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!

VETERAN'S DAY PINK

Minor things going on, like my protyme blood tests are too high. We keep having to adjust the Coumadin. If I have too much, I bruise really easy. I have little bruises all over my arms and legs. The steroids are making me nervous. But, overall, I think I am feeling better. I get tired,  but just not so fast. There is a strange catch in my lungs sometimes that they can not figure out. Oh, well, Maybe Dr Miller can.

I have been enjoying FarmVille & FarmTown on Facebook with Garrett & Taylor. They had spent all their money and didn't have enough to plant new crops, so Rhonda let me into the account and I have been able to help them. Now I find ways to help them earn money to plant crops during the day and they spend it at night. LOL!

I did spend Veterans Day with my favorite Veteran, my dear Ray. There was a Lion's Eyebank Meeting at Norfolk Sentara this evening but he was home by 7 or so.

I am still in some pain and I mention for those who may be going through this in the future. The prednisone seems to be helping for now. I will see Dr. Miller on the 19th and have more tests about the joint pain. The chest pain is my lung and they seem to think that I have some scar tissue there. It causes me to do this almost hiccup thing every once in a while. It isn't actually a hiccup or sneeze, but quite involuntary anyway.

I am really enjoying being back at church on Wednesday nights. Our Pastor, Dale Seley is a very good Bible teacher. I learned a lot of information that I had no idea about. Funny, when Dr. Everet taught, I was more on the college level and knew what he was talking about. Dale talks about other denominations and what they believe. I have never been that interested in the minor differences between Baptist denominations.

Anyway, God is Good, All the Time!
Love to all, Barbara

SweetTweets PINK

I am in the pink today. Feeling very good, thank you. It has been a normal week with its ups and downs. There have been good days and bad days.

I did get an appointment finally with Dr. Miller the Rheumetologist on 19 Nov. When I went for my protime this week, it was up a little. I also saw my NP (Cliff Pyne) this week. My chest xray they took last week didn't show any pneumonia, but there is something there. He and Dr. Schlesinger seem to think that there is an auto-immune problem and maybe Dr Miller can find out what it is. I know that I occasionally have a problem breathing and there is pain in my chest sometimes. I am still sleeping practically sitting up. It makes for tweeting in the middle of the night sometimes because I wake up and cannot go back to sleep, so I Tweet!

I rode to Richmond with Ray last Friday. He had a BGAV (Baptist General Association of VA) meeting in preparation for the Conference the next week in Fredericksburg.
I sat in the conference room downstairs and worked on my laptop while he was in the meeting. He was able to give the new officers the benefit of his expertise in parliamentary procedures.

Cresenti Williams came by today and had lunch with me. We had seafood salad, boiled eggs, and cottage cheese, w/ Triscits. Very good. She went to a bible study and Mary Lynch's house and I will see her at church later.

I am looking at all the cards I have received. There must be close to 350 cards in the basket now. I had to get a bigger basket.

Twitter has been a lot of fun lately. They have opened up a lists feature that you can share with certain people. That will make it so you can have many lists, like family, friends, SweetTweets, etc., I am excited.

I am taking my ladies and gentlemen to church tonight. I am happy about that. I finally feel better and it shouldn't be a problem taking them. They are so grateful to be able to go again. There has been a lady that takes them sometime, when her car is running. I appreciate so much that she has been able to fill in. My immune system should be such that I will be alright being around that many people.

The Governor for Lions District 24-D was at our Lions meeting last Monday. He presented me with the Lions' President's Award for creating the Facebook page for Lions, District 24D, Virginia. The 1st Vice District Governor, Lion Donna Weiler has been adding things to the page and doing a great job.

The Matthews Lions Club made sure that we had December 12th open so we can DJ their Christmas Party at the Matthews Yacht Club. We have been doing their party for about 6 years. It is so much fun. The food is excellent and the people are great. Any Lions interested in going could let us know and we could sign you up for the party. The cost is $25. per person.  It is a wonderful night of fun, food, fellowship (and dancing). Ray sings selected show tunes and if Lion Debbie Ivey is there, she will be imitating Patsy Cline. She does such a good job.

Think I better go and take a nap so I can go to church tonight. I love you all!
Barbara