The Next Battle Starts….

This week, I had to say UNCLE and get the chemo treatments moved up, instead of waiting until September. The pain and nausea are back. So I do not pass “GO”, do not get to collect a trip to Hawaii, and have to go to chemo jail. My awesome friends are going to throw a “picture” reception after the kids get back from the wedding, so that George and I can see all the photos and videos and hear all the stories from the wedding!

The Trip to Texas to see family is postponed again, but the weather will be better in spring anyway.

The flock is happy that I am not going away for ten days, even though, they do not like for me to be nauseous. So here we gooooooo! The next battle starts!

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CEA Count Rising…..Take Me To the River

Got the word today, Friday’s CEA count was 92.1, about doubled from last month.  Scheduling chemo the end of this month, so we are trying to get the trip to Hawaii for my daughter’s wedding in before chemo, if the pain levels stay down. Also, if they stay down, will get to Texas to visit family for a few days after we get back. Next blood work scheduled for Aug 21, then Oncologist Appointment scheduled Aug 31.

At least I did get in one kayak trip down the Salt River. We usually kayak a couple of times during the summer. This was one of the most amazing trips. We saw 4 herds of wild horses. One group had babies and were on both sides of the river. It was just awesome to hear them calling each other back and forth across the river. We saw a bobcat, raven nest, beaver lodge and many bird species, including cardinals, vermillion flycatchers, peregrine falcon, great blue herons, green herons, egrets, red winged blackbirds and others I am forgetting to name. This trip was just balm to the soul getting ready to go back into chemo. I will hold those memories close until we can get back out to the river again.

No art to post this week, arthritis has restricted the use of my right thumb and forefinger, so will get back to it, as soon as the pain and swelling recede. In the meantime, have tons of photos to work on in photoshop and will get more ready to post as I have energy. SO enjoy a couple of my favorites taken in Rocky Mountain Park, Co.

The War on Cancer Continues…..

Everything seemed to be going fine after the surgery. I was preparing for the six week appointment with the surgeon in a few days, and I started having abdominal pain. At first just thought I had slept wrong or hurt a muscle or something, but the pain kept getting worse. Hubby took me to the Emergency Room at the hospital, where we discovered that I had a blockage. It turned out to be an inflammation at the surgery site. These usually happen close to surgery, it is rare to have them happen this far out after surgery. They gave me relief from the pain, and lots of fluids. The inflammation cleared and I went home after a  four day stay in the hospital. For those of you who have never experienced a bollus(a large amount of fluids pumped into the system rapidly) Let me just say Fred Flintstone fingers and toes. The poor little fluid machine is buzzing away pumping fluids as fast as it can, sounding like it may explode at any moment. In the meantime, your body starts swelling. You watch your ring disappear under swollen flesh, and you are amazed that you do not explode. A call to the nurse gets the reaction, “You are just fine dear, your skin is not dimpling yet”. Another fun experience to chalk up into the archives.

The next week, abdominal pain appears again. We do another emergency room run, only to find out they cannot find a cause. After a week, the pain starts to subside.

The long awaited visit to the oncologist finally arrives. We are expecting to hear that the CEA count has remained stable or is still dropping. So it was a shock for us to hear that the count has gone up to 42 and that I will be starting another round of chemo in September. The good news is that the cancer in the colon is gone, and the remaining tumors are half the size they were and are flat, not swollen. So we will be starting this round of chemo a lot better off than last time. However, this news is still hard to hear. Hubby goes back to work with his eyes tearing up, and I go home holding mine back. Friends commiserate with me, and I indulge in a whole day of self pity. By the end of a day of this pity party, I have enough and decide to pull my head out of my butt and look around.

It is time to put on my warrior face and kick some cancer around again!

THE BAT ADVENTURE

Bat Adventure

So we were just sitting at the bookstore, reading on our IPADs, and hubby comes up with a local article about the Phoenix Bat Caves. Ok, so they are not really caves, but a drainage pipe that goes from 24th St to 40th Street.

Bat Tunnel

We are not talking small pipe, here, it is a tunnel big enough to have a two lane road in. Apparently, the Mexican Free Tail Bats have found it, and make their homes here  during their yearly migration for the summer. We decide at the drop of a hat to go on a bat adventure. We make the trek to 40th St and Camelback, park in a shopping center and start walking along the canal. It is sunset and the canal is beautiful, ducks are swimming in the water reflecting the sunset.

Taking a cell phone pic.

We walk about a quarter of a mile along the canal and come to the “Bat Caves”. At first just a few bats exit, fly around and go back into the tunnel. Apparently these are the scouts checking it out to make sure it is safe to come out. We are very excited to see them, along with four or five night hawks who are flying around feeding on the insects. We watch for a while as the bats make their way out of the cave and then leave, thinking that his has been a great adventure. As we are leaving we enjoy all of the bats flying around swooping over our heads, then come to the fence at the end of the drainage area. Bats are pouring out and it is absolutely amazing. Because it was dark at the end of the tunnel, we had not seen how many bats were really coming out of the tunnel. We stand here for a long time, just being amazed at the number of bats coming out and swooping around us. Talk about Nature Therapy!

Yummmmm!

Hummingbird Talk

MORE NATURE THERAPY

The next morning we get up at 4:30 AM to make sure all of the parrots and kitties have their morning meal. We hit the local Starbucks and get to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens at 6:00 AM. Those of you who know me well, KNOW that only a chance at getting a good bird photo will roust me out of bed this early, LOL. Members are allowed into the Gardens an hour early on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which allows you time in the gardens with very few people around and the wildlife is all out and about their morning business, making for some excellent photo opps. Here are some of the photos, hope you enjoy! Don’t forget to click to see a larger file!

Sleepy Young Great Horned Owl

Ouch!

Verdin

Quail Chick