Treatment #2

Today has been a good day. Treatment number two is done and now we wait and see how it all goes. I have to report that my neuropathy was unfortunately upgraded to level 2 from level 1. (As you can see, I am giving the bad news first.) Because of that, they reduced my dose of the chemo by 20% because this will probably continue to get worse as we go along.

My fingers are numb now to the second knuckle and I have to watch as I pick things up to be sure that all fingers are on the item so I don't drop it. Oh, and then I drop things and have trouble typing and writing too. I keep writing and crocheting and cross stitching to use my muscle memory in these fine moter skills as a therapy of sorts. I helps, I was told by the doctor who did my acupuncture.


But...along with that, there is a bit of good news we think. My liver function numbers are going down! In fact, one of the numbers is now in the "normal" range. That is a good sign. I found out that they haven't heard from Mayo and they are going to get someone to check on that for us. We are also going to have a PET scan before my next treatment to take a peek and see how things are going.

Oh FRIENDS, please pray that we are moving in the right direction! After a couple of months of uncertainty, it would be nice to see even a little bit of progress. I sat with my Bible at infusion today with notes from a study I am doing in Genesis. As Marshall my nurse was flushing and de-accessing my port, he asked if I was ready to go. I replied "just give me the word and I am outa here!" He looked at my lap and said "but you already have the word!" He apologized for what he must have felt was a bad joke but I told him that he was absolutely right!

It is so fitting the week before Easter that our lesson is about God's nature and His attributes. It was so nice to sit and read the truth about the God who takes care of me. He takes care of us all!

He is Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Eternal, Immutable, Incomprehensible, Self-existent, Self-sufficient, Infinite, Transcendent, Sovereign, Holy, Gracious, Righteous, Just, Merciful, Slow to Anger, Wise, Loving, Good, Wrathful, Truthful, Faithful and Jealous

Show and Tell: A Finished Project

There was a time when we had four children playing AYSO soccer. I had it all planned. Four jerseys, passed down from kid to kid for however many years we would be doing soccer. That was the plan UNTIL AYSO went and changed the color of their soccer jerseys from red and blue to orange and purple.

Having gone to Goodwill several times and seeing the large number of blue and red AYSO shirts that were hanging for sale on the racks I knew that I wasn't going to add to that by bringing ours all to Goodwill. BUT, there could be some creative way to use them. It is cold on the soccer field some days. So, I cut them all up and ironed on some interfacing. Then, they sat in a bag on the shelf in my sewing room.

Fast forward a few years and two are now playing high school soccer, one has decided he is done with soccer and we have one soccer player in AYSO. AND...once again, jersey colors have changed this year to lime green and royal blue. That left me with four orange and purple jerseys to add to the blue and red that I had planned to put in a t-shirt quilt.

Now, with more jerseys, I could make WHOLE blanket with soccer uniforms! That was my goal, everything on the front of the quilt would be made out of their uniforms. I am happy to say that I achieved that goal. I didn't have anything to sash the horizontal rows so I cut up the black shorts too! No one wears the actual AYSO shorts anyway.

I could have had it done last fall but my fleece on the back had shifted and in the bottom left corner I was about an inch shorter with my backing fleece. In frustration I threw it in the corner of my sewing room til Saturday. I was mad because there was about a 1/2 yard of fleece left on the top when I sandwiched it together. I just took some extra fleece and sewed it to the short part and went with it. It isn't like I am taking this to the state fair or anything. It is going to the soccer field to keep me warm while I cheer on our three remaining soccer players.

Help! Google Class 101

A walk down memory lane with three of my miracles!

Guess what? I felt good enough yesterday to sit and work a little bit on my Google class to renew my sub authorization. I think I was just ignoring it because in my mental funk of late I found myself hopelessly wondering if I would ever feel well enough to be in the classroom again. I hope that there is a light to the end of the "chemo side effect tunnel" but until there is, I can finish this class and one more to get my sub authorization up to date.

So...faithful readers. It is now time for you to help me out! My assignment was to make a Google form. I have done so and you can see the link below. If you could take a couple minutes to fill out my survey, you can be part of getting my sub authorization updated!

Living the Miracle Google Form

I have had to ask for an extension twice now so my goal is to work this next week to complete this class. It doesn't look like the second class I have to take will require anything from you my readers, but we can have some fun here today. The survey is totally anonymous.

I love a little interaction, don't you?

Hanging Out With the Birthday Boy

I have written a lot about my parents. It was their birthday a few years ago that I wrote this HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD!! post. Seventy years ago yesterday, I was blessed by the birth of these two very special people.

I had wanted to get home last night and post this on their actual birthday but it was a pretty big day for me and I fell into my bed instead. Stacey had a soccer game that was at home so I had told Dad about it over the weekend. Knowing it was his birthday I told him we understood if he had plans to celebrate that didn't involve a soccer field.

He texted me in the morning saying he was planning to come and I am glad he did. We had fun. The weather was a little different than Monday's 70's so we huddled together and watched as Stacey played quite a bit of the varsity game. She is a good defensive player and there were a lot of opportunities she took to show her stuff.

We laughed several times when "offsides" was called. I told Dad that David has tried to explain it to me thousands of times and I still don't get it. We were talking loud enough for a few in front of us to join in the conversation explaining that they don't get it either. We found we were in good company. Even in this one game, the calling of offsides didn't seem consistent enough to figure out if any of us were right in our understanding. As long as the ref knows I guess that is what really matters!

We took a "chilly day at the soccer field selfie" and laughed some more. It is posted here with a little hesitation. I think I count about five chins on me so it isn't my best look. Dad looks good enough for both of us though.

When you are one of five children, even as an adult one-on-one times with a parent are priceless. Especially when you have been blessed with good ones. I love living next door to them and I love that they love to come hang out at games and concerts. As Stacey said last night when she was getting ready for bed "you and Grandpa made my day"! I didn't live very close to my grands when I was growing up. We visited a lot, but I am so thankful my kids get theirs so close.

Chemo is Weird

Chemo is weird. I am not supposed to be in the sun while on chemo. Despite my best efforts while we were in Jekyll Island, at one point I had pushed up my sleeves and my arms got burned. My arms were red for about a week after we got home and then tanned up like normal sunburn has done in the past. I figured there would be a little bit of peeling like a normal sunburn.

Instead, I get this at the end of last week. A rash that looks awful. It is making my lymphedema in my right arm act up too. I am sure this is why they don't want chemo patients in the sun. After about four days having the rash it has started itching so I have been rubbing lotion on it all day long.

I have been laying low this past week. This treatment seems to take a lot more out of me than past protocols have. I can do a very little until I have to sit down or lay down. I am wondering if it is because of the oral chemo that I take every day twice a day. I have been feeling a little good for nothing as I contribute very little to the life of the family lately. I am hoping that after Thursday when I get a week break from the oral chemo that I feel a little more like myself.

Bloodwork last Thursday showed bottomed out white blood cells. Everything else looked okay. I actually spent a couple of days last week sleeping the day away. Not what I like to be doing during the day, but if rest is what is needed, rest is what I will do.

I am crocheting some when I feel like it and I am working on a stitching project. That helps me feel like I am doing something while I lay around. There really is no way to know if this is working on the cancer but for the last week I have had no liver pain at all. I can even poke around and not feel any pain. Oh I am so hoping that this is attacking the cancer! I can endure this fatigue if I know it is helping me to get to cancer remission.

Meanwhile I get to watch this weird sun reaction and what it will do next!

How Are You Doing?

There has been a lot of things going on around here lately! Meanwhile people have been asking how I am feeling after the first treatment of this new protocol that I had last Thursday. I hate being a whiner but I may whine a little bit today.

It was time to fill my daily pill organizer today. I got everything out and started. I had put it off for a couple of days and it is so annoying to have to pull all of the pill bottles out every time it is time to take meds. The convenience of the pill organizer definitely saves me time. I got everything sorted as I waited for the doctor's office to call me back.

Now you may ask "why was the doctor's office calling you?" Funny you should ask. After the infusion on Thursday I was surprised at how "normal" I felt. Things went great Friday as well. Jump to Saturday morning and not so much. I woke up with throbbing knees and sore calves. I walked around a bit, got my breakfast and took my oral chemo pills with my other morning meds.

As the day went on, I was distracted by all of the framing activity and I kept busy with a quilting project. I could not believe it but at the end of the day Saturday 10,000 steps registered on my Fitbit. What? Up and down the stairs more than normal just checking on the progress. Then, most of the quilting was done standing, so I must have moved around enough to add steps!

When I got into bed my legs were just throbbing from the knees down. I found that without distraction it hurt so bad that I was sobbing. There was no way laying there was going to be good or cause me to fall asleep so I went to the living room and turned on the television. Somewhere in there I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to the tv on the menu screen and the clock that said 4:16. I crawled into my bed and slept til my alarm went off.

Waking up because of the pain, I was a little concerned that this was going to continue. Saturday I had looked up that this is a side effect and then looked up and found it was a side effect of the infusion and not the oral chemo. So, maybe this would go away in a day or two. I did at several times wonder if I should call the oncologist on call for the weekend but I usually end up in the hospital when I do that. I rode it out. 

Sunday I found that Tylenol worked a little and it was good enough that I would be able to function. I also found that Ibuprofen did nothing to touch it. If I could just hang on til Monday morning when the office would be open. Last night was terrible. At 2 a.m. I was able to sleep some but lets just say right now I am super tired and will get into my bed when I am done here.

So, while I waited for the doctor's office to call back, I was organizing my meds. My doctor upped my Gabepentin to the max and told me that she was going to put me on Cimbalta to help the nerves that were extra sensitive and causing me such awful pain. This takes about two weeks to start to work in our body so I have also received morphine pills to use as needed.

This afternoon has been so much better. The pain has lessened so much and I have been able to relax. I have also heard from a couple different people that Cimbalta has helped either them or a loved one so I have high hopes.

Do I have specific prayer requests? Yes...

• Total healing
• That what we are doing in the protocol is kicking the cancer!
• That the pain will go away in my legs.
• Good sleep (for me and Zach...he has been having some trouble sleeping lately)
• Return of strength for the rest of this cycle.
• Joy in the Sloan house.
• Continued work on the basement without injuries.

Thank you all! It really is so encouraging to hear from you whether it is in a note in the mail or a Facebook message, or any other way that you have reached out. I feel the prayers holding us up.

A Special Quilt

Yesterday we got to celebrate the adoption of "Baby J" into his forever family. I was a toddler shower. The shower was planned back in January but the weather didn't allow it. I was actually excited because I could use the extra time to finish the project I had planned for this special little one. (It still caught me yesterday trying to finish it up and have it ready to go - I am a last minute girl almost every time no matter how hard I try!)

I have mentioned that I have been able to do a lot of quilting in my bed. This is the quilt I have been working on. I had never done curves before and so I was a little concerned as I usually get before trying something new. It was SO fun! Having to spend more time in bed has helped a lot because I pinned thoroughly and when I got to the machine it sewed up beautifully!







It seems like every time I finish a quilt I say it is my favorite one. I have lots of favorites! The thing about finishing this one, is that I had been kicked out of my sewing area because they were framing down there yesterday! It turned out to be great because quilting turned out to be so much easier on my counter height dining room table. I stood for most of it and I could see better and maneuver around a lot easier and faster. It went together quickly.

The pattern was originally bigger with one more row of "jacks" making it 3x4 but for a toddler, I took that top row off and made it a square. The colors have been fun and this had a lot more white than I usually choose for a quilt. But I really like it. I think Jackson liked it too!