68 AND STILL GOING STRONG!

I woke up feeling like I had more energy and a better appetite. This was just in time for my 68th birthday. It began by getting a phone call from my dear friend Marilyn (Smith) Johnson. We first met when we were 12 years old in Coos Bay, Oregon. We were best friends for years and even roomed together at B.Y.U. We've kept in touch all these years and it was so good to get a birthday phone call from herl.

Then Teresa came over with a couple of goodies for a special treat.

After work everyone came over to celebrate. We always love these special times together!!

I picked Chiles for our meal and Tasha treated everyone. She wanted to do this for all the help my family here have given me these past few months. It wasn't just my birthday meal it was a gratitude dinner too. It was nice to have my appetite back and I even ate some dessert that Chiles brought out to me after swinging HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

It was a fun day and very special for me. We get to do this again on Friday night since it's Tami's birthday. YIPPEE!!

A GOOD WEEK!

This has been the best week since having Chemotherapy. I haven't had any pain at all. I'm only fatigued and the nasty taste in my mouth keeps me from enjoying food. Today is better and by tomorrow, I think I will be out of the worst part. That will be nice since it is my 68th birthday and everyone wants to take me out to dinner.

It's so nice to have family here. I know that Tasha and Coldon have lifted my spirits a great deal. Teresa has been great coming over and visiting everyone. She's always bringing over a little surprise for Coldon.

We've had fun making cookies, going to the Fall Festival, going to Moon Farm, shopping at the Mall, etc.

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As you can see I'm doing good. Tasha and Coldon will be here for another week and then it will be my 6th chemo the following Tuesday. It won't be long and all this will be a memory!

MY 5TH CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT

Teresa was able to watch Coldon for us while I was at the Cancer Center. Coldon was so fun for her and they got along great.

It was so nice to have Tasha with me on my 5th chemo treatment. It seems like my family really gives me moral support when they are around me. I always feel a little better about things.

So far I'm feeling pretty good.....just very tired. I don't have the pain I had in my head and shoulders like I've had the past two treatments. I think having the port removed and another one put in this past week has helped. Only 3 more to go!! Yey!!!!!

SUCH WONDERFUL NEWS!

During our Family Home Evening on Monday night, Tasha had us look at a book about our family cruise. At the end of the book she had an ultra sound picture and said that there were really 9 members of our family on the cruise instead of 8. Everyone realized that she was pregnant during the cruise and we did't know it yet. She was only a month along during this time.

I already knew about the baby and was so glad that now everyone now knew about it. Tasha had a miscarriage 7 months ago that broke all our hearts but now we are so excited that her and JJ are giving us another grandchild! Grandchildren are God's gift to us when we are older. They are so delightful!! The baby is due April 2, 2011. It looks like another trip to the East C0ast for me. Something to look forward to.

TASHA & COLDON ARE HERE!

It was wonderful to finally have Tasha and Coldon arrive in Grand Junction at 11:00 p.m on Sunday Sept. 19. They were both pretty tired since it was 1:00 a.m their time in Virginia.

Coldon let me rock him for awhile before going to bed. That was so fun!

The next morning Coldon found Grandpa's truck and has played with it constantly. He even goes to bed with it.

Of course Coldon loves Grandpa Don. Grandpa is called GAA and my name is GEE. That's short for Grandpa and Grandma Julie. He talks quit abit and I'm able to under-stand most things he says.

It's so fun t have them here and it made my 5th chemo treatment yesterday go by so fast. I'll post more about that later.

GETTING TOGETHER IS FUN!

We always have a good time with Clarissa and Kelly. Last night we met at Golden Corral and had a delicious dinner. My appetite is back and it felt good to eat again.

One thing that I noticed this time around with chemo is sweet things tasted even sweeter. It was almost a sickening sweet taste. I couldn't eat cookies that I made or some cheese cake that I had bought. Because of this, I stayed away from the dessert area at Golden Corral. This was unusual because I LOVE THE DESSERTS THERE!! It will be so nice to get my normal taste buds again. How we take things for granted until they are taken away from us.

IT'S COMING UP GREEN! It's so fun to look outside every day and watch the grass grow. Teresa has done a great job and she really worked hard for about a week getting the ground ready and seed planted. Teresa is planning a trip to Salt Lake for General Conference in a couple of weeks and Don and I want to surprise her with bonus of $100 for all her hard work.

Tomorrow Tasha and Coldon are coming. I'm in a good spell and I'm grateful for this. Tasha will be here for a couple of weeks so she will go through everything with me. Tasha has assured me that she isn't here to be entertained, but to help. I hope my bad days aren't too bad. It seems like the more chemo treatments, the harder it is to get on top of things again.

It will be great to have her here just to visit and watch Coldon play. I'll be sharing some pictures soon. Until then....................

THE NEW PORT IS IN!

I'm feeling really good after my surgery this morning. Everything went really good and the doctor said that they were able to draw blood 3 times from the port. We'll see next Monday if all goes well before my chemotherapy. I have to tell you that I'm very happy this is over. For some reason I was a little worried about this surgery. Even the IV went in good. It took the nurse about 2 minutes to do this and I was so grateful. It was so nice to have Tami there in the recovery room. She drove me home and stayed with me for a couple of hours before going back to work. So grateful that Tami is here and is such a loving daughter. I'm really blessed that all our daughters are so wonderful and caring.
Teresa has been working hard on our back yard. She is determined to have some good grass grow so that we won't just have weeds and dirt back there. Yesterday, I woke up and saw some grass growing. It was exciting!

Tasha and Coldon are coming on Sunday for a couple of weeks. We are really looking forward to this. Tasha will be here for my 5th chemo treatment!!

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT MY CHEMO

I now have my pump on for the next 46 hours. I'm getting used to it and feel like I have a little fanny pack purse on all the time.
I do hear it pump when it pumps the chemo in my boday. It sounds like my camera when I turn it off.

Clarissa and I in front of the waterfall at the Cancer Center.

Diann Saari came over at 4:OO p.m. to give us a meal. It's wonderful to have such good friends that are willing to help. I appreciate all they do. They just come up to me and ask me when my next Chemo treatment is going to happen. Then they say, I'm bringing over dinner for you. I have very dear friends and they are with me in spirit as well as want to help out in any way they can.

THANK YOU!!

I'M HALF WAY THERE!

It was wonderful to have my two sisters there for my support system this time. Clarissa had a doctors appointment so she was there later while I was finishing my chemo and getting my pump on.
The nurses are just wonderful that take care of me for the 31/2 hours that I was there. They understand what you are going through and want it to be as pleasant as possible. I really appreciate what they do.

Here I am getting ready for the pump. It's always nice to have the chemotherapy over with. It will be interesting how long before I'm not feeling good. It begins when the chemo is leaving my body. I am very tired, no appetite because of the taste in my mouth, I've had diarrhea, constipation and a headache. Each treatment is a littlre different and I wonder what this one will be like. Time will tell.

It's so nice to have it half over with. Four down and four to go......Yey!!

A FUN LABOR DAY!

Don and I invited Tami and Jeff over for a Kentucky Fried Chicken meal. That is our way of having a barbecue. We had a great time eating and visiting. Jeff brought over a couple of knives that he had bought. Don ended up buying the Bowie Knife. I'm not sure why but he really liked it. I did double Don's allowance this past month and now I'm not sure if that was a wise move. Money burns a hole in Don's pocket. Anyway, we now have a Bowie Knife for protection!!

Tami and I always have such a good time together. Of course, Shadow loves having Tami and Jeff over too.

I did get my blood draw today (Sept. 7). My port still wouldn't let them draw blood so I had to have it drawn from my arm again. I had an appointment to have my port checked this afternoon. It looks like I will need to have this port removed and another one put in this next week. Yippee!! Another cut into my body. Just what I wanted to hear. I don't know when they will do this so I'll keep you posted. I can still have my Chemotherapy tomorrow but they don't want to do any more until I get a new port.
I was a little discouraged at first but now I'm OK. It's just a little bump in the road. Maybe the new port will draw blood and I won't have to worry about that any more. I'll let you know how my chemo goes tomorrow.......

R.S. SPOTLIGHT FOR SEPTEMBER!

"SHALOM"

"My name is Martha. My sister Mary and brother Lazarus were good friends with Jesus. When Jesus came through Bethany He would stop and visit us in our home. I would like to share with you one of Jesus visits.

I wanted to make a nice meal for Jesus. I had lots to do and Mary was visiting with Jesus leaving me with all the work. This irritated me so I went up to Mary and told her that I could use some help. In a very kind way, Jesus said that Mary was doing the right thing. He would prefer having Mary hear His words rather than make a fancy meal for Him. I learned PRIORITIES that day and I've never forgotten this lesson that Jesus taught me."

I then shared with the sisters how we must always remember our priorities too. Our lives are so busy with our families, work, keeping up with cooking meals, cleaning our homes and taking care of our families. Sometimes we think that we just don't have time for much else in our lives let alone doing our Visiting Teaching.

How much time do we spend watching T.V. or doing things that really aren't necessary? May I just suggest that we do think of our priorities this month and realize that visiting our sisters is very important. This calling in the Gospel helps keep track of how everyone is doing. May we all contact our sisters this month even if it's just a phone call or letter. I leave these thoughts with you in the name of Jesus Christ......Amen.

A GIFT OF LOVE

Last night Tami and I got together since Jeff and Tami are heading for Salt Lake on Thursday.

Jeff has an interview at the VA for PTSD on Friday.

When I picked Tami up after work, she had a gift that her department had made for me.

It was a beautiful quilt that they all had signed (in the heart). I couldn't believe that 13 people that I really didn't know, had made this gift of love for me. It made me tear up.

All 13 people came into Tami's office and presented this quilt to her. They knew how much Tami has been concerned for her Mom and wanted to show how much they cared for me as well as Tami too. Tami was very moved by this and cried as she thanked them for their thoughtfulness.

We took some pictures at Bocaza. I wanted to make a thank you card with some pictures in it. Bocaza was a perfect place to take the pictures since it wasn't busy and we had some tall tables that help show off the quilt. In my card I told them that I would wrap up in the quilt often and it would remind me of their love and kindness to me.I took the card over to the VA today and Tami was going to make sure everyone saw it. I also gave everyone a sheep for a little thank you gift from me.