Only two more!

OOPS! how did I hit the post button?  Anyway, this last treatment went just fine.  I was able to have a couple of friends take turns being with me while I was "infused".  4 1/2 hours is a long time, so  it was great to have company.   Dan was leaving for Texas so Rachel drove me home and stayed the night, just in case I had a reaction.  

Just like last time I really felt pretty good on Friday, and Saturday started off fine too.  I started getting stiff and sore in the afternoon, and now am pretty tired and sore.  Not nearly so extreme as last time though.   I am so thankful.  My legs and arms and neck hurt, and ....my face (the bones) which is odd and funny at the same time.  Hopefully my face doesn't hurt anyone else!

My friend Marianne, from Seattle, was in town for just a couple of days.  She came by for a short visit Saturday morning and the time just flew by.  But she had to catch a plane, and it was time to say good bye.  Someday we will get to visit until we run out of things to say, which might take a while...

My cousin Crystal is training for a 58 mile bike ride.  I saw a picture and she looks great!  She is a little over a year out from her Chemo for breast cancer, and very inspiring.  So cool.

Plans for the week ahead include figuring out what we will be doing on July 4th,  Toasting Danny's birthday, and a couple of Dr. appts.  

Any good suggestions for books?  I would love to hear them.  

Have an good week, enjoy each day.  Love, Carmine 

Hello from Phoenix

Saturday is here and I am starting to feel better.  Enough better to stop taking the pain meds.

I am not hiking Thunderbird Mt. today, but I am getting a few household things done, and who knows we might even get really adventurous and watch a movie. This afternoon I resting though.  I don't  seem to have the stamina for too much in one day.  This morning Dan has been really busy.  He got our boat running, the 1st time since last summer (maybe fall?), and worked out in the yard on the sprinklers etc.  Right now he is out with Rachel looking at trucks and 4 wheel drive vehicles for her.  She had one that didn't work out, so they are on the hunt.  

Yesterday, my friends gave me a Mad Hatter Party...  this included lots of crazy hats, bits of jewelry, ribbons, belts,a feather boa and other decorations to dress up the hats.  We all tried all the hats (they looked better with some hair sticking out from underneath) and laughed a lot.  It was SO fun.  We had a good lunch and I ate too many potato chips, but so what.   

Other fun news ....my friend's son got engaged this week! Congrats to John and Lynn!  (and Sean and Danielle the soon -to- be newlyweds)

Remember Amish Friendship Bread?  The kind where you get some bread along with some yeast starter from a friend?  Well, my friend Yvonne brought me some this week, so it is happily fermenting away in a ziploc in my pantry.  I am so glad that it will be during a good week that it is ready to make a batch of bread to share.  And now with computers it is so much easier to share, all the recipe/directions don't have to be copied by hand :-)

Summer is getting going now, it is HOT and really bright out.  Possibly 110 next week.  Definitely want to be up early getting a few things done, and then resting in the afternoon.  I will most likely be going in to work M, T, W.  Things are really in the last crazy stretch for Kids Club at NM.  I will miss the 1st week, which starts June 28th.  :-( But I will get to stick my head in a bit the 2nd week, and I'm grateful.  It really is such an example of God's unconditional love  for kids who don't really get loved.  Everything else aside, that's what it is.    

I am not looking forward to the next round of chemo at all.  This last one was much harder than I expected.   Maybe it is just the accumulation of it all.  But they said it would be easier!  Well,  nothing we can't get through.  There are certainly harder issues and circumstances in life.  And this is helping me .... (remember the slogan?) KICK CANCER"S BUTT!!  ("roundhouse kick" to be precise! )  

Wherever you are, lots of HUGS,

Carmine

This is not FUN.

I meant to write this weekend, I had such good news.....Friday, the day after chemo was soooo good.  I had energy, I wasn't tired or sick.  I was so optomistic that the rest of this treatment was going to go better.  Euphoria would be a good word to describe my mood.  Saturday started a little slower, and through the day I became more tired and towards the end of the day, I started to feel sore.  Sunday I woke up really sore.  My feet, legs, hips, arms, shoulders, neck, and hands. My feet feel like some  one beat the bottoms with a stick. But inside.   Similar to growing pains I guess, it is really hard to describe.  It aches and hurts.  I tried walking, thinking that exercise and blood flow would help.  Wrong.  Then I tried a warm bath.  Wrong again.  So I look like a little old person, limping around and hunched over, easing into my chair.  

The good news is that I found out that the cool of the pool helps for a little bit.  So I have been in and out of it a number of times today.  (YEA, we have a pool!!!)  The doctor's office said the pain  should go away sometime this week.   I am ready.  Other than being really ticked that I have cancer, and that there are more treatments, things are fine.  

I am so proud of our kids, they have shown me such love and care and they constantly make me smile.  How did they get so smart and courageous?  Rachel will be mountain climbing in the Cascades and then Peru later this summer! She is working full time and going to school full time.   Kate is in DC for the summer as an intern for the Department of Defense and then will be graduating college!  And then getting her Master's Degree.  Danny is strong and caring and insightful and great at his job, too.    So I will think about this and quit complaining..... Sorry for the whining.  

Next summer, Dan and I will have some adventures to replace the memories of this summer at home.  

Love you, Carmine

           

I'm good, how are you?

You have been reading the mundane and repetitive account of my life, chemotherapy and the roundhouse kicking of cancer's butt.  How is your summer starting?  I have been praying for graduations, kids moving on to college, boot camp, weddings, pregnancies, knee replacements (yes more than 1), other surgeries, and adventurous trips.  Everyone has challenges and I am hoping  you are finding strength and hope in yours.  

We had a great  visit with Danny over the weekend, all we could have hoped for. He is able to fit in time for everyone.  The last night after dinner we were all able to just sit out on the back patio and relax for a little bit together. He makes us feel loved, and very proud.  It was hard to say goodbye, and of course I cried.  

I worked at Neighborhood Ministries on Monday and Tuesday and will again today.  There is lots to be done getting ready for summer programs.  500 + inner city kids will be all over the place for 2 full weeks.  Worship, skits, crafts, lunch, field trips, swimming, etc.  It is hot, tiring and wonderful.  I will miss being in the middle of it all this year.  There is more after the 2 weeks... Jr High, High School, mountain camp, etc and I will be able to get bits and  pieces of it all.  Right now there are summer interns all over the place.  They have been painting, cleaning, sorting crafts supplies, making phone calls to help plan field trips, carnival day and Lake Day.  

The activity level is great to be around.  AND the focus is not me!  Yesterday I made all kinds of calls asking for boat owners to come to Canyon Lake and give kids boat rides, and caught up a bit on my boss's scheduling.  It went really fast.

Tomorrow is the new type of chemo, and it takes longer so I will be there for 4 hours.  It should be easier than the last four, and so I am looking forward to the next 2 months being better! I will let you know how it goes.  Here is a thumbs up in anticipation of the next four sessions.

Carmine

Earl Grey

Unbelievable  but true, Earl G. tastes better than coffee to me right now.  Coffee stills smells great, thank goodness.  It is surprising the things that taste off, or smell weird. Cashews are moldy and musty. Toothpaste is not normal right now.  It both tastes and smells bad.  I have tried different brands and it doesn't help.  I was worried the strange taste and smell were coming from ME, but Dan has told me several times that it is not true.  Just in case, if you are my true friend, you will let me know if it is otherwise!  

What a way to start the latest blog entry.  Today is Sunday and I am really feeling much better.  My energy is up, and we are having a great weekend with Danny!!  It has been great to actually put my arms around him and get a big hug.  I just wish it could be every weekend.  He looks good, and has been working hard.  I haven't cooked any meals for us, which is a crime because he should be getting wholesome, home cooked, love infused, healthy, mom's best recipes- daily while he is home.  Next trip will have to do.  Instead, Dan and Danny have cooked or we have gone out for food.   

I am going to work the next few days, and enjoy the evenings on our back patio.  And get  some exercise  while I am doing good.  I know the days between now and Thursday will go fast, so I am going to enjoy as much as possible.  Church and communion today reminded me of how much I am blessed, and the capacity I have been given to share love, kindness and forgiveness.  (not me in particular, but as a child of God).   God will take care of the hard stuff.  

Thanks for following my blog.  If you want you can email me at danm58@netzero.net   

:-)  Carmina

Lots of Visitors

Well, I am progressing through the week as usual.  I am still very tired but so grateful that I am not sick.  I have had so many friends checking in on me.  Flowers, lunch, berry sherbet, sitting and chatting, to make the time go faster, phone calls and cards, it is all so encouraging.  Rachel came by; my friend Lynn stopped in after work; Doug and Tiffany Grim and baby Sophia, who has the cutest fattest cheeks on a baby; My Mom is in town for a couple of days for my Dad's surgery and she was able to stop by; and another friend Tami, who I haven't caught up with since early fall.  

I am definitely living through others right now.  Kate is at the beginning of her D.C. internship that runs through the summer.  How cool to have 10 weeks in Washington?  Rachel just took a motorcycle course, is taking summer school and working at the ER.  Danny was up in DC with Kate last weekend and is getting stronger now that he is past his tonsillectomy.   They all have way better stories tell than me.  

I walked around the block early this morning, trying to get a little blood pumping through my "mashed potato" body.  (as in contrast to a couch potato, which I think at least has some shape to it... kind of a baked potato?)  I napped both morning and afternoon, and after a few visits, here I am thinking about what time to get to bed.  Tomorrow will be a great day though because Danny is coming to town for the weekend for a quick visit!!! 

I am hoping tomorrow is the light switch day, when all the energy and enthusiasm comes back.  If not tomorrow, Friday? Tomorrow I also see the oncologist for a quick check in.  I like her, she is very direct, but lets you ask all your questions and doesn't make you uncomfortable for asking the questions.  I will probably be getting the information on the next round of the new chemo drug that I start next Thursday (June 11th).  It is called Taxol.  

Well, more later, hopefully with a joke or a story or something of interest! 

Carmine