All About Kim
May 2000
Hi there peoples!
This month was hard on all of us. We lost a dear friend in a car accident. Colt was a nice, normal, 16 year old kid who was killed in a car accident on his way home from work one afternoon. All his large family, his friends from the home-studies program and his friends from our congregation (including my daughter) have had a very hard time dealing with the loss. It will take everyone a long time to get over it.
On a happier note, they have told us that my dad's cancer is in remission! YAY! No more chemo, and he can start trying to build up his strength. They had to put him on prednisone, as he still has a low white cell (platelets, the part of the blood that clots) count, and prednisone is known to raise that. Also, he has to have a nitro patch because of his heart condition, but we are so thrilled he is in remission these things seem trivial.
On the sewing front, I have begun more private lessons in a town about 30 minutes' drive from us with a nice young woman who is about to have a baby. She works full time but had started her maternity leave a little early so she would have some time to take sewing classes. She seems to really love it. Also this month I was priveleged to bead the bodice of a wedding dress for a friend's daughter. It turned out lovely, if I do say so myself!
Toward the end of the month we made a trip to Los Angeles to finally celebrate our 25th anniversary! Our friends, who were celebrating their 20th anniversary at the same time, met us there for a nice dinner at our favorite authentic Italian restaurant: Miceli's!! All together there 13 of us, and we all had a really good time. We realized some of us hadn't seen each other for 2 years or more! It was the first time there for many of our group, so they were delighted at the singing during supper and the whole atmosphere! A real treat!
June 2000
Hi again!
Well, what can I say? June is a month of final exams, graduations, graduation parties, bridal showers, engagement parties, and wedding anniversaries! We did all that and more! Add to that mix the advent of a 16 year old daughter with a new driving permit! Scare me!
Well, my Dad has developed drug-induced diabetes from the prednisone they have him on, so now he has to do the whole 'testing your blood' thing several times a day, take some more pills, and watch what he eats. It's ridiculous to think that what they give you to help one ailment will give you another ailment! One good side affect from taking pred. is that it makes you want to eat more, which he needed to do to build up his strength after the 6 months of chemo emaciated him.
Finally this month the slow work on my sewing room began to take shape. Our friendly neighbor came over and sprayed the whole room rosewhite for me in about an hour and a half, after my hubby and I had put endless hours, days, & weeks into its preparation! I put up a cute sewing wallpaper border and rag-painted the bottom half of the walls. I have yet to get flooring, as we are at a standstill moneywise, but I have a few things in there now and can do some sewing already! To see pictures of the work so far click here:
My Sewing Room
At the end of the month the hubby and I went to Las Vegas for a truck show. He is a oil driver for a construction and paving company and they sent him to the truck show. It was my first time in Las Vegas and I loved it! Not being a gambler, I was never even interested in going, but I now realise that is not all there is to do there! Besides some of Mike's good friends from work, 2 other good friends (practically family) met us there for one day and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! To see our pictures, click here: Las Vegas Pics
July 2000
Well, July so far has been interesting! While we were in Las Vegas Meg took her driver's training classes and passed. She can now officially drive with supervision, which she does at every opportunity! I have to say, she gets better all the time, I am not too nervous with her anymore. Driving's in her blood, after all.
I have a sewing job altering a wedding dress and flower-girl dress for one wedding and also making 3 bridesmaid's dresses for another wedding. It is nice to have the room to spread out these larger projects and leave them if I want to. Still haven't gotten my flooring, now can't decide what to get.
Possible bad news alert. We have had my dad back to the doctor, and in the hospital for tests for pain in the area of his back where he had the cancer. They are doing bone scans and catscans this week and we should know more later. I will keep you posted.....
August 2000
WHAT A MONTH!!
Just as we feared, scans showed my dad's cancer is now in the bone! It has spread to the ribs and vertebrae. He was supposedly in "remission" for 3 months....I think someone may have dropped the ball on that one! So, he started a new type of chemo that only requires treatments every 3 weeks and will have to have radiation therapy 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks! Just when he had gained some of his weight and strength back!
The first chemo treatment was on the 8th of this month. He seemed to come through it okay. That night, due to a different stressful family situation, he started having angina. My mom took him to the hospital and after a few tests, they decided to keep him overnight. Well, the next morning they decided he'd had a minor heart attack! So, they kept him in the hospital for 5 days, just in case and to monitor his heartbeat. We kids who live here took turns staying with mom at night so she wouldn't be alone and in case the hospital called in the night.
So, he is home now, and seems to be feeling okay. About 10 days after his chemo he ran a slight fever for a couple of days and felt kind of crummy. Now he seems to feel pretty good. He did notice the hair in his beard seems to be falling out! He never had any hair loss with the other chemo so this is a new one for us. Also, for some reason the pain in his back is gone. Even his doctor seemed surprised by that! They will start radiation on him around the beginning of September, so that will be a new experience for us all.
He still seems to have a pretty good appetite so far, although he said his stomach was a little "gripey" and some foods don't taste right. The prednisone increases his appetite but his doctor is slowly reducing the prednisone because his platelet count seems to be coming up, finally. It remains to be seen if he stops eating with this chemo like he did the last one. We have gotten to be 'regulars' at the Hometown Buffet in Gilroy, it is on the way home from the doctor's office!
On the sewing front, I am finishing up the first wedding party's dress alterations today and going to start the bridesmaids' dresses for the other wedding next week. I have moved my sewing room around again, trying to get it "just right"! I think I am going to stick to this set-up. My classes have been hit-and-miss lately due to everyone's vacations and my father's illness. I expect to get back in the swing of things when school starts and we have a fixed radiation and chemo schedule to work around.
Kim
'About Me' up to March 1999
March-July 1999
August-December 1999
January-April 2000
September-December 2000
January-April 2001
May-Current 2001
September-December 2001
January-April 2002
