Great Week & Welcome Callie!

Its been a wonderful week here.  Had a really fun & successful trip to Maryland early this week.  I had no idea how much I have missed being out there with our customers & sales people.  It was freezing cold there & kind of rainy so I made the decision NOT to go on the boat fishing on Tuesday.  Instead I hung out by the fire in the lodge & read a book (no internet there!).  It was a very relaxing day for me.  It was a fun but cold day for those out fishing but they had a great time.  Looks like we will eventually get some very nice new business out of the efforts and I made some new friends!  Amber & Lorraine took great care of me, made sure I got back in one piece.

Kendall & the girls were happy to see me when I got home on Wednesday.  Seemed like they really missed me - I guess you get used to Mom not traveling after a while.  I think swim practice every morning is really wearing Emilia out - its about an hour & a half every day.  Eriana has it for only 30 minutes and absolutely loves it.  Emilia has been doing this very cool camp at USN which combines art & cooking & she really enjoys it.  Eriana has been in sports camp at FRA which she enjoys I think.  She did tell me she doesn't like the games that involve balls though.  They died parts of their hair red & purple yesterday.  Pics soon I promise.

On Saturday Kendall took the girls to Happy Tales Humane.  Yes, you know where this is going.  They (especially Emilia) were really broken hearted about Gus's departure so they came home with Callie, a 3 month old calico kitten.  She's adorable, has stolen all of our hearts.  Here she is.  Yes she is sitting on Kendall's shoulder.  She likes to sleep under the covers but makes sure she visits all of our beds during the night.  Arthur & Gizmo are pretty much indifferent to her although she finds Gizmo's tail to be a very fun playtoy.  She hasn't quite figured out traction on our hardwood floors yet which makes for some good laughs.

Yesterday Kendall & I got to spend the afternoon at my boss's house with one of our customers.  It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon with some great friends. 

This is a crazy week in Nashville as it is the CMA Festival so there are tens of thousands of country music fans here in the city.  Good weekend to stay at home & hang out at the pool which is about all we have planned. 

Next week is the 5-day chemo; how does a month pass so fast??  Amber & Lorraine have insisted on taking 2 days each next week to spend over at Vanderbilt with me.  I love them for this, it will make the days go by so much faster as we will no doubt be laughing as we work.  I'll be sure to get pro-active phenergan next week every day so hopefully I won't have the nausea I had when I was in the hospital.

A lot of people have asked me how much more do I have.  Well, the good news is that I've finished 7 of 14 cycles.  If you count it in days of treatment like I do, I've done 23.  I have 26 to go.  After next week that will be down to 21!  I do have to have labs on Monday morning & all my counts will need to be good enough to proceed with treatment so if I have any favors or prayers to ask for, its that the counts are good on Monday, treatment can proceed as scheduled & no PUKING next week!!  Thats not too much to expect right!  I can handle not wanting to eat (goodness knows I don't need anymore calories right now) but the puking just SUCKS.

The girls are busy next week with EB at tennis camp at Lipscomb University & Eriana at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in the afternoons.  EB's happy she doesn't have swim practice next week.  Eri's happy that she does.  Go figure.

People have also asked me a lot lately in person, in email & in cards how I'm doing.  I know some of you think that I'm just telling the good stuff on my blog.  But I'm not - as you know in the last couple of weeks I have written when I've felt like shit as well as when I feel good.  This week has been amazing.  Not only have I felt great physically but being able to do some of my old work activities has been so empowering for me psychologically.  My next step is to try to figure out how to weave in some physicall activity.  Now that the pool is open I'm thinking of trying to do some lap swimming a couple days a week.  I'm hoping to begin that this weekend.  So, if I'm feeling good next week during treatment, I may try to swim or walk in the evenings as well.  Really, truly, for all those who want to know, I'm doing great.  I have so much to be thankful for.

I read an article in USA Today on Monday about pediatric cancers & how the improvement in survival rates is truly a medical miracle.  USA Today Article  I'd suggest you read it - the story is very motivating and inspirational.  And personally, since I kind of consider myself as having a pediatric cancer and am definitely being treated with a pediatric regimen, its extremely encouraging.  It also is an excellent reminder to anybody under treatment of the life and death importance of getting treatments on time, reporting side effects, following the physician's instructions, etc.  Worth a few minutes.

Lastly the garden!  I get asked about that all the time too.  I have to say with the warmer weather its doing better.  There are some things we'll do differently next year - our spring crops really didn't do well.  But we are enjoying it immensely - we go out there at least once a day & tour - even the girls do.  Our sunflowers are starting to bloom & even our new roses & hydrangeas have blooms.  I'll take some more pictures soon.  The soil test didn't really tell us much - you need a Ph.D. in soil management to understand those things.  Even my master gardener Dad confused us with his interpretation.  So we threw down some fertilizer & march on!