Friday, September 18, 2009

I'm Still Here

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to use Facebook and he won’t bother you for two months!

I am sorry that as of today it has been two months since I updated my Blog. For those who have followed me over the years you know that I seem to do this a couple of times a year. I will be very prolific in my writing for awhile and then I seem to disappear. As I have mentioned before, I am not too sure why this happens but I imagine some shrink would be very happy to try and discover the deep, dark reason.

Well, this time the main reason is Facebook. I am very glad I don’t gamble because I think I must have an addictive personality. When I joined the support site CLL Forum when it first started up and then a little later CLL Christian Friends, it seemed like I was on it every waking moment. If I was out of town teaching, I couldn’t wait to get back and check to see what the latest news was. And then, after a year or two, I started having periods of disappearing there, too. I know that sometimes it just seemed like I needed a break from thinking about cancer 24/7.

Now I am fascinated with Facebook. I had resisted the efforts of some friends to join for quite some time. And then, for some reason that I have already forgotten, I took the plunge. At first I didn’t know what I was doing and I had to have my daughter come over and show me how to use the site. One of the things she showed me was where to find all the free games (Mindjolt - dozens of choices there -, Farkle and Yacht). Yikes! I have been hooked ever since. Why do I feel that I need to keep playing those games until I beat the daily, weekly, or monthly high scores of my friends? I am usually not that competitive. I also have three farms going raising virtual crops and animals. One time my virtual pumpkins rotted on the vine because I didn’t harvest them in time. I was upset!!! The crops were wasted and I had thrown the “money” away that it took to buy the seeds. I would like to reach the highest level on each of the farm games and be able to buy and place the large homes/mansions onto the expanded farm land. Good grief!

I am connected to 91 friends and I actually know all but one (and I may know that person – stinking memory). These are folks from church, my military career, former places of employment, former places we have lived, my leukemia support sites, or family members.

HEALTH UPDATE

So, what is going on with my leukemia/lymphoma? Fortunately, not much. Since I last wrote, I have had two blood tests and everything remained stable except for my platelets which took a huge drop on the last test. I am not too concerned for a couple of reasons. First, previous to that test they had climbed and actually reached the edge of the normal range. Second, even though they dropped into the “stage four” area, it was only one test and we need to see a pattern. Also, they have been in that range many times before. My platelets are the one area of my tests that never seem to be very consistent. I did nick myself shaving this past Sunday morning and it took a very long time to stop bleeding and then started bleeding again almost an hour later. It was only a very small cut. I have a monthly test next Monday, so we will see where they are then.

When I had my IVIg treatment in August, I had a really rotten week after the infusion. I am not sure it was from the infusion with the steroids, but my feet and legs swelled so bad that I couldn’t get my shoes on for several days. I had to keep my legs elevated or they got even worse. I also felt poorly all week. Not exactly sick, but certainly not good.

The feeling puny has been happening off and on for several weeks. I have been getting a lot of headaches and just not wanting to do anything. I will be interested to see if there is anything reflected in next weeks tests. And then the stupid leg itching started again last week. I have no idea why, but it sure is aggravating. Some days are worse than others. No rash this time, just the itching and swelling behind my knees and up my legs. It is only on my upper legs and that is a blessing. So, I am slathering up with the prescription itch cream. OK, enough whining!

I do have a couple of blog entries I want to write very soon. First I am about to kick off my fundraising for the annual Light the Night Leukemia/Lymphoma Society Walk next month. I am a little slow with the kickoff again this year and I was even on one of the organizing committees. Second I really want to update what is going on with our cabin – and it is a lot! Ever see the 1986 movie The Money Pit?

Well I will close for now as I need to go check on my corn, rice, cotton, blueberry and pineapple crops. Even though I have been called a twit a few times in my life, I have no plans to join Twitter!

4 comments:

Mikha'el said...

Glad all is well and thanks for the update

justme said...

John, you're too funny! Glad for your blog update and to hear you're doing pretty well. Can't wait to see updates of your cabin. And I love movie The Money Pit, BTW. Ha! I'm sure your cabin is beautiful, though, and worth every penny you've put into it.

Anonymous said...

Been watching for an update on your blog John.. Glad to see one.. Will be looking for the updated cabin photos. Donna (Gingerellen CLLCF)

Shari said...

John, I too have drawn the line at Twitter. LOL. I'm far too addicted to mass communication as it is. I could so relate to this post.