Through It All.........Our Family's Journey through the Valleys, Mountaintops, and the Peaceful Plateaus of Life.

I have been away for what seems like forever.  Just wanted to drop in and leave a note to let you all know a bit of what I have been up to lately.  I have been teaching the past 2 years in an inner city charter school in the ghetto section of Dayton, Ohio.  My students are all suffer from learning disabilities and/or ADHD, and most have severe emotional or behavioral disorders.  It is quite a challenge to work as their teacher and intervention specialist.  I am home now for the summer to be with my precious Daddy, who had a recurrence of his lung cancer, which has spread to his liver.  I am living with him now, so I can help him whenever he needs help, and to be able to spend these final days he has with him—I don’t want to waste a second!  I also have taken the required classes to be a certified lay minister with my church, the United Methodist Church.  So life has really been full of busyness. 

I am sorry that I have not been able to continue blogging after life got crazy.  Once I was offered this job away from home, I had to take it, and it has been physically, mentally, and emotionally draining.  I have also been driving home every single weekend to be with my Dad.  I hope that I can have time to write again one day soon. 

Your old friend, Kathy

I’m going to be a grandma again!!!  YIPPEE!!!    Chelle and Josh are adding a new grandson to the four children they adopted after they lost our precious angel Ellora 2 years ago.  I have written 3 long, long posts tonight, but somehow each time it got deleted somehow, and now it is late, so I’ll wait till tomorrow to share the rest of my news.

I would really appreciate pray for my Dad tomorrow.  He is feeling so well lately, and we hope that the doctors agree with our opinion of things and don't find something new to thrill us with.  He will be having his consults with his cardiologist and with his oncologist both tomorrow. 

They are still trying to decide whether to keep him on the blood thinners and not worry about the atrial fibrillation, or whether to try to shock his heart back into rhythm.  As far as the lung cancer recurring in his good lung, the lung specialist that we had the consult with a couple weeks ago said that he was certain that it was not cancer after all, but a rare form of wandering bronchitis that sometimes occurs in patients who have undergone radiation for lung cancer.  Let's hope and pray that the oncologist agrees with this! 

Dad looks good and feels good, other than having a severe rash from the oral chemo drug he has been taking.  He looks like he has a very serious case of teenage acne all over his face, scalp, neck, and chest.  It itches and burns, but he said he would much rather put up with that than chance having the cancer come back. 

Tomorrow night is the annual Relay for Life.  We have walked in it for about 15 years or so, since my mom first had cancer.  We buy luminaries in memory of her, Uncle Don, and Aunt Gertie, and in honor of my dad and Aunt Mary.  This year we will have to buy an additional one in honor of my mother-in-law. 

The first lap is called the Survivor's Lap, and only those who have or have had cancer walk in it.  My dad walked in the Survivor's Lap last year, and this was when he was undergoing chemo and radiation, and had just had heart stents put in.  You should have seen his face when he crossed that finish line!  He was so proud and happy.  We were so worried last year that he wouldn't be with us this year to walk, let alone in such great shape!   So we'll get to see him take another victory lap in the Survivor's Lap! 

I am so very, very proud of my dad and his attitude toward his cancer, and his hard work to continue to live a normal life despite it all.  Through it all, he always asks Jesus to just hold his hand, whatever may come.  He has never given up, and in my book, he is a true winner! 

I am not certain whether the cure is much better than the disease.  The pills the doctor is having me take for the diverticulitis are making me feel worse instead of better.  Can you tell from my lack of posting lately that I haven't felt well?  I miss blogging, but it seems like absolutely everything is such an effort lately.  I'd rather just curl up and sleep.

The pain is subsiding a bit, but the pills are making me extremely nauseous and just in general feeling sick.  Before I just hurt—now I feel sick.  They taste horrible, but I can put up with that.  I must say though, that I have never had a pill that tasted worse.  You don't even have to lay it on your tongue to taste it.   As soon as you hold it inside your mouth, just holding onto it before putting it on your tongue, it already can be tasted.  How is that even possible?  A not so fun side effect is that it makes the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet burn like I have a severe sunburn.  It just starts to feel better, and it's time to take another pill. 

At least the pain is going away.  Tomorrow I go in for a bunch of lab tests—tons of blood work.  One that I am really interested in is the thyroid function.  I had Hashimoto's years ago, and had half my thyroid taken out.  The fact that I am not losing anymore weight lately, and wasn't losing as much as I thought I should before that, make me wonder what the other half of my thyroid is up to. Without health insurance, I couldn't have it checked for quite some time.  It would be nice to have an excuse for the weight not coming off more quickly  

Please pray that I feel better soon.  One more day of these pills and they will be gone, and hopefully I'll perk up again???  I sure hope so!  Too much to do to feel like just lopping around on the couch all day.