Too Much Too Soon, I Guess

Yesterday afternoon, about 5:30pm, I threw up, but I didn't have much in my system so there were some dry heaves, too.

I think, in the end, I tried to take too many herbs/medicines/supplements yesterday. In addition to the anti-seizure medication, I had the antibiotic, a probiotic, Chinese herbs for nausea and some for diarrhea, then because I was doing better in the afternoon, I took Chinese mushrooms and turmeric. I also had ginger tea.

At the time I threw up, about 30 min before, I had ginger tea and the tea pills for nausea. I think I threw it all up.

But an hour later, I was able to eat a turkey sandwich and then I ate applesauce through the evening and night. Kept it all down. My stomach actually felt okay into the evening. I just couldn't sleep because of my right arm/shoulder pain. Couldn't get comfortable. (Remember, I haven't taken Tylenol either in the interest of detoxifying and helping my digestive system to heal.)

I finally took an Ambien about 1:30am, slept a couple of hours, woke up briefly, and then slept almost another two hours. Got up and ate some applesauce, then slept another hour, from 5:30-6:30. Realized I was hungry so I ate yogurt and tried to go back to sleep at 7. No such luck.

My plan today - to keep the herbs/supplements/medicines to a minimum. I plan to only take the Chinese herbs for nausea and the anti-seizure medication and on a fuller belly later this am, the antibiotic. Nothing else, unless I get diarrhea, then I'll take one Imodium.

My biggest ambition today is to declutter Eddie's bedroom some more. He's with his dad today and will come home this evening. We'll see if I make it. Then if I still have energy, I may grout the new mosaic. At least, it's a sunny day!

Wound Update and Reading Outside

When I changed the dressing on the chest tumor last night, it seems wider, not really longer. But it seems that there is more necrotic tissue on the top layer and it was bleeding some.

I can't wait to be rid of the damn thing. I'm not sure if my concoction is helping or hurting.

As for the area where we're trying to grow skin - it's a bit smaller from Tuesday - about 4x2cm where it was 4x2.5cm on Tuesday. So, some improvement.

The three little areas where there is either an infection and/or cancer - they haven't healed more but they also aren't any larger - they are 1cm in circumference. The wound care nurse put silver nitrate on them again. If it is cancer, let's hope Tykerb can get to those spots and kill the cancer so the damn areas can heal.

Since I didn't sleep as long as I wanted Thursday night, I was pretty tired Friday afternoon. While Eddie played in the backyard, I read a book - "Water for Elephants" - loaned to me by a colleague. I was able to finish the book yesterday evening. It was a good book - seemed a short read, though. As an anthropologist, I enjoyed the inside view of circus life circa 1931. I spent a lazy evening resting and ended up with maybe 7 hours sleep last night.

It's cloudy and cool at the moment, which doesn't bode well for our yard work party. Let's hope it warms up! Three different wweather sites call for rain most of the day, showers this morning with sun breaks this afternoon, and the third, cloudy through the morning and early afternoon with showers starting again about mid-afternoon. Who knows? Wish us luck!

Doing okay today

I am doing better today. No fever, so therefore no aches, pains, and chills.

I continue to take Flagyl, but I wake up with a headache and it took me almost to lunch for it to go away. It's also the most foul tasting pill I have had. If it so much as grazes the roof of my mouth, I about gag. So, now I really don't want to take it. Wish I had those lab results . . .

The wound is ugly and is draining like crazy. I do think that I will run out of dressings that keep the fluid in by Monday. That sucks because when it seeps out, I can smell it. It isn't a disgusting smell - sorta vaguely mildewy. And it gets on my clothes. My dressing is now about 6 by 8 inches. I have to psych myself up to change it, so I waited until 11am to take a shower. I have to look at it as if that thing isn't on me but on someone else.

I have been having pain in my right forearm. I suspected it was using my index finger to scroll up and down or side to side on my iPad. Also, because I can't use the virtual keyboard like a standard keyboard (I like to set my fingers on the keys to keep my place, I type a lot of garbage characters), I use my index finger to choose letters and my thumb to hit the space bar, but it often hits the n, m, or b keys, which is why some of my posts have those letters between words. After I posted my frustration last night, my forearm was throbbing, so I confirmed that it was indeed the way I was typing on the iPad. I end up backspacing a lot as I go, so I use my index finger a lot. So, today, I splurged a little and bought an iPad keyboard dock. I am now practicing on it. It's a bit stiff, but I like it and it's already saving my forearm.

I think that means I spend too much time on the computer, huh? : )

Heck, what else am I going to do when I need to rest!

It's nice out. I'm going to get Eddie out for a walk later - maybe to the Jackson Frazier wetlands. It's a beautiful fall day here. Hate to waste it resting in my room.

Another Herceptin Treatment and Softball News

I had another Herceptin treatment.  We'll see how this affects my lymph nodes.  The nurse felt the small nodules and wasn't sure what to tell me - I emailed the UW nurse and will see what she replies.  I meant to call Dr. K today and see what he says .. . The nurse thought my guess that they were also swollen nodes was as good a guess as any. 

In other news, my team won our game last night, 19-3, I think.  I was 1 for 2 with a walk. 

I haven't been on my feet as much the last few days, which means that the plantar faciitis isn't as bad as it was. I'm also massaging it every night and trying to stretch my achilles as much as possible. 

Also, attended some meetings on our new Native American Cultural Center on campus.  The plans are looking really really cool!  Not sure when they will break ground for it - sometime next year.

The weather was really gorgeous all week-end - even as high as about 85 or 86 yesterday - and today in the low 70s.  As long as it's sunny, I'm enjoying it!

Enjoying the Days

The last two days have been beautiful here in western Oregon. I've enjoyed the sun and seeing all the flowers bloom. Love that!












Spent the last couple of days running around - had an acupuncture, physical therapy, and counseling appointments the last couple of days. Had other errands to run. Did a few things with Eddie.

Last night, I was up until 1am working on a grant proposal. Hoped to get back to it today, but was too busy.

Tomorrow, we head to Bend for three nights. Yay! It'll be fun to be in different surroundings and have a change in routine. My sister and her kids, my folks, my youngest brother, Eddie, and my folks' dog are staying in a 4-bedroom, 3.5 bath house (got a good deal - Bend has been hard hit by the recession, so things are relatively inexpensive) with a hot tub. We may play in the snow. We will definitely go hiking. We might find a family fun center - I think there's one with go karts. That'll be fun.

Since my siblings and I went to high school in Central Oregon, we may also visit with old friends. I know I will definitely see a friend who came to see me before the holidays. L and I first met when we were 10, when we first moved to Prineville.

I'll have to bring some work with me. But it'll be relaxing. I love to change up the routine. Enjoy the rest of your spring break!

Oh, What a Night! or Slip-sliding Away!

So, Friday night, I went to a colleague's house for a potluck (except I wasn't sure if I was going so I didn't bring any food). I saw the forecast, which said that there'd be freezing rain around 7pm. I got to the potluck about 5:30pm and then left about 6:50pm. I followed my colleague out the door - and discovered the steps were icy as well as the road. She got in her car and I got in mine and I followed her up the small street to the street sign - she tried to turn right to go down hill and she slowly started sliding and ended up spinning about 270 degrees so that she was pointing left and uphill.

I saw that the road was dry to the left of the stop sign, so I drove there and had some traction and then started downhill to the right - and immediately started sliding a bit sideways, and if I hadn't been able to stop, I would've slid into the trees and/or a mailbox. When I came to a stop, it was in a dry spot under a tree and my right leg was shaking so bad that I decided I shouldn't drive any more.

I went back to my colleague's house to tell my chair and his wife that there was black ice. The host decided to take his car down the hill since he was supposed to take his wife to the train station early in the morning. But as I walked to my car (in the hopes of talking my chair into driving my car down the hill) next to my colleague's car, he fishtailed and the host ended up rearending my car - smashed his headlight and I have a cracked and scratched bumper. My muffler/tail pipe has a small notch.

My chair and his wife decided to walk home, so after getting my car somewhat out of the way and down the hill onto a wider street below. The three of us then walked to their house - the idea was that they might be able to drive me home, but as we were "slip-sliding" to their house, we realized just how icy it was, so I ended up staying the night at their house. It was certainly an adventure - we ended up walking on grass and loose gravel and fallen leaves whenever possible.

The next morning, it was still very icy and I wanted to get home, so I walked first to a coffee shop and had chai and relaxed and thought I might be able to catch a bus that would get me close to my house, so I walked to a bus stop. But after waiting 10+ minutes, I started walking home. Fortunately, I remembered that my dad had to take mom to work and he was close to where I was, so he picked me up. By that time, it had started raining and the icy roads were thawing. He took me to my car and I drove home.

In honor of the night, here's the lyrics to Oh What a Night - I've taken some liberties with the words, though, so beware! : )


Song Lyrics - December 63 (Oh What A Night)

Oh, what a night, late December back in '63
What a very special time for me
As I remember what a night!

Oh what a night,
I did not know there'd be freezing rain
But the streets weren't going to be the same
What a rain, what a night!

Oh, I got a funny feeling when I walked to the street
And I, as I recall there was a lot of sleet

(Oh what a night),
Hypnotizing, mesmerizing me
The ice was reflecting off the trees
Sweet surrender, what a night!

I felt a rush when I heard the headlight break
Spinning its wheels, I knew I made a mistake

(Oh what a night!)


Oh, I got a funny feeling when I walked out to the street
And I, as I recall there was a lot of sleet

Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit
Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit
Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit
Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit

Oh what a night,
Why didn't I believe the weather man?
Seemed so wrong, but now I know he's right
What a bummer, what a night!

I felt a rush when I heard the headlight break
Spinning its wheels, I knew I made a mistake

(Oh what a night!)

I felt a rush when I heard the headlight break
Spinning its wheels, I knew I made a mistake

Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit
Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit
Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit
Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit

I know my friend Heather could do a better job . . . but I need to get going on my day! Happy Sunday everyone. Oh, yeah. I'm fine. We're all fine. It was just an interesting adventure!

P.S. Monday postscript - actually, my chair slipped and fell yesterday while at another potluck up in the hills - he landed on his wrist with his knee bent, so he's in a little pain today.

A change in attitude

I made a small change to my blog header: instead of saying, "using humor and alternative medicine in my fight", I say, "using humor and alternative medicine in my healing".

So, what's the difference? I'm not sure I can articulate it clearly as of yet. However, I decided to make the change because of something Renee said to me a few months ago, when I was worried about the lung tumors growing. She suggested that maybe what I needed to do in my visualizations, rather than imagine fighting and killing the cancer cells, to "love them to death". I imagined my tumors related to various old and new issues of mine and in that case, rather than trying to rid my body of those issues, embracing them and accepting them as part of me. Don't try to ignore the issues - but face them and love them.

Every so often, when I remember, I do try that visualization . . . I think the trick, though is to sustain the visualization for longer than what I'm doing.

In the end, loving the issues/tumors/illness is more about healing than fighting. That's what we're trying to do with acupuncture is to help my body heal so that cancer can't rear its ugly head anymore.

I have done some thinking about why I had a relapse of cancer after all the treatment I received in 2002-2003. The treatments probably helped contain the cancer for awhile until my body was inundated with various stressors - like the memory foam mattress and relationship-stuff - so the cancer got the upper hand. It never really went away. Now, what I need to do is to heal . . . fighting it only got me so far. It's time to try another tactic.

It was a beautiful fall day here today. This whole week-end was amazing warm for late October/early November: daytime temps were in the 60s. Unusual . . . but I'm not complaining!

And, a good time was had by all . . .

Beautiful weather.

Ate wonderful food . . . and believe it or not, everyone enjoyed the blueberry tart that I made!

Watched pelicans and seals on the beach.

Saw a wonderful sunset.

Enjoyed good conversations and a couple of fun games.

Fell in love with the coast all over again when we (Scott and I) did a series of short hikes around Cape Perpetua.

Pictures will be posted soon!

Thanks, everyone!

A Good Week

I had a massage on Wednesday, acupuncture on Thurs, and saw my oncologist's nurse practitioner yesterday. I saw my plastic surgeon on Monday. Basically, the surgeon saw some good pink tissue where that gaping 2cm hole was and yesterday, when showing it to H, the nurse practitioner, I was astounded.

There's pink tissue going right down the middle of that open wound.

I've been on Vitamin E since mid-November (maybe earlier) and it really seems to have kick-started the healing process. It seems to be going much quicker than it was. I've also been practicing qi gong fairly regularly - trying to do deep breathing and take in lots of oxygen, which helps with healing, too.

People tell me I look great.

I feel great. I still get tired and my sleep is often interrupted, but in general, I have decent energy. I do need to learn how to relax better. Even as I type, I feel tension in my shoulders. Got work to do, but my son's off school again today. It's because I know I have work to do, but I'm blogging instead. Time to let go of the tension. The work will get done, eh? My son wants me to play "Price is Right" with him. That seems more important at the moment.

Have a great week-end! And, for those of you dealing with cold snowy weather and bad roads - be safe, okay? I'm looking out my window and just saw some snow tumbling off the branches of the pine tree in my neighbor's yard. the snow covering the fences and the sun shining in my window makes for a serene view.

Bah humbug, work. It can wait!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We finally got snow yesterday evening and last night - maybe about an inch and a half all together. There's no school today! It would've been nice to sleep in, but Eddie's dad called at 6:19am and woke me out of a sound sleep to tell me that school's been canceled. That woke Eddie up. I tried to have the two of us go back to sleep, but no luck. We got up at 7:10am and I admit to being cranky.

In the meantime, it's partly sunny, windy, and about 21 degrees out. I heard that it might get up to the mid- to high-30s today. I have an appointment with my plastic surgeon at 10:45; I was supposed to have lunch with another mom from Eddie's class and then meet with my grad student this afternoon, but the latter two may be canceled. Luckily, I do have work here that I can do - drafting my winter term syllabi and writing an abstract for the Norway conference.

So, it's back to my "week" mode - the one where I expect to be alone, but busy, and am therefore feeling okay about life again. Even thankful. That's what I need to remember - Scott tried to remind me of that the other day when we did get to see each other for a bit. He said, "At least we got to hang out together for a couple of hours!". I should've focused on that. It's a matter of making a conscious choice to be happy with what you do have not focus on what you don't. It is a choice that you can make each day you wake up. Hard to remember to do, I know. I think the more you do it, though, the easier it gets.

Happy Monday!

The Weather Messed Up My Weekend

I was supposed to go up to Portland yesterday and hang out for aday and night with Scott, but a winter storm was forecast so we decided that neither of us should really travel. Instead, we met in Salem for a couple of hours.

I just talked to Scott and he said that it's blustery, snowy weather up there with about an inch or two. We didn't get snow here until about 5am and it has since mostly melted. When I saw it had melted, I thought that I'd been too cautious, but when Scott described the conditions up there, it seems that we made the right decision.

I'm bummed. Eddie was with his dad this week-end and I've felt lonely. I'm just tired of living alone - it'd be nice to have the companionship through the holidays. It's just hard going to get-togethers with friends, family, and colleagues without a partner.

I had things to do, though, and that helps - volleyball and then a beer with teammates on Friday night, then a holiday get-together and white elephant exchange at my chair's house midday yesterday.

Got all my presents wrapped. Working on Christmas cards today. A baby shower later, although we'll have to see how the roads are - the shower is in Philomath, but up in the hills a bit. Don't want to get caught driving on ice.

Well, hope you all are doing well!

On A Roll!

Oh Shoot! (my volleyball team - we're named after the exclamation we tend to use after hitting a ball) won it's second match of the season! Woo hoo! We are now 2 and 0! I think the score was 21-17 and then 21-12 or 13.

Woo hoo!

No other big news . . . attended some morning sessions yesterday at the annual conference for the American Society for Ethnohistory. I listened to papers given on the history of Oregon Native Americans, most were given by Oregon tribal members, some of whom I know. It was really nice to see them all.

I think I strained some pectoral muscles near the open wound. It tends to hurt some when I try to close the rear hatch on my car or the glove compartment. I felt it, too, when I did my underhand serve or when I use my right arm to push myself up to sitting from laying down. The only thing I can think of is that I've been stretching those muscles a lot with this qi gong form, 8 Treasures. Maybe I'm overdoing it because they are really tight. So, I will take it easy a bit.

Other than that, Woo Hoo! It's sunny today - nice because we have a lot of rain this past week or so. When the sun poked out yesterday, I started to squint because I wasn't used to it! Welcome to Fall/Winter in the Willamette Valley!

The End of Writer's Block - woo hoo!

I'm so proud of myself! I got six pages written today on the article about placenames! Woo hoo! Yippee skippy! Well, technically, it was five pages since one page was references. But still! That doubled the number of pages I'd written to a total of 10 (including references).

Woo hoo! Or did I say that already?

I'm pretty relieved, too, because this puts me in really good shape to complete it by the November 1st deadline. Whew. I now have a pretty good vision of the rest of the article, too. I may end up with another 8-10 pages, which is a respectable length for a paper. (By the way, it's at a line and a half spacing - if I used double-spacing, I'd probably have about 13 or 14 pages now.)

All the time I invested in studying the list and finding duplicates served me well. It was also good preparation for my trip to Anchorage on Saturday - I now have a good handle of the questions I need to ask in order to be confident that our place-name list is as accurate as we can make it.

Speaking of the Anchorage trip, I think I'm in relatively good shape there, too. I've started gathering files and other materials that I need for the trip (informed consents, etc.); I have a decent list of people I'd like to interview; I have a power point presentation to show community members in order to get their feedback on what information I should include on our interactive map; I have a prototype interactive map to show; I have my audio recorder and camera ready to go - well, I've given them to my new grad student, Danielle, so she will know how to use them so that she can handle the technical stuff and I can do my interviews; I've notified community members and two of the researchers I've worked with that I will be in town - one has responded and will join us for a day or two of finalizing placename lists. I still haven't found a room to show the powerpoint, and the other researcher has not responded to several emails and a phone call - not much I can do there. Overall, I'm in good shape; I know which community members will be in Anchorage from Nome (thanks, Charlene!!); and I've lined up one or two interviews already. Mom was pretty happy to hear that my cousin, Rudy, will be there. Her cousin Gemma will be there as well. Overall, I think it's going to be a great, productive trip. And, Charlene and her son will be there.

My counselor today noted how different I sound about this trip than I did about the Greenland trip in August - she noted that I sounded more enthusiastic and energetic. I have this "I will go" rather than "I guess I'll go" attitude.

Weather forecast: temperatures ranging in the 20s to 30s for most of our visit. Probably some snow and it looked like it might be partly cloudy or cloudy through the weekend. They were expecting an inch or two accumulation yesterday, an inch today, and another inch tomorrow.

Yes, it'll be strange going from 65 and sunny yesterday to 20-something and snowy on Saturday. But I'm looking forward to it. I haven't been to Alaska for a year. I miss everyone! I miss the atmosphere. We're going during AFN - the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. There's always an aura of excitement and expectation. Fun stuff. I"m excited!!

BTW, I read the newsletter for ICC-Alaska yesterday. ICC stands for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and it's the organization that meets every four years and brings together Inuit from Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland in order to lobby for certain political actions that will benefit all groups in the four nations. The Alaska office this past year applied for a grant from the Alaska state legislature to run a culture camp in Southwest (Yup'ik Eskimo territory) Alaska. Culture camps are camps where Alaska Native youth (or Native American youth here in the states) spend a week or more with elders, learning about traditional culture and language. Apparently, the Alaska state legislature approved the grant proposal . . . but Sarah Palin vetoed it and I don't think they were able to hold the camp. That might give you a clue as to who will get my vote this year ...

Beautiful Fall Days

The past few days here have been gorgeous . . . and I guess I could take some pictures and post them, but . . . I'm too lazy. Would rather go out and enjoy it!

Work is busy, but I think I might be getting caught up . . . or maybe that just means I forgot to put something on my "to-do" list!! Ha!

I studied my placename list yesterday and by the end of the evening, my head was spinning. My first goal was to try to come up with a classification system for the names. But as I sat looking at the names, I realized again (after not really spending a lot of time with this list in the past year) that there were duplicates. So, I decided to get rid of duplicates. For instance, one name (Kurutiq) shows up three times as #20, #41, and #106. It really is only one place. This list has been worked on by various people over the past 4+ years, by different people, and one thing that happened is that when someone remembered a name, they tended to add it to the list without consulting the first part of the list. So, there are several instances of that. I also had to consider slight changes in spellings and make some judgments as to whether or not it was really the same name or a different name.

Then, there's the cases where one name is used for two different places. King Island is roughly triangular. The village is in roughly themiddle of the south or bottom side of the triangle. Near the two corners are two places that are both called "Uivayaq", which means "coming into view". They are named such because as the boats round the corners from the sides of the island, the village eventually "comes into view".

So, in trying to come up with a total number of names, I had to eliminate duplicates first. Then, I had to decide whether I count "Uivayaq" as two separate names or one . . . what do you think? Then, do you count a place that has what is called a "topographic generic". For instance, the main fresh water source for the village was a place named "Kuuk", which is the general word for "creek". They often use it as a formal placename - like calling a river, "River". So, do you count that as a discrete name since it specifically refers to only one place? Or, not?

Anyway, I stayed up late looking at this list. It was kinda fun and also interesting, but a bit confusing because I often couldn't remember what I'd decided about something ... I'm trying to write an article related to the total number of names on the island, so having a somewhat accurate count is important. Just wish I had more time to really delve into it!!!

A Day of Phone Calls

Yesterday, on top of my annual eye appointment, a teleconference call, and a meeting with my undergrad research assistant, I received the following phone calls:

- from my acupuncturist's office reminding me of Thursday's appointment
- from my oncologist's office reminding me of today's appointment
- from my wound care office asking me to switch Wednesday's appointment from the morning to the afternoon
- from the dentist's office asking to reschedule my son's appointment in November
- from my dad reminding me that he needed to borrow my car on Wednesday
- from my former grad student, Brenda, who is doing some searches of archives related to Alaskan Statehood; we made an appointment for lunch to go over some questions she has
- from the mom of one of Eddie's classmates - she has started delivering me dinners on Thursdays since school started; we need to get caught up, so we're having lunch tomorrow
- from Scott, who was home with his daughter who just had two of her wisdom teeth pulled

Then, I made a couple of phone calls - one to my brother to get his work hours, which I then called to my office manager, and then to someone I worked for years ago to get a referral.

And, oh yeah, my friend, Rick (no, not George) is chopping down the pie cherry tree in my backyard, so he was over at my neighbor's house to take care of those limbs in the neighbor's yard. I helped with some of the clean-up afterwards.

Whew.

And, today, I have counseling, then another teleconference call, lunch with a colleague, and a check-up with my oncologist.

Why all the activity? Part of it is just the reality of being a metastatic breast cancer patient with several appointments each week. Then, add on top of that, "normal" appointments like the eye appointment or the dentist. And, I am back on contract at work - my sabbatical is officially over- which means more appointments there. Sigh. Actually, I should say, "darnit!"

At least, the weather's gorgeous. No complaints there! Hope everyone has a great day . . . hopefully without appointments!! LOL

A Good and Productive Week-end

I just returned a couple of hours ago from spending the week-end in Portland. All in all, a good trip! Scott and I had a chance to hang out with some of his friends - a coworker and his wife on Friday night and his best friend on Saturday. (And, yes, we are officially boyfriend/girlfriend again, for any inquiring minds out there.) I also spent several hours at Powell's on Friday and had a bit of time on Saturday and got both the reading done for the two objects for which I need to write exhibit descriptions. The two objects are ivory carvings. I had fun reading about them and then writing the descriptions was fun, too. The drafts of the two descriptions are due tomorrow . . . the first time in a long time that I was able to make a deadline! Yippee!!

And, the weather was beautiful. Sunny, blue skies, with morning temps in the low to mid 60s, getting to the mid-80s, and cooling off to the high 60s or low 70s in the evenings. Lovely lovely weather.

Powell's Books can be a financially dangerous place for an academic to hang out. I spent about $98 on 10 books. Three for Eddie and the rest for me. I am hoping to get him started on a new mystery series starring Chet Gecko. He's been through the Wayside School books, the Magic Treehouse and Magic Schoolbus series. I found an older ethnography of Canadian Inuit, several books relating to Alaska Native corporations - the subject of one of my new grant projects - and a couple of books related to the Alaska Native view of Alaska's statehood - the subject of another new grant project. So, it's money well invested - professional development and all that jazz.

Now, if I can just find the time to read them all . . . HA!

Busy busy busy

Again, I've been off the internet the past few days and so I haven't blogged.

In general, I'm doing well emotionally. Friday was a busy day . . . I had a couple of appointments and coffee with a friend, then I decided to take Eddie to the Marion County Fair that afternoon (it was probably a bit too much and too hot, but he had fun), then I had dinner at my colleague, Nancy's house. She made curry chicken, salad, carrots, and rice. Very yummy!!

Saturday, I went up to Portland and hung out with Scott. We had coffee, then he got his hair cut, then lunch with his daughter, then they had an appointment, then dinner and watch a movie at his place. A relaxing day and it was hot out.

On Sunday, I had coffee with Scott, then came home, picked up Eddie, and we went to my former grad student's daughter's 2nd birthday party, then I had a softball game. Again, it was hot.

Today, I had acupuncture, a meeting with my undergrad research assistant Emily, radiation, and then lunch with another former grad student. It's hot again today - at least 90 and it was only forecast to get to 85. I will play volleyball this evening - I hope it cools down some!

Physically, the skin under my arm and under the breast area is really tender and when I take the dressings off, the tape tends to take a very thin layer of skin off with it, making it even more tender.

And, I have been struggling off and on the past two weeks from tummy problems. Not nausea, necessarily, but more a loss of appetite and when I do eat, I often feel bloated and uncomfortable until I can burp. My acupuncture treated it today . . . I think it made a bit of a difference after lunch today. I didn't feel as bloated. She did say to drink peppermint tea with a bit of ginger in it to help with digestion. Also, I need to avoid heavy foods (no red meats), dairy, shellfish, sugary foods and raw vegetables. So, today for lunch, I had chicken skewers and a salad. I think it made a difference.

I may not be blogging much over the next few days .. . my family and I had to Lincoln City for three nights and three days. We rented a 3-bedroom house with a hot tub on the deck (which I can't go in, but oh well), and a foos ball table and an ice hockey table. Looking forward to cooling down at the coast . . .

In the meantime, my dad and Gooey are building my mosaic platform. Now I need to get to designing it!! Will post pictures of the mosaic and their process of making it after it's completed!

Walking in Raleigh, NC

I arrived in Raleigh yesterday evening and Carver met me at the airport and we went to her house. We hung out for awhile and chatted and she fixed dinner - it really hit the spot! - then we chatted some more and went to bed. It's pretty comfortable here with lots of stuff to look at it. She wants me to feel right at home, so that's what I'm doing'!

We went for a brief walk last night - after sitting for two days in meetings, I felt the need to stretch my legs. Then, after I got up this morning, we walked on the part of Raleigh's Green Way that is near Carver's house. We both got overheated as it's about 82 with 54% humidity, but now I'm relaxing at her house.

It's been fun to see things that I've only seen in pictures from her blog - including her secret garden and the trails around her house. After lunch, I think we may be going to the local Farmer's Market. If I wanted, we could do more sightseeing and that would be fine. The point of the trip, though, is to just hang out and get to know Carver some more since we've been corresponding electronically for several months. I also like not being scheduled or having an agenda. It's nice to just hang loose and relax. Also, since I've been on three planes in the past four days . . . and will go on two more tomorrow, the less time spent traveling, the better.

So, yep, I'm having a great time and enjoying my stay! I think I may color another mandala!

Safe and Sound Amidst Thunder Boomers

I arrived safely in Washington DC this afternoon. And, fortunately, it was nice out - in the mid 70s! I really lucked out weather-wise since I am worried about how well I will do in the summer's heat this year. I wasn't sure how well I would do traveling - I was nervous about getting nauseous from the chemo med Xeloda. So, I didn't take my morning dose this morning and then made sure I kept a small bit of food in my belly for most of the trip and I drank lots of water. It seemed to help. There was a bit of turbulence as we descended into DC and I started getting a bit motion sick, but I hit those acupressure points near the wrist that help with nausea and it worked! So, I'm relieved as I have a big trip to Greenland in August and wasn't sure how well I was going to travel.

Once I got into the taxi, my former sister-in-law (Darlene) called and she offered to pick me up at my hotel and then we went to dinner with my former mother-in-law, Pat. There was a brief thunderstorm, hence the term thunder boomers - they get some really powerful thunderstorms here and I'd kinda forgotten about them. The first rumbles I heard sorta sent chills down my spine. When we picked up Pat, there was an absolute downpour! We haven't seen it rain like that out west in a long time. But then it was over. Just like that. And, the sun came out.

It was fun - we went to this really good bread/soup/sandwich/salad place on Duke Street called Panera's. I gave them pictures of Eddie and showed them some of the stories he wrote in school this year. Pat was tickled to see the stories. We're all proud of him and it shows! We also ran in to the hair salon next door - the woman who owns the place is partners with an old friend of my ex-husband. She saw Eddie's picture and said, "he has a lot of you in him". That was kinda nice to hear. After dinner, we went to Pat's house and visited for an hour or so with my former father-in-law (Bob) and former brother-in-law (Rich, Darlene's husband). We reminisced about Eddie's baby/toddler days, so it was a good visit - got caught up on all the news.

I must say - I feel very fortunate that I'm still able to enjoy a cordial relationship with my former in-laws. My family, for their part, get along fine with Tim, too. I just think that maintaining friendly relationships like this is better for all concerned - and especially my son. So, thank you very much, Bates family. I appreciate it. I also appreciate you all reading my blog, too.

Not Much Going On Today

Another breast cancer survivor, Jeanne from NYC, said in her blog the other day that she really didn't have much to say. Instead, she shared some little tidbits about friends and family. So, I'm stealing her idea and doing the same.

It got pretty hot here yesterday - mid-90s at least. It made me realize that I'm going to have to watch myself as I do seem to be more sensitive to the heat.

But my irises are about to bloom and my rhododendron bush bloomed a couple of days ago. Lilacs are starting to fade, but they are still pretty. Tulips are fading, too, but are still there. Dad put in some red hot pokers a couple of years ago and they all of a sudden sprouted. There was another word I could use . . . but that might imply that I have a dirty mind. LOL

Went to see Dana Carvey at Spirit Mountain Casino Event Center with Josh and Amy, Heather (of My Xeloda fame) and Kevin, and their parents (Steve and I'll have to get their mom's name. Can't remember - I blame chemo brain). It was a hoot - he had a great Reagan oracle bit about the presidential election, a riff on the use of the cuss word (s#&t) in various phrases (Does a bear s@*t in the woods? Are you s*#ttin' me? etc.), and he did a great improv about the neighboring towns of McMinnville, Grand Ronde, and Salem.

Saw my acupuncturist yesterday - no alien hickies. She said that my "san gao" (the triple burner, I think) was strong, slow, and healthy - a good thing. She says that I'm doing what I need to be doing to put that back into balance. My liver chi was still too hot . . . working on that. She offered a qi gong routine in the park this morning - didn't realize how tight many of my muscles were. Note to self: STRETCH every day.

I need to run errands, do some paint touch-ups in the bathroom and clean the house in preparation for Jeanne's visit that begins tomorrow evening. I'll pick her up after my softball game. Let's see if I can play and not injure my big toe anymore. I need to write up a summary for NSF, and draft up a narrative for another small grant proposal.

Otherwise, trying to stay comfortable. It's beautiful out there. Love it! Enjoy your day everyone!