Curtis Orchard w/girlfriends

I went to my aunts condo first thing yesterday morning. Well ok ..... it was more like 10 a.m.... but it was the first thing I "did" this day!

My Aunt Mary Jayne & Uncle Merwin were there, as were my dad, Aggie, and both brothers - cleaning more stuff out of the condo. Finally making BIG headway and a noticeable difference - whew! We are contacting an auctioneer for most of what is left, and will be able to put it on the market to sell before long.

From there I went to Curtis Orchard to meet girlfriends for lunch. This is the group that meets once a month. It was a great fall day, so we ate outside. Enjoyed the sunshine and lots of laughs!

great weekend!

ok, so I met my California friend, Leslie (and her Mahomet friend) at Satrbuck's in Champaign on Saturday morning. Plenty of conversation and laughs - we all hit it off quite well. Her friend Valerie in fact, said that we should stay in touch and get together again since we live so close to one another. Leslie brought me one of the shirts from their walk last week - what an awesome keepsake!







From there I went out to my dads, where my Aunt Shirley, Uncle Phil and cousin Cheryl had come down to visit with Randy (and see me too I guess :) My aunt & uncle from Fisher were also there ..... we had a big lunch and nice afternoon together. I stayed after everyone had gone and apparently we visited clear into dinner time! We decided to go to Monical's in Mahomet where I got this picture with Randy.



Since Jeremiah had been unable to attend Saturdays get-together, Aggie invited he and I out for biscuits and gravy this morning :) So I was back out there at 8 am. and took my computer so that we could Skype with Brittany. It was great that she got to visit / live chat, with Randy and her grandparents. After we all had plenty to eat, and Jeremiah and Randy talked sports ..... it was time for a couple more pictures before we left. We'd been talking about my new hair growth, so I just decided to pull off my cap and show them. My dad and brother thought theirs (on top) was just a bit longer than mine!



When we left there, Jeremiah and I headed to Champaign and did a little camo shopping for him. He just took a hunter safety course and plans to bow hunt soon. The rest of my afternoon was spent doing dishes, dumping water softener salt, cleaning a closet, watching football and vegging with my feet up.

A fabulous - fun weekend though!

Tomorrow morning I'll go to my aunts condo, where the guys will be working to clean it out :) and then to Curtis Orchard to meet girlfriends for lunch. Sounds like more good, fall fun to me!

oh wait, one other thing ....

It's October 1st! And October is breast cancer awareness month. (Yeah, as if you didn't know that already - ha!) I'll be the first to admit that my view of October, pink ribbons, etc. has changed immensely over these past few months. Yes I used to think it was overkill. Yes I got tired of seeing it and hearing about it. But no, I could not relate personally. Let's just say I knew OF breast cancer, and people who had it . . . . but I didn't KNOW breast cancer. And now it's personal. I am on a breast cancer message board where we were just discussing our different viewpoints on this issue. I love pink, I always have. Now I enjoy seeing the variety of merchandise in the stores. I look at it, I browse through it, and I wonder what some people think when they see that. I consider that it might be the first time they can put a face with the cause. And I smile.

steroids

kept me from sleeping very well on Wednesday night (after chemo) I think I posted that I didn't nap that afternoon, in hopes of sleeping that night. Nope. Didn't work - darn it! I went to bed just before 10 and woke up around 1:20. Could not get back to sleep, felt wide awake! Tried to sleep (however you do that ?) for more than half an hour and finally got up around 2. Went ahead and fixed my coffee, took the dogs out, messed on the computer, had some cereal, unloaded the dishwasher, did a load of laundry, and finally got sleepy around 6. Napped on the couch from 6 to 7 .... then got on with my day.

Craziness I tell ya!

It actually wasn't that bad. I'd rather get up and handle it the way that I did, then to lay there frustrated, tossing and turning.

I had my ob/gyn appointment yesterday (following that sleepless night). This was my second opinion, following that abnormal pap a couple of months ago. This doctor is married to my oncologist - and I liked her very much. She totally put me at ease and wasn't alarmed by my multiple abnormal / suspicious paps. It is a very common virus and she saw no urgency in me having any procedures done right away. She suggested I just wait until the first of the year, when I'm done with chemo and radiation, then have another pap and go from there. So that was good news. It confirmed what I was feeling and I trust her opinion.

Otherwise yesterday consisted of some errands around Champaign. I took care of some business for Aunt Neva's estate and that felt good. Tomorrow I meet a new gal pal from California. Met her on a photo website and started chatting there months ago. Ironically she works for Clarient, a cancer diagnostics company. At one point she sent me a fantastic care package, with that Fight Like a Girl t-shirt and a lot of other great stuff in it. Just last weekend she walked in a Susan G. Komen walk for the cure - and wore my name (and two others) on her back :) More irony .... she has a girlfriend that lives in Mahomet! That's who she is visiting tomorrow - and how I get to meet her. After that I'll go out to my dads for lunch with Randy and more family. Looking forward to it!

Oh, thankfully that sleep issue only lasted the one night - the night of treatment. Let's hope I didn't just "jinx" it by saying that! Zzzzz . . . . .

#8

.... which means I'm halfway through chemo - yaaay!



Not a lot to report (thankfully) as things continue to be going well.
I had a 9:00 appointment today - a little earlier than usual (good thing Britt called & woke me up at 7!) I went by Target and a fabric store afterwards, then headed home.

Was a little sleepy this afternoon - but not enough so to warrant a nap. Figured I'd rather sleep through the night if I can. So just a lazy afternoon and evening at home. I did manage to do one load of laundry :)

I guess it's a good thing, not to have much to report on chemo day!

blah

not today - but random days over the past week or two - just blahhh....

I told some friends I thought it was the full moon. Then my mom emails me outta the blue (not knowing how I've been feeling) asks how I'm doing and says "Now is about the time that the hormones in the treatments sometimes cause depression." I'll buy that :) Actually I know a lot of people fighting the battle, have to deal with depression. I just didn't know anything about the timing. Hers was impeccable.

Don't anybody go worrying now! I am absolutely A-ok! Just tired of being bald, boobless and bloated :) Grew tired of asking for rides and decided I like my own company well enough to do it myself for now. I compared it to running a marathon and everyone "hits the wall" at some point. I'm midway through my treatments and am just ready for them to be over with. Let's move on to radiation, then reconstruction! LOL yeah, I'm getting anxious, but that's fine. Time is gonna buzz by. My calendar is filling up with activities. Yoga once a week, ladies lunches once a month and I just joined a scrapbooking club, we start meeting tomorrow night. Other fun activities sprinkled in there provide distraction and things to look forward to.

Oh, I have what I call "baby bird hair" growing on the top of my head too! It was showing up in sparse, little whispy, random spots, but now it's all over. Ya gotta be in the right light to see it but I can totally feel it and am thrilled. I hope it hangs tight and continues to grow!

Yesterday afternoon I went out to where my dad and brothers were harvesting corn - wanted a few pictures of them.





And last evening was Blue Ridge's Homecoming dance. Though Jeremiah's graduated, he went with his girlfriend Jordan.

#7

Now that treatments are weekly, they are flying by (thank goodness!)
I took myself to and fro today ~ met Jeremiah and Cody for Papa Del's pizza afterwards. It was delicious and I ate too much. Guess I could look on the bright side and say hey, at least you have an appetite and aren't nauseous! Came home and have been lazy ever since. I thought of taking a nap but wasn't really sleepy - just lazy feeling :) Maybe that's what they call the fatigue (?)

I think I failed to mention last week that I joined a yoga class at the cancer center. We meet on Tuesday evenings; so I've been twice now and have enjoyed it. No other big news that I can think of. We've had a heat wave this past week, even though fall officially starts tonight and the crops are coming out of the field quickly - it's been in the 90's.