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!!