YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP.....

     Seriously....they only write this stuff for movies!!!  Pragmatically Speaking and VoR (along with his father-in-law) decided to dig out the coal chute in his new/old home (build in 1900...but fully renovated).  Now we all tease them about the "finding a body buried in the cellar".....well...after a couple hours of hard labor what do they encounter....a headstone from 1998....SERIOUSLY!!!  We were all stunned and hoped that that was all there was.  After some frantic online searches and a call to the local city cemetery to confirm that he was actually there and NOT here and that there had been a headstone change at some point...we all wanted to know what the story was.  

     We discovered that he was in fact a previous owner who had died in a nursing home with Parkinson's disease.  His lovely wife had died 8 yrs later "at home in her sleep"....yup...right here in this very house....now we are all just curious as to which bedroom it was (okay...I am not wanting to think about it honestly).  As we searched deeper we found out that these 2 had been high school sweethearts had lost contact with each other and gone on to live their separate lives.  They had found each other some 60 yrs later and married....spending his last 8yrs together.  I know you are all feeling a warm and fuzzy and frankly so are we.  

     The sad part is that his headstone had been changed at some point for a plane generic marker and she is buried by his side with no maker at all.  Tragic really thinking of how long it took them to reunite.  The consensus it that "our" headstone needs to be engraved with her info on the back and put the stone between them...a final romantic end to their love story.

Ain't love grand!?!?!?! 

Many things have been going on since Mother's Day....but I will spare you the boring mundane and give you the highlights....

    After weeks of trying to self-repair my lousy left wrist....it is still mucked and more painful every day.  I mentioned it when I had my oncology follow-up and WOW did I get the "full service" package.  My appt was at 9am and I got home @ 4:30pm.  In that space of time I had blood work done, 2 IVs put in (first one would run) full xray panel (along with this nasty PAINFUL invasive one where they pull fluid out of all you wrist joints to test for a bone/joint infection...NOT FUN!!!) then finally ending with a cortisone shot & a removable half cast. It is feeling better (but still painful) but the day after....I wanted to chew my arm off it hurt sooooo bad (like a charlie horse you cant stretch out for about 18hrs).  So you can imagine that writing this....actually everything has been more then a little challenge. Trying to get packed and organized for the "Gram's Tour" (GT)....let's just say I have WAY more sympathy for the entire monkey population....opposable thumbs rock...just sayin'.

     Now having qualified that...I am off and running on the GT and so far....only some minor hiccups.  The first leg started out with a bang....almost 2hr delay.  Good thing I got up at 3am after 4hrs of sleep...argg!! Oh well...I had a 9hr layover so I will try to find a quiet corner and grab some zzzzzz.  It was all worth it to see my 2 oldest girls Amp and Beb.  We had a great time getting reacquainted with them....they change so much so fast. Beb is the funniest little person that would put the EverReady Bunny to shame.....oh ya...her parents were good too....LOL!!!...& what can I say about Amp...she is still amazing...duh

     The 2nd leg was to be a 12 hr layover again after only 3hrs sleep and that gosh-awful 3am alarm...I had fewer hopes of finding a nap-worthy corner at this airport.  As I got off the plane the thought came to me to see if there may be an earlier flight I could catch to my destination.....THERE WAS!!!!  So I actually landed at 4:30 instead of midnight and only 4hrs layover.  Now imagine how I am suffering with a little sleep deprivation and walk down from my flight to see VoR standing there with a welcome sign. I know you are all doing the "oohs and ahhs" because he was able to pull off this HUGE surprise to come and spend a part of my tour with me.....me on the other hand could only keep looking at him repeating "What are you doing here??"....so much for your Hollywood romantic rendez-vous...sigh.  It was so totally gooey romantic of him (not surprising cause he is such a big hearted/selfless romantic cuss) and I am so WAY BLESSED!!!!!

Props to you and all your co-horts 
for pulling this one off

It is a few days later and I have seen all my girls.  Can I just say when Hop woke up in the car and giggle and jabbered at me until we got home...this Gram was sunk. She is so cute and has such a personality coming thru even in these 5 short months she has been around.  I so miss the gooey new baby stage...this one is really fun too.  These girls each are strong, delicate and energetic...what great traits to have...I can't wait to see them grow into 3 amazing, powerful & compassionate women.

 

As my mom used to say...

"Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,

I wonder where the birdies is?

 

Well...I have once again let time slip away from me.  I have decided that with the end of treatment comes the SLOW return of ambition and the ability of actually doing a bit more....I can't say it is a daily return...I am definitely WAY more tortoise then hare...but I am taking steps in the right direction.  The big problem is that I no longer have a bed in my living room (YEA FOR ME!!!) so my convenient location of my laptop (well really ..all the stuff I actually use daily) has also moved...who knew a living room bed could be so handy.  I will try to plan my days/weeks so I can be more regular at those things I did better at when in treatment......but really...who am I kidding, there is no such thing as "regular" at this point....some hours/days are better and some are just not...as I expected.  What I wasn't really counting on (& a point of  HUGE frustration at times)is that my ambition/desire to get up and get things done would bounce back SOOOOOO much faster then my body's ability and willingness to actually join my brain's push back to "normal"....I am trying to be patient and reign in the old brain....again it all comes back to pacing....I am getting better....once in a while.

 

Since my last post (again....way tooo long) there have been some changes happen...again some good some not so....but more good then bad this time....

 



The Big Exciting Fun this time is that Random Wisdom went to her 2nd wedding dress fitting and the dress is AMAZING!!!! The alterations lady is really truly our "Fairy Godmother".  She captured RW's vision to the tiniest detail....she has such an amazing gift....a true artist.....maybe after the wedding I will let you see the dress. Until then....sorry friend.

The Big Fun is that the "Gram's Trip" is book and ticket bought!! I can't wait to go see those (growing too fast) darling  "grand-girls"!!!!...oh ya...their parents too.  VoR is such a great man to surprise me (and insist that I make the time...almost 3 wks....to go) with this gift of a pre-wedding planning crunch time getaway. I have travelled often alone and that is okay....but I have to admit the "suddenly tired" aspect this close after treatment is a tad worrisome.  I have crazy long lay-overs (thanks Aeroplan) so I won't have to rush between gates on my connections so that is a blessing.  You can bet I am gonna take them up on that "extra time pre-boarding" option. 

The Not-So-Good is that somehow/where along this end of treatment road my left wrist started to really give me painful trouble.  Now that in and of itself is super sucky but if you take into account that my right side is still healing and now my left wrist is NOT HAPPY....the "how to's" of holding grand-girls is a little daunting.  I have done everything to try and make it better (ice, wrap, splint, the anti-inflammatory & Tylenol route, etc...) but it continues to scream louder every day.  I don't think it is related to anything...other then "bad timing"...I have had it x-rayed so nothing is broken...just really not happy.  I have a follow-up with oncology on Monday so I will have them check it too...who knows if it's related to chemo or radiation.

And to top it off.....I Bought a BOOB!!!!  I decided with cool weather a thing of the past and recovery from radiation well under way (BTW...I never did blister or have any skin issues except a bad sunburn...SOOO blessed)....I needed to rejoin the "normal world" until we can reconstruct.  So I went and got fitted for a fake boob and specialty bras....since there is no hope of wearing a regular one for now.  It really is cool....it is silicone and weighted so stays in place....not like the quilt batting filled ones....don't get me wrong....it is not like the original "girl" I was born with...but not too shabby either....it would be hard for anyone (besides those who know I am missing one) to know that it's "bought and paid for".  Not that it bothers me to be a "uni-boober" but it does make others REALLY uncomfortable and that isn't what I want to do.  Now I just need to come up with a nick-name for it..."the boob" is just a little boring and since it is needing special care and storage....I think it deserves to be named.....I will keep you posted (suggestions are welcome...tee hee!!)