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Hello Faithful Followers!!
I've had an interesting couple days. Not great days either!!! I've had a pain in my stomach, up high under my sternum like bad gas pains. It even is radiating around to my back. So, I went to the dr & they did some tests. Results so far are all negative so far. Just a couple more results to come in but sounds like it is chemo irritation. I had Taxol in my abdomen for the first time last week. I was fairly upset because I was counting on this being my "feel good week". I'm feeling better today & looking forward to a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. My whole family will be together with the addition of Reg & Lauretta Granger, Mark (our future 2nd son-in-law). Should be fun. Lots of 4-wheeling, shooting & food.

Keep me in your prayers next week (June 1st & 2nd) my next spa treatment. It'll be #3 of 6!!! that is very exciting!! Have a great holiday weekend & stay safe!!!

Another Day in Paradise

Hello Friends & Family;
Just thought I'd send a quick note to update you since my last "spa day". I've felt great & have had very little side effects this round. Hardly any nausea to speak of. They said I'd have more fatigue with this drug than nausea. I can handle that a lot easier!! But so far even the fatigue hasn't come very hard. I had a good nap this afternoon, though!!

We have a very busy weekend ahead of us. Two of our grandsons, Owen & Myer have baseball tournaments this weekend starting tonite & it's rained most of the day here in beautiful downtown Champlin!! So, not sure what that means for playing tonite. I think they play unless it's lightning!! Yuck!! But true grandparents put up with this kind of inconveniences, don't we?!

Hope you all have wonderful plans for the weekend! Stay dry & enjoy those around you!!

Thought I'd include some pictures of me & my girlfriends at the Royal Wedding. I even wore my royal red robe & we had tiaras & tons of food. These are some wonderful friends & I love them. Yes...we were up at 4am! It was a blast!!!

Friends seeing the Royal Wedding together...yes at 4am!!!

We all had our tiaras on & had a great time!!

Another "Spa Day"!!

I had another spa treatment this morning. It went just ducky!! Everything went wonderful. All my numbers were up quite high & that's really good; so I was able to take the dose of Taxol today. They pump me full of all these pre-meds (hey! I'm pre-med!!) for nausea & allergic reaction, etc thru my IV port in my collar bone area. So that takes a couple hours. Oh, before they'll do anything they draw blood from my IV port & send it to the lab to see if  I'm able to have the treatment. THEN...they hook me up with the IV port for hydration & all the pre-meds. They they access the port in my abdomen (IP Port) with the actual chemo drug called Taxol. This also takes about an hour to drip in by gravity. When that is done, they hook up saline to my IP port & I have to turn over from side to side every 15 minutes so all the meds get "sloshed" all over my abdomen. My daughter Kelly & youngest Grandson Oliver came & kept me company today. We got to watch "Land Before Time"! He thinks it just came out on DVD ( it is aa1988 movie!) When I'm done with all this, they remove the IP port but leave the IV port accessed so Ed can give me my 4 days of hydration here at home. He's become a regulas Florence Nightingale!! Because usually he's hooking me up to hydration in the middle of the night (for me anyway) before he goes to work about 5am!!!! Crazy man!!

I'm attaching some pictures, especially for my friend Tonya Goettle. She had this beautiful hat made for me before I ever had any chemo. She knew what was coming!! This is my absolute favorite hat & Ed says I look the cutest in this one. So here ya go Tonya!!! I'd love the ladies name that made it & maybe get a couple more!! Let me know what I need to do to get her info!!

Hope you all are having a great week. It's been very spring/summer like here the last 2-3 days. 60-70 degrees. Just killed me to have to sit in the infusion center at the U till about 2:30 today. It was a gorgeous day here!!! Be sure & let me hear from any & all of you if you're reading my blog. It's fun to keep up with you all this way. My daughter also has a blog that many of you may find interesting. Her's is http://www.havenofcolor.blogspot.com/. She is quite talented in everything she does from writing, to caring for my amazing 3 grandsons & 1 super son-in-law!!

 My absolutely favorite hat!! It feels great on my bald head & keeps me warm. I just pull it off if I need to cool down. Thanks Tonya! You're amazing to come thru at the exact perfect time!

Thanks again, Tonya!!!

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A friend, Michelle in Haarlem, The Netherlands sent this orange wig & sunglasses for Queens' Day next year. It is a huge celebration of the Queen's birthday & it is party center in Amsterdam!!! So I'm ready for next year!! Look out partyiers; I'm ready!!!

Hello Friends!

I'm back! (That was said with my best Jack Nicholson voice & smile!)
Things have been going pretty good since my last "spa day" on the 11th & 12th. Not a lot of nausea & not much fatigue. I have another spa day tomorrow, the 18th. This is the one I had to skip last month because my white blood count was too low. So, you guessed it, I need you all to say a little prayer that my numbers are good this week & they'll give me the treatment tomorrow!!

We spent the weekend at the cabin; my heaven on earth, if I haven't mentioned that before ; ))! I wasn't doing so good on Sat so I sorta just laid low. More issues with nausea than fatigue. Not much appetite again so I felt weak & shaky. We went "into town" for dinner at Poor Gary's & I ate about 5 bites of pizza then had to leave the restaurant. Can't handle smells sometimes. Sunday was much better. I even rode the 4-wheeler a little! The fresh air always makes me feel better. We came home Sun afternoon & spent the evening watching the Survivor Season Finale! We've watched this together since season 1 when our oldest grandson was just a little guy! It's a tradition. We were thrilled that Boston Rob won!!! I've felt pretty good this week so far. Did a little furniture painting yesterday then spent the evening freezing our chicklets off at our middle grandson's baseball game. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Got another one tonite at 8pm for oldest grandson's game. Who schedules these at 8pm on a school night?!?!

Well, that's me; up todate @ personal! Come back soon @ say hello!!!

Hello again!!

Me...au naturel!!!!

Hello Family & Friends!!
How are things in your corner of the world?! Hope all of you Moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I sure did. Started the day with church & even was able to go to Bible class this morning...mostly because my hubby was teaching the class. I received a Mother's Day gift from a wonderful friend & also a belated birthday preseng from another sweet friend. Then off to lunch at Enjoy China with the fam. More presents; peanuts & Pepsi (you southerners will understand that one), beautiful gold earrings & a gorgeous new scarf. We had a grand old time!!

Things have been amazing the last week or so. I've felt wonderful, have my appetite back & my energy has increased. We went to the cabin this past weekend & rode 4-wheelers all weekend. What a great time that was. Just me, Ed & our 3 grandsons. Those 4-wheelers were running the whole time we were there. Our oldest even learned how to work with the wench!

My next "spa treatments" are Wednesday & Thursday this week (May 11 & 12). Keep me in your thoughts & prayers. I'm actually looking forward to them. Just one more step in the process; one more step closer to DONE!!!

The other big "happening" this past week is; as you can see I lost all my hair. It had been coming out all last week & I was hoping it would last until today, Mother's Day. Well, no such luck! By Friday I looked like my Papaw Rowe! Just almost bald in the front/center/top of my head!!! So when Ed got home I had him shave it all off. It was a little emotional at first but then I realized how free I felt. I've never really liked my hair anyway & hopefully it will come back thick & straight...color, I could care less! So that is why I've included some pictures of myself in different styles of baldness so if you see me out anywhere in any of these "get-ups" you'll recognize me!!

Thanks for all the prayers, thoughts, cards, flowers & well wishes you have all showered me with over the past couple months. I couldn't have done this without you!! Stay tuned for more chemo chonicles!!!
Love ya all!

bandana shot

wig with present glasses

wig with frameless glasses