Another Month Another Blood Test

At the end of this month or the first day of the next I'll be going for my monthly blood work. I'll see my Oncologist a couple of days later. I think I also have an appointment with my Radiation Doctor. We made the appointment in November of 2009 and I had no 2010 calendar so I'm not certain what the date of that appointment is. I guess on my "to do" list I need to write to call his office and find out. I would hate to miss it because he's a busy guy with lots of information.

Dennis arrived for the weekend. We made the most of it: exercise, golf and eating in and out. I invited Gary and his family for Brunch on the Sunday before he left. I also invited Don's cousin and his wife who are renting in this development. I wasn't sure Dennis or Gary would remember them, but they did. As usual I made Belgian Waffles and that made Ben very happy. Don's cousin made Danish Aebleskiver (pancake balls) for us on the other side of the kitchen and Sophie especially loved the "donut holes" as she called them. Dennis left after lunch the next day.

Charlie has traveled to Phoenix a few times this year. January was the first time when he was here for meetings and social functions. We picked him up at the airport and had a nice early dinner out and drove him to his hotel. The rest of his time was spent on business.

In February we received a call from Charlie and Beau telling us they were in Phoenix at the airport on a one hour layover to Hawaii. Their area was hit hard by the snowstorms so all flights and airports were closed for nearly another week extending their vacation in Hawaii. Luckily they didn't miss any work time because all businesses were closed in the DC area. On the flight back we had time to have dinner out with them while they were staying at Beau's brother's house. They had to stay another two days in Phoenix because of cancelled flights and closed airports as the next snowstorms arrived. So all in all it was an unusual vacation for them.

It seems like the holidays have gotten longer and longer. It used to be just Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year but it seems like we're just as busy and gone for the two following months. I certainly am not complaining because it's been a wonderful time and lots of fun. In the back of my mind I keep thinking when am I going to get the tax papers in order for the CPA?

I'm off to Kickboxing today and later a trip to Cave Creek with Don, his cousin and wife. It's been a while since I had a chance to shop there and always a treasure hunt.

Hope all of you have either shoveled your way out of the mountains of snow or if AZ enjoyed our rainy days.

Starting a New Month and Ending my Disappointment

You may or may not know that I've been down in the dumps for the last few months. I think I'm coming out of my disappointment of not reaching remission at the beginning of November. Things had been going so well. Then I had the bike accident which my Oncologist used as an excuse for the higher numbers in my blood work results where before those numbers had been stable. Two months later the numbers were up again and he thought it was because of my mouth sore which lasted for a month and the cold I had during the last half of December. Now he's having my blood work done every month and I feel like I'm back at square one.

I've actually quit doing anything that had me feel worse about myself. One of them was Mah Jongg. I was only playing once a week and that makes it harder to be a good Mah Jongg player plus it was taxing my stamina. I was playing golf in the morning and would rush home and shower and throw a sandwich in my mouth to make it to Mah Jongg on time. I have to admit it was stressful and I'm trying to eliminate harmful stress. Also my Oncologist asked me to get more Yoga classes in my week. Adding more activities is stressful not restful. We only have two noon time Yoga classes and two 8 a.m. Pi/Yo classes. I can't get to any of them. But now that I'm changing my schedule I will try.

I'm back to rebuilding a schedule that I can live with. I'm hosting Bunco on Thursday and that's always good for lots of laughs and catching up with friends. I have Bunco twice a month, one at the beginning of month and one later in the month. I'm trying to do 3 or 4 exercise classes a week: Kickboxing, Buns & Abs, Cardio Pump and Triple Threat. They're all very challenging and will try some Yoga when I can work it in.

Don's cousin and his wife are staying in a rental house in our development. It's nice to be able to spend some time with them. They're here for 2 months and enjoying the good weather. We did have a 4 or 5 day rain like no native Arizonian has ever experienced. When I came home from a card making evening it was pouring rain in buckets and our garbage can which is normally buried under ground was sitting up on the driveway from all the flood water underneath it. It was a week before we were able to have it fixed.

I am feeling better and enjoyed hosting an evening with our wonderful neighbors. It was great fun. I especially enjoyed the cooking and baking. We've also had some fun evenings out at friends' homes. February is starting and there will be more fun things to enjoy.

I've put it off long enough

So December was a questionable month for me. It was promising in the beginning but then I had a side effect from the Tarceva, a mouth sore. Normally they come and stay for 10 days and don't interfere with life as I know it--just an irritation. This one kept getting worse and worse so finally I stopped taking the Tarceva in the middle of the month hoping it would heal. It did but for 2 weeks I was unable to eat anything much. Finally a week after January started it was healed.

During December just a few days before I quit the Tarceva I came down with the cold that's been going around. It was more annoying than anything. By the time January started the cold was well on it's way out.

I had an Oncologist appointment at the end of December and it was not one of those uplifting events that I've grown to expect. It took an hour to drive to his office and I sat in the waiting room and examining room for 2 hours. Fortunately my sons gave me an iPod for my birthday and I spent a lot of the time trying to amuse myself with my new toy. What I didn't do was write down a list of all the things I needed to talk to him about. We did discuss my latest blood test. Some of the numbers that have been stable for a long time are up and that's probably not a good thing.

I'll be getting blood work done every month to see if the numbers become stable again. Now that my cold is gone and my side effect is healed it may make a difference. I'll still be seeing my Oncologist in 2 months from my last visit and he'll have 2 blood tests to compare by then. Keep your fingers crossed.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Best wishes from our Extended Family at Sophie's Cocoa and Crafts Party on December 23.
Bottom: Diane, Ben, Diane's mother, Ann, her friend, Eddy, me with my craft project, and Sophie.
Second row: Dennis, Terry Ann--my childhood friend, Kim--Diane's long time friend, Beau--Charlie's partner, and Charlie.
Third tier: Don and Gary.

You can tell by the smiles that we had a wonderful time at Sophie's celebration. She came up with the concept and we had all the fun.

Backtracking from earlier in December, I came down with a side effect from the Tarceva although at first I didn't realize that it was one because it didn't happen in the same place as usual. Usually it was on the roof of my mouth but this time it was on my gums. By the time I did I was unable to eat anything but soft foods starting just after my last post on December 7th. I stopped taking the Tarceva on the 19th and now I'm still eating soft foods but the pain in my gums and cheek are less. It's been a bother because Dennis arrived on the 18th and I wanted to do so many things while he was here. Charlie and Beau arrived on the 22nd and by then I had the cold that is going around here: hot and cold, lots of sneezing, free running mucus and a general malaise. Don who hasn't had a cold in many years gave me this one. He's over it now so I'm hoping I will be within a day or two. Or just about the time Dennis, Charlie and Beau leave.

My house is a wreck and I'm not concerned because this gives me the perfect chance to get rid of some clothes and closet items and give the whole place a total cleaning.

Obviously I wasn't able to do my Christmas cards this year so I thought you might excuse me and accept the good wishes and photo I sent you through the blog. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some cards out next year. I really love doing it but it helps if I feel well.

Thank you for all the lovely Christmas cards which I'll be reading over and over again and maybe get ideas for some of my cards. I enjoy them all and am grateful you keep me in your thoughts.

New Photo

I noticed last year that my profile photo was dated but didn't have any idea how to change it. Today I took a chance and went to the right place, changed the photo and saved it so it will be there for a while.

Our second Thanksgiving was as much fun as the first. Since I'd had a dress rehearsal nearly two weeks earlier I was able to walk through all the steps with ease. My 5 year old grandson, Ben, was the first to arrive. He came in and said, "Hi Grandma, what's for dinner". I answered, "Turkey" and he replied, "Turkey Again!" That was his second Thanksgiving too. I think he was hoping for Belgian Waffles.

My friend TerryAnn, her husband, John and mother-in-law also named Maria, arrived from Tucson after being stuck in traffic for quite a while for their Thanksgiving Dinner with us. Maria is 94, a year younger than my mother who just turned 95 and they have birthdays about the same time. She's still able to travel all the way from Canada to Arizona and will enjoy the sunshine for awhile.

Right now we're having a 2 day rain storm and I can hear the wind howling. I don't want to look outside because I'm afraid my landscaping may be in my neighbors' yards. We're happy to have rain and so are all our plants. Too bad it's so cold too. It sounds like we're having a hurricane. I can only hope our porch furniture will still be there when it's over.

I was supposed to golf this morning but when I saw the forecast: rain, wind, cold, I decided those were the three symbols of the apocalypse so I should stay home warm and snug instead. I did catch up on all my paperwork, took a long nap but didn't exercise today. Then I received an email from the person in charge of ladies league events that tomorrow's golf and lunch are canceled too because of the weather. I may be able to get my office clean with all this free time.

Don is having cataract surgery on Wednesday. The doctor will follow up with him the next day and the following week. Don is apprehensive as most people are when they have any kind of surgery. Hopefully he'll enjoy much better sight when he's recovered and I'll no longer have to yell, "Median!" to keep us off the curb.

Once Don is recovered we'll start getting our favorite houseguests and before we know it I'll be another year older and 2009 will be history. Hopefully I'll be able to post before then but it's very difficult to use my computer when the house if full.

Just in case: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Brain MRI Results

I called the doctor's office this morning and received the results. Everything has stayed the same as the last MRI results. No changes. Good news. I'm glad it's off my mind now.

I see this posting will make my post from yesterday disappear so if you want to see the long posting I did yesterday look on the right hand side under my photo under 2009 November and it's the one listed as "More to post when there's no time to do it". "Brain MRI Results will be above it.

More to Post when there's no time to do it

Don and I at my mother's 95th Birthday Celebration.

My mother at 95 enjoying her Birthday Celebration.

We left for Detroit on November 4 and my mother's birthday celebration was the following evening. At the restaurant we hosted a dinner and invited my niece, her husband, and her oldest son. We also invited my cousin, her husband and her young son. It was the best of everything. A nice comfortable table for 9, great food and great service. There were some gifts. We were back home an hour after the party was over because my mother tires easily.

The following evening my mother, Don and I met some old friends at a restaurant. After we finished our meal the Chef brought my mother a long platter of assorted desserts and each one had a candle in it. The entire restaurant sang "Happy Birthday" to her and nearly every table wished her a happy birthday on our way out. She was overwhelmed with the response from the diners and the restaurant staff.

We spent time with my cousin on two occasions when she was able to get away. She lives nearly an hour from my mother's house and has a son in school who needs to be taken and picked up. It was great to be able to get to spend some time with her.

We flew Southwest to and from Detroit and had lots of questions about the seating thing. I couldn't understand the line-up and free for all as far as seats, but suitcases fly free so we were willing to learn. We had a better get in line number on our flight back so we were able to choose the two seater by the emergency door. We played Crazy Rummy all the way back to Phoenix.

The day after we returned from Phoenix Charlie arrived for a long weekend. He couldn't make it for Thanksgiving Day so he asked if we could celebrate Thanksgiving on November 14th. So that's what we did--we had a Thanksgiving meal and celebrated Ben's 5th birthday. That was Ben's 5th birthday party too so he enjoyed a great birthday.

Charlie left at 4:30 a.m.on Monday for the airport and made it back to Maryland to get some of his work done at the office. He called later to let us know he had a good flight and arrived safely.

That same day I golfed with the Monday group and forgot everything I ever knew about golf. I shot a 114 and that must be close to winning golf lessons. After lunch I played Hand and Foot Canasta with 7 other ladies and had a great time.

Tuesdays is Ladies League Golf and I showed up to play although I was worried about my game. Fortunately I played with 3 great gals who kept my spirits up and I ended up with a 110 and lots of sand in both my shoes. I know my game will come back but like Johnny Miller says, "the harder you try to do better, the worse you do". So the best thing is to go out and just have a good time.

I'm still waiting for the results of my Brain MRI. I don't have an appointment for the results with the radiation doctor. I think he's going to call and tell me. If I don't hear from him today I'll call him tomorrow. I'm trying to remember that saying: NO NEW IS GOOD NEWS. It's always in the back of my mind. What are the results?

I'm off to Buns & Abs. I missed a lot of exercise classes while I was gone. They really help keep me on an even keel. Hopefully now I'll be able to get back in the swing of my fitness schedule.