A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Here's the view our my front door today.

This is my backyard view. Nice spring weather, don't you think?

Needless to say, Katie's soccer games today have been cancelled. They are rescheduled for tomorrow, but that may be doubtful too. Instead, we're having a lazy day inside. Just finished watching Body of Lies -- pretty good movie.

Ready for the Weekend

Wow! Between working full-time, caring for a cancer patient, trying to keep up the house and family I'm worn out. I'm so ready for the weekend. It won't be very relaxing though. We might go watch Katie's old high school team play soccer Friday night. Then on Saturday Katie has her first spring soccer games (2) -- if they are not snowed out. I'm so excited to finally watch her play again. Sunday we are having a little get together for Drew. Most of his family has never been to our house, so we're having some of them over and Katie's going to shave his head. They said it would start falling out within 2 weeks, so that should be starting soon. Oh, and I still clean Dave's offices on the weekend (usually early Saturday or Sunday morning while everyone else is still sleeping).

Other than being really busy, all is good with us. :)

And they all rolled over . . .

Friday night Drew was hurting bad from his surgery to put his chemo port in. We all climbed in our bed to watch a movie (Remember the Titans). Kellie and Chris stopped by with a few cute cards the kids in her class made for Drew. So sweet!


The job is going well. As my new boss said on his way out the door, "Monday you're ours, for better or for worse." Monday I am officially employed by them and no longer a temp. I like my new job, but this trying to get everything done at night and on the weekends sucks.

Today I went outside to vacuum the pool and found out that the filter isn't working. It was running, just not circulating any water. Sure hope the pump isn't damaged. GRRRRR! The pool guy is coming tomorrow while I'm gone to check it out.

Kellie, Katie and Drew are all on spring break this week. It's the first time in over 12 years that I haven't been home with them. Makes me a little sad, but I'm sure they'll find things to keep them occupied.

My Work

It's official. I am now permanently employed with the law firm. I was able to sufficiently impress them in 7 days and yesterday afternoon we sat down and talked terms. This is where I will be spending all of my weekdays now.


That's where I sit, right in the middle of the reception area. To the left is one of the partners, to the right is the other. The conference room is straight again. To the left of the conference room is the associate attorney's office. There is also one empty office and the kitchen/file room to the right behind my desk. So far I am really enjoying being back to work.

The only bad thing about it is I am not able to be with Drew for most of his procedures. He has asked a few times if I will be able to be there (today) but I haven't even told the new bosses about him. I was afraid they wouldn't hire me if they knew I had such a big problem at home. His dad has been there for everything, but I still have a case of the guilts.

Saturday Night Out

Saturday night we went to McNellie's Public House downtown Tulsa for dinner. We don't go out to dinner much, so this was a special treat.

Kellie and Chris joined us for a few brews.

Katie joined us too. Drew didn't come because he worked all day and was too tired and was being Mr. Grumpypants. :( He missed a fun time.

Spring has definitely arrived in Tulsa. The pear trees are flowering and, would you believe, I had a frog in my pantry! Chris came to my rescue and caught the little bugger.

Oncologist Appointment

This afternoon I went with Drew to his oncology appointment. The doctor reminded us of Patch Adams. He walked in with a ponytail in his hair, jeans and cowboy boots. He spent so much time with us (me, Drew, his dad & step-mom) and was happy to answer any questions we had. Drew couldn't believe it when I pulled out my camera. I'm recording as much as possible so we can remember every step of this battle when we are celebrating his victory in a few months.

They are still awaiting some further test results, but the doctor seemed confident that it is Hodgkins Disease. Hodgkins is a fairly rare cancer. It only strikes about 10,000 people each year. The good news is it is very treatable with over 90% success rate, especially in young, otherwise healthy people. The tumor in his chest is probably the size of a tennis ball. Next up is a PET scan where they inject some kind of fluid in him. If there is cancer in any of his organs they will glow. Then they will test his bone marrow. Finally, he will have a port put in for the treatments. Once all of that is done they will begin chemotherapy. Although radiation kills the tumor faster, there are more potential future side effects and he recommended using only chemo. Chemo is a little harder to go through than radiation, but it is much more successful in killing all of the cancer cells and there is less likelihood of recurrence. It will be a combination of 4 drugs. He will probably have treatments every other week for six months. The doctor said it may be completely gone in two months, but they still continue the treatment for six. His white blood cells will be tested every time he goes in. He left with less blood than he walked in with. He had to give 5 more vials today. That makes 9 for the week. The appointment went as good as it could have.

Sorry, no work pics today. Maybe tomorrow. :)

Working Girl

Well, I survived day 2 of my new job. There are 3 attorneys and me, that's it. I have so much to learn without much help. It's a bit overwhelming, but one attorney is always willing to help. All of the attorneys graduated from the University of Tulsa, where Katie goes to school, one has two kids also at TU and two of them had children go through the same Catholic high school where Katie went. It's good to have things in common with them. It's a temp-to-hire job, so I have to do well before they decide if I'm worthy of working for them. So far so good. I think they like me. :) If I remember I'll take a picture of my new work tomorrow. It's really nice.

Last night was great. Drew finally decided he was ready to meet VJ, Katie's boyfriend. I couldn't believe it. They shook hands, had a nice talk, played some pool and just got to know each other. They got along great. Whew!

Kellie and Pogo also came over (Kellie in her p.j.'s). We had a fun family night together. Gosh I love my kids!

Tomorrow is the appointment with the oncologist. I might try to take a late lunch so I can be there too. We'll see how my morning goes.