Our Chtistmas Story

Today I feel a lot better than I have the past couple of days, with the flu and almost popping an eye out. I hope to continue with the good fortune. In a wacky way this Christmas was a lot like "A Christmas Story". Let me explain what I mean. First off I almost poked my eye out, just like Ralphie almost did with his Red Rider BB gun. I almost poked my eyeball out differently but, in any case it happened. Now for the Christmas tree. All the trouble I had with it. Putting one up , taking it down and putting another tree up and still had problems. Finally getting the not exactly the lights I wanted (green alien lights as Sally puts it), but never the less ones that worked and I didn't have to return. The difference between me and Ralphie's dad( Mr. Parker or the Old Man) is I didn't topple the tree in the process. I came close ( thank goodness the wall was there) but it didn't go over. Now for Sally, saying a naughty word. I am not sure exactly how it happened but, Sally said the word A$$. Zachary heard and Said," MOM YOU SAID A NAUGHTY WORD. YOU SAID ASS." She didn't get soap in her mouth like Ralpie did but she did get a tongue lashing from Zachary she will not soon forget. Mr. Parker had some trouble with the furnace . I had issues with the Bathroom sink. Different household things we worked on but, same choice of words used while trying to fix the pesky things( sink is unclogged by the way). Our Christmas meal wasn't a traditional meal like we would have liked. Ralphie's family was going to have Turkey, ruined by the neighbors dogs. They had to settle on roast duck with the head still on Chinese style. We were going to have a feast at my brother Mike's house , ruined by illness, had to settle on lemon rice soup and couscous made Sally style. We took Kaity and Zachary to see Santa , at the Indiana Visitors center that was having a tribute to "A Christmas Story"( 5 of the cast members were also there,Flick, Farkus,Randy, Grover Dill and Miss Shields). The Santa area was set up just like the movie. After she saw Santa and went down the slide, she started to climb back up the slide not to tell Santa what she didn't tell him like Ralphie did but, to slide back down again. Now if I only went to Zachary's school I am sure one of his friends probably stuck there tongue to a pole like flick did during the triple dog dare.We also like to bundle up Kaity so much like Ralphie's brother Randy, that I had a hard time buckling her in her car seat. After further reflection, I really wished I would have won the Leg lamp or at least bought one at the visitors center. I believe " The Christmas story "tribute will be there until the 6th of Jan.

In the picture with Kaity in front of the Christmas tree, Sally was taking the picture and Zachary said to Kaity," watch it Kaity or you will get sucked in". This was in reference to Sally's Alien tree comment that she said 5 days ago

Hope you all had a great Christmas and great coming new year. God bless you all!

There was a Chirstmas After All

I had a week off before Christmas. I had made a bunch of plans in my head of things I wanted to do, to insure a Norman Rockwell painting like Christmas. Of course by now, everyone knows my luck so I am sure everyone knows it didn't go quite as planned. If you are one of the few lucky ones to be one of my Myfacebook friends you are probably aware of the unfortunate events.

It all started with the Christmas tree. In fact that could be a blog in itself. I will give the short version instead. The newer pre-lit tree wouldn't light in the middle. Took it down and put up the other tree. None of the lights worked. Had to go out and buy new lights. Not much of selection 3 days before Christmas. Found some I like. there was only 4 packages left. Grabbed them hung them on the tree to find the last string didn't work. Had to take them off and go out again. Couldn't find multi color lights so I ended up buying all green lights. Sally calls it the alien tree. The little kids decorated the tree all by themselves. We were just glad to have it up and done with by this point.

While the tree fiasco was going on, another pot was brewing. Monday evening Sally wasn't feeling well. She woke up in the middle of the night with a full blown stomach flu. Zachary woke up with it as well. Wednesday afternoon Michael and Kaity came down with it to. Wednesday night I went to bed figuring I dodged the bullet but I woke up yesterday to the mighty terror flu. I felt like I was close to death, my time was coming.

Last night Zachary was very excited about Santa. Kaity still didn't feel to well and she really doesn't understand the Santa thing. It was after midnight and Zachary was still awake, telling us to go to bed so Santa can come. Finally around 1AM the big guy arrived. I was told Michael was snooping around under the tree acting like he was 9 instead of 19. He had no will power and opened his gift and jumped around like a little kid. Zachary climbed into bed with us around 4:30. Sally got up with him and they looked at his stocking and both of them fell asleep on the couch. 8am on the button, Zachary was waking everyone up. At that point I realized I left the diaper bag that contained the camera at my mom's( although we did have the camcorder going). So I have no pictures to post. Kaity kept saying "Oooooo" to everything. She sat there with a pile of toys eyeing what she wanted first. She smiled big, made her selection and took her chocolate candy to me to open. She is truly my girl. Zachary said Santa did so well that he can't think of anything he wants for next Christmas.

After the presents were opened and I put batteries in everything I went back to bed. I am still not feel well but much better then yesterday. All of our Christmas plans went out the window because of us being sick. We stayed in our P.J.s all day. It was nice to relax. Kaity was watching Angelina Ballerina. She hurried up and put her Tinker Bell dress on and was trying to mimic Angelina. It was fun watching her. After that I went to clean up a bit. I had another battle but this time it was with a box. I almost lost my eye to the box. I can't say it was a bad Christmas. To see the joy in my kids faces is everything to me. No matter how old we are there is always magic in Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope your day was truly a blessed one.

PS I love you

Hey everyone. I am doing well. I have been collecting lots of blog material in my little handy note book. I will be home from the next two weeks so hopefully I will be able to write more frequently. Not sure if it will be daily but I will try since I know how popular my blog has become (cough cough). I wanted to write sooner but between Monday and Wednesday I put in an extra 16 hours of over time. I figure I will catch up on my rest during my vacation.

Thursday I had chemo. The first of the year I will be going for a CT scan and a PET scan. After that I will meet with the doctor and discuss the next round of treatments. If everything goes well the plan will be for another 6 more treatments minus one drug. It's the one that causes the most side effects. He said here and there I will be getting the full treatment but it won't be every time. Which is good because the numbness sensation is becoming worse. Sometimes while I drive my leg goes numb. It takes awhile before it feels some what normal again. The cold is also bothering me and the effects are lasting longer. I use to be able to have a week where I can have cold food and drinks without it bothering me, now it might be a day or two before the next treatment. At least now I have about month break from chemo which I am happy about.

Yesterday, my company had their Christmas party. There was a lucheon at work followed by bowling at Star Dust. I am relectly telling you something that I know I will catch some heat. What is told in this blog must stay in the blog. I write about everyone elses mishaps so it's only fair to share mine as well. Sally and I were on the way to Star Dust. Almost everyone else left directly after the luncheon but I stayed to wait for Sally. On the way there Dan called me asking me where I was at. I was talking to him, trying to listen to Sally as she was telling me which way to go and at the end of conversation to Dan I said "Bye I love you". I always tell Sally (even though she never hears me) "I love you" when I hang up with her. I couldn't believe I told Dan I love him. Even though we are suppose to love everyone, I don't go around tell people especially men that I love them. I was hoping Dan had hung up before he heard it. I know if had heard they will never stop the tourmenting during bowling. So Sally and I walked in and I held my head up high hoping Dan didn't hear. Sally on the other hand kept giggling. I saw Dan and he didn't say a word. I felt very relieved. He didn't hear but he will know now once he reads this blog. Hopefully, by the time I go back to work this will have been forgotten.

After bowling pizza was served and score were calculated to see who had the top scores. Every year I think Sally and I will get the booby prize but we always manage to stay away from it. This year I knew we were going to get it. I am an olympic bowler but my wife on the other hand is not. She usually drops the ball at least once during a game. The game at Avery isn't a typical bowling game. It's 40 frames and each frame has a special. For example there is a Migiligian which when that happens if you don't like your first throw you can reset it. There is also a thing called "sour grapes", which if you don't get a strike then you loose 2-5 points for every pin that is left. Sally kept getting the sour grapes. Every time she got she would get a gutter. The next frame though she always managed a strike. I think she really wanted a prize and knew the only chance was to blow the game and get a booby prize. She managed to cost us 130 points. I decided to wait until the end to recieve the booby prize, since Sally worked very hard to get it. While we were waiting Sally and I were talking with another guy at work. Sally was talking to Tony D. so I thought it would be fine if I left her alone for a couple of minutes. While I was gone a lady took a picture of Sally and Tony. The lady thought they were a couple. I can't leave Sally alone any more. By the way we were not awarded the booby prize. Someone else was actually worse then us. I am still puzzled how anyone could be worse then us. I think a blind couple could have had a higher score then we did.

Tonight we took the kids to a house by Sally's mom. The house is a corner house and they go all out every Christmas decorating. I am not exaturating when I say all out. Some nights Santa is even outside waving. This year we have been driving pass the house looking for Santa and finally we found him tonight. The pictures posted are from the house tonight.

I am sitting here taking a break in fustertarion from trying to put the Christmas tree up. A couple of years ago we purchased a pre lit tree. We thought it would be much easier then trying to mess with the lights. Plus, we needed a smaller one because the other one took up to much room. Last year after we had decorated we noticed a small section was not lit up. This year the entire middle section is not lit. I drove all over looking for fuses thinking it's the fuse but I can not find the fuse any where. Not sure what we are going to do. I thought about putting up a string of lights but the tree lights are green, red, and white and I don't think they sell strings of lights that way. All I know, Zachary is going to be disappointed because he really wanted the tree up and the house decorated.

I am going to take a hot shower (finally after not be able to take once since Thursday) and maybe I will just sleep on it about the tree. Sally mentioned I can take the tree down and put up the other one that is to large for the living room. I am tempted to buy a Charlie Brown tree and be done.

God Bless,
Bill

Zachary and his wisdom part 2

The past week has been pretty good , just the same old tiredness. I feel that most of that is because I am putting in some overtime the last few weeks. Other than that I feel really good. I still have the numbness in my hands and feet, that makes it hard to do a few things at work , but I manage. I try not to make any indication that I my be having some issues. I have one more week of work than two weeks off , I am looking forward too that. I have a lot of things that I want to be able to do with the kids.

Zach the other day told Sally that he felt lonely. I felt really bad that he felt this way. I am back to work and trying to put in some overtime to help catch up on bills and buy Christmas presents. Sally is keeping up the house and Kaity being only two will sometimes demand Sally's time. Zach was always playing with his legoes without a worry in the world. So I always thought he was content. So I will now make sure I am up with him in the morning and call him from work before he goes to bed to let him know that his Daddy is thinking about him and loves him. I will have conversations with him about whatever he wants to talk about. Sometimes that could be a mistake. We were driving in the car going to pick Michael up from Cabela's and he started asking me questions about Mountain Goats. I don't know a lot about Mountain Goats, so I was trying to get off the subject. When Zach would ask me a question, I want to be able to answer it correctly if I can. Mountain Goats is not my expertise. "Hey, Zach lets talk about Three toed Sloths". That is a subject I could talk about and actually answer more of his questions correctly. He asked me "What is a Sloth, Daddy". Now I have him, I thought to myself. "There animals that live in trees and move very slowly". "Daddy will Mountain Goats eat me". Back to those damn Mountain Goats. Yes, they are very mean and like to eat little kids and you should never talk about them again. This is what I wanted to say. I actually said no, they are timid animals and would probably run away from you if they saw you coming. Now we finally made it to Cabela's to pick up Michael. We were a little early, so we decided to go in and look around. We made it in and in front of us was a mountain scenery of all kinds of stuffed animals and on the top of this mountain landscape was none other then a Mountain Goat. Come over here Zach and lets look at the really big Elephant. Then he asked me if Cabela's had all the animals in the world. Another time we walked around Cabela's waiting for Michael again. This time he was interested in the fish. Most kids will run by and glance but not Zachary. We had to tell him the name of each fish. Luckily the names were written underneath each fish. Sally told him to that if he didn't behave there, he would be left to spend the night. She went on to tell him all the animals come to life when the stores closes. So Zachary tried to spend his time at Cabela's trying to prove Sally wrong. He pointed to the birds that were hanging from the ceiling and said they can't come to life because they can't come unattached. He then started to point to some animals asking Sally if they came to life and roamed around how would they be able to leave their spot and get back.

Zach mentioned to Sally earlier this week that he has a friend that doesn't believe in God and that he didn't want to be his friend anymore. Sally told him just because he doesn't believe in God doesn't make him a bad person. It's what you believe that matters. Zachary after a long pause asked Sally if he could invite his friend over to watch a video he has about The Stories of the Bible. I guess he wants to try and convert his friend. Zach is such a good boy and he always asking questions about the Bible, Jesus and Mountain Goats. Sally really did a great job leading him on the right path. Except now he is asking all sorts of questions about religion. Luckily he ask Sally the questions because for most of them I would have no clue how to answer. Sally is calling her mom asking the questions. I would love to see Zachary with a priest asking him the questions. For example last Sunday at Faith Formation, they had a party for baby Jesus. Zachary asked Sally if there are 2 Jesuses. Jesus the baby and Jesus the Savior. Sally had to explain there is only one. When Advent began Sally took him to the religious store to buy Advent candles and an Advent calender. There was a display of holy cards and Sally told him he could get one. Instead of picking the card out by the picture (which is what I would have done) he kept asking the owner of the shop who each Saint was. While they were in the car Zachary came up with a zillion questions to ask. He asked if St. Michael the Arch angel has a sword in Heaven. Then he asked if there is only one devil or many. He then got really sad and Sally asked him what was wrong. He said he is about to cry thinking that the devil doesn't love God. He then started talking about David and Goliath and asked since Goliath was bad did he go to hell when he died. I am sure glad he saves those questions for his mother.

I am trying to make the blogs a little shorter ,because I don't want anyone to get bored. I hope you enjoy what content I do put into them. Thank you and God Bless!

The words of wisdom by Zach.

This has been a long week for me. I had chemo on Wednesday. I am also working 6 days this week plus I had two 12 hour shifts. I am attempting to write this before I go to work. This way tomorrow I can relax and spend the day with my family.

I am doing well. I wasn't able to get the patch for nausea filled because the insurance only will pay for a refill every 23 days and my chemo sessions are every 14 days( duh). I am a little nauseated, just enough to feel uncomfortable. Obviously, I am tired as well. I can't wait until I don't have to wear the pump at home. That is what bothers me the most. The 2 nights I have it on I don't sleep very well. Hopefully in 2 weeks that will be the last of the pump wearing days. During this last treatment I sat next to a gentlemen who has colon cancer to. It had spread to his liver and lymphnodes as well. He had surgery to remove the tumors on his liver. Sally was asking him questions and I just kept watching her. I knew what she was doing by drilling him. We found out he has been in treatment for 2 and half years. He said that just when you think you are almost done with treatment, you find out there is more. I am an optimistic, I believe I am going to beat this. Sally on the other hand is a pessimist and continues to research and ask questions. If you ask her though she would say that I am in denial and that she is trying to be realistic. That could be the reason she has to take "happy" pills now. So as of now I have one more full treatment of chemo. After that I will have another CT scan done. If everything looks good (which I am sure it will) I will start 6 more partial treatments ( a treatment every 2 weeks) which does not require me to wear a pump( just the the one that is already in my chest).

Enough about the cancer stuff. I really need to write more often but because of time I can't. Lately Zachary has been giving me loads of blog material. In fact I will have to have a part 2 of this blog to continue about Zachary. I am not sure what goes through that little brain of his. Quite a bit , I am sure I often wonder what he is going to become when he gets older and I would love to be able to see what he dreams about. The thing that he asked and comes up with is just mind boggling to me. Sally and I are often lost for words during conversations with him. Thanksgiving we had dinner at my mother in law's. She wasn't feeling well because of back pain. The kids were getting rowdy and Sally told Zachary to clean up after his little sis. Well, of course Zachary wasn't to eager to do so. So he stood there for a few seconds goofing around and looked at his grandma (who was watching him) he then turned back around and said "Uh Oh! The camera is watching me" and went and put the toys away. He was so clever that he left Michael pondering what he meant. Sally and Michael proceeded to argue what Zachary meant by that. Michael thought he was talking about a doll and said it was her mom. When Zachary came back we asked him what he meant by camera and he said "Grandma". It was his way of saying his grandma has a watchful eye and that he better be good.

Our kids will put their shoes out the night before St. Nicholas day which is Sunday this year. During the night St. Nick will fill their shoes with some treats. I have never heard of it until I met Sally. It's a Catholic tradition. I have been deprived during my youth so every year I leave my shoe out next to the kids. Hoping St. Nick will make up for all those precious years that was taken from me.(Can't blame this one on Dawn) Every year I try and in the past 11 years the only thing that managed to appear in my shoe was a deodorizer. I will be leaving my shoe out again this year. A dying man can dream right? Anyway, one day Zachary asked me if St. Nicholas is dead or a live. I replied "St. Nick has been dead for many many years.", Zachary quickly replied "If he is dead, how can he leave treats in my shoe?" "Ummm" I thought. Sally was next to me giggling and said "He got you again" which he did. Last night the kids were not going to bed very good. Sally told them if they don't get to bed St. Nick is going to leave rocks in their shoes. Zachary came running from his bedroom excited. He said "Good, I like rocks. I can add them to my rock collection"( I was the one this time that was left giggling thinking to myself she is such a fool.) At least it's nice to know I am not the only one Zachary stumps.

High Ho High Ho off to work I go. I will continue with Zachary and his wisdom soon. Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Where's the stuffing!!

To my relief and a miracle I am able to write this blog. While all of you were out Christmas shopping I decided I needed to work off the turkey dinner, by tackling Zachary's room. I thought about taking a before picture to post but to be frank I was embarrassed on how bad it had gotten. I have seen messy rooms in my days ( I thought I saw the worst when I saw Sally's bedroom before we got married) then Michael's room gets bad too, and I have seen other messy rooms but nothing I swear nothing compares to Zachary's. Last year when it was messy (nothing like this) we went out and bought containers and storage bins. We organized everything thinking it would be easier for him to keep his room clean. Nope. Instead there were lots of empty totes and cracked bins blocking the door way ( Kaity and Zach thought more useful using them for stepping stools and hiding places). I know you are sitting hear reading this and thinking I should have made him clean it. My wife and I have had on several occasions. It seemed like every time we sent him to clean his room it got messier. On one occasion he discovered his art easel while trying to clean. He dragged it out and of course it was lying on the floor on top of the clutter. One time the police came to our house and asked us if we knew where Jimmy Hoffa was. We had no choice but to lead them to Zach's room to begin there search, luckily they didn't find anything. It was so bad that all Kaity's and Zachary's clothes vanished in the room. Of course, it wasn't Zachary's fault for his room getting that way. Kaity did it. I think his room has a magnetic field that pulls everything in the house to his room. I found all my black dress socks which have been missing. There seemed to be a treasure in his room for everyone in the house. Yesterday, I spent 5 hours in the room and by the time I quit there was still no floor to be found. I am not finished but there is a floor now. Sally has a billion loads of laundry to wash. I might even get saucy and finish putting the final touches on his room that was suppose to be done almost 3 years ago, ahhh maybe not. I promised him if his room started to get messy Sally and I are going to start locking him out of his room. Our neighbor gave us that idea when she locked her 8 year old out of her room because of the mess.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and full bellies. We had a quiet dinner. Sally made dinner at her mom's. It was just us and Mary (her mom). We had the tradition Thanksgiving dinner : turkey breast, gravy, mashed potatoes, green jello mold, sweet and sour green beans, sweet potatoes casserole, cauliflower cheese gratin, roles, cranberry sauce and stuffing. Yes , that's all we had. Oops did I say stuffing. I forgot we didn't have stuffing. Someone not mentioning names (cough cough Sally) forgot to make the stuffing.( I love stuffing) I am sitting there looking around for the bowl of stuffing but there was none to be found. I was disappointed but decided to keep my mouth shut but after dinner was done I asked where the stuffing was. No one missed it except for me. Sally offered to make it and I could have it for desert but I had already eyed the apple pie, pumpkin pie, and apple Bavarian torte.

On Friday since it was a nice day, I let Zach go out and play for awhile. He started out playing with his legoes in the driveway and then was on to kicking his ball all around. He came in the house at one point and asked if he could go across the street and get his ball that he kicked across. I said yes, but to be careful crossing. I was watching him from inside the house to make sure he would be OK. He got his ball and decided to try and kick it back across the street(bad idea). First time he kicked it, it hit one of the neighbors cars. Didn't faze him, he tries again and hits the other neighbors car. He tries again, this time it bounces into a neighbors pick-up and luckily bounces out, but he is still on the other side of the street. I was thinking ,I hope he gets it over soon cause I don't want all the neighbors coming over to yell at me. now for the last time he kicked it , it hit a tree branch and came scorching down and hit him in the melon. That is when he knew he was beat and picked up the ball and came home. Just to kick it again to have it get stuck in a tree. I think I may need to teach him some kicking techniques. Not saying I am the best kicker around but, I don't think I would have vandalized the neighborhood in doing so

I am on afternoons at work this week. Wednesday morning I go in for chemo. I am going to try to post another blog during the week. There is more to tell about the weekend but I know sometimes it gets to long for some people to read. Plus, my buns of steels are sore from sitting on the floor for hours sorting out toys. Thank you and God Bless.

A Thanksgiving reflection.

First of all I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. This is a time I like to reflect on the past year. This has definitely been a year of trials and tribulations. I was diagnosed with stage 4 Colon Cancer on January 28th. At first it was very hard to take. I have a very fun loving and unique family. We all like to make each other laugh. Now I was thinking the worst, that all of that was going to end. I was always thinking how my kids would grow up and what they would turn out to be. Thinking how this will affect Sally, with all the things that need to be done to the house and all the bills. I actually thought that maybe Sally should divorce me. so she wouldn't have that burden.( This is something I never told her, until she reads this blog) I feel that Sally deserves a good life without all the problems of having a husband with Cancer, a house that needs repairs and the bills that come with it. I never did say anything to her obviously. I guess that is the selfish part of me. She has always been there for me and everyone else that needed a helping hand or some words of thoughtful encouragement or giving an opinion whether it was asked for or not without any biased. It wasn't always what you wanted to hear but, it was said with love. It really breaks my heart knowing the heartache I am putting her through. She has always been a great Mother and wife, even though she has doubts. I really don't know why she thinks that. She does everything she can for us. Although Zachary the other day got in trouble because he was having a listening problem and Sally made him write sentences. He told Sally that he thinks that she is going to the" Dark Side".( A reference to Star Wars) Now thinking that my kids will be cheated out of a father that can't do much any more and is always too tired. Before my diagnoses I was always trying to work as much as I can to help get the bills paid and be able to get the things we needed. So I wasn't home as much as I should have been. Then I got sick and I was bless with 6 months of play time with my kids. I had two major surgeries one in Feb. and the other in June. So during those times I couldn't do much, but when my recoup time was over I took advantage of that time. So to get back to the beginning I was thinking that I was feeling sorry for myself and that is the worst thing you can do. I am not buried yet. I was getting allot of support from everyone. I was always somewhat of a quiet person with not a lot of friends. Unless you knew me personally you never saw me for who I was. I was told on many occasions that I looked mad. I just don't walk around with a smile on my face allot. I do like to have fun and make people laugh. Sense of Humor is one of my top personalities a person can have. I am just a quiet person by nature unless you awaken the sleeping giant. It took me a while before Sally saw my humor. Thanks to her and Michael I get a lot of material. I know too I can depend on Zachary and Kaitlyn. Being in the family I have you have to have a good sense of humor. Take my mom for instance, never mind I don't have that much time right now. Now to get back to perspective, I do believe now that my Cancer is a blessing. I learned to appreciate things more and not to let as much bother me anymore. I still have a ways to go but, I will have to try harder making changes in my life, like my eating habits and need to exercise more. So to say what I am most thankful for this year is all of you and my family who I cherish and love with all my heart. I never would have made it this far without all of you. I thank you and appreciate all that all of you have done to get me through this illness. If not for that I wouldn't be in the positive frame of mind that I am in now.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving with your loved ones. I will try and do another blog this weekend, so check back probably Sunday. So again thanks to all of you to help me through this with prayers, thoughts and just an ear to hear me babble. God Bless you all.

I quick note to let everyone know to pray for my friend Patty from Minnesota. She had surgery on Tuesday. Not Cancer related, but prayers for a speedy recovery. Patty I hope all went well with your surgery, God Bless.

Almost a 2fer

This past week was a good week except all I did was work and want to sleep. I was on midnights and I know that makes a difference in how I feel. I did have a major headache all day that I couldn't shake. It felt like someone put a knife in my head. Not that I know how that feels to have a knife shoved into my head, but if I did, I am sure this would be close.I was supposed to have chemo this week, but because of the hustle and the bustle of the holiday week I asked if I could have it the following week. So it will be a week from Wednesday at 9:30am. Two more full chemo's left and than 6 more of the partial treatments. I can't wait until it is all over and I feel more like a normal person. A week after my pump was removed and I still have problems drinking cold things. It seems the effects are lasting longer.

Now for the events of the week. Today I put up the Christmas decorations for the yard. I was cruising along putting up the decorations when the neighborhood kids decided to attack me as I am doing this. Leave me alone can't you see that I am a busy guy.(obviously not) Than one of the gang members asked what I was doing. "I'm picking apples what do you think I am doing".Putting up Christmas decorations.Very good little girl anything else I can do for you. "Why are you doing that now, Thanksgiving isn't even here yet." "I am doing it now because, I don't want to do it when the ground is frozen and also little girl I am the boss and this is the day the voices in my head told me to do it"" Now go away you bother me".
The other day before I came home from work Sally asked me if I would get Kaity a Sausage McMuffin and her a Hash brown.When I left, I came down Broad St. They are doing road work and you have to be careful of the pot holes forming. When I was going down the street and listening to the radio, there was a guy walking on the sidewalk. I wasn't really paying to much attention to the water filled pot holes until it was to late. I went right into one and splash. The water sailed and hit this guy good. I couldn't have done any better If I tried. I felt really bad so I did the mature thing and sped up so he couldn't get a glimpse of my license plate and find out where I lived. I got home and delivered the requested breakfast to find out , Kaity wanted a sausage biscuit.Kaity refused to eat it. I made a mistake, so I said I would go and correct my mistake. When I was coming home the same way,I noticed the same guy coming down the sidewalk but, this time facing me.I was thinking what do I do,What do I do. I decided to speed up a little to make it past this guy.All of a sudden a squirrel darts out in front of me and I had to slow down( I didn't want to hit the furry little critter) After I past the squirrel I looked up and the guy was right there and splash. Thankfully it just missed this guy. I looked in my rear view mirror and he was looking in my direction. He was probably thinking naw it couldn't have been but,what little did he know ,yes it was me again.
I am planning to do another blog at mid week. I hope you liked this one. I left my note book with my notes at work. So I will have some more to talk about. God Bless you all and thanks for visiting.
I wanted to mention that Hope the little girl that was hit by a car a few months ago went to Franklin to visit her classmates. She is doing great but, still won't be back to school for awhile. She is still going through physical therapy.

Happy Halloween

Yesterday, I had chemo for the 16Th time. I still have two full sessions of about 4 hrs for each session. Than 6 more partials of maybe only a couple hrs and no more pump. Sally had start to use a patch to help me with the nausea that I have been having during the last few chemo's. The patch is very expensive (thank goodness for insurance).For one single patch it's well over 300 dollars and cost us a bargain price of only 40 dollars per 1 patch. It's very hard to get because of the price, insurance companies don't like to cover it.Since I tried other Nausea medication, I was able to get the patch and it seems to work fine.Now my main issue I have is just fatigue. I still get the pain in my jaw when I eat,but it only last a few seconds but, very painful.I still have the numbness in my hands and feet. Other than that I feel fine. Work is going good and still glad to be back.Work does tire me out to were I just want to rest but its a good think. I have been sleeping better, but I still have a hard time during during the time I have the pump like right now. It's almost over and should all be over around the end of March.

Now I want to talk about taking the kids trick or treating.Zachary was a Star Wars Storm Trooper and Kaity was a witch.I started out taking them on our street. Zachary was all excited because he knew alot of the neighbors. He told me later that he felt like he was famous cause all the people were saying hi Zachary to him. Kaity was a little poky because she just wanted to stare at everyone. I finally had to inform her that Zach was way ahead of her getting all the candy. So she started out with a brisk walk that soon turned into a fast full pace run.She was like a cheetah zeroing in on her target. Which was all those houses that was giving out all that free candy. I had to tell her to slow down that the houses weren't going anywhere. She was trying to catch up to Zach, I had to tell her to slow down a few times. I was telling her" Kaity slow down, come on Kaity OOOOHHHHHH Kaity you OK"! "YESSSSSSS".I will help you pick up your candy. Hey, look there's Elmo! One for you and one for me, one for you and one for me............... After we were done on our block we went to his Grandma's to go trick or treating there for a while. Again most of the neighbors knew Zach because of the times his grandma watches him. He likes the attention and smiled at everyone. It seemed at Kaity was always told how cute she was in her princess costume. Princess costume,she has a pointy hat on,come on. She looks nothing like a princess. I actually corrected one guy and he said she still looks like a princess. She has a pointy hat on. I took her by the hand and said lets leave the bad man alone. Later that night I went back and threw an egg at his house. Teach him to call my daughter a princess,nobody calls my daughter a princess. Wait a minute, oh you know what I me. I finally took the kids home with all there bounty. I look through all there candy before they can eat any. I first went through Zach's. I dumped it all out, Hey ,Zach there's Darth Vader, one for you one for me one for you one for me........... After all that I had to go to work. I was able to go in late so I could take my kids out. That is something that I like to do every year.

I had a small notebook that I used to jot down things that happen and that I would like to share with everyone. Well I lost it a few weeks ago and found it in the car today. I grabbed it and saw that most of the pages were tore out and the stuff I jotted down was missing.I told Sally about this and she I know Kaity was throwing the pages at me. NOOOOOOOOOO, Why did you let her do that. They were little pages from a little notebook and you didn't notice that perhaps it was my most important notebook. I looked all over the car and saw little pieces of my notebook all over the place. I looked at all the pages and not one had any of my writing on them. I remember some of what was written but not all. I hope to find the pieces some day soon.

This is one of the shorter blogs. I am tired and going to watch a scary movie with Sally now called Trick or Treat. Most of the blogs are long because I only write a blog about once a week. I hope you enjoyed what I have written and until next time God Bless.

Happy Birthday Michael!

Tonight's blog will be a little different. Instead of writing my weekly report I am changing the subject matter. I will try to write in the next couple of days my normal weekly report.

Monday, November 2nd was Michael's 19th Birthday. By they way Michael, Happy Birthday. As most everyone knows, I didn't meet Michael until he was 5. I knew of him for a long time though. I can't tell you his birthday story from my point of view. However, there is a unique story. Sally's dad was ill with pancreatic cancer when Sally was pregnant. Her pregnancy was high risk and complicated from the very start. At 6 months along Sally had to have a surgery trying to prolong the pregnancy. In the mean time Sally's dad was getting sicker. Right after her dad ended up in a hospital bed and was in and out of a comma, Sally ended up in the hospital. 4 days later she had Michael by an emergency C-section. Michael was born 6 weeks early weighing 3lbs 11 ounces. Except for his size, he was healthy. A few hours after Michael's birth, Sally's dad passed away.

Like I said earlier I didn't know Michael until he was a little older but I heard stories about him. My little sister Lisa would baby sit him. She would tell me about him. I remember her telling me when ever she would eat he would run up to her with his mouth open like a little bird waiting to be fed. He still does that with Sally sometimes.

After a couple of dates with Sally, I decided it was time to meet Michael. I took Michael and Sally to Celebration Station. We had a lot of fun playing games. Michael wasn't shy, very out going and was always smiling and on the move to play each and every game he could. When I brought them back home it was time for Michael to go to bed. When he got ready for bed he gave Sally a big hug and a kiss good night. I was just standing there thinking how sweet he was. Then he ran up to me and gave me a hug and said "I love you Bill". He caught me off guard and I didn't know what to say. I was impressed how lovable this little boy was.

It didn't take me very long to grow to love Michael. I considered him my son even before Sally and I were married. Michael always called me Bill until the day I married his mother. Then from that day on he called me "dad". Michael has always been compassionate and always worried about others. When he was little I use to smoke a cigar before I went to bed. It was my way of relaxing after a hard day of work. Michael went up to me with tears in his eyes telling me not to smoke because he didn't want me to die. Another time Sally, Michael and Sally's mom went to Tiebels for lunch. All of a sudden Michael started to cry. Sally asked Micheal why he was crying and he said that the waitress looked really sad.I think Sally and her mom left her a fairly hefty tip. One time Michael came home one day all upset. Sally asked him what was the matter and he said in one of our neighbors refrigerator that it was almost empty.Sally told Michael not to worry I will make sure they get food. Sally and her Mother filled up her trunk with groceries before she had to pick up Michael. After Sally picked up Michael, they both delivered the groceries to them. Sally and I try to instill acts of kindness for others in our kids. I use to watch Michael on Sunday's when Sally worked before we were married. It was nice because I got to know him and it was just the 2 of us. I would take him bumming around with me and I bought the play station so he would have something to do. He use to like Sunday's with me to because it always seemed like he ended up with a new toy. I was still a little boys in a man's body and liked toys just as much if not more then he did. I was never a cook but I kept my freezer stocked. Michael loved frozen pepperoni pizza. I would make sure I always had the individual ones for him. I will always remember on a particular Sunday I was watching him, he wanted a pizza. He said he wanted to make it all by himself. He put it in the microwave for an entire 30 seconds and took it out. He sat next to me on the couch and went to eat the pizza. Before I was even able to say anything to him, he had sauce all over his face and frozen cheese all over his shirt. I asked him if he wanted me to cook his frozen pizza for him and he said "No, it's cooked", yummy I thought.

Everyone who knows Michael know that he is always good for a laugh. Sometimes it's because he tries but often he doesn't even have to try to make us laugh. Michael being my oldest I have learned a lot from him. I have not always been the best father, and did things I have regretted, but at the end Michael has always forgiven me. Another thing about Michael he is very determined. Sometimes it's not good but in life determination is good. Michael I just wanted to let you know that I love you very much. I never consider you anything other then my son. I am proud of you. I know you are on the right path to have a great life. I hope I live long enough to see you full fill your dreams. Congratulations on your first job. Hope you enjoy your first day of work tomorrow.

Prayers for a family needed

I want to ask for prayers for a man, that was a good friend of my friend Dan and his wife Tina. His name is George and was the soccer coach for Dan's daughter Kesli's soccer team. He was playing soccer on a adult soccer team at the Dyer soccer arena yesterday. He collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing the game he loved and coached, he was only in his fifties. Prayers are needed for his wife Cathy, his son, daughter and for numerous family and friends of this obviously loved man. It was a sudden shock to all and it is a very hard time for family and friends. Thank you and God Bless

The following is an interview with George done 6 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcW-edgjWzY

Deb Kern Has Invited You to a Tastefully Simple® Catalog Party!

Deb, who responds to every post just to let us know someone is reading the blog is hosting a Tastefully Simple Catalog party. If you are looking for some great tasting easy to prepare food items for the upcoming holidays check it out. Orders must be placed by Saturday Oct 31 and can be done on line.

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http://www.tastefullysimple.com/Cultures/en-US/

Another day in the life of criminals.

Monday:

This weekend I was off. Saturday Zachary and I went to my brother Mike's house. Mike and I were trying to figure out what is wrong the car. Hopefully it's nothing more then needing antifreeze. Zachary had fun playing video games with Eli. Later we took the kids to the Trunk-n-Treat. We almost didn't get to go. I talked about Zach's room before. When I thought it couldn't get any worse it has. I think we are going to have to rent a bulldozer and huge dump container to clean his room. Well the costumes were lost in there. Of course Zachary managed to find his but there was no sign of Kaity's. I had to keep diving in and coming up for air while I was searching. I even had a rope tied around me just in case I got lost so Sally and Michael could pull me out. Of course I saved the day. Even though Sally did have a back up plan for Kaity just in case. While I was getting Kaity dressed. I was giving her the tricks of the trade of how to receive the most candy. I was pro at it in my time, I was a legend.The neighbors would see me coming and they would go through there candy dishes quickly looking for the best candy. They knew given me an apple would me a big mistake. They didn't even want to think what the consequences might be. I would always walk through the door after a hard night's work of Trick-or treating with no less then a pillow case filled with candy(no apples). So I asked her what do you say if you want candy?, and she replied "Yessss"."No, kaity you say trick or treat". I asked her again. " Kaity, what do you say when you go up to a house and want candy". Her reply again was ,"yessss" This went on for about a half hour and I finally gave up. "Fine, do it your way, your just like your mother,always changing the rules. There was even a few seconds to spare so we could take pictures of our kids with the neighbor kids. I felt like it was practice for when they go to prom. The kids had fun there. Of course it wouldn't be a typical day without any mishaps. Everything was going nice and smoothly, I took Zachary outside to collect his rewards and he wanted to roast marshmallow and make smores while Sally stayed in with Kaity so she could finish eating her hot dog. Plus Sally (like usual) was busy talking to our neighbor and her friend Ann Marie who was there with her kids. Sally came outside with Kaity. She started to roast a marshmallow. I ask her where did she get it. She said she got it out of the basket sitting by the welcoming commitee. I was shocked, She actually stoled them. They were given away for prizes and not meant to be taken. Then I noticed Zachary walking around with 2 of the lighted spinning helicopters that were also given away as prizes. At first I didn't think much about it, but then I saw that Kaity's was in her bucket. Some how, some where, Zachary stoled it. Then Taylor spoke up and said hers was missing as she was wiping the tears from her eyes."ZACH, give her back her helicopter!" They even had mini hayrides and the kids wanted to go on it. While they were coming back Sally decided she wanted to take a picture of them. She runs out in the parking lot and almost got ran over by the tractor (mini golf cart). I decided enough is enough and I took their hands and ran to the car. Since by now it was late we decided to get something to eat. On the way out of the restaurant, we were walking through the parking lot when Zachary started slapping a car. I looked at him and what he was doing. He started giggling and acted goofier. I told him to quit as we started walking to our car. I didn't see Zach and I turned around and he was still at the care slapping it and laughing. I told him he better come with us or we are going to leave without him. He looked at me and said "this is our car" and I said "No". He looked up and saw Sally and Kaity getting into our car and I hear a "oooooooops" from him. That car needed a good wash anyway.

Every year (even before we were married) Sally and Michael and sometimes myself would "boo" houses before Halloween. For those who don't know what it is. We make treat bags for families and attached a note on telling them they have been booed. They are suppose to make a copy to boo someone else and place the other in the window. Then we place it on the porch ring the door bell and run away hoping we will not be caught. The funniest thing for us is not being caught. In the past we have taken the entire family out booing driving all over. We try to boo people who we haven't before and we like when we see our signs in their windows. Every once in awhile we will get booed as well. Zachary was off school all last week and was asking the entire time when can he go out "booing". We told him Saturday night. After everything I had done I was beat, So Sally and Zach did it by themselves. This year we decided just to do our neighborhood. They only booed 6 houses (we usually do around 12), Sally said they were caught once but it was from someone they weren't booing. So after the police were called and Sally explained what they were doing the police let them go to continue on there merry way.(just kidding) Actually Sally had to explain their Tomfoolery to the neighbor that busted them. They probably would have been busted more but, some of the neighbors weren't home. Zachary had fun though and was tired from all the running he had to do from the neighbors that weren't home,and got busted from the ones that were.

I was in bed by 10 pm Saturday. Which is early for me. Usually on my day off Sally and I stay up late watching a movie. I couldn't keep my eyes open. Kaity woke up around 2am crying. I offered to take care of her but Sally was still awake and said she could. On and off I kept hearing Kaity cry. About 4 I got up to take care of her so Sally could get some sleep. Kaity's leg was hurting her. She couldn't get comfortable. She would have me rub it then she would get down and try to stretch on the floor. She tried everything to make it feel better. Everything except for Tylenol, even with coaxing she wouldn't take it. Every now and then she would fall asleep on me. I loved that part. Just holding her in my arms and then right when I would start to doze off she starting crying again. Sally said it was at least the 3rd time she had done this in a week. She said one night Zach was up until 2am and Kaity wouldn't fall sleep until 5am. I slept though it and was disappointed that I didn't get to share in the fun with my wife. So now we are wondering if the damp and coldness are effecting her leg. If it continues we will have to take her to see the doctor.

Speaking of booing we were "booed" Friday night. The kids were happy to get a bag full of candy not to mention my delight with the sugary bounty. Saturday morning Kaity was all snuggled on the couch with her blanky and pillow watching cartoons with Zach. I sat down for a little bit as well. The next think I know Sally is by me nudging me to look at Kaity. I was like what, she is just sitting there being good. Then I saw her, ever so slightly, pulling down her blanky and sneaking a piece of candy out of the boo bag. Zach and I were not even the wiser. After I saw her, her mean mommy took away the bag along with a pile of empty candy wrappers.

Today, I decided to go to the clinic to see if could change my chemo day from Thursday to Wednesday. If I went Thursday I would have to go during trick or treating to have the pump removed on Saturday. When I am home, I am the one who takes the kids out. That's my thing. Luckily, I was able to change it. I will go in the morning after I get off work. I will be tired but I can doze off there plus I can rest up since I won't have to be back to work until Friday night. During this time around too, I was given a sample patch to try. I put it on 2 days before chemo and it's worn for a week. It is suppose to help with nausea. I hope it works and if it does I hope my insurance covers it. I heard a lot of insurance companies make it difficult to get it though. While I was at the clinic I had my blood work done as well. So I am all set for Wednesday.


Wednesday:

I didn't get to post my blog earlier. Sally, Kaity and I went out to breakfast before chemo. I was hoping I could sleep during it but it was very loud in the room. When I came home I was hoping to go to straight to bed. However, Zachary needed his glasses fixed again. Sally was planning on taking him and then taking him to "Frozen Yogurt Express" that is right across the street. Zachary didn't want Sally to take him because she was mean to him last night. She wouldn't let him watch a show on TV last night and made him go to bed. So that was his punishment for her. I didn't have to worry about falling asleep though. Zachary talked non stop except for the brief moments he had to breath and catch his breath and staring at his lego star wars with awe.

Next week I go back to 8 hour shifts and weekends off. The 8 hour shifts will be nice but I am not having over time isn't so great. I am really tired and not feeling my best at the moment. So take Care and God Bless.

Prayers for a good friend

I want to ask for prayers for a man, that was a good friend of my friend Dan and his wife Tina. His name is George and was the soccer coach for Dan's daughter Kesli's soccer team. He was playing soccer on a adult soccer team at the Dyer soccer arena yesterday. He collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing the game he loved and coached, he was only in his fifties. Prayers are needed for his wife Cathy, his son, daughter and for numerous family and friends of this obviously loved man. It was a sudden shock to all and it is a very hard time for family and friends. Thank you and God Bless

prayer help needed!

This is Sally. Bill is back on his 8 hour shift. He has been going to bed early trying to catch up on his sleep. He said he will be writing his blog over the weekend.

The reason why I am writing tonight is to ask for prayers. Bill's good friend Dan called tonight. His daughter Kesli's soccer coach/family friend, George, passed away unexpectedly. Yesterday, he was playing on an adult soccer league at he Dyer Soccer Arena. During the game he collapsed from a heart attack. He was in his early 50's. Please pray for his wife, Cathy their son, daughter, family and friends who are shocked and are having a hard time dealing with his untimely death of such a well loved man.

Just a few things that need to be mentioned.

Just a little blog since I had the day off. I go back to work tomorrow and for the next 3 days. I will have the weekend off to enjoy. I didn't feel that great over the weekend because of chemo but I am starting to feel better. I still have to watch it because if I do to much I get dizzy. Today, I took Michael to the doctor for a recheck. He has been released but was told it will be at least another 2 weeks for him to get rid of mono. When I came home I decided to spend some time with my pumpkin. Zachary has the week off from school because of fall break. Kaity has been running a fever and crabby since the weekend. Sally still isn't feeling a 100% yet so Zachary is getting bored. I took him to "Chela's" for lunch. Then I took him to get pumpkins. When we got home I worked on the Halloween decorations. I didn't do everything I wanted to. With being dizzy I didn't think it would be good idea to be on a ladder. I had to run to Menards and of course I can't leave without looking at the Halloween and Christmas decorations. Every year I look and every year I dream what I would buy if I had extra money to spend. I always say maybe next year. At this rate I am figuring by the time I have extra money I will be to old to decorate.

Like I mentioned earlier I had worked all weekend. On Friday I was off though. It was my niece Stephanie's 12th birthday party. I was not feeling well. I didn't sleep well the night before. The chemo pump was louder then usual. Sally said she was able to hear it in the bedroom and I was in the living room. Zachary fell asleep on our bed and we couldn't get him to move. I took the couch knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep very well how it was. Plus my wife has been sleeping on the couch a lot lately. I kept getting cramps in my hands and legs which didn't help either. When the kids woke up I went to bed and slept until 12:30. I still didn't feel well but I didn't want to miss Stephanie's party either. On the way there Sally could tell I was feeling worse. She asked if I had eaten anything that day and I said "no". I didn't eat because I was feeling nauseated. Sally stopped and picked up a candy bar and a drink for me. I did feel better. I enjoyed myself at the party except for the fact that Michael kept calling. No sooner we arrived Michael called Sally's cell phone saying he was really sick and was in a lot of pain. Not knowing what to do because we were 45 minutes away from home we called our next door neighbor to check on Michael. We were assured from them that Michael was going to live. Michael called what seemed like ever y 30 minutes until we got home. Stephanie had jumbo size gourmet cups cakes served with ice cream. Kaity wasn't interested in the pizza and salad that was served earlier but gobbled up the cupcake. Zach sat at the dinning room table like a big boy eating his. Then I heard someone asked if there was a bug on Zach's back. Sally looked at me and started calling my name so I could come and save the day. Then all of a sudden Zach caught on that there was a bug on his back. He got up started screaming and running. It looked like he was going to his own version of the chicken dance the way he was flapping his arms and hopping around. The bug fell off his back and I was able to get it before it went back on him. Not sure what it was but it was some type of beetle I think.

I found out last night Kaity loves to watch the old television shows. She wouldn't sleep and was crying in her bed. I took her out and Sally told me to turn off the lights and to change the channel to 26. She sat there with me watching "Dick Van Dyke" (for those who don't know I love that show. I own all the episodes". Come to find out when she can't sleep at night Sally will lay on the couch with her and watch the old TV shows. I was told she loves "Mr Ed". After a couple of hours Sally will switch it to the news and Kaity will fall asleep then.

This weekend I have another list of things I should do. I need to get the car fixed. I think the thermostat is going out. Anyone wants to help me? I would like to help out the sisters on Saturday morning knowing they can always use my muscle. Maybe do something else with Zach before he goes back to school. I am also going to try to drop off my nephew Eli's birthday gift. His party was on Sunday. I had to work. Sally and the kids were going to go but Kaity was running a fever so they stayed home. There is still Zach's room that needs to be cleaned and Sally wants me to get the indoor Halloween decorations out of the attic. (Indoor decorations are on the bottom of my list since know one ever sees them and they are not spooky) Saturday evening we will take the kids to "TrunknTreat". A church by our our house does this every year. It's really nice for the kids. They have cars which have decorated trunks. Each car has a different theme. Many of the adults who have the decorated cars are dressed in costumes themselves. The kids go from car to car trick or treating. Hot dogs and drinks are served as well. Inside the building are games for the kids too.

I have mentioned before about Hope. She is the girl in Zach's school who was hit by a car a month ago. I am happy to report her condition has improved tremendously. Last week she was taken off all sedatives and the breathing tube was successfully removed. Yesterday, she started talking and was even answering math facts. Today she was walking in the hallway and climbing stairs. She will be moved to an inpatient rehabilitation center next week. The day she was hit it wasn't certain if she would make it through that night. Now, she is progressing quickly. The power of prayer, faith, and love does work miracles.

On a sad note I am asking for prayers for a Highland family who lost their son, J.J., today. He was in high school. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer a couple of years ago. He went into remission for a short time. His neighbors and his family would decorate their homes every Christmas. They called their street "Candy Lane" 2 years ago there was an article about it in the Times because that year they dedicated their street to J.J. There was a collection box at one of the displays to help his family with expenses. I took the family there one night. As I was putting money in the box I was thinking about how blessed I was with healthy kids even though they are brats at times.

The above was written on Tuesday night. I was to tired to proof read it (yes believe it or not I do proof read) and yesterday I was just to beat to even attempt.

It's time for me to call it a night. I have been needing more sleep then I use to. I will write this weekend. In the mean time take care and God Bless.

Chemo today

Today I had chemo and for the most part I am doing pretty well considering. Nothing major is effecting me now, but it is early and the effects usually hit me later. I am having mild nausea and a slight headache right now. When we left it was drizzling and I didn't have my hood on cause I was hot. That was a mistake because the rain drops felt like little needles piercing through my flawless complexion. I almost immediately put my hood on. I say almost because I am a glutton for pain. Like when you do things you shouldn't do. For example play with a sore tooth, knowing it hurts but you still continue to play with it. Maybe you don't but that's the person I am. Even though I know I need to protect myself from a possible illness I still try to be a He Man and that can be a big mistake. I guess I am still adjusting to my life style change after about 7 months of the chemo and almost 9 months of dealing with the cancer. Plus 2 major surgeries, 2 colonoscopies, a biopsy and one minor surgery. I think its more than enough time to get my act together.

Sally started a ritual on chemo days. She goes to Munster Donut( The official Donut shop of Bill's Life) and gets a dozen donuts and brings them for all the patients. First she brings them to me to pick out what I want and then the other patients get what I left behind. After eating my plump donuts I got up and threw away my garbage. I didn't realize that I had about a pound of donut crumbs on my shirt. "Whoops" I said to myself as the crumbs started to gather on the ground. Immediately I looked at Sally and said " Sally, what did you do? As I stepped to the side and started to kick the crumbs her way. "Honey , I will clean that up for you.

Michael has been sick for the last couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago he applied at Kohl's where my sister Lisa works. Lisa was told Michael can't work there because she is in management and it would be a conflict of interest. Before chemo Sally and I went out to lunch (another chemo ritual). Michael and with him not feeling well came up in our conversation. I mentioned that I was glad he didn't get hired at Kohl's with him being sick all the time. I was concerned if he did get a job there he would be taking a lot of time off making my sister look bad. No sooner then I mentioned that Michael called Sally again. I think it was the 3rd time with in an hour he had called. He told Sally that Kohl's had called him for an interview for tomorrow. He was really excited and happy. It would be his first interview ever. He posted on Face Book of his excitement and even asked his Aunt Lisa for interview tips. He was later called and told his interview has been canceled. He is not wanted there because of Aunt Lisa working there. So his excitement only lasted an hour or so. If that was a prank it would have ranked high on my list as one of the funnier ones. While I was receiving chemo and before the donut and coffee run, Sally went home to pick Michael up so he could see a doctor. Michael was complaining since last night of being really ill. After it was confirmed he had mono he acted like he felt much better.

I finished with my chemo before Michael was done with urgent care. Sally and I went to Target. It was wet outside, therefore my shoes were wet. I decided I haven't annoyed Sally yet today so I figured it was time. While we were walking I kept making my shoes squeak. I was waiting for Sally to turn around and give me that look while telling me "Stop it" and giving me a slap on my shoulder. Instead she ignored me. The more she ignored me the more I did it. Trying to get louder and louder. She still ignored me. Then I looked away and I saw other people giving me the "evil" eye. Didn't accomplish my goal of annoying my wife but I managed to annoy everyone around us instead. Mission semi-accomplished, when it comes to annoying people why just leave it in the family.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

What a difference a week makes. I feel like a new person. Work was much easier on me this week. I wasn't as drained and tired. I still had some difficulties with food but I managed. I will be enjoying the next few days until Thursday. That is when I will have chemo again. It seems like as time goes on each chemo sessions gets harder then the last one for me. However, knowing there isn't to many left makes it easier to get through.

It has been an uneventful week with me working midnights this past week. Yesterday, I came home from work with no where to sleep in my bed. My bed was taken over by Zachary. So after my shower I went to sleep on the couch. Zach and Kaity woke up and turned on the TV. I was to tired to go in my bed so I laid on the couch. I was expecting to hear cartoons but what I was listening to instead was a info commercial. I managed to pry one eye open and I saw Zach and Kaity trying to work out to the info commercial for the Firm aerobic workout. I asked him what we was doing and he said he was exercising. He went up to me and said "Look I am skinny now". Then he went and switched the channel and started watching a cooking show.

After a few hours of sleep, I woke up and Sally was getting ready to run a few errands. I decided I go with her to spend some time with my lovely. The next thing I know all the kids were getting in the car even Michael. No sooner as we pulled out of the car I heard "I am hungry are we going to get something to eat?" Here I was thinking my kids wanted to spend time with their dear old dad and then I discovered it was food that played a role for the oldest one to go. Then I was thinking well the other 2 still love their dad. No sooner we got to the mall I discovered I was betrayed by my other son. His ulterior motive was to buy rocks with the money he had gotten from the tooth fairy. After that let down I comforted myself knowing that my baby girl wanted to go to spend time with her daddy. No sooner I realized she was just like the other 2. She wanted to go because she wanted a pair of pink fuzzy boot slippers. She knows that her daddy couldn't say no when looking at her big blue eyes and her little sad pout on her face after Sally said "No!". After the kids got what they wanted, they wanted to leave. No one wanted to walk around the mall with me. It was a sad drive home. I took the little traitors home and we got the 2 little ones in bed. Sally and I went to Stracks and Walgreens. When I came home I checked on them. Kaity was sound a sleep wearing her new slippers. Zachary was sleeping sitting up in his room. Sally and I have been on his case for him to clean his room. Sally even grounded him from playing outside until he picked up his room. Every time he is in his room "cleaning" it ends up messier. He has 2 bunk beds that are filled with clutter so he sleeps on his floor. He lost his "sleeping" section on the floor and had to resort to sleeping sitting up. I will have to cave in and clean his room again for him, Sally helps with the clothes part but because of her allergies she can't stay in his room very long.

This morning I went to mass with the kids. Sally went to her mom's to cook for her mom's 70th birthday party. Mary's birthday was October 2nd. Sally and her sisters and their families were able to get together today to celebrate their mom's birthday. Sally baked dinner rolls and made lemon rice soup and stuffed green pepper soup. Her sisters brought split pea soup, potato soup, tortellini soup, home made apple sauce, and a salad with Olive Garden dressing. The lunch was good but I had my heart set on the second course. We also celebrated Sally's nephew's 14th birthday as well. While they were singing "Happy Birthday" all I could think about was the two containers ice cream on the counter. Which one should I have Cookie Dough or Dulce Leche. Then what cake should I have with it. Atomic or chocolate? I almost broke out in a sweat trying to decide, I was so confused. I made the right choice. I finally decided on atomic cake with Dulce Leche ice cream. It was really good except I had to eat the ice cream really slow because of it being cold. As long as I eat it slow , I can tolerate the cold better.

Tomorrow I have off. Not sure what I will do. I want to start decorating the yard for Halloween. Zachary has been wanting me to have lunch with him at school. I want to go and have my pre- chemo blood work done but not sure if it would be to early. There is also Zach's room that needs to be cleaned so he can lay down and sleep. Sally wouldn't be herself without having her wish list as well. She wants me to fertilized the yard. She also mentioned that I should go to the Cancer Resource Center and check it out. She talked about getting pumpkins as well. So what will I do? I have decided not to plan anything and be spontaneous (which drives Sally nuts when I do this).

I am watching a good movie right now. It's called "Gifted Hands". So I am ending the blog so I can pay attention to the movie.

Take care and God Bless.

Crappy, Crappy, Crappy, Crappy

Did I mention crappy yet? That is how I have been feeling which is an under statement. I guess the longer I receive chemo the more my body stores it, which is why I am feeling like crap. I am still trying to get use to the 12 hour shifts as well. But I am surviving which is the important thing. Struggling but making it. I was off last night and go back to work Wednesday night. I have the weekend off and hopefully by then I will feel much better.

The entire family except for Kaity has been having colds since last week. I think I might be coming down with what they have as well. Lucky me. It's been over a week and Sally is still coughing away. Yesterday morning, she had a cough attack and pulled a muscle in her back while she was coughing. My little girl has been such a good girl. She has been climbing in and out of her crib so Sally doesn't have to lift her. When Sally is lying on the couch Kaity is on the couch with her. We really lucked out with her.

As I said earlier, I think some of my problem is going back to work on the 12 hour days 48 hour weeks. I really try to push myself to be productive. I know that I am not the same worker I was when I was first out of work back on Jan. 28th til now. I know obviously doing the chemo would tire me out, it's just that I didn't expect this much of a impact, when I was what I thought doing so well the last few weeks previously. I try to keep a lot of how I feel to myself. I know that that isn't very smart. Than I thought , I never claimed to be very smart. If I was smarter I wouldn't be in quite the situation I was in.(I had signs that I ignored) Getting back to me being back at work. I don't want to feel that I am a hindrance in my department. So I try hard to do things even when I feel like I am way to tired to move. Avery and my Co-workers all have been nothing but wonderful to me during my way back to work. They all have had a lot of patience with me, and I really appreciate that. Sometimes I feel the Black Dog of Melancholy, because I can't help but feel bad at the way things are now. I know it will take time but, as my family already knows I don't have much patience. I want results now!

I want to tell you all a few stories about when I was at the Missionary of Charities helping out one Saturday. I was asked to take some recyclables to the back. I went to the back and there was this gate that was locked and latched. I got it unlocked, now I was working on the latch for what seemed like a half hour or so. Then I got this brilliant idea. What would my seven year old son Zach do in this situation. Again I was trying to get this gate unlocked, after thinking what would Zach do. Then I realized the problem. Zach would plop his butt on the ground and start to play with his lego Star Wars. He takes them everywhere he goes. Then I came up with a brilliant plan part two, what would my 2 year old daughter Kaitlyn do. I knew right away that wouldn't work because all she would do is stand there and look cute. She would use her mental telepathy to have people do or get things for her. Like she did at my company picnic,when she stood at the ice cream table waiting for someone to give her ice cream without saying a word, and she got what she wanted. So I knew trying to do what she would do wouldn't help for obvious reasons, So I decided to rip the fence down instead. I really had to lift up on the gate to levitate the weight of the gate on the latch. It just took me long enough to figure it out.
While I was there I helped with serving of the food to the people. There was one lady who wouldn't come up to get any food. One of her friends had to come and get it for her. I was told that she had a major fear. A fear that I am afraid to mention. I really don't know if I can say it without screaming and pulling my lower lip over my head. I guess I will tell you, just don' say I didn't warn you. She has a fear of MICKY MOUSE! One of the volunteers was wearing a Micky Mouse shirt. I am not making light of her fear of Micky Mouse ,but it's Micky Mouse. I can see if it was Donald Duck,cause Donald Duck was a mean duck, always yelling at his nephews and just plan being a crabby patty. Micky Mouse is always happy and cheerful. I know it's a legitimate fear but its Micky Mouse. I really hope she gets help for her fear.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless. I will do the next blog probably Sunday.

Sally's Blog

This is Sally again. Bill wanted to write but he is really tired. It's been a long day for him. He woke up early this morning and made the 2 little ones breakfast. Zachary expressed yesterday he missed his dad and wanted to spend more time with him. So Bill promise he would eat breakfast with Zac in the morning. I wasn't feeling well so it was nice. I went back to bed. Bill tried to lay on the couch but Kaity has been missing her dadda as well and wanted to jump all over him.

Of course we are all relieved from the good news today. We will keep praying it will remain this way. Five more full chemo sessions left. It's nice to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There will be another 6 treatments to follow but it should be much easier for him to handle, he won't have to come home with the pump anymore. Hoping until then the side effects of the chemo he can handle. It seems to be a little harder for him to handle. Plus he is still trying to get use to the 12 hour shifts. He is working tomorrow night through Sunday night. It will be harder for him because there is rule at work that is now being enforced. They were allowed to leave the premises for lunch. Because of an incident from a certain employee they will no longer be able to. It's crummy how one person ruined it for everyone. With chemo he has a hard time with food. What he might want a couple of hours ago, the the thought of it later on might make him feel ill. It wasn't so bad because he would be able to go and get something else to eat but now he can't. He won't be able to take medicine either if he isn't feeling well. With us just having one car, I might not be able to go for him either if he drives himself to work. Also, it was nice because once in a while the kids and I would meet him for lunch and now we can't.

After hearing the good news I left to get Michael and Zachary from school. On the way back I decided to celebrate by going to Munster Donuts and buying a box of donuts for Bill and the other chemo patients. I do not know why I didn't think of it earlier but I am going to do this every time. Often the patients are there for 4 plus hours. Many of them are by themselves. I know they might get hungry plus it's nice to have a little treat under crummy conditions.

Bill's favorite holiday is Halloween and the last couple of years he has been decorating the yard. Every year after Halloween we try to buy a little more to add on. Hopefully one year he can have a grand display. Bill is like a little kid when it comes to this. He is looking forward to next week when he has a couple of days off so he can start working on the yard.

Bill had mentioned a little girl, Hope, from Zac's school that was hit by a car. Her grandparents started a blog for those who are interested. She is still being sedated but hopefully by the middle of next week she will be able to wake up. The web site is carepages.com You have to register to use it. It's under HopesFirstCarePage

Bill said he will write a new blog Monday or Tuesday next week.

Hi, I am Bill Ceiga and I approve this blog.

Very Quick Message from Sally

Wanted to let everyone know they Bill's CT came on clean. No sign of cancer. Great news. Only 5 more chemo sessions left after today!

Watch out for Sally's weapon.

The last post is pictures from yesterday and today. Yesterday morning, I was feeling well and decided to help out the sisters at the Missions of Charity. They really did put me to work. I was the master speedy potato peeler, I was unstoppable. Then I help served the food at the soup kitchen. All the helpers left and the sisters were still finding me work to do. I was in the garden digging holes and putting the vegetable peelings in the ground. One sister asked me when I would be back.(under my breath I said never)What I really said was, I will try to go back the next Saturday I have off. I did enjoy being there. When I came home Sally wasn't feeling well. I decided to go to the Harvest craft fair at Central Park. Sally called me and told me to get home because the outlet mall she wanted to go to was going to close in 3 hours. So I zoomed home to please her. Her goal was to get Zach and Kaity some clothes for the fall. After the first store we went to I wanted to run to the car and fly home. Sally had me go in the dressing room with Zachary to try on pants. Zachary was acting goofy and poking around. Then Sally was complaining about the clothes for Kaity being ugly. Ok I am a guy, I do not really care about clothes. So she told me to go look for clothes for Kaity. Usually she does this and then puts back all the clothes I pick. I was on the other side of the store when I heard Kaity crying. Then I looked up and Sally was holding her, rubbing Kaity's head. I went over there and found out that Sally had accidentally hit Kaity in the head with her purse. So I picked Kaity up and rescued her from Sally's mean bag. This purse is huge, I think it was use to carry a bowling ball in at one time. Sally uses it as a diaper bag. As we went to other stores Sally was getting upset with me because she kept asking me what I liked. My kids look cute in anything. Honestly, I really don't care but being the caring husband I smiled and nodded. Then we went to the Pepperidge Farm store. That's my kind of store. I had no problem picking out what I wanted there. There was at one point on the shopping trip Sally tried hitting me with the purse but I was fast on my feet and moved away. She claims it's all accidents but I wonder. After shopping the kids were tired and hungry. We ended up going to Ihop. Sally got up with Kaity to use the washroom. When she got up her purse swung and nearly clocked me in the melon, but with my cat like reflexes I escaped unscathed Instead she hit two coffee containers off the table next to us. Who needs a weapon when she has her purse with her. Beware and stay away when you see her with it.

This morning we went to 9:30 mass. Then we were invited to a picnic at my friend Dan's church( The Harvest Church of Lowell). We went there and had a good time. Usually our kids are very shy and stay with us. However, immediately a boy named Keith went up to Zach and started talking to him. The next thing I knew Zach was outside with Keith. Kaity was watching all the girls play. They went to take a walk in the woods. One of the ladies invited Kaity to go with. Kaity grabbed her hand and walked away without looking back. We went to eat and yes Sally had her weapon with her. She was getting Kaity's food and I kept watching and waiting to see who Sally would knock over with it. Instead, Kaity's hot dog rolled off the plate and into the veggie tray. Nice job I thought to myself. Here we are meeting people we haven't met before and Sally decides to start a food fight. The food was excellent and the desserts were even better. Kaity found a friend. Her name is Azalea and she is 2 as well. Azalea grabbed Kaity's hand and they took off. hand in hand. It was really cute to watch. Later on, 2 huge bull snakes were found. The kids were amazed by the snake. On the way home Kaity was sad. I think she missed her new friend.

The church Dan belongs to is the Harvest Church. We had a very enjoyable time today. I was glad to finally meet Pastor Brian. He has commented on my blog and better yet he is a Cub's fan. I appreciate all the prayers that he and his church have said for me. Everyone was really friendly and really made me and my family feel at home. You can tell they are a very close knit group. I was afraid I would feel out of place but I didn't at all. Pastor Brian you should be very proud of what you have going at that church.

I really wanted to say how I really appreciate my big sister Dawn. She is the reason I am the wonderful, honest. good looking , athletic, hard working, funny, compassionate, God fearing, sensitive, family orientated,caring, kind, considerate, gentle, passionant, loyal, intriguing, unique, intelligent, articulate, bold, devoted, faithful, ravishing, interesting enjoyable, energetic and just an overall perfect human being. If it wasn't for you I would be just an average Joe. I really appreciate the hard work it took you to mold me. You are truly a special person to devote your time to me. You are truly one in a million. I am lucky to have you as my sister. I am sorry my traits haven't rubbed off on you. Don't give up I am sure you will be there some day I will keep praying until then. Ok Dawn is this good enough for you to be my sister again.

Thanks for visiting my Blog and God Bless.