Being Thankful

Okay, I wasn’t going to use my blog to air any pet peeves that I might have but I feel I am left with no choice. If I hear one more person complain in my presence about their hair I will be forced to do something drastic. Its either too messy, too curly, too wild, too gray, too short, not the right color or style and it goes on and on. For someone without hair this is a little too much to take. So please, be thankful for every hair on your head. You never know when every last one of them will fall out.

A dear friend of mine, Margo, who is a breast cancer SURVIVOR
sent me this email which I LOVE. Please enjoy….

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror
and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

Well, she said, I think I’ll braid my hair today. So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

Hmm, she said, I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today. So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.

Well, she said, Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail. So she did and had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.

YEAH!, she exclaimed, I don’t have to fix my hair today!

So on that note, here are the top 3 reasons I am thankful for being BALD….

1. I can get ready so quick now…shower, dress, slap on some lipstick and I’m out the door. No more blowdrying and styling.

2. I am saving a ton of money on shampoo, hair spray, hairdressers, etc.

3. I can wear black all the time and not have to worry about loose blond hair on the back of my clothes.

Pick something that you may not be especially happy about and list 3 reasons why it is a good thing. It will make you look at whatever it is in a new light. And remember to appreciate your hair.

Its About Time

I know, I’ve been a little deliquent in the blogging department. The first part of the past week we had the visitation and funeral for Dave in Cole Harbour. This was both exhausting physically and emotionally. He will be greatly missed.

We made a little overnight trip to Weymouth to pick up Sara who we were missing terribly. She had a wonderful time with Nana and Papa but was very happy to come home with us. She is planning her next sleepover…maybe Nanny and Grandad’s…mmm, we’ll see.

My Mom and Dad came down on Thursday and stayed over till Saturday night. We picked blueberries, went out to eat (great fish and chips at the Driftwood) and just had a relaxing visit. Dad loves our ride on mower and cut every possible section of grass on our 60 acres, ha ha.

Our pet snake shed his skin while we were gone during the week. You know what that means…he’s growing. He has actually grown 2 inches since we got him. Maybe we need to cut down on his food consumption!

I’m feeling much better these past couple of days after my last chemo. I don’t think I want the anti nausea medication increased again. While the nausea is bad enough the spacey feeling I think is worse. There are so many other side effects that are not so well know: mouth sores, bowl upset (yuk), fatigue, aches and pains, sentivities (ie sunlight), headaches, etc.. One medication makes you constipated and then another makes you have diarrhea…so sometimes you bounce back and forth between the two. How exciting is that? Well enough about my bowl movements.

Remember…don’t tell God how big your mountain is, tell that mountain how big your God is.

 

For Dave

Dave Mosher came to work for us over 15 year ago when Randy started his business. He has been with us through thick and thin and all the ups and downs a contruction business goes through. He was loyal, trustworthy and a support to Randy. He always had a smile on his face, a joke to tell or a great fishing tale. He was one of those people who laughed easily. He was more than just an employee, he was like family. At only 49 years old, Dave took a massive heart attack yesterday morning and died. It was a shock and the loss of such a great guy is just hitting us. He will be missed more than he could possibly imagine.

I would ask that you pray for strength and comfort for his wife and two teenage kids as they deal with the loss of they’re husband and father.

Chemo Day

My Oncologist was happy that my “counts” came back up and so far I don’t have to go on the immune drug therapy. He is still going to continue having my blood checked every 10 days which is not the usually procedure but cautionary on his part. He did increase the Zofran, which is one of 3 anti-nausea drugs I am on. My nurse said he doubled the dosage that is given via my portocath
prior to the chemo drugs. He felt that I was still dealing with too much nausea, etc. It did help the nausea but has left me feeling kind of loopy and spacey, like I’m in Lala land. Randy joked with me and said that it is not unlike the way I usually am. Good thing he just took me on a nice get away.

These are two of 5 vials that they inject manually into my portocath. Then I also get a drip bag of another drug. They put the Epirubicin and 5-Floracil in manually so they can ensure that it goes directly into my vein. If it leaks out into the tissue or muscle it will kill those cells. Hence the double gloves they wear to protect themselves. Since having the portocath put in the process takes less time then using an IV…probably about 1 1/2 hours.

Well I am half way there with only 3 more treatments to go. Your prayers are working…there have been no complications and I am “handling” things well. When I feel a little overwhelmed I know that is when the Lord steps in and is carrying me the rest of the way. Thank you
for the love, prayers and support that you continue to send my way. 

Our Getaway

We had a wonderful time…I can’t begin to tell you how much we enjoyed ourselves or how much we really needed this little getaway. Randy had booked two nights at Liscombe Lodge but my chemo got moved up from 10:30 to 8:30 in the morning on Friday. There was no way we could do the 3 hour drive that day so we only stayed the one night at Liscombe and stayed in Halifax the 2nd night. When things don’t alway turn out perfect you make lemonade with lemons or something like that. Anyway…it still turned out pretty good…we were together, away from everything…you can’t ask for much more than that.

We went canoeing on the river, had a wonderful dinner Wednesday night at the lodge (where I wore my wig that night and then freaked them all the next morning when I went in to the breakfast buffet with just my bandana!!) and went to this gorgeous beach where I, in my element collected shells and sand dollars. We took our time driving back on Thursday and stopped at a few places along the way. Had a great dinner out at Applebees and spent a quiet night at the new Quality Inn in Halifax.

It was relaxing and helped us get away from everything that is going on even if it was just for a little while.

I have to thank the Gideons…after we got on our way I realized I had left my bible on the counter….how was I to do my Proverbs readings? There in the bedside table at Liscombe was the Gideons Bible…I sat out on the deck in the beautiful sunshine and
read my chapters.

I also have to thanks Annette for the delicious fruit and cheese tray…with chocolate truffles, she had delivered to our Chalet on the river. It was devine!!!

Thank you Randy for 16 wonderful years as your wife. Happy Anniversary!!!

The Purple Family

This picture has nothing to do with my post, I just really like it!

The boys are away this week at Truth for Youth Bible camp in Blomidon. I miss them dearly but it has been very quiet and peaceful around here and they were so happy to go. Sara is leaving this morning to spend a few days at her Nana’s house. She is so excited because he cousin Cameron is going to be there. They love playing Polly Pockets together and Nana is excited to have the girls to herself.

Randy booked a cottage at Liscombe Lodge for us so we are heading out too…Yippee. It is an early anniversary get away and with me feeling so good this week we thought we would take advantage..those days are sometimes few and far between. When you are nauseated and sick and feeling really bad it is exhilarating when you feel “healthy” again, if only for a little while. Maybe thats why you are so excited because you know you only a a few days before you will feel sick again.

We will head back to the city Friday morning for my 3rd and “halfway there” treatment. So for now I am cherishing every moment of the next few days. That doesn’t sound right….I cherish every moment I am alive but I will especially cherish these days. Okay, I’ll shut up now, I’m so giddy with excitement I’m rambling and not being coherant. Yeehaw!!!

Lemonade Anyone?

A week or so ago the boys decided to set up a lemonade stand. They picked a good day…the cars were constantly coming to the raspberry upick across the road and the dump trucks were going steady beside the house hauling topsoil. They went through alot of lemonade and made a gross profit of $12.00! They looked so cute out there…so serious about their “business”. I wasn’t feeling great that day (it was just after chemo) so I was spending alot of time on the couch while trying to keep an eye on them. I was kind of dozing when they came in and put the can of money on the couch beside me with a note that said this money was for the doctors to help me get better. They didn’t make the money for Rescue Heros or treats at the store but for me.

This makes up for all the times they were fighting like a bunch of wild things, sort of!!! 

The Counts

Everyone has been asking how I am feeling and this week I can honestly say has been GREAT. I feel wonderful with lots of energy and no symptoms (well, except for some nasty mouth sores which are chemo related). A bunch of you have been asking about my counts so I am putting them in a chart form so it should be easier to follow….

Hemoglobing- is a measurement of the oxygen being circulated by the red blood cells, if its low then you become anemic.
Platelets-help your blood to clot and slows down bleeding
White cells-there are different types of white cells but the main job is to fight infection and disease
Neutrophils-these are important as they are the “soldier” white cells that specifically fight infection

Date…………Hemoglobin…..Plateletts…..White cells…..Neutrophils
normal range 120-160………140-450…….4.0-11.0………..45%-76%

6/20……………..118……………….366……………..7.9…………..4.7 or 77%
(this was the day of chemo so pretty much everything is in normal range)

17/7…………………………………………………………1.2
(I don’t have all the figures for this round of bloodwork. My doctor called with the white cells because they were concerned because they were so low!)

21/7……………. 106……………….295…………….3.3…………….. .4 or 6%
(This was during a viral infection I had gotten and my neutrophils were pretty much non existant because they were working harder then they could keep up but if you notice my white cells are going up, yeehaw)

28/7……………107…………………448…………..6.1………………..3.4 or 56%
(this was just before my 2nd round of chemo)

8/8………………93…………………266…………..1.9…………………1.8 or 30%
(everything is low again but as long as I don’t get sick it should be okay! My hemoglobing continues to drop and never really bounces back so that accounts for me being so tired)

Initially my Oncologist nurse said I should keep track of this information and I thought to myself why should I care as long as my Doctor knows. Now that I am into the chemo I realize how important it is for me to know what is going on. Sometimes the info doesn’t get sent to say my surgeon or family doctor and if I have it I can pass it along. It also helps me understand what they are talking about when they start throwing numbers around. So now you know what I’m talking about.

My Man

Sorry this picture was suppose to go with the previous blog.
 

He Grounds Me

There are so many reasons why God gave us our husbands. As we were driving to the church picnic yesterday He revealed another one to me. Randy and I were discussing a conversation he had with a friend. They were talking about how there is good and bad in every situation and Randy made the point that with Jesus in our lives we should only see the good in everything. I agreed and then laughingly asked him to tell me the good in having cancer. Okay, this is where I get goosesbumps….he looked at me and said how many times have you prayed and said Jesus use me and your will be done. He reminded me how much stronger our marriage has become, how many friendships have been renewed, grown or strengthened, how are families have become united, how many people we have witnessed to, how much more we have turned to the Lord in prayer and the bible…and these are only some of the things we know about, I’m sure the list goes on. All this since being diagnosed with Cancer…something that is not of God but is being used by God. I believe in God’s ability to heal me (by his stripes we WERE healed) in His time but until then I pray He uses this for His glory. My husband has always been able to help me clear past the fog and see everything clearly. He grounds me and helps keep me focused on whats real and important. I just love that man!!