My brother is coming in to play!

So, last week was camping. That worked out pretty well. We camped Friday into Saturday, and then hiked around Pelton Pond on Sat. Then I took a nap. The kids watched a Yankee game on the portable tv. (Now there's an image. Zachary, Matt and John sitting around the TV, watching the Yankees, in the middle of the woods, with a roaring fire in the firepit. Not quite roughing it, huh?) That night mom and dad joined us for dinner. Carol made steak and we ate as we packed up the site. We had the reservation until Sunday, but it had started to rain, and we had to be out early the next morning anyway. Chuck was doing the sermon at church since Pastor was in Greece.

On Sunday, Chuck gave a great sermon and Katrina sang. It was like a double feature. Both of them did excellent. Then after church I went to a pool party for the senior high youth group. I teach sunday school for the 8-12 grades and I went to recruit new blood. I spent about 2 hours there, then drove to another pool party for the junior youth group. Also a recruitment session. I spent about 2 or 3 hours there and got to know several of the kids in the junior youth group, as well as meet 4 of the kids who will be joining my class as 8th graders.

I can't remember if I did anything else this week. I painted a lot. Oh, and I watched the boys for carol on tuesday. She had to go set up her classroom. I'm missing something. Oh..duh.
My dad just had a birthday on Tuesday. Everyone came over for dessert. Katrina made a custom ice cream cake. Cherry Vanilla and Chocolate. It was delicious.

I don't remember if I did anything yesterday, and most of today was painting, except for a run to church this evening for a sunday school teachers meeting.

Tomorrow I'm going to run down to Amy's. She is finally back from her marathon vacation. I'm going to go and hang out for a while with her, and then head home because....
My brother is coming in!

Paul is coming in sometime tomorrow evening. And, although he doesn't know it, he has a very busy schedule. After he comes in, he has dinner at our house, then driving to Katrina and Chucks for dessert. Saturday morning is breakfast at Marta and Steves house, and Saturday afternoon and evening are a bar-b-q at cousin steves. On Sunday we leave bright and early to drive to Boston, we will spend the day with Erica touring the city, and then Drew will join us for dinner, before Paul and I drive back home that night. Then Paul leaves on Monday.
Ok. I need to go to sleep now. Just remembering that list tired me out. (Don't fool yourselves into thinking that was easy for me. I have it all written down. I have to write everything down. Damn chemo brain.)
More later.
-Elizabeth

Keeping Entertained...

This has been a busy week. I started off by going to the beach...again. Same group, but this time we went to the Jersey Shore and visited with my sister Erica's boyfriends' family. The water was a little rough, but the day was great. Matt and I went in search of the ice cream man. He and his quick little white truck kept evading us. Finally caught up with Zach and Paul and sent them running after the white truck. Upon acheiving our ice cream, Matt caught a ride back to the beach on Paul's shoulders. (Matt and I weren't wearing flipflops.) Paul was a very good sport about giving him a ride, and Matt was a very messy eater who ended up dripping a large part of his fruit flavored ice cream on top of Paul's head.
After the beach we went back and had dinner with them and they boys got to ride in a supped up dune buggy, (or a trashed car...depending how you look at it.) Matt looked adorable with a football helmet and gogles on.
The next day was once again recuperation. I love the beach, but the rougher the water, the more I hurt. So tuesday was just a day of praying my body would stop hurting. I spent several hours at a friends house. I'm watching her dog, her daughter's dog (whom I am also friends with...the daughter, not the dog. Although the dog isn't bad, very friendly, lots of energy. I'm getting distracted.) Anyway, I'm watching the two dogs and a cat. I spent several hours with my feet in their pool and watching the dogs run around.
On wednesday, I spent the morning with the dogs and the afternoon preparing dinner. It was time, once again, for a Chuck and Elizabeth theme night. Sometimes I get bored. Chuck as well, especially when Katrina is out of town...like she currently is. For awhile now chuck and I have been doing theme nights during which we plan out meals and watch a movie. We haven't done it for some time. Let's see...there was Bird Flu. We made Asian Chicken stirfry and watched epidemic movies for that one. We also did a gas price on the rise with a Mad Max theme. However, Wednesday's theme was my choice. I went with Global warming. We had Blackened Cajun Chicken. Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Sundried Tomatos. A salad with hothouse greens. Naan bread cooked on a stone in the oven. To drink, we had a potent blue concoction of blue pucker, lemon and lime juice and mango rum. Very tasty. I even had gummi fish floating in ice cubes. Then for dessert : melted ice cream with toasted almonds and fried bananas. Get it? Get it? Then we watched the Day After Tomorrow. I think it was a great success. I'm very happy with the turnout.
Tonight was Chuck's night. He chose the Middle East as his theme. (We tend to be on a current events kick at the moment.) His meal was great as well. He started off with homemade humus and toasted pita. Then for dinner we had an Indian spiced chicken that was wonderful, with basmati rice and couscous. To show up my bread making skills, he made a simple cows milk cheese, that he cooked up in spinach. For dessert we had filo dough bowls with ice cream and a vanilla spice sauce. He did very well. We are watching Dune at the moment. Chuck likes to think of it as an alegory for the middle east. Personally, I'm not unconvinced that this wasn't just an excuse to watch scifi. Not that I object, I like Dune.
Tomorrow afternoon, I head to Fahnestock with Carol, John and the nephews for a camping weekend. Here's to hoping that works out OK. I miss outdoor activity. I picked Fahnestock, because I can still do the hike around Pelton Pond. I think Marta and Steve might join us for a hike on Saturday. I hope this goes well. If I'm able to pull this off, it might lead to a longer hike at Bash Bish.
OK: I'm going to get back to the movie now. But before I go, Charlie..It was great to hear from you. Have you talked to Sarge recently? I had to call him about a ticket. It got dismissed. (Evil grin)
Later everyone. -Elizabeth

I've got nothing.

Nothing new is going on. We went to the beach. That was great, but then I spent the next day recuperating. The only interesting thing that I have discovered is that I am not totally crazy.
...
That might need an explanation, huh?
So, since chemo ended I have been experiencing some problems. Nothing too major. Just things like, short term memory loss, hearing problems, tingling fingers...other minor cognitive "difficulties". Since I'm ADD, this wasn't all that much of a surprise. I just figured that I was having trouble getting back into the swing of ...well...having a life that wasn't defined by cancer. I started taking my ADD meds to help but ...things weren't really getting better. They weren't working the way they were supposed to. So finally I did some research.

It's called Chemo Brain. (I know, sounds like something I named, huh?) It is a decrease in cognitive functioning. In fact ADD meds have been used to help combat some of the symptoms. However, for someone who is already ADD...not so much. Then my mother talked to a friend of the family who is a nurse and she said that the hearing loss and neuropathy were also carry over symptoms that would start to fade in time.

I'm not overly upset. I mean this is going to make the school year a little more difficult. I can't even read for pleasure because if I put the book down for too long I forget what I read. But even that is not such an issue. I'll deal.

I'm just glad I'm not going crazy. It really is ridiculous. I should be able to remember a conversation that I just had with someone. Or what show I just watched or what book I'm trying to read. But knowing that it's a side effect...so much better. Frustrating, but better.
I think that's all I've got for now. Talk to you later.
-Elizabeth

Off to the beach.

That's right. I'm going to the beach. In the middle of the week. I deserve it. Yesterday I went to get my port flushed. (Yes, that is really what the call it) Betsy, my chemo nurse, pushed two needles into my port. It has two access points, this wasn't the problem. The problem came when the second one didn't go in right. Sooooo painful. She has to try and wiggle it around until she lines it up and then push the needle in again. As we were leaving mom made the analogy of it being like trying to push an earring through a hole that was already closed up. Then I corrected her. Sure that's hard, and a little painful, but if the earring doesn't go through, then you stop and make an appointment to repierce your ears. This experience was more like...trying to push the earing through, discovering that you can't, sharping the point of the earring and shoving it through the flesh anyway. Slight difference.
Anyway. As a reward, I am off to Jones Beach with Mom, Dad, Carol and the nephews. Maybe I will even try to get some sun today..... Who am I kidding. No sun for me. At least not with the 3000 spf I have to wear. All right I have to get ready to go.
Later - Elizabeth

I need a slogan.

Do we think that "It's all about me" is copywrited?
OK. Here's the idea. I'm going to open an online shop. T-shirts, mugs, calendars. Things along those lines. However, I need some ideas for a slogan. I figured I could make some t-shirts and stuff with the slogan on them and maybe some with some of the pictures from the blog. So. Your job, as a reader of this blog, is to contribute ideas for the slogan to go on the shirts. Also which pictures should go on the shirts. Should I actually make money, the proceeds will go to either our relay for life team, or the lymphoma society.
So, go and review previous entries. Let me know what you think. Oh and if you have any ideas for pictures that I haven't made, let me know.

Besides the shirt thing, I've been working on increasing my energy levels. That's not going so well. I kind of like sleeping half the day away. Now that I am able to actually get sleep I have a new appreciation for it. But if I intend to go to school and substitute teach, then I will need to rework my sleeping patterns. I also want to go camping with the siblings (if we can find weekend we all agree on) and if we go to Bash Bish then I want to hike down the falls. Not fall down the falls. I was also hoping to take the nephews and Caitlin to the Renaissance Fair one day. That's gonna require some stamina as well.
Know what I've discovered really helps increase the stamina. Parties. That's right, parties. Each one I go to, I last a little bit longer before I need a nap. Hmmm. I guess that's all for now. Wow, my life has gotten really boring, huh?
Later - Elizabeth