Bear with me...it's been a few days!

Well it has been awhile since I've updated, you may think this is a bad sign, but actually it's good!  Over the weekend I felt the best I have since before my surgery!  Therefore, I got out and about a couple of times and even picked up my house finally!  I'd like to think I was up to around 85%!

Friday night we went out to eat with the VanRoy's at Rock Bottom Brewery in the Old Market.  This is turning into one of our favorites!  If you haven't tried it, you should check it out.  All I wanted was their pretzels with cheese, so I ordered that before I even ordered a drink.  They tasted as amazing as I remembered, and Jerrid was impressed with how much of them I ate!  My bloody mary, on the other hand, did not taste as great.  At first I wasn't sure if it was the way they made it or if it was my messed up taste buds.  So I had Jerrid and Jeff try it and they both liked it.  Consensus:  Bloody mary's no longer taste good to me...sad day!  After dinner we went home and straight to bed.  I, as always, was exhausted but so was Jerrid as he had been at State Cross Country in Kearney and hadn't had much sleep the past couple days. 

The next morning, I woke up feeling great!  I was even craving Hy-Vee breakfast...something I haven't for awhile!  Side note:  If you've never had Hy-Vee breakfast, you should give it a try also...so good!  So off we went to Hy-Vee for breakfast and to get a few necessities!  We then headed home to watch the Hawks.  Oh yes, I almost forgot, Jerrid was a Hawk fan for the day!  As he was getting dressed that morning he said, "Honey, as long as you keep getting better, I'll do anything." and put on his Hawks shirt!  By the looks of the picture it seems that I held him down and forced him to put the shirt on, but that was not the case at all!  He did it on his own free will.  Isn't that the face of a loving and supportive husband?  After the Hawks were victorious, a couple good friends came over to watch the Huskers.  (By then Jerrid had changed his shirt.)  That evening I was still feeling great, so we got out of the house again and ran a couple of errands that we have been putting off for a couple months now, the biggest one being getting a new screen door.  We obviously are new to house repairs because we forgot to measure the size of the door before we left, so we actually were only able to look at screen doors and fantasize about which one we would like.

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling great again, so I got started on picking up my house.  (If I am feeling well, I usually don't seem to have much energy, but this weekend I did!)  I did this just in time for some amazing ladies from La Vista Junior High to come over and clean our house for us.  Yes, as if it isn't enough that they are picking up my slack while I'm gone at school, now they are picking up my slack at my house also!  Brak, Weber, Gay, and Joyce...thank you sooooo much!  That was entirely too nice of you and very much appreciated!!!  While they cleaned, I introduced Jerrid to TJ Maxx.  It was his first experience there and a very positive one.  "Honey, I bought 2 tie's and 12 pairs of socks for what I'd usually buy a tie for!"  It's the little things in life!  Before heading home we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch some of Jerrid's beloved Cowboys game, and grabbed a few movies from Redbox.  Around 7:30, I had a craving for an enchilada and cheese dip from La Mesa.  What did Jerrid do?  Hoped in the car and went and got it!  Again stating, "Honey, as long as you get better, I'll do anything!"  I may need to try and milk this for all it's worth while I can? 

If you didn't know any better, you may think I'm pregnant instead of battling cancer.  I'm tired, nauseous, moody (rarely though) and have weird food cravings!  Instead of gaining weight, I'm losing it though and instead of gaining a child, I gained a puppy!  A puppy who we treat like a child though.  At first we were up with her three times a night, and just yesterday we were both jumping up and down with excitement when she learned to go down the stairs by herself...oh the milestones!  Since Jerrid won't get the pleasure of dealing with the "pregnant me", it's probably only fair that I have similar symptoms right now for him to deal with!  In all seriousness though, he is probably the one most concerned with my weight (among everything else), so when I actually state that I want to eat, he makes sure I get what I want.  Thank you honey!

So, now I've finally got you caught up to today, Monday, week 5!  My mom was planning to take me today, but I was pleasantly surprised to see my dad at the door this morning!  Mom was feeling a little under the weather, so Jer came to the rescue.  If you don't know my father, he is nothing short of amazing!  He always has and always will do anything for his children.  He has worked his tail off and continues to everyday to provide for his family and give his children (and wife) all they could ever imagine!  For those of you out there who think I'm crazy for getting to school at the hour I do and working as many hours as I do, that is a trait my dad instilled in me, and I couldn't be happier and more thankful that he did.  My dad is a giver, and will stop at nothing to hep out his children.  From showing up with a brand new Chevy Traverse for me a couple of weeks ago (yes, that really happened...this one even shocked me), to running out and getting me pickles, to taking a day off a work to take me to chemo...he would do anything!  He doesn't sit still well (another trait I developed from him) so this morning while I was running between lab work, doctor's, and radiation, can you guess what Jer did?  He went to Lowe's, bought a screen door, and installed it!  I told you he was nothing short of amazing!  I may be 28 years old, but I will never be too old to be my dad's number one, as he calls me.  (This is because I was the first child, but I like it think it's because I'm the favorite...I know Cait will argue with that and she definitely has a strong argument.)  I hope to continue to learn from my father and mother, instill the same qualities in my children, and also provide for my children like he and my mom have for us!  These qualities that my father has been instilling in us, I know were instilled in him as a child.  I never knew my grandpa McCarthy, but having known my uncles, I know he was also nothing short of amazing!  It's evident throughout all that my aunts and uncles do for their families and the McCarthy family as a whole that my grandpa and grandma McCarthy did a phenomenal job raising their 10 kids.  I sometimes feel like I'm struggling raising one kid, I can't imagine having 10 of them!  I know growing up with 10 kids in the family, they didn't have a lot.  But they all worked very hard, and have gone on to be very successful in order to give their children all the things they didn't have growing up.  They may have not had a lot of materialistic things, but they obviously had much love and support.  I couldn't be happier and more thankful for my family, for all they have done and continue to do.  Having the love and strength of a family can get you through anything!

Ok...I should probably wrap this up, huh?  Sorry...it's gotten a little lengthy!  I ran into Dr. Duckert, my radiologist, this morning and he stated that he wasn't expecting me to respond this quickly to treatment and what I have is very curable!  This brought me tears of joy!  He also scheduled an MRI for Friday to help him in planning for my implant radiation.  So the plan for now is: 2 more weeks of radiation, and 2 (including today) more treatments of chemo as long as my blood levels stay where they are throughout this week.  After Friday we should have a better idea of the type of implant radiation and when.  They are also trying another new med to hopefully help with the vomiting and nausea, so we're all crossing our fingers that I have a better week this week than last!  Every week my oncology nurse, doctor, and nurse practitioner all ask me how I'm holding up and ect.  I figure they do this with all patients.  My response is always, "Good."  I honestly do feel like I'm holding up well.  I mean, obviously I'm not handling the chemo physically that great, but I figure that is just par for the course.  Well today my oncology nurse said, "So really, how are you holding up?"  I again replied with, "Good...I think?"  I guess I don't know how I'm supposed to be holding up or what is good, what is bad?  She then went on to say that I seem to be emotionally handling things better than any other patients.  I wasn't sure if this was a compliment or not, but then she stated that it was.  She said her, Dr. Morris, and Cindy (nurse practitioner) look forward to my visits on Monday because I'm always happy and never complain, and my course of treatment is a very tough course to handle.  I then told her, well it's not that I enjoy any of this, but I just keep telling myself it's hopefully only a couple months of my life and I can do anything for a couple of months!  I guess I don't know how I'm supposed to act as this whole "having cancer" thing is new to me.  :)  But, most days I'm doing really well.  Of course every now and then it's wearing on me emotionally and, of course, physically, but I really do feel like I'm handling it just fine and am doing good!  So for those of you asking how I'm holding up...there you go!

Love,
Meighan