April 22, 2009

There is a bone marrow drive on Monday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The James Cancer Hospital, 300 W. 10th Ave., room 518A. Potential donors need to be between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and in good health. Donor registration takes 15-20 minutes and participants will be asked to fill out a health questionnaire, sign a consent form and give a cheek-cell swab. There are no fees associated with becoming a donor on this day.

I found out at work Tuesday afternoon from a collage that her two-year-old grandson in Dayton Ohio was just diagnosed with AML-M5 in March of this year & he is going to need a Bone Marrow Transplant very soon. Please help save the lives of 35,000 children and adults who develop life-threatening disease each year.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I updated, were do I start… I still do not have the pictures from coloring eggs & before Easter. They are on Marc’s camera & I don’t know where the attachment is for the computer. Brandon took some good pictures while he was in New Jersey over Spring Break with his Uncle Eric, Aunt Lindsay & his cousins Loudon & Esme.

This is Brandon Balboa:
I do not have a picture of Katie yet with her new hair do… personally I don’t like the blond highlights at all but she loves them, it is a drastic change with the bob haircut. She looks good with the bob but she always pulls her hair back instead of wearing it down & scrunching her curls, she has beautiful curly hair & of course she hates it…

Paige got highlights as well but they blend in real well with her hair.

Zack of course looks rotten as heck.

The day Brandon came home he went to Tiffany’s, they are pretty attached. He gets a little cranky if they go to long without seeing each other. She came over for his 17th Birthday & got him a picture of them together & a Tap-Out T-shirt, it was sweet & he loved it. She was over last weekend as well. She brought the back piece to her prom dress so he could match up his tux & her corsage. He is really getting into taking her to prom. They are going to her prom in Grove City, it sounds like they are going with a group of her friends out to dinner & they have a limo. It’s a good thing he saved up his money from working last summer because he is dropping a small fortune on this. He was really surprised from the sticker shop when he went to get fitted & picked out the flowers. I think he is finally starting to grasp the concept of money & that it does not go very far. Prom is May 8th so we will have those pictures to post in a few weeks.

I have been working for 1 month now & I think I have tolerated it very well so I will be going to 3 days a week for a month & if all goes week we will move up to 4 days a week then back to full time so keep your fingers crossed!

I went to my Dr. today for a check up. She was not to happy with how low my levels dropped last month so she is keeping a close eye on those. She also wanted to put me back on the hormone pills & my neupagen shots. I am against both. I have put on quite a bit of weight from the steroids & the hormone pills & it has really been bothering me even though in comparison my weight is the least of my worries. The neupagen is rather pricey & it makes my bones & joints hurt like hell after using it continuously. She called the lab & had them run some tests on my thyroid & if I am still having trouble breathing during physical activity she is going to have a pulmonary function test & another look at my heart. She is hoping that I am just reconditioned however there have been cases where the Dicitabine (sp) has resulted in cardiac & pulmonary compromise…well see. I am scheduled to start my 3rd cycle on May 4th. It was a logistical nightmare trying to get it scheduled around work, the absolute latest I can come in is at 2pm & the earliest is 8am. I am going to have to do some fancy flexing off if my boss will let me. Luckily I only have to worry about 3 of the days this cycle but I should be back to full time when I start the 5th cycle & it will be even tougher… My work has been great working with me so I am sure we can figure something out. I also had to give her Marc’s FMLA paperwork, I guess DR&C requires it once a quarter, she has had to fill out 4 of these since September last year & has to be sick of them by now. Marc couldn’t go with me today because he had training at work. It was the first appointment that he missed & she definitely noticed. It was rather comical actually, Marc is so blunt with everybody & he is my Dr.s snitch when I don’t give all the details, he keeps me honest up there.

What else is happening…we finally got rid of the suburban, YEAH! I hated to see it go but not the payment. At one point Marc & I thought we were going to have to let it go back to the bank we had so much negative equity in it after gas prices soared last year but thanks to current rebates & dealer incentives we were able to trade it in on a much smaller but more affordable car payment without taking to much of a loss. Now when we ALL want to go somewhere it will require to cars but with Brandon being 17 & hopefully driving soon…if he ever takes the test he still does not have his temps & has not expressed any intrest in going up to take the test.I guess he has more important things to do... Either way there should not be to many times we all have to go to the same place at once.

Marc is happy that he finally got his motorcycle running. It is something to see, as Brandon says to his Dad in an oriental voice “You tough biker, real hardcore”. I will get a picture in the near future & post it. I am so tired of the rain but I hear we may get a nice break over the weekend it is supposed to get up into the 80’s – wow a heat wave! I am sure we will get out & ride.

I talked to my Aunt Debe for quite a while last night. I am very worried about her, she saw a Dermatologist who referred her to a Rheumatologist, she was going in for additional blood work this afternoon & should have the results next week. It sounds like they are trying to rule out rheumatic diseases. For all of you out there that are praying for me if you would please add a prayer on for my Aunt Debe she could really use it right now.

As a whole life in the Vest household is pretty calm these days but never dull. Zack is working with Katie on his Litter Critter project & has still been having white days at school everyday since the beginning of the year, Brandon’s still in a trance over Tiffany he had over 17,000 text messages last month thank god for unlimited texting, Paige is mellowing out, she likes playing her my SIMs Kingdom game Brandon got, Katie is starting to focus on her looks a little more, she had a poof/bump style today that looked really good but she feels that it makes her face look boxy…They all had dental checkups & cleanings last week, needless to say Zack & I got very good reports from the dentist the other three not so much. Brandon’s was the worst followed closely by Paige & Katie came in third. All three need fillings Brandon & Paige are scheduled for the first week in May. Katie will be leaving for her Dads on June 6th, Lance sent me her itinerary. As much as I will miss her she really does need to go down there & spend some time with them. It has been awhile since she has been able to see them for an extended period of time & it will be good for her.

I am pretty much rambling now & this is pretty long post but it was long overdue. So I will post again…soon!