HIVES GALORE!

I have been out of commission for a few days here due to: HIVES! Hives, Hives - everywhere HIVES!!!!I think I got them when I cleaned out the shed last week. My white blood cell count was down and the dust/mold spores created a lovely variety of hives - HEAD TO TOE. Today they are only in my hands and feet. Lovely. I am alive and well though . . scratch, scratch . . .

Wednesday Update

I am still feeling well. The weather is so great!! The university hill is my run/walk each morning. I love it.

My home sick camper came home today. She and I had dinner in the park tonight where she announced that there is NO WAY that she will ever go back to camp. We'll see. What a kid . . .

SATURDAY - MONDAY chemo recovery

Chemo recovery? No problem.
Saturday I slept most of the day. Great strategy there. I avoided nausea. Sunday I tried to continue with the same M.O., BUT when I awoke at 3:00pm, I clued in that Jordyn had to be at camp AT 3:00pm!! Yikes! I scrambled around and packed her gear. Mom and dad zipped off to get some more supplies, and then we were off to Camp Morice. 2 hours later, she was at there in time for supper.
One hour later she was calling - home sick - VERY home sick!
Jordyn called again this morning - still wanting to come home. She called her dad when she finally gave up on me. He settled her down and she will be staying there until camp is over on Wednesday :) Oh the heart ache of growing up.
Today I did not take any anti-nausea drugs, and I feel like a million bucks! I ran/walked the university hill. Norm, mom and dad came for supper, and now I am winding down the day.
I think the worst of this round is over . . . already :)

CHEMO FRIDAY

(t-b) l-r Norm, Bev, Becky, Cherie and moi

Laura and me

Bev and Dad share a squeeze

Bev massages my bristles

Mom, Bev, Becky, and Dad

Round 3 today! Great support yet again. Thank you everyone - the time goes by so quickly with visitors! Rhonda and I arrived and little Ava changed my PICC dressing. Then Cherie, and Bev arrived. Then the drugs arrived and I was on my way. Soon after, Becky arrived with fresh Okanogan cherries. Norm arrived to visits the hens, and then Laura arrived. Towards the end Mom and Dad came by. It was a faster round.

I feel great. My taste buds are still here so Norm, Griffin, and I had a great little chicken meal. We are now about to watch The Bank Job. I am still very spry and very much awake. Funny this chemo stuff!

ROUND THREE!

Today I went for blood work. Everything is fantastic and I am good to go tomorrow. 8:00 I am on the chemo dance floor! :)

Tuesday Fun!

If you know Jordyn, you know she was in heaven today. My U of L roommate for the past 2 summers, Erin, blew in to LA today from Calgary to present to our group. She has a new Boxter Porsche and well - guess who fell in love with the convertible? Yes, Jordyn even got to go for a ride!

Tonight was our cohort bbq. The cohort starting and our group leaving attended. We had a bald off photo. Yes , me and the boys! :)

Shade brought his twins, born last year, for us to see meet. CUTE! Little Joshua and Sophia hung out for a bit. Mr. J and I had a lot in common :)

Thanks Shade.

Erin blasted me back to the hotel early. Tomorrow is an early morning and long trip home. I am so glad that I came to LA :)

Lethbridge

It's great to be back in the windy city! We rolled in Sunday afternoon, and checked in to the hotel. Much to Jordyn's delight, there is a wave pool and waterslides! Yee-haw. The weather was beautiful and so we spent the day in Henderson park at the outdoor pool. The kids had a blast. We had dinner at good ol' BP, but had to cut it short when Mr.E had a spaz attack!

This morning was fantastic! I got to the U and, thanks to my classmate, Darcy, I found my way to the presentations. It was so nice to see the gang!! A few are missing - writing thesis papers, completing projects etc.; but overall, most of the gang are great. As a matter of fact, they are so great that they wore pink today and presented me with flowers and a lovely card after my presentation. That's when I had to cry. You know you have friends when . . .
I am so glad I came back!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Rhonda, Ethan, Jordyn, and I blew out of Dodge around 8:00am. Rhonda was driving as we blasted down the road. We just about made it to McBride when a sneaky copper caught us, well - caught her. Apparently he followed us for 4km before we noticed. We were blasting Ethan's cd too loud. Yikes! He reduced her ticket to half. It could have been a $700 ticket. Oops. If I had been on the ball, I could have played the "C" card and faked the speed for a medical emergency. Too chemo foggy on the uptake there.

Anyhow, we are in lovely Canmore tonight. What a lovely place. It has been spruced up to be a mini Whistler. IT would be a nice place to stay and hike and bike.

When we left, Ethan had a fever. He was a trooper all day and had a good travelling day. 31/2hrs tomorrow. Lethbridge bound!

I'M BAAAAAAAACK!

Okay - a bit of a blip there in the blogging. Sorry about that folks. I have been busy writing my final Master's paper AND preparing for my presentation. Rhonda, Ethan, and Jordyn will escort me to Lethbridge tomorrow morning to finish this goal. It'll be fun. We'll be back for blood work on Thursday (17th) and the round 3 of chemo at 8:00am Friday (18th). Half way!

I do have two things to report:
#1. My sister, Shelley, shaved my hair down to the wood. It feels so wonderful. No more little hairs poking into my head when I rest. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

#2. I would like to introduce you to my alarm clock. Without fail, 7:30am is my booty call. This model is called: the Ethan. He's really cute -but oh, so loud. There is no volume control nor snooze button. grrrr . . . xoxo
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GRRRREAT WEEKEND!

I felt great this weekend! As a matter of fact, I feel so great that I have made the executive decision to go to Lethbridge to finish my Masters next week. Talk about exciting stuff!
I am finishing my paper this week and then I will present next Monday. Yeehaw!
I know this doesn't sound exciting - but it is to me!

Health wise: the taste buds are still out. Cinnamon is the only flavour I can really pick up. Odd that. My tiny hairs continue to fall out. My head hurts like a sun burn all over. I need to shave my fuzzies off. I did find some sporty-spice bandanas at Michaels today. One for every occassion. :) I am still on the hunt for plain black. Any suggestions?

ps - who ordered the rain?

LOW WHITE BLOOD CELLS

Okay - I am in the low white blood cell zone. I am recalling this from last time. I was on the couch yesterday quite content. The feeling is like hmmmmm . . . not sluggish - just content to do nothing. Now that sounds like a couch potato day but it's not. Couch potato days have guilt attached -you should be doing something with the kids, exercising, making supper, doing something with or around the house or, or, or. Couch days can also be because you are physically ill ; you just feel plain shitty. There is nothing shitty shitty bang bang about this and there is no guilt. It is a kind of tired feeling, no nausea - and there is no place else in the world to be. I had Wimbledon on and I was working on my final Masters paper. Yippee-skippee! A touch of heaven :)

TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY

No anti - nausea drugs - no nausea. Go figure. I have been feeling great without any meds. Today I feel a little tired though. White blood cell count is going down (day 7-12).

Jordyn has started swimming lessons. This is not the place for me to be right now, and so Rhonda is taking over the duties for now. It's only 8 lessons. After lessons last night, we had a picnic dinner at FT George Park. Nice weather and good laughs . . . not to mention the food!

MONDAY BBQ

Becky and Bruce had the motley crew out for a little bbq last night. Becky has gone to Denman Isl to hang out with Chrissy for a week. She wanted a little TIT good-bye gathering . Unfortunately, Bev was not feeling well enough to come out. Bev did get her Italian birthday cake today though :) Happy belated my little friend . . . xoxo

Here's some bbq pics. I was not feeling well. I am off the anti-nausea drugs today and I fell grrrrrrreat!! I have full intentions of a Canada Day walk!