Update on Paula

She finally had her appointment at Emory on Monday.  The doctor confirmed that the cancer in her lungs and abdomen is pretty much gone.  Praise God!!!  And he agreed on the chemo treatments that they are giving her - but he said that she really needed to have surgery to remove the ovaries.  That patients respond much more successfully when they are removed.  So she will be having surgery at Emory at some point in the future.  She still has to schedule appointments with the surgeon.  Her doctor here said "no surgery" so we are a little ticked about that.  But I'm glad that she got that 2nd opinion that we all had to ask her to do for us!  He also said that the chemo she is receiving now should work on the cancer that showed up on her spine.  Her next chemo is Monday.  It will be her 4th treatment. 

Number 20

Guess what?  This is my 20th post this month!  I think I might actually have gotten back into the habit of this blogging thing.

Last night the service at the church was pretty good.  I'm looking forward to the sessions today!  The couple doing the conference was divorced and remarried.  And it was a very ugly divorce that dragged out over 15m and involved custody battles (and cost them around $30,000).  Then 23 months later, they somehow started working it out.  So last night we heard the testimony of their divorce and how they came back together only through their relationship with the lord.  Funny thing was, they were very strong Christians when their marriage fell apart.  He was a deacon at the church and taught Sunday school.  They went to church and did all the 'church activities' - but their spiritual intimacy was not intact.

This is something that I think a lot of Christian's struggle with.  You can 'know' the theories/scriptures, but making those your reality is hard.  Applying those principles to your daily life, and not just putting on that happy face on Sunday's when you go to church is the key.  I have issues with that.  I have a hard time consistently applying God's word in my life.  I do the daily (most days) bible studies, I go to Church and Sunday school, but sometimes it is hard to FULLY rely and trust in God.

I have more to add, but I have got to start getting ready for going to church. 

Finally Friday

This week (make it MONTH) has been rough at work.  Everyday has been slam packed with stuff, more meetings and new requirements/projects.  Yesterday I thought it was Friday for a few hours - I guess the week has been loooong.

I'm looking forward to tonight though.  Eric and I are going to a marriage conference at a local church.  So that will be tonight and Saturday morning.  Sunday we will be going to Eric's parents for lunch after church and we are all giving Paula a 'gift' - money to help pay some of her doctor bills.  We don't have a ton of extra money right now, so we agreed to give her our tithe out of this paycheck.  Eric had some issues with that at first - because it is God's Money, but I felt that it was on my heart to do it.  Then in church Sunday, part of the preacher's message (which was on Children) was about us taking care of our parents as they get older.  They made tons of sacrifices when we were younger (things you don't realize until you are a parent yourself) and that we will honor God by taking care of and caring about our Parents.  More people came down during the invitation than I have seen in a while.  Lots of people are hurting b/c of the fall out or problems with those relationships.  This whole month at Church has been great!!!  The focus was 'A new home for the new year'.

I guess it is time for me to head off to work. 

Goals

Ok.  So if your wondering why I didn't post my weight this week, it is because it was up and I'm a wee bit depressed.  I have decided to just make a few goals, and not a big - lose 20 lbs by March/April type goal.  Problem is, I'm having a REALLY hard time getting started.  How on earth did I lose 43 lbs?  Of course, right now I'm at a whopping 25 lbs down from my starting weight because I have gained back almost 20 lbs.  SADNESS.

So - Goals. 

1.  Work out 3 times this week.  And today is Wednesday, oh well - nobody said Goals need to start on Monday.  So I still need to work out 3 times before Sunday.

2.  Take my vitamins daily

3.  Track all my calories and try to eat around 1500 calories a day.

We shall see if I keep these 3 goals going until Monday!  Maybe if I do I could at least post my weight again.  Maybe.

Saturday

Yesterday was a typical Saturday.  It was busy and flew by without us really getting to relax and just hang out.  Eric was gone all morning for church work day - we are getting new carpet in the Sanctuary so they had to move everything out of the whole building.  The pews, all the books from the library, the organ, etc.  He helped out a lot and was careful not to hurt his shoulder. (His shoulder has been very messed up for about 6 months, and the last few weeks have been really bad.  He had to get a steroid shot in the tendon last Friday).

Peyton and I went to the grocery store (just a fruit trip), and then we came home and I cleaned, did dishes/laundry and we ate lunch.  Nothing too special, but busy none the less.

Then Eric had to go get his Papa who was traveling with his uncle, and take him to him Mom's house.  Peyton and I had a nap (an awesome long nap by the way) and then Peyton and I joined Eric at his mom's and spent about 3-4 hrs visiting.  While visiting, I started 'interviewing' Papa for the album that I want to do - a tribute to his life and Grandma's life (she has already passed).  Learned a few things I didn't know, and made sure I got the facts straight on what I did know.  What I did discover that I thought was interesting, he was only in the military for 3 years.  And that is just about all that he talks about, is the military years and his time at war.  I guess now that he is getting older and we hear the same story over and over - those are what he remembers most and that is what he talks about.  That and the fact that Grandma died and he is alone after 60 years.  Which is sad.  I think he gets lonely and the house is so quiet, so he loves it when he visits or we visit him, and the house is slap full of people and kids running all over the place (driving us crazy) - but he loves it.

Then we get home, and E moved funny and hurt his back really bad.  I mean, he can't move without hurting.  I think he is going to go to the hospital when he gets up to see if they can do anything for him.  It is really high up, like between his shoulders.  I think he pinched a nerve maybe.  Of course, none of the places that could help him will be open until Monday.  And he was supposed to be going to the doctor in ATL with his mom on Monday.  I don't know if the hospital will be able to help him, but he is in so much pain that I don't think he can wait another day.

Paula

E's Mom, Paula, has had 3 rounds of chemo.  Her 'tumor marker' levels went from over 3,000 to 201 to 26.  She is definitely responding well to the chemo.  So Monday E took her to have a scan for the doctors to check the progress.  She got the results yesterday.  The cancer in her lungs/abdomen/uterus responded 'remarkably' well.  Remarkably was the exact word that the radiologist used in the report.  We have no doubt that her faith and all the prayers going up for her have help with this!  But we did get some bad news.  There is a spot on her spine where the cancer has spread.  That is the only spot right now, so they are going to start radiation at that spot (i think).  This is the very scary news.  Once the cancer get into the bones it can spread all over the body and into the brain.  E was really down yesterday, but I told him we just have to keep praying like we have been and have faith!  Luckily, her appt at Emory has FINALLY come.  It is Monday afternoon.  I can't wait to see what they have to say and see what they decide would be a good method of treatment.  Not that we don't trust her current doctor, but this is a specialist in her type of cancer (not just a cancer doctor) and the 2nd opinion is something that we have wanted ever since she was first diagnosed in Nov.

Why does it have to be so hard

I did a quick weight check this morning, and I'm up.  UP.  And I have been eating great for the last few days.  I'm driving myself insane.  Maybe I'm just ment to be a bigger girl and will never get back into my old clothes ever again. 

And I woke up at 3:00 with a nightmare.  Laid in bed trying to go back to sleep until around 4:45, finally go back to sleep only to have another nightmare within about 20 min, so I got up at 5:09, only about 20 min early, but still.  I know how today is going to be, as I've had nights like this all too many times.

Today is payday.  I will be rich for about 1 day, until I pay all of our bills tonight.  Ha.

AND today I get my first check of the year with my raise.  It was a pretty decent raise, enough to get a wee bit excited about.  Of course, every single deduction went up (taxes, healthcare, dental, life, etc).  EVERY SINGLE ONE.  Oh well.

Oh - and I keep forgetting to mention that I cut off all of my hair a few weeks ago and donated it to Locks of Love.  I need to get a picture of me with my new shorter do.  It is up to my shoulders now!

Took Peyton for another speech evaluation (his 3rd).  The last few times we agreed to do a home plan, but now we are going to start taking him to therapy twice a month.  She thinks a few sessions should really get his words to sound right (a lot of his words sound the same - block, box, bowl for example).  He pretty much starts words pretty good but doesn't 'end' them.  So we will re-evaluate after a couple months I guess.  I'm not really all that worried, but I would like to help him catch up so he will be more eager/ready to learn when we enroll him in preschool in the fall.  Speaking of preschool - it is time to start looking and registering already - some schools register in Feb and others in March. 

AND it has been 22 degrees the last 2-3 mornings.  WAY too cold for this GA girl.

Finished

We had another crop at the church on Friday night.  I got my December Daily album finished!!!  And completed about 6 layouts.  I really need to get some inspiration before the next crop though, I hated every layout that I did.  Just couldn't get my creative juices flowing!

I had to wait on my pictures to get in from Scrapbook pictures.  They print out all the pictures in awesome sizes, like all the small squares.  I LOVE scrapbookpictures.com - they have made me become a picture snob.  I can NOT develop my pictures anywhere else, as the quality is horrible and I've gotten used to the best!

Weigh in - Week 2

Official weigh in - after 2 weeks.

Starting Weight: 198.6

Last week: 196.8

Today: 196.8

Total Change: -1.8

Looks like I have stayed exactly the same weight for two weeks.  Which I actually think is pretty good because last week I was in a week long "meeting" at work, and each day there was something bad to eat, biscuits, cookies, donuts, bagels with cream cheese, etc.  And since I wasn't in the office, I went out to eat two of the 3 days. 

This week, I hope to break the 195 lb marker.  We shall see.

Weigh-in Week 1

Official weigh in - after one week.

Starting Weight: 198.6

Today: 196.8

Change: -1.8

The wii fit told me last night that I was down 2.9 pounds from last Monday.  But I do the wii fit at night after dinner, so I'm sure that will fluctuate some.  I'm just glad to see the numbers going down.  Saturday AM I was actually down to 196.4, but this is what my weight was this Morning...