In the SINGLE digits!!

Yay!! I'm in the single digits on my radiation treatments now. I only have 6 more to go. That would be the rest of this week and Monday/Tuesday of next week. Please keep me and my family in your prayers. The radiation is starting to take a toll on my body. I am sleeping about 20 hours a day. I am sitting in the recliner when I'm not in the bed. I have been driving myself to treatments for the last 3 1/2 months. I am praying I will be able to continue to do that. I am starting to feel the BURN in the places the sun doesn't shine!! It is just that . . . . a burn!! I spoke with the Radiation Oncologist Dr. Williams today and we both agreed that although the burn is very bad, we should proceed with treatment. I only have one more day (Tuesday of this week) to have radiation in the larger area, then on Wednesday of this week I will change to a smaller radiation field. I am having to take pain medicine now because it is becoming difficult to tolerate. Also, I have had the worst heartburn and indigestion that I've ever had. I don't know if that's because of the treatments or what, but it is making me miserable. It doesn't really matter what I eat, it only gets worse. I have tried taking prescription medicine for this, but it does not seem to help very much. When I get done with the radiation I'll go back on the "bad" chemo for 2 1/2 months. I have been so blessed to be able to get to the point where I am now. I have a unique situation in which I'm unable to urinate on my own and I'm having to self cath and I have a colostomy. I can't even begin to imagine the pain I would have if I had to go from "down there". My God is an Awesome GOD!!! Have a great week!!!

Funny DIRTY story . . .

Okay, so I'm at J.C. Penney the other day and went to the restroom. . . (no, I'm still not urinating on my own). I'm in there with my new addition and I always go to the "big girls stall" or "handicapped" whichever you prefer to call it. I'm not handicap so I guess that's why I call it the BGS. Anywho, I had my cell phone in the pocket of a velour jogging suit with pockets in the front. OH YES!! You guessed it, IT fell into the nasty PUBLIC toilet!! What was I to do?? I really needed the 800+ (being facetious) contact info on my sim card!! UGH!! Before I even looked to see if I had a scratch on my hand, It just dove in, and went straight for "one of the most important" devices I ever use. OMG, it was horrible. All these thoughts were running through my head, now I'm thinking, THANK GOD I had all my hepatitis shots!! So I wrap it up in paper towels and off to the truck I go. Oh, it gets wayyyy better, . . . it actually rings on my way home. I look at the caller i.d. It's none other than my wonderful husband. It's like he knew when to call. ha ha. Okay, so I'm over than now . . . and my husband went out the next morning and bought me the LG Vu touch screen. That was soooooooooo sweet, but . . . . I absolutely HATE it!! I'm gonna see how it works this week, but I really am NOT liking it at all so far. I like S I M P L E !! Well, the Vu is NOT simple. I'm just glad I didn't get the Palm Centro!! Okay on another note, my bottom is starting to feel the rays!! It's somewhat tolerable until . . . shower time!!! That's right, soap and burned skin (sensitive skin) do NOT mix!! I only have 11 more days of radiation and every day chemo!!! Whoo Hoo!! (I THINK) Please pray that I will be able to go straight through the treatments without a break or badly burned skin. If I have to take a break, it'll only take me longer to get through the treatments. I'm soooooooo looking forward to getting this all behind me (no pun intended)! I would like to say that I praise GOD for letting me make it this far and giving the cancer to my body instead of my child. I read a blog last night that made me so sad. A family had lost their 11 month old daughter after finding out she had ear infections . . . AND cancer that had spread through her body. The ear infection was what brought her to the Doctor's office. I feel so sad for this family knowing and loving their own flesh and blood for almost a year to only give her up. They seem very faithful, so they are in the BEST hands, but please pray for this family. I do NOT know this family at all. I came upon their blog through someone else's. I think their names are the McClendons. Please keep this family in your prayers. Also thanks for keeping me in your prayers, and I ask you to continue to pray for healing of my body. I don't know who you are that is reading this, but I love you anyway!! Have a blessed day.
Angie

Hurry up SPRING!!

Okay, so I guess by looking at my title you probably figured out that I'm so over winter, the snow, the freezing rain, the cold, blah, blah, blah. So bring on the lovely season (my favorite, escpecially in Kentucky) . . . S P R I N G ! It seems so short when it finally does get here, but I love it anyway. The most beautiful pictures are taken during that time. I have taken 13 out of 30 chemo/radiation treatments now so, I'm almost half way through my treatments. I am getting very tired lately. My eyes will literally try closing up during the day. I'll be going down the road coming back from radiation and it'll just be one eye usually, but it'll try closing. I get so frustrated, I asked my doctor the other day what it was and she said, "Honey, you're doing too much, you need to rest a little". I am guilty of that. I rest whenever I can, but lately I've been sleeping ALOT!! Oh, and my new favorite food is Fruit Loops with Marshmallows. They are the bomb!! Derek keeps telling me I'm going to turn into a Fruit Loop. So funny!! Well back to my health . . . I have another blood clot in my leg so they tested me for another Pulmonary Embolism, (which thank God I didn't have). Thanks for all the prayers, btw!! I know I'll get through this (especially since I'm almost halfway done with treatments), but it's still easy to get in that zone of "what if". I am always thinking something bad is going to happen to me. I don't know why I'm so afraid because this life is temporary anyway, but I think it's because I want to be selfish and watch my son graduate from college and see him have a family of his own. We just don't ever know. This past week one of my co-worker's husband went to take the trash out, slipped on the ice and hit his head. He had seizures and then he passed away. They tried reviving him at the hospital but it was too late. So we never know when our last day will be. I don't mean to sound so pesimistic (not sure if I spelled it right), but with my situation it's easy to "think about things". I hate to be selfish, but I think we'd all feel the same way about wanting to see our families grow up. I am so thankful for each day I have lived. I have a wonderful life, not perfect by far, but a pretty great one. Thanks Kim for reminding me of the upcoming holiday so I could change my page. Oh, did I mention I love to watch iCarly and George Lopez? ha ha
. . . till next time,
Angie

No SUN here!!

It seems as if the sun has not been out in ages. For the past week we've had nasty weather of course due to the winter storm. We are blessed to have electricity because alot of people in our area and surrounding areas do not have it. They are saying it could take up to 10 days. We've had alot of company for the past couple of days. Last night we had our friends over with there 2 boys. Derek cooked a nice hot meal for them and they were so thankful. Linda let the boys stay with Dylan so they had alot of fun. The night before last he had 2 other friends over for the night. They just about drove me insane. I don't know what it is, but Dylan acts different around certain people. He behaves more around his friends that were here last night. I guess he knows he can be himself around them and with other people he has to try to live up to their expectations of him . . . . acting like a dork!! Okay, so speaking of the sun, I still do NOT have sunburn on my bottom. Thank you Lord!! So we have been playing Yahtzee alot lately because there's not alot else to do. Our cable went out which meant our vonage phone service was out also. We have had cell phones though. Oh, and speaking of cell phones . . . Dylan got a new one this week, and I swear he's gonna get carpal tunnel syndrome from texting ALL DAY LONG!! What did I ever do without a cell phone so I could text all my friends?? Oh, my best friend lived long distance, so I had to send snail mail every day during the summer. How crazy is this world now? And Obama . . . don't even get me started on him. I'm surprised he's still up in the White House and not laying around dead somewhere. What has this world come to? It seems that "OUR PEOPLE" of the US are so dumbfounded they don't even know why they voted him in in the first place. Ask any of his supporters, and they can't even tell you why. They are not educated on this aspect at all. That's how we got into this mess. We were at the shooting range over the weekend, and there were LOTS of high power rifles / shotguns around okay. So I see this man that I know and am introducing him to Derek. Well he goes on about saying . . . We elected HIM as OUR President. . . and Derek interrupts him and says, "Uh, NO . . . WE did NOT elect him. I voted for McCain!" It was so funny because all the other people around were McCain supporters as well. Derek says, "He's NOT MY President!" So funny. But oh so sad. So I say to him, "Honey you might not want to talk politics around other people with high powered weopons." I froze my butt off while we were there and eventually went to sit in the truck while D and D were still having fun. Dylan has been sledding twice today. He is supposed to go again tomorrow with some friends. My friend Anita called around 12pm today and wanted to come pick him up so he could have fun with her kids. They're alot younger than Dylan, but they had lots of fun. Then I picked him up after radiation and took him to meet Linda, Russ and the boys at Bunker Hill. BH is a HUGE hill and wonderful to go sledding on. I'll put some pics up of him at Rock Creek soon. I wasn't able to take pics at BH because something strange happened with my brand new camera!! Ticked me off, but I'm over it now. Well I hope you and yours are nice, warm and cozy well into this weekend and upcoming week. Take care.
Love,
Angie

Winter Storm on it's way !!!

I am up late because I took a late nap today. I'm very sleepy but would lie in the bed for hours before actually going to sleep because of my little nap. About the ice storm, well it seems that our week is supposed to be greeted by a lovely little snow/ice storm. Sounds like fun, huh? Lots of snow? Not so much. When we first moved up here 6 years ago, we came the week before our first ice storm. We didn't have power or warm water for 4 days. Oh, and I had to go to work each day driving in this mess. The three of us lived in our bedroom with a propane heater the entire week. It wouldn't have been so bad if we'd not just moved 540 miles from all our friends and family. So we were here, not knowing anyone with nowhere to go. We did go to a local church where a Red Cross shelter was set up. It was nice to take a warm shower there. We played cards and ate and had alot of fun. Then we went back home to our cold new home. I actually found out about this storm coming because I had went to Wal-Mart to get some abreva for a horrible fever blister. I was trying to get over to the pharmacy section, but everyone was stirring around looking scared to death, grabbing water, bread, and more water. I went to the lady at the service desk and said, "What's going on, there's limited bread and water on the shelves?" She said, "Honey we have a storm coming in." I'm like, okay a storm, I'm thinking I've lived through hurricanes and many tornadoes, but a storm up here? What would it be like? Let's just say I learned real quickly to slow down while driving, not to slam on brakes, but to tap them lightly. The trees looked like something out of a painting, they had frozen ice on them. It was beautiful but scary. Okay, so I'm thinking about something that happened 6 years ago. They say that an ice storm comes about every 7 years, and I'm terrified of this. Why you might ask? I have to drive to Frankfort every day for my radiation, and Derek will have to drive to work in this nastiness. I get so nervous for him driving in that kind of weather. I guess it's because I remember back in 2003 when cars had been slammed up against the large icy real rocks on the sides of the roads. It was horrible. I have talked enough about our upcoming storm. Please keep us in your prayers. I have been off my chemo pump for 2 days now, and the home health nurse will be coming out in the morning to hook me back up. I'm not really looking forward to that, but hey, I only have 5 more weeks to go right?? So far, the radiation has not bothered me a bit, nor has the chemo (other than having to remember to grab "Sally" (that's my chemo holder) every time I leave a chair, the car, the bed, etc. Oh, and don't even get me started on having to take her with me to the bathroom. She gets quite upset when I have to lay her in the floor to cath myself. She's like a pet, only worse. She doesn't want to be petted, just tag along for "everything". Oh, it's not too fun when I forget to get her out of the car. She goes crazy and tugs at my stomach warning me not to take another step or we'll be separated. She will be with me everyday for the next 5 weeks, and then we'll only meet for 3 days every other week. She's been with me for over 2 months now, so I had to give her a name. Sounds crazy I know, but you try staying home in the "green throne" watching Oprah and eating bon bons all day . . . . then there's the scales. .. . oh I can never seem to escape them, but hey I'm thankful that I can eat well now. Praise God!! I have shared way too much as I wait to check our school closings. We had 2 snow days just last week. The longer this keeps up, the longer we are going to go through our summer vacation. Or, they just might have year round school if it keeps up. I will try to post again soon. I pray that the next time I post my bottom will still be free of sunburn. Have a great week!!

Started Radiation today!!

I started my every day chemo yesterday and my every day radiation today. The 4 tattoos were not fun I'll tell you. I haven't ever really wanted a tattoo, but this really makes me not want one. I got one on each hip and 2 on my bikini line. Not fun at all!! I talked to Dr. Williams (radiation dr.) yesterday and he said the radiation was going to be worse on me than he initially told me. He said I would probably have to take a break in between treatments. I am praying that this will all be over very soon, and that I can tolerate the radiation well. I have a small area of sunburn on each hip today, but nothing more. He says I will eventually be very sunburned around my tailbone. Not looking forward to that. The chemo is much lighter than what I was originally on, and so far I can eat well, am not sick, and not cold sensitive. Thank you Lord. I am having a difficult time sleeping because I feel the needle in my port when I turn over on my side, and that's kinda how I sleep most of the time. Please keep me in your prayers. Okay, so I got tagged to release info on my Husband so here goes:
About our hubbys...
1.What is his name? Derek Wayne
2. Who eats more? Probably me
3. Who said, "I love you" first? He did!
4. Who is taller? He is.
5. Who is more sensitive? Me, definitely.
7. Who does the laundry? Whoever gets around to it first.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me
9. Who pays the bills? He does.
10. Who cooks more? He does every night.
11. Who is more stubborn? Definately me
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? both equally 13.
13.Who has more siblings? I do
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We are both strong willed- but I would have to say that he wears the pants.
15. What do you like to do together? Well we just joined the Sportsmans Club, so we are about to start shooting together. We always do everything as a family.
16. Who eats more sweets? Me for sure. He only eats an occasional Reese cup. Today I brought home a brownie for him, but he wasn't thrilled. He could care less about sweets.
17. Guilty Pleasures? Playing his Call of Duty game on the PC every single night. That's his downtime. He really needs to shoot somebody after a stressfull day at work.
18. How did you meet? An old friend Mona introduced us at a party on Christmas Day 1992. The best Christmas present I ever got. :)
19. Don't know where the ?? went.
20. Don't know where the ?? went.
21. Who proposed? He did, on his knees June 24th, 1993 in my bedroom while I was waking up at 11pm.

Everything is going smooth! Thank you Jesus!!

Tuesday, January 20th I will begin having chemotherapy with radiatioon every day for six weeks. I will resume my original scheduled chemotherapy in 6 weeks, which will put me having chemo every other Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I feel like I'm kinda taking a break from the "bad chemo" right now because they will discontinue 2 of my chemo drugs during this "chemo/radiation phase". The 2 drugs they are discontinuing for the time being are drugs that make me sick and feel really bad. So, I guess I'm trying to say that OMG, I'm sooooooooooooo excited about this "new phase". I will be able to resume my drinking cold drinks, eating ice cream, and it will feel sooooooooo good. . . Now on the other hand, my bottom may feel as though I have taken a strange vacation to the beach and have "sunburned bottom". Yep, that's what the Dr. called it today. I met with Dr. Williams at Bluegrass Radiation today. He is the sweetest thing. I just fell in love with him, especially when I found out he graduated from UAB. His dad was a big "Alabama Football" fan. This guy was so intelligent. I mean obviously, he was if he was a Doctor of Radiation, but come on. I could understand him well because of me being in the medical field, but if I was just some random person who had no experience in medicine whatsoever, I'd have been like, HUH?? He basically spent 2 hours with me. He covered all the questions you think you might have at the end of a normal visit. I did not have one question when he was done. I really feel like I'm getting excellent treatment at this place. I feel the same way about my Oncologist Dr. Don Stevens. He is wonderful. I love him so much because he truly cares about the patients. I was in his office yesterday (and they have all become like family to us. I was showing one of the nurses a picture I had taken on my cell phone. I said, "Dr. Stevens would love this one". He returned to the room and was very professional. After our visit, he says to me, "So, what's so funny on your camera phone?". So here I am the country girl with the big city Doctor, scrolling through my phone to find this picture I had taken of an old blue Chevy truck parked in our ER parking lot for 2 weeks. This was no ordinary truck, you see, this truck had a special emblem or should I say mascot on the front of the hood. Oh yes, I am going to try to put this picture on here, because it was just hilarious. The mascot of choice was a large lizzard. No, not a real one, but like a statue kind of. Well after a couple of weeks of this truck sitting there, I found out it belonged to one of my patients. This was the sweetest little man ever, and he was oh so sick, had a drinking problem, but was a delightful man. I guess you just had to be there. It was hilarious the way he would go on about this lizzard on his truck, kinda like a pet he couldn't bear to part ways. On another note, Dylan got highlights this week for the first time. He had to wear the cap thing they pull the hair through. Boy was he cute. I'll try to get a pic of that up too. I tried to get him to get a mohawk, but he said it was too cold. I know what you may be thinking, mohawk, has she lost it? Well yes, I've lost it, but I still have a little up there. I figure go ahead let the boy get it out of his system so he doesn't do something strange like that when he can make his own choices. Yes, we let him wear lots of tattoos. Hopefully, this will make him see how easy it is to remove them with soap and water and never want a real one. Not that that would be a terrible thing. I guess I'm just old school, and don't really want him to ever go that far. I also want to say that if you may have trouble in your marriage, at least seek professional counseling before it gets too late. I have a co-worker that I have worked with for 5 years. She has a lovely family, and I found out yesterday that she was filing for divorce from her husband of many years. They have 2 adorable little boys. I have been saddened about this. I think it's because she has kind of been like family to me. I have tried to reason with her to seek help, but she is not willing. I know you're like, why are you writing all of this, but it just hit me so hard tonight. I realized how I don't think I could ever stand to lose my family. I just love them so much. Derek has been everything and more than a husband can be. I look at all we've been through in the last few months and last 15 years, and at the end of the day, I could not be happier than I am with this man. Thank you God for my wonderful loving husband. He has helped me to realize that all of this that has happened has just been a blessing in disguise. It's funny how God takes major life changes and turns them into learning experiences to realize who's really in charge. I would like to close with saying that I am so thankful for my family and friends. Everyone has been so good to me. Thank you all.
It is freezing here in Kentucky, so to end my post, I hope this weekend and next week find you all toasty and in good health.
God Bless,
Angie