Al’s Birthday

There are a lot of summer birthdays in our family. Besides mine and Al’s, my sister Christine and my nephew were born on July 26. Christine came to visit us on July 4^th, and we celebrated our birthdays together. We gave each other musical birthday cards. Christine gave me one that has a picture of Snoopy, the dog from the Peanuts comic strip, dancing. She gave Al one that sings What a Wonderful World. She is a singer and often hits a high soprano operatic note. Dorothy found a card that said, “You’re not old until the fat lady sings.” When you open it, a lady sings a high operatic note! My sister laughed hysterically when she read it. Then she said, “That’s so ME!” I then said, “We all have musical birthday cards. We could give a concert! And I have something for an encore!” I went into the kitchen to retrieve my “no worry” button. It sings Bobby McFerrin’s song Don’t Worry, Be Happy. A great song for three senior citizens who are celebrating their birthdays! The button was given to me by the mother of one of my former students. I keep it in the kitchen so Al or I can activate it whenever we feel the need!

          Many thanks to all who sent birthday greetings to Al! He was touched! We had a great day. He wanted to see the animated cartoon movie Despicable Me 2. It is about a grouchy old man. We told all our friends it was autobiographical! HaHa! We went to an early movie because Q, our son-in-law, had to go to work at 4:00 pm. Afterwards we went to Al’s favorite deli in the same shopping center, then home to open birthday cards. Three of them were musical. Q gave him one that played Born to Be Wild. It had a picture of an old man sleeping on the couch! Mine had a pair of dancing underpants and sang Oops, I Did it Again by Britney Spears. Dorothy and Q’s pets even gave “Grandpaw” a card. It had a picture of a cat on it and it meowed Happy Birthday. Dorothy’s card said, “For your birthday I wanted to give you the sun and the stars – but I had to settle for the moon.” As Al opened the card, there was a picture of a man mooning him!

After supper, the doorbell rang and it there on the step was our favorite neighborhood family, the Quicks, with a birthday card for Al! Their seven-year old son had picked it out! On the front was a picture of a beautiful young lady in a bikini and it said, “She thinks you’re cute…”. On the inside it said, “For a really old guy!”

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Some of Al’s cards and the “Don’t Worry” button

Cardiac Update

I saw my cardiologist on July 10, and, as expected, I got an excellent report on my heart! The halter monitor test showed that my average heart rate is 82 beats per minute. The doctor said that between 70 and 80 is normal for someone my age, so he was pleased with the findings. The atrial fibrillation is still present, but I have learned to live with it successfully. I told the doctor that while on the monitor, I did an intensive, vigorous workout on the treadmill, walking one and a half miles in thirty minutes, and I also worked outside in the yard. To which he replied, “Good! Since you can walk that far, you can take a treadmill stress test! It’s been four years since you had one.” He has a lot of confidence in me! On a treadmill test, the tester adds tilts to the treadmill periodically. I had stopped climbing stairs daily since coming back from Antarctica, but I guess I will have to start that again!

He has been seeing me every six months, but he will not see me again for nine months. That’s like a graduation for me! I scheduled the stress test for October 8, 2013. I am eligible for Medicare on September 1, 2013 because I am on Social Security Disability. I will keep my School Board insurance until I turn 65 and will be eligible for a supplement. The good news about going on Medicare early is that I won’t owe any more co-pays. The copay for this stress test will be 20% of the amount allowed by my insurance. So I will save money! Ahhh! What can I say? Life is great!

In honor of my healthy heart, I am showing pictures of red flowers in my garden.

Multiple blooms on my red double-bloom hibibcus

Single bloom on my red double-bloom hibiscus

Red penta nestled among purple penta

Corel red penta 

Red knockout rose bloom and bud
beside a milkweed butterfly bloom

Variations on a Rosebud

I took several different “poses” of the knockout rose seen in the last blog. I had trouble choosing one, so I decided to show the other variations in a separate blog, with pictures only. These photos are in honor of my healing as reported in my blog post of July 2. The doctor is not changing my medication, even though my numbers are creeping up in my blood work. He is watching the numbers closely and seeing me every three weeks now. The PET Scan indicates that no new tumors are forming, so that is ruled out as a cause of increased shortness of breath (SOB). I had a halter monitor and will see my cardiologist on July 10. I made sure I did an intense workout on my treadmill while I was wearing it. Then I went outside and worked in the garden before I took it off. I am sure that my heart will get a clean bill of health! The Scan did show a small pleural effusion around the right lung. I will see my pulmonologist on August 5, 2013. I am expecting a good report from him, too!  

Flowers and Weeds

     One of the earliest lessons God taught me in the garden was that you can’t always tell the weeds from the flowers. As I was weeding the ivy plant, I pulled out one weed by the root and then noticed it was different from the other weeds. It was actually a baby ivy shoot! The weeds were actually mimicking the baby ivy leaves! Well, that is a clever way for the weeds to insure the survival of their species! But it also taught me that we are called to live a spiritual life in a world populated with enemies as well as friends. You see, I consider each of my plants to be my friends, since most of them were given to me by caring friends. And I tend them as carefully as I tend my friendships.

    I can’t pull these weeds if doing so is going to harm my friendship plants! So I have to let them grow up together, side by side. When they grow bigger, I can pull them without endangering the ivy. I am reminded of Matthew 13:24-30, the parable of the sower. He planted wheat but an enemy sowed weeds in his field. The farmer would have uprooted the wheat if he tried to cut out the weeds. He had to wait until harvest time to separate them. The parable is about the kingdom of God but it implies that we live spiritual lives in a secular world. We do not always discern the enemies from our friends. Indeed some of our enemies will intentionally pose as our friends to get close to us to do us harm! We treat all people as if they are friends until they do something to show themselves as an enemy.I am reminded of parents and their children. We have an obligation to instill positive values in our offspring to prepare them for a lifetime during which they will experience many different situations,and we hope they will make good choices. Knowing there are enemies that they will encounter, we teach them our values by talking and by setting examples. We pray that the Holy Spirit protects them when they are in school, away from us.  And we continue that prayer throughout our lives! And today I say a prayer of thanksgiving that my prayers for my daughter – and my son-in-law – have been answered! They are protected by the Holy Spirit and they are prospering!

First, a photo of my happy, prosperous kids.

Next, a photo of my happy, prosperous ivy vines.

Third is a picture of the first bloom of the season
on my Wendy’s Wish Salvia.

Then a picture of a double knockout rose from my new bush.
You can see an early morning dewdrop on it.

Lastly, there’s a picture of our new yellow Gerber daisy. 

It is very happy in its new home, having 

put out three more daisies in a month.

If I were a flower…

If I were a flower in my garden, I would be a marigold. These little plants are so hardy! They can tolerate the heat, being planted in full sun. They put forth seeds at the end of their growing season, which always sprout the next year. They have a distinctive aroma as well as their own built in protection against bugs. I like to say that they have their own armor of God! They are hearty and can grow anywhere, and survive being transplanted. Seeds from the ones in my front yard tubs fall on the ground, and sprout, despite the fact that they fall on top of weed cloth! I transplant them to the back yard. When I pull them up, the roots come through the weed cloth, naked, with no soil clinging to them. I transplanted six of them last month. At first they were in shock. The poor things were lying limp in the flower bed for about one week. But now all of them are healthy, their leaves have plenty of turgor, and five of them are blooming! The sixth one has buds but they have not opened yet.  This week I accidentally pulled up a small marigold in the front yard tub. I pulled a weed and the root of the weed was tangled up with the marigold’s root. I separated them and stuck the marigold root back in the soil. I didn’t have the heart to throw it away! Two days later, it was a healthy little plant, standing up tall, reaching its leaves and blooms toward the sun!

      Yes, these little plants with their orange and yellow blossoms are like me. They are bold, versatile, can grow anywhere, and are not afraid of change! Speaking of change, I am going to see my oncologist today and he might want to change the chemotherapy drug. I really feel comfortable with the one I’ve been on for over two years now. I know all the side effects and how to manage them so they don’t bother me. A new drug would be the equivalentof getting a new doctor, or starting a new personal relationship. But I must be like the little marigolds – not afraid of change and HAVING A STRONG LIFE FORCE!

Tub full of resurrected marigolds!

Marigolds growing – and blooming – through the weed cloth

Transplanted yellow marigold

Transplanted orange marigold with lots of   flowers and buds!

In the center of this picture of the tub you can see the marigold I accidentally pulled up, healthy again! 

Happy Anni-Birthday Celebration!

My birthday is June 25 and Al’s is July 6. We had a joint celebration with our kids, Dorothy Cherry-Mycue and her husband  Marcelo Mycue. They are known by their friends and relatives as DC and Q. We went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Brick. Since I am having chemotherapy in a few days,  I need to eat beef to assure my red blood count is high enough for chemo. So I was forced to order a steak, a fillet mignon! It was the most delicious and tender steak I ever ate! Hmmm, I guess I should always eat there just before chemo treatments! Afterwards we went to DC and Q’s house for dessert. They had purchased a huge chocolate chip cookie and had ordered it to say “Happy Birthday from DC and Q”. There were only two large cookies and another couple was ordering one that said “Happy Anniversary from the Kids.” Well, the orders got mixed up and DC and Q got the one that said “Happy Anniversary from the Kids.” They went back to the store to see if the other couple was returning theirs, but they needed their cookie within the hour, so they did not return. At least our cookie said “from the Kids”, which was appropriate, and it is only three months before our anniversary. We don’t mind celebrating it early! But I keep wondering what the people at the other party must have thought about their cookie’s inscription! If I had been a fly on the wall, I’m sure I would have heard something like, “Who in the heck are DC and Q????”

Medical and Garden Updates

      First, here’s a medical update on my blood tests. They are both going up again, but I am not concerned because I have bound the cancer cells and loosed good health. The CEA is 35.9 and the alkaline phosphatase is 169. I just put it in God’s hands and he is binding the cancer cells in heaven and loosing good health for me. After all, no weapon formed against me will prosper. I have been committed to exercising three times a week, even during the week after chemotherapy. I went slower and not as far, but I did it! And now, after just two weeks of keeping to my schedule, I can tell I’ve had an improvement in my endurance. Today I walked on the treadmill for thirty minutes. I went 1.44 miles at three piles per hour. I measured my arterial oxygen level the whole time. It never went below 93 and stayed up around 96-97 most of the time. I never felt winded and did not have to use my pursed-lip breathing technique! I see my doctor tomorrow, Wednesday, July 3. He may want to change my medication because of the blood tests. I will leave it in God’s hands.

      Now here’s an update on my garden. After three years of learning how to garden, I have finally concluded that I cannot grow plants in containers.  I originally purchased containers for their decorative features, likecolor and Celtic designs. I have tried different plants in them each year and none of them thrive. The problem is that I have too much sun for small containers. I would have to water them two or three times a day to provide all their nutritive needs. But the ones that are planted in the ground, the ones whose nutritive needs are provided by God, do very well!Now the annual plants that I have in the large containers do well, but I have resigned myself to putting small sculptures in the small containers. This year I put fairies in some and animals in others.  I think God is teaching me a lesson. He can grow plants with his soil and rainwater better than I can with the city water. The city always puts chemicals in the water in the name of public health. It’s a simple lesson that I have heard expressed in many ways before; my favorite rendition is “Let go and let God.” 

So I will be anxious for nothing and remember the promise I quoted in my blog of June 12, from Luke 12:27. I will let go and let God take care of my needs, just like He cares for the lilies of the fields and the birds of the air. The pictures demonstrate this. See how small the penta plants are in my containers.  The tallest one is only twelve inches high. Now look at the white penta in the ground. It is 32 inches tall! (That is a four-foot yardstick.)  I put pentas in the tubs last year but the cold killed them. God’s penta in the ground is resurrected every year! Who is the better gardener?