Wishing You and Your Family a Blessed Thanksgiving
Make Every Moment Count!
Love,
Debbie
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Birthday To A Special Lady
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO
EVELYN
TO THE MOST LOVING AND CARING PERSON ON THIS EARTH. SHE ONLY GIVES AND NEVER ASKS FOR ANYTHING IN RETURN. THANK GOD SHE IS IN MY LIFE!
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Where Has The Time Gone
I can't believe time has gone by so fast. I haven't wrote for over a week. I have been so busy. Last weekend on Saturday night I got to go to the Sharks game. My first game since getting sick. It was so much fun. Not only did my Sharkies kick butt on the Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburg Penguins 5-0 but to see my husband Mark cry was great! Our neighbors Jane and Steve Bjork came too. It was their first live hockey game. They loved it. We took them to the famous Shark hang out "Henry's" for dinner. So they got the full treatment of Henry's and a Shark game that night. It was a moment to remember. The rest of the weekend was relaxing watching football. I watch the movie "The Proposal" too on Sunday. What a funny movie!
Yesterday was the best day! I got to spend the whole day with my best friend and fellow heart transplant buddy "Tippi". I picked Tippi up and we went to Santa Clara Heart Transplant support group meeting. Dr. Kevin Anderson, another fellow heart transplant recipient, give a presentation on "Men and Sex after Heart Transplant". Al through it didn't have much information for us ladies, I still learned alot. The room was packed with heart transplant recipients, those waiting for a heart in the hospital and those just diagnosed with heart disease and considering a transplant. It is amazing how many people need heart transplants. Doctors have said they transplant a total of 16 from January to June, 2009 just at Kaiser. WOW! Thank God to those who make the choice to donate. It was a fun day. The million dollar girls out all day. We went to lunch and talk and talk. I kept telling Tippi I was sorry for talking so much. I took my Decadron on Monday night and so yesterday I was flying high. She's a good friend and understands.
Since getting sick I have to take such good care of my health in all areas. I have to be seen by doctors for skin cancers, OB/GYN, mammograms and not excluding bone marrow doctors, chemo doctors and heart transplant doctors. My schedule each week includes appointments for something. This is my new normal life. It was funny yesterday, Dr. Kevin, said it so perfectly. Our new normal life finally feels like a normal life again. I have to agree I'm almost there.
This weekend we are going to the lake all weekend. It's going to be so relaxing. I am bringing up some new movies to watch. Mia loves the lake house. She is so calm and quiet there. We go for walks down by the lake. She is so funny. She barks at the waves crashing on the shore. I laugh at the things she finds so interesting. She has brought so much joy into my life. She got groom today and looks so cute. Her hair is so long and fluffy. I love combing her long hair each night.
Jeff and Christine will be at the lake too. We are going to dinner at the Sports Stop in Kelseyville and again for breakfast and football on Sunday morning. We love the place. Mike is the owner and he is so good to us. Food is great!!!!
Next week I will do labs on Wednesday to check monthly light chain count. Hopefully I have another month of decrease in my numbers. That would be great! No chemo next week! Yeah!
Oh and the best part is that on Tuesday, November 17th, Erin and Mark find out the sex of the baby. As I said before I don't care what the sex is just that the baby is healthy and Erin is fine. I will be so happy to have a boy or girl. I'm just happy to be a grandma!
Sorry for not writing but like I said "life is getting back to a new normal". Moments are being made and life is good!
Love,
Debbie
Yesterday was the best day! I got to spend the whole day with my best friend and fellow heart transplant buddy "Tippi". I picked Tippi up and we went to Santa Clara Heart Transplant support group meeting. Dr. Kevin Anderson, another fellow heart transplant recipient, give a presentation on "Men and Sex after Heart Transplant". Al through it didn't have much information for us ladies, I still learned alot. The room was packed with heart transplant recipients, those waiting for a heart in the hospital and those just diagnosed with heart disease and considering a transplant. It is amazing how many people need heart transplants. Doctors have said they transplant a total of 16 from January to June, 2009 just at Kaiser. WOW! Thank God to those who make the choice to donate. It was a fun day. The million dollar girls out all day. We went to lunch and talk and talk. I kept telling Tippi I was sorry for talking so much. I took my Decadron on Monday night and so yesterday I was flying high. She's a good friend and understands.
Since getting sick I have to take such good care of my health in all areas. I have to be seen by doctors for skin cancers, OB/GYN, mammograms and not excluding bone marrow doctors, chemo doctors and heart transplant doctors. My schedule each week includes appointments for something. This is my new normal life. It was funny yesterday, Dr. Kevin, said it so perfectly. Our new normal life finally feels like a normal life again. I have to agree I'm almost there.
This weekend we are going to the lake all weekend. It's going to be so relaxing. I am bringing up some new movies to watch. Mia loves the lake house. She is so calm and quiet there. We go for walks down by the lake. She is so funny. She barks at the waves crashing on the shore. I laugh at the things she finds so interesting. She has brought so much joy into my life. She got groom today and looks so cute. Her hair is so long and fluffy. I love combing her long hair each night.
Jeff and Christine will be at the lake too. We are going to dinner at the Sports Stop in Kelseyville and again for breakfast and football on Sunday morning. We love the place. Mike is the owner and he is so good to us. Food is great!!!!
Next week I will do labs on Wednesday to check monthly light chain count. Hopefully I have another month of decrease in my numbers. That would be great! No chemo next week! Yeah!
Oh and the best part is that on Tuesday, November 17th, Erin and Mark find out the sex of the baby. As I said before I don't care what the sex is just that the baby is healthy and Erin is fine. I will be so happy to have a boy or girl. I'm just happy to be a grandma!
Sorry for not writing but like I said "life is getting back to a new normal". Moments are being made and life is good!
Love,
Debbie
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Numbers Are Going Down!!
Yesterday I received good news. My lambha light chain count went down again to 137 from 169. That is such great news! The chemo treatments of Decadron and Velcade are kicking in and lowering my count. Now can't get too excited I have a long way to go to hit normal of 26. Dr. Akthar says at some time it will reach a platto and even out. I hope it evens out around under 50. Next month will be interesting to see how far it goes down because I will have had a full dosage at 2.6 for 3 weeks. I only had 2 weeks of the dosage 2.6 and had such a great result. Time will only tell. I just can't believe how my life has changed and all I think about is numbers. White Blood Count, Light chain Count and more! Someday I hope I won't have to think about it anymore. I know that won't happen because there is no cure for the disease Amyloidosis. Just controlling it through chemo. I am blessed that the treatment is working. God bless that.
Not much going on this week. I am really tired especially at night. I don't sleep very well which I think is the problem. Last night I took my dosage of Decadron which keeps me up and gives me a dull headache. If it gets really bad I take Vicodim. Not that bad so far. Today I had chemo and all went well. Yesterday I had my monthly visit with Dr. Akthar, chemo doctor. He is very pleased with the results and said we will keep it up and hopefully the numbers will keep going down. I stood in line for almost an hour waiting for the H1N1 shot. I started to get nervous because there were little kids there getting the shot as a live virus through the nose. I am not supposed to be around anyone who gets the shot through the nose as a live virus for two weeks. So why did they have people like me standing next to kids getting the shot that way. I had my mask on and with my short hair, the nurses knew I was immune suppressed. Mom was waiting for me at Dr. Akthar's office and asked if he would give me the shot and he did. Thank God because today they ran out of the shots. I feel better knowing I am protected now. I have to be so careful not to get sick. My boys all got their shots, just the flu shot. Markie will get the H1N1 too because Erin is pregnant.
Erin and Markie had a doctor's appointment which the doctor canceled a half hour before and rescheduled for Thursday. They might be told the sex on Thursday if the doctor sees it right there in front of him. I will let you know after the doctor appointment.
This weekend I am going to the trailer again. I had a wonderful time this last weekend with Linda. It was so relaxing. We went to dinner Saturday and had a terrible meal. We went to Zino's Italian restaurant and ordered Veal Picatta. It came out as a square frozen piece of veal that tasted like ground veal and pork. It was awful. What kind of Italian would serve that. We went to breakfast on Sunday at the Grapevine Cafe. It is a new place with only 6 tables and it was great. We will go back on Sunday this weekend. Our heater is giving us some problems and the repair man was there today and said that he needed to locate a part. If he can then no big deal, if not it means a new heater. That is not good! He'll let me know tomorrow. We might be a little cold this weekend but we have portable heaters that we can use. Let's hope for the best.
Have a great week and weekend ahead. Go out and make those memories count.
Love,
Debbie
Not much going on this week. I am really tired especially at night. I don't sleep very well which I think is the problem. Last night I took my dosage of Decadron which keeps me up and gives me a dull headache. If it gets really bad I take Vicodim. Not that bad so far. Today I had chemo and all went well. Yesterday I had my monthly visit with Dr. Akthar, chemo doctor. He is very pleased with the results and said we will keep it up and hopefully the numbers will keep going down. I stood in line for almost an hour waiting for the H1N1 shot. I started to get nervous because there were little kids there getting the shot as a live virus through the nose. I am not supposed to be around anyone who gets the shot through the nose as a live virus for two weeks. So why did they have people like me standing next to kids getting the shot that way. I had my mask on and with my short hair, the nurses knew I was immune suppressed. Mom was waiting for me at Dr. Akthar's office and asked if he would give me the shot and he did. Thank God because today they ran out of the shots. I feel better knowing I am protected now. I have to be so careful not to get sick. My boys all got their shots, just the flu shot. Markie will get the H1N1 too because Erin is pregnant.
Erin and Markie had a doctor's appointment which the doctor canceled a half hour before and rescheduled for Thursday. They might be told the sex on Thursday if the doctor sees it right there in front of him. I will let you know after the doctor appointment.
This weekend I am going to the trailer again. I had a wonderful time this last weekend with Linda. It was so relaxing. We went to dinner Saturday and had a terrible meal. We went to Zino's Italian restaurant and ordered Veal Picatta. It came out as a square frozen piece of veal that tasted like ground veal and pork. It was awful. What kind of Italian would serve that. We went to breakfast on Sunday at the Grapevine Cafe. It is a new place with only 6 tables and it was great. We will go back on Sunday this weekend. Our heater is giving us some problems and the repair man was there today and said that he needed to locate a part. If he can then no big deal, if not it means a new heater. That is not good! He'll let me know tomorrow. We might be a little cold this weekend but we have portable heaters that we can use. Let's hope for the best.
Have a great week and weekend ahead. Go out and make those memories count.
Love,
Debbie
Friday, October 23, 2009
Not Much to Talk About
There hasn't been much to talk about. I guess that is a good thing. No problems with my health. Just the same old things going on. I had a break from chemo this week and that felt good. I was really tired on Thursday and last night slept all night without getting up once. It felt great. I have been having more numbness in the fingers and toes lately. Do not know if its medicines or the disease Amyloidosis.
Tomorrow I will be going to the trailer with Linda Ford. We want to spend some time together, go to dinner and just relax. Scott is hunting and Mark is painting Todd Jr.'s new house. I still have little things to do at the trailer, like fix my chair pads in the kitchen. I love the trailer. It's a place I can really relax and feel stress free. The minute I drive through the gates of the park, I can feel the stress go out of my body. Wish I could spend more time there.
Next week I will see Dr. Akhtar on Monday and find out my lambha light chain count. I hope I have another big decrease. That would be wonderful. All other lab tests have come out good this week. Next round of chemo starts up again on Tuesday with Decadron on Monday. I plan to get the H1N1 shot on Monday. Wow that is so scary when your immune system is soooo low. I'm so afraid of getting sick.
Erin will go to the doctor on the 27th. She is doing great. On November 17th we find out the sex of the baby. I'm excited but don't really care. Boy or girl, it doesn't matter as long as Erin and the baby are fine. I want a healthy grand child. Erin has more energy and is feeling better. I told her to enjoy the next 3 months and then its down hill again. Can't wait to see her big belly and my little grand baby moving inside her. That will be a moment to cherish!
Oh, I haven't said but my hair is coming back. It's so curly and thick. Wow the doctors were right when they said it would come back different than before. I can't wait to style it. My friend Laurie is so excited to start cutting it into some kind of style. We will just have to wait and see what my hair decides to do.
Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy every moment!
Love,
Debbie
Tomorrow I will be going to the trailer with Linda Ford. We want to spend some time together, go to dinner and just relax. Scott is hunting and Mark is painting Todd Jr.'s new house. I still have little things to do at the trailer, like fix my chair pads in the kitchen. I love the trailer. It's a place I can really relax and feel stress free. The minute I drive through the gates of the park, I can feel the stress go out of my body. Wish I could spend more time there.
Next week I will see Dr. Akhtar on Monday and find out my lambha light chain count. I hope I have another big decrease. That would be wonderful. All other lab tests have come out good this week. Next round of chemo starts up again on Tuesday with Decadron on Monday. I plan to get the H1N1 shot on Monday. Wow that is so scary when your immune system is soooo low. I'm so afraid of getting sick.
Erin will go to the doctor on the 27th. She is doing great. On November 17th we find out the sex of the baby. I'm excited but don't really care. Boy or girl, it doesn't matter as long as Erin and the baby are fine. I want a healthy grand child. Erin has more energy and is feeling better. I told her to enjoy the next 3 months and then its down hill again. Can't wait to see her big belly and my little grand baby moving inside her. That will be a moment to cherish!
Oh, I haven't said but my hair is coming back. It's so curly and thick. Wow the doctors were right when they said it would come back different than before. I can't wait to style it. My friend Laurie is so excited to start cutting it into some kind of style. We will just have to wait and see what my hair decides to do.
Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy every moment!
Love,
Debbie
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Getting Back to Normal
Yes today it felt like normal again! I worked out with my personal trainer, Tim Rogers for the first time in a year. It felt so great and I didn't do so bad either. Well I didn't do 385 on the leg press but only 80 pounds for 7 minutes. Tim said it is obvious I need to go up on the weight but everything else I did fine. Wow it felt really good. Heart transplant has encouraged me to start building muscle and bone because of the drug Decadron which causes bone fractures. I'm starting slow and hopefully by January I can be back doing my normal exercises twice a week. I need to start walking again too. My ankle is doing fine so I think I can start soon.
Saturday I plan to attend my Amyloidosis support meeting in Walnut Creek. I miss seeing everyone and Dr. Kevin will be there too. The group has not seen me since stem cell transplant and I'm looking forward to talking to everyone about my results and current treatment. We are supposed to have a doctor from UCSF there to discuss our disease too.
After my meeting I'm driving to the trailer for the weekend. Scott and Linda will be there and Mark and I have lots of little things to do on the trailer. I need to dust the spider webs, rearrange my living room furniture and just do little things to get my little place ready for winter . I want to stock the closets and drawers with clothes, jackets and sweats so I don't have to pack every time we go up. I want most things there all the time.
An update on the ordering of the headstone. Evelyn and I ran into a problem with the online monument company. The headstone Jazmin picked out does not come in the size we need (32") for the grave site. They never told us that until we were ready to order. So now Evelyn has to choose another headstone. We are going to a monument company or two in Sacramento and look at them in person to make the decision. Hopefully, by next weekend we can place an order and it will be installed soon.
Have a wonderful weekend! Make those memories count. Today was a moment to remember.
Love,
Debbie
Saturday I plan to attend my Amyloidosis support meeting in Walnut Creek. I miss seeing everyone and Dr. Kevin will be there too. The group has not seen me since stem cell transplant and I'm looking forward to talking to everyone about my results and current treatment. We are supposed to have a doctor from UCSF there to discuss our disease too.
After my meeting I'm driving to the trailer for the weekend. Scott and Linda will be there and Mark and I have lots of little things to do on the trailer. I need to dust the spider webs, rearrange my living room furniture and just do little things to get my little place ready for winter . I want to stock the closets and drawers with clothes, jackets and sweats so I don't have to pack every time we go up. I want most things there all the time.
An update on the ordering of the headstone. Evelyn and I ran into a problem with the online monument company. The headstone Jazmin picked out does not come in the size we need (32") for the grave site. They never told us that until we were ready to order. So now Evelyn has to choose another headstone. We are going to a monument company or two in Sacramento and look at them in person to make the decision. Hopefully, by next weekend we can place an order and it will be installed soon.
Have a wonderful weekend! Make those memories count. Today was a moment to remember.
Love,
Debbie
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