I've got to get back into the mood to write......

Where to start?  Since I learned about Facebook, I've been posting on there so I can see what my granddaughters are up to, since I don't think they read my blog.

After my little grandson, Michael, was born, I got so busy with him that everything else dropped by the wayside.  He is now 5 1/2 years old and is in Kindergarten.  He is gigantic--over 4 feet tall and 80 pounds--the biggest kid in his class.  We were lucky enough to receive a few inches of much anticipated snow, and Michael has been so excited that he's been sneaking out into the backyard while the rest of us are still sound asleep...4am on Wednesday, and about 5:30 yesterday MORNING.  In his pajamas and flip-flops.  We awoke to a tapping sound, and opened the curtain to see him outside our window knocking down icicles off the rain gutters with a tiki torch.  We made him come in and dress properly.  Since then he has been in and out so many times that there's a trail of melted snow from the door to the bathroom, the door to the refrigerator, and the door to his bedroom shelves of toys.  I told him I was afraid he'd get too cold and that he ought to take a hot cocoa break.  In the most condescending manner possible, he patted my arm gently, smiled sweetly, batted his eyes, and in the sweetest voice he could muster said, "Now Grandma, just don't you worry your pretty little head about that!  I'll wear double hats, and when I'm ready you can make me cocoa with double mini-marshmallows....now buh bye!"

Approaching 4 years of breast-cancer free on February 2nd.  Preparing for my Boobtastic Fiesta.  My oldest baby turns 45 in a few days, baby number two turns 43 in March.  Oldest granddaughter, Sarah, graduates from high school in June, and was accepted at Old Dominion University--she will be living on campus, but this will be the closest we've lived together since she was five.  Our whole family here is so excited that we are almost in tears.

We adopted a retired show dog a year ago last summer...a female Tibetan spaniel.  She is sweet and beautiful, and immediately made herself the queen of our home.

Not feeling particularly talkative today--suffering from lack of sleep, as you can imagine, but I know the snow will be melted in a couple of days, and Michael will have to wait another year for another chance for the freezy kid stuff.

We've been watching Downton Abbey on PBS.  I love the lamps.

...back from my longgggg hiatus...

...how much fun snow is!

Michael is enjoying the first good snow of the season. We had a few inches last week, but it turned to rain before he could go out to enjoy it. This time, we got over 16 inches by the time it was all done. Here, he's playing in about 10 inches of freezy kid stuff. What a joy! I love him more than anything in the world.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

...it's time for a boob update.

It has been several months since my last confession...during this time I underwent two surgeries on my right boob, so many MRIs and scans that I have lost count, including a bone scan that involved injection of some radioactive stuff and another scan on my boob just before surgery that involved injections of radioactive stuff around the entire nip. Of course, I was given a "numbing" injection at each injection site, which stung like a wasp sting, but I hate to think exactly how painful it would have been without the numbing first. The surgery was the easiest part of everything.

I am now three quarters of the way through the chemotherapy treatments. I guess that whatever chemotherapy is used depends on the type of cancer, whether or not, and/or how far it has spread past the original tumor, and I don't know what else. I don't know what determines the number of chemotherapy sessions one receives either. One woman told me that she had chemotherapy over a one-year period--but that was back in 1994; I figure it worked because she is still alive. My cousin Ralph's step-sister just got done with chemotherapy and said it has affected her vision and her hearing, and now must use hearing aids and closed captioning and got a much stronger prescription for her glasses. She also said her fingernails peeled off, in addition to losing all of her hair, her eyebrows and her eyelashes. She said she looks like a Martian. But my daughter's friend Melissa's mom said after seven chemo sessions, she was able to go back to work, and that she was a little tired during the treatments, but that was all. She lost her hair and wore a hat.

I am wondering what is in store for me. I knew I was going to lose my hair, so my little grandson did his "cuttie cut" with his little scissors the day before my first session. I have a "five-o'clock shadow" on some parts of my scalp, and other parts are as smooth as a baby's butt. Since wearing a wig, however, I've had more compliments on my hair (7 so far in the past two weeks) than I have since 1967, when I was in beauty school and Joyce Calbow did my hair up in big curls. I have been feeling yukky often enough that it has put a dent in my voracious appetite, and I've been fortunate enough to have lost about 11 or 12 pounds so far. If I can manage to lose another 8 or 9, I will be very happy, and motivated to try to take off another 20 on my own after the chemo sessions are over. I feel like I've lost almost a whole bowling ball from my ass, and it really makes a difference in how I'm feeling.

Anyhow, I have lab work and chemotherapy on a Thursday...from beginning to end it's about six hours. Friday I have to go back to the cancer center and get a shot...that's another whole story involving pain and suffering. The shot stings just a little, but the side effects last 10-12 days, and during that time I feel worse than if my body had been thrown into a wood chipper. This starts Saturday along with the side effect of the chemotherapy...hideous abdominal cramps that feel worse than the final stages of labor. And diarrhea, that keeps me housebound until a day or two before the next chemo session three weeks later. This is why I don't feel like eating--besides the discomfort, what's the frigging point? Plus, there's not enough time between serving food and needing to use the bathroom. And by the time I get back to the table, I've lost my appetite.
But these are just bumps in the road. I am going to get through this the way thousands of other women do every year. They are a strong group--these women. Whenever you see one wearing a pink ribbon, or a sticker on her car, you ought to stand and salute. This is a tough war, and although there are many casualties, there are still many, many survivors.

Release: Sanders Cites Olbermann Suspension in Bid to Block NBC-Comcast Merger - Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)

Release: Sanders Cites Olbermann Suspension in Bid to Block NBC-Comcast Merger - Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)

School Nurse: Barb G.'s Sexual Education Course (Episode 2)

The School Nurse- Barb G. (Episode 1)

....no more bad hair days for a while isn't such a bad thing!

Short-attention-span Michael spent over an hour with his cuttie cut project. His daddy evened things up with shears afterward.


I forgot to mention that my surgeon was so awesome--she is one of two surgeons in this area who specializes in breast-only surgery. The difference between her and a general surgeon is the result--I came out of this surgery with a small scar on the side of my boob where nobody ever looks anyhow. I was so thrilled that I had a friend, a professional baker (Mayra Rivera) make her the best cake ever.

...boobie update

In anticipation of having my hair fall out, my little 2 1/2-year old grandson, Michael, had the time of his life. I bought him some little kid scissors and let him cut off my hair. He went crazy, standing up on the kitchen chair. As he furiously snipped away, his mantra was "cuttie cut, cuttie cut, cuttie cut!!!!!"

Well, after several mammograms, needle biosy, two surgeries, countless MRIs, a bone scan, and more blood being sucked out of my body by lab techs than Bella Lugosi did to all of his victims during his career portraying Dracula, I completed my first chemotherapy session. The highlight of the chemotherapy was the thrill of not barfing. I was so frigging prepared for that...antianxiety drugs (also prevents nausea), a drug taken before and for two days following chemo, a drug added to the chemotherapy IV, and two different emergency pills to pop afterward in case the previous three didn't work. So, I still don't know whether it was the drugs, or just amazingly awesome luck. But I am thankful that I am two weeks closer to my "Forty Years of Barf-Free Living" Thanksgiving celebration (next February 21 will mark the date of the last time I puked). My next chemotherapy session is this coming Thursday...one down, three to go. I know it sounds weird to say I'm looking forward to it, but I am. The sooner I can put this behind me, the happier I will be.