I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying my real hair, and I've had it cut 3 times now!!! I'm not sure what to do with it exactly...I like having it short because it's easy to fix everyday, but Danny wants me to grow it out. We'll see who wins that debate. I'm more of a 7 a.m. riser, but have to get up at 5:20 during school and don't really want to have to get up any earlier just to do my hair...time will tell!
We finally opened the pool last month, and was it ever gross! The water was black and sludgey and never in my wildest dreams did I think the water would be anywhere near "blue", much less clear! It's coming along quite nicely, although it's not quite company-ready just yet. Danny and I have been swimming the past few evenings and it's a great way to cool off and relax after the sweltering heat we're experiencing.
One of my major tasks is to paint the outside of the house this summer, which I began this week. It's a very slow process because I use a brush - yes, a brush - because I have to put too much pressure on a roller to get even coverage and it wears my arms out. Plus, I'm not really in a hurry or on a time constraint, and there's something theraputic about the whole brushing process. The color is called "Whispering Wheat", but it looks more creamy than it did on the paint chip, so it's not quite the tan color we expected. We like it, though, and it will give our house a nice little facelift. I'm on hold today, though...the guy who farms the land across the road decided yesterday to work his ground, and cream paint and red dirt aren't really the look I'm going for, so I'm doing other things until he finishes.
We have a guy pruning the holly bushes and removing the scraggly Rose of Sharon bushes, Crepe Myrtle bushes (which have taken over a corner of the house and deposit a zillion petals into the pool on a daily basis), and the photina shrubs which acquired some type of disease while I was down for the count. That will make it sooo much easier to paint 2 sides of the house, and we're going to replant with a prairie, natural theme (i.e. low maintenance!). I just hope our mockingbirds and hummingbirds don't have nests in those shrubs and that lack of cover won't scare them away!!
I've spent a lot of time in the backyard pulling weeds and planting flowers. It looks SOOOO much better than before with 2 years' worth of weeds growing everywhere. I also have zucchini, cucumbers, banana peppers and tomatoes planted. So far I've harvested everything but tomatoes. They have lots of blooms, but no fruit yet.
I finished a t-shirt quilt for Jessica for which I was rewarded with a huge smile and a big thank you. It made my day. Now if only I could get the other 200 shirts I have stashed made into quilts, I'd be doing great!! The 4th nine weeks of school, my freshman class made a t-shirt quilt for Mr. Melton (our principal) as a going-away gift. I emailed the staff and asked for specific colors of YHS shirts, and my students did the cutting, sewing, ripping, sewing, ripping, sewing, and so forth. In spite of all the ripping and re-sewing, it turned out well and hopefully he will enjoy it.
Health-wise, I'm doing great!! I feel good and had a PET scan the end of March and one a couple of days ago. I won't find out the recent results until the 16th of next month, but hopefully all is well. It occurred to me that my doctor hasn't ordered a urine test or an Octreotide scan for over a year (both of which track carcinoid), so I called and asked about that. He said that a PET scan is more suited to my case (rather than an Octreotide scan) but that he would order the urine test. I wasn't comfortable with that bit of information, so I called New Orleans and talked to the Carcinoid Coordinator. She confirmed that a PET scan is indeed the best course for me at this point. I told her that I had begun flushing again about 2-3 months ago (which was the reason for my concern) and she said than many times it is stress-induced. I have noticed that I do tend to flush when I'm thinking of my to-do list or other things that raise my stress level, so I feel better knowing that. I was afraid the carcinoid was on the go again. She said if the flushing gets really bad, I can do a booster shot of my Sandostatin mid-month. As badly as those things hurt, I'll have to have a really BIG flushing problem before I'll consider that!
In September, Danny and I will be going to New Orleans for a carcinoid patient conference (at a hotel on the French Quarter!) hosted by Ochsner Clinic, and I'm really excited for it. My surgeon will be one of the presentors and and I'm anxious to hear what they have to say compared with what we learned at MD Anderson last fall. I've been on a drug called Afinitor for over a year now and no longer itch, which was a HUGE problem when I first began taking it. It seems to be working for me and other than getting tired, I feel like I'm doing great on it. Insurance scared me last month though. I received a letter stating that it would no longer be covered as of June 23rd, and a one-month prescription costs thousands of dollars. My doctor's office contacted them, and we're good to go for another year. I'm also (fairly faithfully) drinking my black raspberry tea each day, which was recommended by New Orleans. I read in a magazine recently that something in black raspberry DOES kill cancer, so I'm making a consicous effort to drink it daily.
Jessica and I will be going to Chicago next month and it's getting close enough (that I'm not wishing away my summer) to be really excited about it. We're leaving on a Monday and driving to Hermann, Missouri to spend the night at a bed and breakfast and spend a little time in "wine country". Even though I can no longer enjoy a glass of wine due to my liver issues, I'm hoping to be able to buy some good grape juice to bring home and drink from my wine glasses and pretend. On the internet, Hermann looks like a really charming old German town and I think it will be really relaxing to spend a few hours brousing and visiting a winery or two.
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I think that sums up my life since February. Life is good, and to my fellow teachers who get bored in the summer - you're crazy!!!
Happy trails!
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