Feeling Lucky?

I've learned something the last week and half.  See, I went to Costco before we left on vacation.  My goal was to pick up a ham and fresh pineapple to have when we got back for late Easter dinner.  And we did and I accomplished that goal. But I got sidetracked by the boxes of cereal.  Philip likes Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Life.  I like Cheerios. But this particular day, they had big 'ole boxes of Lucky Charms!  I tried to find some at the grocery store over St. Patrick's day but dang if the stores weren't picked clean.  So I bought the huge Costco box of Lucky Charms.

When we got home from vacation, I couldn't wait for Monday morning for a fresh delivery of Winder milk to go with my Lucky Charms.  I slowly opened the box and was rewarded with a box loaded with colorful marshmallows.  I was so excited, I could barely get the bowl!  I can tell you I totally enjoyed the bowl of cereal.  I couldn't wait for Tuesday morning for the next bowl...and Wednesday....Thursday...Friday...Saturday...(skipped Sunday to sleep in)...Monday....Tuesday.....Ugh...Wednesday.....

The thing is, I don't believe adult are meant to eat Lucky Charms for a week straight.  Nor a week and half.  I have slowly started feeling like a huge slug.  After 1.5 weeks, I am starting to feel pretty crappy.  It honestly is probably like eating a candy bar for breakfast every day.  We will assume the "fortified with vitamins" is equal to taking a child's chewable vitamin....which isn't doing that much for me.

I think it is time to put the box away and take a break.  I'm not enjoying them anymore. But I will admit those marshmallows will probably call out me every morning from the back of the pantry.

More Zip Zap...hold the Zoom

Sigh.  How do you begin writing about something you don't feel excited for?  Plus bad news?  I guess it is best to just begin.  You've probably heard my lump started coming back in my eyebrow.  I started noticing it about a month ago but chose to ignore it for awhile (the little control I have).  I did make an appointment with Dr. L (my oncologist) before we went on vacation knowing I can't ignore it longer.

So I saw Dr. L on Monday.  We did agree the lump is back.  Instead of waiting until it is huge, I would like to try treating it sooner while it is relatively small. When I saw Dr. S a few weeks ago, he noted it was 1 cm.  I'm not sure it is still that small but probably close.  In talking with Dr. L, we agreed we should go ahead and treat and radiation was the way to go.  Again, we agreed to not do chemo because the chemo treats my whole body which simply doesn't need treatment so the targeted treatment of radiation is perfect.  I left Dr. L's office and zipped into Dr. C (my radiation guy) office to make an appointment.

I met with Dr. C today.  First off, he is way less serious than last summer...which is great.  He came in smiling and happy and seemed genuinely happy to see me although we both agreed it would be better it was under different circumstances. I was really hoping we could do the mini zap of 2 treatments but he felt it was best to do a full series of daily radiation for 3 weeks.  He is fairly confident we can get rid of the lump permanently with that plan.  You can imagine my disappointment and that would be true.  The dose of radiation is going to be greater too.

Pulled the 'ole radiation mask out of the closet

I joked around that we can do less but he was pretty firm this was the way to go.  And in my heart, I know that too.  We were going to get set up today but I reminded him the allergy I had to the eye cup and he needed time to get a new eye cup in so I am going back in next Friday to get set up.  They will measure me and mark me up to make sure everything is set.  I don't think they will do the zap that day but I'm up for it if they want.

So the side effects - Fatigue during radiation.  Sensitive or burned skin where they radiate.  Long Term possible effects - Loss of eyebrow, cataracts within 5 years, damage to the tear duct resulting in dry eyes.  Dr. C said the long term effects aren't guaranteed and I am on the cusp of getting them.  He didn't want to promise but he said he would be surprised if I did get them.  He wasn't worried at all about long term impact to my vision.

I told him if he dreams about my treatment plan tonight and decides something less would work, I'm game and to just let me know.  Haha.  I really like Dr. C and trust him completely.  I understand he is a fabulous radiologist.

I'm not thrilled about all this.  But I was given almost a year reprieve last year.   We tried something less and well....although it was worth a try....it wasn't enough to work permanently.  So I am ramping up and getting ready for this next fight.  I know I can do it.

Oh and no more cute names.  Larry Lymphoma or Loretta Lymphoma?  I think not.  It is now the Bastard. The bastard that must go.  Have your fun and games little bastard because your days are numbered.  When I was in elementary school, we would bring our magnifying glasses to school and during recess, we burned things on the sidewalk.  The favorite was ants....not for me but that is what I am imagining.  Fry bastard fry.

A great Spring Break!

We had the very best Spring Break vacation!  In fact, so much fun, I am still trying to accomplish my "re-entry" to my normal routine after 2 days home.  I wanted to share some photos.... which as you know, I feel speak louder than words.

Sailing out of Miami

Boats in the marina

A bird along for the ride



A gorgeous Miami beach we sailed by

Our first night, we went to the "Blue Man Group" show.  It was way cool.




One night, I peeked out and caught the
full moon on the water.  It was very beautiful.

This was our mini-suite.  It was a different
design with wavy walls.  Behind the red curtain
is our balcony.  There was 2 twin beds, flat screen
TV, desk, and a large couch!

After a day at sea, we arrived in Ocho Rios Jamaica!  I love Jamaica and really enjoyed visiting again.  The water is so clear and blue!  And I love the people and their accents.  We signed up to do a shore excursion called "Flavors of Jamaica".  We went to a 1600's plantation and made a Jamaican Jerk lunch on the covered porch.  There were tons of flowers that were very fragrant.  There was a slight breeze that I swear they ordered up somehow to make the whole thing perfect.

View from the porch at the plantation.

 

The set up for cooking.

Getting ready to cook.  There were 12 of us in the group.

Me too!

This is called Callaloo.  It is similar
to spinach or collard greens.

This is the Callaloo shopped up with tomatoes,
onions, garlic, peppers, thyme, and other delicious stuff.

Philip was picked to be the Jerk cook.  He got smoke in his eyes but still did a great job!

This is called Festival.  It is a fried
bread made with flour and corn meal

After the chicken was grilled, we marinated it in Jerk sauce.



This is our lunch.  We also had rice and coconut shrimp.  It was delicious!

Camels in Jamaica!!  You could ride
the camels as a shore excursion. 
I thought it was very curious to see
 desert animals in the tropics.

Walking back to the ship.  It was huge - 4100 passengers, 1700 crew.  19 floors.

Jamaica from the ship

We played "Hand and Foot" every day.  It has become quite the habit.

We had another sea day and then we landed in Costa Maya, Mexico.  This area is known for the Mayan Ruins.  These are very proud Mayan people that honor and respect their heritage.  We signed up to visit the Kohunlich ruins.  It was a 2 hour bus ride each way and 2 hours at the ruins.  The ruins were actually closer to the border of Belize.

Some guys dressed in ancient Mayan costumes



At the speed bumps along the way, there were MANY shelters
set up with people that run out to sell stuff to the
people in the cars.  Pineapples were very popular.
 (In Jamaica, they called the speed bumps "Sleeping Policemen")
 



I'm fascinated by how the people live in these other countries.




Philip on the bus.  It was a long ride but well worth it.

Mayan Ruins



We picked this tour because you could climb the ruin and see the masks.

Climbing the ruins

This is actually a lake!

The beach by the pier.

Check out our ship!  It is so tall!  This is the butt of the ship. 
There were no "outside window" cabins and the entire side was balcony rooms. 
So you either got a balcony or an inside cabin without windows. 
This is unique in the cruise industry.  We sure didn't mind!

 The next day, we docked in Cozumel, Mexico.  I can't even express how hot it was.  Our plan there was to just go into shore and shop.  Cozumel has changed so much since I was last there about 10 years ago.  We decided to see if we could get everything we needed in an hour.  We were pretty close to that goal.  That is some quick shopping!

Philip  is getting tired of the photos.

Cozumel, Mexico

 Back on the ship, we did get tired of eating in the dining room so one night, we treated ourselves to an extra "Specialty" dining.  This is Cagney's which is their fancy chop house steak house.  You can eat in the dining room for free but Specialty dining costs you extra.  For a good steak, we were A-Okay with paying a little more.

Here we are at Le Bistro which is the ship's French restaurant (another planned speciality restaurant).  It really is delicious.  Philip and Chuck enjoyed escargot.  Mom and I skipped that part but loved our items just as much. 

One place we found almost as soon as we got on the ship was a restaurant called O-Sheenans.  It was an Irish pub that served Irish pub food.  We loved the Mozzerella Sticks, Spinich artichoke dip, and a delicious chef salad.  They also had ice cream sundaes and rootbeer floats you could purchase there.  We ate there quite a few times.  On our last day on the ship, Philip and I went to load up on our last order of mozzarella sticks.  Yum!

We tried to take in what the ship had to offer for entertainment but honestly, we enjoyed our room, balcony, and doing our own thing.  We did a few shows....Blue Man Group, Legends (impersonations), Howl at the Moon (dueling pianos), the hypnotist, and various music acts around the ship.  One of the ship activities is called "Quest".  This is sort of like an adults only savenger hunt in the lounge.  You have groups of 6-10 people  (often strangers) that group together to do/show the list of stuff called out.  Things like dentures, or a man in lipstick or no pants, or here are women on all 4s barking like a dog.  It always seems to end with men dressed as women. It amazes me what people are willing to do to win the game.  It is very irreverent and extremely funny.  I took this photo because I just knew I had to blog about it but honestly, most of it would not be right to take a photo because people were often semi-undressed.

Philip went to the teens club the first night and really didn't care for it.  He said there were about 120 teens onboard and it was a circus.  Sometimes the kids clubs are a hit, and sometimes they are a huge miss.  The good news is this meant Philip hung out with us the whole time.  He had a bunch of movies and shows downloaded on his Kindle "just in case".  We also watched the steady stream of movies in our room.  They had about 5 news stations, one entertain stations from London and one "favorite shows" station that showed one sitcom about every 45-60 minutes (which was very irritating to me).  I didn't do one stitch of reading the entire cruise (shame on me).  

I did buy Philip 1 package of internet time (270 minutes) which he rationed out so he could keep in touch with Tiffany.  They decided to instant message instead of email and he usually got between 30-40 minutes a day and then he had to wait another day to connect so it would last the entire cruise.  We never did find free wifi on shore.

One of my goals on the trip was to reconnect with Philip....and that is exactly what happened.  It was "just like old times".  We laughed until we almost peed our pants.  We had some good discussions.  We enjoyed everything we did together.  We even held hands!!  Anyone with a teen knows that is a huge deal!  To me, it was a clear indicator that going on the cruise was exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.  I came away knowing I need to be sure to make these vacations a high priority if we can.  I can't think of a better way to connect yet disconnect from the day to day routine and obligations.

Mobility wise, I did pretty good.  I found out the week we left for the cruise that I injured my SI joint in  my hip several weeks ago (remember the butt pain I mentioned when I returned to the gym???...Yeah that).  That is why I am getting the significant back and leg pain.  But I didn't  have time to fix it before the trip.  I found I was able to get around the ship okay.  This time, the movement of the ship didn't really seem to bother me....and despite being on a huge ship, it really was calm.  The piers where we docked were all really really long.  In Jamaica, I chose to walk it.  By the time I got ashore and then back, I decided I wouldn't do that again.  It was way too far.  In Costa Maya, they had a trolley that drove back and forth on the pier.  We took advantage of that.  In Cozumel, they had guys with the two seater biking cart things.  For a "tip", they would pedal you in or back.  We picked one up shortly after getting off the ship.  That poor guy really got a workout with Philip and I in the cart.  We gave him $10.  When it was time to go back, he was about 1/2 way down the pier and saw us.  He beelined for us and passed several people waiting to bike us back.  He dropped us right next to the ramp to get onboard.  Again, we gave him another $10.  Well it was well worth it to me.  I realize that is a ton of money in Mexico but it got done what I needed.  Yeah I wish I wasn't disabled and I wish I could go and do what I wanted without problems but that isn't my deck of cards.  It was obvious it would be very difficult for me to travel alone anymore which makes me pretty sad.  But I am proud of myself for doing what I could and getting around pretty well....and better than last year.

Easter morning, we got off the ship and started the long trip home. We shared a cab to the airport with Mom and Chuck but they were on a different airline so we were in different terminals.  Philip and I connected through Minneapolis.  We had a tight connection and we walked it and had about 10 minutes to spare.  We all agreed we had the best time and loved the itinerary and the ship.  I'll be watching for the next hot deal to cross my internets. 

Junior Prom

As you might already know, Philip went to prom yesterday.  It was touch and go at first but last Saturday, everything was a go and we went into full swing planning mode.  We ended up at Men's Wearhouse for the tuxedo rental (they were open late) and got a beautiful gray tuxedo rental for Philip.  All said and done, he ended up with the full Vera Wang package (Vera Wang is a very fancy designer) complete with funky socks.  Tiffany had sent a photo of the color of her dress, which was red.  The guys at Men's Wearhouse were very helpful and made Philip feel good about his choices.

Trying on

In full try on mode

Next was flowers.  Tiffany was pretty specific that she didn't like red or white roses.  She likes lilies. And she wanted a wristlet with silver ribbon.  With a past life as a florist, I was struggling with what is left for flowers.  I have a personal issue against mums so that left carnations...which are kind of cheesy to me.   She wanted something "different".  So after some thought, we headed to Brown Floral.  They have joined forces with Mildred flowers. Mildred's is known for unique stuff.  I frankly was a little concerned what they would come up with.  We did pick a bracelet to put the corsage on instead of elastic.  I also asked for crystals. We went ahead and got the boutonniere too so it would match the corsage. 

The boutonniere had ranunculus and alstromeria. 
I have no idea what the dark red flowers are.
 They are even fuzzy on the outside.

The corsage had the same flowers but also poppies,
berries, and more greens.  This is top view.

Side view - you can see the crystal (round thing) and the bracelet.

We had planned that Philip would bring Tiffany over to my house to do flowers before dinner so I could take photos but it took longer for him to get ready after work and when he went to get Tiffany, she was running late too.  She decided to get her hair done and it took longer than planned.  So I am glad I took photos of the flowers and Philip before he went.

 

Philip before he went out the door to pick up Tiffany.

Philip drove up to her Grandparents house in Roy to pick her up.  Then they came to Salt Lake and went to the Melting Pot for dinner.  Philip had called ahead and found out they had a prom special for $70 for both of them including soda drinks.  The prom was at the state capital.

 

We had already planned that they would come over here and I would drive them to take Tiffany home to Roy.  They got here about 10:45 pm.  We stopped at McDonald's for late night snacks on our way.  Probably good I drove.  They were both asleep before we hit North Salt Lake. 

 

Philip said they had a great time and danced the entire prom except when they got the photos done.  Tiffany said she will share some photos when she gets them in a few weeks.  I'll share the photo once I have one.

 

Here is what I was able to take when they came back. 

 

He said everything went perfect and he was very happy about what he planned.  I think that is success!  His school prom is later this month. They are pondering if they want to do it again. 



This cold is a doozie!

I was fighting it the best I can but the other day, this head cold kicked my ass.  I optimistically thought I could keep it minimal with Zicam but it came anyway.  I simply cannot get rid of the nasal congestion.  Today I switched my decongestant to Musinex (from Dayquil).  I also got out the humidifier and the Vicks for my chest at night.  Afrin in the nostrals twice a day.  But it caught me.  This is what I think I need to invent....well I guess it has been invented.  I wonder if I can get one with  my Amazon Prime membership.....

I ate a whole lemon yesterday to see if that would burn it out with the jolt of vitamin C.  Today I woke up with a painful cough.  So I am getting out the narcotic cough syrup left over from the Fall event and head to bed for the weekend as much as possible.  I hope I can get a handle on it before we fly to Miami next weekend.

As a backup, I made an appointment with Dr. T for Monday.  He is really good at doping me up with what I need.  I do suspect I will still be medicated on our cruise but hopefully feeling much much better.

Hope you all are staying healthy.

"Mood" blanket

In January, Nola convinced me to join a Facebook group that was working on a Mood Blanket project.   The thought is that you make a square a day that represents your mood for the day. I didn't really want to document my moods but I did want to jump in a make a square a day.  Most people are making  crocheted granny squares.  I am a knitter so I decided to knit squares.  I promptly went to the store and picked 6 colors of yarn and got to work.  My squares are about 4"x4".

What I found is I am pretty compulsive and really struggled to only do 1 a day.  So I decided it was okay to do as many as I could enjoy while watching TV.  I did work by skein instead of picking a different color each day.  It felt more organized to me.  I did a great job knitting January and February but then started to worry I had no idea how to join them together.  I did not want 300 4"x4" knitted coasters!  I really like the "windowpane" connect that has about 1" of a color between each square but I think I would need to do a crochet border to get that.  And I don't crochet.  Someone gave me the suggestion to whip stitch them together with an X.  I thought that was a great idea!

I also wanted to work hard to not have a pattern to my colors when connected.  This is very difficult for me because my mind tends to prefer symmetry.  I put them out on the dining room table one day to see if I could do a random pattern.  Even with 6 colors, it was tough to not have colors too close together.  Kind of funny.  Anyway, I went to get the 6 more skeins of yard so I could finish the blanket out (2 colors are discontinued so I wanted to get them before they are gone).  I also have 1 extra of blue and 1 extra of brown.  I bought extra when I was thinking how to connect.  Now I don't need them to connect so I decided to make extra squares in those colors and mix them in.

It's been over a month since I knit squares.  I got them put away and that was the end of that.  But I made the commitment to myself that if I take on this project, I must finish it this year.  I'll pull it all out again soon.  I promise.