My Neice.........

Posted by: cheryl

My neice is doing ok after her surgery. She still has to talk slow and sometimes can't think of the word she is trying to say. A BIG difference frome the way she used to be. The baby, a little girl, is still in the hospital. She is finally starting to drink from a bottle. We are hoping that by the end of the week she will get to come home. I learned today that my neice has Astrocytoma - grade III cancer in her brain. That is not good at all. She has been to the dr.'s who will be treating her the past 2 days to set up a treatment plan. She goes to get the staples out Friday and next Wednesday she starts 6 weeks of Radiation 5 days a week. She will also be taking a chemotherapy pill for a year. This is going to be a long haul for everyone. I realize that sometimes healing doesn't take place. God never promised it would. What He does promise is that He will be there to help us through whatever happens. I am going to leave it at that.
It has been busy around here. We were either going to the hospital or down to my sister's or babysitting here at home the past few weeks.
I still cannot believe this is happening.
She is the first grand-child of our immediate family. Of course I spoiled her rotten when she was little. She was 4 years old when Ritzy and I married. We have always been close. I could always tell her what I thought, good or bad. Granny & Papa have 20 grand, great-grandchildren now. No thanks to my two kids ;-) I wish they would contribute their part, haha!!!!!
On to other things............the weather here in Oklahoma has been wonderful lately!!!! I know it won't last, but it will be hard to see it turn colder.
I think with the weather pattern we have had we are due for a beautiful Fall. I see the leaves on the trees turning and it is really pretty.
Ritzy is talking about bringing some wood up to the house to prepare for the cold weather.
This looks to be a busy week also, and with that Ritzywife is out.............

Life's Curve Balls

Posted by: cheryl

I don't know how else to say it. What do you do????
My neice just delivered her baby 9 weeks early. Baby weighed just a little over 4 lbs. She is doing very well. As for the neice, not so hot. During the pregnancy she learned she had a "mass" in her brain. The plan was to let the baby be born and then do a biopsy on the mass. Well that did not happen. Tuesday she was having a bad headache and her baby doctor suggested a ct scan. It showed the mass had grown significantly in the past couple of months, so......change of plans. Wednesday, they put the neice out, delivered the baby by c-section, and immedietly went to brain surgery. The surgeon told us ge got "all he could" (maybe half to 3/4 of the tumor) without hurting her. She was still having a few problems thinking and talking, dont know if that is due to the tumor itself, the surgery or the swelling, but Ritzy and I went to visit her last night and she was not doing well at all. Could not think,or tell us where she was and had a very limited vocabulary. I was more than a little worried. We found out this morning that the mass is malignant cancer. Geez, she is only 28 years old with a husband, 8 yr old son and daughters - ages--4, 10 months and newborn.
This Aunt is ticked off and that is putting it nicely!!!!!!!!!!!
We will be pulling together as a family and helping with the kids or neice or whatever. I think they are going to send her to Houston soon for treatment.
That is about all I have for now.
Ritzywife is out!!!

A SAD REMINDER................

Posted by: cheryl

While catching up on news today I saw an article about an AP photographer taking a picture of a Marine in his final moments. A lot of people, including our Secretary of Defense had a problem with the publication of this photo. As I sat here and looked at the photo I was saddened that this young man lost his life. Some might say he knew this could happen when he enlisted. Yes, he did, but not for such a cause as this. I stopped and said a prayer for his family, I was surprised that it caused so much emotion in me. I guess being an army wife all these years has caused me to care maybe a little more, I don't know.....
As for the photo, I believe it should be published along with others so people can see the reality of what war brings. WAR = DEATH, that's the bottom line and if you don't have anyone affected then you have nothing to lose. Those who have loved ones fighting in this war have everything to lose.
What are we really doing over there anyway. Those people are never going to change and what right do we have to invade their country and take over when we haven't done such a "hot" job of our own. Yes, there needed to be some repercussions about 9/11 but we did NOT go about it the right way.
On to better things, life does still go on here in "another world"......I did get that bedroom papered and loved the way it turned out. Got it done before Ritzy got home from work, just barely...... I laid tile in the kitchen and have been doing some VERY heavy cleaning this past week. It felt good to get all that done. While Ritzy was gone I just did not care about anything and he has been back almost a year now and I just now have felt like doing all this work on the house. Pretty soon we will be putting a new roof on. It will be a metal one. That ought to be fun ;-)
This is Labor Day Weekend and the "last" summer holiday. I am sad to see the days getting shorter (unlike last year when I could not wait until Fall cause that was when Ritzy was returning home from Iraq) and the leaves start to fall from the trees. I know it won't be long until the trees and bushes will be bare.
Monday we will be eating Bar-b-que at Mom & Dad's. Yummmmmmmm.............
I have all my housework done for the day, nothing to do now except go outside and watch Ritzy work ;-)
With that Ritzywife is out..........