Thanksgiving

After a year of so many ups and downs, I have a lot of things to be thankful for.

I am so thankful for:

-each morning that I wake up in my own bed

-being able to go to school each day

-little hairs that are growing on my head and all over my body

-hugs from Mike

-the support and prayers of family and friends

-being able to worship freely

-all the many freedoms that I take for granted in this great country

-kisses from my cuddly little Elliot and wild crazy Phyllis

-all the many material things that I do not need

-the fact that Jesus died on the cross to forgive my sins

-eating dinner with Mike and his kids

-the sun that shines

-and many, many more things...

I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy time with your family and friends!

Moving

I have been so busy lately with all the craziness of normal life that I haven't had time to update you all on what has been going on. Sorry!

School is going really well. We just finished the first trimester, which mean that school is 1/3 of the way completed. It seems like it just started. We had parent-teacher conferences last night and this morning. It is always neat to meet parents; to see where the kids come from.

I am moving out of my apartment this weekend. I bought a townhouse! Closing was this afternoon, new carpet and flooring will be installed Friday, and the movers are coming on Saturday. It is going to be a busy weekend! I am very excited though - a place I can start to call home. When I am settled in, I will try to figure out how to put pictures on this blog.

I am feeling really good this week. Last week was a little rough. I had really bad stomach aches and got scared so I went to the doctor. He assured me that I was fine and told me to slow down on my working out and to drink more wate. I'm not sure if it was stress, if I was fighting something off, or if I have developed some food allergies. One of my friends referred me to a naturopathic/holistic doctor. By an act of God I was able to secure an appointment with her for Saturday. I say by an act of God becaue when I called her office, the first available appointment was in mid-April. Luckily, my friend took me to her health food store and she was there. So, after explaining my situation, she told me that she had an opening and I was in.

Please keep me in your prayers, as I am going to be very busy this weekend. I will try my best to keep you posted on what the doctor tells me Saturday.

Normal Life...Aahhh!

I have a normal life again!

I wake up every week day and get ready for school. I teach all day long. Then I come home and relax. Routine...

Aahh!

After being trapped all summer, it feels so good to be able to do things. Even doing the simplest things, like grocery shop and clean the bathroom, are so exciting to me...at least for now.

I think my hair is starting to grow back. When I rub the back of my head I can feel all kinds of little stubble. I am glad that it is starting to grow, but I wish it would grow faster! I cannot wait to throw this wig into a closet!!

The lease on my apartment is up in less than a month. I decided not to renew it because I don't want to throw my money away. So, I am searching for a condo/townhouse. I had made an offer on a condo, but the sellers weren't willing to negotiate on the price, so I am still looking. It is a fun process. I love looking at houses!

Well, that is all for now...I have math tests to grade!

Great News!

I have WONDERFUL news!

I went to the doctor today and he told me that I don't have to go back until JANUARY!! My exam went well and my CA-125 test came back the lowest it has ever been!

Thank you for all your prayers! Please keep me in them...pray that the cancer never returns and I can have a normal life for many, many years to come!

Back to school

I went back to school last Monday. It was a truly wonderful week. It was so nice to be back in my classroom, teaching my students. I cannot wait to do it again this week!

I have my follow up exam with Dr. Sharma tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping, and fairly sure, that he will release me and tell me that he doesn't want me to come back for two months. Please keep me in your prayers and I will let you know how my doctor's visit goes.

A Difficult Friday Afternoon

I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon for my routine blood test and shot. I have been feeling really good this week, so I expected all my levels to be normal. Ok, maybe not normal, but at least up, closer to normal than they were on Tuesday. Well, they weren't. My WBC is still low, which means I am getting shots over the weekend. My RBC is low, but that has to come up on its own. My hemoglobin is also low, very low, almost to the point of needing a transfusion. But the most shocking level of all was my platelets. They were so low that I needed to get a transfusion.

I completely broke down in the office. I actually had one of the nurses in tears as well. That shows how much those women care about their patients!

As the nurse was walking me out of the office Dr. Sharma walked in. As soon as he saw me crying he got a very concerned look on his face and asked what was wrong. I gave him my sheet with my lab results on it and I told him I was on my way to get platelets. He gave me a big hug and said, "that's it?! You know that isn't a big deal. Stop crying. You are done! You are finished! This is nothing. You need to stop crying because people are going to wonder what we did to this pretty girl. You are going to give me a bad name." I started laughing and he gave me a squeeze and sent me on my way.

Dr. Sharma is such a wonderful doctor and he takes such good care of his patients! I feel like we have a special relationship. I feel like he looks out a little more for me. His eyes are always filled with smiles as he tells me to "stay out of trouble!" I have been blessed with him as a doctor.

Ok, on to the platelet experience. As you might remember with my first experience with getting platelets, I had an allergic reaction to them and developed hives. Well, this time was no different, even though the nurses gave me a huge coctail of medicines before I even received the platelets. I started itching even before I had finished receiving all the platelets. I think this time was a little worse. I had a hive on my eyelid and a couple in my throat. That was a weird feeling, almost scary. Thankfully Jen was there with me cracking jokes about me and keeping me smiling.

Peg, the head nurse from Dr. Sharma's office, came over to check on me. She looked really concerned and told me that they couldn't send me home with new hives still appearing. I was getting nervous because it was almost six 0'clock. I was starting to think that they were going to have to admit me to the hospital. That is the LAST place I want to spend anymore time! After Peg left, the nurse who gave me the platelets came back and said she had talked to Dr. Sharma and he told her to give me more medicines to combat the hives, so she did. They started working and my hives went down. I had to stay for an additional thirty minutes to make sure they didn't come back, and then I was able to go home. Thank God!

My dad had come and he drove me home, since I couldn't do it myself after all those medicines. It was nice spending time with him. We picked up dinner on the way and had some really good conversation. When he left I headed to bed because the medicines were still making me drowsy.

I feel good this morning and I am so thankful for an other day! When I checked my email there was one there from a friend giving me a link to a blog that a woman named Becca writes. I was amazed when I checked it out. Becca, I am guessing she is in her 30's, has stomach cancer. After reading many of her entries I was in tears. She has fought and continues to fight a very tough battle with her cancer. It made me realize that my battle, although it has been very tough at times, is nothing compared to what she is fighting. One astounding thing I noticed about her blog is that throughout it all she has beeen so positive and thankful. She is definately a fighter! Here is the link to her blog if you want to check it out. beccascancer.blogspot.com Please add Becca to your prayers.

Throughout life it is so easy to get down and feel sorry for yourself. I started to do that yesterday. Picking up the pieces and keeping a positive attitude about situations is much harder to do, but if you can do it, it is so rewarding. Dr. Sharma was right. Instead of feeling sorry for myself that I had to get a platelet transfusion, I needed to focus on the fact that I AM DONE! My six rounds of chemotherapy are over! My test results have come back with good results! I am going back to school on Monday! Life is going to get back to normal! God is so good! It has been evident that He is constantly with me, no matter what I am doing or going through!

Psalm 100: "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

Have a wonderful weekend! I love you all!

Chicago Marathon

I signed up back in January to run the Chicago Marathon. I was anxiously looking forward to starting training in June for my first marathon. Obviously that didn't happen and I didn't get to run in the marathon, or did I? :)

I actually did get to run in the marathon.

One of the girls that I work with at school took it upon herself to set up a relay team to run the marathon for me using my number and my chip. It was awesome! There were over 16 different people who volunteered to run/walk part of the 26.2 miles in my place.

Although I wasn't able to start the race, I was able to finish it. I hopped on to the course with six of my friends to finish the last 0.2 miles of the race. We all ran across the finish line together. It was a tremendous feeling. I cannot explain how loved and supported I felt at that moment.

My first marathon is something I will never forget. It was over 85 degrees out and people were running miles in the beastly heat....for me. Amazing!

Thank you to all of you who participated. I truly love each and every one of you!

And on that note...anybody up for it again next year?!?! :)