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Welcome Friends
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You've found a great place to come and vent, share or ask for prayer support.
This is a great group who will be very encouraging, caring and loving....
....anyone is welcome to join!

A Servant's Prayer --

Jesus, My Jesus....How marvelous are your ways....
Far more splendid than my mind can envision.
What an honor to be chosen by you.
A lowly child I am, but empowered by the Holy Spirit
to fulfill the great hope to which you have called me.
I give myself totally to you, Lord.
Take my imperfect heart and make it perfect.
Peel away the hardness.
Close the doors I have opened to the temptations of this world.
Gently remove the roots of painful memories, sins, doubts and fears.
Discard anything that separates me from you.
Lord, fill the emptiness with the light of your love that I might be a
beacon calling the lost back to you.

To love as you love.....
To serve as you serve.....
To forgive as you forgive.....
Always mindful of my nothingness while doing great
and marvelous things in your name and for your glory.
This I pray, Jesus, in YOUR name ...
Amen.

HI EVERYONE ~ here we are starting the new month of April already on this Easter weekend. We thought that spring might be on its way, but it was snowing over a good part of the province today. Some areas even had white-outs, but thankfully, it cleared up here and we had lovely for most of the afternoon. It was amazing that as we looked out over the lake here, we had sunshine coming from the west side while it was ***** on the east-south side. The weather has been odd like this for some time now, but it was the wind that made it feel even colder here I think.

We had filled up the feeders, so all the spring birds and chickadees have been coming by this week. It has been a thrill to watch them all along the east side of the house. We had a quiet Easter weekend here. DH did pretty good, having only some confusion now and then. I got him to help out fetching and carrying laundry & stuff for me today.

I'm in the second week after my second chemo round, and I'm getting similar side effects as the last time; it's almost becoming predictable. Today, I had some tender skin & acne, more hair loss, fatique, and a few hot flashes, etc. Thankfully, they were fairly mild and short-lived. So I took a rest this afternoon and again tonight. Whenever I get some of these symptoms, I/we pray for relief right away. One good thing is that I have had nausea only sporatically, so I have been able to eat with no problem, and that's great.

I did do some laundry today, and made a nice salsibury steak dinner with with veggies & salad tonight. I try to do what I can and rest in between. If I lay around and don't keep busy with something, I think about stuff too much. I find keeping busy really helps me a lot; plus, I like getting some kind of exercise each day too. I hope and pray that the side effects continue to stay mild for the duration.

So the key thing seems to be getting through the side effects in between the rounds of chemo each time. One of our chemo nurses says that some side effects can hang around for 6-12 months after the chemo treatments are finished, but we are hoping they will be ultra-mild and rare. Thank goodness we have GOD and prayer on our side too!

Rosebud, I'm so happy to hear you are having mild side effects from the chemo. Do what you can and rest in between. Chilly here this morning for the second day of April (23 degrees). Be strong and remember He is with you always!

THANKS RENEE ~ today was a lot better -- less side effects, and the ones I still have are bearable. The tender skin is lessening a bit, which is helpful. I did some vacuuming today, then laid down for a rest for awhile after that. Then I made dinner -- baked chicken pieces in bbq sauce with rice, asparagus, and yams.

Had blood tests done this AM -- praying that my red blood platelets go back up very quickly. It was very windy here again today. A bit of ***** fell, but nothing that will stick around ...

Rosebud, I was at my oncology appointment yesterday and thought of you. I saw a lady with the cutest cap on but just passed her briefly in the hall. I was wishing I could have gotten a better look at it. My wish was granted , I saw her later in the chemo room but she was just leaving so I only got a quick glimpse again. I saw she wasn't wearing a cap but a scarf wrapped in such a way as look almost like cap. I googled scarf wrapping and found videos, one that was close to what she had. One that really captured my attention was for T shirt wrapping. The model for this had mo hair so I was pretty sure she was a chemo patient, anyway you need to sacrifice a t shirt or tank top and wrap it, it looks really great and you can combine it with a scarf. This lady looked beautiful. Someone was helpimg her do it but it didn't look difficult. You may already know all this but in case you don't just thought I would pass it along.I would go to the thrift store and get a couple of t shirts, colored ones would look best, I think.

Bargoo, can you give the link for the head wrapping?

THANKS, BARGOO ~ that sounds like a great idea -- we have a thrift store in a nearby town, so I will go and look for some T-shirts like you said. I can easily take a piece of stretchy material and make a head wrap. I have a few that I bought but that would be much more thrifty; and I could have more colors to match my tops too ...

Carol and Rosebud here is the link for the Tshit wrap and it will refer you to many others wraps, I think the Mission mine videos are good, too.

http://www.GreatInspiration.net

I googled T-SHIRT HEADWRAP and found this very easy one ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNOY4cS_k7A


And, here's some very easy ways to tie any pretty Scarf ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0THIFqKnFc

The T shirt wrap is the one I linked to, I thought it looked pretty easy. Isn't that a beautiful lady ? There are literally dozens of videos and directions for head wrapping. I don't know if I can do it because I have one non functioning shoulder but if I had a friend or neighbor to help would be great.
I have seen some ladies say "to heck with it "and just go around bald. I had a friend that wouldn't leave the hospital until she got a wig. I think she got hers from The American Cancer Society.
I have known several people who lost their hair but it came back my girl friends 18 year old sons hair grew back curly, he never had curly hair before.

Just a quick note to say hi to everyone and that I think of you all often even if I'm not posting here (I'm always reading though!).

I'm off this morning to the fertility doctor to do some preliminary tests, blood work, etc. as I got approval last week to go ahead with IVF. I'm so nervous and excited at the same time! My oncologist gave me 6 months to try and get pregnant, the sooner the better! Keep your fingers crossed and me in your prayers please!!

Prayers for all.

Elvislover, you are in my prayers, praying that God will grant you the desires of your heart.

ELVSLVR ~ sending up prayers for a good day today ...

BARGOO ~ couldn't get your link to work on my PC -- that's why I had to google it; and posted both of those fun & easy videos for everyone. Both are pretty simple -- anyone could do them. I like that you can use not only T-shirts but some pretty square scarves in the second video. I picked up a couple of long pretty scarves at the thrift shop already for almost nothing. We are going back again today so I will look for a couple of square ones and colorful T's as well.

I notice on some of those videos that they were using enormous scarves and of course you could just use a piece of material but they do make so many pretty scarves.I also saw on some of those videos that they were made by chemo patients, I liked those but didn't link them as there really are a lot of them, I had no idea.
It isn't just chemo patients that have the no hair problem. There are other conditions that cause hair loss, and it doesn't grow back. My DIL is losing her hair, she has already lost her eyebrows and has had them tattooed on, you would not know they are tattooed . Her much younger cousin has had no hair since she was in high school. I think it must be something genetic.

Thanks, Bargoo.