March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  It has been an unusual week.  First, due to scheduling problems and not being able to get chemo the week i was supposed to, I did chemo on Monday.  That meant I had to do my labs that day aw well so it made for a very long day.  The nice part was that Jessica and her children came to visit so Jessica and Bailey came to chemo and sat with me through a majority of the time I was there.  Today I seem to have the beginning of a cold so i am taking it easy.  I don't have a fever, but I don't want to take the chance of getting sick.

This round makes me a lot more nauseated, even while in the chair.  Luckily the meds my doctor prescribed do help, and they help quickly.  But I have to take them for more days than I ever did with the last round.  I do have more energy, although the first few days I do need to sleep a lot.  I am now giving myself Neuprogen injections for 3 days following chemo.  This is an injection that goes to your bone marrow and helps to build white blood cells.  The down side is that it causes your bones to ache (kind of like when you have the flu).  So far I haven't had that side effect but I think it will be worth it if we can keep my white count up.  I also do not have the neuropathy that I had with the last round.  I still have some residual effects from last round but it isn't getting any worse and I can drink cold things any time.

As I said, Jessica and her children were here to visit from Monday to Thursday.  We met Jennifer and her children on Wednesday at the Columbia Space Memorial in Downey and then had lunch and ice cream.  It was nice to be able to spend time with them.  I then went and had my pump d/c'd before coming home.  Bailey, Cole, and Lindsay spent quite a bit of their time helping me with things around the house.  I am still trying to get all of my scrapbook stuff organized into my room and Lindsay helped me reorganize my closet so that I had more room.  I have been going through pictures and organizing them into years.  It has been a loot of fun and brought back so many good memories!  Now I just need to finish organizing and get busy on scrapbooks!

My sister, Diana, was here visiting my dad from St. George.  We decided to invite my sisters (Linda couldn't come) and my dad for dinner on Friday night.  It was a lot of fun!  I don't get to see my sisters often enough and we have such a great time when we are all together.  Everyone brought something for the meal and we made homemade lemonade from the lemons on my trees.  I wish we could do it more often.  We are hoping for all of us to get together in June again and maybe Linda and Bob will be able to make it then.  My sisters are such a support to me through this journey.  They are always there for me and I love and appreciate them so much (way more than I did when we were kids ;)!)  My dad is doing well for 84 years old.  He keeps very active and I know that helps him.

I have to say, too, that moving into this house has been a huge blessing.  It is very nice to have Josh, Angie, Ella, and Hannah here but it would be very crowded in the old house.  We have lots of space and everyone has room for themselves.  Four dogs can be challenging but even they are fun most of the time.  The dogs enjoy nightly walks with all or part of us.  I am so thankful that my friend needed someone to rent her house at just the time I needed it. It has been a great blessing.  The house has tons of windows so it is sunny and cheerful.  Josh and I have been working on the front yard planters, weeding, planting more flowers, and just enjoying the nice weather.  Josh hung bird feeders and we have had lots of birds.  In the back, we have put a small gazebo on the balcony.  I still need to buy furniture, but it will be a nice place to sit and read when I am up to it and want to enjoy the outdoors.

My other bit of news is that I have decided to retire.  I met with a counselor about it and it will work out well.  My first date of retirement is May 14.  I will be out of differential pay at that point.  It also means that I can go to my student's promotion which will give me and them some closure.  I happened to pick up my last pay check on the day they returned from 6th grade camp.  The checks weren't ready when I got there so I had to wait around.  It gave me the opportunity to talk to several parents and also some of the students.  They were all so sweet and supportive.  It was good to see them.  I just feel like I can't keep going back, be there for a few months, and then go out again.  It's not in the best interest of my students and I care too much about them.  They are so blessed (and so am I) that they got back the same substitute that started the class in September.  She car3es deeply about them and we were able to meet before I left and talk about where I was going with the class, what still needed to be done, and any other situations that were pertinent.  We have kept in touch and I know my class is in good hands and love having Ms. Perez back. I also got to become part of the elite Ramona retired teachers group.  They all get together once a month and invited me to join them in March.  I look forward to each month and meeting with them.  When I have finished chemo, I plan to volunteer both at Ramona and at Gompers (Ella's & Hannah's school).  That will keep me busy and I will still be helping students.

Again, (I can't say this enough), I appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, cards, and phone calls.It really does help.  I have the best friends in the world and I am blessed to have all of you in my life.  For those of you that I play games with, I'm sorry I sometimes don't play right away.  It's usually cause I am sleeping or too tired to think but it does help to have the games to occupy my time.

March 4, 2013

The last few weeks have been great.  I did start chemo on the 20th of February.  This is different medications and I wasn't sure how things would go.  I was very nauseated while i was getting the meds.  Because there were 2 new meds, I had to wait in between each one to make sure I didn't have any reaction.  That lead to a very long time in the chair.  I was nauseated the next few days and had a lot of headaches (normal side effect for one of the new meds).  I slept a lot for a few days.  I would sleep, get up for about 30 minutes, and go back to sleep.  But since then I have not had any other side effects.  I can drink cold drinks (something I couldn't do last time) and my energy level has been great.  It's almost scary how well I feel!  But I am not questioning it; just enjoying it.

I put in my letter of intent to retire.  I found out I only get paid until May 13 (even at the lower rate) so I decided it's time to retire.  I have been feeling so peaceful since I made the decision.

Because I still have so much energy, I have been able to get a lot done around the house.  I have been going through all of our pictures and getting them sorted into years.  It has been so fun to look at pictures of my children growing up.  There are so many good memories.  I found pictures of my mom and grandma and also pictures of Chuck's dad.  My kids are excited to be able to go through them and have some for themselves.  Today Josh and I did a lot of gardening.  We weeded and planted flowers in the front yard. He hung bird feeders and it is very peaceful out there.

We are all getting adjusted to living together.  It is going very well.  It is nice to see granddaughters each morning.  Just as Randi cheered me up before, I have two to cheer me up now.  And Saturday night, we had a movie night with Jennifer and her children.  It's been lots of fun.

I am looking forward to next week.  Jessica and her children will be here for their spring break.  And then on Friday the 15th, my sister Diana will be visiting Dad and she and Rich will bring him to see my house. Hopefully a couple other sisters will be able to join us for a family dinner.

I will go for my blood work tomorrow.  As much energy as I have, I would be really surprised if I can't do chemo on Wednesday.  I am hoping the side effects will be the same as 2 weeks ago but I've been warned that they may not.  Whatever the outcome, I am working to keep a positive attitude and just give it all to God.