We're both feeling better. . .

Eddie and I both took our temperatures this morning - my temp was 98.7 and his was 99.0. His was as high last night as 101.2. So, it's still slightly elevated, but not badly so.

Luckily, whatever hit me didn't hit as bad as it did Eddie. I still had an appetite, for instance, where Eddie survived on just grapes, a go-gurt, and water yesterday. I didn't eat as much because I was just too lazy to eat more but I did eat three meals and some snacks. Eddie had two long (hour and a half) naps yesterday.

We slept from 10pm to about 7:30am .. . Eddie woke up about 2:30am and fell back asleep. I woke up 1am, 2:30am, 5:00am, 6:00am, 7:00am and 7:30am. Typical for me. But I feel rested.

I still have some achey muscles and a slight headache. Wonder if the slight headache is because I didn't have as much caffeine yesterday.

At any rate, I'm having my usual toast and Eddie is eating cereal, so I think we're both on the mend! Thank you, everyone, for your healing thoughts!

Now It's My Turn!! Crap!

Shortly after I posted about Eddie's fever, I went outside to turn off the sprinklers and got chilled ... and then never got unchilled after coming inside. My lower back and legs are achy. My stomach was a bit off, but not much. Mostly achy and chills. Took my temperature about 15 minutes ago - 99.6.

Sigh. This is what some might call adding insult (a fever and aches) to injury (cancer, radiation, surgery, etc.) .. .

Luckily, my folks were coming over here in the morning to help me clean. Mom will also bring chicken noodle soup and ginger ale or something like that. This is when I'm thankful they are close! They've been a tremendous help ... sometimes I feel bad about how much they help and I try to reciprocate.

Maybe I will finally get a good night's sleep!

A Lazy Day At Home

This morning, my son woke up with a 100.1 degree temperature and an upset tummy. He said he couldn't sleep well last night, so I asked my folks to drive to my house to babysit Eddie while I had booster treatment #3 this morning. I had lunch plans, but canceled them (my lunch date was another mom of a student in Eddie's class). My lunch date completely understood. Eddie just wanted to lay down, doze, sleep, and/or "purr" up with me. (We pretend sometimes that we are kitty cats.)

Poor guy. I always feel so bad for Eddie when he's not feeling well. As soon as I got home (I walked up and back to the cancer center) and after mom and dad left, Eddie and I just hung out in my bedroom all day. I was pretty tired and almost dozed off a few times. When he napped, I'd try to do little things around the house - laundry, dishes, balancing my checkbook (which didn't balance! The bank says I have $100 more than I think I do! A nice error to have, I suppose, but I just bet there's something somewhere that hasn't cleared!) I also developed some more signs and gathered various prizes for Eddie's birthday games. I have most all finished, except Golden Road. I still need to make some big signs for the games. I think I have it organized, but add in 8-year-olds and adults who aren't quite sure how to play the games and we're sure to have moments of chaos, but that's all part of the fun, huh?

(Sheesh, that's a run-on sentence! Shame on this professor! But it's stream of consciousness and I'm going to leave it.)

Now, I'm watering the lawn. Then, reading/watching TV, and calling it a night! I'm bushed. Glad I don't really have to travel for several weeks! I told the doctor that I'd been pushing myself past my limits and his reply today was that it's good that I'm keeping as active as I am - better than being a couch potato! Wish me a good solid 7-8 hours sleep tonight, okay? I really really need it.

Eddie's Big Wheel

Finally!! I was able to get around to continuing the paint job on Eddie's Big Wheel. All I need to do is to paint white wedges on the sides and maybe do a few touchups. I really want to give a big Thanks! to my friend, Brenda, who spent a couple of hours helping me out! (Brenda, I betcha didn't know that my paying for dinner was a bribe! LOL)

It's coming along quite nicely, even if we do say so ourselves! I will post a picture as soon as blogger lets me.



Eddie's party is on Saturday evening at 6pm. We are calling it, "Eddie's Price Is Right Birthday Game Show". He wants to play Plinko, the Grocery Game, the Race Game, Lucky 7, Golden Road, and then the Showcase Showdown. My brother-in-law, Henk, made Plinko and the Big Wheel (another huge thanks to Henk!). I've been collecting prizes and starting to make signs and such for the games. My folks are going to help me clean the house and get set up. Of course, each child will win a prize. Everyone will get to play the games.

I'm sure it's going to be fun!

So, thank you Brenda, Henk, and Scott (who helped me paint the Plinko board)! Eddie will much appreciate it, I'm sure!

Andrew's and Jessica's Mandala

A few weeks ago, I attended the wedding of a colleague of mine, Andrew. He was the one who suggested I create a blog to keep people updated.

The wedding was at The Armory in Portland and it was at times, touching, and sometimes, humorous. At any rate, I really wanted to create something for them and not just buy something. Since both blogging and mandalas have been really helpful to me as I undergo treatments, since Andrew suggested the blog, I decided to make them a mandala. (I think that's full circle.)

Their wedding invitations had a tandem bicycle and they decided to take a tandem bike ride to the Oregon Coast for the week after their wedding. Taking that as my cue, I decided to create a mandala using bicycle wheels (including spokes) as the inspiration. I overlapped the wheels to represent their now overlapping lives. They both seem to like "warm colors", so that's what I used. They also gave all of their guests a CD with love songs (including Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe") that I have really enjoyed. The last song is the old folksong called "Daisy Daisy". The lyrics state that the man couldn't afford a carriage, but that the bride would look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two, so I entitled "A Bicycle Built for Two".

Another radiation update

Hi everyone,
I had my first "booster" radiation treatment today. Fortunately, the past day or so, the radiation burn has mostly healed. I have four more booster treatments and will finally finish radiation treatments this Friday! YAY!!

I did resist radiation treatments because I didn't want to risk losing the ability to have an implant. But it was nice to hear from my plastic surgeon awhile back that there is a Plan B for reconstruction. Next month sometime, I will ask about that process.

In the meantime, late last week, I noticed two black spots within the open skin wound. I asked the doctor about them today and her opinion was that these two black spots represented tumors that were forming and that the radiation has killed them and the black spots are dying cancer tissue. YAY again!! More evidence that the radiation is doing what it's supposed to be doing!!

I was only 1-for-3 playing softball yesterday, so Deechiro won't be in the paper this week. Darnit!

Well, more later .. . got to do some things. Have a great day everyone!

Cancer Bloggers Reunion Information

HEAD: "Why We Blog": At Cancer Lifeline, July 25




Cancer Lifeline presents:

“Why We Blog”—A Panel Discussion
Friday, July 25, 1:00 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Cancer Lifeline’s Dorothy S. O'Brien Center at Greenlake

Cancer Lifeline will host a panel of cancer bloggers from around the country on July 25 at Cancer Lifeline’s Dorothy S. O'Brien Center, located in the Greenlake neighborhood, at 6522 Fremont Avenue North.

The bloggers include two women living with metastatic breast cancer: Deanna Kingston, who is an associate professor of anthropology at Oregon State University in Corvallis and an Oregonian of King Island Inupiaq Eskimo descent. Her blog is: Dee’s Updates. Also, Seattle blogger Jeanne Sather, who organized this event; her blog is The Assertive Cancer Patient.

The third is Teresa Hartman, who has a very rare cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma. She is an associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where her primary area of research is health information literacy. She blogs as The Cheeky Librarian.

The fourth blogger is a leukemia survivor who is two years post-transplant, Debby Greer-Costello, of San Antonio, Texas. She blogs as Debutaunt.

The topic for the panel is “Why We Blog.” The discussion will include:

• Types of cancer blogs
• Reasons to blog when you have cancer
• What we gain: community, friends, answers to our questions
• Privacy and blogging
• Making money with a blog
• Men, women, cancer, sex, and blogging
• And more.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Go to Cancer Lifeline’s Web site to register: Cancer Lifeline.

Cancer Lifeline provides emotional support, classes and exercise programs in the Puget Sound Area. We serve all people living with cancer--patients, family members, and co-workers. All our programs and services are free of charge.

For more information visit our Web site, Cancer Lifeline.