Colorado whirlwind

We left at 7:30 Friday morning and drove to Colorado Springs, in order to be there for my Aunt Judy's memorial service.

She passed away a year and a half ago, but her family had her memorial yesterday in her beloved Colorado.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/judith-hassed-obituary?pid=1000000177246480&view=guestbook

I was able to get a day off from work, but no more, so we made the drive.

I am so pleased that I was able to be there.

My Auntie J (as she signed her cards and letters to me) was a hero to me.

One of my first EVER "what I want to be when I grow up" statements was "HORSE BREEDER."  See the obit to understand the significance....

She lost her husband when her four children were all pretty young, in 1962 (when I was 8 months old), but she kept on pursuing her dreams and doing her thing, no matter what.

My dad always described her as "cantankerous," but to me, she was fearless and strong.

She and her husband moved from Illinois to Colorado in 1953, so she raised her kids there, mostly.

In June of 1966, when I was 4, we went on our only BIG family vacation to Colorado and New Mexico.

During that trip, we visited Aunt Judy and the kids in Greeley, Colorado.

I have no idea how many days we were there, but one of the days, when I had been put down for my nap on the living room couch, my Aunt brought the family's Shetland pony, Sonny, INTO the living room to wake me up.

She and my dad put me on the pony, and let me ride him out of the living room, onto the front porch.

There are pictures somewhere, I am sure, but I have not seen them for LITERALLY decades.

That little visit to Greeley started me on the road to being a horse-obsessed adolescent.

In the early 70's, Judy and the kids (and horses and dogs and cats) moved back to Illinois for a few years.

Judy went to the University of Chicago (from which her mother, my grandmother, had graduated) during that time for some graduate studies in Latin and Greek, I think.

She wanted to make herself more employable as a single mother.  Her obituary says she was able to be employed as a school secretary with her higher degree....

All I remember is that she became a successful Rottweiler breeder.

During the few years that they lived a couple of suburbs away from us, I spent a LOT of time at her house, learning how to care for and ride horses from my cousin Anne, and hanging out in my Aunt Judy's kitchen.

I remember one time, when I had been dropped off in her care, she loaded me into her big Suburban or whatever it was, and we took a long, circuitous route down country roads (yes, there were some back then) to go get ice cream.

I wish I could remember what she talked about with me during that trip, but I can't remember specifics, only that it happened, and it made me love her more.

Her kids grew up and she moved back to Colorado, and then eventually lived in Arkansas, and even Oklahoma, but Colorado was where her heart was.

But anyway.... it was really an honor to be there to say that I REMEMBER her, and I always will, and for me to represent the family of her big brother.

After 22 out of the last 72 hours having been spent in the car, I am off to take a bubble bath.  That Monday morning alarm is going to go off WAY too soon.

CLOUDS!

It's cloudy today!  Thank the weather gods....

After the first really hot week, I am SO glad it will be 23 degrees cooler today than yesterday, due to cloud cover.
The heat index yesterday was 108, with a temp of 99.  Thursday, I had my first heat related migraine of the summer, when it was 98/105.

The grass is already turning brown, and the plants I put in are dried up.

I almost want to open the windows and let some fresh air in, just for a little while, even though it's humid out.

In fact, yes, I think we should while we can.

We are hoping to get the mowing done before it rains....IF it rains.  Rain would be awesome, it's been a while, and, like I said, everything is drying up.

My weight loss endeavors have already started to work. I am down about 4 pounds in 2 weeks.

Dave got in to see his psychiatrist this past week (moved up from 6/22, which was the only appointment he could get 2 months ago, a couple of weeks before his "episode").

He has been started on an additional medication, which will hopefully continue and enhance his improvement.

Nothing much else for the blog this morning.  Happy Father's Day to all celebrating.

Weighty issue

Thankfully,  there isn't much to report.  Our drama seems to have died down, for which we are EXTREMELY grateful.

Dave's appointment with his new psychiatrist has been moved up from 6/22 to TOMORROW.  This is very good news.

He's doing fine on the medication his regular PA prescribed, and on the free counseling through work, but it will still be good to establish a relationship with a specialist.

Hopefully, the new doc won't want to jack with the meds.  If something works, don't change it.

I have started to make a concentrated effort to lose weight.

The hormone blocking medication sure is hard on a person.  It causes increased muscle cramping, joint and tendon issues (now, I am having pain in my left hip and right achilles tendon), overall dryness, and it also basically shuts off one's metabolism.

I have gotten to the point where I HATE to see myself in the mirror.  I have had to replace half of my clothes with a bigger size TWICE already, and now the biggest clothes are starting to get tight.

This has happened in the space of about 8 months.

(I had initially gained some weight during chemo, and went from a size 8 to a size 10, but now, with this, I am outgrowing my size 12s.)

I do not recognize my own body, and it makes me feel angry and distressed.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have always been active and fit, and that I definitely eat right almost ALL of the time.

However, the pain in my hip and heel can be pretty convincing sometimes when I am trying to talk myself into exercising!  "Nah, I am going to take a day off, my foot hurts..."

NO MORE.

This past week, I worked out every day, and I took all of my break time walks, using the indoor tunnel across the street at the hospital when it was too hot.

I also really cleaned up our diet even more, and will continue that going forward.

Dave and I have also made a pact to curtail our alcohol consumption during the work week again.  That really helped us both before, in myriad ways.

I've already lost 2 pounds, so I feel VERY hopeful and confident that I CAN actually do something about this that will make a difference.

I just have to work harder at it than ever before, and it won't necessarily be fun...but I am going to give it my best.

Off to make a healthy brunch, then do some chores and get some meat marinating.  I'm grilling steaks for dinner and chicken tenders for the week's snacks.

Have a good one gentle readers!

Rainy day, dream away....

We're finally getting some rain!

Nothing much to report, for a change.

We never got to the thrift shopping last weekend, because going to a movie always takes up so much time.  By the time we were out and about, the stores were all closing.

We went yesterday, though, and had some good luck.  Dave even found a frame for our Chicago Tribune front page from when the Cubs won the world series.

It's now hanging in the dining room!

It's been raining off and on this weekend, including when we were in the hot tub last night.  THAT was lovely.  The rain was cold on our faces.

The only draw back was that our towels were somewhat wet when it was time to come inside. HA!

So far, it seems that the lower dose of my chemo pill might be helping. My digestive issues have improved a bit over what happened last month (and at the beginning of the cycles in previous months).

I've only been taking it since Thursday, though, so time will tell.

Today should be relaxing.  We have the new Grateful Dead movie to stream, plus our netflix disc to watch.

Dave will go take care of his dad's groceries and check in on him, while I do some cooking projects.

It's so nice to have NORMAL down time after all of the stress, and to have it be a rainy day is even better, because then, I won't feel compelled to work outside!

A little bit of laziness is a good thing.

I might get to a little hand sewing while we sit in front of the tv.  I have a blouse with a hole in it, and Dave needs a button sewn on a shirt.  One of the dresses I bought yesterday lost a belt tie in the wash, and I am going to see if I can just sew it back on.

If not, I may just take the other one off.

Dave has to go to Tulsa this week, and I am going to worry less about it, now that he is feeling so much better.

As my brother says when we talk on the phone, "That's all I've got!"

Memorial Day weekend at home this year....

This week has been much better.

It helps that the huge mess is gone, and we don't have to look at it anymore.

We counted the ring patterns in the stumps, and there were actually 18 trunks, some small, some large.

It was not just some branches down like some people might think.  It was a colossal mess.  I still don't think the pictures I posted do it justice.

I tried to plant some prairie plants in the back where the grass is dead and the ground was torn up, but something happened to a couple of the plants to crush them.  I have NO idea why a feral cat would do that...but who else has been in the yard?? No one.

That was aggravating.

I will wait now to try for flowering plants at another time, and maybe just plant some native grasses back there, if I can find any.  I also don't want to spend any more money on the yard right now!!!

It's "late" in the year to be buying plants in Oklahoma.   The garden centers empty out and close up shortly after Memorial day.

Then they re open in fall.

Maybe when we are out and about today, we will find a garden center that's open and has some native grasses.  I am willing to at least take a look at them and see how much they are.

In other news, Dave is doing a LOT better now.  He has seen the free counselor every week, and is responding well to his medication.

I, on the other hand, finally called my doctor to complain about the increase in chemo side effects over this past cycle.

I have been having much more hair loss (it's visibly thinning now, my hands are covered with hair when I shampoo), diarrhea every day of the chemo cycle, and more persistent mouth sores.

Since my last scan was good, and since the pharmacy nurse who interviews me every month keeps asking me if my dosage has been changed, I asked my doc if my dosage can be changed....

The answer was yes!  My next cycle starts next Thursday, and I will be taking a dose that has been reduced by 25 mg.

According to the pharmacy nurse, it can be reduced to half of the original dosage-- eventually.

According to my personal nurse, this is done in 25 mg steps.

My nurse said that this should relieve the daily diarrhea.

She said nothing about the hair loss or mouth sores, but I really hope to see a reduction in those as well.

Trust me, having mouth sores ALL the damn time is pretty miserable.

I can deal with being bald again (if it comes to that), but the mouth gets unbearable at times.

Everything tastes different, too, by the third week, and has barely recovered at the end of my 7 days off every month.

The mouth sores have been pretty much a regular part of this treatment for 7  months, but have gotten worse.  The diarrhea going on for more than the first week is new, and the hair loss is definitely new, over the May cycle.

The last time I saw my doc, I asked how long we would do this treatment, and he said indefinitely... until we reach a point of intolerable toxicity, or progression of the disease.

SO, coincidentally, I guess I reached the first point of toxicity, and we will try reducing the dose.

Dave finally got the full invoices for all of the repairs and tree removal, and put them all together.

JUST the electrical and tree removal was $5340.00

The window was $95.00, and the food loss was hard to calculate, but probably around $300.00 (about two weeks' worth of groceries).

He took that all to our insurance agent's office, and it was passed along to the adjuster.

Wonder of wonders, they are releasing more funds to us.  They already paid $367.00, and will be sending an additional check.

It works out to them paying our deductible.  The rest is on us.

That seems backwards to me, but what are you going to do?  The biggest expense was the removal of the trees, and that wasn't covered at all.

Dave was able to withdraw the funds from his future inheritance.  Without that, we'd be trying another on line fund raiser.

This Memorial Day weekend finds us staying home and trying to relax and regroup.

We need the down time, so I am glad we didn't plan anything in advance.  We would have had to cancel it anyway, to save money.

Wishing my friends and family in the US a good holiday weekend.  We are going to a movie today, and maybe to do a little thrift store shopping.

Gone

The trees were removed and the pile along the front curb was truly epic.

They came and got it, though....even though they did leave a colossal mess.  More work for us. Yay.

There were 10 trees that we lost.  Now the back yard is completely different.

We went out today and got some prairie plants, though, to see if they will "take" in what will be the brutal sun of Oklahoma summers.

The idea is to get some prairie grasses, too, and plant them along the fence line.  We couldn't find any that I could justify the expense of today, though.  We'll have to shop around a bit.

Today, I planted larkspur, blanket flower, echinacea, and coreopsis.   Multiple colors and heights.  It will be very pretty, if the sun doesn't kill them.  I am sure they are hybridized, so they may be weaker than their true native cousins.

Back out into the yard I go!  Have a good Sunday.

Hard work and progress

Last weekend, Dave and I worked really hard to try to clean up the yard as much as we possibly could.

I was able to get out there and mow around the fallen trees, and the enormous brush pile, yesterday.

Coordinating the professional tree service with the electric company and the neighbor took all week, but we are FINALLY scheduled for next Tuesday.

The yard will cost us $2300.00

Dave is taking the money out of his trust, which is supposed to be his inheritance when his dad passes away.  We don't really have any other choice.

This storm is costing us about $5000.00

Dave still intends to fight with the insurance company for an additional pay out, since they underestimated the electrical repair, but more money from them is not going to add up to $5000.00.

During the week last week, Dave made sure that Pop's new care givers are showing up and doing their jobs.

He also saw his temporary counselor, and his PA, and got an increase in his anti-anxiety medication.

He was able to go back to work Thursday.

Yesterday, he cut down the mulberry tree, and I helped drag it out, piece by piece, to the curb.  He worked very hard on that project.

I also vacuumed, mopped, did all the laundry, and balanced the check book.

My stamina for physical labor is definitely being impacted by the chemo pill.  I get fatigued a LOT more quickly than ever before, and I get overheated more easily as well.

Even just 6 months ago, I was capable of a LOT more.  It's frustrating.

Dave will take pictures of the tree work next week, so hopefully, I will be able to post them next weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to any out there who celebrate.