Hope P.
A year, where has the time gone?
Jan 08, 2008
Hello to all my looser friends.
Can't believe it's been a year since my last 'blog', don't even know if anyone has ever read the first one, but decided to write another anyway!
What a year this has been for me!! Busy season at the campground, making a small expansion by adding two new 'lodges', kabins with kitchens and bathrooms in them. That was alot of work for my husband and his right-hand-man Glen, so when my husband started complaining of being really tired in August we didn't think much of it. After the Labor Day Weekend (a BIG weekend in the camping world) when he started having trouble re-couping his energy after a nap we still thought it was because of all the hard work over the season. Then he began throwing up in the mornings and we thought he may be getting an ulcer or something so I made him go to the Dr.
After some tests (blood tests) the Dr said his counts were WAY off and ordered a Bone Marrow Biopsy (knew that it wasn't gonna be good from there) and his results came back that he has Myelodysplastic Syndromes (Pre-leukemia). He now is in the fight of his life, and I'm struggling with my emotions (and food since I'm an emotional eater)! Since receiving all this info on Peter, I have learned more about blood and blast cells then I ever thought I would care to know! Peter has had 6 blood transfusions to keep his counts high enough to maintain energy and circulate oxgyen. His platelets are dangerously low meaning he is anemic and can bleed to death if he is injured. All-in-all, his bone marrow isnot producing enough cells to maintain his body, and is producing some 'blast cells' (immature cells that re-produce more immature cells) which lead to Leukemia. He is now waiting for a bone marrow transplant, which is his only chance for survival, without it there's a 100% chance of it becoming Acute Leukemia (terminal) in 1 yr.
We just heard yesterday that they (the Transplant Center in Indy) just found a 9/10 match (there are 10 points in the blood that need to be matched as close as possible to prevent host rejection) and we are going to meet with them next week to discuss all options regarding starting the transplant. YEAH! Maybe we can start this process before the end of January, beginning of Feb at the latest.
Running the campground will be on my shoulders for the entire year this year, he's out of work for 18 months at least, depending on how his body accepts the transplant. So...I have alot of 'stuff' on my plate...his health (I'm his care-giver)..running of the campground, including operations on a daily basis and all the accounting and paperwork too. I will be juggling traveling to Indy (3 1/2 hrs south) and opening the campground in April at this point, because he will be in the hospital for 6 weeks and then we have to live in Indy for a month following that. Needless to say I plan on having LOTS of GOOD people around to help me out.
That's why this place is so great, because I will need support regarding my eating habits during this whole mess! Since this whole thing started in October I've gained about 25lbs and I've only just started getting back on track. I now am going back to Curves, on a month-to-month basis for now, and I'm getting weighed in to stay on track. So far I'm down 6.5lbs since going back to Curves and feel like I'm going in the right direction again.
OK, enough for now.
Happy 2008 to all!
Can't believe it's been a year since my last 'blog', don't even know if anyone has ever read the first one, but decided to write another anyway!
What a year this has been for me!! Busy season at the campground, making a small expansion by adding two new 'lodges', kabins with kitchens and bathrooms in them. That was alot of work for my husband and his right-hand-man Glen, so when my husband started complaining of being really tired in August we didn't think much of it. After the Labor Day Weekend (a BIG weekend in the camping world) when he started having trouble re-couping his energy after a nap we still thought it was because of all the hard work over the season. Then he began throwing up in the mornings and we thought he may be getting an ulcer or something so I made him go to the Dr.
After some tests (blood tests) the Dr said his counts were WAY off and ordered a Bone Marrow Biopsy (knew that it wasn't gonna be good from there) and his results came back that he has Myelodysplastic Syndromes (Pre-leukemia). He now is in the fight of his life, and I'm struggling with my emotions (and food since I'm an emotional eater)! Since receiving all this info on Peter, I have learned more about blood and blast cells then I ever thought I would care to know! Peter has had 6 blood transfusions to keep his counts high enough to maintain energy and circulate oxgyen. His platelets are dangerously low meaning he is anemic and can bleed to death if he is injured. All-in-all, his bone marrow isnot producing enough cells to maintain his body, and is producing some 'blast cells' (immature cells that re-produce more immature cells) which lead to Leukemia. He is now waiting for a bone marrow transplant, which is his only chance for survival, without it there's a 100% chance of it becoming Acute Leukemia (terminal) in 1 yr.
We just heard yesterday that they (the Transplant Center in Indy) just found a 9/10 match (there are 10 points in the blood that need to be matched as close as possible to prevent host rejection) and we are going to meet with them next week to discuss all options regarding starting the transplant. YEAH! Maybe we can start this process before the end of January, beginning of Feb at the latest.
Running the campground will be on my shoulders for the entire year this year, he's out of work for 18 months at least, depending on how his body accepts the transplant. So...I have alot of 'stuff' on my plate...his health (I'm his care-giver)..running of the campground, including operations on a daily basis and all the accounting and paperwork too. I will be juggling traveling to Indy (3 1/2 hrs south) and opening the campground in April at this point, because he will be in the hospital for 6 weeks and then we have to live in Indy for a month following that. Needless to say I plan on having LOTS of GOOD people around to help me out.
That's why this place is so great, because I will need support regarding my eating habits during this whole mess! Since this whole thing started in October I've gained about 25lbs and I've only just started getting back on track. I now am going back to Curves, on a month-to-month basis for now, and I'm getting weighed in to stay on track. So far I'm down 6.5lbs since going back to Curves and feel like I'm going in the right direction again.
OK, enough for now.
Happy 2008 to all!
Mt first 'Blog'
Feb 06, 2007
OK, so I have no idea what a 'blog' is but I gather it's not much more than a 'forum' (not that I really know what that is either) and basically all you do is write something, anything.
So here goes....
Today is one of those days where I feel like I have gotten alot done. I started out with Bible Study (at church we're doing a Beth Moore study), then I came home and did some research on the internet comparing prices from 5 dif companies that supply hotels. (this took ak while) We're thinking of offering bedding in our Kabins (and yes I know it's spelt wrong, it's a KOA thing) so that our kampers don't have to bring their own bedding. So any-way I finally checked prices on hotel supplies, which I've been wanting to do for months now). Then Peter (my other half) & I went to get a quote on the newsletter for this year (which I spent months creating). I cleaned off my desk (again) a task in itself. And fiddled with pictures on my computer trying to figure out how to make them 'smaller' for e-mailing (this gave me a headache).
Any-way, it's been a technical day (challenging for me) and now I feel like I got alot done.
GO ME!
If anyone reads this, I hope you got a giggle out of my simplicity. I have no idea what I"m doing.
So here goes....
Today is one of those days where I feel like I have gotten alot done. I started out with Bible Study (at church we're doing a Beth Moore study), then I came home and did some research on the internet comparing prices from 5 dif companies that supply hotels. (this took ak while) We're thinking of offering bedding in our Kabins (and yes I know it's spelt wrong, it's a KOA thing) so that our kampers don't have to bring their own bedding. So any-way I finally checked prices on hotel supplies, which I've been wanting to do for months now). Then Peter (my other half) & I went to get a quote on the newsletter for this year (which I spent months creating). I cleaned off my desk (again) a task in itself. And fiddled with pictures on my computer trying to figure out how to make them 'smaller' for e-mailing (this gave me a headache).
Any-way, it's been a technical day (challenging for me) and now I feel like I got alot done.
GO ME!
If anyone reads this, I hope you got a giggle out of my simplicity. I have no idea what I"m doing.
