Hi, Everybody!

Well, I felt well enough to get a decent letter written to all of you and let you know how I”ve been doing the past few days, but then didn’t get it copied into here for all of you to read. I sent to my email list, but didn’t post here. We apologize for not doing better at keeping you up to date, but with our oldest son, Todd, here, Marcus wanted to get a few things done, and they did.

I now have new steps on the front porch, nice long-lasting vinyl ones! A new coat of tar on the back roof, so that maybe when it rains next I won’t have six buckets in the dining room. And a bunch of other things straightened around and changed. While I’m always thrilled for Todd’s company, I’m also tremendously grateful for the amount of time he puts into getting things done for us that need caught up. (OH! And he mowed the yard and transplanted a few flowers for me too!)

We had dinner with Eric & Ana, and sometimes Karen, nearly every night after I came home. It’s wonderful to have so many great cooks in the family

I am still having an awful lot of pain, which I don’t know if that’s bad or normal, but I’m hitting the pain pills pretty heavy still. My range of motion seems to be fair with my arms, but still a little limited, and that seems normal. The drainage is still pretty heavy, but I think it’s still within the normal range. We will find out this AM as we have an appt with the DR.

What isn’t normal, is still my sugar!!! Unbelievably I am still taking a 13 units of insulin base with a sliding scale (meaning before each meal I take 13 + how ever much the scale says, depending on what my sugar is). Now, it hasn’t been running terribly high, nearly always below 200, and often below 160, but, geesh, since I’m taking 2 MetaGlip plus insulin, I’d certainly hope it was at least that low! Criminy where’d this come from???

I knew it was high over the winter. I did have it checked 4 times during the past year, and it was over 200 a couple times, and 170-190 or so the other two times. So, I just figured I needed to watch my eating a bit better. I can usually tell when my sugar is high,since I crave water (plain from the faucet water, which I never drink otherwise), but without testing supplies I had no idea it had gotten this bad.Now if we can just get it back under control we will be alright I am monitoring my food with great care now. And as I start feeling better, will be able to get a little exercise in before the chemo starts to get a small handle on the sugar.

Speaking of Chemo, no I don’t know when I start, but I do know it will be more than originally thought. They first thought with mild involvelment, I would only have 4 chemo and no radiation. But, when the DR got the pathology report back, and of the “two many to count” lymph nodes he removed, 16 of them were bad. He said with such extensive involvement, I would need more chemo than anticipated, and would need to have some radiation as well. Bummer. I hear they both are crappy, but I’d have rather just had one instead of both! Hahaha

My feet are now swelled like little pudgy balls on the ends of my legs, not sure where that’s coming from, hopefully the DR will have a clue.

Well, I’m back, did you miss me? I took off, headed for the DR appt, and since Marcus forgot his phone, Todd couldn’t get ahold of us when they called 10 minutes later to tell us the DR had an emergency and they needed to reschedule us! So, I’m back with you, and unfortunately none the wiser for the trip!

We take off this afternoon to have Todd at the airport to go home to FL at 1:00 and then the DR appt is not until 3:45, so we will have a couple hours play time in between. Not sure what we will figure out to do, but I imagine there ought to be something that doesn’t take a lot of energy Riding in the car isn’t too bad, the pothole bumps hurt a bit, but mostly the swaying of the car bothers me and pulls at my incisions. The pain meds seem to keep it at bay tho, so I’m game for the ride.

Many of you won’t get this until I have a second one out after the DR visit, so you will be a little overwhelmed with reading, sorry about that, but just know that I appreciate every single one of you reading and writing to help me thru this. I’ve gotten lots and lots of cards, and plan to make a map showing where they have all come from. I’ve got no less than a half dozen churches with me on their prayer lists, and with physical, emotional, and spiritual support like that, how can I possibly go wrong?!?!?!

Blessings to each and every one of you, and may you share in God’s Love, Strength, and Courage with me,
Sherry