After my trip to the ER on the 21st, I wasn't sure what the rest of the weekend would be like - Friday and Saturday were "catch up" days that I spent resting. By Sunday I was feeling pretty good, so we went to church (my first time back for a Sunday service since my October surgery) - and it went pretty well. Plus there was a special little guy that was baptized that morning, and we got to see Grandpa & Grandma and mom & dad and aunt and uncles! Came home and rested during the afternoon, while John made the soups for our Christmas get together that night. We went out to Carrie & Justin's about 4:00 and then opened up presents. This year the guys got an envelope and the girls got an envelope - from Jeff & Jill. The guys opened up their envelopes first to find tickets to the Monster Truck races! The girls opened up their envelopes to find tickets to Disney on Ice! Brody went and sat outside on the porch with his arms crossed, when he was asked what was going on, he said "This is just too much to take it all in". Guess he was overwhelmed. We all got lots of nice presents. Thanks to Carrie doing some shopping for me, John got a pretty new shirt. Luckily I had picked up cards and some stocking stuffers one day when I was out! John did all the rest of the shopping - not to mention the grocery shopping, the laundry, etc. etc. I can't tell you how much I appreciate him and how helpful he has been throughout this stressful year. Actually I appreciate ALL my family so much, as I certainly have needed lots of help.
Dr. B had talked with me about a prescription that would help even out the bowel movements, so initally I had tried some powder that you mixed with water to take three times a day before meals. That was going pretty well until the December 5 chemo treatment - by Wednesday I was afraid that I was going to throw everything up when I was drinking the last bit of the stuff. So I called the office to get the prescription for the pills (they had told me before that the pills were pretty pricey, but at that point I didn't care). Nickole had checked with the pharmacy to see what the copay was going to be - it was $46.92 - so John went and picked up the RX for me. I take two of the pills before each meal, and it is doing exactly what it is supposed to. I had a little trouble last week (diaper rash again), but I'm wondering if the antibiotic pill might be responsible for that.
Monday the 26th was our second day off for the holiday (I love when the days fall so we get a nice long weekend out of the deal!). Dr. H's office was closed on Monday too, so I went in Tuesday to get bloodwork done - things looked a whole lot better than they had the previous week. Dr. H wanted to do chemo treatment #6, but I told him that I would like to wait and build up some more strength, plus if we waited until next week that would be back to John's schedule of Monday & Tuesday off, so that he could be there. I was surprised that he didn't put up a fight to do the treatment, but he just said Ok. This was a busy week at work - Peggy had gone south, Dixie went to spend Christmas with her kids and grandkids and Shirley took the week off to spend time with her kids and grandkids. So Nancy and I held down the fort. I did get a lot of catch up stuff done, which should help with trying to do all of the stuff that has to be done in January - getting ready for Annual Reports and W'2's and 1099's and 941's which all have to be done before the end of January. It will be a long month, as it always is.
I have been feeling pretty good this week - the long days at work all week, plus Saturday I put away what little Christmas decorations that I'd gotten out. Cleaned the bathroom and did some laundry. On Sunday we went to church, and then Jeff came to town and brought Brody so that he could spend the night. We went to see Alvin & the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked and took Aunt Carrie and Uncle Justin with us. It was a funny movie - but then who doesn't like the chipmunks. Then we came home and played and colored, etc. Had pizza for supper (Brody's suggestion). After supper we played Left, Right, Center and Brody won! Played some more, then picked up toys and watched Cars 2 until Brody fell asleep (well, actually all of us fell asleep!). Monday morning (my New Year holiday) no one except for Grandpa was moving too quickly - and when we did get up, we were pretty much bums all day - stayed in our pj's! Brody helped me bring the snowmen down, so we got them out to decorate. Grandpa had gotten Brody a monster truck, so he spent most of the day playing with that and lots of cars. Dad came about 3:00 p.m. to take him back home. We had a great day! By the time 5:00 p.m. rolled around, Brody & Jeff had been gone for about an hour and 45 minutes, and I'd gotten in about an hour's nap.
Tomorrow will be back to the grind at work - with no holidays off until the Monday after Easter. I will also do chemo treatment #6 in the afternoon, and then wear the pump until Thursday (this is the halfway mark - I'll finish up in March 2012, barring any complications). When I get the pump off on Thursday I will have to get a shot everyday for five days (at Dr. H's office during the week, at the hospital over the weekend) - to help stimulate the white blood cell growth, so hopefully we won't have any more problems with low blood count. More about that after the fact!
I am praying that 2012 will be a much healthier year than 2011 has been! As you might imagine, I am anxious to have 2011 behind me, and will be pleased when all of the treatments are done.
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