Oh, it’s so great to spend a few minutes soaking up some love and inspiration from you people. Hubby said it right, it is a greatly needed daily event! I’m so happy to come in here and read comments from all of you and words of encouragement. Especially after my “non-DR visit” of yesterday! Here’s my latest update:

Well, I left you yesterday with the expectation that we would have some news from the surgeon on future plans, how things are going now, etc. When we got back to his office the second time, he was on his 3rd emergency room admission gall bladder surgery. What are the odds of that all in one day!?!?!?!

So, we only saw the nurse. She inspected my incisions and drainage tubes, and said everything was going just fine. It will be a bit longer for the drainage tubes, since they want less than 15cc’s drainage, and I’m draining about 200cc on the left (where they took all the lymph nodes) and 100 on the right. So, I don’t really expect them to come out even next week, since I’ve see no slowing in them at all. I don’t know if they just suddenly quit or what, but I’ll keep you posted.

We then went out by a friends house for a couple hours, came home, and just got some leftovers for supper, and got a knock on the door. Some friends that I didn’t have any idea would know showed up. Turns out Marcus had seen her in the hall one day at the hospital and let her know. So, they stopped in for a short visit. It was good to see them.

I plan on taking it pretty easy today. Yesterday was very long and full of activity. I’m planning on sleeping as much as I can

Blessings to each of you and may God keep you close to His heart while He watches over each of us.
Sherry

Can you shout Praise the Lord with me, and sing Hallelujah! Why? Let me tell you why

Yesterday, I got my staples out from my incisions, and they must have caused an uproar, because clear into the night last night, I hurt past the point that my pain meds would touch. I slept most of the time because I was taking them at the maximum dosage, which was fortunate, but I still had to wake when they wore off to eat and take more. Then crawl back into the bed and hurt until the meds put me to sleep.

Now, this would just normally have been a par for the course day for me, but I really had some place I wanted to go today, and hurting like yesterday, there was no way I was going to get to go anywhere but maybe the hospital for a higher pain med!!!

But, as you’ve gathered from my praises, I awoke this morning feeling much better (still not perfect, but we will give that some time but well enough that I could go to the event. We went to a local plant exchange, which was really a lot of fun.

We took 6 Rose of Sharon plants, 11 Hosta plants, and 7 Hens & Chick starters. We placed them in amongst all the other sharings, mostly sorted according to sun/shade. We had printed labels for each of our sharings, and other people either had done the same, or had labeled them once they arrived. We were given numbers for as many plants as we had brought, and then they called numbers and those with that number then went amongst the tables and picked and chose, then another number was called, and so on. This went on until most of the people had pretty much chosen what they really wanted and were pretty much just wandering around trying to decide if they wanted anything else or not. It was then declared a free-for-all and all the remains were fair game.

We chose a few more plants than what we had brought, and took a bunch of leftover lilies for a friend who had been wanting some. Poor Marcus now has the task of finding them all places to be planted and getting them all in the ground. They are all potted, so he can take some time, and doesn’t have to do it all right away.

I am really tired, but was so thankful that I was well enough to be able to go, and enjoy such a nice day. It was good to be out and about and have a little fun. I think I’ll grab a snack now, and go take a nap, but wanted to share this with you all while I was still on a high and had some energy

Blessings to each of you, and may the Lord grant you the same mercy and grace He has shared with me today. May He continue to grant us all the strength and courage to face the adversities of our lives and fulfill His plans as He sees fit.

Love and Hugs to all, Sherry

Believe me, friends, I didn’t do any of the work! Precious Marcus & Todd transplanted all the plants to take to the exchange, all I did was stand around for an hour and look at and pick & choose plants that I wanted to trade for! hahahaha I didn’t even pick them up and take them to our spot. If I picked it, Marcus would come over and get the plant and take it and put it with the rest of them. He was such a wonderful helpmate as always!

And worse, he’s the poor soul that has to get them all planted around the house! He has fibromyalgia so, it will be a couple weeks before they all get done for sure!

I want to thank all of you for the wonderful cards that keep flooding my mail box! It is so much fun and such a bright spot in the day to have Marcus hand me cards to open filled with wonderful wishes and prayers from all of you. There’s only been one or two that I didn’t recognize, but I recognize most all your names, sometimes I just have to go look for the nickname, since I often only remember one or the other! hahahaha

I’ve had some that included little treats too, notepads, pens, a beautiful light scarf from Carolyn (Grandmothersheart), lovely poems, small extra tracts with daily sayings & verses, all beautiful reading, and greatly appreciated.

I’m going to the DR today to see about removing the drains. One side is still draining too much (90cc/day) but I think he may take it out anyway just because they’ve been there two weeks now. I hope it doesn’t make me hurt more. Yesterday was a rough one, but today feels like it will be better.

Blessings to you all, and thanks for the writings, we both appreciate reading them! We both come in here nightly and if nothing else, we read all the comments from everybody. I sometimes come in, just when I’m not feeling good and read them for a pick-me-up

Sherry

Adrienne!!! The chocolate looks so gorgeous!!! I’ve been so bad about sending thankyou’s for things that I’ve recieved, But, I remember that!!! hahahahaha I have no idea where hubby put it, but he won’t eat it, he will save it for me.

As for a good day, no, unfortunately I’m fixing to crawl into bed hoping that will stop the pain. I don’t know why I’m hurting so much tonight. I haven’t done that much that would be strenuous or over taxing.I did do a little project earlier, but it wasn’t any work and didn’t cause this. It’s just been getting worse all day. If I don’t feel better tomorrow I think I’ll call the DR. I have an appt Fri but I feel like I’m going in reverse. Maybe it’s just an every other day thing, and tomorrow I’ll be better again! I’ll check in when I’m up and about.

Sherry

Good morning, Everybody!!!

Well, yesterday, we figured, this whole thing is going to be a while before it’s all over, counting chemo and radiation, etc, so we would make a little project out of it. It really turned out to be easy to start, especially since Marcus helped

We now have a Google map showing all the cities from which we have received cards or gifts from. (or at least all that we gathered yesterday, I think I’m missing a couple yet) I did not put anyone’s personal addresses, only the city & zip, and no names or such. Now, the first thought behind this, is that I’m going to be able to print a large copy of the map and take it with me to those long tedious chemo treatments, along with a couple other ideas that have been given to me. I can relive all of your cares, and share where all my friends are from with other patients.

I’m also going to make a scrapbook that has all the posts from the various topics for me printed, cut up, and pasted thruought to browse thru. I’d like to get a color printer so that I can print with avatars and sigs so that it’s more personal to me.

Now, my next question would be whether I can put anything personally identifying on each of your dots on the map? Can I put your avatar? name? nickname? just like it is on PBS Name L. (Nick)? with your avi? I’m thinking, if I get energetic, I may scan in all the cards and put them with the dots too. It’s really cool what all you can put there. You can attach videos and everything.

Here’s the link to the map, so you can see where I am at this point. Let me know if you have ideas or want to share other things to put on it. Let’s use my google email, since this is all about the map.

Cards to Sherry (I have it opening in a new window. Click the map to enlarge it)

slnisly@gmail.com (I think this might open your email with Google map already in the subject, if I did it right

Take a look and let me know what you think of my idea and if you have more ideas to add to it! I figure just ‘cuz I gotta be sick, doesn’t mean, I can’t still have fun in life. Right!?! hahahahaha

Btw, for those that saw last night’s note, I am feeling better today, I think I’ve figured out the problem, I’ve only been taking the Vicodin pain med, and not my Naproxen which deals with my Fribro pain, so I’ll do a little alternating today and see if I can’t keep myself all under control, because I decided late last night, that since I was hurting all over, it was probably Fibro pain, not pain from surgery. D’oh! You’d think I’d have had it enough to recognize it, but I blame it on the drugs! hahahhahaha

ETA: I forgot, you can add comments and rate my map too while you are there!!

Also, trust me, I’m taking it as easy as possible! My sister even said I’m making myself an invalid by letting Marcus do so much for me. Well, at least I don’t have as much problems & pain as she has had! So, I’ll take the invalid route for a while and let her have her opinion! hahahahaha I am being good. I do a little typing, and yesterday with the map was really easy, all I did was type in the zip codes and then make a couple clicks after. Marcus went thru the cards and read everything to me. It was really an easy task. I promise, I’m being good

Sherry

Thanks everybody, I’ve always known my sister doesn’t know everything. She’s usually lucky if she knows anything! hahahahaha She drives me crazy, but she’s the least painful/dangerous/phsychotic of most of them. Because of multiple marriages, I have a LOT of sisters. Some I’ve never really gotten to know, some I wish I had never learned to know, and others I still wish I could be closer too, but that just doesn’t seem to run in our family. We are totally a weird messed up bunch that’s for sure, but this one has gone off her rocker again. Not only should I not allow myself to become an invalid, she has spoken to both my hubby and at least one of my sons insisting that they need to get me a treadmill, that it is the only way to save my life! That I will die if I don’t get one soon and start walking on it!

Well, that may well be true in a sense, because if I don’t get some activity going eventually, we all know where that leads to, but it has no bearing on the cancer. It’s not going to save me any more so than it would if the cancer had never been found. I’m an overweight, ill person, that would be an idiot to jump on a tread mill and walk 15-20 minutes everyday right off the bat! I’m lucky to do more than walk to the bathroom somedays! Dumb girl! And I’ve been this way for the better portion of this past year!

She is much further in her treatments than I am and forgets that periodically. Plus, she was a physically fit person, so of course she can jump on a treadmill and feel better now that she’s over her major chemo treatments. She forgets it was only a few months ago she was calling me. crying about how bad she felt. No, the treadmill didn’t bring her back, just getting past the major chemo did it, but once someone in my family gets an idea in their head, there’s no reasoning with them!!!

Since I now have insurance, I can start going to the DR again, and start taking the meds that keep some of my illnesses at bay and of course get thru this cancer stint, and THEN maybe we will start talking about getting up and around. For now, I’ll stick with the few stretching excercise that the hospital gave me and get all the rest I can!

Sherry

My friends, I know you are there, I know you wouldn’t leave me. I appreciate the prayers, and know that they are constant. I know also, that without my Lord on my side to hold me up, and good friends from not just PBS but in real life, and family too holding me up to His Light, I wouldn’t feel near as confident as I do.

The pain gets me down sometimes, combined with my Fibro pain and arthritis, it can give me some real tough days. But, I don’t even whine to Marcus too much, and I almost always only cry when something about this trial makes me think of my mom, who didn’t survive this road. But, my sister and I both went in earlier, and we are both carrying a much more positive attitude that I know it will make a difference. I never saw my mother come out of the depression from the surgery, I never even HAD depression because of the surgery! I don’t know that my sister did either. The physical loss and trials just wasn’t the same for us as it was for Mom. For her it was just one more long, hard horrid battle, and I think it was one she didn’t want to finish, and she never looked for the end of it.

I on the other hand. Know that while my life thus far has not been a picnic, but, I have a husband who is truly my God given Helpmate. Friends in abundance both online and in real life. A church family that surrounds me in my time of need. And the Lord to hold my hand. What more could I ask for? Well, I could answer that, but it’s no longer possible and probably for the best, but I’ll take what I have and revel in it and bask in the warmth. It will all get me thru this stupid morning pain I’m having right now until the pain meds kick in! hahhahaaha

I love you all, and hope more of you post or PM and let me add you to my map. I changed the name, btw, from cards to Prayers, because I want it to represent all those that have told me they are praying for me too. And when I print that page, I can hold my hand on it and know that if I listen, I can surely hear thru God’s ears the tiny prayers blending into one loud voice, and surely it will be loud enough that even I can hear it! Thank you all for being here for me. Now, I’m off to get meds, check my sugar, eat a bite of left over yesterday’s breakfast that I can easily fix myself, get dressed and be ready for the DR when Marcus gets back at 9:00.

Later!!!!
Sherry

I have to post Anna B’s great statement here:

“Sherry - our minister’s wife gave us the analogy of each prayer being a channel to God and the more prayers, the wider the channel. Well girl, your channel of tiny voices can surely drown out Angel Falls and what a mighty roar that must be!”

Thanks, Anna,
Sherry

The DR took the drains out on Friday, which means because the left side was draining 80cc perday, I’ll have to go in a couple times a week to have it aspirated (big word means stick a needle in me to draw out the fluid) now. Sounds exciting! She says “Oh, it really won’t hurt, you’ll only have a little poke for the lydicaine and then you won’t feel a thing.” Yeah, what she didn’t mention is those “little pokes” nearly ALWAYS hurt! D’oh!

We stopped by my neices after the DR for a while and visited, then came home for lunch. Good thing, because by the time we were home, my body was starting to revolt because of the drains and being out, and I spent the rest of the day in bed.

Saturday, my neice and her family came for lunch and visited the rest of the afternoon. We had sandwiches, and a nice time. It was good to have company and visit for a while, unfortunately, I stayed up a little too long without a rest, and of course, hurt the rest of the evening. Seems to be a routine going here, in my mind

Yesterday went well, and today might even be a good day, if I don’t get a burr under my saddle and decide I have to go somewhere cuz I’m bored sitting here

Anyway!!! I do have big news to share with all of you!!! Friday afternoon, I got a call from a DR I was not familiar with, and he said he was reviewing my case and recommending me for the other level of insurance! Which is what I and the coordinator from the hospital have been trying to get accomplished for 3 weeks now! Seems he’s had my file all this time, but because the permission paper for release of information, had somehow gotten lost, and Anthem didn’t seem to know what to do (the DR had been calling Anthem to get a copy, but apparently Anthem didn’t have one) no one could do anything with my file because of the missing paper. I had sent an email to several key people, including some high up in state gov, anthem, and the state insurance division that oversees this insurance, and it got some attention finally. The DR that called me said, he was looking at my email, and was really sorry that I had had so much trouble!!! I suggested that next time they run into a real glitch with a patient’s file, they should call the patient. THEY may have the answer! I could have told him I never signed a second release of information for the transfer, no one ever sent me one to sign!!!

By the end of the afternoon, I was transferred to the other program. Which opens up the whole world of medical facilities to me. Any provider that takes medicare patients will be able to service me, including my own DR. I don’t have to wait for the health system that he is part of to get their contract finished (promised by June or July 1) I can go see him next week!!! Boy am I glad!

So, I guess I’ll see if my arm will let me do a little more typing and maybe go search for a few more books. You know I don’t have enough to read on my TBRR (to be read roomful!) hahahahahahaha

Thanks for all the cards (both virtual & physical), well-wishes, and prayers. You can send me virtual cards at my gmail account slnisly@gmail.com or check out my map of prayers at Prayers for Sherry (I have it opening in a new window. Click the map to enlarge it)

Sherry