46 - 50 on Thankful List

46. Socks - the other day my feet were very cold and I actually put on socks - I have not worn socks since December. My skin has healed so well that I only needed a band aid.

47. Boxtops / Soup Labels - I am the coordinator for my boys school, so I have been kept busy cutting and counting. I enjoyed having friends over to help and we collected over 6,000 boxtops and 4,000 labels. Wow!

48. Rain - We have had some hard rain over the last week and I really enjoy hearing it pound on the windows! The funny thing is it reminded me of Wisconsin more than Oregon.

49. Teeth - Luke lost another tooth - it was a top one, so now his other top tooth is very crooked - it is hard to keep a serious face when talking with him. Jake just went on a pre-school field trip to the dentist - Grandma Joyce got to go too!

50. Seriously - This is Jake's new favorite word - it is so cute hearing it from a 4 year old. Seriously Mom I want cereal for breakfast, seriously!

Have a great weekend!

L is for Lisa gets to decide

I met with my radiation Doctor this morning. He says that my skin is healing well. Last week it blistered and then drained. He said to come back in two weeks and I can decide if I want more treatments. Studies show that 6,000 units is what you need - I have had 5,000. It could have gotten all the cancer, but there is no way to know - if I get another tumor they would want to amputate. So...I can get 1,000 more units (5 treatments) or just be done. My first thought was Yeah! I am all done, but since I have thought about it and feel like I am healing well I say BRING IT ON!

L is for luminary

This week I attended our first meeting for our Relay for Life team - we walked with a team from the boys school (Whitworth Elementary) last May. For those of you who don't know Relay for Life raises money to fight cancer. I enjoyed this event last year and we bought and decorated luminary bags for Bud's Dad and my Mom - these candle bags are lined up around the track and then are lite so you can see them as your walk during the night - it was very touching to find each bag. This year I know I will make a bag for myself - I also know that when I find it on the track I will break down in tears. I will be grateful that I will be able to walk and that my Mom is still living a full and happy life, but I know I will cry for the loss of Bud's Dad - he had a wonderful life, but we still miss him. The event will again be in May and our team is working on fundraising - we plan to do a garage sale and car wash. I am adjusting to the fact that I am one of the people everyone is fighting for, but I will keep walking, fighting, praying and laughing!

L is for lack of radiation treatments

I saw my doctor this morning and he is having me take another week off from radiation treatments. I agree that another week off will be good, my skin looks bad, but it looks worse than it feels. I am starting to think that they have already killed every cancer cell that was there. I will see the doctor again next Monday and he will decide if I need a few more treatments or if I am done.

I now need to decide what to do while I am waiting this week. I know I need to rest, but I also have boxtops and labels to clip and submit for the grade school. I have friends coming over on Tuesday to help with that. I have also had several people tell that I should be a writer, so I am thinking about writing a children's book - any ideas for me?

Keep the healing prayers coming - I know I feel them!

L is for longer list

Working more on my thankful list - here is 41 - 45



41. Valentines - the boys have been getting ready to give them at school - they decided I should have the Batman one that says "Have No Fear" and the Power Ranger one that says "Jump For Joy" - I told them I will jump for joy when my treatments are done!

42. Silly Books - I have always enjoyed books, but love when I read to my boys and we can laugh together - Luke's current favorite is Captain Underpants - I would never have been caught reading this when I was a girl, but as a mom of 3 boys I am starting to understand potty humor.

43. Power Rangers - this is also something I never understood, but enjoy learning with my boys - they like to have me quiz them at dinner time - what color ranger is Cole?, what power rangers are brothers?, etc.

44. Pokemon - also something that I don't think I would have liked as a girl, but enjoy listening to them play doing pretend attacks and all 3 sometimes play nice. I still don't understand the cards and the trading, but they love to do that with friends - Jake even has some cards.

45. Imagination - I played with Jake for an hour yesterday and we used no toys and I was able to sit on the couch with my foot up - I was either Storm or Kitty and he was Logan or Bobbie - Can you guess what we were playing?

Radiation Update - my skin is burnt and hurts - sometimes wakes me up at night - it still does not hurt to walk other than the skin being tight - the incision site is still a little oozy and kind of looks like a vampire bite. My boys still say it looks freaky!

L is for less hair

I got my haircut last week and finally got a good picture - the other picture is from January - the cute boy with me is Jake.

L is for later

I met with my Doctor this morning and he told me that he wants me to take a break from treatments. He will look at my skin again on Feb 16th and then decide if I should take another week off or start that day. My ankle does look bad and is starting to ooze - it looks worse than it feels - I am still walking fine and feeling no need for pain medications - I use two special creams on it and soak it for 20 minutes each night and then apply a gel type patch (what they use for burn patients) - I leave the patch on for 2 hours . I think I only have 7 treatments to go, but the Doctor just said we will see. So I get to keep up taking good care of myself and I am getting pretty good at that. My boys have learned to save me steps and I am getting better at asking them to do what they can. My Mom is coming for a few days while Bud has meetings out of town and my neighbors and friends are still bringing food and driving me when I need to just get out. I need to work more on my thankful list - maybe I can get that done while I am not riding back and forth to Salem next week.

L is for less skin radiated

Today was my first treatment of field reduction - this means they treat a smaller area and do not go as deep in the ankle. My skin is starting to look worse and the doctor is considering having me take a break for a week or two to let my skin heal some. I have 9 more to go and then will be done - just don't know when that done date is yet.