Ultra Violet Irradiation

UVI has been around since the thirties so it's not a new concept, though we had never heard of it until recent months. It cleans the blood as it passes through an ultra violet light, which then attacks the other bad stuff in the blood. Mr D chose to do this after the chemo failed to make any difference to his tumor. Did it help? I don't know that we'll ever know other than there was a lot of debris in his blood.

Dr Godfrey and his assistant drawing six oz of blood, using an IV container.

 The blood passes through this flat piece which is placed under the light as it goes back into his body.

 As the container empties, it leaves these bubbles behind which will be a consistent pattern by the time the ten sessions are finished.

 Mr D waiting the ninety minutes it takes for the blood to drip back through the IV and back into his body.

This is a painless procedure other than the IV pricks. We felt it had as much value as the chemo treatments, especially in light of what we learned in this past week. The next step in this cancer journey is having surgery to remove the tumor in several weeks at Mercy Hospital, using the HYPEC method. Mr D is thrilled that finally someone is doing the surgery he had been asking for since July 2012.

I'll keep updating on this as it happens.

Family Fun at Christmas 2013

No, it's not Christmas 2013 but we do have our Christmas get-together the first Saturday after the New Year. I'm posting these late - but I like to record a few pictures from our time together.

First off: we had a white Christmas; not much but enough to look pretty!

 We also took family pictures and it.was.COLD!

All of our grandchildren except the oldest who had a basketball tournament.

All because of two people...

More family pictures at a later time.

 The girls spent a lot of the day coloring together.

These three are best buds and played in their own corner protected

 from any little hands that wanted to grab their animals...

We can't forget the cooks!

Oh, the meal was yummy!

Revised Church Attendance Board

This church attendance board was a too long on-going project but was finished in time to greet the 2013 New Year and I must say I'm very pleased with it. After asking for ideas on what to do with it, several suggested the chalkboard idea and I ran with that one.

- before -

The board needed some quite a bit of repair to make it nice enough for a chalkboard. Mr D repaired the split down the middle and I took it from there. The cracks were puttied and sanded several times until it was smooth enough to write on, then the fun began! I gave it two coats of primer and one coat of white before I spray painted it with the chalkboard paint.

I used a picture frame to frame the chalkboard area, painting it before gluing it on the board. It got another coat of paint and a light sanding to finish it off. It was hung New Year's Eve.

Now it's all set for the winter months! It's hung just inside the laundry room and before you step into the kitchen, welcoming everyone who walks through our doors.

And yes, I'm pleased with the results.

And to think I was going to just take the numbers and letters and let the board at the yard sale!

Magnet-ics

Do you have as many magnets as we do? Thanks to my friend Joyce at Quilted Nest, here's a lovely idea to re-purpose them. Mr D has a collection on his file cabinet so I took a few that were outdated and re-purposed them. First I sprayed primer on the magnets to avoid a see-through (lesson learned from Joyce!).

- before -

- after -

The wording on the left came from a gift bag - the one on the right from a wedding card, both cut to size. I used Elmer's Craft Bond spray adhesive to glue it to the magnet.

These are sprayed with chalkboard paint; however, I did not sand the magnets and the paint does chip if handled roughly. So if your grand kids want to play/write with these, it's a good idea to do some sanding. :) These are on the frig as a few of the 'littles' enjoy writing on them. This is a simple project to do and sometime I'll get a brainstorm to use them some other place! 

Acheived 2012 Goals!

In January of 2012, two of my brothers took me out for my December birthday. In the course of our conversation one of them asked me what my goals are for the year. My reply was prompt: lose thirty pounds.

I did. More than that.

Because I didn't want to do the hard thing, I didn't weigh myself before I started so I can only guess how much I lost. But I can tell you, I've been on this journey so often before, I can easily guess where I was. And I did measure certain places. Yep, that excuses me for not doing the hard thing (rolling my eyes)! :)

 Having said all of this, I was rewarded far beyond what I expected!

 In March, I joined a CPRS Wellness Center nearby. I'm a homebody so this was a stretch for me and I didn't know a soul. The most exercising I've ever done was walking in our township park for six years which is just across the road from us. A fall on my knees in 2010 put a stop to that. When I walked into the building that first time I felt like a fish out of the water, but Sue, the Wellness director/personal trainer to everyone, put me at ease. She walked me through the cardio and weight machines, then I was on my own!

However, I planned on waiting until fall and after the gardening season was finished.

Boy, am I glad I didn't! This has been/is the best thing that has happened to me! I started with doing a bike for thirty minutes and weights for upper and lower body for thirty minutes. I'd go home exhausted and did thirty minutes of recovery in a recliner...oh yeah, I was in terrible shape! But...I soon began feeling muscles I didn't know I had - literally. I'd be rubbing an arm or leg and I could feel the muscle - it was amazing!

- stationary bike and elliptical -

After doing the bike for two months I asked for the elliptical. Whoa...this was like going from the nursery to fifth grade stuff! I started out with seven minutes and worked my way up to thirty minutes, doing the weights, then another fifteen minutes on the elliptical. It was hard work...sweaty work! But did it ever whittle me down. I'll never be a skinny-minny but I sure like the new me!

- Sue and myself after a workout -

Doing something out of my comfort zone has given me a better body but more importantly, new friends. Sue cares, I mean really cares about us. Outside of family, she was the first one I told about Mr D's second cancer bout and continues to be a shoulder to cry on. I've met Mandy, a young single mother of a three year old who loves the Lord and we've become good friends. Evie, who teaches art in a private Christian school and has to care for her husband who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just as he retired. Beth, who has a brilliant autistic child and an ailing husband, is diabetic herself and has just retired from many years of supporting her family. I've met several former alcoholics and smokers who made the hard choice to stop years ago. John, a stand-offish kind of man and I, became friends after I blew him off pretty badly and apologized to him for it. Now we smile a good-morning at each other and occasionally pedal the elliptical side by side. Bill, who spends a lot of time writing a commentary/devotional along with a group of men on the New Testament. Pony-tailed Frank, an ex-alcoholic, loves the Lord, talking and antiquing, in that order. Cathy, mother of two adult sons, one of them studying to be a youth pastor, and a physically handicapped daughter, works nights while her husband stays home with their daughter so her family can care for her. Yes, this has been really, really good for me in more ways than bodily exercise!   

 I'm hoping to lose a bit more weight but more importantly, maintain the weight loss. I've had losses and gains ever since we're married and weight issues as long back as I can remember. I feel better than I've had in a long time and am grateful for the people God has brought into my life who have helped me be where I'm at today!

- before and after -

A 'before' that was taken in October 2010, before Mr D's illness...he's also lost weight since.

- taken sommer of 2012 -