The Heart of the Matter

I chose today's title for a few reasons. In my last post I mentioned that Saturday would be a celebration of the three birthdays that occurred in the past few weeks. We had a wonderful day. Rod and I worked around the house, I used my routine of activity interspersed with periods of rest, using the timer to keep me on track and a list of priorities to keep me focused. I find that I still get fairly short of breath if I exert myself very much. Caleb and Leisha arrived with our granddog Charlie a little early, they also brought two beautiful homemade birthday cakes, one chocolate and one white with strawberries. Caleb looked very proud but I think Leisha was responsible for making them ;). Charlie immediately went to check out his favorite toys, just like my other grands do. Jordan and Celia weren't long in arriving after that - both Celia and Leisha looked so beautiful with their long hair softly curling and falling on their shoulders. I really notice hair these days ;).

It was so nice to be together to celebrate. Rod spoiled Charlie - slipping him bits of the prime rib roast under the table when he thought we weren't looking. My Yorkshire puddings didn't rise  but they still all seemed to disappear fairly quickly in spite of that. Happy Birthday was sung in our typical family fashion in as many keys (and off keys) as possible. We sat around and talked after the meal for a very long time. I feel so blessed by my growing family, I am very impressed by the ladies my sons have chosen. The heart of the matter is that I love them all and it is nice not to be outnumbered any longer by the men in the family.

Yesterday was a down day for me but Saturday was well worth it. I am not recounting this to complain, only to relate what my experience has been like with the continued treatments and after effects. I was very achy and fatigued all day, the peripheral neuropathy seems to act up more on days like this. I took it easy, once again enjoying the fact that there were no pressures on me to be up and about.

This morning was an early morning as I needed to be at the radiology department for my MUGA scan at 0800. I will continue to have these scans every three months for a while to ensure that the Herceptin is not/has not damaged my heart. I enjoyed my tech today, she noticed that I had had a birthday and commented on it, explaining that she had twins that had turned 14 on April 1st. Her boy immediately wanted to write his exam for his Learner's permit and we discussed being Mom's of new driver's. She efficiently injected me with the material to prepare my red blood cells to accept the tracer while we talked, drew the blood, added the tracer and then 'returned' the blood back to me. Yes, once again I am 'radiant'. I find I am much more attuned to techs during tests nowadays, trying to read them to see if anything is amiss. There were a couple of things different with how today's scan went, whether they meant anything or not will remain to be seen. This is my 'new normal' where tests are concerned, I guess. The heart of the matter is that there is no use worrying about it, I will discuss the results with the oncologist next Monday.

Afterwards I went to see my mother at the hospital and then returned home. Rod is off every second Monday and was home when I arrived. After my walk on the treadmill we started making lunch together however my morning was catching up to me and Rod ended by finishing the preparations up just as Wade and Gayle arrived. Gayle said it was still my birthday week, who was I to argue ;). They took Rod out to shop while I napped for a bit and then they brought coffee back with them and we all sat around visiting.

The heart of the matter is that I could get used to this, maybe all birthday's should be celebrated for the whole week?

Take care everyone.