FAT PINK

I FEEL SO FAT!  I don't understand, for years I have seen people who have had cancer and they are very thin and emaciated. Only I could get cancer and gain weight. I have gained about 30 lbs since I found the lump.

The doctors have been giving me prednisone for pain and swelling and now I am fat again. I am hungry all the time. I will eat anything. Of course, it might help if I would exercise through the pain. Every time I try to do something extra, I end up in pain. The doc is trying to get me off of the prednisone, so maybe by the summer I can be out of this well.

I wanted to go to NC to see family, but Ray has an appointment with the VSAP in Richmond to work on arrangements for their annual meeting. So, we will be going down for Easter. All my Easter candy is down there in the fridge.  I could fix the baskets before I go.

I was going to try to clean the carpet in the van, but it has turned cold again. If exercise hurts, cold hurts more. Maybe I will get out my art supplies and paint since Ray will be gone most of the day.

I have been on Twitter most of the day. So much going on. I have over 19,450 people now. I want to connect with all of them. I have been using Buzzom.com to add them, but I have tried to be selective as to who I add. The have to have clothes on and no nasty talk going on. If they have sex stuff, I just block them. I cannot imagine why any one would be so idiotic as to put that kind of thing on the Internet. Don't they know that once you put it out there on the Web, It will be there a long time. What will those young girls tell their children, or will they even care.

I did go to the store and bought some lettuce, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, tangerines, etc. Cindy brought some strawberries and home-made egg rolls. She is a wonderful cook. We had them with pork fried rice last night and Ray had it for dinner tonight. I just had some chicken vegetable soup that I made. We had strawberries with fat-free chocolate sauce and low-fat whipped cream.

I have been avoiding snacks altogether and trying to move more. I took Mr. Williams, new resident at the Chesapeake, to the VA Hospital yesterday to get his blood work done. We straightened out his prescriptions at the pharmacy and I am going to help him get online so that I can order his drugs from home instead of him having to make a trip all the way down there. I straightened up his apartment for him. I am going over and see if I can get it really straightened up. He needs someone to help him, but he is evidently not on good graces with his daughter and her family. I will keep an eye on him and make sure that he is okay.

We went to NC last month and celebrated Rhonda and Jeff's birthdays. Here is Jeff with his 37th Birthday card. He called me the next week and told me he is engaged to Sharon.  I am so happy for them. They originally chose March 27 as the date but after a week of trying to get a small wedding together, they decided that they needed to have a bigger wedding. It seems that everyone wants to come. LOL! That is how it happens. If you want a small wedding, you might as well fly to Vegas. Actually, that is what he did the first time.

Rhonda has been going through a lot. Jesse went back to work at Bosch and kept his job at Lowe's too. They just had a few days that were pretty critical, but they have made it through the rough patch. I really would like to find a job that I can do at home. If I was stronger, I would start sewing again. I have made it through some rough patches in my life sewing. It is always a good thing to have a back-up plan when you need it. I think I am going to make bears and rabbits again. They are Designing Bears for the woman who has everything. I think I will dig out my pattern. It is a patented original design. They are so pretty. I have one that is over 20 years old and still looks good.

I guess I better get myself together and plan my meals for tomorrow so I don't go off this eating plan. I did purchase a "Dancing with the Stars" workout dance DVD. Maybe I will check that out while Ray is gone. 

Ray and I are serving as Deacons on Sunday. God is good, all the time!

OUR LOSS TO PINK

In my last post, you saw a picture of Debbie Parrish and her family. In January, Debbie lost her battle with cancer. She had her family around her right up to the time she went to be with the Lord. My daughter, Rhonda, took Garrett and Taylor to tell her good-bye. They are handling it very well because Rhonda has taken them to Sunday School all their lives and they know that their Grandma Debbie has gone to be with the Lord where she will no longer be in pain. They miss her, but I told them that she is alive as long as they keep her in their memories. The family seems to be taking it very well. It is always easier when you know that the person had put their life in the hands of Christ.

NEW YEAR PINK

The new year started off for us the same as it has for the past 5 years. We went to the Wilson's New Year's Eve Party. What fun. We all brought food and drink (non-alcohol). We played games. Not so many as usual because we had many more people than we usually do. But, it was great! We were home by one o'clock and missed most of the drunks on the highway because the clubs don't close until one or two in the morning. It even snowed a little bit, but not enough to stick. Ray & Juanita are such wonderful, Godly friends; I just couldn't imagine New Year's Eve anywhere else.

We have two ladies in our church who are sisters and both have come back home to live with their parents while they are undergoing cancer treatment. My heart goes out to them. Cresenti came over last week and we were going to try to go see them, but one was at the doctor's and the other one was asleep. One lady is in stage 1 and the other in stage 4. I really want to go speak to them and pray for them in person.

My daughter's mother-in-law, Debbie, has stage 4 cancer. It started as breast cancer and has spread throughout her body. She accepted Christ as her Savior in late November 2009 and I had a chance to pray for her in December when I went down for a week. Since then, she has been walking around some and even fixing her own meals at times. The picture is one I captured from Rhonda's Facebook page. Debbie is in the wheelchair with her husband next to her. My granddaughter, Taylor is on the other side and her brother, Garrett is standing on a chair behind her. I am sorry that I can't remember the names of the others in their family.

I went to the doctor last Wednesday and Dr. Wilson upped my dose of Methotrexate to 7 pills on Friday. I can't tell much difference yet.

CHRISTMAS PINK!

I thoroughly enjoyed my week in NC. It was such a blessing after finding out the news about being Cancer Free. It gave me some time to recondition my brain to the idea that the cancer was gone.

The children stayed with me most of the time and we had a great time. We watched TV, made cookies, drew, and painted a little. They are so sweet. They both are still worried about my health and try to protect me. They insisted on staying with me on Sunday night after Ray went back to Virginia. Rhonda & Jesse decided to go shopping a little late and told Taylor that they would be back to get her, but they didn't come back. Garrett and I could not get the dead bolt to work on the inside of the front door so we all slept in the living room with the TV on. LOL!

Monday night, Rhonda and I went shopping. Actually,  we started that afternoon. We spent over 2 hours in Tuesday Morning in Greenville. It is a wonderful store. I am on a first name basis with the employes in the 2 stores in Newport News. We purchased a lot of really neat things for Christmas. I just love buying things for other people. By the time we were on the way home, I was totally exhausted and when Rhonda suggested that we stop for the children, I said "that is okay. I am just going to sleep." We unloaded the car and Rhonda went home, I warmed some milk to drink with my nighttime meds and fell fast asleep in my recliner.

Tuesday,  Jesse was coming to do some work in the house and then was called to work somewhere. He did get the door lock fixed though. Ray and I never noticed because we don't do the deadbolt when both of us are there. We will now though.

I spoke with my son Jeff and he planned on spending Christmas Eve with us all at Rhonda's house. We have a family get together each year. My former Mother-in-Law, Hazel, comes along with Jeff and we all have dinner that Rhonda has prepared. And then we open gifts!

I found out that Jeff's girlfriend was staying with her Dad since her Mother passed away in November and she didn't want him to be alone. We told Jeff to bring them both and they came, along with Dillon, Sharon's 9 year old son. Dillon had a great time with Garrett playing video games. We had a lovely dinner and then we opened gifts. We had made sure that our guests had something to open also. It was such a wonderful evening.

Christmas Day we woke up and went to Rhonda's to see what Santa Claus brought the children. They were so excited....

Carolina Bound Pink

Ray and I are driving down Highway 11 to our little home in NC. I am staying for the week. My daughter, Rhonda, and I will be doing "Christmas." She is going to spend one night with me and we will have a "wrapping" party. We have lots of paper and I love to make bows. We still have some shopping to do so it probably won't be until Tuesday or Wednesday.

I was involved in a wonderful thing this past week. There is a new young lady at our church who is a single mom. She has a very young little boy and girl. I made sure that she got a directory of the members and told her that I would be her deacon until one was assigned to her. I asked her if there were any prayers I could say for her family. She confided in me that she didn't have money to provide Christmas presents for her children. After I left her, I spoke to the pastor and he asked me if I could mentor her because she had been seeing a man who is a Jehovah witness. She called me later that night and I talked with her about him. I let her know that if she was serious about being a Christian, she had to either bring him to Christ or stay away from him. He is not good for her walk with the Lord because Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians, but a cult. As we were talking, I learned what things that her children would like for Christmas and wrote them down.

Monday was our Sunday Bible Study Class Christmas luncheon at Slightly Up The Creek and I told the members of the class of this new member's plight. We collected $240 and when I took it to the church to turn it in to the financial officer, I was told that there had been 2 bicycles donated for the children. I had filled a Christmas bag with Mary Kay products for the mother and took them by the office also. God led me to this young woman. I really felt him pushing me toward her. I hope I can do something to help her. I remember what is is like to be a single mom and how difficult it is.

That was my good thing for this past week. My bad thing was that my health insurance decided not to pay for my genetic test which cost over $3,100. I wrote a letter to the Office of Personnel Management and sent documentation to prove that it was needed. It turns out that my breast cancer was not genetic but it provided me with the information about having 2 genetic markers for rheumatoid arthritis. It enabled Dr. Schlesinger to send me to a rheumatologist when I explained about all the pain & swelling I have in my hands, feet, back, and knees. When I had pneumonia last summer, they couldn't figure out why I was in so much pain I could barely walk in the hospital. They had to put a special contraption on the toilet so I could go to the bathroom because I couldn't get up from the seat without help. That was the beginning of the arthritis, I think. Pneumonia was more like pleurisy and very painful in my lungs. I am not so sure that there wasn't some damage to my right lung from the radiation I had after I had surgery.

Talking with other patients is kind of strange. Everyone seems afraid to say anything bad about their treatments. It is very stressful. It makes you so overwhelmingly tired. My problem was that I could not sleep very well and that added to the tired feeling. Everyone at church has been happy to have me back there regularly. I am glad to be there. I am feeling so much better, even though I do have some days that I am not too well. I did too much this morning getting ready to leave with all the packing and loading the car. If Ray had put the things in the car, we wouldn't have room for everything. He just doesn't know how to pack a car. LOL

 I spoke with Cindy yesterday and we are on good terms. I really miss her. Cresenti has been calling me a lot. Her confidant, Melanie, is in the Phillippines until April visiting her family. I really love Cresenti, she is such a sweet person. I just couldn't believe that JC Penney fired her without cause after 28 years of loyal service. She was one of the Managers at the Lynnhaven Penney's store. They must be cleaning house and hiring young people just out of college for their management teams. No longer let people work their way up the old way. Cresenti has a Master's Degree. We went to Tuesday Morning last Sunday afternoon and she was amazed at the prices. I don't think she had been shopping anywhere except for groceries in the past 28 years since she worked and shopped at Penney's. We had such fun.

Afterward we went back to the house and she left for church. Ray and I drove to church and we had the Singing Christmas Tree inside the church. It was wonderful. It always is a good program. The older adults really seem to enjoy it, right along with the children. Our church voted to have an outside company build and maintain a website for us. It will be much more professional than the one we have been working on. I am so glad. I spent so much time on it, but keeping up with it is a real pain when you have so much else to do and so little energy.

We are almost to Greenville and Sam's Club. Pick up a few groceries, maybe a gift or two. Love to all!
GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

RA PINK

I saw Dr. Wilson and it is definate, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Just a little bummed about it, but I think I will be able to handle this a lot easier than cancer.
God is good, all the time! He has a plan for my life and I am sure that all this is teaching me so many things. I am much more mindful of others and concerned for their health now. I try to think of ways to make others more comfortable.

I will be continuing this blog periodically and put updates to the link on Twitter everytime I update. Also, I will be creating a blog about RA and linking it to Twitter also. If there is just one person I can help from whatever insight I gain, it will be worth it. I am finding that I love to write and will probably be publishing a novel within the next year or so.

You will be able to see the link to my RA site as soon as I get it set up.

Got to go get my meatballs ready to party. We have our annual Deacon's Christmas Party tonight and I am taking meatballs. I have been smelling them all day, can't wait.

Have a wonderful evening. Thank you for your prayers and all the kindnesses that have been shown to me.
Love you, Barbara

GOOD PINK NEWS

I haven't written in a while. Lots going on. I went to the Cancer Center yesterday and saw my nurse, Clifford Pyne. He says that I am cancer-free according to the blood work. Dr. Schlesinger said the same thing, but wanted to wait until I saw Cliff with the new blood work to be sure. I will be on the Arimedex for the next 5 years. It is the anti-hormone. I cannot take the hormones because of my blood clots.

So, Look at me, I am cancer-free. Pastor Dale Seley brought me up to tell everyone tonight at our church meeting. It was kind of amazing the way he did it. We had a young woman with 2 small children come forward and accept Christ. There were lots of prayers of praise and thanksgiving. we prayed for a lot of personal problems of family members. Dot Riley had company tonight, so there was only Kitty to ride to church with. Mr Williams rode back to the Chesapeake with us.

Cindy Altman's sister, Young Hee, flew back to Korea on Thanksgiving Day. Hopefully, she will be coming back in the Spring to live with Cindy. This month we are going to be looking for a poodle for Cindy. She needs a pet. She has birds, but I think a little dog would be great for her. So, we are going to be looking before Christmas. I am jealous. Ray doesn't want any more dogs, but I would like to have one. Oh, well, I can play with Cindy's.

I have been Tweeting a lot. I have over 11,881 followers. It is really something.

Tomorrow I see Dr. Wilson again about the Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am sure if God can cure cancer, rheumatoid arthritis doesn't stand a chance. When Jim came from Richmond to pray for some people at church, Ray Wilson called me and put Jim on the phone and he said a healing prayer for me on the phone. It is such a comfort to know such people of God.

Think I will go to bed now. Love to all. GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!