The results of the PET scan in April were not good. There are 3 new tumors, none bigger than 2 cm (as of April 25th). One is on Hubby’s liver, near the original spot. Another is in a lymph node back behind his abdominal wall and the 3rd is located in the sacro/rectal area.

Hubby had to skip 1 chemo session due to low platelets and white blood counts which is an ongoing issue. Dr. C thinks that is what caused the 3 new tumors to grow large enough to show up on the PET scan. Colon cancer is very aggressive and with the rupture all those cancer cells spread through out his entire body.

The original chemo cocktail was just keeping the cancer at bay. It wasn’t shrinking the tumor on his liver. It was not killing off the cancer cell “seeds” since 3 new tumors popped up. So the next step is to change the chemo drug mix, removing the Avistan (spelling?).

A new drug was added and Hubby started a chemo session on April 26th. By Monday, Hubby was breaking out in a horrific rash. Seriously nasty looking. (I have photos but will spare you the images.) A quick visit to the dermatologist, a biopsy, and talking to Dr. C resulted in discovering Hubby is allergic to the new drug.

Hubby has missed another week of chemo at this point (making 2 so far) which makes me nervous. His rash has cleared up and he is on track for chemo next week. Dr. C is trying a 3rd drug this time to see if it will work better, without causing an allergic reaction.

Realistically, Hubby isn’t in pain, the tumor are not large nor in any other organs,  and he is not sick from the chemo. There is no reason for Hubby not to live a productive active life at this point in time. Well, except for the whole still in semi-denial thing.

Thank all of you again for your wonderful words of support, comfort, prayers, and good thoughts. I know things would be worse without those!

Elizabeth

Elizabeth

and the winner is.....

Charlie took his job very seriously. He stood at the Finish Line and announced the winner of each race. It was a fun but long day.

Elizabeth

At least is not a story about race cars! Robots are a refreshing change of pace.

Elizabeth

sitting in the Astros dugout

view from the Press Box

It was an interesting tour. We saw parts of the field I’ll never see again  - including the suites and the Diamond Club.

Elizabeth

I am a mindless eater. Since I work from home there is food readily available for snacking. Most of it is healthy but not all. I do not exercise. I don’t like to exercise even though I know I need to.  There is lots of stress in my life right now with Hubby’s medical condition, work, PTO and Cub Scouts.

Tracking works for me. I know what food I should and should not eat. I just need to be held accountable for my choices. Weight Watchers provides that for me along with the support in a meeting setting.

I don’t have a scale. Having to weigh in once a week helps hold me accountable to myself and others. Along with the whole paying thing! Spending money monthly and not following the program will drive me nuts as we can’t afford to waste money like that. I can justify the expense as part of medical costs as long as I do what I need to do.

I love the PointsPlus program so far. I also like the WW tracking app along with the WW bar code reader. Veggies and fruits are free!

The first week I lost 4.6 pounds and tracked faithfully. I made better choices in my grazing. I worked at balancing carbs with proteins and focused on low glycemic snacks.

Last week was not so good. It was a very stressful week and I ate. I ate junk and did not track. I had a glass of wine after school with a friend and I rarely drink! I baked cookies and ate them with Charlie. I ended up gaining 3 pounds. I weighed in but skipped the meeting.

This week I am focusing on getting back on track. I’ve stocked up on veggies and fruit. I made a meal plan for dinner. I’m going to start walking the dog after dinner with Charlie riding his scooter. I’ll go to my meeting.

I will make forward progress again.

Elizabeth

This is a sponsored post by BlogHer and P & G as part of the Life Well Lived series. The question this week is about Getting Happy.

How does blogging, journaling, writing and connecting online help to increase your happiness?

Being online connecting with friends from Real Life and Online Communities definitely makes me happy. Has it increased my happiness? I’d have to say YES!

Blogging lets me blab about what is going on in my life to anyone who wants to read it. I’m an “over sharer” by nature so the Internet is made for people like me. It lets me express my opinions and thoughts. Sharing with others makes me realize that I am not alone in my circumstances; no matter what they may be.

I have made some wonderful online friends that are as real to me as my IRL friends. Via BlogHer I have met Denise, Tarrent, Karen, Jenna and many more. These wonderful ladies have supported my and my family in so many wonderful ways.  All the more amazing considering I have only met some of them once and others not at all!

You can read others ideas about Getting Happy in the Life Well Lived series over at BlogHer.  There is a super cool contest there too!

Elizabeth

Nobody showed up last night to help or bring things except my dad and the former Cubmaster’s wife.  Hopefully today will be a different story.

The Garage Sale is at our house. Hubby put out signs last night. I posted info on various garage sale locator websites earlier in the week plus the local newspaper. Weather is good.

Now to have enough stuff sell!

Elizabeth

I saw the idea for this activity over a year ago somewhere online. I know I saw examples for sale on Etsy back then but haven’t checked recently.  I’m pretty sure if you Google it, you will find many different tutorials and examples to follow.

Anyhow, I thought this was a great craft activity for kids the first time I saw it online.  Bird Nest Balls basic concept is to provide nesting materials to birds in a fun decorative manner. The birds don’t care about the fun or decorative part, to be honest, that’s just for people.

Charlie’s Cub Scout pack made these for our meeting activity this week. The den talked about nature, spring, Earth Day and conservation of the environment.

We used small grapevine balls as the container with twine for hanging. Then the boys stuffed the grapevine balls with scraps of ribbon, fabric, cotton balls, twine and dryer lint. You can also use hair (animal or human) and yarn.  I’ve seen other examples using mesh bags instead of grapevine balls.

Hang from a tree or bush and the birds will pull the materials from the ball and use it to help make their nests.

Elizabeth

I am chaperoning this field trip along with several other 1st grade moms.

Hopefully we all make it back alive and in one piece.

Elizabeth