My quilt of many colors that my friends made for me.......

Good morning all,

Well, I made it through another round of chemo and had my Nuelasta shot yesterday. So far, so good. Feeling a little bit tired like before, but most of that can be attributed to the fact that I don't sleep well at night due to hot flashes and having to pee 15 times a night because of all the water I drink to flush the chemo out of my system. In the big picture, nothing to complain about. For some reason the hot flashes seem to be exacerbated by the treatments, but do calm down after a few days.

I am hoping this second treatment won't exhaust me as the last one did, because the Doc told me to take Benedryl which as a histamine blocker is supposed to help with some of the side effects created by the Nuelasta shot. Just not sure if it's supposed to help with exhaustion, muscle pain, or both. I guess I will see as the weekend progresses.

As you can see from the picture, I took my beautiful quilt and pillow with me as I discovered that I get awfully cold while receiving the treatment. It felt so good to have it there with me, and know that each of you sewed it with your own hands, and therefore it carrys with it your special thoughts for me. I felt very strong and loved!

And you cannot believe the attention it got. They were calling nurses in from different departments just to see the wonderful quilt and the beautiful handi-work. For some reason, there was particular interest in the "The Pass the Trash" square. All thought it was very clever and I believe it gave them an insight to the personalties of me and my wonderful friends. I was very proud to display it and was once again reminded of how very precious your friendships are to me.

You know each time I sit down to write in this blog, I find that aside from a couple of paragraphs about how I am doing, the real story is about my family and friends. I had lunch with Sue, MaryLou and Bernie about a week ago and we had a wonderful time catching up as we hadn't really seen much of each other over the last few years.

Well, as seems to be par for the course these days, they came bearing gifts and good wishes. Sue, being the talented girl that she is, had knit for me a beautiful turquoise blue hat to cover the old noggin. Sue also explained that another one was in the works. MaryLou came with her home-made Rhubarb Marmalade, which is now gone, as it was so very tasty on toast in the morning and Bernie came bearing some amazing lavender roses which lasted and made the house smell wonderful for almost 2 weeks.

My sister, Debbie, also stopped in for a visit last week, and came with home-made Zuchinni Bread and Red Clover Bloossom Tea, which is good for cleansing your system. She also offered advice about a homeopathic remedy called Essiac, which is considered to be a native approach and a has strong history of being able to support the system while undergoing cancer treatments. Needless to say, I ran out and got the Essiac and have been taking it ever since and am also enjoying a cup of tea each day.

Brother Dave, has also been there to care for us. He is the computer guru in the family, and as Tony and I have been experiencing some issues, he has spent several hours keeping us up and running. Not so much fun, as I am sure most of you can understand. He was also in Minnesota recently, and brought me back a bear figurine, of some sort of native Minnesota stone, that is supposed to carry good energy for healing and strength. I hold it each evening and perform a bit of self-reikki before going to sleep. As you may recall, my friend Stephanie, gave me a Reikki attunement several months ago. So yet again, an example of how many people are looking out for my well being.

Now in addition to the above, as you have all probably seen (and if you haven't be sure to look at the older posts for the pics), several of my brothers, my nephew Josh, and my friend Josh, all shaved their head in my honor. Man that takes courage! And of course, my "Back Up", JoAnne, Heidi, Jessica, Linda and Dani are there for me on a daily basis to offer their support through phone calls, hugs, flowers, help with head coverings and care packages containing a host of things to help me through my treatments. But perhaps most importantly, they remind to laugh at the things that I cannot control.

In addition, I get frequent emails from my high school girl friends, whom I haven't seen in 5 years. Each of them reads the blog frequently and then will send notes of love and encouragement. After all these years, they take time to look out for me and send their good wishes across the miles, even as each of them works through their own particular challenges in life.

So, as you can see, this has very quickly become a story not just about me, but each of you and your good and caring hearts. I sometimes wonder what I have done to deserve such caring and love, but have decided that I can only attribute it to good fortune. Each of you chose to include me in your life and I am a stronger and better person because of that and I needn't look far to be reminded of where that strength comes from.

That said, as you can imagine, when I awoke this morning and decided to update the blog, my thoughts were not about what side effects I might encounter today, but about how each of you has contibuted to my ability to get past those side effects and look forward with a positive attiutude. I thank you for all for keeping me in your hearts, as each of you will always remain in mine. Each and everyone of you has contributed to a wonderful story of love and freindship and for that I shall be eternally greatful.

Much love and many hugs,

Shannon