A Long 13 Hour Day

What a long day! Geri had been very low energy this week. It seems to take longer to recover after each round of chemo. We were scheduled for an MRI at 8:30 at Crawford Long but, as Geri was feeling so crappy, we left early to get there by 8:00 so we could go to the cancer center first to have blood taken to check levels. After the MRI, which finished at 10:15, we rushed the 8 miles to the surgeon's office to discuss the next treatment, surgery or radiation. After reviewing the MRI he reported that the chemo had reduced the tumor then discussed the pros and cons of what to do next. Geri decided to do radiation first (every day, 5 day/wk for 6 weeks) then surgery (4 days in hospital and total 6 week recovery), then probably another two rounds of chemo. Looks like surgery will be early July.

When we left the surgeon's office we got a voice mail telling us to return to the cancer clinic because Geri's platelet count was low. We return, make appointments to see the radiation oncologist on 7 May, then find out the arrangements had been made for a blood transfusion at the clinic facility at Emory, near where we were at the surgeon's office. Off we go again and arrive there at 12:15pm. This is a larger clinic than the one at Crawford Long and we were at the end of the line for the days intake. Consequently, we had to wait until 2:00 to even see a nurse, then they had to draw blood (another 30 mins) to type and cross, which they said would take 2 hours. I won't bore you with the details but the blood finally arrived at 6:00pm. They force fed a unit into Geri in one hour (the previous transfusions have taken about 2 hours/unit) and kicked us out at 7:05pm as they were putting out the cat and bolting the door for the night. We arrived home at 8:00pm and have to be there again tomorrow morning for platelet check, another unit of blood and possibily platelets.

Geri is a little better and her color is improved after the unit of blood but still no energy. Hopefully tomorrow she will be better after another unit. The radiation regimen will be easier on Geri and give a near normal life for a few weeks, for which she can't wait.

Fairly good for Monday -- minor complication

I felt so good going in for counts and to see the Chemo Doctor Monday. Since I had gotten blood, fluids and potassium on Friday, I figured I would have a short visit and be home by my Monday 10am conference call. Bob and I both forgot to bring our cells phones, and I never even considered the laptop. So I was shocked when they told me I needed potassium, and we did not even get out of there till about 2:30pm. I have said all along you cannot plan past 15 minutes with these guys. Things (my body I guess) are always changing.

However, as soon as they gave me the postassium, they took out the PICC line. Now, other than some gauze string in my port, (we are probably down to about 14 inches, pulling out an inch a day) I have no forgeign medical things in my body at all for the first time in months. Here is something pretty gross about the PICC line, and I am so glad I did not know it till it was gone. I knew I had a couple of stitches on the inside of my arm sewing it in. I just thought it was an internal IV and never really thought about size or anything. I did not watch them take it out, but Dr. Bob did. The darn think looks a like a whole piece of angel hair pasta and going up inside my arm to heavens knows what vein. It never hurt when I had i, but I have some little aches now, which I am sure just in my head and will go away. After getting blood on Friday (and looking at it this time) it only took me a couple of days to try catsup again, so I am sure I will get over it. Pasta tonight!

The Chemo doctor is off for a few weeks (taking boards -- hope he is recertifying and not just now passing them!), I will only go in there for blood counts on May 7 and not see him again till May 21. Actually, at this point, I am really in the surgeon's hands unless he passes me off the radiation Friday after the MRI. For a while, the "unknown" was making me crazy, and I was not sleeping. Even with chemo, I knew chemo was still going on. But now I have figured out, whatever is next, is not chemo, so who cares what the unknown is. Things will be clearer by Friday and either option is fine with me-- good thing since it is not really my choice!

Probably will be nothing knew till Friday. I go have my port checked out this afternoon. And unless Cindy's Atlanta driving is eventful (heaven forbid), should be a nothing day. I am just working from home all day on Wednesday and Thursday with an all day conference call on Wednesday -- a meeting at the office I am taking over the phone. So if we do not blog Wed, Thurs, or till even late on Friday, assume the best and nothing new to report. Thanks for checking on me!

Started out tough, ending nicely

When I woke up at 2am sick to my stomach, not able to sleep, I was not happy. I moved to a guest room, took a magic pill and by 4 I was back to sleep (it was probably the boring book, not the pill that helped) till 830. Not to be too graphic, but after I got "sick" my fever broke and that helped. I was kind of lazy till about noon (since I really don't do much of anything now I am not really sure "kind of lazy" means in my world anymore). Michael and Erin were here for a few hours, and it was great seeing them. Michael confirmed my wounds (including prior port site ) were healing well and that Dr. Bob was doing the superb job we all knew he was. He also confirmed what we were doing with my skin tears was fine and gave us a suggestion or two on other things we could do. We went through a list of questions I have for the surgeon next week just to make sure we were covering all bases. And speaking of bases, we got away from all the medical stuff and watched the Braves beat the Mets too. Erin entertained us with cheerleading routines and a history lesson (she loves British history, especially Charles the First - go figure). And to top it off, Yonnie showed up surprisingly with a delicious dinner. Good thing she brought plenty because Michael and Erin chowed down for lunch. I was not sure what Bob and I were doing about dinner ye,t so her timing was perfect.

I have more energy today, as you would expect with 2 pints of blood. Just hope I can make it through next week needing no more. Then I think I am home free for a while. So now I just watch HGTV and see what happens next for me.

It finally happened - cabin fever

While I do not feel good enough to do anything really, this is the first day I feel good enough to be bored. I think that is progress! I woke up early with a bundle of energy (some drugs help) at 6am just lying there till it was at least 8am and not too early to wait for Bob to turn over halfway awake to see if he wanted me to go get bagels. Probably a good thing he did not as my energy would have probably been gone by the time I got dressed. Then I called Michael (at 7am his time, thrilled I am sure) to see what sort of exercises ( who am I kidding) I could start doing besides walking to build my strengh back. I heard on "The View" that if you do squats to build your quads you won't have as hard a time getting up from a chair when you are older. My plan was to start there. So far I have done none, but it is still only 4:45pm. Started resting again at 10am, showered at noon, and later when I realized it was 1:15pm and I still had a whole day to go I realized I might go crazy. It is really hard when you want to do "something" but you are out of breath just walking from one room to another. The blood I got yesterday is helping, but it really takes a few days to kick in. So right now, my brain is in gear, but everything else is exhausted.

Bob was watching some WWII movie (is there any other kind), and I went to the sunroom to read the paper. We've put a lot of plants and flowers out there and the pollen or something was choking me. Moved back to the den and decided it was too dark in there. So I moved to the living room which is brighter. Susan called on the phone, and 5 minutes later Mitzi showed up and there was my afternoon! Thank goodness. I am pretty sure I was about to start a "spring cleaning" type list for Bob and that just might have pushed him over the edge.

I know I need to start reading a new book(something really light), and I will get past this. I need to feel better and get back to my life. I have great ideas of things I want to do here and at work, but no energy to execute or even put them on paper. They generally come to me about 6 to 8am which I am finding, from my bed,is my most productive time of day. Maybe I just need a longer acting sleeping pill so I can move the time to 9:30 or a more reasonable hour.

Michael and his girls, Erin and Landon, are coming tomorrow for the day. Cindy checks in Tuesday till Saturday, so my days won't seem so long. This will be the week I don't feel so good anyway. The fact that I have 4 doctors appmts, (Monday for labs with the Chemo doctor, Tues and Friday with radiology for the port thing, MRI and the surgeon on Friday). I am trying not to be anxious about the MRI or surgeon. I am ready for the next step whatever it is! I am a little afraid that I have underestimated the toll surgery and radiation will take on me, but what's a girl to do? You gotta have hope!

I am hoping the blood kicks in a little more tomorrow! Have a good weekend!

Friday again.

Well, Miss Geri is getting her two units of blood and saline infusion this morning. Still very tired and sleepy, but the blood should help that. After the blood we have a meeting with the port removal surgeon so he can check on progress on that issue then its off home for the rest of the day and a quiet weekend. Th.. th.. th.. thats all folks.

Day 4 Round 4, No encore.

This is low energy nadir day so Geri is resting during the infusions. Her powers of deligation are not impaired so I get to do this. We got an early start today by being here at 8:30 and they started the infusion by 9:00. She gets two units of blood tomorrow, and fluids. We are here again on Monday for blood work and visit with Chemo Saba (Dr. Saba). Then again Tuesday for the port inspection (new Homeland Security measure). The surgeon appointment is rescheduled for Friday next week so we can get a post-chemo MRI at 8:30 then meet with him at 10:30.

Geri says "Hi" to everyone and "Thank You" for all the support and encouragement.

Making some progress

It is Day 3 (of 4) of my last round for a while of chemo. Yesterday was ok, but I was really tired. I can tell I need the transfusion I will get on Friday. But I am making progress. On Wednesday, I see the surgeon. I thought I would get an MRI before that but that has not been scheduled yet. The Chemo Dr told me today that having radiation was not necessarily a done deal so I could not need that, but I do not want to get my hopes up. Last week he also told me, as I have heard before, that sarcoma does not react well to chemo, meaning it has effect but not as much as some other cancers. I started questioning that and told him while I would not make a stupid life threatening decision, I would want to know some numbers regarding reoccurrance whether I did or did not have 4 more chemos after sugery. He then told me it would probably just be 2 (a lot more palatable than 4), but the surgeon would look at the effect on the tissue thus far. I was really bummed when I thought I would need 4 more chemos. With a little break, I can handle 2 if I must. At any rate, next week we either move in to surgery or radiation so we are making progress! I am ready for my real life. I want to complain about too much to do and not enough time to do it, having to work every day and cook dinner, clean dishes, do laundry, grocery shop, pay bills, keep the house going, exercise and play tennis................I just can't wait! It can't come soon enough.

My port area is doing better. Every n0w and then there is a little pain but mainly it is from the torn skin from the paper tape. We are now taping up a smaller area so we can eliminate some of the skin tearing. Unfortunately that leaves the already torn area exposed so clothes rub against it and that hurts a bit. I guess I just need to wear more revealing outfits so the skin is more exposed.

Bob is hanging in ok having perfected his medical, cooking, shopping and laundrying skills. We've got incredible help with family and friends filling in when they can, but he has had so much on his shoulders! What a good guy! So even if just for him, I hope it all ends soon. While we still have a way to go, we are making progress!

It will be a long day

Usually Monday of Chemo week is a long day, but since I was just having labs and not seeing the Dr I thought we would get moving more quickly. We did not. I guess the lab was slow. They do not start your chemo till they get your labs back. I guess they are looking for certain criteria to make sure you are ok. I will not get out of here before 6:30pm tonight. My numbers were good today except I am really anemic and need some units of blood. I knew I was exceptionally tired over the weekend, so it is not unexpected. I can't get the transfusion until Friday because we cannot interrupt the chemo, so I started taking iron today and sent Bob out to get red meat for dinner. I got a shot that boosts your Red cells today (I get it at the start of every chemo session) and that will eventually help but not as quickly as a transfusion. And that shot really does hurt, stinging all the way down. It is probably a good thing Bob does not give me that one because I would probably hold it against him for a while.

I feel ok, it is just you get this kind of mediciney (pretty sure that is not word) taste in your mouth when the drugs are going through you, and it does mess with your appetite. I have been sucking on hard candy (lemon drops and lifesavers) so now my teeth will rot out. It is all the side effects that get you.

I think I told you the bandaging on the port had caused a problem so they switched it to a paper tape bandage. Well that was breaking me out too so they started "painting" me with this stuff that is really tacky first that should help the paper tape. There are few spots where is really tearing the skin away and it hurts, so I am not sure what the next solution is. I will see those guys tomorrow and maybe we can figure something else out. Funny thing is, my sister Lisa went through the exact same thing when she was in chemo. Since she is also a nurse she probably has a good solution. Yeah- I will ask her!

Nap time!

A Lazy Sunday

I am not sure why, but I woke up tired. And I slept till 10 am. I had been up some during the night, but I never sleep that late and then am still tired. After an exhausting breakfast, shower, then lunch, I took a nap and actually slept again -- usually I just "rest". By about 2:30pm something kicked in, and I felt human again -- did laundry, paperwork and cooked dinner. I am going to blame it on the pollen, rain and a lazy Sunday, but it was probably just crappy chemo.

I was really bummed about starting chemo tomorrow, but then I realized my first couple of days are not that bad -- it is just inconvenient being tied to an IV all day, and they I have some chemo I take home with me for 3 nights in a little purse like pouch. I never sleep very good with that thing as I am paranoid I will turn over and pull it out of my arm. Bathing/showering with it is a pain too. But is it Round 4 so I am just trying to focus on that. I am not sure how long after this round of chemo before they set up the MRI - next week or when. I hope they will pull this PICC line out on Friday after I have fluids but I don't know about that either. I will not see the Dr till Wednesday so I guess I will find out some of this then.

Overall it was a decent weekend. I just continue to be tired all the time, and I really did not expect that. Bob seems to have understood that from the beginning, but I guess being Super Chemo Girl it did not sink into my peabrain. I am getting it now!

I need to go pack for chemo -- get my laptop charged up, work for the week into my briefcase, and maybe a little pleasure reading if I can concentrate. And I have to get it all done in time for Desperate Housewives!

I miss my real life

Well, I made it to the meeting on Friday without any mishap. I did not stay till the very end as I was getting tired, had a doctors appmt, and frankly, it just hurts (the tumor) to sit in those kind of chairs. I was in the office about 2 hours total, and it was great to see everyone and feel a little normal. Okay, maybe not that normal since on "normal" days people aren't as excited to see me, come up and hug me and shower me with attention (which is always fun!). So I made the debut in the wig, and it did not fall off. I even went to the hospital to the radiology unit that checks my port site twice a week in full drag -- wig, makeup etc. They had never seen me with hair (but I always have some sort of cap). They all had to do double take to recognize me and of course made the appropriate fuss. I guess I need to at least put some makeup on occasionally! Bob has never been much for make up so if we are just at home I don't bother. But now I am getting tired of looking at me like this so on days I can I will have to make the effort. But I am not wearing the wig to chemo!

My bottom eyelashes seem to be falling out still, and while I will have a good many eyebrows, I am afraid they may be going too. This next round of chemo will probably do them in. Weird though, I have some hair on my head that continues to grow.

I was exhausted Friday night but slept well and felt good Saturday a.m. Bob had an early tennis match, and I needed some things from CVS (some things you just have to do for yourself). I even went to Fresh Market to get a few grocery items. No one ever seems to be in that store so I figure my germ opportunity was less there than Publix (there goes Publix stock) so I went as soon as the store openned. They have bacteria wipes by the carts so I got it pretty clean. As it turns out I had to send Syd to Publix later anyway, but I did get somethings I can't get at Publix.

I will still feeling good when I got home so I cleaned my car (the inside - no point in cleaning the outside this time of year with the pollen in GA). I am a fanatic about cleaning my car. When I was "normal" every week I would vaccuum, Armoral, windex etc my car myself. When working, I live in my car. It is my home many hours a day, and I just hate for it to be dirty or trashy. Bob for all his good points, does not share my fetish. And since he has been the main one driving me to the hospital occasionally, it was far below my standards. There was a McDonalds bag in the back seat for heavens sake. That would not happen if I was back in control!

My whole outing -Cvs, Fresh Market and cleaning my car (at home) took about 2 hours - from 10am to noon. That did not include my shower. I was wiped out till 5pm. I do all that and play two sets of tennis most Saturdays before noon, and then have a full afternoon of errands. I want my life back!

I am not sure I should be in charge of the check book anymore. Today when balancing the books, paying bills, I noticed I input in my check register, a check to Publix for $1370, that was really $13.70. The amount we paid was right, I just wrote it down wrong. At least the mistake was in our favor. I may have to get Bob to double check me. At 5pm I did start balancing check books (with Bob's Renovate business and other stuff we have going that is about 5 checking accounts -- you don't have to have much money to have 5 checking accounts). Just doing that and going through the mail took me till 7pm. I cooked dinner and started over again at 845 paying bills, so we are fairly currently with all that. I have a massive mess with things I need to file for our flex spending reimbursement count that I need to get into and get our money back. That will be my project for tomorrow and getting some work done that I can do during chemo this week. My cell phone has not been working well in the chemo room so I mostly do work via email on those days.

My chemo Doc is out of town on Monday so I will not see him till Wednesday. That will get me started a little earlier on Monday as soon as my blood counts come in. I am feeling more tired than I think I should so I have a feeling they will give me a couple of units of blood this week. That should give me a boost I think in about 48 hours.

But Monday is the 4th Quarter of this playoff game, and I just can't wait to get through this week. I am so ready for surgery or radiation (but I should be careful for what I ask for I know) but I want my life back and that is what it is going to take! Time to move on.

Speaking of time, my11pm alarm just went off. That means it is time from Bob to give me my blood thinner shot. When I am feeling respectful, I call for Dr. Bob. When I am iritable, he is just "shot boy" kind of like the country club "towel boy". I am going to have to see if there is direct correlation as to how much the shot hurts and what title I use in calling him. Hmmmmm, maybe that is the problem and cause for the discrepancy! I will start the secret survey tonight.

Neither of us have a reason to turn the alarm on for the morning so I will to see how long I can sleep. May be time for a big healthy fattening Sunday breakfast! I will need it for next week

Stay tuned!

I'm still standing

I am almost afraid to say this -- it is mid afternoon and so far today I have not fallen even once. And so far, I am not sore from yesterday's mishap! Have had something of a normal (at home) work day. I still just get tired from taking a shower so that is a challenge. I am going to try to go for a short (very, very short) walk when Bob gets home to try to build some stamina. And, I am still going to try to go to a 10am meeting at my office tomorrow. No clothes really fit so baggy olds ones will have to do. I may have to practice doing hair (wig) and make-up for tomorrow after a quick little rest this afternoon. I go to the port Dr again tomorrow for my twice weekly check up, and then Monday starts Round 4. I do not have as much anxiety about it as I did Round 3, but I am not excited about it except for the fact that it is the end of chemo for a while.

Nap time!

Maybe it knocked some sense into me

Well today started with a bang. I got a great night's sleep, got up early and started doing some work on the computer. With the tumor on the back of my upper thigh, sitting in a desk chair is not very comfortable. I put a big cushion on it, but it really does not work that well, so I do most of my desk work from the sofa or bed. I needed to print so I needed to be at my desk, and like I always do, I just sat on the edge of the chair. The chair has rollers. It won't take much to paint this picture. I was too much on the edge! The chair rolled back from under me. I hit the floor on my back end, the chair bumped against something else and flipped forward with the back part of the chair hitting me in the head. A sit-com could not have stagged it better. My pride was hurt more than my body (till tomorrow), but all I could do was laugh. Bob slept through the whole thing -- and it was a loud thump.

Luckily, the day got better. So far, for two days in a row, I have only taken one pain pill and the only at bedtime, and I have cut my sleeping medication in half and am getting good sleep. The port place is still uncomfortable but not terrible aching paid. The plastic surgeon my radiologist consulted said as long as I had no infection in the port place it should heal ok. They check it twice a week, and Dr. Bob does a little procedure on it nightly. We discovered yesterday I am a little allergic to the Tacoderm (correction: its Tegaderm, Tacoderm is hard shell tortilla) which is this great bandaging they used on the port site. It is easy to use, waterproof, but I guess not so great if it gives me a rash. That was contributing to some of the pain too and now it feels much better. So, if I continue feeling this good, I am going to try to attend a work meeting on Friday morning in my office for an hour or so, and I can't wait. I feel like a teenager going to a party! I can't figure out what to wear (nothing fits anymore). I have not put make-up on in months, and it will be my first public outing in my wig. What if it falls off? Or worse yet, I start having a hot flash in the middle of the meeting and jerk it off? Fortunately, I am really close to all the attendees so that will help (some may be reading this now - so you are appropriately warned). I just hope I do not fall out of the chair. Actually my last meeting in our office was a couple of hours after my biopsy, and my leg started gushing watery blood all over the 2 chairs I sat in. When they were about to call in a cleaner for the chairs, the company realized none of our chairs had been cleaned in a few years so they ended up cleaning them all - probably over 300 chairs. What a trend setter I am!

I am counting on a good tomorrow - get a little work done but not overdo so I am in good shape for Friday. Jill leaves tomorrow. She has been feeding me well, making me drink and eat. I think Syd and Michael are here this weekend.

Monday good, Tues starting the same

Feeling pretty good, sleeping pretty decent. I self inflict some problems. When I feel good, I go and go and go and burn myself out. I don't "literally go" anywhere, but I try to do to much for too long with out resting, get breathless and wipe out for a couple of hours. So I am going to try to slow down a little (Can you get slower than a snail's pace?), and break a little bit. Believe it or not, I forget to eat and drink. With Jill here, that won't happen. She has already bought me all these special foods, made me drink etc and that is helping keep my energy up. I know to do all that but I get caught up in what I am doing, and don't do what I should.

I go to the clinic for my bi-weekly port check up. I am pretty sure something is going to need to be done to get rid of the dead tissue, but I have not heard from the plastic surgeon yet. It is always something! But I am up, moving and feeling good! And our taxes have gone to the accountant!

So much better

I am not sure what happened between last night and this morning, but I feel so much better. I know my fever did break, white count is probably up and while my port site still aches I can tolerate it better. I actually got dressed, ate all meals (and fixed my own lunch and breakfast) downstairs, and I am really going to work on taxes! Somehow I still don't feel well enough to do laundry (and Bob is still buying that!). I probably even got 8 hours sleep with maybe only on hour breaking them up, and I never get that much.

My old roommate and college friend Jill from Oak Ridge, Tn is coming to help me for a few days, and I am really excited about that. Also, she is a nurse so she will be able to assist Dr. Bob with all the surgical stuff and injections. There may be some injection techniques she may be able to help him improve upon (you know doctors generally don't give many shots anyway; the nurses do).

Port haunting me

Seems like I say this a lot -- it has been a rough few days. The port came out on Wednesday. While it feels better, it still hurts. The tissue where the port was is not good. The port was implanted in a pocket like place below my right collar bone. While there is no longer a tube going to my neck, they have had to pack the "pocket area" with about 3 feet of gauze. This is an area about 1" x 2". Every day Bob now has to pull out about an inch of it (using all sorts of surgical equiptment - he is now officially a Dr) and cut it off. That will go on for a month at least. I go in to see the Interventional Radiologist (who has "never seen anything like this") for him to check it. Also, they are bringing in a Plastic Surgeon to see if anything else needs to be done. (Do I have a list for him!) That kind of flipped me out a little, and I have had a couple of mini melt downs over that. I just can't seem to do anything easily. These side complications just continue to happen. I know in the great scheme of things they are nothing, but I was just not prepared for them and my emotions were a little raw to say the least. I am settling back down. I was running fever too, and my white count was still low yesterday at 1.8. I am sleeping more (better drugs) so that is good.

I know a lot of you were worried because I had not blogged since Tuesday, but I just did not have the energy. I appreciate all your love, caring and concern.

Counting the hours till tomorrow

Port removal day coming up! I just can't wait till tomorrow but am a little afraid of my expectations! At 8am they take this darn thing out of me. It should be very quick, only a little twilight anesthesia and back home. I am counting on getting at least 6 hours sleep in a row tomorrow night since I have only been waking up because of the uncomfortableness of the port -- and to take pain medication because of it.

Got to work a good bit both today and yesterday, but mostly through email. I am still pretty tired inspite of my pints of O+ (probably from lack of sleep, damn port) and I just get winded and tired of talking -- can any of you ever imagine me saying that! I am learning to use fewer words, speak more concisely and getting rid of the "long story". That only took 52 years!

It's official - Wednesday is port day

I never knew I could be this excited about surgery. Finally, finally, finally the port is coming out on Wednesday! That was the one day I was sure they would never take it out as in the past that has seemed to be my low white count day. Evidently, they are more concerned about that when they are putting an appliance in than taking one out. The Dr was not thrilled with leaving in the Picc line through Round 4 (since it is outside the body there is more chance of infection) but he did seem to think it made since. I will have to have another port at some time when they start the next rounds of chemo (not sure when that is), but I can be "port free" for a while, and perhaps they will put it in right next time. Most folks do not have port problems. Lucky me.

While I was not up for much this weekend (no blog), I have to say that Round 3 was better than Round 2, thank goodness. I think I am learning things to do to ease pains and discomforts up front as best I can or at least anticipate them. Now, if we can just make the pollen go away. As my friend Angela said in her blog comment a couple of days ago, I am at the end of the 3rd quarter. I still have a few more teams to meet in the playoffs , with this chemo game is over, but my expectations are that radiation and surgery will be easier than chemo, and I will be able to get out more, work more play more. And I can't wait for all of that. Oh by the way, I was not out playing around when I fell last Monday night in the parking lot.....................it was the hospital parking lot, which is just about the only place I go. Is Publix still in business. They don't write, send cards, flowers, etc.

I had two pints on Friday (if we were visiting Bob's family in the UK everyone would think I was talking about lager or ale!) but the O+ I got will probably make me just as cheery! I do have more energy, but I still get very tired. I am not sleeping very well even with good drugs. It it the darn port. Just as the pain pills wear off (about 4 hours after I take them) I wake up and can't go back to sleep. They have given me some other things to help that and with the port out on Wednesday, after probably some initial soreness that should go away. I can't seem to nap either. Even trying to take one with sister Sydney on Saturday (and that always works) I did not get a wink -- she got 2 hours! I watched HGTV.

Cindy is here now till Thursday, and my friend and former roommate Jill from Knoxville is coming Monday. The support I have gotten from all of you family and friends has just been unbelievable. I used to think I was a pretty good friend to those of mine. But I have learned so much from all of this and realize how much more there is to give others. I have learned so many valuable lessons from all of you who are so supportive. I cannot thank you enough. I am truly blessed!

Please have a wonderful Passover or Happy Easter!