Mystery Solved

My apologies to avid readers and wonderful supporters for the long lapse in blog posts.  The good news is Shermance has fared well after the post-chemo slump that lasted about 5 days.  I got in trouble for posting a pic of her hunched over the toilet and not calling the oncologists office, so figurative points were taken away from my bid to chemo hero hall of fame.  We found out Shermance is anemic (not yet to the point of needing a transfusion) so steaks on the bar-b are doc's orders - shucks!  Good thing Shermance was just were roped into a neighborhood-crawling steak-sellin' scheme that filled our freezer to the brim with steaks. :)  We'll keep a close eye on her iron, and she needs extra Zzz's.  Speaking of close eye, a running joke we have started with a devious look Shermance gave me soon after she shaved her head.  Its now called "cancer eye" and it makes me laugh every time she strikes the pose. ;-?

We had a wonderful birthday/Father's Day weekend in Bastrop with Shermance's family.  We ate too much wonderful food and had loads of fun catching up on happenings and playing Bocce Ball.  A relaxing cancer retreat!  While in Bastrop Shermance found the perfect t-shirt.  It's black with pink sparkles that reads "Fight like a girl; drink like a lady" with a wine glass and pink breast cancer ribbon on it. Saturday night after happy hour and maybe a drink or two "like a lady" Shermance and her dad rocked out to Jimmy Buffet. Larry sang while Shermance played musical accompaniment on a terra cotta flute to "Wasting Away in Margaritaville". Incidentally she couldn't play that instrument in the slightest even though she was a state champ flutist in HS. Too funny!

Logan met-up with us in Bastrop after surviving Boy Scout camp.  He learned a tough lesson to close tent windows when a storm is brewing.  Fortunately the 2 inches of standing water in his tent didn't kill his phone that we snuck in his backpack.

When we returned from Bastrop, our front door was decorated with festive birthday bling.  For several days it was a mystery who decorated the door, until Karen, from a few doors down admitted to the decorating deed that they finished just before we pulled in.  We are so lucky to have such awesome neighbors throughout our Behren's Ranch community!

At times the thought of having cancer has been a bit overwhelming for Shermance.  She keeps a great positive attitude yet even that can be hard to keep up all the time.  When it is especially tough she turns to the support of everyone around her.  Thank you for being there for her. Keep up the emails, prayers, cards and calls...Things like the clutch cross Audra sent for her birthday, or the Praying Through Cancer devotional she received from a patient of hers are super uplifting.  They build her up in the times she needs it most!

"Cancer Eye"

"Fight Like a Girl;Drink Like a Lady"

 

The kids' creation was delicious

Mystery solved!  Karen coordinated with the neighbors to decorate our door right before we returned from Bastrop.

Clutching Cross

  

Future Blog topics:

• Backyard Oasis
• Bobble Head
• Opal Divine
• Care Calendar
• Sherm-agic
• Rules of a Cancer Hero





They Say It's Your BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! 

June 15

< :)

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪     Happy Birthday to you     ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪     Happy Birthday to you     ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday, dear Shermance!!   ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*

•*¨*•.¸¸♥¸¸.•*¨*•

*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪     Happy Birthday to you     ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*

. . . . . . . .

I I I I I I I I

[=======]

[=======]

[=======]

Keep up the good FIGHT!

For many, many, many more birthdays!

Love,

Dale

(your cancer hero)

It's Good to be Back!

Today Shermance was bright as sunshine, beaming and glowing.  She's back to herself.  After so many days of being down in the dumps she was expecting sluggish lethargy to be her demeanor for the upcoming weeks until she switches chemo treatments.  "It's amazing to have energy again. I feel like myself." Finally! It's the last day of her 4-day work week and she (along with her mom and Parker) are heading to Bastrop after work to be with family for her birthday. I'll meet them after work tomorrow.

At her office, they celebrated birthdays yesterday with good eats, fun and lots of patients.  Shermance and Alanna, the office manager, which is half of the small practice, both have birthdays this week, so it's as big as it gets! That helped lift her spiritis and her better feeling continued last night.  After a full day at work (9 patients), she had enough energy to make a great meal, plated up and ready when Parker and I arrived home.

Until today, she hadn't been resting well.  Now her heart has stopped racing.  Her skin doesn't ache as badly even to the touch.  So last night she was able to get good rest.
Speaking of rest, we were afraid Logan wasn't getting his share.  His stuff had been completely drenched Tuesday evening at Boy Scout camp.  His tent was hardest hit by the storm and he had standing water in the bottom.  He was having a tough time.  He really wanted to call home, but by policy they keep the boys from calling home to avoid furthering homesickness. He had a better day and seems to be coping fine.  We look forward to seeing him Friday night for family BBQ at the camp.

Beaming Shermance with a new headband from a dear friend.

What Made You Cry Today?

Two work days in the record book post chemo 2 and Shermance rates herself above 80% back to normal.  It's her lack of energy that is very uncharacteristic.  She finds it hard to sleep even though she is fatigued.  She did, however, sneak in a nap before dinner - she was just too worn down. Sleeping at night is hard because her heart races due to steroids and her bones and skin ache from the white blood cell shot, but it's better than the alternative of nausea! or worse falling ill! It wasn't the tiredness that made her cry.

During dinner what made her cry from laughter was the talk of ta-tas.  We all laughed over dinner because we've mentioned words related to breasts (boobs, ta-tas, chest - whatever) more in the last month than we have ever said it in our home previously.  It's amazing how this even changes our vocabulary and dinner conversations.  This time it was actually us laughing at Parker for forgetting to add sunscreen to his chest (aka moobs - though since he's a boy would that be boobs??? and girls have goobs??? Ha).  See how it got a bit outrageous.  Anyway Parker has an unusual sunburn on his chest after he put sunscreen just on his face, neck and shoulders and spent the day in the water park shirtless at his YMCA camp.  It's not a bad burn, and the laughter was good medicine.

After dinner, Shermance cried again while reading a touching email.  The sellers of Collin's new house heard of Shermance's cancer and and tracked her down.  The daughter who was already planning on donating her hair to Locks of Love wanted specifically to give her hair to Shermance.  How sweet!  Her mom had to explain to her that her brown hair may not be fitting for fair-skinned Shermance, but the thought was priceless!  What a wonderful sacrifice for a young girl.  They also want to cheer Shermance on like in a pep rally - GO SHERMANCE! GO, FIGHT, WIN!

The last thing that made Shermance weepy and frustrated was the thought of medicines, toxins, coursing through her veins. She's always tried to eat whole foods, put natural products on her skin, and avoid taking medicine if possible.  Now she requires chemicals in her body just to stay alive.  She doesn't want to do it anymore, but she will.  She will do what it takes day by day by day!

Ah Newlasta!!!

Shermance is mostly back to herself today! When I asked if she was about 80% back to normal, she responded,"more like 75%". Ha!  She was able to eat real food (if Taco Bell is really food) for the first time since Friday. Nothing like tempting nausea and heartburn, but that was the "treat" she wanted after making it through Tae Kwon Do class tonight. She kept it down and thankfully she avoided any ill effects.  The dinner was much better than crackers, soup, Ensure and other nutrition shakes - her staples over the weekend.  "It made me so happy", Shermance beamed.  Maybe it was the white-blood-cell Newlasta boost,or just her body overcoming the toxins.  Either way, we'll take it!

She is still a bit weepy, emotional, and tired.  The hard part about the emotional struggle, is she's not really sad, its just how she feels.  As for the fatigue, she hardly slept last night, so by 9:30 tonight she crashed.  She's dissapointed that she needs to slow down a bit.  It was heart-breaking for her to notify her super-fantastic Texas Dental Hygienist Association (TDHA) girls that she doesn't expect to make it to the next conference which falls on the weekend following her next chemo.  Since this one was bad, we expect the next one to be even worse. 

On the bright side, the thought of her birthday this Friday makes her very happy! It's not a milestone year, but she loves the extra attention.  In fact, she appreciates so much all the facebook posts, emails, cards, comments, calls and gifts that you've offered in response to this blog, etc, that I'm sure it is helping her PMA and her FIGHT!  Tonight she was giggling at the comments on her work facebook page for the bald head contest.  She was touched by her cousin getting her a clutching cross. And she was super greatful for friends/family like Maureen, Joy, Audra, Cathy, Potter, Leona, and so many more including the anonymous voices who offer words of encouragement, hope, and love.

Thank YOU!

God Gave Me You

Shermance rallied enough energy to attend Vacation Bible School training today.  She plans to volunteer the week before her next chemo, provided she has enough energy.  She's was recognized as one of their most energetic and fun vounteers the past three years but this time might be different.  She may not be that same energetic person and the kids may avoid her due to her bald head. It is shocking to people who see it for the first time. But since we've lived with it for over 3 weeks it's easy to forget how people might react.

We've only made it to church once since she cut-off her hair, so the volunteer clan had mostly not seen the head shean.  The many hugs and words of support were great, but Shermance likes to be strong.  She doesn't like to be pitied.  She doesn't want people to feel sorry for her. It was a bit overwhelming just being there.  Joy, a friend we know from church, school and Scouts offered to set-up a care calendar. Several have offered (remember we were forming Team Boobilicious) yet we've not felt an overwhelming need.  We were doing OK, but we realize the help is quite welcome.  Last week the Randolph family made enough meals for the whole week and her mom made enough for the weekend.  It is so nice to not worry about that, too.

During one of the VBS training activities Shermance had to make cut-outs. She struggled. It frustrated her that her hands shook and she had a hard time making simple cuts. It's hitting her harder than she even realized.

On the way home she cried a bit.  She wants to be the old Shermance so bad.  She doesn't want "chemo brain" to set-in, but it inevitably will.  The radio was tuned to a Christian station. It's uplifting. The song, God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton made her realize there are a lot of people who have helped her through the ups and downs.  It made her SMILE!  She is thankful for all of you.

Now, it's mid afternoon and she just wants to sleep...

New Neighbors

This round of chemo is definitely taking more out of Shermance.  She isn't hungry. She is tired.  She is on edge. She seems stressed out about everything - big and little. Hopefully this isn't a trend and tomorrow she can bounce back. In fact, everyone is getting worn down a bit. Even Logan wanted some down time last night, so was glad his bro slept at a friends house after hanging at the neighborhood pool till 10 pm.  Parker gets a break this whole week since his bro will be at Boy Scout camp all week. It was touching, though, that Logan hoped Parker would come home from his overnight before he left for camp.  When he hadn't made it home, Logan walked over to where he was staying and said goodbye. We didn't prompt him, nor did we know he had left.  Logan's got a tender heart.

Today, Shermance is tired of a third day of being tired, and she is sick of being sick. Yet, she also doesn't want to take any more meds.  Between her steroid, nausea medicine, sleep medicine, heart-burn medication and Juice Plus+ vitamins, she's taking upwards of 10 pills a day.  On top of that she has other meds at 6 or 8 hour intervals to take at the first sign of nausea. Her biggest worry is whether she can work tomorrow, and if the effects are cumulative that she may need to take time off after the next 2 rounds of AC...Let's hope tomorrow is better.

On the home front...Yesterday, Shermance's brother, Collin, invited us to look at two houses in our neighborhood.  They really hadn't planned on moving anytime soon, but after years of us raving about Behren's Ranch and now Collin's boss telling the same story their interest was already picqued.  Now that they have a month old daughter, that clinched it.  They needed to expand from thier cute bungalow house in 'weired' North Austin up to our 'mildly unusual' 'hood.  Both had the same floor plan though all agreed the second was the right choice. They put in an offer and it was verbally accepted that night! The selling owner knows Shermance and was especially excited that it would go to a nice family for their cul-de-sac.

Houses are moving very fast in this 'hood, and that is the speed Collin moves on purchases...just like Shermance.  In Collin's case, they started looking at houses Wednesday and again with us Saturday, made an offer and had it accepted in the same day.  Basically they decided to start looking one day and 4 days later they were under informal contract...Wahoo!