The Date is Set for My Next Surgery

My plastic surgeon's office called today to advise that we are a go for my next surgery for Friday, March 7, at 7:30 a.m. So we have to go see him for pre-op on February 19. I've got to call back tomorrow and see if he's going to remove my mediport at the same time. Hope so. Maybe we can wrap up all these loose ends at once.

Interesting. Just today I noticed that the outer skin over the tissue expander is actually loose. That means the skin has stretched over it and it's time for him to insert some more saline. And I am soooooo looking forward to that. That breast and all the muscles attached to my right arm have been really sore ever since the last insertion on 1-8-08. Writing this made me get out my little appointment cards and see when the next appointment is. . . rather was, to go put some saline in it. I was supposed to go to his office this p.m. ----OOPS! But the date didn't register with me. I'm surprised that they didn't ask me where I was when they called about the pre-op visit. I'll have to call and reschedule that this week or next.

I go in the morning for an annual pap test. Interesting. I read in a magazine this week that one of the things that hurts the survival chances of cancer patients is that they are so glad to be through with all the doctor visits after treatment is over, that they neglect the routine checkups, like pap tests and mammograms and self-exams. Please schedule your's today!

Stairway to Heaven

Thursday as I was driving home from work, my cell phone rang. It was David wanting to know my coordinates. He said there was someone at the house who was waiting on me. I'm thinking it's a PERSON, which was exciting because we rarely have guests at the house. So I asked who it was. Well, it was our adopted child who is staying with us while his parents are in Kiev. Kowboy was in the house playing with David.

When I got to the house, Kowboy met me in the garage. He was wired. We go into the house and he goes to the end of our staircase and sits there waiting. David is holding his prized red ball. This ball is the control button for Kowboy. If you have the ball, you are in control. If he has the ball, you can forget it.

David throws the ball up to the landing on our second floor. Kowboy takes off like a rocket to retrieve his ball. Watching him come down the stairs was a hoot. He came down really fast, almost head over heels, taking 3-4 steps at a time. Sounded like an elephant. He was proud of himself and came back to David with the ball. He wants you to throw it, but first you have to get it away from his slobbery mouth. The ball is back in human control, and David throws it up the stairs again. Kowboy bounds off after it, but this time he's a little bit slower coming back down the stairs. Guess it scared him, too, on the first trip down. He's a real hoot. He's such a good dog. He has ruined us. Now after his parents come back to Austin, we have to get another dog. We are hooked.

Kowboy & His Ball

We are really enjoying Kowboy. He is so pretty and is a really sweet dog. We were just having trouble keeping him in line. Like the Saturday I was vaccuuming out my Durango, so I opened the gate and let him out to play with me. Everything was going great until our neighbor lady opened her garage door and came out of her house to get in her car. He goes in the garage to see her---slobbers and all. With David's help we got him back in the fence. The next time David talked to Tony, he told him that Kowboy doesn't mind very well. Tony told him the answer: You have to keep control of his ball.

If you have his ball, he is alert and stays calm and right with you---thinking he will get the ball back soon. He can be running down the alley, but if you squeak his ball, he comes galloping back. We took him walking Saturday and he stayed right with us because David was holding the ball. He is a different dog if you are in control of the ball. If he has the ball, he's in control and will not come when you call him.

That would have been a nice discipline tool for two little boys I know. Wish I would have known about it 30+ years ago! I was going about it backwards. Remember those paddles with the long rubber band stapled to it and a little ball on the end, that you're supposed to hit over and over? Well I always took the rubber band and ball off of the paddle and carried the paddle in my purse. If either Kelly or Tony tried anything in a store, all I had to do was open my purse and remind them of what was in there. Little did I realize that I should have shown them the ball and not the paddle to control them!!!!

Happy Birthday!

I called Mama & Daddy driving to work this morning so they could tell me happy birthday. They answered the phone and as soon as I spoke, they both started saying it.

Tony & Elena called this morning to wish me happy birthday from Kiev, Ukraine. Tony said that they told Elena's family that they needed to email me, but her family would have nothing of that. They said he had to call. We talked for just a few minutes so it would only cost one arm, not two.

55 years old in 2008 sounds so young and so good when you were told in 2006 that "I think we can save your life but it's going to be a long hard year." And it was. But I'm here and doing well. And life goes on with each day being a blessing.

Nikita & Ana Visit Washington D.C.

Nikita and Ana called last night from Washington D.C. They were there on a brief layover on their way to Kiev, Ukraine. Elena's dad passed away in December, so they are over there for 5 weeks visiting her mom and family. Nikita said it was really neat on the airplane. He said they got snacks and cokes and everything. But he said that their plane to Germany will have MOVIES on it. I told Nikita that the President lives in Washington D.C. He answered real dead-pan, "yes, I know."

Tony sent an email this afternoon telling us that they arrived safely. He said the kids were tired, but were really good on the long flight over there. I told them to stay warm over there!

DL Success!

I was at the TX DPS license office this morning by 8:15 with my proof in hand. At 9:30 the automated woman finally said "Now serving number A020" and I got to go in the room. The woman behind the counter took my SS card, input my number and asked me to go over to the little eye tester thing. I explained to her that someone else is in their system using my SSN. She told me that SHE didn't see anything wrong. So I told her that I spent 2 hours here yesterday and that someone else is using my SSN. She told me that she could go out of the system and go back into my info and I said "Please." Sure enough, a man in Austin with an ID card is registered with my SSN. They put an alert out to the troopers to bring this guy in if they pull him over.

I read the 4th row of numbers, then gave her my left and right thumb prints on this little optical reader, then stepped back to get my photo taken. She had me to take my glasses off so there wouldn't be any glare. Never had that done before. So for another 6 years, I'm legal. Which is a lot more than I can say for a whole lot of the people there trying to get driver's licenses!!! There were all sorts of violations there. Just needed the INS people there and we could have cleaned up.

At least in 6 years I can renew my DL online. That place was just awful.

My Birthday---My Driver's License

I'm having a birthday on Thursday. I'll be 55. I got a post card from the friendly Texas DPS telling me that I have to go in to a licensing place this year to get a renewal. Great. So today I took off before lunch to go to the nearest DPS place. I was there over 2 hours, just waiting. Just waiting with bodies with B.O., with screaming kids, with parents screaming at their screaming kids telling them to "shut up", with the dregs of society. Just made me want to bathe before going back to work.

I spent all that time, and was finally called by their automated numbering system "Now serving number A142 at counter 1." When I got there, they were serving number A117. I swear they get their help from the same place as the USPS. But I digress.

Finally, I get up to the counter. The lady asks for my social security number. I tell it to her. She informs me that someone else has that SSN and that she'll need to see my SSN card. It's at home. She then tells me that I'll have to come back, loaded with my SSN card, my birth certificate and with my marriage license to "prove" who I am. She said that they will 'flag' the other person's info that it has the wrong SSN on their profile. So I have to go back in the morning and get a lesson in humility, loaded with my proof. This just started this year apparently.

Kora Brianne Smith is 11 Years Old

We got to celebrate Kora's 11th birthday with her on December 30th in our home. In fact the whole crew of 6 adults and 7 children were here to celebrate. We had chicken alfredo, salad, home-made rolls, chocolate cake and Rocky Road ice cream, all cooked by her mom, Tami. The menu was chosen by the birthday girl.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kora. It was taken at Tony & Elena's wedding on July 1, 2000 when she was 3 1/2 years old. Too cute! Happy birthday, Kora!

A Cure for the Common Cold

Yesterday at work I just knew I was getting sick. I was sneezing, coughing, felt sluggish, my voice was gravelly. You know, I could have done a Nyquil commercial! It just made me mad. Here I went through everything last year going through chemo and never once got sick.

Luckily, I had an appointment to see Dr. Brooks, my oncologist. He asked how I was when he walked in the room. I told him that I was trying to get a cold, to which he told me that I wasn't "trying" because I already had one. He recommended Mucinex DM at 1200 mg a day and Claritin D. He said that we've had a really bad cold epidemic going around that is staying with folks for 4-5 weeks. So I picked up that stuff on the way home.

Today I am so much better than yesterday. Now the trick is, to keep taking the medicine he said, for 4-5 weeks. It will control the symptoms and let you cope and get over the cold better. And he was right. It is amazing. Make sure your medicine chest has some of this stuff inside!

Oh, and Dr. Brooks doesn't want to see me for 3 months now. He said that Dr. Hodges could probably remove my mediport when he does the implant surgery and that he will write a letter to Dr. Laidley and Dr. Hodges about that. I asked what I should be looking for as far as the cancer coming back. He said if I notice anything unusual, mark it down on the calendar. If it's still unusual in 2 weeks, call his office and come in.

Another 50 CCs

We went to see Dr. Hodges today, my plastic surgeon. He decided to put in another 50 ccs of saline in the tissue expander. Whoopie! Given that the skin is already tight as a drum, I was really looking forward to more saline today. Here's a picture of a tissue expander with the little magnetic port. He uses a magnet on a string to locate the port, then marks its location with a marker. Next he injects the skin area with some pain killer and next comes the cow syringe full of salt water.

We talked about surgery and he thinks that at the most we'll have 2 more times to insert saline. I called his office back and we set a date for Friday, March 7. They have to work out the details for the surgery with our hospital. He said that he will remove the tissue expander and insert the actual silicone implant, then he'll put in a smaller implant in the left breast so that they are aesthically the same shape and he'll make a nipple on the right breast to match the left one. It is just amazing what they can do today! We're also going to see if he can remove my mediport while he's in there.

I told Dr. Hodges that he really did a good job on my left breast when he did the reduction on it, because it was the cleanest mammogram I have ever had last month. He couldn't help but smile. You could tell he was proud of that.

David warned them about the spurting blood that happens every time he injects saline. They were prepared, but nothing came out---not one drop. Really surprising. His nurse packed some gauze around it just in case. When I got home and took the bandaid off, it was soaked in blood but wasn't too bad. Boy, am I glad we're only doing this no more than 2 more times!!!

King of the Kowboys

Tony & Elena left their beautiful Golden Retriever, Kowboy, here with us after last weekend because they are going to Kiev, Ukraine later this month and will be gone about 5 weeks. Elena's dad passed away recently so they are going to see her mom, Nadia, and her brother and sister.

So we are babysitting Kowboy. He's just a big old baby. Kelly & Tami kept Kowboy when he was younger and wound up with free cable because he chewed up their cable line. Tonight after supper, Kowboy got to come in the house. He went right to David's recliner and jumped up on it, was told to get down, and he did. He then went right over to my recliner and got up in it. At his house in Kyle, he has his own soft chair on his back porch that he lays in all the time. In fact he won't get in his doghouse at home, just gets in his chair.

He was really curious about the TV and 2 ceramic owls that are sitting in front of our fireplace. I had to use some leftover bread to get him back outside. He LOVES bread---------and pasta and ham bones and anything else that comes from the house.

Tomorrow we have to go get a bale of hay straw at a farm store for his lean-to we built for him.

Friends From Afar

I actually sent out Christmas cards this year! They were mailed on Christmas Eve, but they were mailed. I felt like that was a real accomplishment over Christmas 2006, which basically didn't exist for us. For people who aren't on my email distribution list I included a summary of what we've done this past year.

We have kept in touch with many of the dear people we loved while David served as pastor at Friendship Baptist Church in Odessa and at Calvary Baptist Church in Midland. Christmas cards went to them this year. Monday we received a heartfelt letter from Nettie Mae Jackson's son from Houston because I sent a card to Nettie Mae. He wrote to let us know that Nettie Mae had gone to be with Jesus on August 8. David & I were both in tears. She was a saint if ever there was one on earth. She was married to J.C., who died while we pastored Calvary and David performed his funeral. Nettie Mae was an awesome cook and she shared her talents with us frequently. One Sunday she said something to me after church about her making the pie from a new recipe and hoped it was OK. I asked "What pie?" Nettie Mae immediately said, "J.C.!!! Where is the pie???" He grinned and went out to the car to get OUR pie. He came back with the brown paper bag holding the treasure and told me that she hadn't made him a pie recently, so he assumed it was his. Nettie Mae could quote Bible verses to any preacher and remind him of where they were located. They were both precious people to us in the ministry.

Another precious friend sent me a note on Wednesday and a beautiful charm bracelet with all sorts of breast cancer awareness symbols and cute trinkets on it. Sharon Bishop is THE best pianist I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. It was our great blessing to have her give Tony piano lessons. We think about Sharon & Gary Bishop from Odessa many times and miss them and their families. Thank you, Sharon, for the gorgeous bracelet. Every time I wear it, I'll think about you!

You never know when you throw your line out into the water exactly what you'll catch! But whether heart ache or heart joy, it brings you closer to those you love.