The other day Uncle Jim sent me the following entry from an old blog
of his:

Who would have ever thunk it? Mizzou Tigers 9th in the nation!! 

The hated and despised Colorado 5th down "champs" are next on 

our agenda. The game will not be played at the zou...not good.

First thing Mom said the morning after her birthday party was 

" I had quite a day yesterday" A day unlike most of us will ever 

see in our life here on earth. My daughter in law really outdid 

herself. It was a wonderful party. Lots of family, friends, and 

neighbors were there. Everything was perfect. The old girl held 

up pretty well even though she was a little overwhelmed by all the 

attention. I'm hoping by today that she will have caught up on her 

rest somewhat.

I can only imagine what is like to be starting the 98th year of life.

Well, I can see the light in her kitchen window, it's time to see if she 

is okay.

It's frosty this morning, 37 degrees. It was 36.9 yesterday.

'Nuff said.

This was written Oct 30 2007 in a blog that I started in ’06 and never 

stayed with.

I had forgotten all about writing about this.

It does bring back good memories for me. J

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

This would have been the day after the G'ma Opal's 97th birthday party. 

Mom didn't want to wait until G'ma Opal turned 100.  I remember mom

said, "I might not be there."  And she wouldn't have been.

I cannot believe that mom has been gone for 10 years this August.  G'ma Opal

once told me that she had missed her mother every day of her life since her

mother had died, and I can honestly say the same about my mother.  I miss
G'ma Opal too, so very much.

Today is Mama's birthday.  What a companion and friend she was to Papa,
her children, and her grandchildren.  Just yesterday I was at a friend's house
and she had Osage Oranges on display.  I told her the story of when dad
tricked mom by putting an Osage Orange in the toilet and then staying
in the bathroom moaning and groaning while mom was worrying like
crazy listening to him.  Finally he let her in and showed her the thing
he had "passed".  She about fainted.  Then she about killed him.  She
was so delightfully gullible!  I miss her every day.

My mother-in-law, Oma, had a birthday a few weeks ago.  At 87 she is still a
hoot.  She was dusting up high in the apartment she and Opa have at the Senior
Citizen Complex they live in.  Somehow either the dust she stirred up or the
duster itself set off the sprinkler in the kitchen area.  It didn't sprinkle.  It
absolutely poured out.  And it kept pouring for 18 minutes.  Opa was playing
volleyball in the pool downstairs and was blissfully unaware of what was
transpiring up in his apartment.  Maintenance raced up but couldn't figure out
how to shut off the sprinkler.  They finally had to call the fire department for help.

Now Opa and Oma have to stay in a little room in the assisted living section
while their apartment is repaired.  And...the lady downstairs had to be moved
out also while hers is repaired.

As my new friend Tatyana says, "You know, Laurie, life is life!"

Friday was Mom's first chemo treatment. I wasn't able
to be there, but Becky gave me the low-down. After
giving her the preliminary meds, they started her on
Taxol (which is derived from the yew bush) and she had
an immediate reaction. The nurse had to stop the Taxol
and give her more benadryl and more steroids. They let
that take effect and then restarted the chemo at a slow
rate. So, by the time they finished the first drug and
then got her through the second it turned into about a
9 hour chemo session.

After pumping her full of benadryl (for a second time),
the nurse (who was terrific) said, "You are going to
get pretty tired now, you are so full of benadryl."

Becky though gave the nurse a heads-up, "You know, my
sister, Laurie, has the opposite reaction to benadryl.
She gets hyper. I'm not sure what Mom's reaction will
be."

Have you ever seen a Chatty Cathy in operation? There
was a living example in the chemo room at Barnes Hosp.
just the other day! Becky said that Mom shared the
gospel, start to finish, with everyone in the room. She
gave testimony, she used the EE questions...she gave
them the whole ball of wax. She was cute!

And in the meantime they discovered that the nurse is a
believer, and the lady getting chemo next to Mom is a
believer too.

So, one treatment down, 5 to go. She starts her radiation
in a week and a half. I think she'll be a sick puppy for
a bit.

Mom had her first chemo treatment today. She begins
the radiation in a week and a half. We planned to go
with her to buy her wig yesterday, but the timing
didn't work out. We were also hoping to meet Dr. Vulture,
but didn't have a chance. We were able to go check o
out Hope Lodge which is the place Mom and Dad will stay
while she is having radiation treatments. It will be
such a help for them to not have the long commute during
traffic every morning.

Mom invited her cancer doctor to come and visit and
float the beautiful Current River after she gets
through her treatments. Her doctor said that she
has visited patients before after they finished their
treatments. If will be interesting to see if she
really does leave The Big City to visit us here in
Mayberry.