So, yesterday, I met with my oncologist. My daughter came with me because I’m still muzzy-headed and forget things. I’ve been extremely fatigued since my surgery, and I nap a lot. I was worried about the surgeon’s recommendation that I do another three rounds of chemo and how that would affect my summer and recovery. I’ll admit to being a little depressed at the idea.

My oncologist made a face when I mentioned what the other doctor said and shook his head. He said, you did amazingly well with the chemo, and the surgeon got all the diseased organs he could find. Yes, there was still microscopic evidence of disease in the parts he removed, but immunotherapy should help keep anything lingering in my body in check. He wants instead to give my body a chance to fully recover from the chemo and surgery. He’ll order scans in a month or two to make sure the cancer doesn’t come back, but we can do immunotherapy for a while, continue to scan, and if necessary, at a later date, reconsider more chemo. In the meantime, my job is to get healthy and feel well. I was enormously relieved. I will do whatever he tells me I should because we’ve already accomplished so much. I trust him.

At the end of our appointment, he asked, “Do you want to do an immunotherapy session today and get that knocked out? I won’t have to see you again for another month.” So, I sat in the chair for an hour with an IV running and did that. Usually, immunotherapy doesn’t affect how I feel all that much, but today, I feel nauseous and tired. I’m run down. I’ll pay attention to how I feel, rest when I need to, make myself putter to get myself moving, but yay—I won’t be losing my hair again. Right now, it’s super short and mostly silver. I look like Judy Dench. My dd has been working on getting the pool ready for me. If she gets it pretty and blue, I should be swimming by mid-May. That will be a huge boost to my happiness.

Anyway, that’s the report. At some point, I might talk about things that were helpful to me during this journey that might be helpful to others. But right now, I have work to do and naps to take. I’m just so happy and relieved that I have more time with my family and time to be me. In May, I hope to return to my art guild meetings. We’re having a decoupage mini-workshop in May, and I want to be well enough to attend and participate. In the meantime, I’ll edit and paint and poke my head in the door here to say hello.

Word Search

Summer is my favorite time of year, and yes, it all revolves around the pool. It gets hot as hell in Arkansas, but we enjoy our summers. We hit the pool, we barbecue, use the smoker and the blackstone beside the pool to cook wonderful meals. We have movie nights, including a few that we watch with an outdoor projector when the mosquitoes aren’t quite so bad. I love being outside to watch the chickens who escape their pen and peck around the yard. The goats and geese are fun to watch as well. We fill bird feeders and watch the variety that come to our property, along with the deer and foxes who come to our pond. Of course, there are trips to the flea markets. I can’t wait to have the kids home. Their noise—the music and laughter—really picks me up.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what you look forward to this summer (or winter, if you’re down under!).

No judging. This is a practice piece. I’m trying to learn to use my oil pastels, and this was one I did in the middle of the night last night when I couldn’t sleep with minimal lighting. I think it turned out pretty good considering I had no idea what I was doing! 🙂

Anyway, living in a rural area, Spring comes in waves. First the flowering bushes (forsythia, japonica) then the flowering trees (dogwood, red bud). Then the wildflowers pop up in the pasture and yard. My daughter and SIL have gotten into the habit of mowing around the areas they know will bloom with lovely wildflowers. Our favorite blooms are the crimson clover that come up in the ditch beside the road and the edges of the fenced-in yard. My SIL kind of rolls his eyes because he sees them all as weeds, but we try to keep the dandelions and wildflowers (his weeds) alive long enough the bees can get to them before they go to seed. We don’t worry about perfect grass or anything like that. Nature’s blooms are beautiful.

Anyway, that’s today’s puzzle theme—wildflowers. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me what kinds of natural wildflowers bloom in your area this time of the year. Do you treat them like weeds or adore them like my daughter and I do?

I’m sharing my happy place in a puzzle with you today! I’ve been recovering at home, building up my stamina to sit at my desk to work, and painting again! I thought it might be fun to share some of those small paintings in today’s memory game. So, exercise that gray matter, solve the puzzle, then think about what you might want to share if you were putting together a memory puzzle. Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

I’ve finally graduated from a recliner in the living room to my own bed in my own room. The test was my being able to get myself out of bed without straining my healing belly. I graduated yesterday! Woohoo. I slept with a pillow on my belly in case the cats decided to climb over me. They were thrilled to have their human pillow and back-scratcher back. One chose my shoulder, the other my feet. I didn’t feel used at all with all the purring going on.

I’m up early and will likely head back to bed for a couple more hours of rest, but while I’m feeling up to sitting at the computer, I will.

I chose today’s puzzle image because it’s a house on the edge of the woods, which is our place, and it feels rather magical this time of year. Everything’s greening up—the yard and pasture, the trees in the wood. We have tons of deer coming to drink at our pond in the back. The squirrels love to harass the dogs, running from tree to tree, then quickly circling up the trunks while they bark at the dogs. There are other animals there, but sightings are rarer—foxes, for example. I remember the year we found the injured baby fox and raised it until it was ready to go back into the woods. In another month, we’ll be in the pool every day, watching the birds overhead, and in the evenings, watching the bats as they come out to eat up all those pesky mosquitoes. They really are cool to watch.

Anyways, it’s still dark outside. I wanted to get this post up so it would be waiting for you when you woke up. Happy Saturday, everyone!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and tell me what magical things are happening with the seasonal changes where you are!

UPDATE: The winner is…Shirley Long!
*~*~*

It’s Saturday, and I have a list a mile long of things to place in my rear window. So, here’s a quick puzzle. The topic came to mind because…I’m hungry. 🙂

Solve the puzzle, then let me know what your favorite fast foods are for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Courtney Kinder!
*~*~*

I’m late posting today! I had some administrative things to handle before I could move to fun things!

I have a puzzle for you. The theme is Favorite Book Hero Jobs! I listed some of mine.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, list yours!

UPDATE: The winner is…Amy Beck!
*~*~*

Happy Saturday, y’all! We’re one day into Spring, and we can sure feel the difference in Arkansas. Looking at the forecast, we’ll have temperatures rising into the seventies and nearing eighty in the next couple of weeks. Whew! I’m getting geared up for surgery on the 1st, so I’m trying to get some things done ahead of time and close out some editing gigs I have to get back to authors before I go under the knife. I’m feeling a little squeezed for time. But, one bite of the elephant at a time… I keep telling myself that. Now, if I could just keep the distractions to a minimum. That’s going to be hard to do with the kids being on Spring Break. LOL

Anyway, it’s Saturday, so it’s puzzle time! For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle (it’s so pretty!), then tell me about any plans you have to enjoy the Spring!