Chemo is really a very hard thing for me to do. Each week I get sick and don't sleep much before chemo just from the dread of going again. Erin and I took origami paper this time to make the sitting a little more tollerable, we made cranes, boxes, animals, and even tried a star that didn't work at all. After the first half hour of IV drip Erin gets pretty sick so we take it easy. The first hour or so of chemo we did origami then took it easy playing some music for the last hour.
The chemo girls are asking for Christmas music, next time after they get Erin hooked up we will take her and her IV tree as I call it downstairs to the baby grand piano to play Christmas for them. That will be fun!
Last night I had a fun adventure, Erin wasn't feeling well sitting in her chair so I thought I would cheer the place up. I got out my perminent parkers and away I went, she now has a christmas tree on the top of her head.
What would she do without her little sis? Be sure to check the picture page!The Christmas season is coming fast! Deer season started yesterday, our Christmas tree is still sitting at the store waiting for us to come and pick it out, the Christmas letter is still in its first draft and well Dad is already ba hum bug about Christmas mail. As the next few weeks get busier and busier please remember the reason for the season, the birth of our Savior Christ Jesus!!!
Remember that Erin has her PET scan on Monday! Please pray for good results. We will meet with the doctor for results on Wednesday.
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( 3.1 / 97 )First, I had a very good Thanksgiving. We spent the day with Mom's side of the family. Amber & I helped in the kitchen-- with what little Grandpa didn't have ready ahead of time. There were nineteen of us, and we did the whole meal family-style, passing food around the table. After a great deal of arguing that I was still feeling good and strong, they even let me do the dinner dishes-- I'm crazy and really like to wash dishes!
It was good to have the family all together, though we all missed having Grandma there. We really do have a lot to be thankful for!!We're finally getting close to being finished with our re-modeling project in the living room. Amber got the last layer of varnish on the wood floor yesterday, so we can start moving stuff in tonight and tomorrow. We have the backer-board down for the tile, so we just need Dad to get a couple days off work to finish that. There is still a lot of work to do, but we're becoming hopeful that we will get it finished!!!
I've been sorting through all of our music. I went through all of our cassette tapes and CDs yesterday. It's getting tough to find enough storage space for all of them, but I still have a long list of more I want.
Today I've been going through our sheet music. We're setting up 2 bookcases, so I'm trying to get the music organized and ready to go on the shelves. I'm beginning to wonder if 2 cases will be enough?!?! Oh well, you can NEVER have too much music!! 
I'm starting to think about chemo on Wednesday again. I try to think of everything I need to get done before I'm out of commission for 4-5 days! Our fun activity for this week is going to be origami. The cancer center will be littered with folded paper when we're done there!
My PET scan is coming up on December 3rd. Please being praying for good results from that. I get the results December 5th. That's when I will find out for sure how much longer I have to be on chemo. We're praying that the cancer will be completely gone!!
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( 2.9 / 84 )IT'S SNOWING!!!! IT'S SNOWING!!! IT'S SNOWING!!!!!
This morning starting at about 10:00 it started snowing! Yes, that's right!!! Amber was right and it did snow before Thanksgiving. It snowed for about 5 hours, and is slowing down now with just a few flurries. After the vampire, Amber & I went outside to play in the snow. We had a blast and Amber even made a snowball and threw it at herself.
Be sure to check out the picture page to get a glimpse of our fun. The only sad thing about the snow is that Dad had to work today, so he's been out carrying mail in it all day. 
We've got a pot of chili cooking to warm him up when he gets home!Don't forget our party on December 29th! We're still having it, even though my treatments won't be finished yet. We've just changed the name to "The Kick it in the Butt" party!
It will also be a celebration of Dad's 13th Annual 39th Birthday. We would absolutely love to have a house full of people to help us celebrate. Amber says you all better come, because she's going to clean house and cook LOADS of good food. Call now to reserve your place at the Rogers' Bed & Breakfast. May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have many, many things to be thankful for-- don't take them for granted!
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( 3 / 81 )Today I'm finally feeling like I'm back among the living again. WooHoo!
Thursday and Friday of last week, I mainly slept. The chemo just makes me plumb miserable for a few days. My spirits remained fairly high this time though. Sometimes I get really blue during those days when I don't feel well, but this time I didn't so much.
Saturday evening, Mom and I went to the Teens For Christ rally here in town. Shane Sanderson, from St. Joseph, MO, was the speaker. He presented a dynamic message and a lot of teenagers responded by going back to the prayer area afterwards. I really enjoyed the time of worship and just being in the presence of the Lord. One of the songs that really spoke to me had these lines:
For all who are thirsty
And all who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the streams of life
In John 4:14, Jesus says, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Sunday, I felt really well. I was bouncing around the house, humming random tunes. We went and saw some of Mom's family in Lincoln, KS. Grandpa cooked us steaks-- what a life!
Then, we went to a John Michael Talbot concert in Salina with our friends Mike & Jo, which was wonderful! Talbot is a Catholic singer/songwriter. He plays Classical style guitar and writes powerful Christian songs. He just recorded his 50th album in 30 years! WOW. He was fighting a cold, but the impact of the music he made was not decreased. My favorite song he did was "Surrender":Take all my freedom, my liberty, my will
All that I have You've given to me
So I offer it up to You
(chorus)
I surrender it all to Jesus
I surrender it all to God's will
I surrender it all for the Kingdom of God
I surrender my life, my all
Your grace and your love are wealth enough for me
Grant me these Lord Jesus and I'll ask for nothing more
(chorus)
One of the things I've learned from being sick is that I am not in control. I try to be sometimes, but things go much better when I surrender to God's will. Better does not necessarily mean easy or pain-free, but God's grace and peace abound when I surrender to Him.
Monday was a rough day. I felt so good on Sunday that I think I over-did a wee bit. I paid for it on Monday. I woke up feeling pretty good, but as the day went on I started feeling sick. My tummy was unhappy with me! Sister and I did have a nice picnic in the park at lunch. The weather was gorgeous! I got a nice afternoon nap and wrote a letter to my bosom friend. Dad grilled a rack of beef ribs for supper-- yummy!! Our community band sight-read through some Christmas music. It was fun, but by the time rehearsal was over, I was wiped out. I came home and crashed and slept 'til morning!
Today has been good. Grandma and Grandpa Rogers came up for lunch and took us out for Chinese. It's always good to see them! I had a fairly productive day of piddling around the house and helping Amber with math homework. She's at math class right now and Mom and Dad are working in the living room. As soon as I finish up this blog, I'm going to fix supper.
One more silly story before I close: My hair started falling out in the middle of September. Within a couple weeks, most of it had fallen out and I had Dad shave my head. I thought I was done dealing with it, but NNNOOO. The few dozen hairs that are stubborn and sticking in my head KEEP GROWING! Everytime I have chemo, a few more hairs fall out. Then, during the week in-between, the darn things grow just a little. Within a few weeks, I have a total mess. There are tiny short hairs and then some that get up to a 1/2" long. I keep having to get haircuts and I have no hair!!! It's really annoying in a really humerous way! I was ranting and raving about it on Friday, so Amber decided to cheer me up by drawing a smiley face with permanent marker on the top of my head!
Good times at the Rogers' house! [ add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3.1 / 91 )We got home from chemo about 5:00 this evening. I'm feeling really drugged, so if there are a lot of errors in this blog, it's the chemo's fault!
Dad ended up getting called into work, so he didn't get to go with us. They had about 6 hours of over-time mail that Dad carried to help the regular carriers out. We all missed having him with us, but we're thankful for his job and his boss who makes his job pleasant.It seemed like chemo went faster this time. It didn't really, but it felt like it. I finished my book-- White, the last book in the Circle Trilogy by Tedd Dekker. I highly recommend that series to all of you book-worms out there.
Then Amber & I played tunes for an hour. I was in really good spirits the whole time-- God's grace for me today.Amber got a bigger lecture than me this week! Usually, they have something I need to work on-- taking walks, drinking more water, eating more carbohydrates, etc. This time, Amber got a lecture on getting good sleep. They suggested she take some Benadryl every night before bed to knock her out, but something tells me she's not going to comply willingly. Please keep her in your prayers; not sleeping is beginning to take a toll on her body!
We had a surprise visit from our friends the Ruble's shortly after we got home. They are a wonderful Godly family and we always love to see them-- plus Dave plays the banjo!
Even though I wasn't in the greatest condition, having them stop by was truly a highlight of my day. It takes my mind off of being sick for a little while.Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement! God is upholding me and our family. We've had some rough days this week emotionally, but we keep pressing on and God keeps giving us what we need to move forward.
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( 2.9 / 85 )
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