Joan on the Road

The family celebrated Jim's birthday yesterday with a BBQ at Renee and Tom's. Ribs, chicken, beans, cheesy potatoes and a Dairy Queen cake were enjoyed by all. Thanks to Tom and Renee for providing another wonderful party time in the midst of all their projects (house painting, gardening, car repair...yikes).

The kids surprised Jim with a Nintendo Wii. We've all enjoyed the bowling game at Renee's and thought that it might be a lot of fun for us. Jim hooked it up this morning and after 2 games of bowling a 3 holes of golf we were pooped! I am really out of shape when this bit of activity leaves me winded. So it's a very good thing for us to be doing and it had us laughing a lot....another good thing.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy and his girl.

Here's Great-grandson Evan, now 3.5 years old. He was playing baseball with the big boys.

As always, we enjoyed family time and watching the antics of Evan who alternates between Mr. Sweetness and Puck's Bad Boy. He was very helpful in gift opening and candle blowing. When Naomi told him they were going to Grandma's for a party he asked, "Whose birthday is it this time?"

Next big gathering will be for Zach's graduation and we'll be ready to bowl a 300 game!

Posted by Joan at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ahhh! The noisy, impolite neighbors are gone! Actually, the people didn't make much noise but they sure were not aware of campground etiquette.

The layout of this park on our street puts the back ends of coaches overlapping about four feet with about ten feet between coaches. For privacy this seems to work well.. But the neighbors coach had the water heater right by my bedroom window. So if I was sleeping lightly it would bounce me awake off and on. Well that's pretty minor, just an irritation.

What really got us going was the Sunday morning that we're enjoying a lazy breakfast and the guy fires up his generator which is right next to the water heater! So we think....give him a break....maybe 5 minutes. When it's going on 15 minutes, Jim goes out and asks him how come he's running his generator?

"Oh, I just like to run it for an hour or so once a month, for maintenance."

"Don't you know your gassin' out the neighbors?"

"Yeah, but I need to....OHHHH is that bothering you?"

"Well Yeah!!!!!!!"

So a few minutes later he turns off the generator. Not only is there a "rule" against running generators in this park, it's just plain neighborliness not to do it. A few weeks later he had to run his deisel engine for awhile. We were just about ready to knock on his door for that when he shut it off.

This same couple had two little dogs that barked all the time when left alone. We are soooo glad see them pull out.

Posted by Joan at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finally, I'm in the last phase of this breast cancer saga. I started radiation therapy today. It's seems like forever since that diagnosis back in October....words you don't want to hear. Eight months later, after surgery and chemo therapy I get 33 days worth of radiation.

I guess I was very apprehensive about this but the actual radiation sessions are almost non events. I had two pre-appointments where the radiation therapists do scans, take pictures and mark up the chest (aka boob) area to indicate where the radiation beams should go. So when I look in the mirror I am not a pretty sight. But in a few days they will put on small permanent tatoos and all the magic marker spots will go away. At least that's what they say!

The actual radiation session is just a few minutes. No loud banging like an MRI, no beams flashing, just a few soft buzzes and the machine moves around and buzzes again. I couldn't believe how quick it was. The only downer is that I have to go in every day for 33 days. I just go on weekdays so it works out to about 7 weeks and I'll be done around July 10th.

Hopefully, in that time frame, my hair will start to grow back and the light at the end of the tunnel will grow brighter :)

Posted by Joan at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in the day, I was a corporate consultant and trainer leading classes in problem solving, team building, leadership and such. My favorite class and the one that had a tremendous impact on individual students was the personality style assessments. I was certified to do the Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator and we (my company) also had our own informal style assessment.

We would often have students come to us after class and ask if they could get a copy of the assessment to have their spouse or significant other take it. Why? Because understanding your own personality style and that of your SO can open up doors of communication and lead to a much improved relationship.

Jim and I know this from personal experience. In one of our Amway adventures we did the style assessment as part of our team. We'd been married 20+ years at the time but it was a marriage changing experience. Suddenly we understood that aspects of our personalities that irritated each other were actually strengths.

The first time I took a style assessment and got the feedback report I told my boss I felt like I'd been to a psychiatrist. No one ever understood me like that report did :)

So yesterday I was cruisin' the internet and found that I could take a style assessment based on Myers-Briggs on line and get a free short report. I wondered if after many years and a lifestyle change....would I come out the same style? Yep! Still the same.

So what am I? An Idealist or in Myers-Briggs terms and ENF(J/P). I focus on what could be over what is. I am a peacemaker. I want everyone to be happy and fulfill their potential. I'm quite amiable and nurturing. I focus on the best in people and have a strong desire to help them achieve their goals. All sounds good. But to some, I'm a woos, a doormat. I hate interpersonal conflict and go to extremes to avoid it.

I get a real kick out of taking the assessment and finding that I'm still the same...and it's OK. You can take the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (based on Myers-Briggs) and get a free two-paage report online or pay if you want more info. Click on the box in the upper right corner. Who knows? Might be life changing for you.

Posted by Joan at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On June 6-7 my former daughter-in-law, Jan, will be walking in the Avon Two Day Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago. I am honored that she is walking in my name. I know she must be going through training to walk the 39 miles. Also, she's commited to raising $1800.

If you'd like to contribute to this walk you can click here and make a pledge in honor of someone you know or love with breast cancer. If you want to send a check just leave me a comment and I'll forward mailing info.

I often thought of making this walk when we lived in CA but never had the absolute motivation to do it, to make the training commitment. Little did I know where I'd be in 10-20 years! Thanks, Jan, for honoring me in this way and for walking for all of us.

Posted by Joan at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A perfect Mother's Day is when I connect with all my kids. We went out to Renee and Tom's for a small family gathering. Jim came over and Laura called while we were there. Perfect! It was a beautiful weather day and I really enjoyed getting out and about even on day 5 after chemo. Tom fixed BBQ chicken, Bryan made baked beans and we cooked sweet corn. It all tasted pretty good but the best was the corn. Tasted perfect.

A few weeks ago we had our April family birthday party and Tom captured a couple of good group shots. I've been wanting to post this so you all can see my wonderful family, support team and cheering section.

There was a bit of party silliness going on so I was amazed at how quickly the group got together and said "cheese" for this shot! Thanks to all :)

Posted by Joan at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I decided that yesterday was a really good exercise for me...a challenge. I was tired but did a lot getting us ready for the road and then set up again. It renewed my faith that we'll get through this and we can have a life on the road again. I slept like a rock for 5 hours and woke up with lots of energy.

Of course, I did get a red cell booster shot on Monday because my red count was low. So that helped me out. Today I felt very good and ready for the final chemo. Now it's done and I've got the ball rolling to get the radiation started June 1. 30 days (6 weeks) of that and I'm done.

Another thing I realized after yesterday is that I must get out of the house every day. Put on my lipstick and wig, got to the store, the mall, whatever....and walk, be with people, have a snack. I babied myself a lot during the fever time and lost energy and will. Time to shape up :) I think walking the mall might be a good thing for me. I get bored walking around the park, but the energy in the mall seems good to me right now...as long as I don't spend any money!

Posted by Joan at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't know why it's such a big deal to move the house for a chassis oil change...but it is! When we're really on the road it's just part of the life to break camp and go someplace else. Maybe it's because we've been sitting for awhile and with all that's going on, our little house is the one constant comfort :)

We were packed up and over at the Ford dealer by 10:30. They said they'd be done in and hour and darned if they weren"t. Hardly enough time to recover from packing it in!

While we waited we hit the Main Place mall to check out new pillows. Last week, when doing laundry, we took off the pillow cover and ...yikes!....the foam is falling apart after about 3 years. So we're shopping for contoured foam pillows. We really love the S-shape that gives good lift to the neck when sleeping on side or back. Pretty pricey things though so we'll keep looking.

We stopped for a snack to tide us over. I had a Cinnabon (bad stuff) and Jim had a hot dog with an Orange Julius. We agreed that the OJ and the bun are not what they used to be...too bad!

Unfortunately, Jim found the dash AC is not working again. The first thing we'll do is take the switch out and see if there is any "schmutz" in there mucking up the works. You can read about our last AC/schmutz adventure here.

After our active (for me) day we were set up by 3 PM then watched a couple of old Startrek Enterprise shows we'd never seen with a little liquid refreshment. Then we popped over to Katella Grill where I had a delicious pot roast dinner. It's your typical American Dinner with Blue Plate specials. We have a frequent diner card so my roast was free!

Tomorrow is my last chemo. It's all uphill from there!!!!!!

Posted by Joan at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three weeks! Sorry I've not written. Time flies even when you're not having fun!! BUT GOOD NEWS FIRST! Jim had an xray half way through his chemo and his tumors have decreased in size!!! One is gone, one is down 50%, one is down 30%. So his protocol is working !!! Joyous news!

In the third round of chemo I got a "gut" infection and fever. I couldn't bore you with all the details...I couldn't even find the energy to push the keyboard keys! Ten days of fever around 101 was very draining. So was the diahrea. I wound up getting IVs at the doctors office and felt better. We hoped I'd get through the bug without antibiotics because of my allergy issues but finally gave in and started on azithromycin four days ago. So far no issues with that and I'm feeling quite a bit better.

Cultures did not show any specific problems and my blood counts were ok throughout this episode. I'm glad to be on the upswing....just in time for the fourth AND FINAL chemo infusion next week. I'm apprehensive about what new wrinkle may crop up. I do just thank my doctor that I've had no nausea. She's taking very good care of me!

A couple of you dear readers have complimented me on my good attitude and I thank you. I do try. I guess that's why I just couldn't put hands to keyboard...because I felt like a whiny baby. Who needs to read about that :)

Jim, the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going on with barely any side effects. Man, were we naive, thinking that we could get through both of us having chemo with little help. If we both felt like I do we'd be having one of our kids stop in every day!!! Lucky for us it's working out OK.

Our feet are itchy for travel but that's not in the works for several more months. Only travel in the future is to get the oil changed. That will be an adventure :)

Posted by Joan at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)