Busy busy busy. Worked on Friday in the AM...that was great, then I went to see Dr. Sansone, I was supposed to go Tuesday, but she had an emergency.

She gave me a clean bill of health. I don't have to go back unless the diarrhea at night starts up again. I do get up once in the night now, for the past week, to have a BM...but no more diarrhea. I just get up, do my duty and then right back to sleep. I can live with that!

If things start up again, she will put me back on the medication, and that should take care of that!

Yesterday Jean came up in the AM and she and Sandy worked outside again. They cleaned out the yard out front and Sandy hauled all the flower pots; leaves, etc. that were out there to the back. I went out later and put up the tree lights in the cherry trees out front. I also put lights on the arbor and the front porch posts....it looks nice out there. Oh, and I put the red bows on the picket fence.

Then I came into the house and decorated the tree and the downstairs with all of our Santa collection. Next Sandy put out the lighted reindeer. Now we just have to put the candles in the windows and we are all decorated!

Sandy just came in and announced that she has the snow blower all ready to go. Does she know something I don't?

Oh, I also sliced the tip of my finger nearly off yesterday afternoon. Damned Cutco knives. It's only the third time I've done such a tune on my fingers....and have had cuts in other places from those knives. Who was to know they would still be so sharp all these years later?

Anyway, Sandy had just left to get the propane tanks for the grill filled up for the winter, so I was home alone. The aforementioned finger is on my right hand, so I was having trouble maneuvering the butterfly bandaid onto the wound. Also, the darned thing was bleeding VERY profusely....blood all over the place as I found out later--when I had to clean it all up.

After a couple of fruitless attempts to self bandage....I broke down and called Nurse Carol, who came right over and did her best to bandage me. She wasn't much better than I at it, and insisted on sticking my finger under water, which made me yelp. It really stung.

She said, "come on! Suck it up....you've gone through surgeries and chemo and you're going to whine over a cut?!"

So I put my "big girl pants on" and sucked it up, she was right.

Later Sandy and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1 at the Lisbon theater. Sandy thought the movie started at 4:45 so we got there a bit before 4:30....only to learn that it started at 4pm! I had already ordered the popcorn and drinks when she came in from the ticket window to tell me. I made the command decision that we see it anyway, and I was right...we missed very little of the movie.

The movie was really good and I was able to figure most of it out, despite the fact that I didn't read the book. The special effects were fabulous and the scenery was gorgeous. I give it two thumbs up. Now we wait for Part Two...and then it will be all done....

Came home and watched the Huskies beat USF in football, to get their first EVER BCS bowl invite. They will be playing in the Tostito Bowl in AZ or the Orange Bowl....can you imagine? It was a very exciting game, decided on a 52 yard field goal with 17 seconds left in the game. Sandy had gone to bed but I didn't care... I whooped when they won. She never heard a thing.

Oh last night I was naughty and I bought myself a cross country ski set, boots, poles, skis and bindings, on sale from LL Bean. I'm so excited. They had a great sale and I couldn't resist. I haven't been able to go skiing for a few years now...my bindings were wrecked and I couldn't get them replaced....they didn't make them anymore. So, for years I've wanted another X Country outfit....and soon I will have it! Now I just hope for snow.

Later!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Went to see Dr. DiSilvestro today. The nurse asked me how I was feeling...did I have any pains...of course that just served to ratchet up my anxiety...I'm thinking, "what does she know?"

Dr. D. ended up making us even more anxious...he took so long to come into the room, even Sandy was antsy about it!

When he did come in we got the great news....everything was FINE. Sandy and I had a big hug and then I asked, "are you sure? what did the report say?" To which Sandy got on me for "tempting fate." Later, when she was out of the room I did ask what my CA125 level was and he told me "3."

He is giving me a break for awhile. I don't have to go back until we come back from Disney, so I won't see him again until near the end of April. More good news!

After the appointment I drove down to the Crystal Mall to pick out eye glasses. I got some DKNY frames that were on sale at Lenscrafters, they are black frames, kind of squarish, but small and the interior of the frames and temples is blue...it highlights my eye color.

I got a good price on them because the frames were half-price and our insurance gave me 40% off the total price, so even though I got bi-focal, transition, light-weight lenses, I got the whole shebang for under $350! WOW!!!

The frames are going to be a major departure for me, who has worn gold metal frames for years. It's good to go with something new and funky. I used my iPhone to take a picture of me wearing the two frames I chose, so Sandy can see them.

I will be getting them in about 10 days. In time to show-off for Christmas. Audrey, Maria and I can have a eyeglass frame fashion show. Then we can compete for the Secretary of the Year Award.

So, life can settle down to a dull roar around here. I can continue to recuperate from the hernia surgery and look forward to joining a gym in January. We can have a nice, quiet Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Life is DEFINITELY GOOD!

Later!

Okay, I'm admitting that I'm getting more and more anxious as Wednesday and my Dr. D appt nears. I can't say I'm fully confident as I was last time I went, that I'm cancer-free now.

I've been getting tired easily lately and also having weird pains in my abdomen...hoping against hope that this is still related to the hernia surgery, but the pains are kind of lower in the abdomen for that.

Also had a dream last night about a guy who was diagnosed with cancer...I was encouraging him and telling him to get positive and determined. In the dream he and I were in the hospital at the same time and that's how I met him. Later in the dream, or a different dream, he was being released from the hospital and was cancer-free and a nurse told him that "of course, I (me) was going to die...but he was fine." WHAT???!!! What the HELL!!! Where is THAT coming from?!!!

Wednesday will tell.

Also in the dream was Mark Simon, who passed away this year, but in the dream he was very much alive and he and I were riding around in a big, fancy car, taking someone for a ride past the "old instititution" that still had lots of people living there and we were all irate about that.

I have no idea where my dreams come from lately, I think it's the meds.

We went to the Dazzle Light Parade last night with Mary Anne and had a great time. We got to her house before 4Pm and established our spot in Rotary Park, across from the telephone company before 4:30...the place was filling up fast. We had chairs, a space blanket I bought at the AKC cluster on Saturday and four blankets. I was bundled up in my down jacket (with balaclava and down hood on my head); and my LL Bean fleece-lined jeans. I look bulky, but I was warm! The parade was cool...they had 130 entrants, lots of floats, dogs walking, including the ever-present Newfie Club....they even had cows walking in the parade! Saw Mike Brodeur and Russ with the Danielson BPOE and Rachael Johnston walking with some group.

I don't know what is more fun, watching the parade, or being in it. I think being in it is more fun, because we would dance, sing and holler out to people we knew in the crowd. I wish we had a float in the parade this year. Maybe we can get something going next year.

Got word today that Russ' dog, Kelly, passed away. I have no idea what happened, she was so young! She had just injured her leg and had surgery for torn MCL or ACL...I forget which. And now she's gone. So sad.

Well..I have to get ready to go to the studio to help the Baton Boys. Tomorrow I go to work for training and then to see Dr. Sansone. I'm going to give her a big hug for curing me of the "shits." It's been a long time since I have been "regular" and I'm loving it! I sleep most of the night now and I'm not always having to think about going to the bathroom whenever I go out to places...it's wonderful.

So, she gets a hug. And hopefully, so does Dr. DiSilvestro when I see him Wednesday afternoon, which brings us full circle for this entry....so I'll sign off.

Later!

Landry Has Crossed the Bridge

Received this news from Carol and Mark tonight....

"our hearts are heavy tonight. We made the decision to let landry go. It was difficult but we know she is in a better place. she has had a rough couple of days and really stopped eating most everything except bites of ice cream and yesterday had a few bites of turkey. she was coughing more and had been up most of the night coughing. This morning she gave us those sad labrador eyes and we knew she was tired and ready for us to end her fight.

she went for a ride to the feed store with mark and a long walk, then came home and she and porter hunted her "beloved" mice in the woodpile with determination. she and mark then watched their last sunset together before we made the LONG drive.

For all of you who have shown your love and support during this difficult time, thank you.

she was a big part of our lives for 5 1/2 years. She was a special girl who took a piece of our hearts with her tonight. She will be greatly missed."

Carol, Mark and Porter

A piece of our Hearts

Labradors take your heart, they walk with it, sleep with it, they never let it out of their sight and when it is their time they will take a little piece of it with them to remember you by and leave a piece for you to remember them by.

author unknown

Mark and Carol rescued "Lady" (renamed her "Landry") from down South, five years ago. She was destined to be euthanized when they pulled her away from that madness and brought her to rural CT. She had a wonderful life, a wonderful family and reciprocated by being a wonderful dog. She will be missed by all who knew her, including Sandy and me.

Oh, I'm a happy camper today! For those of you who hate sports, stop reading now.

Last night, true Husky fan that I am, I laid in bed with the TV on, sound turned off, and watched the Huskies (guys) beat Kentucky in the Maui tournament...while Sandy snored on the other side of the bed.

I am so happy with this team. They are truly a TEAM...finally. No prima donnas, just guys working together, helping each other out, having fun and WINNING! So good to have the real Huskies back.

We went to Jean's last night for our first turkey dinner, today we have the second one at Rhonda's, where we will see Roxie and the kids. YAY!

Lots of fun last night. Neil and Debbie joined us this year, along with Taylor and Andrew and Ryan. We haven't had Deb to the house in ages and Neil had never been there. We laughed a lot, especially over Sandy's "Talking Tom" iPhone app, which Neil got the biggest kick out of....he immediately downloaded it to his phone to play with today.

Neil introduced me to a great diet site...myfitnesspal.com. They have an iPhone app, which I downloaded and started using right away to chart my food intake and exercise for the day. It's cool.

Yesterday I actually consumed less calories that I needed to have. I took a half hour brisk walk with the dogs and that put me under calories, despite the fact I had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc and chocolate cream pie! Interestingly, the chocolate cream pie was a lot less calories than I thought it would be!

So, I'm going to keep tracking this stuff, because it's easy and because that's what "they" say you should do when you are trying to lose/maintain weight. One of the best things you can do when you are on a diet is to track what you are eating....when you are aware of the calories you are taking in, you can make better informed decisions about what to put in your pie-hole. HAR HAR.

Sandy is complaining about how slow her computer is and I'm sitting here happily typing away on my Mac....guess what I told her.

Carol is still sick with the stomach thing and Landry is still alive, but having more and more trouble with the cough and not eating. She had corn flakes for breakfast. They give her whatever she wants...but some days she doesn't want anything. We are hoping that she doesn't die on Thanksgiving...that would ruin Thanksgiving for them for forever.

I can't imagine being sick and having to deal with having my dog dying at the same time. It's so sad....but just when we think Landry isn't going to make it through the day or night, she surprises us. Who knows?

I'm going to stop by Frog Rock today en route to Rhonda's...I'll pose with the Big Guy and have Sandy take my picture. There is a Frog Rock Facebook page and I'll post it there. They are looking for shots. I'll have to think of something funny or obscene to do with The Rock....maybe both.

Tomorrow I rest up....getting ready for Saturday. We head up to the Big E to the AKC dog show...conformation, agility and loads of vendors. We try to go every year and I always spend loads of money. I'll probably do the same this year...YAY!!! Jess is going with us and I forget who else, should be a good time. We'll see lots of folks and doggies from SNEAK and get to cheer them on in agility.

Sunday we are heading to Putnam, all bundled up for the cold, to see the Holiday Dazzle Light Parade, with Mary Anne. First time I've been a spectator at the parade, I've been in it with the folks from Dempsey for three years. Sandy has never seen the parade, period. It's a great parade....I heard they have about 120+ entries in the parade....should be a great one!

We will probably freeze our butts off, but it will be worth it! It is a fabulous parade.

Busy week next week, with training at work, visit to Dr. Sansone and the CRITICAL visit with Dr. DiSilvestro...the one I'm really looking forward to....

I'm hoping that the bowel distress I've been having the past couple of days is linked to the CT scan "beverage" and disappears soon. Dr. Sansone would have cured me then. If not, maybe that "beverage" is a key to my ongoing problems.

The trip to Dr. Di is critical because it is the source of a lot of my anxiety....I'm hoping that I come through with flying colors....clean CT scan and low CA125 level. It will get me through December, January and February....for the first time since 2008, without surgery or chemo!

I'm keeping lots of positive thoughts about this, but some sharp pains in my abdomen, which are reminiscent to those I felt before and after the cancer diagnosis, has caused some anxiety. I'm hoping that these pains are associated with the hernia...which is the best likelihood....but I have to be realistic too. It COULD be the cancer coming back.

We will find out on Wednesday.

In the meantime....fun is afoot!

Later!

To the studio yesterday to help the Baton's. Arte is a dirty old man, making growling noises at me and talking about the "tattoo she has on her back" on the air. I don't have any damned tattoo on my back. Why does it bother me that the "Yahoos" who watch their show might think he's seen my back?

Ick.......it makes me sick to think about it.

George is always the gentleman though and I had a good time bantering on the camera mike with Guy and Gary in the control room. They have a healthy disdain for everything Arte too.

Today I had to rise and shine early to get up the Providence for the CT Scan. They took me in early which was nice. They had some problems getting the fluids to go into my vein...they had to wiggle the needle around a bit and were all concerned that it might hurt me. PLEASE! That is NOTHING compared to other stuff. Anyway, it finally worked, albeit slowly and they got the tests done.

Then I had to head over to my favorite place, the lab....to get my CA 125 and the new test done. I had to ask for Colleen or Cindy, as they had to escort me to the drawing station and wait for the blood to send the test in. A woman came out and started telling me what to do. I had to ask her name....it was Colleen! Why the hell can't these idiots introduce themselves? STUPIDOS as my mother would say. I get so sick of it.

Colleen came with me to the drawing station and stood by in the hall. I was civil to the woman in the drawing station as I always am. Civil and nothing more...ever since that woman yelled at me there I don't give them even a smile.

I noted that the chemo center is in their new site on the first floor, where they supposedly have more room and a better lay-out. All I could think of when I saw the sign on the door was that I hope I never have to go through those doors!

Came home and cleaned downstairs and am now taking a break, playing on the computer. Next up, cleaning a bit upstairs and then a nap.

We are having a closing on our house tonight, right at our dining room table. We are refinancing at a lower interest rate, a move that will shave about $300 off our mortgage payments a month. Not too bad. We'll be sure to pour that money back into the marketplace to help boost the nation's economy. Actually, before we do that, we will be putting six months of mortgage payments in savings, just in case of a really rainy day!

We'll see how long that resolution lasts.

Maureen Cedio is quitting smoking and I told her she needs to walk with me. So, hopefully we will start tomorrow as long as I get out of bed in time and it isn't raining! We will start slow and will take Rocky with us. I'm looking forward to it.

I can't believe the job Sandy and Jean did out back....the yard looks totally different! They have ripped up all the brush and junk out there. You can see all the way back to the fence now and all the way around the yard. There are new areas for us to use for different activities...maybe another water feature, maybe a bigger fire pit.....maybe put a swing out there, things like that. I took some pictures with my phone, I'll get the camera out and document what they did.

Of course, Sandy went out and raked for an hour the other day when she got home and didn't use the Dawn when she showered and of course, she got wicked poison ivy! I put a bottle of Dawn in the shower last Spring as I was sick of her getting poison ivy and moaning about it...although I have to admit she gets it really bad...if I had rashes like that I'd be doing more than moaning...

I always have to remind her to use the Dawn...but she had been getting good at remembering. She admits that this last time she didn't use it because she didn't think anything would happen....now she knows.

Jean gets bad ivy rashes too...must run in the family. They will be glad when I'm able to get out there and rake and pull up stuff like I used to do...spare them the pain.

Well...it's time to get upstairs and clean a little. I did the laundry yesterday so that's all taken care of....now it's vacuuming and sink cleaning time. Then I crawl under that new down comforter and nap.....yay!

Later!

Been a busy week. Tuesday night Jere, Janet, Jess and Jo-Anne came over to watch the game with us...what a game it was! Right down to the wire baby! It was so exciting! I was so happy to see the freshmen and Heather Buck step up big time in this game...it bodes well for the future.

Worked around the house on Wednesday and took it easy. On Thursday I had to bring the dogs down to Sandy at work as they had vet appts in the afternoon and then we went out to their PT appointments from there. All are doing well and I got a good picture of Rocky in the treadmill at PT and posted it on Facebook.

Friday Sandy was off from work to get stuff done in the yard. I had an eye appointment in the morning with Dr. McKay. Found out that I have cataracts growing in both eyes. Figures. I'm a Miller and the Millers have cataracts. I'll be going to pick out new frames next week I guess.

I think I'm going to get away from the metal frames for awhile...the trend right now is to go with horned rims or colors, like when I was in high school. As my mother always said, "wait and it becomes fashionable again."

Friday night Charmine and Pat came over and we drove out to Foxwoods for the Kathy Griffin show. We met up with Jean and Dorothy and all went to California Kitchen for dinner. Good meals.

The show was fabulous....I wore my belly band and held myself when I was laughing...but I still felt like I busted a few stitches. After the show I bought some KG "merch" and thought I put my wallet in my purse. I caught up with Sandy, Charmine and Pat and we headed to get some gelatos on our way out. When we got there, my wallet was missing!

I went back and talked to a Security Guard, he directed me to the Security center and I told them what happened. Just then the doors to the theater opened up and all the security guards who had been working the show exited...one of them was carrying my wallet! AM I LUCKY OR WHAT???!!! That's the second time I've lost that wallet in a public place and both times I've gotten it back, with everything in it!! That never happens!

I better not lose it again.

Yesterday I went up to Lisa and Drew's house...found out they live in Colchester, very close to Charmine and Pat! I thought they lived in Cobalt! Anyway, I met them and drove up to Erin's game with Lisa and her grand daughter, Kylee. We went up to Western New England College in Springfield, where Erin's team was playing MIT.

MIT won, but Erin played well. She had 17 points for the game. I feel for her...she was such a great player in AAU and high school, and then tore her ACL twice and lost her dream of playing Div 1 ball. She plays for Wilkes College in PA, a good academic school. She's majoring in pre-med and wants to go into physical therapy....a great career.

After the game we went back to the house and the whole team joined us there for supper. I couldn't really enjoy myself too much, because I had BAD GAS....I had to keep running to the bathroom. Finally I felt like I was going to blow up, so I bid adieu and headed home, ripping off the farts the whole way....

When I got home I felt so sick, I crawled into bed despite the fact it was only 7pm and watched the Huskies play Syracuse in football. Great game that took my mind off my sick stomach.

Feel much better today. Sandy is off watching Ryan play in four lacrosse games. I'm home with the dogs, watching the Huskies and doing chores. Truman ate most of my french toast breakfast this morning....which was good because it probably was too much for me to eat anyway. I have to cut my portions in half nowadays and am still not used to that.

Tomorrow I go help the Baton Boys at the studio, Tuesday is my next CT scan and blood tests and Wednesday we go to Jean's for early Thanksgiving. Thursday we'll be up at Rhonda's with Roxie and the kids for turkey...we get to see them again.

So we have a busy week ahead....I like that!

GO HUSKIES!!!

Later!