Back to normal

Things are getting back to normal around the home front after the wedding and Easter. Since the wedding was on Easter weekend we didn't have a family meal together, even though we were all together. We did get together Sunday night at the house for ham and all the trimmings along with strawberry shortcake.

I am having a lot of pain in my lower back, hips and shoulders, whether this is the bone pain that they said I might have with the new bone strengthening drug or not I don't know. I had an issue Sunday that was a little scary, the Praise Team was singing at church and at the beginning of the second song I felt like I was going to pass out, I felt very strange. I didn't feel like I could sing, focus, or even function. I thought if I didn't sit down I would fall down so I found a seat till the song was finished. I stayed for preaching then I left very quickly, when I got home Clay had to help me out of the car due to the hip pain I was having, I couldn't turn to get my legs out of the car. I tried to take it a little easy in the afternoon even though we were having all the kids over to eat. Clay is always a great help in the kitchen, the kids pitched in too. Monday was a pretty restful day so it helped me gain some strength back. These are just issues that you don't really know why or what to blame it on, you would just like to know why or what causes things like this. Had to make a trip to Little Rock yesterday for a doctor visit on my thyroid, it was a 6 month checkup. He felt like everything looked good, he did an ultrasound, watching 1 lymph node but he said it was benign. I will have to have some shots in a week or two and then some additional blood work, he wants my thyroid count to be at zero to know the cancer is all gone. I should be able to have this done at HOG, they are checking right now to see if they can do it here. It would sure be better than having to go to Little Rock for a shot one day then at the same time the next day, then blood work three days later. So it would just really stink if I couldn't do it here at HOG.

The wedding was very pretty, Kara had put a lot of thought into what she wanted. Everything turned out and came off without a hitch and they are married. The hit of the night was the Hot Dog man coming in at 9pm, I didn't know she had booked him but it was a nice treat, the hot dogs were awesome.

Count Down

Time has really flown by, the wedding is this weekend. Kara and Andrew will be married this time next week. Things are coming together and final preparations are being made. It's getting very, very close now. I have my list of things to do this week each day, I have to write it down so I won't forget. Call it age or chemo, whatever. This week sounds a little rainy and stormy, we just hope that for Saturday night it will hold off so that everyone can get inside without getting drenched.

As for me, things are going pretty good, I have had alot of new pains that I haven't had before so you ask yourself is it the new medication? I started with the new drug for my bones and they said there could be side effects and bone pain was one of them so who knows. To help with one issue you have to be in pain for another. Never ending.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!!!!!

Spring Has Sprung

Well it seems like Spring is actually here, the weather has been really nice lately. I am so ready, now if the wind will just calm down a little things will be much better, I guess we can't complain though but we would like to have some rain. Since my last post I think I am finally on the mends, this upper respiratory infection has hung on forever, I still have a little cough but nothing like I had before.

I had a wonderful birthday, one thing about being sick on my birthday it was spaced out over probably a two week period, so it lasted a long time. Our plan was to go out to eat on the Saturday after my birthday, trying to get 8 people together sometimes can be difficult. I really didn't feel like going out to eat so they ordered Catfish Hole and brought it to the house. Everyone enjoyed it, and there was also a cookie dough ice cream cake that was yummy. Then there were gifts, I always like that part, I'm still a kid at heart.

The wedding is getting really close now, all last minute things are being tended to and things are being finalized. It's getting to the excitement stage now, only 16 days to go and there will be another Kara Woody in the family.

I am at Highland taking my treatment right now, we have added something new to my treatment, it is a bone strengthening drug that I will take every two months. Hopefully this will help, it is given to Multiple Myeloma patients. This is given with my fluid through my port, infused over a three hour period. There are some side effects with this drug but hopefully they will be mild. There could be flu like symptoms the next day or two and a few other things I will have to watch for, we will just have to see how it goes.

Have a great weekend, get out and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Birthday Week

The weekend of the 12th I started with a cough, I assumed it was just allergy related so just kinda ignored it. The cough hung on into the week, by Tuesday late afternoon I was feeling pretty rough, went on to bed early. I had plans on Wednesday since it was my birthday, had breakfast plans with my mother in law and sister in law Darcy and then a late lunch was planned with my mom and sister, well all of these things were cancelled due to me being sick and running 102 fever. I was in bed most all day on my birthday as well as the next day too. I didn't take a treatment on Thursday, I just felt too rough, they called me in antibiotic on Wednesday. My fever broke on Thursday but I still just felt bad. I feel a little better one day then the next day I feel really bad again, I'm tired of it, I feel so light headed and woozy most of the time and my sides and stomach are so sore from coughing so much.

Well here I am another week and I'm not over it yet, I saw the APN here at Highland today, it's an upper respiratory infection, I'm still on the antibiotic and she called me in some really good cough syrup (hopefully it helps). I am taking my treatment now and then I will head home to rest. I feel bad that I haven't been able to go to Loving Choices last week or this week, I enjoy volunteering there but I just haven't been able to go. I sure have enjoyed the nice weather we have had lately, I have set out on the porch a couple of days. Now this morning was a little cool for me, we haven't been in the 30's in awhile, we've been in the 50's when morning comes. I am still just ready for Spring to get here and stay.

Little Rock Visit

Clay and I made the trip to Little Rock on Tuesday, another rainy day. We left home about 5:45 in the drizzle but the farther we went the heavier the rain, it rained the entire way there. My appointment was at 10, there was some waiting but it wasn't too bad. Dr. Barlogie was pleased with all the test results, he thought everything looked fine. He wants to start me on a bone strengthening medication, this would be a drip through my port that I would get in addition to the chemo I take each week. There are alot of issues with this drug so I won't be starting it right away but I think when I do start it could help me. I hope so anyway. I have alot of bone pain and he seems to think this would help. I am at Highland now, leaving here to head to the dentist for a quick repair, I chipped a tooth last night. I called to see if I could get in and luckily I called when I did because my dentist is just going to be there till 1 today and they are closed tomorrow. He is having his other knee replacement surgery on Monday so he will be out awhile. So I came here earlier trying to get to the dentist by 11, that is the only time they said they could look at my tooth, so it is a race to get there.

We also drove home in the rain, allthe way till we got close to the tunnel.

Looking foward to warmer days ahead this week.

Starting A New Month

Can you believe it is already March, seems like it was just Christmas and now we are into the third month. March brings Spring, hopefully in weather not just on the calendar. I am so ready for the nicer weather to be here, we may very likely have some more bad weather though, I have heard people talk of a big snow the end of March, who knows. Things are going pretty well with me these days, Candes and I went to Little Rock February 24th and 25th. That was the stormy Thursday that we traveled in, we wanted to get down there so maybe we wouldn't have to be caught in it. We did pretty good, there was only a few miles that we ran into really hard rain, making it a little hard to see. We got to the apartment before it hit, unloaded the car and decided to sit tight for awhile, it got very stormy there, the sirens were going off and there was alot of rain, thunder and lightning going on. Luckily it was a fast moving storm, it moved on out of the Little Rock area and we ventured on out to have dinner and run some errands.

We had an early start Friday morning with my testing, check in and blood work at 8:30 then on to the MRI area after that. Candes left then to go to her doctor appointment over at Baptist, she had scheduled this appointment with her thyroid onocologist since we were going to be in Little Rock. It worked out well because she was back in the waiting room when I came out of the MRI. We got a bite of lunch there at the hospital and then onto the bone marrow biopsy, there was some waiting but it really wasn't bad, I had the last appointment of the day so they are always ready to go home and they have kinda caught themselves up by then. We started out of Little Rock pretty quick and decided to stop at Conway a little while, they had told me it would help with the soreness to walk a little so we walked and shopped a little at Belk. Headed on toward home then, made it home about 5, Kara came down to Candes' house to pick me up and bring me on home. I was very, very sore this time maybe just a little more than usual.

Clay and I will go back to Little Rock this week to see Dr. Barlogie and get the results of the tests.

I started volunteering at Loving Choices a half a day a week, I just wanted to do something to help out somewhere, it is a very good cause.

Beautiful Days

The weather sure has been nice this week, we deserve it after all the snow we have had the last couple of weeks. I actually went for my treatment on the regular scheduled day, which is Thursday this week with no snow. My counts are still low but they were up a little this week. My WBC was 2.4 that is up from 1, that's where it has been for the past three weeks. I am feeling good, finally pretty much over the crud if that is possible this time of year. Can you really ever get over the crud?

Jonah is going to spend the night with us tonight, it is always fun to have him around. He is growing into quite a little boy, he is so funny. We might even get to go outside to play since the weather is going to be fairly warm, he loves to be outside.