Debbie was released from the hospital Wednesday. Her pain medications have been decreased. She is undergoing radiation oncology to lessen the pressure on her tailbone and hence the lessened meds. Overall she is like a different person from one week ago. I cannot help but believe that God is showing his marvelous intervention as a result of all the prayers lifted in her behalf. I believe that they are a sweet fragrance to Him.
Today she began Cycle 2 on the clinical trial. At the end of this trial, 4 weeks away, the doctor will evaluate her progress and decide whether to keep her going with this chemo or circle the wagons and try another study.
Today we are very hopeful that all is going to proceed as it should and she will continue to improve so that she will enjoy a long life. That is my prayer for her. Won't you join me in this, please.
May you find opportunities to speak with our Lord about things that you deem important. He is so good and His mercy endures forever!!!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
How come...
Today's blog is not very upbeat, I fear. I am questioning how my dear friend who has been staying with me for a clinical trial at Sarah Cannon has gotten to be in so much pain in such a short time. How is it that she is now in the hospital with a morphine pump and still hurting so much that unless she improves they can not start the radiation theraphy to shrink the myeloma and lessen the pain? How did she get such a cough in just a day or so?
Can anyone tell me why her family is at odds? It has to be the stress of seeing her suffer. I, too, have been there. Yesterday when she was admitted to Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, it was a bit like deja vue...she may be in the same room my mom was in; she saw my mom's doctor since hers is out of town. I came home and cried...for her and for the reminder.
One sister said she thinks they need to take her home for hospice care; I don't think it is fair to Deb to give up her chance of lessening her disease. If the doctors think she needs to do that, they will tell us. Meanwhile, we need to share in her hope. This is not the sister who has been helping manage her medical care all along...that sister agrees with me. Funny thing is that now she considers our home her home. She has been with us for almost four weeks. I am lost without her here to care for. This morning it was so strange not to take up her breakfast and morning meds. She keeps saying she wants to come home, to tell Dennis she will be up before long.
Cancer is a horid disease...how come nice people become its victims???????
Wishing you days to enjoy the good things in life with those you love.
Can anyone tell me why her family is at odds? It has to be the stress of seeing her suffer. I, too, have been there. Yesterday when she was admitted to Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, it was a bit like deja vue...she may be in the same room my mom was in; she saw my mom's doctor since hers is out of town. I came home and cried...for her and for the reminder.
One sister said she thinks they need to take her home for hospice care; I don't think it is fair to Deb to give up her chance of lessening her disease. If the doctors think she needs to do that, they will tell us. Meanwhile, we need to share in her hope. This is not the sister who has been helping manage her medical care all along...that sister agrees with me. Funny thing is that now she considers our home her home. She has been with us for almost four weeks. I am lost without her here to care for. This morning it was so strange not to take up her breakfast and morning meds. She keeps saying she wants to come home, to tell Dennis she will be up before long.
Cancer is a horid disease...how come nice people become its victims???????
Wishing you days to enjoy the good things in life with those you love.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Kony 2012
I just sat and watched the impact Facebook and other social media is having regarding stopping world dictator crimes. This is such a compelling movie. I encourage all of my followers to watch and act.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F7ruzk4o&h=3AQGFqKSDAQF2ai0Jd-SvGYHoOPRvwnNfYEuy-vADHaj0Uw
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F7ruzk4o&h=3AQGFqKSDAQF2ai0Jd-SvGYHoOPRvwnNfYEuy-vADHaj0Uw
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A Grand Evening
She brought with her a new "office" play set that had been recently purchased. Of course, she was the boss; we were all her employees. She was pretty generous as she kept giving us several raises. Maybe corporate America could learn from her.
Louis, her dad, kept trying to quit, but she kept denying that he could. Finally she told him that he couldn't because he had signed that he would work and showed it to him on her dry erase board. He immediately declared that he had not signed it which constitutes forgery. He threatened to call the police and report this. As soon as he did this, she replied, "You're fired:". Maybe she has an inkling of the real corporate world...who knew that a 5 year old could be so perceptive!!!
Wishing you glimpses of the mundane through the eyes of a child.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Grand life
It has been a while since I have felt a subject that compelled me to write, but today I viewed a sweet picture of a friend with her new grandson. Her smile was from ear to ear...maybe her whole body was smiling! I told her she would portray that smile anytime she was in his presence.
I know this because it is the same smile I exhibit anytime I am blessed to be in the company of Miss Elle. I am wearing it now even thinking about it. I wear it a lot when I am around Christian, my 15 year old grandson, too. It is the mantra of grandmothers. We come alive as we talk and play with our grandchildren.
Elle left a message on Dennis' phone in December wishing him a "happy birthday, Poppy" and each time his voice mail tells him it will be erased, he saves it once again.
With Laura out of town this week, we have anticipated several nights of having Louis and Elle for dinner; it just did not work out. However, they are all to come tomorrow! I will make a squash casserole because Elle always expects to eat that when I cook. It is one of her favorites. One time I failed to fix it and she asked where was the squash...I learned my lesson. Life just does not get much better:-)
My friend, Deb who is staying with us for a while as she does a clinical trial at Sarah Cannon will finally get to meet Elle in person instead of just hearing about her and listening to Dennis' birthday recording. I am sure she will bring joy to her heart, too.
Wishing you simple pleasures that are grand!
I know this because it is the same smile I exhibit anytime I am blessed to be in the company of Miss Elle. I am wearing it now even thinking about it. I wear it a lot when I am around Christian, my 15 year old grandson, too. It is the mantra of grandmothers. We come alive as we talk and play with our grandchildren.
Elle left a message on Dennis' phone in December wishing him a "happy birthday, Poppy" and each time his voice mail tells him it will be erased, he saves it once again.
With Laura out of town this week, we have anticipated several nights of having Louis and Elle for dinner; it just did not work out. However, they are all to come tomorrow! I will make a squash casserole because Elle always expects to eat that when I cook. It is one of her favorites. One time I failed to fix it and she asked where was the squash...I learned my lesson. Life just does not get much better:-)
My friend, Deb who is staying with us for a while as she does a clinical trial at Sarah Cannon will finally get to meet Elle in person instead of just hearing about her and listening to Dennis' birthday recording. I am sure she will bring joy to her heart, too.
Wishing you simple pleasures that are grand!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Books
Once before I wrote about my book club, the Church Chicks. This month we read A Separate Country by Robert Hicks. I was to review this today. Through much persistence, I communicated with his designated person and lined him up to join us today. What a delightful time we all shared. He is the same author that penned The Widow of the South.
We learned so much of the back story as to why he would choose to write about a General we Southerners learned to sneer at...Gen. John Bell Hood. He was responsible for the carnage of the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. It seems that he was not maligned until 1938. He moved to New Orleans after the war and met and married Anna Marie Henson, a great and accomplished society lady. This story is about their lives together amidst the birth of a new country. It talks of a man who underwent a great metamorphosis as to what was really important to him. I highly recommend it.
We spent time listening to tales of Robert Hick's family. These stories could rival A Christmas Story and To Kill a Mockingbird. His grandmother was a dowager much like Maggie Smith's character on Downton Abby...I saw a lot of similarity. All in all, he delighted us for 3 hours.
How lucky we are to live in an area so rich in history! I encourage all of my followers to learn some of your back stories before it is too late. Our club leader had 6 men in her family tree that fought in The Battle of Franklin and survived. She even brought documentation in the form of a news article with their picture. Of course Hicks wants her to talk with the Franklin Preservation Society director to share her family story.
We are also blessed to live in an area so full of talented men and women who transport us to times and places unknown except for their writings. In the last two years our book club has been able to speak with four authors: Susan Gilmore, Brenda Rickman Vantrease, Lisa Patton (not the Channel 2 meteorologist), and Robert Hicks.
I hope the love of reading will continue with my children and grandchildren and their descendants. I am blessed that my grandmother loved reading and writing and instilled that in me. I remember her sending in short stories to many magazines penned from her old typewriter on the dining room table. She read Little Women to me as I would settle down in bed many nights. My aunt gave me my copy of A Separate Country a couple of years ago. My mom instilled in me the love of mysteries. As I travel through books, it brings me close to those who have gone before me. I wish you time to enjoy a good book and memories of loved ones in little ways.
We learned so much of the back story as to why he would choose to write about a General we Southerners learned to sneer at...Gen. John Bell Hood. He was responsible for the carnage of the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. It seems that he was not maligned until 1938. He moved to New Orleans after the war and met and married Anna Marie Henson, a great and accomplished society lady. This story is about their lives together amidst the birth of a new country. It talks of a man who underwent a great metamorphosis as to what was really important to him. I highly recommend it.
We spent time listening to tales of Robert Hick's family. These stories could rival A Christmas Story and To Kill a Mockingbird. His grandmother was a dowager much like Maggie Smith's character on Downton Abby...I saw a lot of similarity. All in all, he delighted us for 3 hours.
How lucky we are to live in an area so rich in history! I encourage all of my followers to learn some of your back stories before it is too late. Our club leader had 6 men in her family tree that fought in The Battle of Franklin and survived. She even brought documentation in the form of a news article with their picture. Of course Hicks wants her to talk with the Franklin Preservation Society director to share her family story.
We are also blessed to live in an area so full of talented men and women who transport us to times and places unknown except for their writings. In the last two years our book club has been able to speak with four authors: Susan Gilmore, Brenda Rickman Vantrease, Lisa Patton (not the Channel 2 meteorologist), and Robert Hicks.
I hope the love of reading will continue with my children and grandchildren and their descendants. I am blessed that my grandmother loved reading and writing and instilled that in me. I remember her sending in short stories to many magazines penned from her old typewriter on the dining room table. She read Little Women to me as I would settle down in bed many nights. My aunt gave me my copy of A Separate Country a couple of years ago. My mom instilled in me the love of mysteries. As I travel through books, it brings me close to those who have gone before me. I wish you time to enjoy a good book and memories of loved ones in little ways.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Gardening
I've never been much of a gardener; although I love flowers, herbs, and vegetable gardens. I have always been intimidated by gardening, but thanks to two events, I am loosing my fear of this.
The first event was a couple of years ago when my friend, Yuki, came and helped me start a flower garden. Yuki is my daughter, Laura's, mother-in-law and is Japanese. She has been in American much of her adult life. It was amazing to see her clean out the area we were going to use. She asked for a butcher knife instead of a cultivator and wielded that as anyone else would have done with a garden implement...but better and faster. I wish I had a video of that. We planted several hostas, iris, day lilies, and a nandena bush she brought. None of those died...a first for me. I added other plants later. Last year I bought several flats and planted; some made it, some did not.
The second event was coerced by my friend, Marlene. I am now a member of the Tyne Meade Garden Club. I planted a few herbs this fall, and my rosemary plant is still alive. I am loosing my fear of "what if it does not look like it should". I am just loving planting and seeing the growth and blooms.
This year there will be a third event since I won the door prize at our ladies retreat of gardening with Marge. I have already ordered lots of herbs to plant with her. We may do a bit of tomato planting, too.
Today I cleaned out the beds. I was digging up a dead mum, when I noticed that underneath all that dead foliage, new life had begun. I quickly replanted and just broke off the dead growth and enjoyed seeing the new creation. Underneath the dead day lilies, new ones were bursting through the earth and the same with the hostas. I found a few new iris shoots. It made me think of God's word about as we shed this old body, we will be made new. I hope in the eternal life I will be as lovely as the new growth I discovered today.
Here's hoping you will be surprised by nature and reminded of God's gifts.
The first event was a couple of years ago when my friend, Yuki, came and helped me start a flower garden. Yuki is my daughter, Laura's, mother-in-law and is Japanese. She has been in American much of her adult life. It was amazing to see her clean out the area we were going to use. She asked for a butcher knife instead of a cultivator and wielded that as anyone else would have done with a garden implement...but better and faster. I wish I had a video of that. We planted several hostas, iris, day lilies, and a nandena bush she brought. None of those died...a first for me. I added other plants later. Last year I bought several flats and planted; some made it, some did not.
The second event was coerced by my friend, Marlene. I am now a member of the Tyne Meade Garden Club. I planted a few herbs this fall, and my rosemary plant is still alive. I am loosing my fear of "what if it does not look like it should". I am just loving planting and seeing the growth and blooms.
This year there will be a third event since I won the door prize at our ladies retreat of gardening with Marge. I have already ordered lots of herbs to plant with her. We may do a bit of tomato planting, too.
Today I cleaned out the beds. I was digging up a dead mum, when I noticed that underneath all that dead foliage, new life had begun. I quickly replanted and just broke off the dead growth and enjoyed seeing the new creation. Underneath the dead day lilies, new ones were bursting through the earth and the same with the hostas. I found a few new iris shoots. It made me think of God's word about as we shed this old body, we will be made new. I hope in the eternal life I will be as lovely as the new growth I discovered today.
Here's hoping you will be surprised by nature and reminded of God's gifts.
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