September. We are just moving about 3/4 of a mile from where we are now but we won't be on the corner lot on the main street! I am looking forward to that. I know that I will feel a lot safer. It's a bigger house, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room. For most of the time, it will be big but when family come to visit it will be nice. When Jessica's kids were here last month for a week, it was awfully crowded. The older the kids get, the more crowded it becomes!
Einstein is doing great! He misses all the commotion with Jordan, Amity, Randi and their dogs but he loves to follow me everywhere. He's even getting pretty good at chasing a ball. I am going to get a second dog to keep him company before I go back to work.
I am going out to Jordan's new place tomorrow to see it. I will spend the night and get to go with Randi to her first day of school. She is really excited and can't wait to show me her school. They have had fires this past week and some people had to evacuate but they were ok. They are expecting some more lightning strikes this weekend so we are praying for no more fire!
I am obviously not thinking too well right now so I think I'll end this. Thanks again for all the prayers, love and support. It really does help!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
August 8, 2012
As you may be able to tell from the time of this post, I am not able to get chemo this week. My counts are low again and my protein is also low. However, my hemoglobin is staying stable so that means so transfusion. I had said over the weekend that my energy level was low and I didn't think I would be able to get chemo so aat least I wasn't totally disappointed. Also, Chuck is home so that means I don't have to give up my whole week to chemo while he is here.
I spent 5 hours at kaiser yesterday. The nurse had difficulty with my port again. She called the doctor to get the ok to declot but by the time she got approval, her shift was over. When another nurse took over, I asked her if we could try one more time. This time, it worked. But the doctor had decided that I needed to be hydrated. So I received IV fluids over the next two hours. In the meantime, Chuck had a delivery to make so he left me there to finish.
Now that I know I will not be starting the school year, my goal has become to improve my immune system so that I don't have to miss any more time when I do return. After this last postponement, November 1 is not looking unreasonable. Ala in all, my side effects seem to be lasting longer as I get further along in the process. This last 2 weeks, I have had side effects for 10 days or so.
Jordan, Amity, and Randi have moved back to the Temecula area. It is very quiet around here without them. Even Einstein misses them and their dogs. He has created a new game to entertain himself. He takes one of his toys and drops it in the basket that I have for grandkids to put their things when they come over. The problem is, he isn't tall enough to get his toy back out. So then he barks, just once, for me to get it for him. Of course I do and the whole process starts over. I am looking forward to seeing their new place and going out for Randi's first day of kindergarten.
I spent 5 hours at kaiser yesterday. The nurse had difficulty with my port again. She called the doctor to get the ok to declot but by the time she got approval, her shift was over. When another nurse took over, I asked her if we could try one more time. This time, it worked. But the doctor had decided that I needed to be hydrated. So I received IV fluids over the next two hours. In the meantime, Chuck had a delivery to make so he left me there to finish.
Now that I know I will not be starting the school year, my goal has become to improve my immune system so that I don't have to miss any more time when I do return. After this last postponement, November 1 is not looking unreasonable. Ala in all, my side effects seem to be lasting longer as I get further along in the process. This last 2 weeks, I have had side effects for 10 days or so.
Jordan, Amity, and Randi have moved back to the Temecula area. It is very quiet around here without them. Even Einstein misses them and their dogs. He has created a new game to entertain himself. He takes one of his toys and drops it in the basket that I have for grandkids to put their things when they come over. The problem is, he isn't tall enough to get his toy back out. So then he barks, just once, for me to get it for him. Of course I do and the whole process starts over. I am looking forward to seeing their new place and going out for Randi's first day of kindergarten.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
August 1, 2012
I was able to get chemo on time last week, #9, so I am 3/4 of the way done! The side effects have been pretty awful this time. Not a lot of them, but lasting longer than usual and a little more intense. I still can't rally complain. If nausea, diarrhea, and tiredness are all I have, that's not so bad. The meds just don't seem to be working as well this round. Hopefully I will get to do the last 3 treatments on schedule (I always hope that, unfortunately it just doesn't always go that way). The doctor also changed my back to work date until November 1. After the huge disappointment last month of having the last treatment moved to September, I am ok with this. She said if my counts come up quicker, she can always change to an earlier date. I realized that if I'm not going to be back for the first day, it really doesn't matter when I return as much as being VERY healthy does so that I don't miss more school once I do return.
I had a fun week with Jessica's kids. We really didn't get to do anything but I enjoyed having them. They are getting so big and grown up! Bailey is only about 1/2" shorter than me and is going innto 8th grade. Cole is about 2" shorter than me and going into 6th grade. Lindsay is still quite a bit shorter than me and going into 4th grade. She wants to be the next Taylor Swift and she and Ella spent a lot of time looking up Taylor on the internet, reading Tiger Beat, and writing their own songs. I love watching how they grow and change. I'm still waiting for the day they don't want to come spend time with me but very glad they still love coming to Grandma's.
I got to go to the OC Fair with Jordan & his family and Ella & Hannah. I rented a scooter for the day because I knew I couldn't walk in the heat all day. We happened to go on a kids free day, someone handed us an adult ticket, and I get the senior price. Then we bought wristbands for the kids and Jordan so it was a pretty cheap day. We had a blast and I love watching the kids have fun.
Jordan, Amity, and Randi are moving back to the Temecula area this weekend. Randi will start school there in a couple of weeks. I will be sorry to see them go but I am in a much better place now and feel like I can take care of myself.l Plus I have Josh & Angie close by and my niece & nephew are close by, too. I also may be moving. I have a place to move just 1/2 mile from here. I've been trying to work with our mortgage company to do a loan mod and I am getting the run around that everyone warned me I would get. With the thefts we've had in the last 2 years, I don't mind short selling. There are also a lot of foreclosures in my neighborhood so I know my property value has plummeted!
I finally got a new dog. Now I'm really not a small dog person. I love a big dog that can really play with you. But I got a Shih Tzu. His name is Einstein and he is the cutest thing! He looks at me with his sweet little face and I melt! He's allowed on the furniture and even sleeps in my bedroom (but not on my bed! I haven't gone that far yet!) He loves to be with me or anyone else who happens to be around.
I also got to go to concerts in the park with all of our old neighbors last Wednesday. I am hoping to go again tonight. It was so nice seeing all of them. I think I'm just glad to be well enough to be able to do some activities, too.
Yesterday Jordan and I drove to Rancho Mirage to meet my sister, Pat and niece, Amy. Pat had a consultation for a colonscopy and I wanted to be sure her doctor had my history. It worked out to be great for me because I basically got a second opinion for free. He basically said all the things my oncologist has been telling me and would do the same treatment so it reassured me that I am doing the right thing. There are times when I wonder how I know this is worth it. After we went to lunch and enjoyed talking for a couple of hours. On the way home, it was pouring rain all the way to Palm Springs/Cabazon. Going the other way, back to Blythe, Pat and Amy had flash floods and worse all the way to Desert Center. But it was a nice day, although I was completely worn out by the time I got home.
I also got to go with my sister, Rhonda, to take my dad to lunch last week. It was great to see him. He is doing much better and is getting involved with more activities at the home. I am glad to see his spirits up a little, although I am sure he still has his moments. We had a nice time and, again, it was good to get out.
Chuck's sister, Dinah, was also here in July for a visit so I got to see most of Chuck's family.
All in all, my spirits are better and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel at this point. I have to say, I am looking forward to being done but I'm glad that at least I can do some things now. I even went scrapbooking last Saturday! I didn't make it for the whole time but it was fun! Thanks for all your continued prayers and support.
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