Organizing

This evening I have been organizing my blog! If you noticed underneath the picture at the top is a set of tabs. When you click on these tabs they'll take you to pages I've created to compartmentalize my interests. I may be adding more as time passes but will start with these for now since they are my current activities.

Click away!

A New Year

Just for something different, my daughter and I have decided to do 365 days of pictures. The ideas for each days’ picture comes from The Idea Room. 

The first day was “New” and I posted a sketch of a quilt block that I had drawn up that day. 



Day two was “Change” and I posted a picture of my Bible open to I John where I am currently reading. How can one not be changed when reading that? 



The reason I decided to blog about this experience is because the photo prompts have been challenging. They have got me thinking. Introspection. A new year always seems to get us thinking about our lives. To be honest, I just usually skip over the introspection and go on with my regular life. Thinking just takes too much brain power. Ugh!

But I truly want to change and in order to do that, I have to think.

I retired from 26 years of teaching this past spring, having spent the majority of my last teaching year in Houston. My husband was diagnosed with lymphoma early in the year and with his treatments at MD Anderson, we decided to stay in Houston at a suite/hotel. 

When we were finally able to move back home, we did a lot of culling. Realized that all the “stuff” we accumulated over the past decade or so was just that: stuff. It was taking up space and getting in the way. 

One of the things I started not long after returning home was organizing my craft room. I have a lot of different mediums I like to work with and currently my favorite is fabric. I finally have time to quilt! Some quilts I’ve done for fun and some for people who asked me for something specific. I did a couple of t-shirt quilts for friends and, although I enjoyed making them for specific people, I decided that was not really the way I wanted to go. I am still rearranging things though and organizing my fabric to make things easier to work with. 

Today’s photo challenge is “organize” and I could put up a picture of those things in my craft room that have a new place. But I find myself wondering how to re-organize my life, thus the challenge. 

What does organization look like when you want to lose weight, revisit some old hobbies, become a better person? I think I’ll have to start making check lists to include everything. We’ll see what gets done and that will show me what is most important. 

Still don’t know what picture I’ll post. I don’t usually post until almost midnight anyway, so I have a few more hours to contemplate.  

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The New "Normal"

It has been a while since I've blogged on either one of my blogs. First, it was because school was getting started. But, for the last month, everything in my life has changed.

It all started Labor Day weekend. My husband had not been feeling well for, oh, about 2 or 3 weeks. Shortness of breath, tightness in his chest, fatigue. On Sat. of that week he mowed the yard (riding mower) and usually finishes up with weed-eater, etc. the next day. It didn't get done cause he didn't feel like it. (That doesn't usually matter to him--he would finish no matter what.) Monday, I noticed his feet were very pale looking and then later that evening, his hands were the same way. He had already decided to go to our family doctor on Tues. but decided that I would need to drive him. (Were there any red flags waving here? Not really.) I thought maybe it was COPD or something with his heart. He thought he'd just get a pill and go on home. The nurse took his vitals and did an EKG. Asked him if he had a pace-maker?? She went immediately out to get the doctor and he came straight in. (Usually have to wait your turn.) He sent us to the ER next door so they could get some lab work done and results back quicker than he could. We went straight away. * update at the end

At the ER, blood work was done and another EKG. The EKG showed nothing abnormal. The blood work told us his white blood count was at 90. That's thousand. Normal is 4-11. Also, his hemoglobin (carries oxygen to the different parts of the body) was at 4--normal is 14-18. Both of these explained why he felt so bad and couldn't get his breath. Also, explained why, when they put the sensor on his finger to monitor blood oxygen, it wouldn't register.

It also indicated leukemia. The ER doctor discussed his case with an oncologist in the next city where he would be transferred. He told him to stabilize him and get him to MD Anderson. They gave him 3 (at least) units of blood and platelets before they would even transport him. He arrived at MD Anderson around 1:45 am and hasn't been home since.

After the first few days and a bone marrow biopsy, it was determined that it wasn't leukemia but lymphoma. None of his lymph nodes were affected though, only his spleen and it was swollen so much it was pushing on his other organs. He began chemo therapy a week after all this started. Side effects have been few and mild. The last chemo he was given was so strong (they have to give it by itself) that every time there was a side effect (severe chills and fever) they had to stop it and let his body recover for 30 minutes to an hour. Then it would start up again. This went on for 18 hours. He was exhausted mainly from lack of sleep. They came in every 15 minutes to check his vitals, then every 30 after the first hour. Every time they stopped it they had to go back to the every 15 minutes. The doctor says that the next time he has it, it won't be as bad. He only had the chills 3 times. 

Except for a couple of days here and there, I've also been in Houston, first at the hospital with him for two weeks and then in a hotel. We have set up temporary housing in a hotel that has suites--a separate bedroom and a full kitchen. This is the second one we've been in and it has wonderful, caring staff and free laundry and it doesn't take too long to get to and from the hospital.

We go back and forth to the clinic at MD Anderson every other day or so. Some weeks every day, others maybe twice. He has blood work done and then a visit with an APN (advanced practice nurse) to discuss the lab results. Sometimes he has a transfusion of platelets. Those are the long days. Some days we've been there from 9:30 or 10 in the morning till 7:30 at night. So glad we decided to stay here instead of driving back home.

We thought 2 weeks ago that he'd be starting his second round of chemo but the doctor wants his platelets to be higher. This week they are finally getting there and he hasn't had any platelet transfusions in almost 2 weeks. That means his body is making its own now. Hoping the blood work and visit with the doctor on Monday will indicate that he is ready to go on with the chemo.

We have learned several things through this.
1) Never plan anything around a schedule. It just doesn't happen that way. 
2) When retirement finally comes we'll be okay. :)
3) The only normal we have that is like BC (before cancer) is that we love each other. 
4) We have some awesome friends that have provided some financial, emotional, spiritual support that we couldn't do without. We are blessed.

Oh, and a student of mine asked "Did you cry?" That first night in the ER after we heard the word "leukemia" and one night in the middle of the night early on when we realized: this is the new norm. Am I worried? No. We take it one day at a time. Go with the flow. Live and learn. And I know he's in God's hands.

Have I shared everything I had in mind? Probably not. That's all for now though.
All the technical stuff but none of the personal. Maybe another day, another post.

* Went to visit our family doctor and asked him about the EKG and what they saw on it that wasn't on it in the ER. He said it wasn't the EKG. It was just looking at him. "Thought we were gonna lose him." We didn't. It's not time.