Awwww...Judith posted this in a blog comment, and I figured someone might actually want to read it! (Please disregard my blushing...)

Blog comments don't allow for formatting, so if it's chopped up too much, that's my mistake. You really can't have too many paragraphs, can you?

Well, I thought it was about time that I made a comment. I can't say enough about the blog and what my sister does. She sure can write and say things in such a humorous way, even if it isn't so funny. But I have to say that I could not have made it through this past month without her. Thanks Beth for all your wisdom, warmth, words and humor during this time of, well, stress and worry.

To my sister Karen in Tenn., I know that you are doing all that you can from there and wish you could be here more often. Don't worry, your prayers are felt and I know you are here in spirit. That song of Mitch's is awesome and we are looking forward to that being put to music!

To Mom, you are always my steadfast strength. Thanks for hanging in there with me for no one knows the pain like this more than you do and so you and I can really appreciate each other's company now. I love you Mom.

Also, to all the other prayer warriors out there. Thanks to you too. Keep those prayers coming. Those are felt and have kept me sane through this time.

To those who have provided meals, my family thanks you tremendously and so do I. It is a great relief to not have to worry about what is for dinner, not to mention that we are enjoying the variety of foods as we are not picky about what we eat. Chase seems to be eating everything. His appetite has certainly not been hurt and for that I am glad. The only thing we have found he cannot tolerate well is Mexican food which is too bad because he really loves it. :-(

I need to thank many people too, who donated leave time to me so that I may stay home with Chase. This time with him has become very precious to me. There have not been many days yet in which he has been very sick, those may come. But the stays in the hospital and days to come in January and February away from home will be hard and would not be possible if it were not for the many giving people in the schools and other people who work for the State. Thanks SO MUCH for donating leave time for me! Thank you for allowing me to put this on the blog.

Please know that we appreciate all of you who pray, call, come by or just think about us from time to time. We will get through this major bump in the road!

Thanks to all of you.
Judith

When bad stuff happens, you sure find out how many friends you have, and boy, do y'all have friends!

I just got the call - the most anticipated side effect of chemo has started... He's losing his hair. He was briefly fascinated with pulling out hanks of hair on his legs and arms. The stuff on his head is still too short to grip, but it looks like soon he'll be bald from his toes to his dome.

So that's the bad news, but the good news is we know he actually got the "good stuff" and not just a bunch of saline or something. He'd had so few side effects I was beginning to worry (hey, it's something I do well, so I stick with it!)

Mom and I went to Greensboro to see how the family was doing, check out that HDTV (wow...), fix a porch light, get our toenails painted, pick out all the chocolate in the Halloween leftovers, and just in general annoy Chase and Jacob like it was our job. All in all a fun day (at least for me - heh).

Chase takes after his father with that competitive edge. He certainly didn't get it from our side of the family! We played a round of Scrabble in the afternoon. I specialized in 2 and 3 letter words, while Mom existed solely to block any and all of Chase's big plans. I don't know who won that game, but I doubt it was me.

We girls went to get our toenails painted, and Mom got her fingernails buffed and polished while Judith and I browsed Costco. Then we tried to convince the guys at Brewster's that it was raining and we should get that free second scoop of ice cream. Didn't work :-(. But it was good stuff anyway, and Judith got 4 punches on her card because we made a "new best friend" of another customer. Mom can talk to anyone, and Judith ain't half bad either.

Back at the house, I knew carting tools around for Dad years ago would come in handy! I managed to fix their front porch light so all the wonderful folks bringing dinners would not trip up the stairs and splatter the meatloaf on the storm door. I don't know if y'all realize how much the family appreciates those dinners, but they do! And it's yummy stuff too! (needs more chocolate though)

I have a new favorite game to play - Mexican Train! Their next door neighbor (and stress reliever extraordinaire) Lori brought over Courtney, Katie and a double 12 dominos set to teach us all the game of Mexican Train. Chase (first time player) challenged Courtney (experienced player), and only those two kept score. Things didn't go well for Chase this time, but since that game's now on my Christmas list, we'll get more experience and you can beat her next time, right Chase?

Just a few more days and back in to UNC hospital he goes. I think I'd better stock up on DVDs...

Halloween pictures!

I think they took a long time because somebody decided to crop herself out. Humpf!

But how did she manage to crop the bike out too?

Chase seems to be holding up well, although he tainted his Carolina blue soul by going the State game this weekend (they lost, of course).

As for chemo side effects, the only complaints I've heard are a bit of tinnitus and, oddly enough, sensitive teeth. I hope that stuff's doing its job on the tumor! We have to wait until week 10 or so (around the end of the year) for a 2 hour long MRI to assess his progress. Can't wait! (I think).