Yes, I'm still alive!

You would think that I would get more comments considering that every time I go somewhere there is at least one person telling that they read my blog all the time! LOL!! Oh well, I guess that's just life, hehe. Had a treatment today, only TWO more to go!!! I can't believe it, it seems like just yesterday that I was dreading the 16 treatments and I thought that 5months sounded like an eternity. If there is anyone reading that is starting to go into this, I thought of something that might be helpful. Bug spray!!! Why, you might ask. Simple, mosquitoes consider you to be an all you can eat buffet while on chemotherapy. I'm pretty sure it has just been since starting the Taxol, honestly I just can't remember. I can go out to my car to get something and right back in the house and get at least 3 bites. We went to the survivors banquet a couple evenings before the race, and I sat and talked to the girls from the dr's office for a long while, and forgot the bug repellent. Well, just let me tell ya, I regretted that, BIG TIME!!! One of the little suckers, no pun intended, lol, must have gotten in my shirt, cause I had all kinds of bites in my back and shoulders! Between those and the ones on my ankles, me and Doug counted a whopping 21 bites!!! And that is new bites, not the ones that were already on the mend. I wasn't one to have a problem with them before either. On to other Taxol issues, I have mentioned before that one of the side effects would be tingling and numbing in the fingers and toes, but that it would be towards the end of treatment. Well, here it is, almost the end, and sure enough I have been noticing tingling sensation in my hands. It's a familiar feeling, like when you have your arm propped up on the table or something for a long time and it goes to sleep? It's sorta like that, very weird, that's for sure! I have also noticed that my legs feel very heavy, especially right after treatment and feel like jello when I have been sitting for a while then get up, but that usually fades a few days after chemo. My hair is coming back quite fast! It is really getting thick now, and it even ticks out a little over my glasses, lol! (yes, I have been made aware that the pic didn't show up from the last post, I'll fix it, sometime, lol!) I probably look like I am trying very hard, and failing very badly, at sporting a short do!! UGH, and the bloating from the steroids, oh I could just scream!! I could easily pass as being preggers, at least 7-8mos along, lol! My clothes are tight around the middle and nothing is comfy. I'll be so glad when I the water weight comes off, at least that's what my oncologist has told me, that it will come off quick. We'll see! Now, all of the chemo stuff out of the way, let me tell you about my previous wknd. It was wonderful! Just what I needed to relax and get away from "cancer" for a couple of days! Every year, for the past 6yrs, Kim and I have been going to a scrapbook crop called Croptoberfest, or CTF for short. It is held in the mountains at a baptist youth camp, so it's intended for teens, meaning the beds are uncomfortable, lol! Bunk beds at that! In bunk houses! And a tiny bathroom shared by 10-12 women! But I was a little spoiled this year, there is a private room right off the dining hall, where we scrap, that was just one bed and a private bathroom, and I was assigned there, and Kim pulled a mattress in there to keep me company! Man, was it nice! I don't mean 5 star hotel nice, but just nice that I was able to use it and not have to walk back and forth to the bunkhouses, that are on a hill, that would have drained me for sure! But a good friend of Kim's, and has since became a good friend of mine, invited us several years ago and we have been going ever since, it's a blast! We just scrap and laugh the whole wknd, I couldn't ask for anything better! I have posted a special thank you to Dianne on my blog before, well, she's the one who makes the whole wknd possible, she's amazing! She had picked up a copy of "Dear God, They Say It's Cancer" and brought me. I haven't had time to sit down and start reading it, but I did thumb trough it while I was there and loved everything I read! Lot's of great quotes and bible verses. I enjoyed being on my "soapbox" this wknd too, lol! I was able to tell my story to a feel souls willing to listen, thanks gals, you know who you are! And Janice, I'm so sorry you had to sit and listen through them all, lol. Speaking of Janice, it was wonderful spending the wknd with her, she has become a very important friend. She lives in Fl and flies into TN, we pick her up and provide her with items not feasible to bring on a plane. Then throughout the year while waiting on CTF to roll back around, we chat online, etc., just goes to show that you can have a great friendship with someone no matter what the distance between you. I didn't get near as much done as one would think considering I was there from Thurs til Sun, but I did manage to crank out a few pages and some cards, so I cannot complain. I am still trying to get caught up on my rest, but it was well worth it! Ok, I'm gonna go. I'll see if I can get the picture posted, it's of me and Doug at the beach last month and you should be able to see how my hair has grown. I might even try getting a more recent one tomorrow, it really has taken off since that beach pic was made.