WELCOME

Hello,
Welcome to my Blog! Yes, I have been in the fight of my life against Leukemia, insomnia, depression, side effects of medications, molting skin, pooping my pants and this list goes on.... however, I still love my life, and that's what this blog is about Real Life. I hope to meet others who trails have brought them closer to the Lord and molded them for the next step in God's will. In January 2011 , my family, physician, and Be the Match was featured on a Fox 5 news story about bone marrow donors and transplants. In March, I was interviewed on Atlanta and Company along with Be the Match. I was chosen to sing the national anthem at the Be the Match Run last year and will also be doing it this year, along with some other songs. My team, no thanks to me, raised over $4,000 and raised more than any other team! Please join my team this year or consider donating here at the Run those Stem cells out ! Team I was also chosen for a patient advocacy panel for the international council meeting at Be the Match in MN in November. How exciting!! I ended up not being able to attend due to the relapse. I had hoped I could help raise awareness about how easy it is to sign up to be a donor and how many people need your help! Please go to bethematch.org and sign up! I was able to have my bone marrow (same as stem cell) transplant at the end of March thanks to a 22 year old donor oversees that I hope to meet her one day. As I came up on my 6th month mark and continued to add more normal activities to our lives, I relapsed, meaning that the that the cancer had mutated and the leukemia came back. I spent 2 more weeks at Emory and some other nights here and there and now I'm on a drug from the FDA. I have a compassion waiver so I am able to get it. I have to take it day by day sometimes hour by hour. Time keeps moving and my little girl is growing up. I'm lucky that I'm getting to see it. I continue to praise God for his wonderful blessings he has shown us including my wonderful husband Jonathan, baby girl Evalyn Rose, supportive family and friend, great medical care, new readers, and the chance to make a big difference, even if that means being a Lab Rat.
God Bless You!

Please read, comment, enjoy, learn, grow, LOVE LIFE.

Most Recently I have started a booth at a local consignment store with handmade jewelry from friends, crafts, and my own art from recycled materials. It is called DAY by DAY. God was very clear with me starting this. Please look over to the right of blog and click on Day by Day to see some pictures. I'm just getting started but I am taking orders from people that I know. You will be able to personalize items, etc. I just haven't decided how I will be selling them via internet yet. But for now, the jewelry is at A Weekend A'fair in Athens, GA and will hopefully be at some stores downtown soon.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Nov. 13th A GREAT DAY


** Medical MJ** Yesterday was a pretty good day. I had to do a small bag of chemo that only took 20 min. or so. It made me feel a little tired but that is it. I shouldn't have to do any more for about 10 days... but I have to double and triple check. I had another headache again this morning. The seem to start as a sinus headache and morph into a mini migraine. I tried to stick it out for a while but I ended up having to take some pain medication for it which promptly knocked me out for a little bit.... woke up... no pain. Gotta do what I have to do sometimes. I let him know that all patients should be told that a sleep mask may be a good idea if they get sensitive to light.  Dr. Mclemore will be leaving on Mon to go back to the clinic for 2 weeks. I'm a little sad, but I'll be seeing a lot of him. He said that my next doc, forget the name, is a short, nice, lady. I asked if she was a fire cracker and she said yes. I can have fun with that!
** Blessings** My bro Daniel- My brother volunteered to do respite at church day for special needs kids so the parents could have a little break. So sweet!!   Mary-  I had a great blessing today from a former student, Mary, on facebook. She sent me a message to see if I remember being her teacher. This was 7 years ago already. Mary was one of the most sweetest, enthusiastic students I had.  Mary was a well behaved student that could still crack a joke at the right time. She would try her best and then not be afraid to ask for help. She had to put some work into her good grades and she did. She was always respectful and I remember her pretty smile, long black wavy hair, and that infectious laugh! Today, she told me that my blog was like a good book. Sweet, I need to make some money one day. Mary is a freshman at Southern Poly and wants to get a degree in Biology and become an Optometrist. AWESOME! Not only was I her teacher, I was her SCIENCE teacher. I'm just beaming with pride. Maybe one of those experiments I set up sparked a joy of science that other teachers could build on. I have seen many former students not live up to their potential. Well... many people in general, sometimes, myself. Mary, you keep up the hard work! You can do it!
**VISITS** I felt so bad that my friend and neighbor, AJ, came to visit and I didn't feel well. She was only able to stay for about 30 min before I needed to lay down. She is such a sweet person. We were supposed to go up to her families rustic cabin and try to going caving this month. :( She helps watch our dogs sometimes and our baby. She even lets the pups sleep with her.
         Sean and Mirka from our Tues. night small group came to visit me today. Mirka is from Poland, no I'm not sure if she ever owned a pony. Hee Hee.  I wish everyone had a Sean and Mirka in their lives.  I think it would be fairly easy, well, easier than trying to do this life thing alone. Lots of churches have small groups that you can be part of and not be a member of the church if you choose. Then find leaders that are older :) and wiser than you to open your heart too. It can be difficult at first to expose yourself, especially if you have been burned. I did it, you can do it if you want. Sean and Mirka are used by the Lord to encourage and strengthen us. I only hope that we bring at least some humor... well and a really cute baby. Sean and Mirka brought some homemade, organic, chicken soup. I love this stuff, it might heal me! She also brought some fruit, even Mangos. We are both excited about there being a Trader Joes now in Athens.... yeaaaaa!! The best thing they brought was encouragement for today, tomorrow, and the future. They agreed that Jonathan finishing school in the spring, short of a national disaster, is the best plan and they will do anything they can to help us. We think that too, right sweetie?
                 Next, Mr. Frank, our friend and neighbor came by to visit. He brought a really sweet gift! Thanks Frank and Julie. Frank is someone that you want on your side. He is not a spring chicken and is the strongest person I know. He build his own house at Thompson Farm and finished this July. This thing is so efficient, when he builds a fire, it can get to 90 degrees in there. No kidding, not sure what he did about that. Frank has a fancy touch screen phone, I can't even work those things. Frank is always there to help with anything we can't do ourselves. He has helped us take down a dead tree, take down some old power lines, and he let us use, well he drove, his tractor many times. He has a great dock and throws fun dock parties for the neighbors. After we stuff ourselves with what ever wonderful food he made, we take a pontoon boat ride around the lake and talk and laugh. I really live at a beautiful place with beautiful people. And a lot of really really cute dogs!! Peggy, George, Van, Pat, Jim, Eva, Betty, Betty, Julie, Stan, AJ, and about 20 more.... I miss you all and can't wait to see you. Pups.... my own... Hannah, Maggie, Tuffy... Mrs. Heather will be there to kiss you and scratch you butt really soon.
           Tammy and Randell all came to visit. They are old friends of the family. Tammy and her mom has worked taking care of my grandmother for quite a while and still visits her now that she is in assisted living. Their son, Justin, was in a terrible four wheeling accident a few years ago but by the hand of God is doing ok and is going to college right now. Tammy is a real sweet person. She brought me some flowers, so did AJ, but we can't have flowers here. Luckily, the gift shop took them back. Flowers twice in one day, wow! I'm telling people, that if you really feel the need to bring something, and I hope that you don't. I could always use a meal from leftovers you made in a glade container, some yummy fresh fruits (KiWi, mandarin oranges, and blue berries are my latest craving, I like homemade breads like pumpkin and banana bread, home made cookies,  or heck... money or gift certificate is always good. I only thought Life was expensive before now. We have not scratched the surface of these medical bills. I know that we will be ok though!! We do really well at budgeting and not blowing money on stupid stuff. We save $70 dollars a month just not have cable for the T.V.!
**Fun time** Well lucky the steriods managed to manifest themselves in energy to so some fun things today. I have stream lined my 3 small ideas that this floor could use and 2 big ideas for the hospital for long term. So know I don't have to feel I have to run the hospital. I'm usually pretty crafty and have a little art room at home. I'm good at a lot of things but not really good at anything.. except singing maybe. That used to bother me, but it doesn't any more. Jonathan brought some of my art supplies up for me to use and now I have a little art drawer in here. I even have my paper cutter... I can't live without that thing.  I'm so super organized in this little room it is scary. I did manage to lose my phone for a five minutes.... I know your surprised.
             After visitors left I walked down to the gift shop but they were closed. People are getting a kick out of me drawing on my mask. Usually, it's just a smiley face but for this trip I wrote, BE THE MATCH over my mouth. Yes, I did look to see that someone already makes masks with designs on them. But they are not cost friendly and are washable instead of disposable. I did find the stairs that don't lock you out and walked 4 flights up and down. I was out of breath but it felt good.  I have to be strong for when I go home... there is lots to do! I found the Chapel and it is really cute. I wrote something about being a tree in a story of a forest in the little book.... someone will probably think I'm a hippie. That's ok, I'm part hippie, part type A, part fish, and part dog... among other things. I told you .....weird.
              In the room I learned a new song, played my guitar, learned how to use a web cam, ordered prints for the baby book, made two cards, lifted some hand weights, made some frozen peas because dinner was worse than bad, organized my room a little more to make some negitive space on my counter (love negitive space), made a mobil out of thread and leaves I picked up last week, did some reading out of "Through painted deserts" and on my girls 16th week, and did a few silly dances. WHEW!!!
          I met a lady name Wanda today. She said that he was going home today and boy was she ready. She had been here since this Wed :).  I then went into the kitchen to get some ice cream. I didn't know we had ice cream for the patients. A lady told me that we had it today but that some punk kids ate most of it today and were running the halls and going up and down the elevator. She said that she said something to them.... I would have. I don't have patience for children that misbehave a lot... hence why I'm not a teacher anymore. Yep.... no ice cream left. Eva, you must be right, chemo is starting to make me want ice cream. No hot coco either. Larry was in the kitchen too and wanted  the hot coco He is a nice man I met today, along with his wife Mary. I went to the front desk to let them know, of course. Larry invited me to their room for a cannoli from Philadelphia. Apparently, it is from a bakery that always has a huge line. I decided to take my mask off... well... how could I eat a cannoli with one on? Larry doesn't have to wear a mask around, not sure why. He has CLL and has had it for 10 years. It recently flared up and he is here to get stable again. It was nice talking to them. I went back to the room because I was right that they were looking to give me my meds... there was some ice cream cups... wow! That's service. I put them back in the freezer, I don't have that much of a sweet tooth. I might not have any teeth at all when this is all over.... they won't even let me floss!
             I went to bed at 10:3O or so. My sweetie went out for a beer with some guy friends for his birthday. I'm glad he was able to do something fun! Wait till you find out what I got him for his birthday... something free... I can't wait. Tomorrow... well today... He is coming for a few hours, then my mom and sis are bringing Evalyn for me to see, then Jonathan will take Evalyn home, and I will visit with Jen and Mom for a while. I'm going to go on a walk with my sweetie and  maybe...... have some ice cream.
         Time for my morning nap... with my blessed sleep mask... ahhhh. Then bacon again. I might get spoiled here. 

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