The days are passing by in a blur. I had my 3rd treatment last Friday. It's hard to believe I'm halfway finished already! I've talked to Shannon about maybe working 20 hours a week with Barnes and Noble shelving books from 7-11a.m. It would give me something to do and I love being physical, but as you read farther along in this blog, I don't think I'm going to be able to commit to a job quite yet. (NUTS!)

My treatment last Friday took forever. It started about 8:40 and I don't think we left there until 3:30. Everything we did seemed to take forever. I had lab work, met with the oncologist, and then started chemo. My IV's only take 4 hours total so you can see how slowly everything went that day. After I got home so late, my neighbors had invited me over for dinner,(steaks on the grill, baked potatoes, etc,), so I joined them for dinner and end up visiting with them until 9p.m. It felt good to just sit around on their screened in porch and visit for awhile.

On Saturday a.m. I got an email that one of the women in my S.S. class, step-father had died. He was diagnosed with lung cancer about the same time as my Dad, so it was a blessing that he had finally gone to be with the Lord. He was suffering terribly. We were preparing meals for the family for the weekend so I made my chicken/broccoli/rice casserole and dropped it off at the church at 12:30. I came home made some taco meat sauce, packed up my bag and went to watch the Notre Dame game with my friend, Robin,(yes, the same Robin who spends the day with me during chemo). We've been Notre Dame fans for years but it's been ages since we've watched the game together. We're also big Indy 500 fans. We used to get together to watch the race but we haven't done that in a long time either. Now I spend the Indy 500 day with my friends, Traci and Jon. Every year in the end of June we head to Williamsburg, Va to spend the weekend with Traci's Dad, so we can attend the Richmond Indy 400 race on Saturday. I look forward to it each year. This year I wasn't able to attend. I'd only been home from the hospital for two weeks and there was no way I could travel that far, and not to mention our seats are on the top row. But next year, I'm there. Traci's Dad has sent me several cards and has even helped me out financially a couple of times. I just love her Dad!! He fixes up the guest bedroom for me and he told me when I talked to him last that he had installed a light over the head of the bed because he knows how much I like to read before I fall asleep. Is that thoughtful or what??

On Sunday it was a typical busy day at church. I was a little more tired than usual afterwards, so instead of Nelson and I going out to lunch, I invited him back to my house and reheated some leftovers, and made cheeseburgers on the grill. It worked! We watched a movie together and then I laid down and took a nap before heading back out to church for a summer missions report at 5 from the group who went to Belize this year.

I had arranged for a movie night with some friends afterwards. I've been wanting to see "Get Smart", but I was in the hospital when it was playing so I never got to see it. It's now playing at Blueridge Carmike 14($1.50 theatre), so I left the church a little early to get to the theatre in time to meet everyone and discovered that I'd left my purse hanging on the back of the chair at church. I could have borrowed money to see the movie, but the problem was I needed to get back to the church before they locked it up, so. . .I missed the movie, but I DID get back in time to get my purse. At that point, I figured God was trying to tell me to just go home and get some rest, so I did.

On Monday I had volunteered to deliver flowers to the shut-ins from the service on Sunday. I had 5 people to visit in Wake Forest. I love doing things like that!! I only got to talk to 2 of them, the others were out, or sleeping, but hopefully I'll get to do it again soon. I grabbed lunch at McDonald's because I knew if I waited until I got home to eat, I'd be nauseous,(I'm sort of figuring out how these chemo reactions occur), took a 2 hr. power nap and then off for after school tutoring until 5.

I went to bed feeling fine, but Tuesday a.m. was not good. I woke up so dizzy. I was able to get up and feed the cats breakfast, but immediately laid down on the sleeper sofa. I was extremely dizzy all day. I couldn't open my eyes at all or the room would just spin. I called Steve, my neighbor and asked him if he'd come over and warm up some spaghetti for lunch for me, he did and then at dinner time his wife, Allison came over and made me some chicken and rice. At 8p.m. I'd had enough so I called it a day. I didn't know if I was suffering from the chemo or if I'd picked up a virus. I had visited with my friend, Sherry G. on the Wed. before and she called me during tutoring on Monday to see how I was doing. Apparently about an hour after I left, she came down with the flu. She was so afraid I would get sick. So the dizziness could have been the flu or chemo, who knew? I decided to wait and call Rex Cancer Center on Wed. a.m. if I was still dizzy. I woked up Tues. night about 11:30,(I'm surprised that I could sleep at all. I literally slept almost all day Tuesday), and I wasn't dizzy anymore. I felt tired, but fine. I laid in bed a little while longer and then at 2 a.m. my tummy was growling so loudly that it woke me up. I got up fixed dinner and watched TV until 3:30 and then went back to bed until 6a.m. I felt like I'd had the flu for a couple of days on Wed. but I was able to go to dinner at church, teach G.A.'s, and go to choir practice that evening. On Thur. I felt like my old self until about 3 p.m. and then all of a sudden I was exhausted. I laid on the couch until 6:30, then went to Impromptu practice until 9. I must have caught my third wind by time I got home, because I couldn't fall asleep until 1a.m. but that's ok. Now today, I'm playing catch up. The phone keeps ringing off the wall, so I'm not even dressed yet and it's already 10:30, but I'm not going anywhere and I have all day to get everything done. I needed to get this blog done so you could all see how things are going.
Everybody is always asking me how I'm doing and when I'm going to blog next. It would probably be easier to blog twice and week, but there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. I don't know how I did everything when I was working! The days are gone before I know it.

I apologize for the length of the blog this time. It wasn't even interesting, but that's what's been going on. Maybe I'll have more interesting stuff next time, but don't count on it.