The Big Sleep Over

I am still alive and doing well. Nothing new to report about my health. I have been busy working and have been picking up extra hours to help pay the bills.

We had a big event at our house last week. Zach and Katy were invited to spend the weekend with their Aunt Dawn and Uncle Dave. Dawn is my big sister and their God mother. When we asked the kids if they wanted to go they were both jumping and screaming with joy. I wanted to do the same but I knew my wife wouldn't find it so cute since she always has a hard time parting from the kids. I on the other hand look forward to the alone time with Sally. It proves that I love her more then she loves me.

Friday, the kids and Sally packed their bags. It looked like they were packing for a week stay. I was thinking to myself that was good. Maybe I would get lucky and the kids would have that much fun and my sister would enjoy them that much to keep them awake. After the kids were packed we took the kids to one of their favorite places to eat, Panda Express. When we got home, Katy took her suit case and sat on the porch outside waiting for her ride. Zach on the other hand started crying and kept saying he didn't want to go. Dawn and Dave were on the way here. They were coming from Illinois and were stuck in heavy traffic. It took them 2 hours to get here so Zach was going with them if he wanted to or not. We figured once he is with them he would be fine. We ended up meeting them by Teibels to hand over my pumpkins. On the way there Zach sobbed. Sally and I were trying to be silly and make him laugh but it didn't help. Once we got there, Zach sat on Sally's lap and cried.We gave him my cell phone and told him he could call us when ever he wanted.He seemed a little better. We sent him on his merry way with his aunt and uncle. Katy on the other hand. said "bye" and jumped into their car without looking back. When I drove off I almost had to take a double look. I thought Zach was back in the car when I heard crying, it was my wife. At that point I felt a little bad because I was happy and felt like dancing the jig being a free man without kids for awhile.

I am not naming names but who ever was the master mind of giving Zach the cell phone was a fool. Zach called us about an hour later. Then there was no phone calls for a couple of hours because he went to a Hip Hop party at their church. When they got home, the sad and pathetic phone call began. Zach kept calling crying. He sounded very pathetic. We knew if he made it through the night he would have a fun day on Saturday. I have to admit even though this might damage my manly ego, I did miss not having the little ones in bed. The phone calls continued but we thought it would be better not to answer. So instead, Zach left us the saddest messages ever. We knew once he fell asleep he would be fine. Wrong! 4:45am he called crying again. This time he said Katy was awake crying too. If she was awake crying it was because he woke her up and he was crying. Sally told him to lay back down with her so she could fall asleep. The next phone call we got the kids were happy and excited to be going to the water park. The phone calls thereafter were from 2 happy kids. Even though Zach was happy again he still wanted to come home that night. When I got off work, Sally and I went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was so wonderful to go out for dinner without the kids. The food was really good as well. I talked about the delicious dinner all the way to my sister's. I had Chicken Parmesan and Sally had the Egg Plant Parmesan.They were both excellent.

When we got to my sister's and I knocked on the door in anticipating for the little ones to run and jump on me and hearing the words "I love you and miss you daddy". I heard little feet running before the door opened. Katy ran out and jumped on........... Sally. She had nothing to do with me. Every time I tried to touch her or talk to her she got mad. As soon as we got in the car both kids were talking about how much fun they had. They had a blast at the water park. Zach met a friend and talked all about her. They both talked about how good dinner was. They both loved the chicken and the corn on the cob that was on the grilled. Zach wants Sally to make chicken and corn on the grill like Uncle Dave did. I was a little upset to find out they had ice cream cake for desert and Dawn didn't offer me any. Before we made it to the express way Katy had fallen asleep. Zach continued to talk all about his adventure. A little while later it got quiet in the car. I turned around and saw Zach's sleeping as well. Kaity was so exhausted she didn't wake up until 9 the next morning. Zachary slept until 11.

The next morning when Katy woke up the first words that came out of her mouth was "I want to go to Aunt Dawn's". It continued through out the day. Now she says she wants to go to Aunt Dawn's with mommy. At mass on Sunday Katy started clapping during a song. She must had picked that up at Dawn's church, It was cute but know one else was clapping. I am glad they kids had a lot of fun. Thanks Dawn and Dave for being brave enough to take them.

I have to admit it was nice to get a break from all the turtle question. I am sure you must be thinking I am over exaggerating about the turtle questions. Believe me I am not. Here is an example. This morning I was woken up by the following questions"
Dad....... "Which is the slowest turtle?" "What turtle is the smallest?"'What is the fastest turtle?" "Do turtles have belly buttons?'" "Do turtles grow there arms or legs first?" "Do soft shelled turtles shell's get hard when they die?" "How do turtle's hold their heads? Up high? Down low?" "What kind of turtles did you have?" "Did you ever feed turtles people food?"Are there yellow turtles, red turtles orange turtles, the questions went on and on.

Zachary went to day camp this week which put a hold on the turtle hunt. I am going to take him Saturday morning so I am sure I will have a lot to write about.I was just informed that Zach doesn't want to go to his day camp next week. He wants to go turtle hunting all week,ARRRRRG.

Turtles, turtles, turtles

One must take time out for the little things in life like writing in my blog. I am doing well. I feel about the same as I normally do which is tired all the time. I started to get cramping in my hands again for a couple of days as well. I am sure if you are checking my blog, it's to hear about me complain how I feel. Even though the blog started off to keep an updated on how I was doing. Has now evolved into embarrassing ramblings about my family, myself, and others who I have encountered along the way.

I spent the last two weeks working midnights. Friday morning was my last midnight for two weeks. I went to bed Friday morning thinking about having almost a 4 day weekend. Looking forward to a few hours of sleep first before the fun began. Sally was fighting another headache and laying in bed with me. The kids were up destroying the house. I heard Katy go in the room and get Sally. A little bit later Sally was back in the room waking me up. When I finally woke up enough to realize what was going on, I heard Zach crying and moaning. He was fine when I went to lay down but he said all of a sudden he got a sharp pain in his ear. He wanted to go to the doctor and didn't want to wait for Sally to get ready. My little boy was hurting and all I could think about was making him feel better. Less then 2 hours of sleep was enough for this super hero dad to the rescue. Sally went on line to check where I can take him since our family doctor wasn't able to see him. She told me to take him to an express care that was located in a small hospital. On the way there Zachary was groaning. I get there and drive around the hospital. I saw signs about express care but didn't see an entrance. We get out of the car and I walked inside to ask. I was told there was no longer an express care there. I told the nurse that she has to be kidding and that there were signs stating otherwise. I said its not like I was looking for the bread aisle at my local Stracks store(the official grocery store of Bill's life with cancer), but that I was looking for medical care for my son, that your hospital states outside that it could provide, "Sorry sir" seemed insignificant. I was frustrated and decided to take him to the Hammond Clinic. Not sure if the insurance will cover but at this point I didn't care. It seemed like forever just to have him registered. We sat there and waited for another 2 hours. With me sleeping( I am certain my head was bobbing and I was drooling and snoring) and Zachary sitting there with sporadic out breaks of moaning( like the moaning you hear from the beginning Scooby-Doo cartoons ) we were sight to be seen and heard. At last we were given prescriptions for Zach's inner ear infection. Once again my only goal was to making him feel better. I jumped on the express way to get to Walgreens as fast as I could. I knew only meds would help me achieve my goal of making my son get back to his old self (not sure if that's a good thing or not). As soon as I get onto the express way I realized it was backed up. I couldn't catch a break at all. Since everything I was doing was being defeated, I left it up to Zach if we should stay on or get off the next exit. He made the bold choice of getting off, I stayed on. Eventually we made it to Walgreens, had the meds filled and he was back to his self.

The other day I was doing some lawn work. Once again, Sally forced me away from my husbandly duties and demanded me to go shopping with her. Actually, she asked if I wanted to go and I needed to take a break. The first scenario sounded better though, because it makes her sound like a Brut and me a hard working husband . While we were running around I realized I was hungry. Seeing lots of restaurants usually provokes me to have a hungry stomach. We went through the Taco Bell drive through . Zachary wanted cheesy potatoes. We forgot they put sour cream on it and Zach does not and will not eat anything with sour cream. Sally gave Zach money and told him to go inside and order them without sour cream. Us being the good parents we are, sat in the car to eat our nacho supremes. A couple seconds later Zach came back to the car asking for more money. We gave him more money not realizing that we already gave him a little over a dollar (they are only a dollar and nine cents). and shooed him away so we could eat. He comes back to the car with a burrito in his hand and tears streaming down his face as he is saying that he's going to die, and that he is so hungry. He said they gave him a burrito instead of potatoes. Hence the reason why he came back for more money. How they got a burrito for cheesy potatoes minus the sour cream still leaves me confused. Although the burrito was beefy with potatoes and cheese,but hey no sour cream. With Zach being my main concern, I grabbed Sally's nachos and sent her inside to get my kid his cheesy potatoes minus the sour cream, damn it. By the way we still have the burrito in the fridge if anyone wants it.

Zachary has been fascinated about turtles. Endless questions about turtles he has been asking. Just when I think he asked every question possible he comes up with a new one. Zach is like me. When I was younger I loved turtles, snakes, birds, etc.... In fact I have a collection of books about them somewhere in the garage. After the shopping trip I decided it was time for me to go into the garage and try to find the books. Not an easy task though. There is some force of nature that happens in my garage. Like a huge magnetic force. Every time I clean out the garage everything seems to migrate to the front of the garage. It's so bad, that I can't walk in there without tripping over something. As I am pulling everything out of the garage the neighbor kids run back there to play with everything. After everything calmed down and the dust settled, I was able to scare the kids away. I was finally able to get into the totes. I found the totes with all the turtle books. Zachary was very enthused about the books. I took them in the house for him and continues to sort though the totes. I found a tote that was marked "legos" on it. Opened it up and it was full of legos. Zach's snatched up the box and ran off. We haven't seen him since. My awesome books took second place and now it's all about the legos. At least I don't have any more questions to be answering at this time.

Talking about Zachary getting into turtles and all the questions he was asking me. It really makes me feel good to know that he has such an interest in what I love. It really brings back the great memories I had being in the Calumet river up to my waist in polluted water. Oh the memories.... So any way, I took him and Katy to a lake in Merriville .On the way he was asking me all sorts of questions about the different ones that I have caught. One of the questions was "Dad what do turtles do?" My reply "They swim, They swim a lot." I thought that was a good answer. Zachary replied "OOOOOOH Dad, what do turtles drink?" I paused for awhile and said with most certainty "Margaritas!" His reply "OOOOOH,Whats a Margarita?" I finally replied "Zack, I was kidding. Turtles swim in lakes, ponds and rivers,etc... They drink the water silly boy." We are planning another excursion to happen soon. More funny stories I am sure to follow.

Take care and God Bless you all.

Wax anyone?

I need to get back into the habit writing my blog at least weekly now that we have a computer running thanks to Mr. Kern. So the last of couple weeks not much out of the ordinary has been going on. I have been feeling good. Tired but good. Sally read an article that said the tiredness from chemo can last years after the treatments. Goody, that was a breath of fresh air to hear. There has been a little friction in the Cummins/Ceiga house hold. My dear wife reminds me on how much work there is to do in the house. However, every time I decide to take on a task she sabotages it. For examples, I planned on mowing the lawn before work the other day, and she suggested I go with her to the mall instead, or last Sunday, when I was getting ready to put together the armour for Zach's room and she decided it would be a good day to take the kids to Fuddruckers, or the couple days later when I told her I was going to try in the evening to assemble it and she gathered the neighbor's and had a bon fire. Yet, I know it's going to be a matter of time she is going to start complaining about the things I still haven't done around the house. I can never win with her but what is a guy suppose to do?

As I am typing, I am thinking about all the the things I could be writing about. I decided on the most recent and will shortly write about the others. A couple of days before chemo I woke to a spinning room (reminds me of my younger days). I was dizzy and felt nauseated. As long as I remained still I was OK. I couldn't remain still thought because I had to leave for work in less then an hour. I managed to get to a point where I was able to get myself out the door and into the car. As the evening went on I felt better. Not sure what caused it. Sally thought maybe it was my ears since my ears have been bothering me sometimes. At my chemo appointment Sally mentioned about dizzy me and my ears as well. The doctor said he would check out my ears. I was waiting for him to say "Your ears are fine" or " You need to see an ENT specialist". I never expected the response I got though. As soon as the doctor looked in my ear he jumped back and almost fell out of his chair in shock. Which shocked me. He said I have so much wax build up he couldn't see into the canal. Both ears are like that. I turned to Sally and said "See, I really can't hear you", so I wasn't kidding. Which the doctor said that not hearing your wife is a married thing and not a wax thing. I said I know that but, she isn't suppose to. I was a little embarrassed by the reaction of the doctor and all the wax that are in my ears (I wonder if I have enough to make a candle or two). Sally was trying to comfort me by saying "At least it's wax and not a ear full of hair". That is one of my biggest fears is getting hair in my ears. I replied to her "There is to much wax for the hair to grow". I wasn't trying to be humorous but Sally and the doctor got a good laugh out of it.

Talk about laughing. Sally has asthma and sometimes when she laughs she sounds like smidley, that cartoon dog from my youth.The other night at the bon fire, for some reason Sally decided it was pick on Bill night. She shared some personal information about me which everyone thought was funny except for me. What was funny was the way she laughed. She has to catch her breath and has a delayed laugh in between her laughter. I couldn't help myself but to copy her. She didn't think it was funny but the neighbor next door, Laura did. I didn't think it was to funny of her story telling about me either. The other night after chemo, I was hungry and Sally and I went to Purple Steer at 1 in the morning. Her laugh came up again but this time she video recorded me with her cell phone and told me I had to watch myself make fun of her laugh. Well,,, while watching it I realized I am a very ugly man when I am trying to mimic her and I bet Laura is actually laughing at me, not because I am making fun of Sally but how I look doing so.

That is all for now. I have a lot going on in the next few days and a lot of stories to share. Hopefully, my next blog will be sooner.

Kaity's day in Indianapolis

Today we took Kaity to the long and awaiting appointment with a specialist at Riley's. They did a series of arm and leg stretches with her. Did a thorough looking over. Their conclusion was that she is my daughter and will have to live with that. Actually, they believe her not to have anything serious, except that her joints are loose and her hamstrings are to tight. The doctor said 15% of kids have this problem. They will have to live with it but, will have to do certain stretching and strengthen exercises to help make easier to manage( some do grow out of it). It was also recommended we get her into swimming, buy shoes with high arches, and have her take a warm bath before she goes to bed. They believe her previous labs was a false positive so labs were done again and hopefully this time the lupus results will be negative. We will get those results by a week from this Friday. She will have a follow up appoint in September.

The day as a whole was very enjoyable otherwise. The trip up was quick with no traffic(eat your heart out Chicago). Sally and I chose Riley's because, we knew the traffic would be a lot better. Riley's has more doctors offered to help with treatment plus there is always one on call. It has better accessibility to the facilities and the surrounding area has a lot you can do with the kids in a closer proximity to the hospital. Last but not least, when it comes to the best treatment, I want my kids to have the best and I and Sally thought Riley's to be the best after our thorough investigating of both Chicago and Indianapolis hospitals. I am only saying this because some people thought we made a mistake taking her to Indianapolis. Sally doesn't allow me to make mistakes. So I(we) know we made the right decision.

I was a nice experience for Kaity, because after every check-up and test she took there, she got a toy. I thought what the heck, after all the test, surgeries and check-ups I had, I received nothing (but the best medical care). If I was Kaity I would have my own toy store by now. I didn't say anything to her, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

A few weeks ago we all were going to Albanese candy store. I was driving along with family in tow. When I started to smell a very stinky smell. I casually looked to me right and there it was, A cattle hauler that hasn't been cleaned in weeks or months. I started to gag and swerve all over the road. There was a car in front of us, not allowing me to go past this diesel fart. I could just see the guy in the car ahead of us saying ,"look honey at that guy, what do you think is wrong with that drunk." He did finally move over and I flew by him as he and wifey were staring at me. We did have the air off and thought it safe to turn it on after being a mile down the road now,wrong. The smell finally went away just before we got to the candy store. I tell this story because it happened again, today. On the way to Indianapolis another cattle truck was pestering me. This time he got the best of me with the help of my loving? wife. Driving behind one you can't tell if its a cattle hauler or a garbage hauler. I started to smell this smell ooohh that smell. I looked at Sally and said not again. I went through the process of some more hacking and coughing. There wasn't anything to do because we were in a gaper and couldn't get around the stinky and smelly truck. I looked at Sally and said how am I going to get around this thing. A light bulb went off in her head and she preceded to turn on the AIR CONDITIONER.

I looked at her and said no way you didn't just do that, do what, try to kill me. My face had to of been beet red. This can't be happening to me, were is the damn camera. Finally some movement and we started to go a little faster. I felt like I wanted to go out and push some cars out of the way. I knew this would be stupid not because I knew I wouldn't be able to push any of the cars but, because I would be out with the enemy with no protection. I did finally get past the truck and maneuvered with the grace of a seasoned race car driver to save myself. I told Sally not to touch the air conditioner(ever) until we were totally out of harms way.

I will try and post a little more frequently. I have been very busy, sick and had computer issues. I have been doing very well otherwise except always feeling tired. Thank you all for all the prayers and kind words that I have been receiving. God Bless you all!!!

Jumping for Joy?

Surprise!

I am still alive and well. Our family computer is being repaired. I do not like to use the net book because my eyes are going bad (side effect from chemo) plus my stubby chubby fingers have a difficult typing on a small compact key board. I will go back to writing my famous blogs and posting pictures of my crazy family soon. I have been keeping notes. I have enough material to write for awhile

I have been busy with work. Working extra hours to stay on top of the bills. I am still tired all the time from chemo but I do not have the leg cramping, tingling, and nausea any longer. Sally still has a four page "to do list" posted on the fridge for me not to forget. I try covering it up with lovely art work from Zach and Kaity but it still manages to get uncovered. I had the past weekend off. I didn't do anything on the to do list but I did do a lot with the kids. Doing things with the family is the only way I can avoid the list without getting deadly glares from the wife.

Today has been a very good day for me. That is the main reason for me to write the blog today. I huge cloud has been lifted but it put my life back in perspective again. Sometimes we need a kick to remember what is important in life. At the end of April I wasn't feeling so well. I had some issues with my stomach. One night I was up the entire night with stomach pains. It was so bad I had to call off from work which is something I don't do. I was feeling better but the wife doesn't let anything go. At the chemo session she had to tell the nurse. Who in returned told the doctor who in turned ordered a CT scan. I had to wait for almost another 2 weeks to find out there is a spot on my liver. To be honest, that was very frightening to hear. A lot of things flashed through my mind and I had a long talking with God. The following Monday I had a MRI done. During it I felt at peace and the worrying went away. I realized a lot of things that I wanted to learn from getting cancer I had forgotten. It was a reminder again to me to re-evaluate my life and remember what is important.

I had to wait almost another 2 weeks for the MRI results. Oddly, it was easier waiting for the MRI results then the CT results. This afternoon I had the appointment with the doctor during the infusion. The nurse put us in a room and told us there was one patient before me. Sitting in the 12x12 room waiting for the results is awful. Especially when I am kept waiting, waiting,and waiting some more. The longer I wait the more nervous I become. The longer I am sitting there, the more my mind wonders how awful the news is. This time was different. I think the culprit was that I was watching "People's Court". It was a very good case. Right before the ruling and I was dragged to the doctor's office. Leaving my mind wondering what happened with the case. Instead of worrying about the results I was more perturbed about not knowing what happened. I told Sally to go ahead, that I will be in when this case is over. She than gave me the look,(married men you know what I mean)coming dear As I was sitting in the chair I noticed a window. I have been in the room several times but today I noticed this full body length window with no bar. I thought it is a little peculiar to have such a large window in an oncologist office. Which made me wonder if anyone ever contemplated jumping out the window when they heard bad news. While I was staring at the window I noticed an oxygen tank on the floor next to the window. Which made me wonder if that is there to help the person break the window if they want to jump. Then I looked at the examination bed which is in front of the window. It is slanted which looks to me like a diving board. I thought "Wow!" the perfect plan. A person gets the bad dreaded news and all they have to do is grab the oxygen tank, jump on the table and dive out the window. Hopefully they won't blow up before they fall 3 stories. It kept me entertained for awhile. Then the room got silent again and the nervous waiting began. Finally (not soon enough) the doctor came into the room. He said that he looked over the films himself and talked with the radiologist. He is 99% sure the spot in the liver is scar tissue. What a big relief. While Sally and I were walking to the car a board up service truck pulled up to the clinic( honestly one did show, I did feel this a little ironic). I felt that maybe I should show them where the room is. We couldn't help but laugh. I told the doctor my thoughts about the window but I never thought he would respond that fast and have the window boarded up. I am sure the trucks wasn't there for that window but it was funny to see the truck there.

I go back to work tomorrow, working the midnight shift. I work through the weekend. The wife threatened so hire a service to mow the lawn. I do not like how Michael cuts it and Sally has asthma really bad. They are forbidden to cut the grass. So I need to get to bed so I can wake up bright eyed and bushy tale to mow the yard. Last week the front yard was so long my neighbor got tired of looking at it and mowed it.

Wanted to share my good news with you.
God Bless,
Bill

My morning with Sally

I am not planning for this to be very long. I want to type this while I have both limbs and all digits in tact. After tonight, it might be a different story. I will explain in a bit. I had chemo this past Thursday. I did well with it except for being tired. Friday, Sally dragged me along to pay for the washer and dryer. By the way I got the dryer I wanted. Not that I will use it but it's cool. The inside is shinny and it opens up from the top instead of the front. Sally didn't mention she had other places on her agenda. Since we were "near" the mall we ended there. The kids outgrew their summer clothes from last year. Kaity might be able to wear her's for a little bit longer but as for Zachary we would have to grease him down and try to slide the clothes on or possibly use a full body shoe horn. Then we would have to hope and pray his clothes wouldn't split when he moved. hmmm I don't think this is going to be as short as I planned. I never realized I have so much to say. Maybe it's because I know someone will actually read this and listen. As most of the time I would be better off talking to the wall. Actually I have had many meaningful conversations with the wall if you know what I mean( no I don't answer myself) As soon as I pulled into the parking spot at the mall Sally and Kaity darted off to the mall. I knew they were goners. The thing about Sally she doesn't really shop much for herself but it's important to her for the kids to look nice. In the summer she is always having the kids change their clothes and wash their faces when they get dirty. Kaity is the one who I am worried about the most when it comes to shopping. She is very opinionated when it comes to picking out her clothes. Basically she picked out her clothes and every once in a while Sally would sneak something else in. Everything she likes is hot pink. Pink, pink, pink. I am a guy so pink isn't my favorite color to begin with but I think she is on pink over load. Kaity did pick out a brown shirt. It was a star war's shirt for Zachary. At least he will have that to wear since Sally neglected to look for him.

Friday night I was awake the entire night. I had severe gas pains. So bad that I called off work. It almost killed me to call off work. That is something that isn't in my vocabulary.

Tomorrow we are getting the washer and dryer. Plus, I am planning on cutting down the two front trees with the help of my neighbor Ryan. Hence, for the earlier statement about my arms and fingers. Sally usually takes me to work when I work days since we only have the one car. Actually I take her then she runs out of the car and switches seats to drive home. I love my wife and usually I am not embarrassed of her but when she takes me to work that is another story. I am tempted to take a picture of her one day. I would except for I don't not know how to use the camera and I am not sure what she would do to me. She can get vicious. I know it's shocking but true. In the morning when I drive to work with my wife accompany me. I am presentable with my work uniform on, teeth brushed, and hair combed. Sally rolls out the bed and leaves. The people at work have often seen her running around the car with cow pajamas on, an unmatching t- shirt (usually mine) hair uncombed, sock less and her dresser shoes that slip on. The cow pajamas are really not so bad. She has stripped bottoms that look like clown pants. Shirt tucked in the front and hanging out in the back. The topper is when she where's her shorter PJ bottoms. The ones that go up to her calf with her black dress shoes. OOOOO LA LA !

Which leads into about the drive to work this morning. I was extremely craggy this morning. Chemo and not sleeping the other night really did me in. I am driving to work and all I wanted to do was listen to the songs playing on the radio. Sally informs me she didn't go to bed until after 4 because her mind was racing. Oh no, I knew it was going to be a long drive to work. She wasn't kidding. She kept rambling all the way there about everything she was thinking about and planning. Of course I am involved with all of it or should I say doing it all. She mentioned (but left it up to me so she says) about putting down tile in the laundry room tonight after I get done cleaning it out and taking out the washer and dryer. She also mentioned about tearing down a wall in the kitchen and since we are having the kitchen ceiling repaired and painted it would be a good time to change the fan/lighting. She mention something about planting stuff and something about youtube and learning how to do something. The list went on and on. I thought it would be easier to just tear the house down and start over. I am not even sure if she took a breath during the drive. All I kept thinking was is this going to end, would it be rude if I turn up the radio because the song I like is playing, I am tired now and her planning all this stuff is making me more tired, she said it's all just ideas but are they just ideas?, am I there yet, hope I get all the green lights, why can't she think of things she can do, maybe I should have a brainstorm for "ideas" for her, I hope she doesn't expect me to remember all of this, I hope she doesn't remember all of her "ideals" either, finally I am at work, hope the machine is up and running and the bolts do not need to be changed, I hope Sally is here at 7 sharp, I hope she gets to the other side of the car without anyone seeing her and after giving her a kiss good bye I hope she realizes how much I really love her.

Please remember me and Ryan in your prayers. Cutting down the trees will be very interesting to say the least since I have never done it before and I don't think Ryan has either. (By the way another one of Sally's great ideas). While praying, pray that Sally isn't so ticked off at me where she won't keep the cold beer coming (for Ryan) and cold Dr. Pepper for me and some lunch to keep us going. The thing is at least I post my feeling and thoughts publicly for Sally and all to see. Where as for her I don't know what she is thinking most of the time and I can only imagine what she says about me when I am not around.

I am going to end this because my brain hurts now, at least what didn't get fried. Thanks for visiting and God Bless!

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Bickerson

This past week I felt good. Still tired all the time but feeling much better then the last few weeks. I put in over 60 hours last week. This week I will most likely put in 60 hours. I have a couple of projects at work I need to work on plus I volunteered to work Thursday morning for Earth Day before I go to chemo. Friday was a going away party for James,my former boss. He took a job out of state and I wish him the best of luck. The reason why I mentioned this is because James was the one who believed in me at work. He took a risk when he hired me for a lead operator job. I believe if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be where I am at now. Most likely, I would have been of the many that were let go at work when they down sized. Thank you James.

Enough of the sappy stuff. Friday night the dryer died. Bad that we have to get a new one but good it happened right before we got our tax refund check. There goes my dreams of having the concrete porch tore up (which needs to be) and replacing it with a wooden deck. The washing machine is on it's way out to so we felt it is best to purchase both at once and while we have the cash. God does watch out for us. Yesterday, Sally informed me we are shopping for washers and dryers when I woke up. Much transpired during our little outing. So I felt it was only right to have both point of views posted. Of course my view is more accurate and I am going first because it's my blog and I am always waiting on Sally so this time she can wait for me.

Bill's point of view

The washer and dryer is Sally's thing. She is the one who uses them. I am not allowed to wash clothes. The only thing she lets me to do is get the clothes out of the dryer to fold. Maybe it's because she saw a couple not suppose to be pink shirts in my bachelor days. I would have been happier staying home clipping my toes nails then being dragged around looking at washing machines and dryers. I did get a little happier when I found out my mother in law was going to watch the kids. Not the date night I have hoped for but never the less I was able to spend some alone time with my wife. As we were walking in the first store Sally said "I don't know what we are here for". I couldn't help but laugh, washers and dryers you !#@!@#$% . I tried to be a good husband and seemed interested but as long as a washer cleans clothes and a dryer dries them that's all that matters to me. What was really on my mind was food. I just got off working midnights and I had not eaten in several hours. I was hoping Sally would suggest we go out to eat. Not to often we go with out kids. It would be nice to go some where without having a beverage being knocked over. In my opinion we were done after the salesman showed us a washer and dryer. It looked fine to me. I knew Sally will have to look at every store and then knowing her she will go back to the first place and buy the first one we looked at. She does this all the time. I was just thinking of her when I suggested lets order it and be done. Her time is precious and the money we save on gas she can go and have her toes painted.

When we walked out she asked if I was hungry. I tried playing it cool and mentioned about going to other stores. She said we could eat first (which is what I was hoping for). We went to IHOP. I can never go wrong with IHOP. My mature wife blew the paper off the straw and it hit me. So being the mature person I was, I went to return the favor but my wife who usually isn't a quick thinker like myself, ducked and the straw paper hit the lady behind her, right in the ear. So being the quick thinker I was, I Said honey why did you do that. Not realizing that Sally's back was to the lady and I still had the straw in my mouth.(I had the Deer in the headlights type moment). Sally kicked me in the shin. I am waiting for the bruise to surface. I know there is going to be a big bruise. It took awhile for dinner. I decided I would make this a nice evening for Sally. Sally wasn't doing much talking (I know that is a surprise) so I decided to be my charming self and carry on the conversation. She often just gave me glares. Everyone else enjoys my conversations and thinks I am a funny guy. Everyone except for my wife. I just don't understand why. No beverages were knocked over but Sally did manage to get food on her shirt(I think that was going to be the take home for the kids). After dinner or breakfast because we ate breakfast but it was at dinner time. So do I call it breakfast or dinner? We went to 3 more stores. I was supportive of Sally as we continued our quest to look at washers and dryers. I often gave her my input. I held her hand, opened the door and even tried to give her a kiss every now and then. Every store we went to we walked out of the "entrance" only section. I was waiting for us to be arrested for breaking the store "law". After all that had transpired yesterday we are no closer to picking out a washer and dryer. She did say if she finds a pink washer and dryer she is buying that one no matter what. The plan is to go looking again tomorrow. I am looking forward to spending time with my lovely wife and daughter. Hopefully, I will get lunch out of it. By the way my wife who is supposed to love me always has been telling me all weekend she hates me.

Sally's version

Yes I am the one who washes clothes. But it's a major purchase and I think the decision should be a joint one. If not down the road if something happens I will hear "Honey you picked it out". Plus, I am more price conscious then Bill is. I picked out the oven/stove based on price. I regret it now. I don't want to pick something out hasty and regret it. If we are lucky we will be stuck with it for many years. As we were walking in the first store I started to say "I am not sure what I am looking for" before I was able to finish saying "in a washer and dryer". Bill cut me off by laughing at me and calling me a dumb ass. By the way dumb ass is his pet name for me lately. Can you believe that? I never bought a washer and dryer before so I am clueless what to look for. Unlike Bill, I try to make an informed choice so I takes me awhile to purchase an item of importance. I am sure when he bought the washer and dryer he went to one store and walked out in matter of minutes with a sale receipt. OK the washer and dryer did last for over 15 years but he got lucky. This is the guy who bought a brand new car without test driving it. It's the same guy who would order things off the TV because they looked "neat". After the first store I knew he was hungry so we went out to dinner. By the way I didn't kick him hard in the shin. It was more like a tap. He liked to over exaggerate if you haven't noticed by now. The entire time we were there he was laughing at himself. I never knew someone who could entertain themselves as easily as Bill can. It continued in the car he would say something and then laugh at what he had said. Often he would make hand jesters which would make himself laugh even more. At one store while I was reading the info on a machine he kept talking about how shiny the chrome was on a different machine. It seemed the only thing that matter to him was the color, if it was cool, and how much it shined when he opened it up. Needless to say he wasn't very much help.

Zachary and Kaity were waiting for us. They both received a Target gift card for their birthdays and wanted to spend it. We finally got to my mom's a little after 8. Zachary asked if we were going to Target, I joked around and said they were closed. When I got into the car, Zachary was sobbing and Bill was laughing. I asked what was going on. I found out Zachary believed me and thought Target was closed. Bill knowing this decided not tell Zachary other wise and it was more entertaining to let Zachary be upset.

We are going back tomorrow but since Bill isn't much help I am going to rely on consumer reports to help me make a decision. Oh my gosh I need to finish. My "adult" husband just walked in the kitchen to get the scissors to cut open Kaity's princess birthday balloon. He claimed Kaity told him to. The real reason is because he wanted to use the helium to talk funny. Yet, his story is more accurate.

Bill gets the last word.

It's my blog so I get the last word. There are a few things I need to correct my dear wife. You are wrong and I am right . You really need to quit telling stories. As far I my washer and dryer goes, I wasn't the only one who picked it out, but yes it was at the only place we went to. The color wasn't the only thing I was looking at. It had to look cool too and have a lot of controls that made look even cooler.
I told Zach that when we picked him and Kaity up , that if his mother doesn't hurry the Target will be closed. She was talking to her mom while we were waiting in the car. I just exagerated the time target closed slightly. I told Zach that Target was closing at 8:30 and it was 8:20 at the time. When in reality they were closing at 10.
Yes, I did test my Grand Am when I bought it. It was the coolest looking black Grand Am with the coolest looking controls. As far as her little tap. Yeah with steel toes.
Me laughing at myself, everyone in the stores thought I was funny. I know this cause they were laughing at me too. No I mean laughing with me. Oh boy, maybe they were laughing at me. Well I'll never see them again.

This is my story and I am sticking to it unless I change my mind. Thanks for visiting and God Bless you all.

It sounded like a freight train!

Today I had chemo and for the most part it went very well and a lot better than last time. I just feel a little tired and that is mostly because I was up longer than I should have been. So I am really relieved that it should be less harsher than last time.I need to work on my sleeping habits to get the full rest that I need. I feel that I need to do stuff with the family. Sally and I like to watch movies when the kids go to sleep and sometimes it's not as early as we would like it to be. Kaity will be in her feisty mood and jump on me and have me throw her around the house for awhile, or spin her in circles. After doing that I really need to sit for awhile. I sometimes have a real hard time dealing with that fatigue that I feel. Just over a year ago I was able to run around and have fun with the kids without all of the tiredness. Sometimes I really feel useless and alone. It's not that I am and Sally is a really good wife who makes me feel wanted. It's just that I can't get use to the way I was to how I am now. I know I shouldn't feel this way but, this is what this blog is all about, my feelings and thoughts. I really can't help the way I feel. This is the reason I don't like to be alone. I start to think to much about things and the what ifs. I will never ever really be out of the woods completely. And I know this and that is why I think a lot about my family and especially my kids and what my kids will be when they grow up. I know this sounds depressing and I am sorry for that but like I have said don't let me be alone to think about things. That is why I am glad that I have some of the craziest and goofiest kids in the world. They really help me keep my mind off of things that I shouldn't be thinking about. So I am not really taking this as good as people think. When you have great kids and a wonderful wife it puts things in a different perspective. Sorry didn't mean whine and go off in a tangent. Now for the stars of this blog, Sally and the Zach .

Yesterday I was hearing some strange noises coming from our hallway. I really wasn't sure what it was. It sounded like a train going though the house. I decided to get up and investigate the noise. It took me about a second to get to the end of the hallway. We have a small house that is as big as a small cardboard box to a medium size cardboard box give or take a cardboard box , but hey it's my cardboard box. Anyway I looked in Zach's room and noticed that his covers were moving up and down over his body and every once in awhile they would flutter at his head. I looked closer and noticed that he was the noise maker. The walls started to crack because of the vibration. I knew he must have been really exhausted to be so loud. So I left him alone but not before I pinched his cheeks,DAAAAAAAd Sorry, go back to bed.

About a week ago Sally and I were sleeping soundly. Again I hear this babble like a cross between a mouse and two quirrels fighting over a nut. I got up to hear what it was. It calmed down to a softer tone and now sounded like a Zhu Zhu pet. I looked over at Sally and it was her, having this conversation with herself in Zhu Zhu language. I didn't know what exactly to do to get her back to her native language. I knew I needed to act fast or she may start to scurry all over the bed and possible fall off and hurt herself or worse yet mistaken me for a nut,ummm never mind. So I just put my hand on her cheek softly. She wakes up and says what the ***&$$#*%% are you doing ,oh nothing.
Another time we were sleeping( a common trend here). Again a sound sleep and believe me I don't get to many nights like that, so I really value them. Sally all of a sudden bolts up and said MOTHER! I get up and stare at her wondering if there will be a encore. She turns and looks at me and says WHAT! "Nothing, Nothing at all". I asked her the next day what that was all about and she said it was a dream she had about her and her sisters. If you want to know the dream content I am sure Sally will post a comment about it if you want the details.
Yet again , I was sleeping soundly and the next thing I heard, I thought I was sleeping with one of the three stooges. Whooo whoooo whoooo wheee wheee whhhezzz. I looked over at my angelic wife and said nooooo. A man snores like that(but not me)not my very angelic wife of almost 12 years. "Sweetie Sweetie do you need something". "Sweetie Sweetie want me to get you something". "What the **%^&% do you want" she says, "oh nothing just go to bed".
I don't want anyone to think that I am making fun of Sally. It's just that I am. It's my blog and I can do what I want, besides she is a really good sport about it. I know if she really didn't want me to do it I wouldn't(maybe).
Thank you and God Bless you all.

Noooooooo, not yet!!!

I have been doing very well except, I just feel like I am not getting enough sleep. I try to keep busy doing things so that I don't fall asleep but, that kinda defeats the purpose of needed rest. At least most of the other effects are at a minimal, so that I can deal with.


I hope everyone had a Happy and Blessed Easter. We started our Easter by going to the Saturday Mass at St. James. We went last year and really enjoyed it. It's about two hours long but a really nice service. I really liked the music that they had. We will try and do this every year I hope. Earlier in the day there was a Easter Egg hunt at Griffith's Central Park. It's nice how it is set up with the ages. There are three groupings with 0-4, 5-7 and 8-12 years olds. I stayed with Zach and the 8-12 year olds and Sally with Kaity and the 0-4 year olds. The count down started at 10 going down to zero or we hoped. It got to 7 and then the 0-4 year olds took off and started to grab all the eggs as a few of the ones who were actually waiting to go stood there in disbelieve at the kaos that has started. So I started back to see what happened and where my daughter was in all of this. These were the youngest kids so I know it was actually the parents that had the kids take off early (come on it isn't like there was money in the eggs, just candy uuummmm maybe I could see that now). I saw That Sally had Kaity by the hood of her jacket as she tried to get away. I was glad that Sally was trying to teach Kaity to be a leader and not a follower. Then I thought let her go let her go, they are getting all the candy that I ,I mean Kaity deserves. That is why I married Sally. She will instill values in our kids while I am a little corrupt. It was like a shark feeding frenzy. You hear the lady in charge over the microphone saying no, get back get back. Than all the other ages took off. Again the lady was saying get back get back. I was thinking good luck. Then there were kids piling on each other. I could just see the riot that was about to happen because of those 0-4 year old trouble makers. Kids were ripping eggs out of other kids hands and taking them out of there baskets. I had to tell Kaity a few times Kaity give them back or the Easter Bunny won't come.. I could just see the police come in with mace and tear gas to calm things down . I haven't seen things this bad since the na na da poo poo days of the past Summer (Read earlier blogs). Only a few kids were lead away in hand cuffs(only kidding). It was pretty crazy and quite entertaining. Can't wait till next year and will bring the mace.


I forgot to mention about the play that Sally and I saw in February called" Noises Off". To be honest there isn't a whole lot I could say. I just got the pump taken out and wasn't feeling that great. I was sitting next to a lady that I think bathed in perfume. I could take the smell of perfume but this nice lady literally had a mist floating around her. Sally told me that the people next to her had it on heavy too. I really wanted to watch the play. The play at first started out a little slow but, started to get interesting and funny. I tried really hard to stay and Sally knew I was miserable. She told me that we could maybe go to Baker's Square and get a piece of pie if I wanted too. I shot out of that chair like a pop tart in a toaster and said let's go. I sure hope that nice ladies toes are ok.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless you all. The next blog will have some tidbits from Zach.

Up Date on Kaity

Today Kaity had an appointment with the family doctor. We were told that she tested negative for lead poisoning (right now lead poisoning doesn't seem as bad) According to the latest blood work there is definitely something going on. He said the hospital messed up and didn't run the blood panel right which would have given a better indication what is going on. He said right he is thinking she either has lupus or the early on set of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. He said he wasn't going to order any more blood work on her because she will get another work up with the next doctor. She needs to see a pediatric rheumatologist. There are none locally so he suggested to take her to Children's Memorial. Next week, that will be our mission to find a doctor and get an appointment set up.