Monday, April 30, 2007

13 days ago it was snowing...



Yesterday the high was 89, haven't heard the final number for today yet. Got off a couple of hours early today and let the kids bask in the sun and the cool drops of the sprinkler water. It was good, even better than chocolate. I love living in South Dakota.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

9 years have passed already


Today is my anniversary. 9 years. Every year gets better and better. If I only knew way back then what we would encounter in our lives... I remember wondering what we would have to talk about after being together for so long. The thought of two beautiful children and one more on the way, cancer and many other obstacles never even crossed my niave little mind. Now, even more than ever, I am so in love with this man; I can hardly describe it.

The night before my thoracotomy I was scared. I feared for my life. I sat down and wrote letters to my husband, my children and my mother. It seems silly now, that I thought I wouldn't make it through the surgery. I did, and I thank the Lord for His amazing blessings on me every single day. Happy Anniversary, Honey. I love you the most, impossible!


Dear love of my life,

I have been so blessed to have you in my life. You are my best friend, my comforter. I love you so much.Our lives have changed so much since those first few years when I felt I could not go an hour or a moment without hearing your voice or holding your hand. I remember your soft touch and loving embrace when my father died, I remember you saying “I love you” for the first time. We have made it through so much, the birth of our children, the death of your grandfather, my father and grandfather. We have been to so many family weddings and celebrations I cannot even count them. There have been dark times, times when I thought we would not go on, but we did. You are always so strong and determined. Each time we have been able to forgive each other and move on. I want you to know that you are so much a part of me that I wonder how I may go on without you. If the Lord has chosen this to be my time, I will take a part of you with me. I will hold on to the love that we have shared for so many years and use it to guide me to heaven.You are an amazing man. You have so many strengths and talents. You are such a wonderful father to our children. Keep showing them the world like you do and sharing new experiences with them everyday. I love the way dd can be crying and you say something to her and she immediately breaks out in laughter. It is as if you know exactly how to make her happy. Ds admires you so much. He aspires to be just like you. He just needs someone to hold his hand as he takes those leaps into every new adventure. I hope that you can do that for him. I know that they will be amazing children because they have you as a father. You are so good at making things work, every time I was sure something was broken for good you came along and fixed it. I wish I had that knack. I mean, really who can buy a 25-year-old motorcycle for $20 and have it running in 24 hours? You can. You have put your blood, sweat, and tears into this home and it is perfect because of it. I will remember this house as our home forever. Thank you so much for your patience and kindness with my family and me. You have always been there when I needed you to be. My family is so important to me and you share that philosophy with me. Not all husbands would let their sister-in-law and her infant move in or allow a great grandfather to die in their home. Your family has been wonderful to us. I love being a part of a huge family. There is a massive amount of love and compassion that I can feel every time I need it. I am so blessed to have been a part of your life for as long as I have. I know that you will continue to bless those around you with your passion for life and your many, many talents. I know that this experience will only make you stronger and wiser and better prepared for the future. I know that you will become an even greater man and do many more wonderful and amazing things. I love you more than you could ever know.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Interesting Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However, prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction .

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal,Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract.
Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened
soya milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains,seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans.
Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts)and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine.Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat, it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence,Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL , U S

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters.
This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.
Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.

Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard.
He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.
This especially applies to foods that contain fat.
He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper
towel instead. BETTER STILL, DON'T USE THE MICROWAVE; IT DESTROYS YOUR FOOD.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

plink is addicting

Deja vu?

This morning my dh helped fry bacon for breakfast. Every time the smoke alarm went off my ds ran to the end table climbed up on it, took his sock off and waved it frantically in the air below the alarm. My husband, after composing himself, looked at me and said, "He's had this experience before, huh?"

No comment.

the song goes like this mommy...



It is raining today. I was singing the "It's raining, It's pouring" song while I was cooking breakfast this morning. Just a few minutes ago my son was standing on the deck singing his own version of the song;
It's raining, it's slporing, It's raining, it's slporing,
It's raining, it's slporing, It's raining, it's slporing,
It's raining, it's slporing, It's raining, it's slporing,
(this particular line goes on forever then he continues with)
he was tired and fell and bonked his head!

Pelican Watching




Early last week (hey,I am fat and tired and can't post everyday) I took the kids and a friend to see the Pelicans on Lake Vermillion. I saw them on the way to work Monday morning and immediately thought of my dd. She has been studying birds in preschool and we have been playing bird bingo and match the bird games every night. So, when I saw these 20 or so pelicans I knew it would be fun to watch them for awhile. It was a gorgeous day and we sat on the rocks and watched them fish. They swim around in circles and when they see a meal they dip their heads in and grab the fish and then their beak gets much wider,sort of an exra flap of skin, while the fish wiggles around in there. The kids thought it was amazing, so did I. The birds themselves are quite large. It was pretty cool to see them up close. Unfortunately my camera does not have a very good zoom, so the pictures don't do the amazing animals justice.I am glad we got to see them, although I think my dd's favorite part was calling daddy on the cell phone to tell him about the pelicans.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

One of the great things about this job is the fact that I get to listen to KNWC all day long. It is my all time favorite radio station. I am the person who doesn't really listen to music unless I am in the car...I just don't make enough time for it. So while I am putting on hundreds of miles each day I am jamming out to the music.
When I was little, mom listened to oldies a lot and so I did, too. I knew the words to most of them and when they came on the radio I would sing along, which felt normal until my friends starting looking at me like I was a weirdo. My mom was the one who introduced me to Amy Grant when I was a teenager and I was immediately hooked.I tried to keep up with the secular music everyone else was listening to, but I could never really get into it. The other day I was dropping the kids off at daycare and I waited and waited for my dd to get out of the van. "Come on!" I told her. "Sorry mom, I love that song." she said. Like mother, like daughter, I guess.
Want to listen, too? go to KNWC.nwc.edu

Saturday, April 14, 2007

This week I learned...

do not plan an outside activity - it will snow

do not drink three cups of coffee and expect to make it through 3 hours of home visits without stopping at a convenience store to use the restroom

do not think you will not have to run out to the car, in the snow, at least once to get something you have forgotten

do not bring only 3 sheets of paper per child for a free painting project as you will run out the first day

do not use the flannelboard unless you have a lint roller present as every family has a pet that sheds

do not leave your lights on overnight - oops

do not forget to fill up with gas before you go home as there is no gas station within a 10 mile radius

do not try to make phone calls or listen to voice mails unless there are at least 3 bars present

hope that you learn from your mistakes the first week :)

Laughter is the best medicine...


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1098259204041420273&hl=en

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Lemon sniffing anyone?

If you had asked me yesterday if I ever got morning sickness, I would have told you no. Never, with any of my preganancies. BUT, every late afternoon I feel ill and really thirsty and like I could sleep for 20 hours or so. So I broke one of my tmi (toomuchinformation) rules and went to the www for help. Guess what?
  • Morning sickness can occur at any time of the day, though it occurs most often upon waking, because blood sugar levels are typically the most depressed after a night without food.
I guess I need to eat a bigger lunch or an afternoon snack. Good thing I have a bit of Zofran left! (I promise I'll ask first)

Treatments for morning sickness typically aim to lessen the symptoms of nausea, rather than attacking the root cause(s) of the nausea. Treatments include:
* Avoiding an empty stomach.
* Eating five or six small meals per day, rather than three large ones.
* Ginger, in capsules, tea, ginger ale, ginger beer or ginger snaps
* Vitamin B6 (either pyridoxine or pyridoxamine), often taken in combination with the antihistamine doxylamine (Diclectin®).
* Lemons, particularly the smelling of freshly cut lemons.
* Accommodating food cravings and aversions.
* Eating dry crackers in the morning.
* Trying the BRATT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, toast and tea.
* Drinking liquids 30 to 45 minutes after eating solid food.
A doctor may prescribe anti-nausea medications if the expectant mother suffers from dehydration or malnutrition as a result of her morning sickness, a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum. In the US, Zofran (ondansetron) is the usual drug of choice, though the high cost is prohibitive for some women; in the UK, older drugs with which there is a greater experience of use in pregnancy are preferred, with first choice being promethazine otherwise as second choice metoclopramide, or prochlorperazine.

This is at the top of the list of places I most want to visit...

Creation Museum in Kentucky

The museum will open to the public in late May, and founder Ken Ham hopes it will attract 250,000 visitors in its first year. Located on a 50-acre piece of flat land in the little town of Petersburg, Ky., it is in the heart of Middle America—just a short drive from Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio, and, say the organizers, no more than a day’s road trip for two thirds of the American population.

read all about it HERE

Center of the Bible

Q: What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

A: Psalms 117

Q: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

A: Psalms 119

Q: Which chapter is in the center of the Bible?

A: Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118

Fact: The re are 594 chapters after Psalms 118

Add these numbers up and you get 1188.

Q: What is the center verse in the Bible?

A: Psalms 118:8

Q: Does this verse say something significant about God's perfect will for
our lives?

The next time someone says they would like to find

God's perfect will for their lives and that they want to

be in the center of His will, just send them to the

center of His Word!

Psalms 118:8

"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."
Now isn't that odd how this worked out (or was God in the center of it)?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

I could have kissed him...

I found a rare burst of energy tonight and spent 3 hours scrubbing my floors and bleaching the counter tops and cabinet fronts. It has been weeks (um everyone who really knows me and my exaggeration trait knows that this translates to months) since I have done this, I am embarrassed to say the least. Everything seems okay until you have a surprise visitor and they ask to use the bathroom with the tall toilet. I have a three year old boy who isn't really good at aiming while standing on tippy toes. *sigh* oh well, sometimes that's what it takes to kick my fat butt into gear and clean up the place a bit. It is truly amazing how much toothpaste gets on the floors and vanity, how do they even get their teeth clean?

Anyway I was scrubbing away at my floorboards in the upstairs bath (finishing the basement was great but now I have two bathrooms to scrub and two kitchen to sparkle)when the phone rang. I hate it when that happens. I contemplated not answering it but thought twice when I remembered dh was working at the hospital and it could be them telling me he is taking a flight in this awful blizzard weather. So, I pulled my achy old up and by the time I made it to the phone it was the 4th ring and I didn't even have a chance to look at the caller id I just pushed the talk button and while breathing heavily said,"hello".The voice on the other end simply said, "Is your father home?" I nearly busted a gut.I have never thought of my voice as sounding young, I always thought it was too deep and even a little manly on the telephone. At this particular moment I felt old and tired worn out and nothing close to young. I giggled and took the message and told the caller I was the wife not the kid. He had a good laugh and I suddenly felt my burst of energy return; long enough to finish scrubbing the one bathroom anyway.

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten

As I sit down to write this morning, huge fluffy snowflakes are falling outside my window, what month is it again?

This new job I am subbing for comes with a car. I spend my days driving around the back roads of a neighboring county visiting families with small children. Yesterday as I came upon a junction of two small highways, a man pulled up close to my car and rolled down his window, he motioned for me to do the same.

"I see you driving here all the time, do you work with my wife?", I started to say something but he quickly went on..."because she drives a car just like that from the university, I didn't want to scare you, I just wanted to tell you I am her husband and I will be waving hello to you now and again, if I'm not in this here vehicle, I got a little blue one, so now you can wave back to me."

I smiled. He manually rolled up his window and drove away. I waved to him.

Now if I could have only learned how to read maps in kindergarten...

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Speaking of NEW life...



Dh and I decided to celebrate life, with some DIVINE help.

In all honesty, we knew we wanted to try and have another baby the moment the doctor said, “there is a chance this chemo will make you infertile” It became sort of an unwritten plan to try about a year after getting the thumbs up from the PET scan. I guess God had a different plan, because we had to postpone the PET because I took a couple of tests and TWO blue lines came up both times.

It was my boobs that gave it away. I knew. I tried to tell dh and he refused to believe me, I convinced him to buy me a pack of tests and when I peed on the stick the look on my husbands face was something I had never seen before. The oncologist said I would most likely be infertile for at least 6months after chemo. When I called the office to tell him, he said we would still do some blood work and he would like to see me. He was a little surprised that we were even fertile, but mentioned that “you young ones seem to bounce back pretty quick”. So I called my OB and made an appointment.

My dd is so excited; we went for a family walk and told the kids. Dd could not stop talking about it. She had a million questions and name choices and when will she be old enough to baby sit? Ds was a bit different, dad told him mommy had a baby in her tummy and he said, “oh, dad when are we going to go hunting?”. Later after he must have thought things through a bit, he asked me if he could watch the doctor take the baby out. I explained that mommy and daddy will probably go to the hospital alone, but dd said she is going to sneak behind daddy so no one sees her and ds can sleep in the car until the baby comes…

It is still early so we made a big deal out about how we should only tell family and we will be keeping it our special secret, which actually worked; for the weekend. Dd would come and whisper in my ear, “Can I tell my uncle?, Can I tell my grandma?” I was proud of her for trying. Until I picked her up from daycare on Monday evening and one of the teachers said congratulations to me. I was a bit bewildered until she said, “your daughter told us all you are having a baby and she said that we should try and keep it a secret.” Like mother, like daughter. She is about as good at keeping secrets as I am.

I am getting ahead of myself here, dh and I were happy when we found out, but scared. Our first thoughts were, “Will the chemo affect the baby?” We were scheduled for a PET scan less than a week from when we found out. We didn’t know if the oncologist would recommend to go ahead with the scan and risk losing the baby. We spent the first few days praying and digesting this change in our plans. It just goes to prove, we are not in control. We decided not to say anything until we met with the cancer doc. He gave us the green light and here we are.

In light of what our life has been like these past 9 months, we are able to let go of our worries and just let GOD do what He plans to. It may be that this is our little gift from God and we will cherish every moment of the life that has been given to us. There may be bumpy roads ahead and more pain, but we know He will be carrying us in His arms if that happens, too. When we saw that tiny little heartbeat yesterday on the monitor, it took both our breaths away. It is a MIRACLE, and we thank the Lord for His blessing on us.

We are about 9 weeks along and if everything goes well we will have a new little one around the first or second week of November! Thank you, Lord, for new life!

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Is it Monday, already?


Of course I started working again for a bit so...

the cat has worms

ds has a fever

the house is in disarray

there are no groceries

I gave cash as a birthday gift

my back aches

supper is late

it is raining every day

I am behind on my emails

I have no idea what we are having for supper tomorrow

I don't even know what time I will be home tomorrow

I am a bit overwhelmed and I can't sleep.

Is that a run-on sentence?