birthday weekend

This morning mom had an appointment for another PET scan and should have the results on Monday. The scan shows her doctors where the cancer affected lymph nods are. They did one before the chemo started and now this one is to see how well the treatment has been working. So far all of her tests have come back in the 'good ranges' and this one should be no exception. It will be nice to be able to see that the cancer is going away though. Right now the only physical reminder that she is sick is her wig.

Tonight though we are celebrating my birthday with a family dinner- my birthday isn't until tomorrow but Russ has made plans for just us two tomorrow evening. Birthday girl gets to choose the restaurant and dad pays. :) It's an excellent arrangement. The dinner used to consist of just dad, mom, me and my brother Daniel. Now it includes Russ and Kirsty (my brother's fiance). I picked a restaurant I've never been to but have heard good things about. It's called Macca's Florida Grill and has tons of seafood on the menu. Yum! Daniel and Kirsty however, won't be able to make it tonight. They have to retrieve some of their stolen property...

Last week on Wednesday and Thursday, my brother was having new windows put in the house. The house used to be my Papaw's but when he passed away earlier this year, Daniel started getting things fixed up on the house so he could buy it. It desperately needed new windows, not for looks but efficiency. Day one the crew had all the main house windows done and they would come back the next day to do the basement windows. On the second day they were finished by noon. Both days that the crew was working my uncle and Kirsty's grandparents were all there to "oversee" things. Once the crew was done, my uncle went to lock up and noticed the side door knob was pretty loose. He thought mental note to tell Daniel to fix it. Everyone left and when my brother got home a mere 3 hours later, he could tell the door knob was loose before he even got out of his car.

Every room he went in throughout the house had cabinet doors and drawers open. By the time he got upstairs he realized someone had broken in. They had only moved in a week prior to this so he was struggling to figure out what was actually missing. Both the police and my brother believe the break in was by one of the window crew members or at least someone they knew. Daniel would have never left the house knowing the door knob was ready to fall off.

Then a few days ago someone made an anonymous call that they had found some credit cards and a watch in their trash. They said they lived just down the street from a local window company...hmmm. Yeah, I'm not buying it either. Anyways, Daniel is going to retrieve his stuff from this nameless person tonight. The police told him they couldn't send an officer with him because the location is in Indiana (and we're across the bridge in Kentucky) but I highly suggested he take someone with him just in case. You never know what might happen and the whole thing is just too fishy.

mom's cancer and her progress

This morning mom had to get more blood work done. Which brings me to my next topic in the 'what's been going on lately' writings.

In mid-August mom was diagnosed with cancer. Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma to be exact. She hadn't been sick so the news came as quite a surprise. Her doctors said they would be aggressive with the medicine and that this was very treatable. Mom is generally pretty healthy so the doctors didn't really have any concerns as to whether or not she could beat this. The scary part for mom was that this is the same type of cancer that her mom had and she didn't make it. Now that was 26 years ago and the medicines have come a long way since then so her oncologist has been nothing but positive about the whole thing.

It's been a very weird couple of months since her diagnosis. First letting the news sink in and coming to the realization that mom really was sick. Then there is all the information that they give you to be prepared for what's going on. When she had her first chemo treatment August 24th, (which happened to be the 26th anniversary of when her mom passed away) we were kind of holding our breath not knowing what to expect.

So far though mom has responded very well to the chemo and she hasn't had any bad side affects from it. Mom never misses work so when this all started she had over 200 sick/personal days available. She's been taking them whenever she feels the need so she can get lots of rest and make sure she's taking care of herself. Chemo #5 is in about another week and then the 6th and final one will be done before Christmas.

It's such a relief that things have been going so smooth throughout all this. I just have my fingers crossed that the cancer goes into remission and stays that way.

when the work day is done...

I'm currently taking my last break of the work day. Normally I don't take any breaks at all but today I just really needed them. All the big guys in the company are in town for meetings this week and our conference room table happens to be right in front of my desk. See, I don't really have an office so to speak. I'm out in the main room of our building and most of the time this is not a problem because we only have four people that work in our office. Plus I like the space. However, whenever there are any meetings (which thankfully don't happen very often) it all goes down right in front of me. I can usually tune out most of it but as they discuss things they yell out for me to look something up or print off something, etc. It's frustrating to say the least.

On the bright side, I'm walking out the door in 15 minutes. Clocking out. I may even run to my car. Not really but it fits the mood.

So, tonight's plan is to have a quiet dinner with a nice glass of wine and relax. Tomorrow it starts all over again.