Friday Night - Made it to the Weekend

If you see this, how about entering a brief comment -- just enough to let us know you are out there and checking in.  It will be kind of fun to see how high the comment count goes, now wouldn't it?

Rhonda is quite tired here at the end of the day.  She has been fairly active, today, doing some errands and even spending some time at school prepping for end of school storage duties for the classroom.  She takes steroids for three days after the chemo treatment, and they keep her awake at night.  So, by now she is running on fumes, so to speak.  We had a short date for dinner making a run to El Toro's and then by the drugstore.  (WooHoo!)  This week and next two weeks are the better weeks where we do not worry so much about catching illness or food issues.  This Monday, June 1st, will begin a new four week cycle.

Katie has already prepared a meal for tomorrow night.  Kevin is in training tonight and tomorrow for his summer job at Home Depot.  We are waiting to hear about the employee discounts!  I need to have him purchase four cieling fans and help hang them.  Also, some in the house have been talking about painting a bathroom.  Who knows what else is on the horizon?

More bark mulch for the yard, maybe.

Y'all put in that brief comment for a headcount, soon as you can.

Sincerely,

David

Back on Track

I went to Houston today and passed the white cell count test.  I have been feeling really good the last few days - it's amazing what skipping a week will do!  I had wondered how people do chemo and work at the same time, but if you don't have to go every week then you have time to recover and feel human again.  I had a short treatment today and will go back Monday for a long one.  So far I don't feel too bad, but it's early.  Apparently it's the treatment with the platinum in it that really kicks me in the backside.  

I've gotten use to the no-hair look and don't do a double take every time I look in the mirror.  The interesting thing is that my head gets cold, so I've been wearing bandanas around the house.  The whole "biker chick" look is really spoiled by the reading glasses! I look more like a biker grandma wanna-be.  I also have a sleep cap that's a really soft, white fabric and looks like a 1920s bathing suit cap. VERY fashionable.  The bottom line is, don't come by early in the day without calling unless you need a good laugh!

We're still trying to find places for everyone's things and to adjust to everyone's schedules.  I don't think the washing machine has quit running in days and the quiet house I've been use to is a thing of the past.  But, it's nice to have Katie and Kevin home and after spending a long weekend at home with me and David they're probably anxious to start working!  Kevin starts at Home Depot tomorrow and Katie is waiting for the school district to call and tell her if she has a job as a teacher's aide in summer school.

That's about it for The Hearne Report.  It's been a pretty dull week, which certainly has it's advantages.  After all, I could be slogging my way through the last 6 days of school with 170 seventh and eighth grade students!  Instead, I think I'll take advantage of the rainy day and go back to bed with a book.  Sorry, all you working people!

Love, Rhonda

GI Jane

Demi Moore has nothing on me.

Bye, Bye Hair

Today is the official "shearing" of my hair.  When I washed my hair Wednesday I realized it was coming out.  Most of it comes out in strands but some of it breaks off into pieces about 1" long.  I kept checking throughout the day, hoping it was my imagination, but I finally had to face the fact that hair loss had caught up with me.  

Katie and I will head (with my other head) to Houston for a noon appointment at Artemis Hair Studio.  They will cut my hair to about a half- inch long all over and do the final fitting of my "cranial prothesis".  I guess that's what you call the ultimate summer haircut!  Maybe, if I'm brave enough, we'll take pictures to document the event.  I'll let you know!

Rhonda

No Chemo Today

Katie and I went to Houston this morning but my white cell count was too low for me to have my chemo treatment.  I was told to come home and rest until my appointment next week.  Because Monday is a holiday they scheduled me for next Wednesday instead, which gives me ten days for things to improve.  Hopefully we'll be able to go ahead with a treatment so I won't fall too far behind schedule and end up missing days at the beginning of the school year.  

Please pray for improvement!

Rhonda

Full Nest

Our empty nest has become full again as both Katie and Kevin moved home Saturday.  I have to say that my first year of empty nesting didn't turn out quite the way I had envisioned!  I had barely had time to adjust to Kevin being gone when Hurricane Ike hit and we were camped out in a hotel in College Station.  I'm sure he wondered what he'd done to deserve having mom and dad follow him to college!  During the evacuation I walked into a clinic with a sinus infection and that began the long journey to discovering my lung cancer.  What an emotional roller coaster ride this year has been.  So many times we wish we could see the future and what's ahead but I've come to believe that God is gracious in not allowing that.  I've been forced to trust Him day by day, week by week through this illness and I know I would have been overwhelmed if I had tried to do otherwise.  I'm still overwhelmed at times, but thankful for all the love, support and prayers that surround me.

The big news, of course, is that Katie is an official Former Student of Texas A&M.  Whoop!  She graduated Friday with about 1500 of her closest friends - and that was just one of five graduation ceremonies that took place over a two day period.  Almost 6,000 students graduated this semester.  During the "rather lengthy" ceremony we sat and tried to estimate the amount of tuition that was represented on the floor.  Mind boggling!  She will be moving to Houston in August to begin working on a Masters of Public Health and a dietetic internship at the University of Texas Health Sciences School of Public Health.  Say that 5 times fast...

It was a hard weekend, physically, for me but I survived and made it home to my own bed again.  That became my entire focus before we were through.  "Must sleep in my own bed, must sleep in my own bed". David and the kids worked hard to get their rent house packed up and into the storage unit in College Station or into the U-Haul truck that David drove home.  My living room looks like that U-Haul threw up in it.  Oh wait - it did!  If you come to see me this week be prepared to tiptoe through piles and don't stray from the beaten path.  We might not find you again.  However, I'm SURE things will begin to improve immediately.  Right, kids???

I'm not certain why I'm awake in the middle of the night tonight, but I guess I'd better stop and try to get some sleep before my treatment later today.  Katie is driving me into Houston this time and it's another short treatment.  We'll let you know how it goes.

Love,

Rhonda 

Road Trip Day

I'm happy to report that my chemo side effects have been lighter this week.  I'm not as tired and the nausea hasn't been as bad.  That's especially great news since we're heading to College Station this evening when David gets home from work.  I guess this will be a good test of my endurance at this point!  

Thursday afternoon we have an Honors reception to attend with Katie and then the Commencement Address that evening.  She walks at 2 pm on Friday and then she's outta there!  We will be coming back Friday since we couldn't extend our hotel stay another night.  Too many other people are needing rooms as well.  

So, pray for travel safety for us, our families (mine and David's) and for my endurance.  It's an exciting time and I want to enjoy it as much as possible.

Love,

Rhonda

Short Trip, YEAH!

The chemo trip was, indeed, short, today.  We arrived about 9:30 am and were done and out of the office by 11:30 am, just in time for a meal at Olive Garden before the crowd hit.

Rhonda is tired this afternoon, so we will have to wait and see how the week progresses.  We expect she should bounce back quicker this go round.

Our kids say the Star Trek origins movie was great and insist we should go.  Maybe, we can work that in on DVD sometime soon, or maybe after the initial crowds die down.  I am a little concerned, yet, about the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus being in the general population.

Yes, the hair is shorter, kind of pixie short and cute.  I like it!

Meal update:  please hold off on meals at least through next week, or, for sure, check in with us, first.  We are in good shape through the end of next week, I think.  Thank you to everyone who has so graciously provided meals over the last month.  We certainly appreciate not only the meals but the experience of having new delights from others kitchens and some from favorite restaurants, too.  Katie and Kevin will be home next week.  So, between the three of us, we should be able to keep the kitchen going fairly well.

By the way, last Saturday was Hawaiian Day for me again.  Nice, relaxed with the green leafy shirt, and occasional laundry load.

Love and thanks to each of you reading this,

David

A Great Mother's Day!

I had such a gift from God on Sunday - I felt good for the first time all week! I slept about 7 hours Saturday night, the longest I've slept since before surgery, and woke up without nausea. I even felt hungry for the first time in weeks. David, Lesia and I went out to dinner in the evening with my mom and dad and enjoyed being out together. So, even though my kids were in College Station studying for finals (right, kids?) I still had a great Mother's Day.

This past week has had some rough days. The nausea lingered longer and, to add insult to injury, I developed horrible heartburn. I finally called the doctor's office on Friday and they sent me a prescription that seems to have knocked it out. That was a relief! My treatment today will be the first short treatment I've had so far. Sitting for "only" one-and-a-half to two hours sounds like a walk in the park compared to the past two weeks. The doctor has told me I'll feel better during the next two weeks than I have in the past two, and I'm going to be really disappointed if that's not the case. We leave Wednesday to go to College Station for graduation and I want to be able to enjoy the trip.

I do have a new prayer request that deals with my recovery from surgery. When the surgeon removed the portion of my lung he froze nerves through the surgical site to help with pain management. I still have numbness on the left side of my abdomen and across my rib cage, which is a weird sensation! The problem is that the nerves are beginning to regenerate and I'm experiencing pain off and on again. Most of the surgical pain had gone away, but now a new pain has shown up! It will take up to 6 months for the process to complete itself and I have realized that some of my lousy feeling is still due to surgery. So my prayer requests for this week are less nausea, more energy and controlled pain.

By the way, I have a new short haircut! Another side effect last week was hot flashing and my hair felt like it weighed ten pounds. (Yes, this was from the chemo - I have hormones to control the real thing!) In desperation I called Steven and he was gracious enough to work me in on Saturday afternoon. I've decided to think of it as my "transitional do" between a full head of hair and none at all. I hope it will be less traumatic to have short pieces fall out than to end up with a hand full of long ones. I reminded David that I had short hair when he married me, but it wasn't quite this short. So, if you see me around town this week be prepared to do a double take!

Love,
Rhonda

Jingle, Jingle, Jingle

Not Jingle Bells, but jingle keys!  I finally drove myself somewhere yesterday and you won't believe where I chose to go first.  WalMart.  How sad is that??  Luckily, I took Katie with me because I was a lot perkier going in than I was coming out.  In fact, I relinquished the keys and let her drive me home.  So my return to the driving world was more a moral victory than a physical one, but it makes me feel better to know I have the option!

One week from today Katie will graduate from Texas A&M University.  What a milestone.  It's hard for us to believe it's been four years, although I'm sure it seems much longer to her.  She will begin working on a masters degree in Public Health in September.  We're so proud of both her and Kevin and the effort they're making to find their way in the world.  This time next week we'll be in College Station getting ready for the ceremony and figuring out where all their "stuff" is going to go.  Both are moving home for the summer so it will be interesting around here!  

Enjoy the fact that it's Friday and you've made it to the weekend!  

Love, Rhonda

Tomorrow is the DAY!

I feel like a teenager that's been grounded for 6 weeks and tomorrow is Freedom Day!  The car keys will come back into my possession and I can start to make short trips around town.  Yippee!! It's so aggravating to think "I'll just run down to the store and buy some milk" and then realize, NO, you won't.  I know dozens of you have offered to run errands or drive me around, but it just seems like a huge imposition when it's for little things.  The challenge will be to not over do it in the beginning.  If you see me out and about the next few days be sure to have on your sunglasses so my smile doesn't dazzle you!

Katie drove me (of course) to Lake Jackson Intermediate School today to pick up some files so I could work on lesson plans.  This is the first week of my lower white count, so I wore in a surgical mask to keep the kids away.  I only heard one comment about "swine flu" in the hall and hope people don't go home and start rumors.  Can't you see the headlines now? 

Teacher Exposes School Children to Swine Flu

The television stations will be parked out front and my name will be mud for sure!  Film at 10:00 pm.

We picked the right day to go - I found out today was the PTO Teacher Appreciation Lunch and Katie and I stayed for Mexican food.  It was great to see everyone from my usual lunch period and made me feel a little less isolated from what is going on out there.  

Please keep the prayers and thoughts coming.  The next 14 weeks still loom ahead when I think about them and I'm working not to be discouraged about it.  One day at a time!

Rhonda

Plugging Along

I don't really have anything to report today, but I know I haven't posted since Sunday.  It's tough to keep your public happy if you aren't consistent!  I'm feeling fair after yesterday's chemo, but the steroids I have to take for three days kept me awake most of the night last night.  I went upstairs and quilted for about 2 hours in the middle of the night instead of tossing and turning in bed.  The Food  Channel kept me company and the sewing took my mind off of my rolling stomach.  I've run temperature today and have felt generally yuk, so I'm just sitting around being grumpy.  Hopefully I'll sleep more and sew less tonight.

Dead days have hit at Texas A&M this week and my kids are in and out of the house keeping me confused on who is here for how long and when they are leaving again.  Kevin has applied for a summer job at Home Depot and had to come home to take a drug test - we hope he studied hard for it!  He came in Monday night about 11 pm and went back to College Station at 3 pm today, so he was a blur in passing.  Katie came home today and brought April, her cat, for the summer.  It seems April is hampering packing efforts so she has begun her summer vacation early.  I'm not sure who was more hot and bothered when they arrived - Katie or the cat.  April has already been outside several times, checking out her usual haunts and making a large crow very unhappy.  The crow is about as big as the cat so we will see who wins the battle of the yard.

That's about it -  I'm hanging in here and so is my hair.  My sister, Lesia, is my substitute during this ordeal and she's begun to experience the joy of teaching sewing to 7th & 8th graders.  We should probably be more concerned with her hair than with mine!

Love to all, 

Rhonda

The Beach Report

David and I went out to Surfside this afternoon and walked on the beach for a while.  For those of you who are heading back to the coast soon I can tell you that the seaweed is out (but not so bad it smells) and today the waves were rough and dirty.  When we came over the bridge we could see a brown ribbon of water that was carrying rain water from the rivers farther north.  There were a lot of people surfing at the jetties but I was too wimpy to stick in more than my feet.  It was still a little cold for me!  You can still find all kinds of items that have been deposited courtesy of Ike, and I'm not sure it would be very safe to go in without water shoes.  Who knows what's out there on the bottom. Yes, this is a mother speaking!  

I was impressed with how nice Surfside is looking.  Almost all the houses have a fresh coat of paint and they've painted them bright, pretty colors.  They look like they're on track for the summer season although there's still houses that are damaged and not repaired.  It was a nice outing and the walking wore me out.  It was the most continuous exercise I'm had in 5 weeks and it required a long nap afterwards for recovery!

I made it to Houston yesterday and returned with an extra head.  :)  I still have my own hair attached, but I brought my wig and supplies home.  I tried it on at the hair studio and they trimmed it up for me.  Those who have seen it tell me it looks a lot like mine, but I'm not sure.  It's just hard to get past the fact that it's fake and that I'm really going to need it.  I guess we'll test the theory that two heads are better than one!

Thanks so much to all who have brought me goodies for tomorrow.  My day should go by faster with all the reading material, puzzles and snacks you've dropped off.  I've felt pretty good the past two days, which I guess means it's time for them to slap me down again.  This will be the 6 hour treatment, but I'll have two light weeks to follow.  I'll have to just concentrate on getting to those.  This also starts the two week period when my white blood count will be at it's lowest.  I don't plan on eating out and really to have to watch what anyone brings for me to eat.  We have lots of things in the freezer that are left over from other meals, so we'll be fine.  I appreciate all of you feeding us twice - once the original meal and again the leftovers!  Come visit as long as you don't have the swine flu or any other raging infection.  I'll be glad to see you!

Love, Rhonda

Hair Day

It's Saturday and I'm going to Houston to pick up my wig and supplies.  I don't think we're going to cut my hair short today because it's not "releasing", as the stylist said.  I think that's politically correct speak for "falling out in hunks"!  My scalp has started to itch and tingle like they told me it would and the texture of my hair is already changing.  It's just a matter of time, but I think I'll hold onto it for as long as I can.  I'll let you know how it went.

Rhonda