Fabulous Friday MVY In Pictures

Martha's Vineyard has to be experienced to see the true beauty, but for those of you who can't come visit here are a few things I love about the island.
1.  Last night when stepped out the door to go to the supermarket, this is what I saw.  I of course had to capture the gorgeous sunset that Heavenly Father gave me.  I'm sure He gave it to me to let me know that He loves me.

2.  The flowers here are absolutely gorgeous.  Yesterday when I walked pass these white flowers at the hospital, I was grateful for my sense of smell and their lovely scent. 

3.  I love walking on the beach.  There are always tons and tons of beautiful shells. 

4.  I love that I live right on the beach, mostly because of the sailboats and the yachts in our harbor.  I love living right next to the ferry because of the horn the ferry blows when they leave the harbor.

 I think my favorite building on MVY is this little yellow one.

5.  The houses and their yards can't be beat here.

Happy Friday to you!  I'm waiting for mom, dad and Tenielle to arrive on the ferry in only 2 hours. Tony will arrive sometime on Monday.  Hoping for minimal side effects from the chemo so that I can enjoy time with them.  They will be here until August 19. 

He Answers Prayers

I'm so happy to report that my Neutrophil count and White Blood Count are in normal range today.  I had an appointment this morning for a blood draw and visit with the oncologist PA in preparation for tomorrows chemo.  Given everything was normal and my parents will be arriving in the morning, we decided to do chemo today instead of tomorrow.  The better news is because the counts are normal I will not have to have the Neupogen/Nulesta injection, which I'm so happy about!

I opted today not to have the steroids that they typically give when I have chemo.  (I think the steroids make me gain weight and no girl wants that).  Typically the steroids help with the side effects from the chemo and my hard head wanted to see if I could do without them.  Very bad choice.  Unfortunately the side effects from chemo came on as I was having the infusion; fatigue and abdominal pain which I am continuing to have tonight.  When I had chemo the first time I would have a sore throat.  I had a touch of that today, but tonight it seems to be gone.  I'm also going to start taking omeprazole in hopes that it helps with the abdominal pain.  The dose I took today did not improve my symptoms.  I do find that doterra peppermint drops seem to help the nausea and abdominal pain, but only for a short time. 

Medically speaking my counts shouldn't have been normal today given I had a treatment only 7 days ago.  But spiritually speaking, I testify it is only because of Heavenly Fathers answer to the many prayers and fasting which have been offered in my behalf (especially this past Fast Sunday) that they have improved.  I'm ever so grateful for answered prayers.  I don't know how He hears all of our prayers, but I testify that He does hear them.  This talk by Elder Bednar in April 2008 General Conference is one of my most very favorite.  I love this short video with excerpts from his talk.  

Emilie Visits MVY

My cousin Emilie and I are not just cousin's but best friend's.  I always say that if I could relive 1 year of my life it would be the year I lived with her in Kentucky.  It was one of my most favorite year's, not only because of the people I met there, but because of the relationship that I built with Emilie.  When I lived on the East Coast it was her home that I would go to when I wanted to have some family time and only had a few days off.  Even when she moved to Alabama, she was still close enough that I could fly there in an hour or so.

It has been over 2 1/2 years since I've seen Emilie.  She called earlier this Summer and told me she wanted to come out.  Less than a week before she came, she finally decided to bite the bullet and bought a plane ticket, got things in order and left her 4 kids and her husband back in Alabama.

She told me she had never been on a trip by herself.  I told her since she was nearly 40 it was about time.  I'm pretty sure Emilie relaxed more than she ever has while she was here, which is exactly what she needed to do and the reason why people come here.

I picked her up from the ferry Tuesday night and took her to the Chowder House, which I think has one of the best chowders on the Island.  She loved it too.  Of course I had to take her to Backdoor Donuts for dessert.  For some reason I'm not liking anything too sweet, which is good for me, but probably boring for her because I didn't share her dessert.

Wednesday I had my blood drawn, ran a few errands and then we took Melanie's jeep to Norton Point where we met Wendy.  I love this beach and the fact that we can drive jeeps up on to the beach.  We spent nearly the entire day at the beach.  Good thing for sun screen.  I'm not about to get a sunburn while I'm here.  I don't do well with that kind of pain or any other pain.  It's funny that girls never run out of things to chat about.

Wednesday evening Emilie and I went to The Wharf where we shared a delicious Steak Salad and some muscles.  Since we were in Edgartown we did have to stop at the Ice Cream Shop to get an ice cream and to say hello to the girls that work there from our little MVY branch.  Even though I'm not wanting sweets, I can never say no to coconut ice cream.

I loved that the candy was tied with teal ribbon.  I'm pretty sure they don't realize it but in my eyes they are supporting Ovarian Cancer Awareness.

Thursday morning we went on a walk to our cute Vineyard Haven Library and Emilie spent the day exploring while I worked.

Friday we spent 6 hours having chemo.  It was nice to have Emilie there with me.  Mark a PA I work with and his son came to visit for a short time.  They brought paper and colored pencils.  We took turns drawing on them and adding to the pictures.  It was pretty fun and made the time go by quickly.

Since I always feel fine after chemo, we went out to Chilmark to have a slice of pizza, hit the Chilmark Choclate Factory and then to Grace's Church for Lobster Roll Friday.  We took our Lobster to Lamburts Cove where we read our books and watched the sunset.

Saturday morning we went to the MVY Book Festival for a few hours where we listened to authors talk about their books.  It was actually rather fun.  I took Emilie to have some Nacho's at Sharky's, which is when the abdominal pain started for me.  We went to South Beach for 2 hours where the waves were huge and then I couldn't handle the pain any longer and we came home, I took some Zofran and went to bed.

I felt okay Sunday morning.  We went to church and the ladies in the Relief Society all painted their toenails.  And of course we are all wearing Terah's Army Bracelets.  They are small in number, but great women.  I was sad Melanie had to take her son off island, so she wasn't there, even though this was her idea.

My friend Leah who comes from Long Island for a few months each summer.

Sunday afternoon I slept for four hours and then took Emilie to the cliffs to watch the sunset.  This is one of my favorite places on the island.

Monday we ate breakfast at Art Cliff Diner, but all I could really eat were a few berries and some OJ.  I did start feeling better that afternoon so we spent some time at the beach.  For dinner we met Melanie at The Grill On Main where we visited well into the evening.

Yes as you can see from this picture, I still have a black eye, but it's getting better.

Emilie left this morning.  We had the best week together and have decided it will be a yearly tradition from now on. 

Almost Back To Normal

Saturday afternoon after Dr. P called and I told him I was fine, the nausea, epigastric abdominal pain and fatigue kicked in full force.  You know I'm sick when I don't want to eat anything except soda crackers, which is exactly what has happened over the last 3 days.  I tried eating breakfast this morning, but it just made me sick.  Some fresh squeezed OJ did hit the spot though.

I haven't been quite as tired this time given I didn't have the gemzar, but I have had my fair share of fatige.  I took a four hour nap yesterday afternoon, which I hated to do, but Emilie used the time to enjoy a book on our little private beach.  Today I only took an hour or so nap and I was able to eat some dinner tonight.  Even though I'm having a little abdominal pain tonight, I feel like this chemo is almost out of me and I'm hoping to be back to normal tomorrow since I have a 10 hour shift to pull the next 2 days; trauma patients only.  I can't be getting sick as I'm sure my counts have gone down even more.  Dr. P did tell me that the neurophils did come up some, even though the PA told me they hadn't, (he was new and I'm sure nervous).  

It has been such a joy to have Emilie here and I will be sad to let her go tomorrow morning.