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Well, it finally
happened! I just had to change the graphics on my
journal pages. I'm not in a hospital, I'm not in
bed (well, at least most of the time I'm not). I'm
alive and living a pretty full life, considering, and if
I have to be portrayed as something other than what I am
(and I simply don't have photos taken now), I'd rather
it would be as the woman above; I've always liked this
picture, and used it on a page long ago. If you
haven't seen the journal pages, you will understand why,
when you do.
Here is my journal
update for May 5th, 2006
June 14, 2006
Hi Everyone,
I went to the doctor again yesterday for another chemo
treatment and several other appointments, and things are
still going very well. The doctor is very pleased with
my progress, and we are very thankful for it.
The chemo itself may be “stabilizing” as the doctor
called it, possibly, and he seems to think it might be
leveling off in its progress. The
tumor is reduced in size, but not at any amazing
rate right now. I did remind the doctor that since we
did not take an X-Ray the period before last, the large
reduction was over a six week period instead of the
three week period, which he had forgotten, so that might
have had something to do with it. We’ll need to find
out more about that at our next appointment.
There were several other good results at this testing.
My blood is still doing very well, my blood oxygen
level, after being off of the oxygen supplement for the
past three weeks, was still at 98 after running around
the hospital on foot, which he was very pleased with,
and wonder of wonders, my white blood count has dropped
significantly for the first time in over three years.
He gave me the readings for the past six visits, and
although it dropped a number or two each month, in this
last three weeks it dropped from 20 down to 10. That
means there’s a significant drop in inflammation in my
body, and that was very welcome news indeed.
His plan is to check everything again in three weeks,
and if the chemo has not made a significant change to
lower the size of the tumor, perhaps to stop it for
awhile and keep close tabs on it and me. At this point
we don’t know if there are some residual effects from it
that would keep on working, or what the reason for this
choice would be, and that’s the first thing we’ll be
finding out next visit. We’re assuming there is a
reason for it, for it seems to us if there were not, the
logical thing to do would be to continue to take it as
long as it was reducing the tumor, until the tumor is
gone. We just don’t know what the reason is, and intend
to find out.
I also had a list of things to ask about, the most
paramount being a problem with my eyes that is
worsening. The tear ducts at the inner corners are
swollen all the time, and most days they “water”
incessantly. My vision is worsening, and I was
concerned about this, so asked if it could be from the
chemo or cancer, or connected with them in any way. He
said it is the chemo, it is just that since less than
20% of patients are troubled with it, it is not listed
in their book. He also said that they have not found
anything to help with it, so it is just a problem. That
made me feel better in some ways, and I can live with it
while taking the chemo, although it will be nice to not
have the problem any longer when it goes.
I continue to gain in strength and stamina, and there
are improvements in that every day. Small ones, but we
have to take small steps until we can take large ones.
Jim and I can see every one of them, and the people
around us can see a lot, too. Yesterday I went to the
doctor after sleeping less than half an hour all night,
leaving here at 6:20 am, and not returning until after
4:00 pm, then plunged right into putting away a ton of
groceries, helping Anita prepare dinner, and cleaning up
afterward. It was about 7:30 when I finished and
crashed on the couch, thinking I would probably be up
within an hour or two, the usual time for sleep while
taking my steroid, but was surprised to find that I
didn’t wake up until 4 am, and was wide awake then, and
up for the day, feeling rested.
We had more company coming in today, Tom Quintal and his
wife Julie, from Salem, Oregon, and everyone pitched in
to help vacuum and so forth, and prepare so we could all
relax and visit once they arrived, and it has been
another long, busy day. Our friend AJ dropped by about
dinner time, so we were seven for dinner. We had a
great time talking for hours, and Anita and I really
enjoyed getting to know Julie, whom we hadn’t met yet.
Tom and Julie will be around for another couple of days,
but they’re going upriver tomorrow with some people to
check out new claims, so I will have some time to crash,
coming down from the steroid tomorrow if I need it, and
not have to worry about leaving company hanging. Anita
is enough at home here now to keep herself occupied and
make the most of some quiet time, so I don’t worry about
her. We get along very well together.
I still can’t stress enough how beneficial it has been
to my recovery to have had her and Lee visiting us at
this time. It is helping me to progress through the
most difficult time, when my body is at its weakest, at
the fastest possible pace, and we are all amazed that I
continue to improve so quickly at the length of time I
can keep going, and at the strength I am gaining. I’m
seeing muscles come back in my legs now, which were
pretty much trashed while I had the broken ankle last
year, and limited activity while I was on oxygen didn’t
help, all the early part of this year. My arms still
need to build more muscle, and so do my legs, but I can
do a whole lot more than I could even a month ago, so
I’m hoping I can get it all back fairly quickly. I was
dreading that climb out of the hole again, and Lee and
Anita have made it much easier than trying to do it on
my own, without incentive.
Last weekend we had five for dinner, and served a
marinated and grilled boneless leg of lamb served with a
mango/mint sauce, preceded by an appetizer of olive and
sun dried tomato tapenade served on crostini, an Italian
method of toasting thin slices of baguette
(thin French bread with oil and garlic), which
was really good, and all portions of each menu item were
made using fresh herbs from my half-barrels of small
garden on the deck. We also had boiled Yukon Gold
potatoes served with melted butter and our herbs, and
cole slaw. It all came out great. Last night we had
seven for dinner, and set up a buffet where we had lots
of good stuff for Taco Salad, and it all disappeared
quickly, but was quite easy to prepare, so it worked out
well. Having another person to help
chop up all that stuff is a big help. We’ve been making
them without the tortilla shell to lessen the carbs
(carbohydrates), and last night served them with
Fritos on the side for those that wanted crunch. That
worked out well.
Our tomatoes are still doing very well, and are
attempting to set fruit, but it is a little slow right
now for setting fruit as it cooled off and a series of
thunderstorms and fierce rain showers has been passing
through all this last week. They are not dropping the
blossoms, although a couple were beat off in the heavy
rain one day. My two plants, and Anita’s, which are
visiting our deck, are doing well.
Flower production here at home has slowed down, as we
are waiting for other plants to begin blooming, but the
riot of wildflowers along all the roadways is beautiful
right now. The air is perfumed with lots of Ceonothus,
the wild lilacs that grow along all the banks here in a
rainbow of colors, the sweet peas are blooming along the
edges of the highway, as are wild roses, and many bushes
and trees I can’t identify yet. The river is finally
dropping a bit again, but we don’t know what this rain
will do, it will depend on how long it keeps up.
Because we had about a month of dry weather, it appears
to still be sinking in well, there is no standing water
anywhere, and no waterfalls along the highway, it is
just soaking it all up. So, there may not be much
runoff.
Everyone here who is planning to prospect for gold is
getting equipment ready, and picking out a place or
places they want to start at, and getting very excited
and anxious. If you have any mining gear in your
vehicle, people stop anywhere you are stopped for gas,
or whatever, to ask questions or talk about it.
I don’t know if I mentioned AJ before, but don’t think
we had met him yet when I did the last update. He lives
in Pennsylvania, and decided to come out to try mining
this summer, as he is determined to lose weight, and
wanted to work very hard. He is quite strong, but
needed to work extra hard to lose this weight, so
decided learning to prospect for gold
would help with that. On his first day or so he came
across Jim and Lee panning on the riverbank near our
home and he kind of adopted us all after that. He is
camped on one of the creeks in a tent, staying on a
strict diet, and while he does eat with us at times, he
eats only small amounts, mostly for the change in diet,
as he is limiting his diversity in the tent. He
attended the first mining seminar for the club here,
held last weekend, and is learning a great deal very
quickly.
Anita is teaching me how to crochet, something I’ve
wanted to do for a long time, but being left-handed had
not found anyone willing to teach me, because they were
all right-handed. She and I persevered and I’m now
working on my first project, a winter neck scarf. It is
going quite well.
Now that I’m no longer on oxygen, there is nothing to
prevent me from beginning short camping trips, so we’re
going to try to get the trailer ready and take it
upriver by this weekend for a few days, to see how I can
do. That will be a treat, and I’ll tell you all more
about that later, but if I don’t have to continue taking
the chemo, it will make trips like that much easier, as
I won’t be having to fight side effects all the time,
something that is done mostly with my diet, and which
will be restricted due to the small size of our
refrigerator and freezer in the trailer. That’s the
reason for the short trips, at least at first.
It is looking like it will be a fun summer, and we are
ready for it! As these guys get together, the list of
plans and places to go just keeps lengthening out, until
it seems there is no way they can fit it all into a
summer, and that could be good, actually, because if
they are getting good gold, they will stay where they’re
at until it falls off and is mined out, which means they
will not move too often, if at all, depending on how
well the deposit pays.
So, that’s the current report from here. We are having
fun, making progress, and enjoying every minute as much
as possible.
We continually give thanks for all the blessings
bestowed upon us, and my heart sings each day with the
knowledge that I can now do so many things that
frustrated me because I could not do them for such a
long while. I have dragged half a dozen projects of
various kinds out, and am working on them all as I can,
just happy they are no longer sitting stuffed into a
closet and are nearing completion. What fun!
I never thought I would be thanking the Lord for
allowing me to be well enough to scrub out my own sinks
and toilets, but I am, each time, and I derive much
enjoyment from being able to clean my own house, or most
of it. There are still a few things I can’t do, but the
list of what I can do is growing by leaps and
bounds, and I feel so much better for being able to do
it all myself (Jim is kind of thankful for that, too… he
does it when I can’t, but it’s not his favorite stuff to
do).
We want to thank everyone for being so helpful to us,
your encouragement and your prayers have helped us
immeasurably, and we’ve been so blessed to have had you
all to help lift us up when we really need it. That has
been a great treasure, and we appreciate every one of
you for it.
We hope all of you are doing well, and hope those of you
who need help from others will not hesitate to ask for
it, you can derive much from that, and so will those
giving the gift of help.
Until next time,
Marcie and Jim
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