Garage Sale

The last two days, my family and I had a garage sale. My folks had some china from my dad's sister that they wanted to sell, so we sorta pulled together a lot of other things to sell. Eddie even got together games, books, aptoys, and plushes he didn't want. In the end, we all sold some things -Eddie sold enough to purchase a desired Wii game, my brother got enough to buy more memory for his Android tablet, my folks and I got enough to buy dinner last night and tonight, enough to pay for the newspaper ad, with some left over for groceries. We took a bunch of stuff that didn't sell to Good Will.

So, it was worth it. We cleaned out the garage and got some money for it. I was really tired yesterday and the day before. I never had a chance to really recover from going to the State Fair on Wed, then was busy on Thurs cleaning and organizing, then did the garage sale and bought Eddie's school supplies, emergency kit items plus some things for the classroom.

Today, I cleaned and organized some of my papers, need to file some tomorrow. I also need to do some edits on a chapter tomorrow. Then, head to my friends' house for a "Whose Line Is It Anyway" party! I think some light-hearted comedy is just what the doctor ordered! Then on Monday, I will take Eddie to Chuck E. Cheese, which was a ritual we had for when school ended, but we didn't get to it yet this year. Tooo busy!

Happy Labor Day!

What a Great Nurse and Other News

You know, sometimes people tell me that they seek cancer services up in Portland and/or Seattle, as if the service here won't be as cutting edge or whatever. But you know what? I have always made a choice to have my cancer treatment here, primarily because I don't want to have to travel any farther than I have to and also because I do think I get great care.

Today is a case in point - the nurse (C.) I talked to yesterday about the CEA results said that she would be at the Infusion center today and if she had a chance, she'd call me with the CA15-3 results. Well, she called me this morning, after I went to a baby shower.

The CA15-3 was 19.7. I've had numbers below 20 (since August 2008) for nearly a year on that tumor marker test. That eases my mind because I think the CA15-3 might be more sensitive as a marker for cancer.

Here's the history:

Sept 2007 - 23 U/mL
Jan 2008 - 31 U/mL
Mar 2008 - 36 U/mL
June 2008 - 23 U/mL (started radiation that month)
Aug 2008 - 18 U/mL (week of August 4th)
Sept 2008 - 14.5 U/mL YAAAAAAY!!!
Oct 1 2008 - 19.6 U/mL
Oct 31 2008 - 15.3 U/mL
Nov 28 2008 - 19.5 U/mL
Dec 30 2008 - 16.0 U/mL
Jan 22 2009 - 15.4 U/mL
Mar 2 2009 - 17.8 U/mL
Apr 8 2009 - 19.6 U/mL
May 5 2009 - 18.4 U/mL
June 4 2009 - 19.7 U/mL

Remember that anything below 33 is considered normal.

Here's the history for the CEA:

1/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
3/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
6/2008 - 1.0 ng/mL
8/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL (need to double check this number, but it was in that 0.9 to 1.2 range)
9/2008 - 0.5 ng/mL
10/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
10/31/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
11/28/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
12/30/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL
3/2/2009 - 1.4 ng/mL
4/8/2009 - 1.6 ng/mL
5/5/2009 - 1.9 ng/mL
6/4/2009 - 3.0 ng/mL

For the CEA, anything below 3.8 is considered normal!

So, I won't freak out too much yet. The nurse, C., thought that maybe I should go see my primary care doctor about what might be causing the slight coughing/wheezing that I have, to try to get to the bottom of whatever respiratory might be going on.

In other news, I ended up with diarrhea today. I doubled my dose of Tykerb today and another blogger I know would complain of diarrhea with Tykerb. I also had seafood last night - a couple of mussels and shrimp - and I don't know if my digestive system was bothered by that. It's wiped me out today, even though I think I had a good night's sleep. I was supposed to also go to my colleague's house for a party, but I think I better stay home and rest. Sorry, L. & J.!!

And, in other news, the garage sale was okay today. I think we had three cars stop by from 12:30 on, so I don't think it was worth it to have it until 4pm. But Scott and I earned over $100 today. Of course, we have a lot more we can sell . . . we'll see how we do tomorrow! Mom and dad were a great help and they even ran to the grocery store for me because of my digestive problems! They're great parents, aren't they?

A very big note of appreciation goes to C. for taking the time to call me with the tumor marker results today. I get great, personalized care!

Garage Sale Tomorrow!

For all my loyal friends in the mid-Willamette Valley, we are having a garage sale tomorrow and Sunday. It's 9am-4pm on Sat and 9am-1pm on Sun. Most of you know where I live, right?

Scott and I are combining our households, so there are a lot of household goods and furniture. Mom and dad and my brother also have some things for sale.

Things for sale include a treadmill, a glider rocker, a wicker chair, a coffee table, a stereo, camping equipment, electronics (several 1gig MP3 players, a scanner, camera, boombox, DVD player, etc.), clothes, music CDs and audiotapes, videotapes and DVDs, clothes, jackets, ironing table, a Hollywood bedframe, mom's hand-made crocheted blankets and hotpads, dad's necklaces, some of Eddie's toys, purses and bags, and books.

Hope you all can stop by!

Tired Today

I was up too late last night. There's a lot going on this week-end for me. Softball game tomorrow evening. Garage sale at my house Sat and Sun. A baby shower for a colleague on Sat morning. A party at another colleague's on Sat afternoon. Softball Sunday evening. And, on top of that, grading papers. I am feeling the need to reorganize my work piles and make a new to-do list.

The good news is that I don't have to teach any more classes until late September! Yay!

I am so looking forward to working on my own research and writing.

Scott won't be able to help with the garage sale. Some unexpected things happened that require him to stay in Portland. My folks, however, are helping me.

If you have more questions about the garage sale, please let me know!