Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? If my cancer is back, how does it prosper me, not harm me? God says in Jeremiah 29:11, "I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you." Why now? I am teaching full-time. I Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to be thankful for everything. I am not thankful! Some day I will be, not now. Yes, I have still told God thank you. I don't' understand. I didn't understand 3 years ago, and I don't now either. True, I told God last year, that I would rather move up a stage than my sissy be above stage 1. She is only stage 1, and now I might be moving up. I won't know until May if my cancer is back or not. I've been crying and I have been questioning God. I know God has a plan, and I have to trust Him. It is going to be very hard to do. I do not like this at all.

Derm Report: Is it Back?

I was getting ready to leave school to go to my dentist appointment. I had two fillings replaced this afternoon. I checked my phone, and there were two voicemail messages. One was my dad, no big deal, and the other was my derm. I called them back, they wanted to tell me the report about my mole that was removed almost two weeks ago. She said there was no melanoma, but there were some A Typical cells. I now have an appointment for April 12 at 11:45 am for surgery, where she will numb that area of my leg, do an excise of the mole area. Stitches will be used. They will then send that info to the lab to be checked. Please pray! I told the nurse to tell my derm that a lymph node had shown up on teh CT scan, and she will tell her.

Science Fair Judging

This morning, I judged Science Fair projects for the district I teach in. Middle School was kept separate from high school. I arrived and signed in then I got to choose which level and branch of science I wanted to judge. You could not judge your own students. I didn't have any there. I chose middle school chemistry. Of the six I judged, only one was really chemistry in topic. The students were given 15 minutes to do an oral presentation and then my judging partner and I were able to ask questions. Afterwards, we conferred and decided on points for the scoring. We had to write comments on the back, and we made sure we wrote at least one positive comment. I left after eating lunch. I saw two people that I had met last year through grad school. After I left, I went to the library and then to see my brother, since today is his 33rd birthday.

Stress!

Teh behavior of my students haven't been very good. I sent home a letter today, asking parents to go over the rules nad consequences with their child and to sign the letter and return it. I have had 2 P/T conferences and would like at least one more. Certain students' behaviors are making it difficult to teach. One conference I had this week, has led to no changes in this child. I hear a lot of "this is boring", attitude and disrespect. I am not sleeping well.

No clot buster drug was needed yesterday in flushing my port. I am not feeling well, and debating or not to call off sick tomorrow. Saturday, I am planning on judging science fair projects, and I have to be there by 7:30, no sleeping in. Then I have to go and see my brother, since his birthday is on Saturday.

Next Scan

I called my Onc this morning to talk to the scheduler, and my CT scan has been scheduled for Monday, April 26. That is the week after OAT testing. I told my principal and asked the dates that we are testing and he told me.

CT Results

After I got back from the short field trip, I called my onc's office to find out the results of the CT scan I had a week ago. I did not find out til about 3:30 the results. Everything looks good,except for the lymph nodes in my pelvic area. I will have another CT scan in 3 months to see if there is any change in those lymph nodes. I am waiting to hear back from my onc's office to find out when it will be.

Physical

I had my physical this afternoon by my doctor. This is the not fun doctor's appointment. My left ear was almost blocked due to all of the wax. I was told to quit eating potatoes, pasta, and bread. That is going to be very hard to do. I will not completely stop eating those, I will cut way back on them. I like pasta and pizza. If I do pasta or bread at lunch, then try not to eat any of that for supper. I will just have to play and figure it out. I also need to cut back on my salt intake as well. I don;t use as much salt as my dad, though. This is all to help in trying to loose weight. I also need to increase my movement activity.

Saw the Dermatologist

This afternoon, was my 6 month checkup with my dermatalogist. She does a complete skin check on my body. Last spring, a mole popped up on the inside of my right knee. I didn't say anything to her in July. I have checked it periodically since it has popped up. I said something to her today, and she took it off, just to play it safe. She doesn't think it is anything, but she will send it out to be checked. It was just a small mole. I will get the results in a couple of weeks.

Today's CT Scan

I started the preparation for today's CT scan last night at 10:40 pm, by drinking the first third of the yucky stuff. I took a 30 minute nap before then, since I was tired and ready to go to bed.
I was over at the hospital about 10:30, since I was scheduled at 10:40 for my CT scan. I was called around 11 am to go back. I was given a bag of ice to ice the area on my skin where my port is located. The nurse got the needle in, and my port flushed, but it would not return any blood. I called my mom, since she was upstairs visiting a friend. The nurse called over to the cancer center, and talked to one of my nurses. They called the doctor to order a dose of the clot buster. Mom and I walked over to the cancer center, and had to wait about 10 minutes before going back to a chair. I was given the sterilized needle, for my nurse to use, when she accessed my port. I was given the dose of the clot buster about 12:15 pm. I have had quite a bit of water, by that time. 30 minutes later, my nurse was able to get blood to return, and gave me a dose of heparin. I called my mom, since she left to have lunch with my dad, and I walked back over to radiology at the hospital. I got back just before 1 pm, and was done by 1:30 with my CT scan. I left the hospital 3 hours after I arrived. I will call my onc in about a week for the results of the scan.
I am not supposed to see my onc until May, but that might change after he gets the report of my port not returning blood and having to receive a dose of the clot buster. I have a feeling that my port will be coming out sometime this year, which means the nurses will get to have fun, trying to access my veins for blood and CT scans. That I will not be looking forward to.

Master Contents of Each Book of the Bible

OLD TESTAMENT
Pentateuch
In Genesis the world was made.
In Exodus the march was told;
Leviticus contains the law.
In Numbers are the tribes enrolled;
In Deuteronomy again
We're urged to keep God's law alone.
And these five books of Moses make
The oldest writing that are known.
Historical Books
Brave Joshua to Canaan leads.
In Judges oft the Jews rebel;
We read of David's name in Ruth.
And First and Second Samuel;
In First and Second Kings we read
How bad the Hebrew state became;
In First and Second Chronicles,
Another history of the same.
In Ezra captive Jews return.
While Nehemiah builds the wall;
Queen Esther saves her race from death.
These books "Historical" we call.
Poetical Books

In Job we read of patient faith.
In Psalms are David's songs of praise;
The Proverbs are to make us wise;
Ecclesiastes next portrays
How vain fleeting earthly pleasures are;
The Song of Solomon is all
About the Love of God, and these
Five books "Poetical" we call.
Prophetical Books
Isaiah tells of Christ to come,
While Jeremiah tells of woe.
And in his Lamentations mourns
The Holy City's overthrow.
Ezekiel speaks of mysteries.
While Daniel foretells kings of old;
Hosea calls mean to repent;
In Joel, judgements are foretold.
Amos tells of wrath, and Edom
Obadiah is sent to warn.
While Jonah shows how Christ should rise.
And Micah where He should be born;
In Nahum, Nineveh is seen
In Habakkuk, Chaldea's guild;
Zephaniah, Judah's sins.
Haggai, the temple's built.
Zechariah tells of Christ.
An Malachi of John, his signs.
The Prophets number seventeen.
And all the books are thirty-nine.

NEW TESTAMENT
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Tell of Christ, His life they trace;
Acts shows the Holy Spirit's work;
And Romans how we're saved by grace.
Corinthians instructs the church.
Galatians shows God's grace alone;
Ephesians, how we are "in Christ,"
Philippians, Christ's joys made known.
Colossians portrays Christ exalted.
And Thessalonians tells the end.
In Timothy and Titus both
Are rules for pastors to attend.
Philemon pictures charity.
Thirteen Epistles, penned by Paul.
The Jewish law prefigured Christ;
And Hebrews clearly shows it all.
James shows that faith by works must live.
And Peter urges steadfastness,
While John exhorts to Christian love;
And those who live it, God will bless.
Jude shows the end of evil men,
While Revelation tells of heaven.
These end the whole New Testament,
In all, they number twenty-seven.

The above is from What the Bible is all about Bible Handbook. It is written by Dr. Henrietta C. Mears.

More Port Fun

In October, had problems getting my port to flush, had to have one dose of a clot buster, just so my port would flush. I had to fast about 12 hours between last night and this morning, because of have blood drawn this morning. I needed labs done for two reasons: next CT scan is January 15, and my physical is 5 days after that on the 20th. I ended up 20 minutes late, but I did call them to them I was running late, because I had to go back home to get both of my doctor's orders for my labs.

My favorite nurse was there, of which I knew she would be, and she forgot to show me a pic of her baby, as you continue to read, you will understand why, she forgot. Another one I like was there as well, and they both were my nurses this morning. My glove of ice was ready for me, when I was walked to the back. I iced my port, and was ready to be stuck by the needle. My nurse put in the needle, and got nothing. She took it out, and got a new one. She still got nothing. My port would not flush. The other nurse came over, jiggled the needle, and after giving me some heparin was able to get my port to flush, but got no blood return. So they put in an order for the clot buster. I was given the clot buster about 10:15. 30 minutes later, one came over, tried, and nada, no blood return. She waited about another 30 minutes, and they tried again, still nada. It is now between 11:15 and 11:30, I am getting hungry. I've had nothing to eat or drink since about 8 pm last night. I am given another dose of the clot buster. I get up use the RR and walk down to the middle nurses station to get a cup of ice water to drink. Come back and mess with the tv. A little after twelve, one of the nurses tries again and voila! she gets some blood to return. Draw the vials of blood that is needed, and gets some more heparin to flush my port with.

I leave around 12:30, go pick up a friend to go out to lunch, after lunch meet up with my best friend and her kids at McD's for a visit. Left there about 4:30 to head for home. I get home after 5 pm, check in over at the Cancer care place to get a report on my labs. Wonderful news, all of my counts are normal. That is good. Back in July, my white blood count finally hit normal of 4.0. Today, my white blood count is at 4.1. That is a low normal, but is still normal. Will take awhile for counts to get back up to where they were before I ever started Interferon.

Merry Christmas

I had a very enjoyable Christmas. I got a new card game called, Monopoly Deal, for my birthday, back in July. Finally learned how to play it yesterday. Played a couple of hands yesterday, and probably played close to 20 hands today. I actually won a few games this evening. Dad and played for almost 3 hours this evening.

Played a joke on The Entertainment yesterday. She got an ice cream cake for my her bday the day before, but we didn't eat it. So after supper yesterday, I texted her saying that we ate her ice cream cake and it was very good. She believed me and her mom kept saying that we were playing a joke on her. We thought it was funny. This morning, for her last gift, she had to go on a scavenger hunt to find her gift. We had to give her some hints in helping her to figure out the clues. She enjoyed doing the scavenger hunt. She had asked if she had to find one of her gifts. We never really answered that question.

Watched the movie "Faith Like Potatoes" this afternoon. Was pretty good, but hard at times to understand a couple of the characters, due to their accent.

Saw my brother this morning. He had to put on one of his new pajama tops and then two other tshirts over that. I took pics.

The Reason for the Season

Christmas and Easter are my two favorite holidays. Christmas is when the first gift was given to us, in the form of baby Jesus. God first gave to us, and I love to give to others. My love language is words, but I show my love by giving to others.

I love Easter, because that is when we celebrate what Christ did for us on the cross, then was buried in a tomb, and three days later, rose again from the grave. One of my favorite worship songs is "Here am I to Worship". We sang part of that song this morning in church. We even sang one of my favorite Christmas hyms, "Angels We Have Heard on High".

I hope all who read this, has a wonderful Christmas this year, and I hope you remember why we even get to celebrate Christmas.

Self-Contained Again

Christmas Break has started, and I am so ready for it! I am going to enjoy my two wees away from school, so my batteries can recharge. When I go back on January 4, there will be two weeks left of the grading period and semester. Starting Tuesday, January 19, I will be self-contained again. I will be teaching all the subjects to my students. It did not work to switch. We will talk and try to plan a bit. There is a lot of work to be done to be ready for the OAT the third week of April!!!!!

I Played a Joke

I played a joke on one of my students today. I thought it was funny. My student was a good sport. Yesterday, at lunch ( I ate with a few of the teachers 3 days this week), one of the teachers found a toy grasshopper in her salad. I thought it was real. It was meant for one of my grade-level partner, but it didn't get into her salad. I took the grasshopper from her this morning, and stuck the toy grasshopper, just inside my student's desk this morning, and waited for her to see it. She saw it during reading, and I laughed. I got a good reaction out of my student. I knew I would, because she had a fit when there was a bee in the classroom, back in September.

My Day

I had a student withdrawal yesterday to move to another district. He is actually moving.
I had a sub this afternoon, for training on a certain program we got through a grant. My kids will start using it tomorrow. I have noticed that some kids will rush and not do their best so they can get on the computer. I had a break around the time my kids were at the RR after lunch/recess. I go use the RR myself, come out and two girls start hanging off of me begging me to come back to class. I was laughing it was funny. None of our subs had an easy time teaching Distributive property to the kids. So their test will now be on Monday, so we can teach it tomorrow. I made up a new worksheet this afternoon for them to do tomorrow. You know, they will treat me the same way tomorrow, not very nicely.
After school, meet my sis and mom to check out the decorated trees at John S. Knight Center. Get to class, to see a list of chapters to read for the final that is in two weeks and two papers that are due in two weeks. I also have an article critique due on the 2nd. You should guess what I will be doing this weekend. Writing 3 papers. Not fun at all!

4 month Onc checkup

I saw my onc this afternoon. Guess what? I don't have to see him again for another 6 months! Yeah! I was weighed and I only gained 5 pounds in the past 4 months. That is pretty good. I will try to loose weight again. My blood pressure was good, but I think the top number was slightly high. Blood work will be done at the end of December. Getting a CT scan on January 15.
I forgot to say something and my onc forgot about having to get my port flushed. I went next door to get my port flushing scheduled through April. Then I went to the back to see which of my nurses were working. My favorite was there. She went ahead and flushed my port this afternoon, instead of me having to show up on Wednesday for it to be flushed. I so had missed seeing my favorite nurse.

Today, was our Halloween costume parade around the playground and party in the classroom. I wore this headband all afternoon. Mom and Gma came to watch the parade and I introduced my kids to them.

Problems with my Port

This past Tuesday, was my monthly port flushing. The nurse was able to stick the needle into the port, but the port would not send back any blood. Another nurse, kinda took the needle out, and put it back in, moved it around, but no blood would do anything. One of the nurses put in a dose of a clot buster. Had to sit and wait about 20-30 minutes for it take affect. After than, they were able to get blood, then were able to flush it. Whenever my port is flushed, I am given a dose of heperin. This was the first time, this has happened with my port.

Changes

We are making some changes in my grade at school, starting tomorrow. We will be changing for 3 subjects, writing, science and social studies. Each one of those will be taught for 30 minutes just about every day. We are doing this so we can do flexible grouping in reading and math. By doing flexible grouping, we are hoping the students will learn the concepts and will help in the test scores come spring.

We will now, also all be using the same reward system, tickets. The students will be able to earn and loose tickets.