Thoughts on a Saturday Morning

Sitting here, eating breakfast, I'm thinking about this last week and some of the things that happened. This last weekend, I thought we were going to lose our dog, Darby. He's fifteen years old, and on Saturday evening, he just quit moving. He wouldn't come up the stairs to our bedroom when it was time for bed, (He has to sleep in the room with us) and he really struggled to even go outside to relieve himself. His appetite was still good and he was drinking enough water. I couldn't help thinking I was going to have to have him put to sleep. The idea of that was just too much, especially after losing Sherman. So, I took him to the veterinarian on Monday. I told her what had been going on. She checked him out and found out he had injured his back, probably bounding up our stairs. He still thinks he's a puppy. Anyway, she gave him some steroids and muscle relaxants, and he's back to his old self. Thank goodness!!

On Wednesday, I went to the Huntsman Cancer Center for my third infusion of Zometa. It's really odd how hard a time I have going there. It brings back too many memories of being on chemotherapy and all that that entailed. Once I get to the infusion room, and meet the nurse who will be doing the infusion, I relax and I'm okay. The nurses that are there, remember me, and are so nice. We usually have a good visit, which makes me feel great. The infusion itself only takes about a half hour, but with blood work, etc. I can expect to be there at least an hour and a half to two hours. I'm very glad I'm taking part in this clinical trial, because it will at least help me keep my bones strong, but hopefully it will be an answer to helping women avoid bone cancer after having breast cancer.

Thursday, Pat took our grandson to the optician to get a new lense in his glasses. The optician's

office is in a medical building, so they're walking to the office when Colin notices that one of the signs on an office is 'Plastic Surgeon'. He asks Pat what a plastic surgeon does, and after some explanation, Colin asks him if anyone in our family has ever had plastic surgery, so Pat tells him that I'll be having some this fall. Then Colin asks him why. Pat tells him that I have a lot of scars on my chest from the surgery I had last winter, so the plastic surgeon is going to fix them and make my chest like new. Colin thinks about that for a miute, then says "That's got to hurt!"

Out of the mouths of babes!!

Yesterday, I met my friend, Kay VanKampen, for lunch. She and I have been friends since our college days. We try to get together at least once every two or three months for lunch and a good visit. She still lives in Ogden and since I live in Bountiful, we compromise and meet in Layton for lunch. They have alot of great restaurants, so we have some good choices. Yesterday, we went to McCool's Public House. It's an Irish restaurant/bar, and she'd never been there. The food was great and we had a good visit. It was a nice ending to a busy week.

And so goes life. My thought for the week is, "Love is a present that can be given every single day you live."

August Rush

That's the title of one of my favorite movies. Why I titled this post that, I don't know, except that Ausgust is rushing by and so is summer, and I don't know where it went. My last post was dated July 17th and the last month has been a rush of activity. Pat and I left for Illinois on July 23rd. We took our grandson, Colin, with us. It was a major roadtrip (three 7 hour days). I was really worried about how Colin would make the trip, but he was a real trooper. We kept him plied with movies, Nintendo DS games and books, and he was quite happy. After our first day, we pulled off the freeway in Sidney, Nebraska, and he asked Pat, "Grandpa, how long would it take on an airplane?" Pat answered, "3 hours". I could see Colin's wheels turning, and I said, "Yes, Colin, we'd be there by now, but heaven forbid that we miss the adventure of the roadtrip." Personally, I'd take the plane anyday. The trip along I80 to Illinois has to be one the most boring, least scenic trips ever. Miles and miles of nothing but flat, flat barren land. It really doesn't get very interesting till you get into Iowa, but who am I to complain. I'm just along for the ride, whether I want to be or not.

Our visit in Illinois was alot of fun. Pat's Aunt Catherine had a 90th birthday party on July 26th. So that was our first stop. We spent three days in Urbana, Illinois visiting with alot of family and friends who had made the trip to help her celebrate. Her actual birthday is today, August 27th, but the party was held in July because more people could come then. It was great seeing so much family, many of whom we hadn't seen in a long time. After our stay in Urbana,

we went to Savanna, Illinois, and stayed with Pat's sister, Pam and her husband, Jon, for a week. Colin had a great time, because he got to meet and play with alot of cousins that he had never met before.

We got back to Utah on August 5th. It was great to get back home, but we found out one of our cats disappeared the weekend before we got home. Pat, of course, was ecstatic. He hates cats. I'm still in mourning. Sherman was such a cool cat, and I just can't figure it out. If I knew what had happened to him, I might get some closure, but I don't. I've been checking with the animal control and the humane society, in case he got picked up, but nothing. I just hope he found a new home, with people who love him.

We were home long enough to wash clothes and read the mail, then we FLEW to Sacramento to visit some of our friends that we hadn't seen for more than a year. We spent three days with them and had a fun time. They were heading to Alaska for an Inland Passage cruise from Seward, Alaska to Victoria, Canada three days after we left. I was kind of envious, but we all began planning our next European vacation, once this year is behind me. We're going to take a river cruise down the Danube, probably next spring. It will be my celebration trip for getting through 2009.

This last month has been the "Get out of Dodge" month. It's the first time in a year that I've been able to go anywhere other than the Huntsman Cancer Center, and it's been so nice to be free to just do what I want to do, without doctor's appointments, etc. to contend with. I still have my reconstructive surgery to look forward to, but that won't be till October, so till then, I'm enjoying getting back to some normalcy.