Tuesday to Wednesday June 5 & 6 (Email for Evite)

Well, we are all still here. The world has not stopped spinning and everyone's life just keeps right on going (if you are lucky!). Friday evening, while relaxing outside, Alex decided it was a good time to shave his head (I asked first, of course.) He did very well, we were all very casual about the whole thing and he looks much better now. It was weird not recognizing him in the middle of the night, but that did not last long. This pic is Alex with another "cool dude" we know!! Aren't they too cute? Alex is not as small as he looks in this pic, the guy is just really, really tall. Not to mention a great person and a good friend to all of us.

Steve was ill over the weekend and we were not able to use the baseball tickets Make-A-Wish provided to us. I was really looking forward to the game but there will be others. Hopefully we can use the tickets we have for Father's Day!

Alex's doctor said he looked great and was showing improvement. So much so that , he does not have to return to the clinic next week if all goes well this week. His meds have been reduced even further and so far so good! (knock on wood, fingers crossed!!) He has lost some muscle tone in his right leg and is hyper-extending his knee every time he steps. Looks very painful and he may be fitted for a new brace soon. A walker (transformer, as we call it!) has been ordered to help him with his stability, mobility and independence for the time being until he regains his leg strength. Hopefully that will be soon.

So Zoe started back at school Monday. She does not enjoy drop off but seems to do just fine afterwards. Alex and I drove by on her first day, after leaving the hospital, and watched her on the playground. She seemed to be okay. She was sitting on a bench taking off her shoes. Zoe has a love/hate thing going with her shoes. (I blame Nadine for the whole thing! Whenever she would visit, she would immediately remove Zoe's shoes and start playing with her "piggies".) Tuesday morning when we arrived at the school, Zoe instantly wrapped her body around my leg and demanded to be carried. She really did not want to be dropped off, but the teachers say she had a good day. I can tell already that this experience will be good for everyone. So far she has fallen asleep in the car before we are two blocks from the school.

So my dizziness has not been as prevalent in the last few days. I wish I could say it is gone completely, but it is still there. I called for my lab work and they said it could be another week or so. My hormones are in California right now! I want to be in California!!! A change of scenery would be great!! We have talked about a family vacation this summer. Somewhere just the four of us can go and relax and really just have some down time from appointments, scans, meds, stress!! Doesn't that sound great! Let's all go on vacation!! (Just not together!)

Alex's weight is up to 48 big ones!! He is now 41 inches tall (that is one inch of growth in the last year.) His starting weight was 40 pounds and his lowest was 32. He is getting very hard to carry around and I am looking forward to him gaining some strength and independence with his mobility.

So, speaking of weight, Steve and I are in day two or our three day "cleansing phase" of the Slim 4 Life weight loss plan. Steve has been asking me if I wanted to do Weight Watchers again, and I have adamantly stated "NO!" I lost one hundred pounds with WW over a decade ago. Unfortunately, I did not NEED to lose 100 pounds. The first 50 came off the "right" way and the last 50 I just starved off. So I say that I lost 100 pounds for about an hour and then the weight started coming right back on! After my last WW experience, and several weeks of off and on plan; I realized that I had gained and lost over 20 lbs! (Key word there is gained!) So I quit. I decided it was better just to be fat then to have my weight go up and down and down and up and up.

So I found this plan and went for a consult. I have no idea if it will work or if I will work it, but it is worth a try. I know taking on weight loss at a time like this probably does not make sense to you; but the stress of getting heavier is much greater than attempting to get control over our lives and eating (believe me on this one!!) So wish us luck. We have another day of detox, an education seminar tomorrow night and then (if there promises are correct) Steve will be done with the "weight loss" portion of the program in 26 weeks and I will complete it in 36 weeks!!! Sounds too good to be true, but maybe, just maybe, we can put this together and get this monkey off our/my back(s)!! I'm so sick of hating myself and my body. A diet can't be worse than that, can it?

Okay, let's end this on a positive note. The upcoming fundraisers are going to be fantastic!! There are some incredible women working very, very hard to put these events together and I am absolutely overwhelmed with their efforts. If you did not read the "Save the Date" blog, here are the dates and information again.

Friday, July 27th 6p - local country club
Dinner, Dancing, Live and Silent Auction
(on-line bidding will be available)

Saturday, August 4th-9a to Noon - local park
Family fun pancake breakfast with a Silent Auction as well!

If you want an evite please write to fightthebump@comcast.net and I will make sure you get one. Or if you want to donate a product or service, we can use those too! I am currently creating a myspace page for all of this info so you don't have to keep reading these horribly long blogs!!

Okay, digest all that, and get back to me!! =0)

Have a wonderful day!
God bless!
G