Stable Is Good!

Life has not slowed down a bit.  But, I’m hoping things start to get a bit more predictable.  Keep reading!

First off, I went to Huntsman again on June 12^th and I stayed completely stable!  No increase, so that is AWESOME!!!  I really think it would be super amazing if my numbers went mysteriously down one appointment, but I’ll take stable at every appointment!  They did a lot of bloodwork this past appointment and they are running some tests to do some modeling to see if they can “predict” anything.  I asked why that hadn’t already been done and they said because CLL is so slow, they usually wait until they know you are their patient for sure before they do those tests.  So, I should hear about those in about two weeks.  Not that it would change anything other than I would go in even more often if the predictions say I need to.  But, I’m counting on, and basing my life decisions on, the fact that I have the slowest growing CLL ever.  So I’m really not too worried about the tests.

The past year has really been just a ridiculously crazy year with a lot of happenings.  To name just a few:

* I got in a car wreck (not my fault), totaled our car, and got a new car.

* Frasier started Jr. High, made the wrestling team, track team, and is now training this summer with the Davis High Cross Country team.  He has seriously grown about two feet and is a teenager all of the sudden!

* Sloane started walking.   (Enough said about busy!)

* I found out about CLL.

And, just recently,

* Troy moved from teaching at Hunter High in the Salt Lake Valley to Woods Cross High in Bountiful.

* Now that Troy isn’t driving to SLC everyday; I figured I ought to start!  So, I got a new job!  I started today.  I will be the Manager of Emerging Business at Overstock.com.  I’ll post more about what that all means as I get more involved but I am really excited about this new chapter of life.

It will be a full time job (right now I am part-time until the U of U summer semester ends).  I weighed all of the pros and cons before making my decision.  One of the cons is that I LOVE teaching at the U.  So, I am really going to miss it.  As I type right now, I am watching students take a midterm.  I’m really going to miss the students! 

One of the pros, as odd as it may seem to some of you, is I actually might see my family more!  I have been part-time at the U, but I have also been doing all of my consulting work.  So, I’m gone a lot – especially at night.  I do all my prep and grading from home, so when I’m home, often times I’m working.  That is great when you have little ones, but now that the boys are in school all day, I sometimes go days without seeing them.  Starting in August, I will go to work at Overstock and then come home and be with them.  I’m really happy about that.

Until August, I am teaching three different classes at the U, so if you can follow this, I’m at O.co on Monday and Wednesday mornings.  Then, at the U in the afternoons.  I also teach a night class on Wednesday nights.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach in the morning and then head to O.co in the afternoons.  On Fridays, I’m at Overstock all day.  On the weekends, I’ll try to prepare for teaching!  Holy Cow!  So, if you wonder why in the next 6 weeks you don’t see or hear much from me, that would be why! :)

At Huntsman, they ask all kinds of questions to assess my health status.  They also do blood work and they “map” my nodes and spleen (feel and dig all over to measure their size).  The worst ones are the armpit nodes!  Anyhow, one of the questions is always: “Are you tired?” and the answer is always “Yes, exhausted, and I don’t think it has a thing to do with the cancer!”  I think every mom is always exhausted – don’t you!?!

The kiddos are on summer break and enjoying every minute! Sloane is SO happy to have her brothers around!  She’s in heaven!   I have such great kids and a great husband!  I could never do all that I do if I didn’t have such a great support team!

Last, I need to update you on the triathlons!  Troy and I headed to Boise for the “epic” race of 2012.  The weather was horrible!   It was 42 degrees, raining, and windy (up to 50 mph gusts).  We still swam, but the bike was shortened from 56 miles down to about 15 just to get us back into town for the run.  My blazing fast transition was 17 minutes from the swim to the bike! Ha ha! (3 or 4 minutes is optimal.)   

I was so cold when I got in the water that I was chattering.  When I got out, I think I was near hypothermic!  I could not stop shaking!  It took a long time to get dressed because I couldn’t put on my socks or zip up my jacket!  I’ve NEVER been that cold before!  But, Troy and I both did it, we survived, and knock on wood, we won’t ever race in such bad conditions again, so anything else will be a piece of cake.

One of my very favorite events of the whole year is the Desert Shark Kids Triathlon in Riverton.  The boys did that last Saturday.  I’m posting some pictures.  It is so fun to watch the kids and the determination on their faces.  They did awesome too!  Fras actually completed in the adult Sprint and took 1^st place in his age group.  Elijah took third in his age group.  Bodie didn’t place, but he was awesome!  A few of their cousins did the Tri too, it was so much fun! 

I think it is really important to be physically active.  I am attributing a lot of my health to eating healthy and exercising!  One thing that I have found for me is to always have something that I am registered for.  That way, it keeps me in training.  I think it is the fact that I am so darned cheap that I can’t stand the thought of not participating in an event that I’ve already paid for.  I also find, that when I am active, my kids want to be active too!  Sign yourself up for a race sometime.  See if that helps motivate you to get out.  Also, sign your kiddos up for a race, it will be one of the cutest things you’ve ever witnessed!

Well, I’ll post again when I can, but I cannot guarantee that I’ll have a ton of spare time the next few weeks.  Thanks for continuing to pray for me! Rock on!