UPDATES-UPDATES-UPDATES & Belated Happy St. Patrick's Day Pictures

Let me start on a happy note!

I am pretty much home-bound

when we are not at the cancer center.

John really can't stay alone at this point.

That has given me time to do some sorting projects

and also do some SEWING!  Yay!

Having Irish in my DNA means

that I believe in Leprechauns and all the 

hoopla that goes with St. Paddy's Day.

I don't want my kiddo's to get 

PINCHED FOR NOT WEARING GREEN

on St. Patrick's Day.

You DO KNOW about that tradition, don't you?

So--

I made Big Boy E, CharlesInCharge, CJK,

(and CJK's friend, BOB) vests and ties.

I made sweet little BRIGHT EYES a dress

with matching pantaloons and a dress for her baby doll.

Poor BigBoyE had an earache so didn't have much fun at all.

This was a fun project and I made everything in a day's time.

Those represent some of the joys in life

(except for little E's earache).

There are also some not so good times.

A couple of times I asked for prayer for my friend, Laura,

HERE as she fought an aggressive form of cancer.

Earlier this week, 

Laura crossed The Great Divide.

I choose to believe she is in Heaven 

with those that have passed before her.

She was in SO MUCH PAIN and was SO SICK

that I think it is a blessing that God took her home.

Her hubby is going to be lost without her.

He was her primary caretaker and she was his life.

Please pray for him and their adult children.

I am waiting for a full update on Dr. Bob Wagner

but my understanding is that he came through surgery just fine.

I can give you more information after I talk to his wife.

There is an update today on

The Caring Bridge about John.

For those that don't visit there here is a copy

of that update.

Well, I wish I could tell you that John is doing really well and

 that he is recovering quickly----but that wouldn't be the truth.

The truth is that the recovery is as bad as the treatment-

maybe worse in a way.  Once treatment is finished you kind 

of feel like you have crossed that rickety bridge and should 

be  'home free'.  The reality is that you are a long way from 

home and the road to get there is full of potholes and hidden

 dangers.

This morning while I was packing our stuff up to spend a

 couple of hours at the cancer center for hydration, John

 passed out.  He 'thinks' he passed out three times in the

 bathroom.  He remembers sinking slowly and I am not sure

 if he hit his head on the wall or the counter but he has a

 large patch of missing skin on his head. 

I walked into the bedroom to remind him that we needed to

 go to find him sitting on the bed with a bloodied head and

 shaky. I am good in situations like this but it took me by total

 surprise.  When I told my son, Ryan, (he of the wacky humor) he said,

 "I hope you yelled at him and told him to clean up the blood off the wall."  

As you can see, I get a lot of sympathetic support from him.

 While John does not need stitches the wound is more than a surface scratch and, when we got to the cancer center, they bandaged it so that it does not get infected.They ran some blood work, while we waited for the hydration to be finished; to make sure his numbers are okay.  Everything is within 'normal range' for someone with cancer so is able to be at home.They assured me this is quite common with patients and that we should not be overly concerned.  

That, at least, is reassuring. 

We are looking forward to continued improvement by the end of next week.  These last two weeks have been hard; hard to endure and hard to watch.  I don't like that feeling of being 'helpless' to do anything to improve things for John but that is what it is and I just do the best I can at any given moment---even if it means biting my tongue sometimes...and y'all know how good I am at THAT! (not)...lol

On a bright note- In the picture above you will see that I made vests for three of my little grandsons, Ethan, Charlie & Carlisle  and a dress for Anna Ireland.  I made a matching dress for Anna's doll and a matching vest for Carlisle's 'little buddy', BOB!  Poor Ethan had an earache and didn't enjoy the day - but you can see in the collage that the other kids all wore their outfits for the day. Noone is gonna pinch my little Irishkins on my watch!

Have a great weekend and watch for Leprechauns.  They don't really leave after St. Patrick's Day, you know.  They are in our house year round. We are hunkered in to watch some movies and mindless TV. ONE of us might doze off a bit here and there (and it is not me).  

 I want to thank you for all your prayers 

and the kindness you have shown us.

Many of you have sent cards and letters

and I apologize for not always sending you a personal

Thank You!

Just know that we read them all and John has them

by his chair and goes through them every few days.

He is still in disbelief that 

"that Nana Blog thing" 

would create friendships where people 

REALLY CARE 

about someone they have never met.

I just kind of throw his preacher stuff back at him...

Oh, Ye of little faith.

Cuz that's just the way I am!!

Have a wonderful, blessed weekend!