It's My Life

I checked into Cancer-World this week. I hate checking in there! Even though I appear healthy and feel healthy, you just never know what is going on inside the body. There is so much stress about checking in. First of all, you are scared witless that something might me found. Then there is the stress of waiting....you do all of your test one day and wait for several days to find out the results. Monday morning, The Boy went with me to the hospital for my testing. I had to take three test; Lab work on 2 different CAT scans. The Lab work went smoothly, but three viles full of blood is  a lot!  I hate the paperwork. I use to be able to say NO to all the history questions. Besides weighing too much, I have always been healthy. Not any longer...Now I have to say YES. My first shock of the morning was when we hit the radiology department and they brought me out TWO glasses of liquid to drink. I am not sure what type of contrast they mixed with a very dilu...

 Our summer sports live came crashing to a halt last night. The Boy, who was finishing his double double-header, got hit by a pitch on his first at-bat of his second baseball game of the night.  Of course I notice after he is hit that he is not wearing his Evo-Shield, but then I realize the Evo-Shield would have protected his elbow and not his wrist, which is where he was hit. He normally bounces back from these things and steals a few bases as his way of saying, "Take that!"  But not last night. He had to be given a pinch runner. We iced it. It still hurt. He still could not move it. Unfortunately, we only had 9 players last night. And after a little in-between inning drama, The Boy, took the field for the second inning. He wore a hat, but had no glove on. He held an ice pack. He had to take the field or we would have to forfeit. The Boy was not going to let that happen. We waited out the game, which we won. Then we headed to the Emergency Room. One is a littl...

Have you ever done something you knew you shouldn't? I am doing it right now.  And I know I am going to pay for it later! But, I am still doing it. Why? Because it is so yummy!! I learned to make the best iced coffee today and I have to tell you I am in HEAVEN! Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman posted an article on her blog about how to make the perfect iced coffee. I love iced coffee, but I could never get it right. I would brew the coffee, pour it over ice, and it would melt the ice. I could never get it cold enough without watering it all down.  Ree's article shows a cold brew method of making the coffee, that works great for putting it over ice. I brewed some cold coffee this morning and I knew I should have stopped at one iced tea today, but then I had a second. But, now that my housework is done, I am ready for the week, and swimming with the family is over, I am sneaking in  a third one! You can find this tutorial at The Pioneer Woman,  Iced Coff...

We have not spent a weekend at home, in our house, in over a month. When we have not been out of town, we have played in baseball tournaments that have kept us away from our home from early until bedtime. So, this weekend, we invited my mother up and declared this weekend a home weekend. So, here is my Saturday in pictures. At 6:00 a.m. I got new tires put on my car. By 6:30 I was having breakfast with The Husband, My Father-in-Law, and my Mother.  After that I got stuck in the rain storm while shopping. My next stop was the City Market with my Mother, kids, and my junior high best friend. If you are ever in Kansas City on a Saturday, I highly recommend you stop by the City Market area. The sites, the smells, and the taste are unbelievably fresh! We picked up fresh onions, limes, jalapenos, cilantro, asparagus, beets, squash, peppers, cabbage, carrots, cherries, and even some fresh tea leaves. I can hardly wait until my next weekend at home, so I can go back! While we...

Yesterday was a crazy day for us. The Boy played in three sporting events in just a few hours. 3:00 p.m. Staley Freshman played basketball against Smithville. Staley won. In the last minute. I kid you not. We were losing by 7 with a minute left and ended up winning. It was a great game. This is The Boy, making a basket in his first game. The Boy then played a second game of basketball at 5:00 p.m.. This is The Boy, missing a shot in the second game. Staley Freshman played Park Hill South. Staley won this game as well. At 8:30 p.m. The Boy and The Hawks played a game of baseball. This is The Boy, warming up and switching gears. Notice he has glasses on. He needs them now to see the ball. This photo is The Boy's error in the game. NO, this is not warm up. The Boy and his friend, sitting out. The Hawks were down 7 to 1. We rallied back. Hawks had the last at bat.  I know I just posted about enjoying close games more than a blow out. Karma got me on that one. We did not win t...

Yesterday was the first day of summer. The real story of the day were the clouds. They stole the show from the sun. They were thick and dark and abundant. They looked as if any moment, they were going to open up and drop lots of rain on us. But just behind those storm clouds was something else. The bluest of blue skies just hoping to be seen on their day. The first day of summer! The Boy played ball last night. I should have packed a sweater. It was very chilly outside last night. Even this morning feels like it is middle of fall and not the second day of summer. Thank goodness we had the early game and not the late one! Back to baseball...we have now played four straight days of baseball. We are also on a winning streak. The Boy is also on a hitting steak, again. Two nights ago, we had a close game. The final score was 7 to 4. Last night the final score was 23 to 0. I prefer the closer games. I am probably weird like that. It is more exciting to watch a close game. It teaches ...

Today is Father's Day. But I can't pick up the phone and call my Dad. Nor did I buy him a card, or a fishing pole, or make his favorite foods. Instead, last weekend I paid his grave a visit.  My Dad left this earth just shy of 13 years ago. He died from Lung Cancer. His fight was short. His Cancer was very aggressive. I miss him. I miss him on days like today. I miss him on spring days when the mushrooms are popping out and I want him to take me mushroom hunting. I miss him on days after a thunderstorm. We use to talk about how much rain he got. I miss him on days when my husband is fishing. I know he would love to see those fish. I miss him every summer when The Boy wishes out loud that his Grandpa could teach him how to hand fish. I miss him in the winter months when the snow is fresh and safe to go out rabbit hunting. I miss him on days when my car makes a funny noise and I can't just call him and describe it to him. Thirteen years is a long time but some days it doe...

As a Mom, when your children hurt you hurt. That is the case tonight. Miss Medical Student's heart is hurt tonight. My heart hurts for her. Despite being busy with medical school, Miss Medical Student really wanted a dog. She knew logically when she made it through her second year and started clinicals she would have no time to care for herself, let alone a dog. But some decisions are not made logically. They are made with the heart. Because she is so smart, she hunted and found a situation that was perfect for her. She applied to be a host to raise a future service dog. She also found out that she could split the hosting duties; she would keep the puppy until she started clinicals and then another host family would take over and finish his training. She starts clinicals on Monday. Today was the day she had to say good bye to her puppy, Vino. I am thankful for Vino. In a world full of studying, classes, labs, study groups, test, and studying, Vino brought moments of comfort...

I am the world's worst at letting fresh fruits/veggies spoil. I love to eat fresh fruits and veggies. But I just seem to have no moderation when it comes to buying them. Last week I purchased some fresh blueberries. For some reason today while I was working those blueberries were just weighing heavily on my mind. I needed to use them before they started to mold. So I rushed straight home after work and began to bake. Homemade Blueberry Muffins with Struesel Topping. Our house smells so good right now! The Short Chic took a bite and said, "these are the best muffins I have ever eaten!" That's good, right? I mean she is only three. And she has only ever had store purchased ones. Either way, I am walking around feeling like Betty Crocker! Of course, The Boy, never once stopped talking on his phone as he inhaled it. I guess he liked them.

We traveled to my mother's this weekend for our annual family reunion. The reunion did not start till noon so we got up early and went to Jamesport, Missouri to visit the Amish shops. My Grandma Loretta introduced me to Jamesport and the Amish community when I was just a little girl. I would go and stay with her during the summer. She would take me to H & M County Store and buy Carob. My Grandma Loretta was a diabetic and she could eat Carob. She also would go to the green house and purchase flowers that she would plant all around her house every summer. I remember once we went to the green house and purchased her flowers and then went to the next store. The Amish lady realized she had overcharged my grandmother and sought her out at the next store to give her back the amount she overcharged her. My grandma  was so impressed, she said to me on the way home, "Pamela, remember this. No other store would have sought me out to return that money. Remember this place when you ...

Today, I tried something new. Street food. Unlike New York City, Kansas City is known for its bbq and not its street food. Normally, I never leave my office during the day. I bring my lunch and eat at my desk. But, today, I decided to get out and explore. One of my coworkers is always raving about a vender, Los Tules, so I thought I should give it a try. For $3.00 I was able to purchase a bean tostada and a Astada corn taco. What can I say...it was yummy! The taco had a nice kick to it. And best of all, my lunch consisted of about 400 calories and I burned nearly 175 walking to/from the office to get it! That folks is a win/win!!

Last summer, I asked Facebook friends for reading suggestions. One of my friends stated, "Anything by Kristin Hannah."  I had never heard of Kristin Hannah but I was game for any suggestions so I rented several of her books from the library. She is addictive. After reading one story rather quickly, I suggested her to my Mom. We are both now reading her every word. Kristin Hannah took me on an emotional roller-coaster as I read the book, Firefly Lane. I actually started reading it right after my diagnosis. Little did I know that the book touched on cancer. But that roller-coaster ride was minimal compared to the ride I went on with her new book, Night Road. Since I work with children in foster care, I am such a sucker for a story with a foster child in it. Night Road is about a girl who has been in and out of foster care for years as her mother struggles with addiction. Finally, her social workers find her a long-lost relatives who opens her home to this emotionally hu...

No surprise there, it was a baseball weekend. We did our first out of town tournament this weekend. In of all places...Branson, MO. We met up with the team early Friday morning and caravaned south. The boys had a good time painting up everyone's windows. When we arrived at our hotel, we found out we were sharing the pool and the rest of the hotel with three other baseball teams in our tournament and in our age division! Our first game was Friday night at 8:40. Which left plenty of time for shopping before the game.  The entire family was awarded new shoes. The Boy really cleaned up at the Nike Outlet store! And The Short Chic, well let's just say she added a few new swimsuits to her line up! She really had a good time in the hotel's swimming pool practicing her rad new swim moves. We went 0-3 in the tournament. We played some very tough teams and had a round of very bad officiating. Just for the record, I do not believe when it is this hot, that the umpires should ...

There will be more later on our weekend, but I wanted to give you a glimpse. Hope. Really, what Cancer patient doesn't hold onto it and live for it. Now, I shall wear it. I have a lot of hope.