Today at 8:30 am CST my Mom started her radiation treatment.  My Mom is on her way to being a breast cancer survivor. But really she's always been a survivor. She's the youngest of 4 children, born almost 6 years after her next youngest brother. She was not a suprise, she was planned. She grew up a little spoiled, blonde haired, blue eyed, fair skinned in a family who showed their indian blood.  Her sister was the oldest with two brothers in between. Mom didn't excel at school in fact I think she barely made it out. Now, we know she's dyslexic. They didn't have words for that in 60s and 70s.

( cut for babbling back story on Mom )Today after finding a lump in August she's in radiation. They found the lump when she had her mammogram. They did a second one and were going to do a third when they decided to just biopsy the masses they saw. The doctors had to us an ultrasound to do the biopsy because they couldn't see the lump any other way. It came back a week later. CANCER. We all kind of flipped out. Mom and Dad have a great Primary Care Doctor and she pulled everyone back down to earth and scheduled surgery. They removed a golfball size portion of her breast. The surgeon was hopeful. They took some pictures about a week after the surgery and had her follow up with a radiologist. That doctor ordered more pictures and then we had to wait two weeks while they came up with a plan. Mom goes to radiation once a day for 10 minutes a day. They say the reason that the wait was so long was that the tumor was so small, they'd caught it so early they just weren't sure where to put the radiation. The radiologist is explained it to Dad like this. Cancer tumors grow little hairs to spread, with Mom they don't believe there are any little hairs to treat. Because they figure Mom's tumor started growing in May and she had her mammogram in August.

Irene has come and left us here in Maryland. We suffered no damage. I've done a little driving around and I can see some trees down and such. It seems we've escaped with very little damage. I prepared the house for loss of electricity and water. We lost neither. We did lose our satellite for a bit but other than that we didn't get inconvienced very much.

We've had a quiet summer, Hubby's parents came for a visit. I've never been so happy to take someone to the airport before. I love my inlaws but they were a handful. We did touristy things and took the booger with us. He did really well and had a ball but he didn't like his routine being messed with. We did a tour  of the Mouments and such down in DC, drove up to Gettysburg, we visited a couple of the Smithsonian museums. The Air and Space Museum was much smaller than I expected. The Natural History Musuem was very large. We didn't stay for very long. The best way for us to do all the Monuments was from a trolley tour. We didn't walk around all of them. My FIL has COPD and couldn't handle that much walking. But I think if they come to visit again I'll take my MIL down and do the walking stuff she wants to with her.

Gettysburg was a whole experience. We did the self guided driving tour. It took several hours and was a lot of drive here get out and look then drive more. I think I would have enjoyed going through the Museum and the Cemetary more than the driving part. I would have liked to look around town more. It's hard to do that kind of thing all in one day with a toddler. But the booger was a trooper and did very well most of the day.

Blake Shelton will be here next Friday. I'm so excited. I might have to write him a tweet!

~Me

A. Age

29. I am a taurus, I live with a 2.5 year old Libra (my son) and a 34 year old Sagittarius. I read my horoscope sometimes and I feel like I embody a taurus quite well.


B. Bed Size

We have a Queen size bed that they hubby, the dog and I curl up in. Somehow I only get a small strip of the bed while the boys get a huge part. Oh and the dog sleeps in between us. Apparently he gets cold at night.

C. Chore you hate.

I hate all chores. What do you want me to lie? My least favorite I think is dishes. I think it's because I have to clean up after myself and my dad taught me to dirty every single thing I could find while cooking.


D. Dogs.

We have a dog. He's a blonde cocker spaniel named Sarge. My dad named him he thought it would be hilarious. Hubby wanted to change his name to squid. Some sort of Army/Navy rivalry thing. I try and stay out of it.

E. Essential start of day.

I have to eat breakfast. Otherwise I eat all day long and never stop. I would love to start my day with some coffee but I feel silly being the only one that drinks it.

F. Favorite color.

I usually say green, but lately I've noticed that I am turning into my great Aunt Lynn and wearing mostly purple. I wear something purple all most daily. So purple I guess.

G. Gold or silver.

Silver. I look orange when I wear gold. 

H. Height.

5 feet 5 inches. I grew this tall in 6th grade and then stopped growing up and started growing out more. 38D cup bra in the 6th grade.

I. Instruments played.

I tried playing the oboe and the french horn in 5th grade but realized I am just not musically talented. I cannot sing either but I adore music! Hubby can sight read music and play trombone I hope Booger gets his talent for that.

J. Job title.

Wife, Mom, Sister, Niece, Grand daughter, Daughter, friend, counselor, event cooridinator, nurse, doctor, listener, healer, student. I do a bit of everything.

K. Kids.

One 2.5 year old boy, and hopefully at least one more some time with in the next 2 years.

L. Live.

I live on the East Coast, I have lived in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arizona.

M. Mom's name.

Her name is Patti

N. Nickname. 

Hon, Nae, Nae-Ray, Naenners I think that's it. 

O. Overnight Hospital Stays.

I was born 6 weeks premature so I stayed in the hospital 2 extra weeks, and then nothing until I had my boy. I stayed from Monday to Friday morning the week he was born, then I was home until Saturday when I went back for an unexplained infection. I still don't know where that was or where it came from.

P. Pet Peeve

Road Rage, judgy people catty women.

Q. Quote from a movie.

Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.

R. Right or left handed?

Right

S. Siblings.

I have 1 older brother he'll be 32 in July.

T. Time you wake up.

between 8 and 9 am. That's when the boy demands to get up, open door mama open door.

U. Underwear.

yep I wear em. Colorful cotton ones.


V. Vegetable you dislike.

cooked Brocoli, or lima beans it's a toss up.

W. What makes you run late.

Everything. I am 5 to 10 minutes late for everything unless hubby is in charge of getting us out of the house. He thinks 15 minutes early is 10 minutes late.

X. X rays you have had done.

Dental ones once a year. right arm, right ankle, collar bone, and my lungs.

Y. Yummy food you make.

I make a mean fried chicken, chicken chili, and biscuts and gravy.


Z. Zoo animal.

Peacocks.

All done. So easy!

We had a busy four day weekend here in Maryland.  Friday we drove up to Gettysburg and visited the reenactment. We watched the mortar demonstration but didn't stay for the battle portion. We went up early leaving here at 7ish am and getting there after stopping in Fredrick for breakfast at around 9. We walked through the camps and hubby listened to Robert E Lee speak. The boy and I walked around during the speech because he wanted to be anything but still. I would have loved to stay longer but it was starting to get warm, I was getting burnt and the boy was getting fussy. Hubby was happy. He of course wanted to stay longer but leaving events early is the price you pay for taking a toddler along. I took pictures and had a great day. Hubby even bought me a battenburg lace parasol. It's gorgeous and I think I sold 5 more just by walking around. We came home and spent a quiet evening watching baseball.

Saturday I went grocery shopping and spent money like I hadn't bought groceries in a year. I got home in time to relax during nap time. After nap we went to the pool. The boy wanted to play in the water by himself. He of course went under a few times. He only swallowed a little water. We've decided he needs swimming lessons and a life vest for future visits. We watched him like a hawk but he is so fearless.

Sunday evening a friend barbequed and had a get together at her place so we went over there and had dinner and played cards. It was a ton of fun. We went back over there again this evening for more bbq and fireworks. Usually around here 4 day weekends drag on this one flew by. But I had a great time and I know the boy did. Hubby I'm not so sure.

Yes hello there, I am an army wife. My husband is a soldier in your army and has served for almost 14 years. He's held up his end of the bargain and them some could you please hold up your end and pay him? Thank you so much!

~A worried wife.

I read a blog called STFU, Couples  and today's entry was a marine wife complaining about everything she does. Only she tried to make it seem like she wasn't whining that she was happy with her life. Except you found the whiny-ness when her friend said I wish I had your life basically. They're stationed in Hawaii.  

I am a proud ARMY wife. I adore my husband. He gives me and our son a wonderful life. He works very hard. He just got home from a year long deployment overseas. Did it suck that he was gone? Yes. Did I wish he was home? Yeah, almost everyday. I think I tried very hard not to whine on my facebook about it very much. Most of those girls that are the complainers are the ones that aren't going to last. She's not really an Military wife. She's  a girl who is married to a Military man.  The Army teaches one thing very well. Suck it up and drive on, soldier.  This ideal lives in my house. My husband was in the service 7ish years before we were married. He said be prepared for suckage. I'm prepared for suckage. I'm prepared to move across country at the drop of hat. This is a life he chose, this is the man I chose to love. I must deal with my choices. If I didn't like it I could change it.

Yes if you read back entries you'll see me complain about my less than perfect husband. He's a man. He occasionally gets a case of the stupids. I think that's not localized to just soldiers. I think every man does it.  I've complained about doctors I've complained about lots of things. I think once or twice I've complained about his job but that goes back to someone dropping the ball.

I whine. I'll admit it. I'm not perfect either. But I try very hard not to whine about my situation. I don't have to work, I can go to school if I choose. Our life is pretty good all because of the Army. So thank you Taxpayers and husband for giving me a pretty okay life. But Taxpayers out there remember that my husand is doing something you're not. He's written a check and been willing to cash it for his life so you can live your life and have your rights. My dad is a vet. Both of my grandfathers were vets. Military service runs in the family.  I know I'm proud to stand by my husband's side any time, except maybe when he plays too much EQ. LOL. All in all my point is my life is good. Thanks for your support through everything.  To all my military wife friends I hope I have not offended you. To all my friends I hope that I have not offended you, if I have then maybe you should not read my journal.

 

@ThatKevinSmith it'll be easier to drop a little more. For me it's more about portion control: I'm an American, so everything I eat is like four feet tall. On Weight Watchers, I've been rocking the Smart Ones meals, which I'm using to train myself to remember that two boxes of cereal in one sitting is not a meal; it's a freak show that belongs on the boardwalk at Coney Island in the summertime. Make the portions smaller (it's the thing no chubby wants to hear, but it's the only path: eat less & exercise. I've been doing that since Nov.1 & I've lost 40 pounds now.