4th of July celebration

Hope everyone had a fun 4th of July this year. Scott had said that he wasn't going to get any fireworks this year, however when we got our paychecks on Friday, June 29 that changed! I'm not sure how much he spent this year, however I do know that one of the aerial displays was over $50.00 and worth every penny of it. Scott started with bottle rockets fairly early in the day. Because the 4th was on a Wednesday this year and most of our neighbors had the work the next day, Scott thought it would be better to start setting our display off while it was still dusk. He had a variety of larger multi-shot aerial displays. At some point Scott glanced across the yard and started grinning from ear to ear as he noticed that the neighbors across the street had set up lawn chairs in their garage situated so they could see our display as well as those to both the east and west of us. Come to think of it they probably had the best seats in the neighborhood! Anyway, around 9:30 Scott set off his showstopper and WOW ... like I said, it was worth every penny! About 5 seconds after that display ended we heard applause from a small group of people who were lighting firecrackers a little over a block away (they had an unobstructed view of our entire display). It was fun!

Scott and I just got back from my doctor appointment. Guess the tumor marker is back up at 6.3, which is obviously not under 2 as I had hoped it would be. Dr. Oppenheimer doesn't see think it's a good idea to go another round of RAI because it doesn't seem to be having an affect and he's against useless treatments (score one for Dr. O in my husband's eyes). Dr. O has scheduled a PET/CT scan for me on Wednesday, July 11 @ 12:30. Nothing but plain water for 4 hours prior to the scan (so Mindy, that means you can't ingest anything but water after 8:30 that morning). From the looks of it, the PET scan machine is less coffin-like than the Gamma scan machine is, so hopefully I won't freak-out like I did during my first gamma scan! From what I've read about it, but PET/CT scan is highly useful in identifying a variety of cancers in a variety of locations. I'll be given a small does of a radioactive sugar mixture before the scan, but the dose is very low and will leave my system quickly, so I won't have to be isolated. I will have to set up another appointment with Dr. Oppenheimer to get the results of this new scan. Basically, his thought is that we'll just have to wait and see what it shows and tackle it as it comes up.

Love & hugs y'all,

My how the months do fly

So, it's been almost 3 months, to the date, that I last updated my home page.

Mom came out to spend a couple days with us the week after Easter. She was only here a day and a half but we had a lot of fun. On the night she arrived I made a couple pizza's from scratch, which we all really liked. The next day she and I went shopping and had lunch at Panera Bread. Then we made the short drive to Renner Corner so Mom could pick up some of the yummy jerky they make. When Scott got home, the three of us went to the Brandon Steakhouse to satisfy Mom's Orange Roughy craving. That night Mom helped me create a 2-week menu by going through hundreds of recipes with me. While it was time consuming, I must admit almost every recipe was good (there were a couple "OH, don't make this again!" but only a couple.

May was pretty quite ... honestly, nothing interesting or entertaining happened.

June I traveled to Wisconsin to attend a baby shower for my cousin, Katie. She's due on my mom's birthday, so when I saw her she only had a little over a month left to go ... and she looked so cute!!! The only place she has really gained weight is her tummy. I'm sure she probably feels very big because she is a very slender woman, but she looked SO cute! She also looked very happy and content, which is much more important!
That was a very busy, but relaxed weekend for me.
I arrived home on Friday night, in time to go out for fish with Mom & Dad.
Saturday morning we went out for breakfast, a quick trip into Wal-Mart and then picked up groceries.
Saturday afternoon I spent with my grandma and Aunt Georgia ... the three of us just sat and talked for hours.
Saturday evening I made dinner for Mom & Dad.
Sunday morning I went to church with Mom and got to visit with Aunt Rose (my late grandma's sister)
Sunday afternoon I rode to Katie's shower with my sister. And at the shower I got to see Katie & her husband, Sarah (wife of my other cousin, Micah), Aunt Pauline and her mom, sister and her sisters girls. (Katie's husband didn't stick around for the shower.) Uncle Ray and Micah came home just before we all left, so I got to see them as well.
As I said, it was busy, but relaxed and I got to visit with everyone!!

The next week I went up to Anoka for work with Karen K., one of my co-workers. I can only speak for myself, but I had a lot of fun chatting with her on both the trip up and back! We didn't have much free time, but did go out to eat at Canyon Grille and Boston's, plus we did a little shopping at Ulta's. I spent money I probably shouldn't have, but it was only $25.00 and I don't 'splurge' very often any more. As for the work part, it was a productive meeting - the only downer was that I got sick just after lunch on the last day of the meeting and apparently was really pale, causing everyone to be worried about me rather than focusing on the topic we were discussing. I wound up leaving the room about 3 times, once because of a coughing fit and the other 2 to race to the bathroom ... at least I wasn't throwing up, I know it's an unpleasant topic, but I really hate that feeling and would much rather deal with it coming out the other end, if you know what I mean! (I feel much better now!)

Last night I got very little sleep and woke up once around 1:00am because the house was shaking so much I thought there was a tornado (turned out to only be a lot of rumbling thunder). That kept me awake for a while and then, around 3:30 I woke up with a start and couldn't fall back to sleep. I remember feeling panicked, but have no idea why. Anyway, bottom line is that I wasn't myself today and over-reacted to a co-worker and caused a couple hours of tension and upset, completely unintentional and it was two sided, but I was still at fault. I think I'm finally over it, having cried a bit when I got home ... tears are said to have healing properties, so I should be very healed now!!!

I will find out the results of my latest tumor marker blood test on Thursday, July 5. I feel great, so I can't fathom having to go 'underactive' and endure the RAI and torture chamber a fourth time ... so everyone pray for a 2 or less!!! OK? Please? Seriously, pray for a 2 or less :)

Love & hugs y'all,