Happy Birthday, Ruthie, but I'm dragging!

Today is Ruthie’s birthday, so I hope it was a good day for her! It was a low down day for me. This morning I woke up at 3:30 sick, but I took a pill and haven’t had any more trouble. It was just a reminder that I had pills and was supposed to be taking them, I guess. Then the steroids kept me awake until 7:30 and I went back to bed. At 10, I woke up, but didn’t even feel like dressing. How much energy does that take? More than I had!

The chemo nurse called to ask if I was doing okay and I told her how tired I was and about the nausea. She said as long as the pills were working I was doing fine. The fatigue is normal. This is how the drugs work on me. As long as Don doesn’t mind me dragging around in my gown and robe and 3 hats, I’m okay, I guess. I put on the gown that Garrett said was so beautiful when he saw it. He said, “Grammy that gown is so beautiful; my mom must have given it to you.” It’s a gown I got at a yard sale! I thought that was such a sweet thought of his, though: if it was something beautiful then his mom must have given it to me. I guess she’s not only special to us, huh?

Anyway, I took another 2-hour nap this afternoon. The rest of the time I’ve been up, but barely got anything done; just dragging around. I did cut the irises that were showing color. I think they’ll open in the house and I’m afraid they’ll freeze if I leave them out. There are a few stalks out there with blooms, still, but they aren’t showing color, so I left them. This bouquet is for you, Ruthie. I’ll take more pictures tomorrow or the next day with they are open nice and pretty. I think they’re pretty even like this.

Oh, see that flush on my face? That’s the chemo, too. It makes me look healthy; nice twist, huh? The pump is lying on the table. It’s not quite as big and not nearly as heavy as the one I had in Houston, so I like it. Every two seconds it makes a sound like my camera shutting itself off or a cd ejecting from the computer. It’s kind of wild, but I’m used to it. I thank God for it and all the treatments, and for a big sister who has loved me all my life. How cool is that? She had to share a room with me until she was 17 and then she moved into the maid’s room to get some privacy. She loved me all that time, even though I must have been such a pest; I thought she was the coolest ever! (We lived in Japan then, and there was a little tiny room, barely bigger than a closet for the maid to stay in but our maid didn’t stay overnight, so Ruthie took that room. We weren’t what we’d think of as wealthy, but it was part of the way that the military was helping to put Japan back together: giving people jobs. We were expected to have maids. Our maids also made all our clothes. I have to admit I loved that!) There’s more for me to give thanks to our God: a wonderful experience to live 6 years of my life in Japan! We never thought we were wealthy, as we don’t now, but relative to most of the world we are wealthy! God gives us so much abundance. Imagine: irises blooming on November 6th! PTL! Thank you, Ruthie, for being in my whole life and for being a wonderful sister!