Wednesday, June 26, 2013

mississippi trip #1!

Hey ya'll! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope you're having a great one.
I wanted to give ya'll a small update on me. I still have not had the bone marrow transplant, but will be shortly. We've had to put it off due to scheduling conflicts with radiation (I require radiation and chemotherapy before the actual transfer of cells), and then a second time due to getting a severe cold. But now we are scheduled for July 9, with me going to Atlanta next Friday for pre-meds. I will be admitted into the hospital on Monday for a week of chemo/radiation. Then the transplant will follow.

Did ya'll know a transplant only takes about 30 minutes? It's put in through a PICC or chest line. Mine will be placed with a PICC line. The Lord has favored me beyond measure and I will be able to use my own stem cells, which have already been collected. This GREATLY reduces the risk of anything going wrong, and makes things just much simpler in general.
What does using my own stem cells mean?
It means....

I AM CANCER FREE.

There's no other words. Until you hear those words, you cannot imagine how it feels.
I have been blessed, (yes - BLESSED!) to hear them twice so far.

On to what's been going on lately! About two weeks ago we took a weekend trip to south Mississippi to visit my family there. My big camera battery was deader than a doornail, & my girls had messed my phone camera up, so there are hardly any pictures. We left early Saturday morning & drove down. We had lunch at the The Blowfly Inn (seriously - if you've ever in the Biloxi/Gulfport area - you HAVE to eat there!) , then April & I took the little girls swimming in the hotel pool while my cousin Bo & the hubs went out, & the MawMaw rested. Unfortunately, my cousin had to work. We missed you, Michael!
That night we all went to Kangaoroz, which is an indoor jump place. We had so much fun!


There are not really any pictures since we were all chasing kids around and having fun ourselves! I grabbed this one of my cousin Bo, then my camera shut down on me.

The next day we had lunch at The Shed
It's awesome. Go get you some!

Michael and April, thanks for driving down to meet us on the coast. We had a blast and we are looking forward to coming again in a couple of days! Bo, thank you for spending time with us. For those of you who don't know, Bo is my "little" cousin who is in tech school at Keesler AFB. His free time apart from studying is limited, so I'm thankful he chose to spend it with us!



We wore the girls slap out!

Monday, June 24, 2013

meal plan monday #1


Hey ya'll! We're having a grand old time over here. Waiting on my transplant (two weeks!), spending lots of family time together and eating lots of yummy food. So on that note -- here's our meal plan for the next week! I hope you enjoy & if you blog your meal plan, send me a link! 
I'd love to check it out! :)

Monday: chicken, kale, and pasta casserole with grilled burgers & homemade onion rings
Tuesday: 15 bean soup & cornbread
Wednesday: parmesan broiled tilapia, asparagus and rice 
Thursday:  stuffed peppers, leftover rice, fresh sliced tomatoes, green beans
Friday: salmon with a sour cream sauce, roasted zucchini & squash,  salad
Saturday: tomato pie, salad, steamed broccoli

I left one night out for leftovers, and Id on't plan breakfast or lunch. For breakfast we typically have oatmeal, grits, eggs in different forms, pancakes, or waffles (we love the Van's brand). Lunches consist of leftovers, sandwiches, salads, etc. If I can get my electronics to favor me, I think I'm going to start doing a weekly "Meal Plan Monday" and then on Sunday I will post what we ate for thew eek. I've been watching tons of these on YouTube and have become really inspired!

I hope ya'll have a great Monday! We've dropped Sara off at summer camp, June is napping with her aunt and I'm about to having a cleaning marathon. Yay me!