Positive Thoughts

Tomorrow, Monday, will be a busy day. I'm due to have scans in the morning. I'm suffering from a bad case of "scansiety" today. If the tests come back clear, I'll be released for 6 months! Yeah!!!! If they don't come back clear, we'll have to pull out our bag of tricks. Yuck.

I'll have a radiation treatment tomorrow afternoon, followed by genetic counseling. I don't know if they will draw blood tomorrow, or if I'll have to wait for that. There are some pretty serious complications that we'll have to face if I carry the gene mutations.

I'll post again when I get the news, until then, please keep us in your prayers.

Mom and Dad relaxing after dinner.

Connie and Barbara (on the bike). These two ladies are part of the team that keeps "Team Boggs" rolling!

Vicki and Nick-one of the "radiation guys"

Vicki just being Vicki.

Don and Elvis heading to the pool.

Vicki, Don, and Merideth at Vicki's birthday party.

I don't know what's wrong with me! Sorry I finished the last post the way I did. These pictures should clear up any ideas of depression on my part! I have a new favorite song I'd like to share with you--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJe57FQykAQ&feature=related

Seasons Changing

I've been taking pictures, and composing what I'd like to share for weeks now. This morning it's cold and rainy out. The leaves are at least a foot deep around the house. The plants that survived my care this summer are tucked safely inside, hopefully to make it through the winter. Don and I have been trekking across the meadow to check on "The Tree". It is finally showing it's color, and will only continue to be more beautiful in the next few days.

For those that haven't heard, Don won the commissioner's race. He will soon be officialy Commissioner of Precinct 1. We had a few friends over to wait for the totals. I think everyone was happy with the results.

I'm still volunteering at the cancer center twice a week. I've met some amazing people, and think that I've benefited from the experience more than I've helped. I have now finished 12 of 33 radiation treatments. We are trying to decide if we want to do genetic testing. It's a big decision, but thankfully, I don't have to make it quickly.

Don got his new wet suit in this week. He's only used it once so far. It's harder to get into and out of than he thought, and since the gym has an indoor, heated pool, I guess the wet suit will only get used when he can't make it over there.

The last week was Vicki's birthday week. She celebrated in Tyler, Mt. Pleasant, and Pittsburg!

Merideth and Roy had a fish fry for her on Saturday night. It was lots of fun! On Sunday afternoon we went to the winery in Pittsburg. We decided it was the perfect way to spend an afternoon, very relaxing.

It seems like whenever things start looking up, and we are moving ahead, something always happens to bring us down. We lost our sweet Loretta yesterday. Don found her in her dog house. I can't believe that she's gone. My heart is broken.

1 year, and 5 months after diagnoses, I've finally started radiation. I'm being treated in Mt. Pleasant. The plan is to receive 33 doses. I go into the clinic every day (Mon.-Fri.). If all goes as planned, and the machine cooperates, I should be finished by the first week of December. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

On a more upbeat note, I drove down to Anahuac a couple of weekends ago for a quick visit with Mom and Dad. They rode out Hurricane Ike amazingly well. I think they were lucky this time. I hope they don't try it again. While we were having dinner in Baytown Saturday night I ran into a friend from high school. I'm not going to say "an old friend", because she looked fabulous. The years have been kind to Barbara!!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted in so long. Where does the time go?

I've started walking again. An old friend, Vicki, called out of the blue one day and said, let's go for a walk. I've done it everyday since, and couldn't feel better. We are back up to 2 miles, with plans to get up to 3+ a day. I'm noticing that my clothes are starting to fit better again. Yeah!
I won't need to go shopping for a while since I have a huge range of sizes hanging in the closet.

Vicki and I have also been volunteering at the cancer center twice a week. I don't know how much help I've been, but I keep going. We were in charge of getting the place "pinked up" for breast cancer awareness month, so we spent most of Thursday morning making and hanging pink ribbons. I told everyone that would listen that March is colo-rectal cancer awareness month, and our color is blue. I want some attention for that too! I have been surprised at how many patients here have the same kind of cancer I do (did).

I've helped out at the flower shop a little, but the girls had homecoming under control, so I stayed away as much as possible this week. Homecoming never was my favorite thing. Now, the fall flowers are starting to come in, and that's another thing all together. I LOVE fall colors. I did a little light decorating at the house last week, we have pumpkins, and "the crow" on the front steps, and fall arrangements and pumpkin pie candles burning in the house. I'm ready for the leaves to start falling.

Don has been doing well, he's still swimming every day. We are going to have to join the gym when it gets colder, either that, or heat the pool. He ordered a wet suit so he could continue to swim, but he's had some "issues" with it, I wonder if he has a plan "B"?

We spent last Saturday at the steer sale at the fair. I didn't go last year, since I had just had a treatment, so I really, really enjoyed the funnel cake we shared. The weather was "fair-perfect", and it was nice to get out and walk around like normal again. Pops even went, but not with us! His sitters found a wheel chair, and took him out for about an hour. He had a big time.

We finally got around to celebrating our 32 anniversary last week. I can't believe we've been married that long! We took a quick trip out of town, spent the night, and had a lovely dinner at our favorite Asain restaraunt. It was a nice break.

Pops's care has had to increase, he now has a visiting nurse that will come by 1-2 times a week. An aide has been added to his team too. She is scheduled to be here everyday at 6:00, and will stay until 7:00. She is responsible for night-time meds, and helping him with a bath before bed. We are hoping that that will help him sleep better. Seems he's been getting up a lot every night, and has had a couple of falls. Don can no longer get him up by himself, it takes two men to lift him, remember he's a big guy! The amazing thing is that he can't walk into the bathroom without falling, but he can wiggle his way out of his hospital bed, complete with rails without falling down.

The campaign is gearing back up. We put up a few signs last night, and I've noticed them popping up around town. There is a Democratic Rally planned for today, and we'll be stopping by for a while. The next debate is scheduled for Oct. 14, at the Civic Center. November will be here before we know it!

Hope everyone is able to enjoy this wonderful weather. There's something about that first little fall briskness in the air.

I'm doing fine. We still don't know exactly why I had "the bleed". Self-diagnoses tells me it was just an unfortunate series of events. I won't go into it all now, but I know now what I'm going to avoid for a while! I did find out that you don't want to mess with thyroid medications. I'm back on mine now (took myself off in Dec. of '06). Swelling is pretty much gone, and energy level is finally coming back. I haven't had to do couch time all week.
The Chambers County family made it through Hurricane Ike pretty well. They were lucky. Mom and Dad lost 2 trees, that was all. I heard yesterday that one of my cousins has a shrimp boat in her yard. Of course on top of everything, supplies and necessities like clean water are hard to come by, and the power probably won't be back on for another week or so. I spoke to a friend from down there this morning, and her house flooded, but the good news is that her husband, dogs, cat, and horses are all safe. Another friend lost his house, hunting lodge, and all of his barns, but again the good news is that his family is safe. I saw the pictures of Oak Island on the news, and it's pure devistation. It is all gone.

Yesterday afternoon was spent napping on the couch, and catching up on missed phone calls. Barry and Lana brought dinner last night and we spent the evening quietly. Sleep came easily last night, which always surprises me after I've slept so, so much during the day, but last night was different. I slept peacefully all night, and had the most wonderful dream. I dreamed of the future. I dreamed we moved the flower shop to another location. All of my past and present employees were there. It was all very detailed. Everyone worked as one big team, we laughed, had a major screw up (which was as usual my fault, lol) and had so, so much fun. It was so good to see the old "crew" again. I don't really know what it all means, but I woke up feeling re-charged and happy. Happy days.

I now know (not that I ever wanted to) what ICU is all about. I'm home now after a 5 1/2 day stay at the hospital. Yuck. I woke up to a serious GI bleed Thursday night. Don and Harry (thank goodness he was here), took me to ER, and after a lot of poking, proding, scaning, etc., I was moved into ICU for the next couple of days. I'm still waiting for results from all of the tests, but have my fingers crossed that my stomach and small intestines are suffering chemo irritation. I should know more later. The good news is, the port is a goner. Thank you Bryan for dropping your plans, and coming home to be with Dad. I'll post more later. Right now the couch is calling me.

Getting Back to the old me

What a week! I had an appointment with Dr. Prakash on Tuesday, and the port will be coming out. HOOOORAYYYY!!!!!!! I have hated this thing since the beginning. It's like a constant reminder of everything horrible. He didn't want to say that I'm cured, but he did say that there is no data to compare my case to. In other words, they don't know why I'm doing so well, but they aren't going to question it, and neither am I. I won't see him again for 3 months, then more scans and if they are clean I'll start seeing him every 6 months.
On Friday I made a quick trip to Dr. Crim's office in Dallas. It was one of those 15 minute office visits. He looked over my scan and colonoscopy results and said he'd see me in 3 months.
We celebrated Clinton and Jean Twadell's recent marriage Saturday night. It was a really fun night out. Chocolate cake and lots of folks I haven't visited with in forever. How great is that? We were sorry we missed Lana's big 50th surprise party. Happy birthday Lana! I know you all had a great time. I hate that we couldn't be in 2 places at the same time.
I got the sad news about Hilary on Saturday morning. She was so strong for so long, and fought so hard. We need to remind ourselves how lucky we all were to know her. I was honored to do the family flowers for her services. It gave me an opportunity to think about her, and say good bye.
I was at the shop all day on Monday. Joe got emergency leave, and got home around 5:30, for visitation. After the service on Tuesday, we had a quick lunch and he left to go back to Oklahoma. I spent the rest of Tuesday doing "catch-up" errands that I had missed on Monday. Finished the day off with Lana and a glass of wine on the deck. Whew!
My to do list today isn't as long. I just need to make some phone calls and schedule some appointments. I'm not feeling nearly so overwhelmed. Jack and Lenice are coming in this weekend. It seems like forever since we've seen them.
Please keep Hilary's family and Amanda in your prayers. Hope everyone has a good week.

Now what?

I have run all summer. I think somewhere down deep inside I've been running from this past year. I'm trying to put it all behind me, pretend that it never really happened. Get back to being me, BC. Don prefers to think that we are trying to get as many experiences in as possible, in case (God forbid) it comes back.

I still haven't started volunteering at the cancer center. I have my official pink shirt, and badge hanging in the closet waiting to go, but I just can't seem to do it. It's like the scars of what I've been through are still too new. I really want to help there, and I will, just not quite yet.

How long does it take to get back to normal? Physically, I'm good. I had a colonoscopy this past week. The surgeon removed 3 more polyps. That's good news, we stopped them early. I had CT scans, and they were clear. I'm still considered NED. So, what's the problem? This is where it gets sticky.

It seems like every time I turn around I hear of another cancer tragedy. Tony Snow, Leroy Sievers, the list goes on and on. But what really bothers me is the number of young people who are being hit. I don't understand, and I can't come to grips with it.

I want my old life back. I no longer want to be defined by cancer. I just want to be Annaleisa, and I know in my heart that isn't possible. This disease has changed me, and I'm still fighting it.