Christmas Eve was lovely. I read fro the King James Version, which always pleases certain members of the congregation. I think I have to read from The Message on Sunday and I'm afraid the words may stick in my throat. It's sort of a hippy-dippy Bible--about as far as you can get from the poetry of the KJV. Maybe I'll take my KJV, just in case.
Christmas was delightful. Glenn let me sleep in. I got up around 10 and made waffles for him--about the only family tradition we have for Christmas. We exchanged gifts, then I took a nap. We drove to Victoria's in a driving rain storm--my idea of perfect Christmas weather. Gretchen's whole family was there, and that was delightful. I don't see Kyle that often, and he is my favorite nephew. Chaia and Cassidy liked their hats and mittens. I think I'll do the same thing for Kyle--I have yarn left and an adult pattern. Iris was a delight to play with. Her little personality is starting to emerge.
Dinner was nice and there was NO DRAMA. It was just a pleasant time with dearly loved family.
Wednesday noon, I had a CT scan. It took six tries and the head doctor to finally get it started, Just before the IV, Paul, a Technician, brought out a Teddy Bear, a gift to me from the hospital foundation. I was touched and never needed it more. They tried to get blood our of each wrist--eventually succeeding, I wasn't screaming, but I did have tears flowing down my face. Paul was helping with the IV and the other Tech was rubbing my head and my back and trying to take my mind off the pain It was pretty exhausting--and i have these things every two months.
Gretchen came over in the late afternoon--good thing--the scan took longer than usual. We decided it was not a movie night, so we fixed leftovers and had an early night.
Thursday was expensive. We went to Home Depot and finally bought a new washer. It was expensive, but a very peasant experience. Each store worker we had anything to do with was knowledgeable, polite, friendly, and a delight doing business with. On man even brought me a scooter to ride around in the store when I started gasping for breath. After we took care of the major purchase, we went to Tanforan and the movie theatres. We saw Les Miz. I wish I'd brought a towel--there were a lot of tears. It was outstanding. We were going to see The Hobbit--on the whole, glad we changed our minds. Besides. I got hit with pretty bad pain Thursday night. I couldn't have handled anything else. I increased my paid meds and am beginning to feel a little better.
Monica came oer on Friday afternoon She gave us a report on the status of things at home--about the sand. But the big news is that Mark has a job! A real tax paying, above board,, job! May he keep it forever!
That's about it. I started on a sweater for Victoria's day-care provider. I was even able to use yarn on hand! Yea! The pile decreases!
That's it--time to sleep.
xxooxx
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Advent 2012
I haven't done much because I'm tired all the time. Well, that's not quite right. I've done lots of knitting--not enough, because the yarn in the yarn cave is breeding. Monica came over for an afternoon a couple of weeks ago. We made a quick trip to get Glenn's Christmas present then just hung out at the house.
I went to a Masonic installation in Alameda on the 8th. My former boss, Steve, was installed Senior Deacon. I've been following his career in the line, because I got him into Masonry. He had wanted to join for a while. It took me some time to get someone in the East Bay to get in touch with him, but I did it. I'd like to be around when he is installed Master--that's three more years. We'll see. Outside of the exhaustion, I'm doing pretty well. I'm not in much pain at all. I have a CT scan on Boxing Day and a follow-up appointment on New Year's Eve. That will tell me how I'm doing.
I've had tons of appointments--sometimes that's how I tell what day it is--by what doctor I'm seeing. I actually forgot a couple of appointments. Now I study the calendar carefully to make sure I know who I'm seeing and what time I'm seeing them. I didn't get my sixth Avastin infusion because my blood pressure was too high. That gives me two extra weeks t recover from all the chemo I've had this year. That's actually the only excuse they can find for my exhaustion. My heart's fine, lungs are fine, blood count is fine. Half a flight of stairs and I'm gasping for breath. It's annoying, because I really like to walk. The friend who has been driving me downtown for my haircuts moved to Oregon the beginning of the month. I thought about taking BART downtown, but I know I can't walk from the Montgomery station to Union Square. I drove myself and parked in the Union Square garage. By the time I got to the salon, I was fighting for breath--about half a block. Outside of the one little trip with Monica, I did no Christmas shopping.
Glenn and I got our Christmas tree on the 17th--just after I didn't have Avastin. We found a tiny space when it wasn't raining. Getting the tree usually takes much thought. This year we went into the lot, looked at maybe two trees and picked out one we liked. We looked at a few others, just to make sure, but it was a great tree. We had them put on a stand that holds water--that we may or may not remember to fill from time to time, threw it on the truck, stopped at the pharmacy to pick up my new blood pressure medicine, and came home. God bless Glenn, he's such a prince. It was a struggle for him to get the tree in the house, but he did it. I did most of the tree trimming-the first time I've done my own tree since 2006. I had knee surgery in the beginning of December 07 and got some of the kids from church to trim it for me. 08 was the year Al Sweetman kidnapped Glenn to get a tree--see the blog about that and the Bethany Elves that did the trimming. Granddaughters have trimmed it the last few years. I was pretty proud of myself. Here's the finished product:
We're happy with it. Ally helped me a little, but I had most of it done before she got home. She and her brother have gone to Oregon to spend Christmas with their sister.
Last Sunday we planned a memorial for the church members we've lost this year. It worked out well as we also used it as a memorial for the teachers and children who were killed in Connecticut. I played the theme from Schindler's list while people lit candles in memory of the people they had lost.
It being December, I'm also lay reader. I signed up for next December, too, and hope and pray that I'll be alive to do it.
So that's it. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I will read from the King James version of the Bible. The language is so beautiful and so familiar. Glenn and I are going to Victoria's for Christmas dinner. It will be delightful to enjoy Iris's first Christmas.
xxooxx
I went to a Masonic installation in Alameda on the 8th. My former boss, Steve, was installed Senior Deacon. I've been following his career in the line, because I got him into Masonry. He had wanted to join for a while. It took me some time to get someone in the East Bay to get in touch with him, but I did it. I'd like to be around when he is installed Master--that's three more years. We'll see. Outside of the exhaustion, I'm doing pretty well. I'm not in much pain at all. I have a CT scan on Boxing Day and a follow-up appointment on New Year's Eve. That will tell me how I'm doing.
I've had tons of appointments--sometimes that's how I tell what day it is--by what doctor I'm seeing. I actually forgot a couple of appointments. Now I study the calendar carefully to make sure I know who I'm seeing and what time I'm seeing them. I didn't get my sixth Avastin infusion because my blood pressure was too high. That gives me two extra weeks t recover from all the chemo I've had this year. That's actually the only excuse they can find for my exhaustion. My heart's fine, lungs are fine, blood count is fine. Half a flight of stairs and I'm gasping for breath. It's annoying, because I really like to walk. The friend who has been driving me downtown for my haircuts moved to Oregon the beginning of the month. I thought about taking BART downtown, but I know I can't walk from the Montgomery station to Union Square. I drove myself and parked in the Union Square garage. By the time I got to the salon, I was fighting for breath--about half a block. Outside of the one little trip with Monica, I did no Christmas shopping.
Glenn and I got our Christmas tree on the 17th--just after I didn't have Avastin. We found a tiny space when it wasn't raining. Getting the tree usually takes much thought. This year we went into the lot, looked at maybe two trees and picked out one we liked. We looked at a few others, just to make sure, but it was a great tree. We had them put on a stand that holds water--that we may or may not remember to fill from time to time, threw it on the truck, stopped at the pharmacy to pick up my new blood pressure medicine, and came home. God bless Glenn, he's such a prince. It was a struggle for him to get the tree in the house, but he did it. I did most of the tree trimming-the first time I've done my own tree since 2006. I had knee surgery in the beginning of December 07 and got some of the kids from church to trim it for me. 08 was the year Al Sweetman kidnapped Glenn to get a tree--see the blog about that and the Bethany Elves that did the trimming. Granddaughters have trimmed it the last few years. I was pretty proud of myself. Here's the finished product:
Last Sunday we planned a memorial for the church members we've lost this year. It worked out well as we also used it as a memorial for the teachers and children who were killed in Connecticut. I played the theme from Schindler's list while people lit candles in memory of the people they had lost.
It being December, I'm also lay reader. I signed up for next December, too, and hope and pray that I'll be alive to do it.
So that's it. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I will read from the King James version of the Bible. The language is so beautiful and so familiar. Glenn and I are going to Victoria's for Christmas dinner. It will be delightful to enjoy Iris's first Christmas.
xxooxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)