What a Great Week!

My brother Bruce and his wife Wanda came in on Tuesday night from CA. It was just wonderful to see them. I had never met Wanda and hadn't seen Bruce in years. We talked until late almost every evening, got caught up on old times (I was a senior in high school, Bruce was a junior when our parents married), and generally bored Jim and Wanda to pieces.

On Wednesday, Jim and I had to be AT the hospital for my follow-up MRI at 7:15 am so we left Bruce and Wanda sleeping (5:15 am CA time). After the MRI, we saw both my radiology oncologist and my neuro surgeon. The initial report is it looks about the same as the baseline MRI I had back before the Gamma Knife or the areas look slighty smaller. No change or smaller is good. I'm due back for another follow-up in 2 months unless the symptoms come back - which they BETTER not!

So good news there. I'm having to baby my arm more than I expected so I haven't been knitting any. It's really hard not too knit until you try and it hurts. Knitting should not hurt. I've been keeping the sling on more and trying not to use it as much. I still am trying to do 2 laps in the walker around the kitchen, fiber room, living room every day just so I don't lose the ability to walk.

Friday we went to the zoo. Did you know OKC's zoo is one of the top 10 in the nation! Jim and I hadn't been in years so much of what we saw was new to us. The gorilla exhibit was fantastic. We arrived just as they were being fed. It was really a kick to see the biggest ape sit down opposite whoever was sitting next to the window. The gorilla would look over his shoulder to see if the person had noticed him. A couple of the smaller apes would peer in, shading their eyes to see better. We hung out there quite a while just because they were all so entertaining.

Then we discovered the Cat Forest. This was immensely cool! We just happened to be there when the tiger was laying out in the open. Jim took several pictures (it's hard to get a good cat picture with all that wire fence and I couldn't get Jim to scale it so we could get a better picture).

Well I WAS going to put up the pics of the tiger, snow lepard, and lion but blogger has decided I've uploaded enough for the moment.

Blueberry really liked Wanda and Bruce. I'm sure she could sense they were animal lovers. They rescue kittens and cats, socialize them and find them good homes. They also have an African Grey parrot that talks and a pretty little rottweiler. So needless to say, they are truly animal lovers.

Snd Sugar has been super cuddly the last few days. I don't know if the wind makes her nervous or she just feels the need to snuggle but she doesn't go very far away from me right now.

As soon as blogger will let me, I'll put up some other zoo pics. Have a great week.

I Found a Few Pictures

Some I had planned to post but blogger wouldn't let me. So I'm going to see if I can post them now.

This is Sugar helping me with Christmas dinner. She was explaining why fresh vegetables are good for rabbits or gerbils or mice but really - chicken is a much nicer snack.

When she realized Jim was taking her picture, naturally she had to turn around and pose!

Like the pink hair? I haven't had my wig on since the brain surgery in January. The second Gamma Knife left me with bruises that still haven't healed up. But it's okay since I have about six of these hats and they are comfy and not tight. I actually picked up some sky blue fun fur, some multicolored (can you say "clown hair") and some black to fill in the color gaps. When I get back to knitting I'm hoping to get them made up pretty fast.

This is my youngest sister Lori when she was here in January. Does she look a little sleepy? I don't know why - it's only about 5:30 am the morning she left.

And you'll notice there are no pics of her and I together. Well, I have a couple but she looks so much better than I do, I'm not posting them.

And that's about all the interesting things going on at the moment.

Life in the Slowest Lane Possible

As some of you know, I have a broken right arm. It's broken close to the shoulder joint so it can't be casted or even taped down. I'm wearing a sling which seems to help, but thank you steroids, it will take longer to heal than a normal break.

We think I broke it when I fell in November after I got out of rehab. It's the only fall I remember where I landed on my right side.

Anyway, about six weeks ago or so, I noticed my shoulder was bothering me (about a week before my sister came out). I didn't mention it to my PT until last week. She kind of scared us as she was concerned the cancer might have moved to my shoulder bone. I had a rush MRI THAT NIGHT (8:30pm) and was in the tube for almost 2 solid hours. Why is it they can do my head in 45 minutes but a shoulder takes 2 hours? Oh well.

The good news is I have a broken arm! The better news is the cancer hadn't moved. And another good thing is the numbness has disappeared. Back in Oct 05 when Ihad the mastectemy, my arm was numb from my elbow to my shoulder. My arm is no longer numb!

Actually the even better news is the cancer had better be GONE this time! Three times in the same area is about all I can handle. I have a follow-up MRI sometime the end of this month to see what's going on.

It's kind of funny - I haven't really felt good since this last Gamma Knife - no energy, no motivation, and my joy had fizzled almost completely away. Haven't done any knitting since I started wearing the sling - whine, whine, whine.

But I woke up this morning with joy back! I feel much better (still tired and not kniting) but wanting to get back to life. So my first thought was to get the blog updated.

I don't have any knitting content to report. I did buy some bright colored Fun Fur at HL several weeks ago when it was half price so I could make me some more "hair" hats, I have to finish my SIL Eileen's scarf (and start it and make some swatches for it) and one of the young ladies at my office has a baby due in March so I wanted to get her something made. We'll see. I already told Eileen she'd be wearing her hat and scarf NEXT winter but if I feel up to it, I may actually pull out some patterns and see what I can come up with.

I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier or not but my brother and his wife are coming out after Valentine's day. He wants to be here for the MRI report - how sweet is that! He is a year younger than me and when I was in high school I couldn't just go drive around or go to a party but I had to take a sib with me. Bruce and I used to go together (I'm not sure why our folks thought that two teenagers would be more responsible than one - we could probably tell them stories and my mom would never need to get a perm again!)

I haven't seen Bruce in years, though we talk on the phone once or twice a year. I've never met his wife and am really looking forward to this visit. Then in March my sister Jan, my neice Celia (the one who lived with us during my chemo treatments) and her baby Cameron are coming out. I am so looking forward to seeing them!

And that's the way it goes. Hopefully I'll feel more like posting as time goes on or some other interesting things will happen (but not TOO interesting) I can share.