A reflection

I finally had a good nights sleep. I woke up at 7:30 so I could take my mother in law to work. She is having some issues with her car , so Sally told me to take her mom to work. When I got to her house she said that she thinks the car will be OK and that she will drive herself. So I thought that since I was up and ready for the day I would go and say my daily prayers and go to mass at St. James. When I left, the song Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin came on the radio. I think that it is one of the best meaningful songs ever. I started to think again about what could have been if I didn't get this misunderstood illness called cancer. The guy in the song wasn't around for his son just like I wasn't there that often for my kids. I was always working and working allot of overtime at the time with the exception I didn't travel. Although I was suppose to go to Italy to see our new machine run before they shipped it back to us., but because the company that was building our machine was having some money issues and we were afraid we may lose the machine , Avery did the smart thing and just had it shipped to us. Well anyway back to my reflection. I call cancer in my case anyway the misunderstood illness cause I believe when I was first diagnose with it I was thinking what did I do , why is this happening to me, I have small kids and one not so small.Yes, I was thinking I have a family that I love. I work my ass off at work, while working allot of overtime to help get these bills paid and be able to have some of the other annuities. It took me almost 2 months to really realize that I am a dumb ass. It was around the time of the benefit when I thought that God has a plan for me and that everything will be just fine( as long as I stop eating garbage).All the people that came out to support myself and my family on that cold rain soaked day in March really told me that I wasn't insignificant. That people really cared and allot of them didn't know me at all.I still think back to that day with total amazement. That is why I know for a fact that you can receive just about anything if your not a knucklehead. God gives everyone life lessons and if you don't learn from them you will get another and another until you fix yourself or die. I think God knew that in me and it definitely changed me forever.If cancer doesn't change you than your gonna die for sure. God won't hand anything to you ,and you will have to believe , have faith and change what needs to change.Don't think because you may say a few prayers and go to church every week that that is all you need to do. Going through the motions won't cut it. That is why when I see people in church talking I get a little flustered.God deserves your undivided attention. I also like to think positive about everything. No matter how gloomy things may look I will still think everything will be OK. I always know that God will not give me more than what I can handle. It may get very hairy at times but, having great family and friends at your side always helps out.Life is a constant learning experience, so learn from it. I am not perfect, not by a long shot. I just know that I needed to change. I still have some things to work on but , I have confidence I will get to were I need to be. If not ooooohhhh boy!

Last night Sally and I watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons. It was a 2.48 hour movie. I think this is why I left good last night. I have no idea what I just missed.That is all I am going to say about that. Tonight the family and I are going to Central park in Griffith for a showing of Hotel for Dogs. We already saw it but this is something nice to do with the kids that they will remember.( my lesson from the above reflection-- it's all about the memories that are kid friendly).Hopefully someone will do something goofy and I will have new story to tell. We are going with our neighbors so it should be fun.

Zach told me yesterday that he is looking for someone to be his female Indiana Jones partner. The neighbor girl didn't want to do it anymore. So if any female out there(preferably about 8-9 years old,if older we can talk) who likes to argue and constantly bicker with men( isn't that usually most women. Just kidding no letters please) please respond to this post stating your interest in the Indiana Jones Female partner search. Zach thanks you in advance.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

Trouble on O Day Drive.

I had another restless night but everything was fine as far as any pain or throat issue was concerned. Two fingers on each hand were and still are numb along with my feet. I got out of bed and watched some TV until the numbness went away. I got back in bed at about 3am and fell asleep after about another hour and was up before 9 so I could make Zach his pancakes. He was happy to see me get up. I went in the living room to watch Elmo with Kaity just to mess with him a little bit. Finally he goes in the kitchen and gets the Dad Pancakes note he made the night before and throws it in my lap.OK Zach I will make your breakfast now since you were waiting so patiently. I started to make the fluffy wonders as only I can make them( following the directions on the box).He sat at the table with joy in his eyes. I gave him three silver dollar plus size pancakes that I think never made it to the table. He ate them so fast I thought that he may have taken a bite out of one of his digits. I gave Kaity one of these delights and she also devoured it. I had to give her another one that also disappeared. Usually she will nibble and not eat much. She knows that Daddy doesn't cook much and thought she didn't want to miss the opportunity to taste something that should be featured on the Food Network. After the three of us were fed the smell obviously woke Sally up. She floated into the kitchen with her mouth open and ready for the round heavenly goodness. She was lucky enough to get the leftover pancakes that were just as good. Michael slept through all of this. He could have a marching band in his room and he still wouldn't wake up.

This evening we had to go to my mother in laws for awhile. as we were going down the street, Sally said " HEY ,there is flashing lights down there lets go take a look. "Sally we are tired and want to get home as soon as we could." "It's not the police cause they are white lights and not red or blue". She said "Aww come on lets be nosy and see whats going on"."Fine,fine I'll see what is going on if it is that important to you. I am traveling down the street which seemed like another mile traveled and getting closer. As I approached the so called trouble that was brewing I noticed something .The white lights that so mesmerized my wife were not flashing but flickering. It was a family of 4 on there bikes and the lights were on there handlebars.I should have asked her if I should have done a citizens arrest since they were causing such a ruckus.

Now here is the boring part of the blog for most of you about our troubled Chicago Teams. The Cubs and the White Sox.
Sox-45-43 3.5 games out are Cubs 43-43 3.5 games out
Sox and Cubs half way mark stats
The Sox have 287 walks 6th The Cubs 333 walks 24th
Sox 619 strike outs 12th The Cubs 662 strike outs 5th
Sox Batting ave.263 12th The Cubs Batting avg. 2.47 27th
Sox Homeruns 103 8th The Cubs Homeruns 93 13th
The SoxRBI'S 392 14TH The Cubs RBI'S 338 26TH The Sox ERA 4.16 9TH The Cubs ERA 3.83 5TH
The Sox in 1-6 INNING AVG. 2.71 The Cubs in 1-6 AVG 2.56
The Sox in 7-9 INNING AVG. 2.47 The Cubs in 7-9 AVG 2.28
Sox with NOBODY ON 2.60 Cubs with NONE ON 2.55
Sox SCORING POS. 2.72 Cubs scoring Pos. 2.18 worst in league INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
BATTING AVG
Konerko-Dye 3.02 18th Theriot 2.99 23th
Homeruns Dye 20 8th Lee 17 13th
RBI'S Konerko 60 7th Lee 57 12th
ERA Buehrle 3.66 16th Lilly 3.18 11th
Wins Buehrle 9 8th Lilly 9 6th
Strikeouts Floyd 92 14th Lilly 101 11th
As I see it both teams are still in striking distance but, have a lot of work to do if they want to be still playing in October.

Thanks for visiting and for baring with me, and God Bless.

Michael's Graduation

Michael's graduation party will be on July 26. It will be an open house. Food will be served from 2-6. We will be having a barbeque, bouncy, and games. It will be at Sally's mom's house in Highland. It's an open invitation to anyone who reads the blog. If you would like to go email us sceiga@att.net and we will
give you the information

Indiana Zach and the Falling Child.

This is Indiana Zach and his lady of the day. He was playing as if he was Indiana Jones all day. If you notice in there hands they are both holding leaves from a Water Lilly plant. Wondering why? they are the whips of course. He was actually playing with the same one all day. I tried many times to have him to throw it away. He said "but Dad' it's Indiana Jone's whip!" I told him even Indiana Jones had to get a new whip once in awhile. He didn't believe me and still didn't throw it away.

Last night I barely slept a wink. My tickle in my throat kept me up because I was coughing constantly and clearing my throat. The coughing didn't help with my stomach.The more I coughed the more pain I would feel. I finally left the bedroom so I wouldn't keep Sally up with coughing and moving around.Yes, we do sleep in the same bed(most of the time).

Zach ,Kaity myself , our neighbor's son Tanner and my friend Hector from work with his daughter Martha went to Central park this evening.Hector brought his new puppy to the park with him. The puppy is a Dachshund (wiener dog ) that is three months old and named Charlie.The dog was an instant hit with aaaaaalllllll the kids. The park had quite a few kids there playing and when Hector showed up with this little puppy the playground emptied and everyone ran up to Hector before he even made it the the playground.I told the kids that were with me to go and play before everyone comes back. When the commotion died down and the kids were back Kaity was just standing in the middle of the playground staring at everyone. She is a very observant little girl and likes to scout the seen before being the rumbustious little girl she is when she is familiar with what is going on. After she was done watching everyone she decided to go on the slide. The slide she went on was a cork screw slide. She was at the top waiting to come down and I was at the bottom waiting for her. As I was standing there waiting patiently for her and minding my own business when all of a sudden this what had to be at least an 8-9 year old kid lands on my head. I guess the kid thought my big sunburned head was a landing target for paratroopers . I said " Dude what are you doing! His response was "I am just playing. My response " I am not your toy. He is lucky I didn't go into Steve Austin mode.

Zach has been wanting pancakes for awhile and I told him that I will try and attempt to make him some in the morning. So that I don't forget he wrote me a note " DAD PANCAKES" I hope the note doesn't blow on the floor.

I have felt allot better today. My pain in my Stomach and my back is allot more tolerable today. The tickle in my throat is gone. I really didn't think that was a laughing matter. I know stupid joke.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

It's guys like you Mickey!

My step Dad came over to help me figure out our vent problem. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I am hoping I just need to clean them out since I didn't have a chance before my surgery. I trenched and put on sealer on the foundation before the surgery and hadn't had a chance to do anything else. I still want to get some dirt to level the area some. After a heavy rain we will have some standing water near the house.My step Dad told me what to do to kill the smell and the bacteria. So I will try and do that tomorrow and have the family leave for a while, so I can do this effectively .

We went to our normal 11am mass at St. James in Highland.We came home and I laid down for what seemed like 4-5 hours or so and it felt good. I didn't want to get up, but I made myself. Sally had dinner ready when I got up. It was one of my favorites. Pepper Steak with the tenderest of meat and the most tangiest sauce just smothered all over bed of white rice served to perfection.Just smelling this made my tongue stand at attention.I know what I will have for lunch tomorrow,LEFTOVERS!!

After the feast I took Micheal somewhere and picked him up about 45 minutes later and took him to his Aunt Stacie's. He is going to Ivie Tech tomorrow with his Aunt to take a test. After I dropped him off and was on 231 heading west the song Mickey by Toni Basil came on. I came very close to pulling over and doing the Toni Basil shimmy. I thought about it for a while and decided that wouldn't be a good idea. Thinking to myself and picturing drivers seeing this 44 year old fat guy with a big head dancing around, that would definitely cause a massive car pile up on 231 and Cline ave. That definitely wouldn't help Indiana tourism when Fat guy dancing in corn field news got out, but than again I would want to check this out if I could.So maybe tourism may actually boom. Getting back to the Toni Basil song. I was in my glory and couldn't help myself. I love to hear the cheesy songs. The more cheese and greasy goo the happier I am. I don't like all cheesy songs though, so don't get me wrong I am not a complete cream puff, only one with a big bite taken out of it. For example about a week ago I heard the song Afternoon Delight on the radio by Starlight Vocal Band. I also was tempted to pull over but not to dance. I wanted to throw up and take my bottom lip and pull it over my head. After analyzing the situation for awhile I just decided to change the radio station.

Like I said earlier I did take it a lot easier. I am felling a little better as far as the stomach pain goes. Now I have a tickle in my throat. All day I been clearing my throat and coughing. My back is better as long as I do my blog in a rocking chair and not on the couch.

The baseball season is at the half way point. I will give my analysis as I see it in the next day or so. Both teams need help.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

If it wasn't for my back.

'

The Ceiga's Neighborhood Park

I had the ct scan this morning for the pain that I have been having with my stomach.It was nice cause since it was a weekend one of the ct operators came in just to give me the scan. It was at Franciscan Hospital in Munster. They felt it was something that needed to be done ASAP.When I got the scan I had to wait until the Radiologist gave the Urgent Care Doctor at the Clinic the results first. If they weren't good I probably could have been admitted,But the test came back normal. Couldn't see any abnormalities.So this is another bullet I dodged. I think I am going to lift some weights now since all is good.

Zach today got to go the Gary air show. Our neighbors asked if Zach could go with them. It was very nice of them to ask, Zach was very excited. The family and I were planning on going too,but Because of my ct scan and my belly hurting we decided not to go. That made it even sweeter that he was still able to go.When he came home he was all excited and was telling me all about it. He was talking so fast I had to tell him to slow down so I can understand. Then he started to make the Jet sounds and telling me how loud they were. I guess now his interest went from trains to planes.

I took it easy for the most part today. There was one point where I was just staring at Zach as he was playing with his Lego Star Wars. He will not leave the house without them, kinda like American Express.Well as I was watching him playing so intently with his Lego Star Wars he would look up at me once in awhile but, wouldn't say anything.This was going on for while and finally he said"whhhaaaaat Daaaaad. I said oh nothing. He went back to playing and I went back to staring. Again he would look up at me and say nothing.This again went on for awhile until he said " Daaaaaad why do you keep looking at meeeeeeeee. I finally told him that I like watching him play and mommy won't let me do anything else.

I am still in some pain and my back is really driving me crazy so I am going to end this now. I hope my back feels better soon so I can write a little longer. Thank you for visiting and as always God Bless.

Come on seriously

Written by Sally. I am certain this will not be approved by Bill Ceiga.

Come on seriously. I am believer that God keeps giving you the same lesson over and over again until you learn what you are suppose to. Bill claims to believe in the same theory. However, I am beginning to think he believes it goes for everyone else except for him. I know it has been mentioned many times but one of the reasons Bill is in the situation that he is in is because he didn't take care of himself. Regardless he would have had cancer. At his age there would have been no reason to screen him for color cancer. However, he wasn't feeling well and had the symptoms for a few months. Didn't tell the doctor because he didn't want to miss work. If he might went in sooner the cancer may not had spread as much as it did. It's a good learning lesson for everyone. He is just lucky that it was found before his colon ruptured.

After his last surgery I complained on the blog about him not taking it easy like he should and not taking his pain meds. Others express their concerns when they found out what was going on. It didn't stop him from doing things he shouldn't but he did start to take more Motrin.

Yesterday he didn't feel very well and for the most part he took it easy. Last night he started to have a lot of pain in the abdomen where the cut was made. This morning he felt worst. I suggested he called the doctor to see if he could be seen. He didn't want to go. He said he felt better when he moved around. The surgery was a month ago. He shouldn't be in pain that much pain but what do I know. This afternoon he took Zach to the library. When he got home he was stumbling. The pain was so great he had trouble breathing. I mentioned going to the urgent care and he said no he just had to rest. I finally told him that he is going. There is no indication that there is an infection by looking at it. He isn't running a fever either. He was given an antibiotic to take. Tomorrow morning he is going to have a CT scan done to see if there is an infection. Hopefully there is nothing wrong with him. Maybe he is just over doing it. I would rather be safe then sorry. He was a little annoyed at me while we were there. I tried to explain if there is an infection it can be very serious. Waiting to see if he gets better is just silly. If it in infected waiting can be dangerous. I was threatened a couple of times about having a sock stuffed in my mouth. That's OK I can take it. It's better to be safe then sorry. Hope someone in my house (the oldest male to be exact) starts to get it.

Crazy Kids

Come on you guys. You're able to answer surveys about everything else but when I have a survey about SBD everyone clams up. Come on everyone does it. Some more then others. It's not like we know who answers what. I am curious and want to see how many people are like me. So indulge me in my curiosity. I am not working and bored so it doesn't take much to entertain me lately.

Last night I still couldn't sleep well. A side effect of the chemo plus being connected to the pump while I am sleeping doesn't help either. I slept a while today before I had the pump removed. I was so tired my eye balls burned. After the doctor's I went to church and prayed. I came home and slept some more. If Sally hadn't woken me I'd probably would still be sleeping.

While I was sleeping my kids and the neighbors were entertaining themselves. Most people have to take their kids to the park, zoo, water park, movies etc... so their kids will be entertained and not be bothering them. I guess my kids and the neighbor's kids are so under privileged they are amused easily or maybe they are just that bored and anything is intriguing to them (sounds like me). Sally had the kids outside so I could sleep. She painted Kaity's nails and then painted her own. Taylor wanted to paint her nails as well. Zachary asked to have his nails painted to. So Taylor painted his nails. He did not want hot pink though because he didn't want to burn his fingers. He just wanted pink polish to be used. From what I was told Zachary started to paint this hand and his nose and Sally told him to quit. Taylor and Zachary decided to get markers instead and used their and the other kids' bodies as canvasses. Between the markers, Popsicle, and the dozen of freezer pops that dripped all over them it would probably be easier to take the power washer out and soap them up and spray them down then it is going to be in the shower. After Zach took his shower he still had marker in his nose.(?) At least Zach wasn't wearing his winter coat outside like he did all day yesterday. He wouldn't take it off because he was "cold".

Like I said earlier I am very tired cause of the lack of sleep the last few days and my stomach from the surgery is giving me a little discomfort today too. So I am going to sign off for now so I can spend some time with Sally before I fall asleep.Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

No way!!!

I bearly slept a wink last night, I think it was the chemo. I ususally have to take something to get me to sleep. My back was killing me too. I got up and took some Motrin. That helped my back, but I still couldn't sleep. I was up pretty much the whole night. I got up around 11 am ate breakfast and took Michael to a friends house. I went to church to say my daily prayers and picked up Michael and went home. I took Kaity outside and Zach soon followed. I decided to empty out the sandbox. It had alot of standing water in there that had to come out. I didn't want to wait until I felt more motivated. I knew I should do this very soon,because of the West Nile scare. I got all the water out and most of the sand out, that I will finish tomorrow.I didn't want my back pain to come back so I just started talking with a few of the neighbors the rest of the evening and came in to watch tv.

I was told that I should talk about some of the things that happened to me when I was working at Sterks Super Foods ( The store were Super Man shops by the way). I started out as a hard working bagger. There was this time when I had a clean up to do in one of the aisles. but unbeknownce to me it was vomit. I have a fairly quemish stomach so I had somewhat of a hard time cleaning this up. Every time I looked at the mess I would gag and gag some more. Who ever did this was an artist. After I got done gagging to the tune of Cyndie Lauper's Girls just want to have fun and finished cleaning up the Picasso I heard in the near distance excuse me sir,excuse me sir. Yes, mame may I help you. Yes, please wait. She preceded to bend over my mop bucket and finish her art work in my bucket. I was saying to myself no way. ( I guess she wanted to do water colors next) I took the bucket to the back room and left it by the sink. Never to look at it again.
This next story I was in the backroom talking to Veronica the magazine girl. I was a stocker at the time. We were just talking about this and that and how good looking I was and that sort of thing. Then this middle aged man comes in the back room and walks to the roll up door where we unload trucks. He unzipped his pants and relieved his self in the corner of the doorway. Veronica and I looked at each other and said in unison NO WAY! I told this animal that he will be cleaning up his mess and that if I ever saw him again that I will tie his manhood into a Fisherman's Knot.
Another time I was stocking in one of the aisles. I was doing my job flawlessly as usually. At one point I looked up and noticed a dark round ball in the main aisle were the meat counter is. I paid no mind to it at first but, kept looking at it wondering what was on the floor that everyone seemed to be side stepping. I decided to take a closer look. As I got closer and looked around some of the other aisles I notice other dark balls. I decided to kick one and found out it was poopies laid by what I thought at the time by a giant rabbit. I went into some other aisles and got to the produce aisle and noticed Stanley,who is a very old sweet man in the aisle. As I was watching him walk away every few steps he would stop and shake a leg and out came the prize. I thought maybe he was afraid that he might get lost and was doing the droppings so he will be able to find his way out of the store. I didn't have the heart to approach Stanley since he was a man who everyone at the store knew and liked and who came in literally every day some times more than once. I was a Frozen Foods and Dairy Manager at the time so I could delegate the work now. So I got on the intercom and said clean up in aisles 1, 4, 6,7 and produce than I went on break.
I will tell more stories of my Sterk days( Hammond Sibley Store mainly) That was a very unique working experience. I have a couple of good stories when I would catch shop lifters, maybe tomorrow.

I got the results back from my Thyroid Biopsy. Everything came back normal with no seen issues. Thank you for the prayers. Now I am starting to feel a little better now. Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

I want my bowl!

My popcorn bowl was left at my sister-in-laws house on the 4th. I will not be the same until I get it back.

I finally got to have my much wanted chemo today. My blood pressure was still a little high but was better. They were going to let me do it even if it was a little high. There would have been a problem if it was decided to wait again, I would have been very upset. After all the talk we had about my pain and some of the stress that I am still feeling, what would you expect.So when I got there they started to get me hooked up immediately. In a warped kind of way I like to go there because of the way they make you feel.They are very upbeat and happy people.Considering all the constant running around they do to keep up to 8 people going on there chemo treatments.With all they do like hook us up, change over our treatment bags( each bag may last anywhere from 15 mins up to 2 hours , depending on what your dosage need is)remove pumps, give shots, do blood work, scheduling appointments, answer questions, answer the phone. make all the concoctions and give us what we need or ask for like a blanket , a piece of candy or beverage, an ear to hear us vent our fears or just listen to us talk and most importantly give us the remote to the tv.So to say the least these three women are definitely Gods children and very much appreciated for all they do with a smile on there face all the time no matter what . If I had to do this work I would have been asked to leave before I got to the door ( I was told many times that I look mean).So the chemo was a breeze with just a little tightness in my legs but I still was walking around to keep them loose.

When Sally and I got home I stayed outside with Kaity and Zach. I enjoy watching them play together. The neighbor kids came out so they started to play with them.They have a trampoline that Kaity loves to play on. The other kids went off and played else where and Kaity was on the trampoline and I was watching her.She was jumping and running all over it. A few times she would be running around to close to the edge and I didn't like that. I would be afraid she would loose her balance and fall off the edge, its about a 4 foot drop.So I would tell her to keep away from the edge. She would look at me and smile and start to run around the dreaded edge again. I would follow that with another threat to quit it. Again the smirk and the run around the edge. I decided I would do what Sally would do, and that would be to embarrass myself. I started to chase her around to get her off the trampoline since she wasn't listening to me. She always managed to stay at the opposite side of the trampoline from me. I was getting mad at her. I was afraid she was going to fall off.I would try to distract her and sneak up on her.That didn't work. All of a sudden I heard this loud uproarious laugh coming from the next door neighbors garage, great. Now I was really getting mad. Taylor the child who the trampoline belongs to came up to the edge of the trampoline and said come on Kaity lets go play. Kaity walked over to Taylor so Taylor could pull her off. That is when the laugh next door got louder. Thanks allot Ronny I'm glad I can make your day.

That was pretty much my day. I will get my pumped removed on Thursday at about noon. I hope that there is no ill effects. It seems the pump removal is when I feel the worst. So I will keep my fingers crossed. Thank you and God Bless.