"Day -9" and counting...

I feel like Shorty Powers at NASA giving the countdown.  If you're not familiar with Shorty Powers then you must be young.  During the Mercury days he'd give the launch count down and then after launch tell us that everything was "A-OK."

So far everything is "A-OK" with Reid's anticipated stem cell transplant.  He received the three pre-admission injections which were to help with mouth sores.  The doctor had told him that they would cause a coating on the cells to protect them.  I guess they did because he developed a coating on his tongue which he finds a little annoying and which gives his food little taste.  He also developed a red face which is a side effect of this medication.  Yesterday he looked as if he'd been out in the sun way too long, but today it wasn't as noticeable.

He was admitted to the hospital on Monday evening.  On Tuesday he was given a test dose of one of the chemo drugs and then blood was drawn every two hours all day.  I believe this was to see how his body would react to the drug and how it was metabolized.  This drug can cause seizures, so he had to take anti-seizure medication.  The pharmacist told him that he must take this with the chemo drug and if he's ever unable to keep it down they will give it to him by IV.

Today was day -9 and a day of rest.  No chemo was given and he was feeling just fine.  We ordered lunch from room service and also took a ten minute walk outside the room wearing our gloves and masks.  Reid doesn't have to wear a mask or gloves in his room, but everyone else does.  He only has to wear them when he leaves the room.  He also began a  mouth regiment where he has to gargle four times a day with some special stuff (new medical term).  This is also to help with mouth sores.

Tomorrow is day -8 and that is when the real chemo begins.  His stem cells are scheduled to be returned to him on "day 0" which is March 11th.  We're told that some people consider this their new birthday.

Over the weekend Troy told me to return the Netbook and I notified Amazon that I wanted to get a replacement.  They immediately shipped a new one.  It was here in two days!  I can't say enough about Amazon's great service.  I took it to the hospital today and then couldn't connect to their WiFi.  Reid tried and he couldn't get it to work either.  I was about to call MD Anderson's tech department but decided to try one more time.  A box came up, I clicked it, and it worked.  Unfortunately, I have no idea how I did it and now hope I can get it to connect tomorrow.  We must have been doing something wrong.  It gave me the option of saving the connection and I didn't.  I was afraid that if I did it wouldn't work at the house.  Now I'm kind of sorry I didn't just save the connection for the hospital since that's where I'll be using it most of the time.  Wish me luck tomorrow.

I came home yesterday and went out on the deck to visit the cats.  I looked up and saw this...

Yes, little baby leaves.  Spring is definitely right around the corner.

I also took a few pictures of the cats.  Here's Atticus...

Jem...

and Scout.

I'll try and post regular updates.  It will be a long hospitalization and if anyone would like to send a note or card (nothing else is allowed) the address is:

Reid Martin

c/o MD Anderson Cancer Center

Room 1076

1515 Holcombe Blvd.

Houston, Texas 77030

Thanks for your support and prayers.



What happened???

One day last week I was out in the backyard with the dog and noticed a large crack in the trunk of this tree.

I was weeding around the tree a day or two before and never noticed the crack, but it must have been there.  (Just ignore the scooter...it's yard art.)  It goes from the bottom of the trunk and is about three or four feet long.  I took out a yardstick and stuck in in the crack.  It's 18 inches deep at the bottom and about an inch deep at the top of the crack.  Could it have been struck by lightening?  I don't see any scorching.

This is a big tree and I'd hate to lose it.  I sure hope no hurricanes come this way any time soon.

We got a price from someone to take it down, but I think I might call a tree surgeon to see if it can be saved.  We need all the shade we can get here!

Alphabe-Thursday...the letter Z

Welcome once again to Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny over at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent." Sadly, our journey through the alphabet ends this week with the letter Z. I've enjoyed being your classmate and visiting your blogs. Thank you Jenny for being such a great teacher and giving us this opportunity.

I wanted to do something special this week, but the letter Z is another difficult challenge. I've already told you about my great aunt who was a ZIEGFELD GIRL. A while back I introduced everyone to ZOOM and how she came to find her forever home with us. Finally, I decided to tell you about our mosquito problem and how we tried to solve it.

I asked my son to go out in the backyard and take a picture of my legs covered with mosquitoes. Normally within seconds my legs are covered. Earlier today I couldn't stand still while watering the plants because they were biting like crazy. They've been horrible this year. Naturally, when we went outside a breeze came up and momentarily there weren't as many mosquitoes. There were enough to be annoying and my son had no desire to wait until the breeze died down, so this picture will have to do. There were only a few on each leg. The stupid mosquitoes tried to make a liar out of me.



A few weeks ago we decided to declare war on the mosquitoes. I don't like to use chemicals, so we bought a mosquito ZAPPER similar to this one.


The mosquito ZAPPER worked fairly well. I found a You Tube video of a ZAPPER in action. Turn down your volume because sound effects were added. If the ZAPPER sounded like this it would drive away the neighbors.


Unfortunately, the squirrel thought it was a bird feeder and jumped on it and swung. It lasted about two weeks.





Then I thought of ZUCCHINI. It's pretty plentiful this time of year.

When we lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia a friend gave me this recipe. It's easy and good! I've been making it for years.

Oven "French Fried" ZUCCHINI (Serves 4)

3 T. herbed bread crumbs
1 T. Parmesan Cheese
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
2 medium ZUCCHINI (or yellow squash)
2 t. vegetable oil
2 T. water

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Combine the crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper. Quarter the ZUCCHINI lengthwise, then slice each spear in half (or thirds) to make shorter spears. Put them in a plastic bag with the water and oil. Close the bag and shake until well coated. Roll the spears in crumb mixture. Arrange in a single layer on a greased pan. Bake uncovered for 7 minutes or until brown and tender crunchy.





The kids just wanted to say...


Now head on over to Ms. Jenny's blog and visit as many classmates are you can before class is dismissed. Hope to see you in summer school!

Thancks Ms. Matlock. Yre da bestest teecher i evr had! :)

HOT! HOT! HOT!

Everyone is trying to stay cool these days. We heard all about the hot weather on the East Coast last week, but that kind of weather is normal for us until mid to late October when we'll start to have a day here and there where we can turn off the A/C. We did have a lot of rain last week which was nice. Anytime the sun is hidden behind a cloud we celebrate. They give us the heat index on the local weather. That's where they take the temperature and factor in the humidity and come up with what the temperature feels like...usually around 100.



Animals seem to instinctively know where to go to keep cooler. Like a shady spot on the driveway.

This is the feral cat and her kittens. They're three months old now and she still nurses them. They don't want you to bring in a cat to be fixed if she's still nursing kittens, but I'm afraid she'll go into heat before I get her in. Those kittens eat plenty of food, but they still nurse.



They enjoy sleeping under a tree in the backyard too.




The mother is always nearby.

Spring has sprung...

...in our backyard!

Don't be fooled...nothing grows in our backyard except monkey grass, ferns, weeds, and impatiens. At least the monkey grass, ferns and weeds are green and the impatiens give the yard some color.





Naughty Gnome.



Gnome Sweet Gnome Home.


And I'm worried about our Live Oak. I'm not sure, but some of the leaves look brown and I'm starting to wonder if it's dying. Could it be that Hurricane Ike has finally caught up with it?


What do you think?

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

A couple of weeks ago we had an Arctic freeze and it got very, very cold here. In fact, it was in the 20's which is pretty unusual. Yesterday and today it's been in the 70's! I was out in the backyard moving some of my plants around and a couple of butterflies started flying around me. I was hoping they'd stay around long enough for me to run inside and get the camera. They did, and I was able to snap a couple of quick pictures.

They were bright yellow. That's one of them in the upper left hand corner of this picture.

And this is the two of them flying around. They almost look like leaves falling, so you'll have to take my word for it...they're butterflies.

You can see how my one plant got burned by the freeze. I covered all my potted plants with sheets, but some still managed to get burned.

I also took some pictures of my pecan tree because I could see where it's starting to bud. Unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough to get a good picture. I'll try again in a few weeks.

Today I was surprised to see some roses blooming down at the hospital. I'm going to try and remember to bring my camera tomorrow and get a picture of some pink roses for Pink Saturday.

It's supposed to get cold again in a few days. I think they said it would be in the 30's. Spring comes early here and I actually consider the end of February the beginning of Spring. That's when we get out and start working in the yard anyway.

PINK SATURDAY ADDENDUM -- WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

I just took this picture of the backyard to show what a difference less than 24 hours makes. The pictures of the yard in my Pink Saturday post below were taken on Friday afternoon. You can see the hanging planter in this picture that appears in one of the pictures below.

Talk about rain!! We've had a lot today. My husband went out in the backyard to try and clear the drains we have so the water can drain from the yard. They get clogged with leaves and debris, but sometimes the rain comes down so fast that the drains can't carry it off fast enough, or the street in the front floods and that's where the drains take the water and it backs up.

I know the picture is dark, but the sky was as dark as midnight and it was pouring. You can see how deep the water is on my husband's legs.

Now continue on to the real Pink Saturday post below. :)