At last, the road is starting to smooth out!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey y'all!!!  It has been a very rough road the past few months, but things are starting to get better now.  I took my last radiation treatment on April 8th, but I did not realize it takes months for the radiation to leave your system.............so you continue to bake.  I had a lot of trouble with nausea and vomiting.  There for a while, every time I brushed my teeth, I vomited and none of the meds that they prescribed helped.  There was one drug that they could have prescribed that may have helped ........but it cost $70 a pill and my insurance would not cover it.  In the end, Ginger Ale was my best medicine!  One of the biggest problems was that the radiation has temporarily killed my taste buds, but they are now starting to come back.  In one week I lost 12 pounds!!!  My husband's heart doctor introduced me to a shake called "Myoplex", which has 42 grams of protein and probably saved my life....thank you Dr. Hancock!!!  On June 3rd, I had an MRI that my eye doctor had ordered and when I went to him on June 24th for my follow-up appointment, the radiologist that had read the MRI said that I needed another MRI done as there were some indications that needed further study.  He said something about maybe the beginnings of a brain tumor and that scared my husband and I to death!!!  I made an appointment with my radiologist/oncologist so set up the MRI and also for him to check some swelling on the left side of my face that we were afraid was the other salivary gland...I was SO scared.  Well, my sweet Dr. Perkins pretty much put my fears to rest as he said the swelling was due to fluids....that is normal after my kind of radiation to the head and neck and that it was very unlikely that my type of cancer had spread to the brain.  He scheduled a follow-up MRI for August 9, they are doing my PET scan on the 13th and I will see him on the 14th to go over all of the results.  He says that I am doing VERY good and to enjoy my life!  I was told by the tech that does the PET scans that my type of radiation to the head and neck is right up there with chemo and I believe her!!!  I will keep y'all posted and once again, thank you for all of your prayers and support...it means SO much to me!!!

To prove that I am doing much better, I actually did a little crafting yesterday.  SVG Cuts has a little promotion going right now where they give you a free file to create and if you upload it according to their directions, they will send you a $6.99 gift card.  Here is a link if you are interested.  I pretty much cased their sample...but I used what I consider to be fall colors, since it is fast approaching!  The button I used on mine is one that I painted a long time ago and the color pretty well matches the brads that I used on the purse strap.  Here are a couple of photos.

Y'all it was so much fun to get back here in my craft room and make something and I plan on getting "back into the program".  I still have some boxes to unpack now that I have some strength back.  We have had a good bit of company and expect more in September, so in between company and doctor appointments, I will be in my new craft room creating.  By the way, I will be posting some more photos of my craft room soon!  Once again, thank you so much for your prayers and support...please keep them coming!!! See ya soon!!!!!

Supplies

Papers:  Bazzill and Recollections (Patterned Paper)

Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo" and Cuttlebug

Accessories:  Cuttlebug "Tiny Mosiac" Embossing Folder, Basic Grey "Magnetic Discs"