Big Change (for the worse)

Not with my health, thank God.

Sabian, our oldest son, decided today that he didn't want to be part of the family any more. He is going to be 18 in September and had been talking of leaving then. A HUGE mistake on his part but we were tired of fighting him on EVERYTHING. Anybody with children is aware of the drill. Parents know nothing and the teen knows it all. He seemed to think that he was the boss of the house. Had the guts to tell me last night that I had no business speaking my mind in my own house. Not going to belabor the point. All of the kids have been told for literally years that if they left the family under bad conditions that they would not be allowed to return to living here. It is a crying shame that one person's selfishness causes so much grief for eight others.

He will always be our son. Nothing will ever change that. The whole family loves him. We wish him well. Just hope his friends who have been filling his head with crap are all willing to give him support. Shelter, food, clothes, and transportation do not come cheap in this world. Guess some people have to learn life the hard way.

If you have any spare prayers, please send a few Sabian's way. He is surely in need of some. The family will surely be upset while we work through this transition. BUT, we are strong and will continue to survive just fine. Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks for your understanding.

A Long Week

Doesn't seem like it has been a week since my last update - time sure flies!

Where do I start? Tuesday morning we went to the oncologist for my CT scan results. Great news there, at least. No growth at all! No shrinkage of the remaining spot on my liver but the doc was happy to see no growth. Don't have to go back to him now until September!! More time to get my body closer to normal. We left about noon to go to Adventureland, an amusement park, located outside of Des Moines, Iowa. We stayed at the Adventureland Inn. Had a room just off of the kiddie pool area. The kids played most of the afternoon and evening in the pool. We had a pizza party there. Went to the park most of Wednesday. I had rented a motorized wheelchair to use. That made things much easier. I mostly played photographer. I did do the Teacups and River Rapids log ride. Got some great pictures to share when I put them on the computer later. Spent a little time in the hot tub that night. I was not feeling very good most of the time there. BUT it was very important to me to spend some quality time with my family. It might be our last vacation together as a full family. Sabian turns 18 in two months - no telling if he will still be home next summer.

I still am not feeling very well. Woke up twice during the night and got sick. Not able to eat much today - tummy is so weird feeling. A full month out of chemo now - should be feeling better than this :( Since my tummy is so weird I am back to soft foods for a bit to see if that helps.

That is it for now - stay tuned - Same Bat time - Same Bat channel LOL

Saturday July 21st

Well, I was just getting ready to do a post and got sick :( It has passed so I will try again. Don't know what is going on and am getting pretty tired of it. I ate pretty good today but did get sick this afternoon too. Still hoping to get over this weirdness.

We ran a few errands tonight. Finally got my friend Pat's computer back to her. Had to do many updates and scans. Been over a year since I last worked on it. Added alot of goodies for her Incredimail program. I really enjoy mine and think she will love hers too. Incredimail offers some really cool stuff such as animations. They also offer a free screensaver called Magentic. That has tons of great wallpapers and animated screensavers. I enjoy just sitting and watching them. Some of them are so real you would swear that you were outside.

Gonna call it a night - take care and God Bless. Post a comment!

Time gets away from you

Funny how time can get away from you :( So much for daily updates...

Well things seem to be improving somewhat. I am actually able to eat meat again! The other night Brenda was eating a leftover Whopper. It smelled good to me so I asked her for a bite. I didn't know if I could tolerate it. It tasted good so I asked for another bite lol. Weird how the last few months I couldn't tolerate even the smell of most meat without feeling sick. Brenda bought some Corky's BBQ'd ribs from QVC and made some up the other night. They tasted good too!!

I am still getting sick almost every day (the coughing up of phlegm.) Hopefully that will dissipate soon. Maybe my body is slowly getting back to normal, whatever that is now. Nothing will ever be the same after cancer hits.

Today was the last official day as an employee of Quad Cities Online. We had a food day down at the office yesterday. It was great seeing everybody that had moved over to the Rock Island Argus. We had some good conversation and some great food. I ate pretty well, even a few bites of a cheddar brat. I did get sick just before we left for home. Got almost everything packed up from the office. Still have the small refrigerator to clean out and transport home.

Tripped on the way to the dining room - darn aero bed strap caught my big toe. Scraped my right knee and elbow a bit - hate being clumsy and weak. Hope that will pass too.

Enough for now - take care and God Bless.

Just another manic monday

Not too much to say about today. Our Internet was down most of the day. Ended up having to go to the cable company and changing out the cable modem. Then when I tried things, the wireless router did not want to work. I played with it for HOURS :( Finally it just started working again - WTF?? Think the cable company's server just took its sweet time recognizing my router. At least it has been working fine every since. We have had sporatic Internet failures over the last few months, which was probably the cable modem slowly dying. Onward and upward from now on!

Weight was stable - ate ok today. Appettite seems to be slowly getting better. I would love to be able to at least tolerate eating some meat, maybe even a steak! We will have to see about that but I am hopeful.

Time for bed - got a ton of things to do tomorrow - energy permitting, of course.

There is a new poll at the bottom of the blog - please check it out when you get a chance. Til tomorrow - same Bat time - same Bat channel LMAO

Sunday update

I felt good enough today to do some work outside. It was a beautiful day and my van was in the shade. So I decided to do some cleaning and maintenance. As usual, I overdid it. I took lots of breaks, where I sat down in a chair but it made no difference. My body decides when it is overly tired. When I finally broke down and went inside, I ended up getting sick. I then laid down and rested for over an hour. Felt a little better so I got up and ate some soup. I will go to bed early tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel more energy. I have plenty to do in the house. I just have to learn when to call it quits, before I get overly tired. It seems to be a fine line between what I want to do and what my body will allow me to do.

This next week I am hoping to really start feeling better. It will be the fourth week after chemo. So it is the best break I have had since I started this chemo roller coaster. I have lab tests and a CT scan on Thursday. Hopefully they will show things are still okay. I do NOT want to have to start up with chemo for a long while.

Please send a prayer my way on Thursday - take care and God Bless.

Saturday update

As usual I have missed a few days lol.

I have been eating a little better. Weight is up a few pounds. Was working outside on the cars yesterday and did too much. Ended up having to take a long nap. Felt good enough later to go run some errands.

It has been three full weeks since chemo ended. I still don't feel much better. I think it is still working itself out of my system. Chemo is such nasty stuff. It is a definite catch 22. Yes, it kills the cancer cells but also kills good cells. I have read that chemo kills more people than the cancer. It sure screws your body up royally. What is worse is that the oncologist said that when the cancer shows back up, as it will almost surely do, he will need to try different chemo drugs. Cancer gets immune to the drugs used. Eventually, they will run out of things to use. Unless they come up with something new soon that is more effective I will run out of options.

We keep praying for a miracle. We are trying our best to maintain a positive attitude but that is hard to do. I am losing my job at QC Online as of the 22nd. Then I will be drawing from a long term disability fund that only pays 60% of what I used to make. I have already been approved for Social Security disability but that doesn't kick in until the end of November. My COBRA insurance is going to cost me almost $800 every month, leaving little or nothing to live on. What a wonderful world we live in. When you need help the most nothing is available. We are looking into every option out there but things do not look good.

Enough for now - keep us in your prayers - take care and God Bless.

Wednesday update

Yes, I know I have been bad. Been feeling pretty rotten for quite awhile. This is now the third week after chemo and still no real improvement. Maybe next week :)

My weight is still holding steady around 166. Brenda says I could be a poster child for African relief. My ribs and legs are so skinny I hardly recognize myself. I am eating ok but just not enough to put any weight back on.

I will try to post everyday, if I am able.

Please post some comments!

People undergoing a major life crisis such as cancer can always use some reassurance. Just knowing that people care can make a huge difference. Just a note that offers prayers or a "thinking of you" means so much. I recently read a very good book that covers such things. I will post a blog about it soon. Might make great reading.

Thanks for being there - take care and God Bless.

Friday update

Still hanging in there. Tummy still bothers me but I am holding steady on my weight. This is the second week out of chemo. I have felt a little more energy but still get pooped out easy. Hoping it keeps getting better. Not sleeping very good. The new cushion on the bed helps alot but I think that my Ambien CR is crapping out. Might be time to try something else.

Got a ton of things to do before I poop out :) Later.

Feeling a bit better

Today I am feeling a little bit better. Still have a tummy ache but haven't gotten sick. That in itself is a big step forward. Eating and drinking is going better too. Maybe I have turned a corner here :) I sure hope so. I am so tired of being sick and tired. I have finished a few projects I have wanted to do for ages. Just finished updating my list of DVD's. They are finally organized, both my master copies and the ones I made for the kids. The kids are notorious for leaving their DVD's laying around. They leave them out of the cases so they end up getting scratched and unusable.

Maybe I can start updating this blog on an every day basis, now that I am feeling better. I still poop out quickly but am able to get a few things done.

Until next time - take care and God Bless.