TERRIFIC TUESDAY!

Hi Friends!

It's the eve of Christmas Eve and I'm feeling better today. I started the day with an appointment at 8:30 with my main doctor (the rheumatologist), Dr. Cohen. I feel really blessed that God led me to such a caring and knowledgeable doctor. Bill came along with me, because Dr. Cohen had especially requested he come along so that we could discuss "the course of my disease." Well, it sounded ominous, but we actually got some good news!

Dr. Cohen is impressed with my recovery, and both he and Bill have to keep reminding me of how far I have come. We discussed the course of my CNS Lupus as well as the treatment course and side effects of treating it with Cytoxan (the chemo I'm currently on). There are four things I need to watch for. The first is osteoporosis. I'm already taking preventative drugs for it as it's a side effect of the high dose steroids, and I have a family history of it. My mom has it as did other relatives. So, I'm getting a bone scan soon to determine my bone density and we'll go from there.

The second thing to watch for is heart disease and infections, which tend to happen with this disease. I've already had a full heart work-up, and so far -- so good! Dr. Cohen is doing more bloodwork and we'll keep a close eye on it.

The third thing is cancers, especially bladder, kidney, and breast. So, I will be screened for those starting now. These are side effects of the Cytoxan, but I'm also more at risk for cancer due to having an auto-immune disorder.

Fourth, as we all know -- being on the Cytoxan puts me at high risk for all infections. Basically, that is killing my over-active immune system (which was killing my brain, organs, and subsequently me!). Bu that, unfortunately, leaves me at high-risk and unable to fight routine infections which could be deadly. Currently, I have infections of my skin and mouth. And I often struggle with kidney infections. I'm also anemic from the Cytoxan and am currently having my platelets checked, because when I bleed, I don't stop!

So, my doctor wants to balance the benefits versus risks of treating me with Cytoxan, and therefore -- treat me with as few doses as necessary to reach the best outcome. The good news for me is that I'm on my 4th round of chemo, and if I show continual improvement -- I may be able to stop after the 6th round in February. I am cautiously hopeful! I don't want to get too excited. But it would be great if they could manage the lupus with oral medication after February. I was feeling really depressed about doing chemo until September, so it would be great not to have to do it. But I will let Bill and Dr. Cohen make that decision as at this point, they are more objective than I am. I am just in it too deep right now! We're supposed to keep a symptom log for the next month to help us decide.

We got home from the doctor's appointment around 11 a.m. That's another thing I like about my doctor -- he'll spend a lot of time talking everything over with us! You never feel rushed, although it's funny, because he again told me I'm his most "complicated case." We were thrilled upon arriving home, because the house was still in one piece with Cameron, Brandon, Molly, Nate, and Isaac all left home alone. And there weren't even any fights to report!

Bill is home again today, and the two of us are puttering around the house doing our own things. The kids are content to be off of school. Nate, Isaac, and Brandon have been building and "upgrading" a ramp outside. They are launching themselves on skateboards, scooters, and bikes off of it. Boys will be boys! They've only had 2 injuries so far, though, and only one has involved blood and required a band-aid. So, we're doing pretty well! I may, in fact, be the only injury to report as I am already sunburned due to be called outside to see all their "tricks." For those of you unfamiliar with lupus -- sun is a big no-no! I wear SPF 70 and a hat and cover up. But I still get sunburned and have symptom-flares when outside for any amount of time. It kind of takes the fun out of living in Southern CA. I like the sun, but the sun doesn't like me. I can't even pick the kids up from school without getting sunburned!

I am going to attempt to wrap the last of my Christmas presents today. We were given a bunch of gift cards from the deacons at our church, so I went out and picked up some stuff for the kids. However, I am at the moment "grounded" by my adoring and sweet husband, so I won't be attempting any more outings for awhile. He's probably right, because whenever I am feeling good, I have a tendency to go out and try to do too much. According to him, I need to conserve energy and try to let my body heal.

Tomorrow on Christmas Eve we will go to church, and we always go to the "Christmas House" here in Simi Valley afterwards. It's also a Bland family tradition to order pizza and for the kids to shop for and wrap presents for each other on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning we open our gifts. Terri, my nice neighbor, is providing our ham dinner for Christmas. Yes, she's the same neighbor who made our Thanksgiving feast!

I will try and write more tomorrow.
Happy Holidays and Much Love!
Michele

P.S. --Bill is still working on our "annual Bland family year in review" Christmas CDs. We hope to have them out by New Years! Cut us a little slack due to the circumstances, please!

MONDAY, MONDAY ...

Hi Friends!

Sorry, it's been awhile since I last blogged. I am slowly recovering from my 4th round of chemo. I feel OK, but I have been struggling again with headaches. Also, I am feeling somewhat depressed because the road ahead of me seems so long. Bill was working on our Christmas slide show last night, and it was rather sad to see how much I've physically changed over the year.

The kids are off of school this week and next for Christmas. Bill is staying home to help this week as I'm not ready to take over all the Mom duties yet. I will attempt to do some laundry and other stuff today, though.

Here's hoping that the week gets better and I catch the Christmas spirit again. I do have a few Christmas presents left to wrap for the kids. Maybe!

Much Love,
Michele

FINALLY FEELING THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!!!

Hi Friends!

Well, better late than never! I am finally starting to feel like it's Christmas. Sorry, I haven't written for a while. I've spent the week recovering from chemo. It was definitely better to only do the one day of chemo without the IV steroids. I just hope the lupus symptoms stay away, so that I can continue this course of treatment. Although the steroids can be fun, what with the slanty floors and slurred speech -- when you crash, you really crash and burn!

On a good note -- without the steroids to make me obsessively clean, I have resisted the urge to clean my house. I've let Bill and the kids trash it. By yesterday, I was ready for an outing though ~ so Annie and I did some Christmas shopping. We went to Kohl's and the 99 cents store. We are giving our kids money this year, but I wanted to pick up a few things from Santa to put under the tree. I might have gotten a bit carried away, but it was fun -- and a few hundred dollars later we came home, and we spent hours wrapping it all up. We eventually ran out of wrapping paper, but not to worry -- we finished today!

Today was the last day of school for the kids before Christmas Break. Isaac and Nate got done at noon, and they both had Christmas parties at Grace Brethren. I was feeling up to going, so Judi took me to their parties, and we spent the morning there. Brandon had the day off of school due to snow in Palmdale, so he came over for the day. The boys spent the afternoon playing with Brandon. The highlight of their day was when Bill came home, and they all spray-painted their skateboards with glow-in-the-dark spray-paint. Shirlene took Nate and Isaac to Palmdale to spend the night after she finished with work. So, hopefully right now Brandon, Nate, and Isaac are having fun playing in the snow!

Molly and Cameron had school until the regular time -- 3 p.m., and Bill picked them both up (but separately) on his motorcycle. Molly was thrilled because Chris (the boy she likes) saw her on the motorcycle. Now, the older kids are both enjoying a quiet evening without their younger siblings!

We continue to be well cared for by our church family! Dinner has been provided for us all week. We also received a bunch of groceries today from the deacons, and a "gift card tree" was delivered to us by our favorite deacon, Skip! It was a small Christmas tree with quite a few gift cards on it. I am always blown away by how much God cares for us!

Judi took pictures of me with the boys at school today. So, I'll try to get those from her soon and post them on this blog. I am going to sign off for now.

Much Love,
Michele

Keep on Trekkin'!

Greetings to all my viewers, family, friends, chemo buddies and all!

Well, had Chemo #4 yesterday - the first without the high dosage steroids - Wow!
I must say it's more enjoyable with the steroids - go figure. With the steroids I feel
a little "high" which makes the chemo easier to handle. Without them, I feel more "down and yucky" vs down and out. (ha ha)

Annie took me to The Hat for lunch after chemo. I was able to enjoy my grilled cheese sandwich before the nausea set in. When we got home I took my anti -nausea meds and spent
time resting in bed with the occasional nap. Life went on downstairs with one of the kids coming up to visit at different times.

Today I am feeling okay but sick to my stomach, so I am taking it easy and taking the meds as directed for the nausea. Getting a little tired so I'll close for now. Depending on how I feel later, I might add more for today's blog.

Much Love,

Michele

SUNDAY BEFORE CHEMO!

Hi Friends!

Let me start out with sad news -- I've discovered I'm allergic to chocolate. Bill has been reading up on lupus, and he discovered that people with lupus often develop food allergies. So, he asked me to keep track of what I was eating to see if there was a pattern with my headaches. Well, today I made brownies for the kids' teachers as Christmas presents. After taste-testing the brownies, I developed a horrible headache -- so it's pretty obvious what one of my allergies is. Most of you know that I love chocolate - so I was awfully sad. When I told my kids, they all gasped in shock!

Other than that -- we've had a quiet day of rest. We went to church this morning, and we took Bill's friend Scott along. After coming home, I took a nap. Then we did the brownies, and watched a bunch of movies for a family Christmas movie marathon.

I'm feeling better about doing chemo tomorrow -- not quite so depressed. Shirlene and Annie are going with me, so we should have a fun chemo party.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. If I can't e-mail -- I'll have Bill or Annie do it. Bill is going to do less hours at work this week. He'll just go while the kids are at school. That way he can drop them off and pick them up each day. And Annie will be staying with us for the week as she usually does. I'm a blessed person to have so much help! We will also have meals brought to us all week by friends from the neighborhood and church.

Much Love,

Michele

Saturday Before Chemo!

Hi Friends!

It's the Saturday before my 4th round of chemo. I am doing it on Monday. I think my house is fairly clean and the laundry is done. I'm going grocery shopping today, and then I should be prepared for being down and out of it for about a week. I'm hoping to spring back to life (like Frosty the Snowman) by Christmas Eve. We're going to focus on what really matters for Christmas this year -- and it's not presents. I'm not buying or doing anything this year in that regard, so please accept my apologies if you were expecting something from me. I am going to give my own kids money, and then after Christmas we will take them on a special excursion to spend it on what they'd like. I simply don't have any energy for anything except healing myself this year.

I am posting a few pictures of the kids on the blog today. They are excited because they are going to decorate the house for Christmas this weekend. They have been saying, "Everyone has their Christmas decorations up except for us!" for weeks now.

Much Love,

Michele

WATCH OUT, I'M BACK!

Hi Friends!

I'm feeling better. I think I've finally beat the flu, and I am close to "normal" again. So, I should have a few good days of nesting before chemo on Monday. I always feel the need to clean, do laundry, and buy groceries like crazy before my monthly treatment. I think it makes me feel like I have everything in oder before being down for a week or so.

Shirlene cut my hair again today. It's funny because it's growing in some places while it falls out in others. She said it's much thinner, but as long as I have any hair she'll try to keep it looking nice. She's such a good friend! I seem to have more hair on one side than the other, so we were joking about doing a Donald-Trump-type comb-over.

I'm going to post a few pictures from Isaac's Christmas performance. Since I haven't posted for a while, I have a lot of older pictures that I haven't put on my blog yet.

More tomorrow...

Much Love,

Michele