While Taddy's Away the Mommy Will Work and Play

Much more significant in my mind than treatment this week was having my little Tadman away from me. Grandma Dee and Ron picked him up last Tuesday morning and took him camping and fishing in Joseph, Oregon for 5 long days. It sure changed the mood and activity level of our house for the week. The good thing was getting more water aerobics in and being able to sit and watch Hunter's football game, but the sad was missing little hugs, kisses, snuggling, and funny little sayings and doings all week, plus the house was very quiet during the days without him. He had a great time, however, and spent all Sunday asking me to drive him over to grandma's house, which I didn't do as he was suffering from diareah. He's much better today, and even though I had to change all his bedding and all my bedding and do several loads of wash yesterday, it's good to have him back!
So on treatment day I went with my attentive neighbor, Laurie Gabrielsen, but didn't have any babysitters since Taddy was in the safe care of his grandma. It was a good week to have him away, because treatment was scheduled for 8 a.m. and it would have been hard to get him up and ready to go that early. It's hard enough when it's just me. Laurie was excited about doing a puzzle (yeah, Laurie!) and we got to start a new one since the last one was all complete. That's the first thing we did after checking in to tell them I was there for my appointment. I got to see Dr. Montgomery for the first time in three weeks, and he was his charming self. We're kind of winding down these treatments with only 2 remaining, so our focus has kind of moved toward surgery planning, reconstruction options, and whether or not we've defeated this cancer with all these treatments. I worry also about my long term health, and if my high glucose and cholesterol counts will recede when my cancer treatments conclude. In the meantime I'm trying to do all I can to eat fewer carbohydrates and get more exercise, but my system seems so messed up at this point that it may take awhile for my body to start reacting as it normally would. For instance this week my glucose was back up to 161 after recovering slightly to 147 last week. I teased Laurie that I ought to just eat chocolate donuts and sodas for the next two weeks and see if I can break 200 before I'm done!
Even though all my labs are crazy, the actual treatments are going much better. For the fourth week in a row I had no adverse reactions to the Taxol. Of course they are still really loading me up with Benadryl, Singulaire, and all kinds of other stuff, and two varieties of steroid (which causes the high blood sugar), and they still have the Taxol drip at a very slow rate, but with all that I was done at 1:30 and home well before my kids, plus, Laurie was nice enough to go to Chili's and get me some fajitas for lunch. Fabulous! We were the envy of everyone in the suite! As I've mentioned before, it's such a treat to spend the day with a friend that I really do look forward to Thursdays.
Other than Taddy's absence and treatment, the week was once again filled with football and new school year events. I had the chance to visit Parker's new school on Tuesday and was very impressed with the teachers and administration. The attitude is totally positive, believing in these students and their ability to succeed. They pretty much guarantee their students will be successful. Patience, kindness, enthusiasm, and small class sizes help them turn kids around. I am so happy Parker is there and think this will be a great opportunity for him to grow. He's already telling me he's a smart kid, and that didn't happen at all last year.
While I was at Parker's Open House, Greg had to be at Rachel's Speech and Debate team parents' meeting. I'm still not sure what he learned there, but hopefully it's stuff Rachel knows. When you have multiple kids in school, it's almost impossible to get to all those introductory meetings!
After early week meetings, football and football events dominated the later part of the week. Hunter played the whole JV game on Thursday, and did so in a dominating manner, I must say. The running backs ran through holes he opened several times, and his team ended up beating Rocky Mountain's 44-6. Our team looked much more impressive than the varsity team the following night. Even with Hunter's back slaps and encouragement for the starters we ended up losing big, and giving Rocky Mountain their first home win ever. The final score--35-17. At times it seemed like we'd make a game of it, and we pulled to within 4 points either late in the third or at the beginning of the fourth, but we fell apart at the end. Both their defensive and offensive lines dominated the line of scrimmage, and whenever that happens there's trouble.
So after the game there was all kinds of drama. Hunter went to a couple of player called meetings on Friday night, one of our offensive star players quit, then rejoined the team, then on Saturday evening it was rumored that he quit again, and then the team watched film and did some community service almost all day Saturday. It will be interesting to see how they respond in their homecoming game this Friday since they really played well in the first 2 games. They're still in good shape for the season if they can respond to this loss by getting better. Because of the Centennial varsity game I missed all but the last quarter of the Boise State game in Fresno. After watching quarter 4 on ESPN I couldn't believe the Bulldogs quarterback lived through the beating he took in the game. I still haven't had the time to watch the whole thing, but the part I did watch was pretty crazy and intense, and much more entertaining than blowing out Miami of Ohio. And looks like the Broncos still have plenty of misstakes happening to keep them humble and striving for improvement. It's just my opinion, but I think the Cougars problem is always thinking they're really good after just a couple of games early in the season. It's always a long season, and all teams usually get a test from someone they think will be a cakewalk, so you can't think you're great at the beginning of the season or you get complacent, and then you end up losing to some team you should have beat. Like Rocky Mountain, for instance!
Saturday was also devoted to the Centennial Patriots. I am serving as the treasurer of the Football Boosters at Centennial, and Saturday was our sixth annual dinner and auction to raise money for the football program. For weeks we've been having meetings, selling raffle tickets, advertising, and planning for this thing. Bart Hendricks, former BSU quarterback, mostly in the Big West days, was our speaker, and then we had both a silent and live auction of donated items the football players had been required to solicit. I am not sure how much money we made yet, but I am glad it's over. And the timing couldn't be better, because now most of the work is done until next season.
I have another busy week of Open Houses and football games coming up, just busy enough to keep me from pondering too much about being at the crossroads of this cancer experience. I will soon know if my cancer has been defeated, or if more treatments are necessary. I will soon have to make big decisions about mastectomy and reconstruction options. I'll have to weigh financial burdens and strain on my family as I decide what is the best course to pursue. I am just glad all of this is happening in the Fall, my favorite time of year for pondering, and enjoying the world around me, and for marking life's changes and if it's going in the direction I want it to. I can't tell you how thankful I am to have my family all still here this year so they can be with me as I make all these discoveries and decisions.
I always like to end by thanking all my friends and family for helping me out each day and each week. For the cleaning, the laundry, the food preparation, the cards, the kindness to my kids, the companionship and all the other things you do for me, thank you. I think the biggest change I have undergone since starting cancer treatment at the beginning of March is appreciating my circle of family and friends, accepting them the way they are, and loving them for their attempts to be the best they can be. Thanks for all you do!