I stared this post on Wednesday, but then McAfee told me I needed to restart the computer and do a virus scan. By the time that finished, I was ready for bed, and I haven't had a chance to get back to it until now.
I skipped church on Sunday - didn't feel like driving. But I went to the noon service today. I didn't need to provide Lexi's transportation to and from cheerleading practice, and my oncology appointment was at 1:15. I took four prayer shawls and a laprobe with me. I have showed a couple of them here before, but here are some others.
I don't often put fringe on shawls, but felt this one could use it.
The purple triangle is from a combination of yarn donated to the church and some from my stash. It's small, as is the little cape with the burgundy border. The white square you see on the cape is something I put on each item I make for the knitting ministry at church. In the front it has what I have long known as 'The League Benediction' - Numbers 6:24-26. We always used it to close our Methodist Youth Fellowship meetings when I was a teenager. On the back of the card, I put information about fiber content and care.
Here are details of two laprobes. The solid-color one is from yarn donated to the church, and the other is part donated and part from my stash. I really like the way the colorful one turned out. I have a lot of fun 'designing' the shawls and laprobes.
This last shawl is cotton that I've had for a long time. I paid a nickel a ball for it at an auction. Since I used slightly less than three balls, I call it my fifteen cent shawl.
Not only were my cousin Grayce and her husband home, but her sister and brother-in-law from Iowa had arrived about half an hour before the storm (there was an all classes reunion of Wadena High School this weekend). The four of them were in the basement while the top of the house was destroyed. They are all OK, thank God! My sister Pauline and her husband can identify with that experience - they were in their house in Homestead FL when Hurricane Andrew destroyed it 18 ? years ago. That's an experience none of us want!
Yesterday morning, I turned on the radio before I got up and lay there listening to news on NPR. I heard that the governor of MN would be visiting towns in the northern part of the state that had been hit by tornadoes. "Hmmm, wonder if they're near any of my cousins." A few minutes later, the tornadoes were mentioned again, but this time they said WADENA. My eyes flew open. That's my mother's hometown! I was born twelve miles from there! My Aunt Nina and several cousins live there!
About fifteen minutes later (I had thrown on some clothes, made a cup of coffee, and turned on the computer), my sister Pauline called and asked if I had heard. She heard Thursday night (I had turned off the radio about 7 pm), and had emailed several cousins. One, who lives about 30 miles away, had replied that her son, who lives in Wadena, thought that everyone was OK.
Today, looking at pictures from the Wadena Pioneer Journal, it looks like my cousin Grayce has lost her house. I think she probably was not in town. Since retiring, she and her husband spend much of their time elsewhere, helping with clean-up and repairs following natural disasters. I guess now their hometown needs the services of the group they work with.
Last week's dose raised my red cell count to a bit above 10, which is in the normal range.
I guess summer is officially here for me - I shut the windows and turned on the A/C last Thursday afternoon.
The Cancer Group called yesterday and changed my appointment time from 10:15 am to 2:15 pm, so I missed my knitting friends at the coffee shop.
About three weeks ago I called Dr Winkler's attention to a lump in my left armpit. He said it was just a cyst - nothing to worry about, but he lanced and drained it. I continued to squeeze stuff out of it for a few days. Since then two more cysts have appeared in each armpit. Monday night one of them on the right side opened and last night both of them on the left opened. So I've done a lot of squeezing out of puss. My sister Pauline said it's the meanness coming out. I put bandaids on them this morning so I wouldn't get junk draining onto my clothing. Strange place to put bandaids, isn't it? Dr Winkler prescribed a ten-day course of antibiotics.
Because I complained about feeling very tired and weak much of the time recently, he ordered a Procrit shot for me. My red cell count has been slightly low for several weeks. This should bring it back up to normal. He had to give me a long explanation of problems with doctors giving too much Procrit in the past, which led to patients now having to sign permission slips. The nurse in the treatment room gave me the shot. Although next week is my week off for my Velcade treatment, I have to go in for a blood count, and possibly another shot of Procrit. Such fun!
Alyssa and Trevor came out today and did some mowing, weed-eating and spraying for me. I've told them that if they do the heavy yard work for me, I'll knock off some of the money Alyssa owes me. Robbie (next door) mowed much of the yard yesterday on his riding mower, so Alyssa did the fenced area with the walking mower, and Trevor did a lot of weed-eating. Alyssa also sprayed weed killer. I could do the spraying myself, but when I tried to mow Thursday evening, I wigged out VERY quickly. I feel like I'm being terribly lazy!
I've been reminded by two or three people in the last couple of days that it has been over a week since I posted here. Sorry 'bout that!
Simvastatin, generic for Zocor, is the medication that takes the place of the Crestor that my insurance wouldn't pay for.
Dr Winkler changed my medication regimen slightly today. Instead of taking 8 mg of the steroid Decadron the day before and the day after my Velcade treatments, I am to take it only the day before. They had been giving me 10 mg of it along with the Velcade, but stopped that about three months ago.
Now that school is out, Lexi will probably spend quite a bit of time at my house. She was here Thursday night because Alyssa had a migraine. We took her to the ER, where they gave her two shots and two prescriptions and recommended that she lie down in a dark room. She was feeling much better Friday morning, and went to work. They had a sleep-over (only three girls besides Lexi) scheduled for Friday night, so I was really glad they didn't have to cancel that. The girls had a really good time.
On Saturday, when Alyssa called and asked if Lexi could spend the weekend here, I said that I shouldn't have put her cot away. Alyssa said I probably should leave it up all summer. I had thought about that, but needed to put my two hand knit, wool jackets away in a storage bin behind the cot. Actually, Lexi spent three nights, and I have left the cot up.
On Sunday the boys next door yelled over and asked her if she wanted to swim. She doesn't have a bathing suit here, so she wore shorts and a tank top. She was there for several hours and had a blast. When she came home and changed into dry clothes, she was comparing her arms to mine. Even though I have a fair amount of color (for me), she is much darker. She tans easily and like most kids picks up the color gradually by playing outside. She said, "I look like a Mexican!" Please don't read any prejudice into that. Her school is probably 50% white and 25% each black and Hispanic. She is friends with everyone, no matter what their skin color.That pleases me.
I don't often put fringe on shawls, but felt this one could use it. 
The purple triangle is from a combination of yarn donated to the church and some from my stash. It's small, as is the little cape with the burgundy border. The white square you see on the cape is something I put on each item I make for the knitting ministry at church. In the front it has what I have long known as 'The League Benediction' - Numbers 6:24-26. We always used it to close our Methodist Youth Fellowship meetings when I was a teenager. On the back of the card, I put information about fiber content and care.
