It seems to finally be spring here in mid-Michigan. Just about all of the snow has melted - it is completely gone from our yard. My daffodils are pushing through, I'm glad I had time to rake away the leaves leftover from last fall and uncovered some that were pale green from lake of sun. I wish we had found the time to plant the crocus bulbs last fall! One of our neighbors planted bulbs all over one of her flower beds, so she has a generous sprinkling of purple throughout the shrubs!
Martin and I were in Illinois last weekend, he attended the 2 Year Chemistry College instructor conference hosted by Joliet JC. I used the opportunity to be free of distractions for an entire 1 1/2 days and got a lot of grading done, it is so easy to have the piles get high on my on-line courses! We took our time getting back - hitting a Trader Joe's and a Bass Pro Shop on the way home. I found myself looking at larger tents, sleeping bags, etc., thinking if we can adopt this year we will need more room on our camping trips! We used the college mini-van, and I found myself thinking how great the space was!
So, on our return we hit the phone again. We are registered for "PRIDE" training beginning next week, part of the required foster parent training we must do to adopt through the state ward program. I hate that term "state ward" - it makes the children sound like property!
We are on the downhill side of the semester, if you think about running downhill you can get the idea of the possibility of things rapidly getting out of control! Hopefully, that will not happen as we try to finish the semester with transformed students, but still a balanced happy home life!
It does look like Martin will get to go to Vietnam with other MI CC teachers in May! It is my summer to bring home the bacon - I'll be teaching a class for CMU in May, a class here at MMCC on-line through the summer, and reading AP Psychology tests in June for a week for Education Testing Services (I'll be in Louisville! Yee ha!). I'm also going to take an on line course beginning in June - a graduate level course through the Univerity of New Hampshire! I'm very excited about that!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Updates for Danny, Aunt Kathy, Katey, and me!
Hello!
Martin and I spent last week (our spring break) in Port Orchard WA to see my side of the family. It was a relief to get away from the snow! We had a lot of storms in MI the week before we left, and actually had some class cancellations because of the weather! Though it rained much of the week, there were 2 days of really nice weather!
Danny was not feeling too great for about 1/2 our visit. For his last 2 treatments, he had a drug that was harder on his body. He had switched to it because of the neuropathy he was developing from Taxol, but the new drug (Taxotere?) made him more tired, more nauseaus, and changed his taste. While we were there, he was getting his taste sense back. Next week, he starts another new drug - my oncology nurses said the drug has only been our for about 6 months and that their patients getting it said it isn't as rough as other chemo drugs.
Aunt Kathy got news while we were there that there is a new small spot on her spine, so she will have some changes in her treatment. Though it isn't great she has a new tumor, I think everyone was fearful that it was going to be worse news, and she is still much better off than a year ago when cancer seemed to be "everywhere".
Katey, our baby niece, is back in the hospital this morning. She has been vomiting, and Billie told me yesterday that she was on medication for acid reflux. But I guess this morning she was much worse, and what Martin has heard is that she is in the NICU at Sparrow today.
For me, I've had GREAT news. I had my 3 month check up with Dr. Roy, and my blood test was great. He monitors what is called the 'CEA level' - which is a rough indicator of tumor activity in your body. Mine was very low - he said it is the lowest he has seen in a patient for awhile! (This is the same blood test that caused Aunt Kathy's doctors to repeat her scans last week - her marker was rising). He will see me again in 3 months, and every 3 months for few years. I also saw Dr. Gollish, my surgeon, this morning. He had scheduled a follow up for a few months after my colonoscopy to make sure everything was going okay. I don't need to see him for another year, when he will want to do another colonoscopy. He gave me a prescription for a steroid cream to help the healing process for my scar from my port. It has a "healing ridge" as Christy, his nurse (and wife) put it, and she said I should not expose it to sun for a year because it is such new tissue. Like I want everyone seeing my scar exposed this summer...ha!
On the adoption front...Martin and I are still learning to navigate the "system". We hear the statistics about the # of kids in our state foster system who are eligible for adoption, so we imagined the process going quickly. But the agency we were referred to is not taking any new families at this time. They suggested in the meantime we do the foster parent training that we will be required to do, and they will put us on a wait list for a family assessment in the meantime. So, we may look into another agency and also look into that training to see if there are any current training programs in our area.
All for now!
Kel
Martin and I spent last week (our spring break) in Port Orchard WA to see my side of the family. It was a relief to get away from the snow! We had a lot of storms in MI the week before we left, and actually had some class cancellations because of the weather! Though it rained much of the week, there were 2 days of really nice weather!
Danny was not feeling too great for about 1/2 our visit. For his last 2 treatments, he had a drug that was harder on his body. He had switched to it because of the neuropathy he was developing from Taxol, but the new drug (Taxotere?) made him more tired, more nauseaus, and changed his taste. While we were there, he was getting his taste sense back. Next week, he starts another new drug - my oncology nurses said the drug has only been our for about 6 months and that their patients getting it said it isn't as rough as other chemo drugs.
Aunt Kathy got news while we were there that there is a new small spot on her spine, so she will have some changes in her treatment. Though it isn't great she has a new tumor, I think everyone was fearful that it was going to be worse news, and she is still much better off than a year ago when cancer seemed to be "everywhere".
Katey, our baby niece, is back in the hospital this morning. She has been vomiting, and Billie told me yesterday that she was on medication for acid reflux. But I guess this morning she was much worse, and what Martin has heard is that she is in the NICU at Sparrow today.
For me, I've had GREAT news. I had my 3 month check up with Dr. Roy, and my blood test was great. He monitors what is called the 'CEA level' - which is a rough indicator of tumor activity in your body. Mine was very low - he said it is the lowest he has seen in a patient for awhile! (This is the same blood test that caused Aunt Kathy's doctors to repeat her scans last week - her marker was rising). He will see me again in 3 months, and every 3 months for few years. I also saw Dr. Gollish, my surgeon, this morning. He had scheduled a follow up for a few months after my colonoscopy to make sure everything was going okay. I don't need to see him for another year, when he will want to do another colonoscopy. He gave me a prescription for a steroid cream to help the healing process for my scar from my port. It has a "healing ridge" as Christy, his nurse (and wife) put it, and she said I should not expose it to sun for a year because it is such new tissue. Like I want everyone seeing my scar exposed this summer...ha!
On the adoption front...Martin and I are still learning to navigate the "system". We hear the statistics about the # of kids in our state foster system who are eligible for adoption, so we imagined the process going quickly. But the agency we were referred to is not taking any new families at this time. They suggested in the meantime we do the foster parent training that we will be required to do, and they will put us on a wait list for a family assessment in the meantime. So, we may look into another agency and also look into that training to see if there are any current training programs in our area.
All for now!
Kel
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