Can we all live like this?

“May love fill your heart, compassion guide your mind, faith rule your soul”
Paulo Coehlo


Dear friends,
It has been a full day. My dad had a heart catherization and Praise God he will only need a med to get rid of the blockage!!! Our dear friend Wendy went to the hospital to sit with my mom. I did not want to be in the hospital. I don't need any germs!

Getting ready for my steroid high! I take them today, tomorrow and Friday. So I should be flyin' for the next few days. I will be at the oncologist tomorrow afternoon. Ding! Round 2!!

I am posting a picture of my young friend Adam. If you recall from yesterday's blog, he ate an enormous cheesburger and is on the "Wall of Fame" at the Shady Grove Rd Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurant.

I <3 U All,
Jude

Today... I feel like myself!

Today... I feel like myself! I went wig shopping with Kim, Mary Ellen and Adam. As soon as the first wig was placed on my head I felt soooooooooo good!!! We ordered a wig. It should be in on Friday. We also tried on about 100 scarves, "do-rags" and turbins. Well maybe not 100. I was pretty exhausted and could not make a good decision after the first hour. I picked out 4 scarves. Kim and ME surprised me with a really bright pink one when we got home. Still not sure how you pulled that off girls.

Adam helped me finds some hats for the fall and winter months ahead. He has great taste in hats! He is so lucky his school does not start until next week. Sooooo... while all you other "playgroup" members were sitting in school Adam was shopping and eating ginormous hamburgers at Cheeburger Cheeburger. I laughed out loud once I realized that everyone else was IN SCHOOL!!!

Adam ate a half pound burger and the entire bun. For his efforts, he was rewarded with our server taking his picture and then posting it on a large bulletin board. We had a ton of fun today. I will try to post the picture of him after Kim emails it to me.

My hair is almost gone. I can't decide whether to shave it, cut it or let it keepfalling out. I am so fotunate to have thick hair I still look fairly OK. At least today. What I will look like tomorrow or the next day may be pretty scary!

I also came home to a bundle of mail. My little buddy Hayden sent most of it. He decorated several pages and even a visor with stickers. Hayden even sent me $5! Hayden started kindergarten today. He is Tara and Matt Study's oldest. And a very caring little guy. Tara said he took the $5 out of his piggy bank "for Aunt Jude to get something nice for herself".

I am continually amazed by these young ones. Can you imagine a 5 yr old thinking that way... here Aunt Jude get something nice for yourself??? If you are a follower you know I tend to talk about the little kids (some not so little anymore). They are special to me.

I savor feeling good and feeling light hearted... getting ready for round 2 on Thursday. Oh and I was able to do some laundry tonight. Woo! Hoo!

Hope everyone is well.

I <3 U all and miss U,
Jude

Irene is on the way!

Hi all,

I am hanging out waiting for Irene! Mark thinks it will hit Hatteras and turn into a tropical storm. The weather "people" love to hype stuff like this. And since when do earthquakes fall under "weather"??!!

I am finally able to read a book. Nothing deep ... I am reading "Scarlet Nights" by Jude Deveraux. Margy brought me some of Melanie's light reading. Thanks Marg! It feels wonderful to be able to concentrate enough to read.

Not much to say today. Our fridge went on the fritz a few days ago. It was acting like it was possessed. It was keeping food cold and frozen thankfully. But all the lights on the front of the fridge were flashing intermittently and the little door for the ice kept flapping.

Mr Fixit (alias my hubby) went online to research the "fix". Low and behold there was the answer. With pictures. So Matt and I went to Tribles Appliance store and bought the circuit board. Mark and Matt had the fridge repaired in about 20 minutes. Andddddd the floor under and behind the fridge got vacuumed!

Oh, I forgot, my hair is starting to fall out. I am going to buy a wig this week. Totally wierd!

I added a feature (just above Foxie's pic) to my blog that I THINK allows you to sign up to receive an email when I update. I think! Try it out and let me know.

Also, thanks to Wendy, here are some instructions on "How to Subscribe to Judy’s Blog using Internet Explorer":
1. Go to her blog: http://nodramanoproblems.blogspot.com/
2. Scroll to the bottom where you’ll see the following just above Nelson’s pic: “Posts (Atom)”. Click on that phrase.
3. You’ll now see Judy’s blog; but, displayed a bit differently. At the very top, there’ll be a box that says that you’re “viewing a feed” blah, blah, blah. Under that you’re given 3 options to subscribe to the feed (feed is another way of referring to receiving updates to blogs). Click on the one that says: “Subscribe to this feed”
4. You’ll get a little pop-up that asks if you want the feed to show up as “Jude’s Journey” created in “Feeds”. Go ahead and click . Once you understand what’s going to happen you can always delete this feed and resubscribe and have the feed show up in a different place.
5. You’ve now successfully subscribed to Judy’s blog! YEAH!

How to VIEW Judy’s Blog:
1. After you bring up Internet Explorer, click on your “Favorites Center” icon (I have a star icon for this)…this is the same place you go if you want to return to a website that you’ve bookmarked in the past.
2. After clicking that icon, notice at the top that you now have a few options: “Favorites”, “Feeds”, and “History.” Click on “Feeds.”
3. “Jude’s Journey” should be one of the options you now see listed. Click on that.
4. You should now be able to see Judy’s Blog. You can play with the feeds properties (i.e., how frequently it searches Judy’s Blog to see if she’s been updating it) by clicking on “View feed properties…” over on the right side (once you’re looking at Judy’s Blog).

I <3 U all,
Jude

Yes, Virginia, I can still cook

I saw the oncologist today and all my bloodwork looks great. Boy oh boy can I tell. I am feeling very good! I made a meatloaf for dinner. Mark saw it in the pan and said, "is that your meatloaf!?".

Yes, I cooked dinner tonight andddd did not burn anything! The last time I was in the kitchen I burned the taco shells and Mark asked me kindly to please "stay out of the kitchen!". Taco shells are very hard to heat up you know.

So... I have one week to enjoy and to continue to gather my strength for round 2. I wish I could describe to you how "good" feels. I feel light...

Hugs to all of you,
Jude

Earthquake!!

Oh my gosh you guys!! A freakin' earthquake in Ijamsville??!! I am so thankful that Mark, Matt and my mom were here when it happened. I totally freaked out! I ran out on the deck. Duh!? Probably the absolute worst place to go. I am obviously a bit over anxious. We'll blame it on the chemo! Yeah, that's the ticket.

Mark was in the basement and came running upstairs. Matt of course was upstairs in his room and he came running down the stairs. My entire house (now... my house is not a mansion, but it's not small!) was SWAYING!!! Nelson started howling and Foxie started her, "yap! yap! yap!".

But, today was a really good day! I started reading a book and I had a field trip to CVS. Woo! Hoo! Seriously, today was a good day. I was up and about more than the past 2 weeks. I am getting my energy level up for September 1st... round 2.

Here's to more good days! But no more earthquakes! A special shout out to the Bickley family!! They literally moved here yesterday from LA... we held the earthquake just to welcome you. What are the chances of someone moving to the east coast from LA the day before an earthquake. I'd say it's a pretty incredible day.

I felt the earth move under my feet...
<3 U All,
Jude

help us all dream big

Good Monday morning all,

I continue to adjust to my new way of life. Never knowing how I will feel, NEVER being far from a bathroom and wondering what I will be able to accomplish today. Some days I am able to watch a movie, one day I changed the sheets on my bed, Saturday I actually got out of the house for 2 hours (not a doctor's appointment - woo hoo!). But most days I am in slow motion and I may read the newspaper and a magazine or two.

When Mark and I struggled with infertility back in the late 80's, early 90's we thought that was the end of the world. One day we hung a sample of wallpaper in the soon to be baby's nursery and the next day I had a miscarriage. After the miscarriage we started the years of attacking my endometriosis. I once even had surgery while Mark was out of town. Infertility became the central focus of our lives. Mark and I dreamt of a newborn baby. Our families dreamt of their two oldest finally having a baby of their own.

You all know the 0utcome of our infertility... our incredibly handsome and funny son Matthew Raymond. I joke that Matt is lucky to have NOT have received any of the Combs or Henderson "portly built" genes. It is not hard to recognize that Matt is adopted. As you meet him you see a tall, dark and handsome young adult that may be with 2 short, white and pudgy people!!! (I have had several people say that Matt looks like Mark! I personally don't see it... do you?)

So... the point. During the infertility years, the fertility drugs, the tears, the realization that I was not going to "birth" a baby. As I drug Mark to adoption classes and we both endured the indescribable toughness of the adoption process... I could never have dreamed up Matt.

Jump to August 2011. My family has a new focus to our lives. You all know that I must see the positive. I have to think that somehow this part of my life will mold something of the future. I have to navigate through this to get where He wants me to be.

Help me dream big, Lord... Help me hand over the worry about what is not getting done and focus 150% on my health. Help me dream big Lord... help us all dream big.

I <3 U all and miss everyone so much!!!
Jude

It is hard to just "be"

Good morning!

I am slowly coming back to life post chemo. Now I feel like I am in slo-mo. It is the weirdest feeling. I've been enjoying a lot of "Murder She Wrote" and "The Flip Wilson Show" reruns. Still can't concentrate to read anything other than a short newspaper or magazine article. I am meditating quite a bit and trying to be calm.

Our lives are so incredibly busy, it is hard to just "be". I've had to talk to myself about focusing on healing and resting. Just "be". Yet another lesson to learn.

Check out www.tealtoes.org

I <3 U all more each day,
Jude