Well, it's January 31st. Somehow the first month of the year is over. I'm thinking it has something to do with getting older that time is just flying by.
I mentioned in my last post that I'm beginning to teach voice lessons. I'm up to 6 students, but still have room for more. My website and my Facebook page are doing well, and my voice studio (where I now sit) is done. I'm teaching lessons on Wednesdays and Thursdays for now. If my schedule becomes such that I need to add another day, I will, but for now I'm keeping it to just two days a week. I'm really happy to be able to be teaching again.
Jenna is upstairs in what used to be Isaiah's room, and Isaiah is sharing Michael's room with him until the upstairs project is finished. The upstairs project...yeah... So, we were going to put in two rooms - now it's one very big room that'll be put in. It'll measure about 19' X 12'. The boys will share the room, and the basement room they're in now will become the play room. I'll be doing some of the work myself...at least the work that I know how to do and that isn't dust-intensive. That includes the framing of the wall and the closet (I'll have to get someone else to cut the wood to avoid my exposure to the sawdust), the painting, and the installation of the ceiling fans. Someone from our old ward will wire the electrical because I don't want to electrocute myself or burn down the house. We'll also have to get someone else to do the drywall and texturing because that can be a very dusty project. Unfortunately, our tax return will be about $1,000 less than we thought it would be, so the project will get started and done a little later than we had hoped. We'll be using income from the voice lessons I teach to buy the materials, so I need to get as many students as I can as soon as I can. I wish we had the money to just hire someone to do it all, but it's just not realistic right now.
I talked about my 1/2 marathon goals in my last post. Instead of doing the Utah Valley 1/2 on June 14th, I'll be doing the American Fork Canyon 1/2 on June 21st. It benefits cancer patients, and there are some others from East 8 who will be doing the race, so Noelle and I figured it was the better race to do.
If you didn't know already, CANCER SUCKS. On Monday, Noelle and I moved Jenna and Isaiah from where they were to where they are now. I took Jenna's mattress and went to carry it up the stairs, and I had to stop and take a break about 1/3 of the way up the stairs. I just wasn't strong enough to do it in one shot. I got kinda upset...no...really upset. It just hit me how abnormal my "new normal" is. Because I've been feeling so healthy lately, I just don't think about how different my strength levels are until the reality of it smacks me in the face. I threw a little temper tantrum right there on the stairs, pounding my fist into the mattress a few times and burying my face in my hands. It can be pretty hard to accept what cancer has done to me sometimes.
Last night was the awards banquet for last October's LLS Light the Night Walk. It was held at the Market Street Grill in Cottonwood. Great event. Really good food. Next year, I want to earn an award for my fundraising efforts. I've already named my team for this October's walk: Philpott's Fighters. Not really original, but it works. I think my fundraising goal is going to be big...like $10,000 or something like that. I have more time and energy to work on it and plan a strategy to hit a very aggressive goal. Katie Kersys, who is the campaign manager for Light the Night, says she'll work with me on my goal and how to reach it.
I've also tentatively scheduled another Be The Match donor drive for Saturday, May 31st. I'm still waiting to hear back from Trina, who's the lady at the National Marrow Donor Program who helped organize last summer's drive.
On the health front, things are going pretty well. We're tapering my Hydrocortisone pills, hoping that my adrenal gland kicks in and starts producing the hormones it normally would produce on its own without the help of the Hydrocortisone. After tapering the Hydrocortisone, or possibly as we taper it, we'll also taper the Cyclosporine I'm on. That's my immuno-suppressive drug that's limiting the possibility of GVHD. Because I had some GVH of the gut in the hospital following my transplant, there's a good chance I'll get some more GVH as we taper the Cyclo. We don't know for sure, but there's a good possibility of it. We'll see...
That's about it for now. I just need things to do to keep me from going stir crazy. I've already filed my taxes and organized my office/voice studio. I don't know what to do now. It's hard to not have an 8 to 5 for almost a year and still be looking ahead to another year of the same. Here's hoping I can stay out of a straitjacket. =0)
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