Perhaps it's the chemo drugs coursing through my body, or maybe it's just the dang birds outside of my window carrying on about their plans for wormin' all day long to feed their young'uns ... but I woke up this morning not-so-bright and early with my brain racing. Obviously 4:30 a.m. is not the ideal time to do housework with 5 kids sleeping soundly, so I thought I'd come sit down at the computer and take some time to catch up on this here ol' blog of mine. So don't expect any semblance of order in my thoughts (because, after all, it IS early!) but you are welcome to pick and choose which topics you want to read. The rest is all mental garbage ... a gift from me to you! ;-)
We are in the middle of a heat wave here in St. Louis. It started last Wednesday, which of course marked the day my a/c decided to go out! That wouldn't be so bad, but it was also the day everybody else turned on their a/c and realized theirs wasn't working either! It was a chore to find a contractor who wasn't already booked up, so I packed up my kids and we spent 5 days/nights at Grandpa's house while we waited for ours to be fixed. On day 4 I'd had enough of the waiting, and enough of not sleeping in my own bed, so I decided I'd just fix it myself. And guess what! I did! All it took was replacing the two fuses in the outside box ... just 8 dollars in parts! The guy at Handyman Hardware was impressed with my a/c prowess.We gave the a/c one night to cool down the house and yesterday morning we moved back home! WHOO HOOOOO!
So, you'd think if I could conquer a major household appliance on my own, I could conquer this stupid little cancer thing. Nope. I haven't figured this one out yet. Yesterday I returned to my oncologist's office for a report on my blood work and a nice dose of a couple of chemo meds. Six hours later they unhooked me from my lines and sent me home. I was not a happy camper. The news is grim. My CA-125 has jumped up to 257 ... very high. This chemo is not doing what it's supposed to be doing at all. Of course I am scared. This was a huge reality check for me. Just six months ago my CA-125 was a 2 ... normal. This cancer is playing havoc with my lymph system and I am not at all happy about it. Please keep me, my doctors and nurses in your prayers. I will get my day 2 of chemo this morning. In two weeks I will have my kidney surgery at Missouri Baptist, then the following week will be my last round of this 2-day chemo routine. At that point they'll check my CA-125 again and determine what course of action we will take from there. God has been so good to me and I have complete faith that He has His hand in this. His will be done. I continue to pray for divine healing ... I need a miracle.
OK, now for some fun stuff! We've had a fun few weeks! I attended my 20th high school reunion and got to spend some precious time with so many old and good friends. Yes folks, you are old! I'll include a few pictures below. My bestest oldest friend in the world, Heidi, flew in for the event. We grew up together, and every time I see her it's like we pick up right where we left off. I was only able to be at one of the events for the reunion, and only for an hour or two. I left my camera with her, so I can't take credit for all of the pictures! On Monday, my dear friends, Danny and Aaron, along with their children and Danny's wife, Deb, came over for the day. It was so wonderful to be together with two of the greatest men in the world ... two men who I love like brothers ... and to have our children playing together in the home we hung out in as kids ourselves! Aaron, aka. Rev. Layton (I'm so proud of him!), brought us together in prayer and what a lovely heartfelt prayer it was. It gave me hope and reminded me that I am in God's hands. God has blessed me with some incredible people in my life!
I took my kids, along with our little honorary Jones kid, Chase, to Tonya and John's "Happy Tales Farm" for a day of fun! My sister and her family, husband Eric and son Christopher, also came along! It was Isaac's 8th birthday (Happy Birthday, Sunshine!) so we had a wonderful celebration, complete with hot dogs, watermelon, cheese balls, fruit pouches, a Batman cake and root beer floats! All of the kids had a blast playing on the huge acreage that the Yetter's have. They played with the chickens, kittens and goats ... climbed into the huge loft (making Mommy VERY nervous!) ... and went for many rides on the John Deere! I will also include a few pictures from that trip below.
Oh! Good news! We've solved our teeny tiny wading pool problem! In an earlier blog I mentioned that we'd outgrown our Kmart wading pool. So, last week, Aunt Kristie went back to Kmart and bought us a second one! The kids are in heaven. Two pools for 5-6 kids is perfect! Grandpa bought Isaac a slip-n-slide for his birthday ... thus creating an alternate water activity. Gotta love the little things in life that bring happiness!
My dear Aunt Pat and Uncle Phil (my mother's brother and sister-in-law) came down to St. Louis last Wednesday-Friday for a visit. What a treat! Hugging my uncle is like hugging a part of my mother and I cherished that. We had a great lunch at Malone's and then took Aunt Pat (the men opted for nap time) to St. Louis Mills Mall for an afternoon of fun, and chasing kids! She treated my spoiled little twerps to multiple arcade games (Aunt Pat even got into the fun and played an arcade game herself!) and rides on a merry-go-round. They loved going into Cabala's to see the live fish and stuffed deer, bears, moose, etc. Once we'd conquered the entire mall (and it's a big one!), and the kids had eaten at least a hundred gumballs from the machines spread throughout the mall, we walked back out into the furnace we call St. Louis and headed home. Only then did we realize we'd left our bag of Nita and Isaac's old shoes (I bought them some new Nike's that they got to wear out of the store) somewhere in the mall. So, hopefully somebody picked up Isaac's New Balance hikers, and Nita's Sketchers tennies and are getting some use out of them. AARRGGHH! I'll include a few pictures of our trip below as well.
This weekend is the Bob/Eve Harper Family Reunion. Although I just had chemo, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Kristie will chauffeur the kids and me so we can go. It looks like Chase will join us again this year for the festivities. We love having him with us and sharing him with my mom's family. The kids are excited to see their aunts, uncles and cousins again too. I just love sitting and hearing the stories they share about their childhood, stories about my grandmother and grandfather (who are both waiting in heaven), and catching up on family members who aren't able to make it to the reunion. It's a very special day. You know I'll have pics to share next week!
So that's our last few weeks in a nutshell. I'm sorry I've been so remiss in keeping up with my blog. I will try to do better, but thank you for those who keep up with me and my Backyard Gang. We love you all!
Until Tomorrow (or Maybe Next Week!),
Kathy
P.S. Remember that you can click on any picture to enlarge it!
We are in the middle of a heat wave here in St. Louis. It started last Wednesday, which of course marked the day my a/c decided to go out! That wouldn't be so bad, but it was also the day everybody else turned on their a/c and realized theirs wasn't working either! It was a chore to find a contractor who wasn't already booked up, so I packed up my kids and we spent 5 days/nights at Grandpa's house while we waited for ours to be fixed. On day 4 I'd had enough of the waiting, and enough of not sleeping in my own bed, so I decided I'd just fix it myself. And guess what! I did! All it took was replacing the two fuses in the outside box ... just 8 dollars in parts! The guy at Handyman Hardware was impressed with my a/c prowess.
So, you'd think if I could conquer a major household appliance on my own, I could conquer this stupid little cancer thing. Nope. I haven't figured this one out yet. Yesterday I returned to my oncologist's office for a report on my blood work and a nice dose of a couple of chemo meds. Six hours later they unhooked me from my lines and sent me home. I was not a happy camper. The news is grim. My CA-125 has jumped up to 257 ... very high. This chemo is not doing what it's supposed to be doing at all. Of course I am scared. This was a huge reality check for me. Just six months ago my CA-125 was a 2 ... normal. This cancer is playing havoc with my lymph system and I am not at all happy about it. Please keep me, my doctors and nurses in your prayers. I will get my day 2 of chemo this morning. In two weeks I will have my kidney surgery at Missouri Baptist, then the following week will be my last round of this 2-day chemo routine. At that point they'll check my CA-125 again and determine what course of action we will take from there. God has been so good to me and I have complete faith that He has His hand in this. His will be done. I continue to pray for divine healing ... I need a miracle.
OK, now for some fun stuff! We've had a fun few weeks! I attended my 20th high school reunion and got to spend some precious time with so many old and good friends. Yes folks, you are old! I'll include a few pictures below. My bestest oldest friend in the world, Heidi, flew in for the event. We grew up together, and every time I see her it's like we pick up right where we left off. I was only able to be at one of the events for the reunion, and only for an hour or two. I left my camera with her, so I can't take credit for all of the pictures! On Monday, my dear friends, Danny and Aaron, along with their children and Danny's wife, Deb, came over for the day. It was so wonderful to be together with two of the greatest men in the world ... two men who I love like brothers ... and to have our children playing together in the home we hung out in as kids ourselves! Aaron, aka. Rev. Layton (I'm so proud of him!), brought us together in prayer and what a lovely heartfelt prayer it was. It gave me hope and reminded me that I am in God's hands. God has blessed me with some incredible people in my life!
I took my kids, along with our little honorary Jones kid, Chase, to Tonya and John's "Happy Tales Farm" for a day of fun! My sister and her family, husband Eric and son Christopher, also came along! It was Isaac's 8th birthday (Happy Birthday, Sunshine!) so we had a wonderful celebration, complete with hot dogs, watermelon, cheese balls, fruit pouches, a Batman cake and root beer floats! All of the kids had a blast playing on the huge acreage that the Yetter's have. They played with the chickens, kittens and goats ... climbed into the huge loft (making Mommy VERY nervous!) ... and went for many rides on the John Deere! I will also include a few pictures from that trip below.
Oh! Good news! We've solved our teeny tiny wading pool problem! In an earlier blog I mentioned that we'd outgrown our Kmart wading pool. So, last week, Aunt Kristie went back to Kmart and bought us a second one! The kids are in heaven. Two pools for 5-6 kids is perfect! Grandpa bought Isaac a slip-n-slide for his birthday ... thus creating an alternate water activity. Gotta love the little things in life that bring happiness!
My dear Aunt Pat and Uncle Phil (my mother's brother and sister-in-law) came down to St. Louis last Wednesday-Friday for a visit. What a treat! Hugging my uncle is like hugging a part of my mother and I cherished that. We had a great lunch at Malone's and then took Aunt Pat (the men opted for nap time) to St. Louis Mills Mall for an afternoon of fun, and chasing kids! She treated my spoiled little twerps to multiple arcade games (Aunt Pat even got into the fun and played an arcade game herself!) and rides on a merry-go-round. They loved going into Cabala's to see the live fish and stuffed deer, bears, moose, etc. Once we'd conquered the entire mall (and it's a big one!), and the kids had eaten at least a hundred gumballs from the machines spread throughout the mall, we walked back out into the furnace we call St. Louis and headed home. Only then did we realize we'd left our bag of Nita and Isaac's old shoes (I bought them some new Nike's that they got to wear out of the store) somewhere in the mall. So, hopefully somebody picked up Isaac's New Balance hikers, and Nita's Sketchers tennies and are getting some use out of them. AARRGGHH! I'll include a few pictures of our trip below as well.
This weekend is the Bob/Eve Harper Family Reunion. Although I just had chemo, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Kristie will chauffeur the kids and me so we can go. It looks like Chase will join us again this year for the festivities. We love having him with us and sharing him with my mom's family. The kids are excited to see their aunts, uncles and cousins again too. I just love sitting and hearing the stories they share about their childhood, stories about my grandmother and grandfather (who are both waiting in heaven), and catching up on family members who aren't able to make it to the reunion. It's a very special day. You know I'll have pics to share next week!
So that's our last few weeks in a nutshell. I'm sorry I've been so remiss in keeping up with my blog. I will try to do better, but thank you for those who keep up with me and my Backyard Gang. We love you all!
Until Tomorrow (or Maybe Next Week!),
Kathy
P.S. Remember that you can click on any picture to enlarge it!
Kathy's 20th Reunion Happy Hour
1st pic ... Debbie Kemper, Danny Kemper and Kathy
2nd pic ... Kathy, Brett Denney, Heidi Picker Rugg
3rd pic ... Danny Kemper, Tracy Pollard, Janice Everett, Kathy, Heidi Picker
Happy Tales Farm - Isaac's 8th Birthday
St. Louis Mills Mall with Aunt Pat
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