My New Hole

Actually, I'm not sure if it is a hole, but I did hear the derm say something about doing about 2 cm on Thursday. Thursday morning, I had minor surgery on the back of my right knee. Little more around the area of the removed mole was taken and sent to pathology to be tested for cancer cells. I received 6 stitches with at least a couple of them under the skin. There is a bandage over the area. I gt the stitches out on March 1. I try to keep my leg elevated when I can. I do have to be careful with my right leg.

My TX Visit

I had no problem leaving for TX last Thursday. I left snow for snow. Dallas area received a record breaking 12 inches of snow that day. My sub that I had requested didn't show up, and a different sub got to school about 10:30 on Thursday. Kids didn't' like him, I heard he was like a drill Sargent, which kept them in line.

I had fun with my friend's 15 month old. I took over a 150 pictures. The whole Dallas area had no school on Friday. So we met up with another friend for lunch on Friday at Jason's Deli. I took a bunch of books and a few cassettes down with me to sell back to Half-Price Books and only got $5 for the whole lot. For supper Friday night, we made tacos with ground turkey, and they were good. Saturday afternoon, went over to Stonebriar Mall and met up with our friend for some shopping. We parted ways about 4:30, then we went to the theatre to buy our tickets for "Valentine's Day". That was a pretty good movie. Afterwards had supper at Cristina's which is a Mexican restaurant.

Sunday morning was church at The Heights Baptist Church. Pastor Gary preached from Deuteronomy 6:4-6. It was a very good sermon. I had been looking forward to hearing him preach. I didn't yawn, and I usually yawn during the sermon. For lunch, we ate at Genghis Grill. I like that place. Spent about an hour at Family Christian Bookstore. I bought a movie starring John Schneider and we watched it that afternoon. Made spaghetti with ground turkey for supper.

Monday morning, went for a walk in the neighborhood, was cold. I was at the airport by 1 pm and had no problem getting home.

Saturday, my niece texted me to tell me that she and her mom were in an accident. My sis spent the weekend in the hospital and came home yesterday afternoon. My niece is fine, but my sis broke her left kneecap. She had surgery Sunday morning. They are both here at my parent's house.

Change with my next Derm appointment

During tutoring this afternoon, my phone went off, the vibrating bothered them. After tutoring, I checked my voice mail and it was my derm calling me. They had a cancellation, and now I am seeing her on Thursday, February 18 instead of April 12. She will excise a little more and do measurements around the area where the mole was removed. It will take about 30 minutes. I am going to take the day off from school, but be at school by the end of the day, for interim pick-up. I really need to talk to parents.

I have students who start an assignment in class, don't finish it, but them don't even take it home to finish. I am giving them zeros for that, and grades are much lower than they would otherwise be, because of the zeros.

I am leaving snow and going to snow. North TX is expecting 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow. Praying that I will have no problem flying down to Dallas tomorrow. I didn't leave school til about 5:35 today. I graded papers, redid my sub plans for tomorrow, and for next Tuesday, for just in case.

Getting Ready for TX

We had a snowstorm over the weekend, and in the midst of another one. Today's staff meeting was postponed for a week, because of the weather. I still didn't leave school til about 5 pm. I had to get my valentine's gifts for my kids ready and passed out to their box/bag. My sub lesson plan and papers are ready for tomorrow or Thursday depending on whether we have school tomorrow. I also have plans ready for Tuesday, if I have a problem getting home on Monday from TX. This past Saturday, received about 14 inches of snow or slightly more, and did not get driveway plowed til after 11 am. Will see about tomorrow. I am praying that I will have no problem leaving on Thursday. I still have to pack my suitcase for Thursday.

Deer

I wasn't far from home early this morning. I was driving on Ridgewood Rd when I see deer crossing the road and one hit my car. I have two dents, and the biggest one is on my driver's side door. Will be getting it fixed next week. I am fine.

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.