Saturday, July 09, 2005

CLEAN-UP DAY, BAD NEWS-GOOD NEWS

Today was clean-up day. I've been getting frustrated with trying to find different news sites and blogs that I have listed as links on my own blog. I will usually use my blog to get to other sites I like to get news and opinions and it had gotten to the point of mild(LOL) confusion when trying to find what I wanted. So, to make it easier for all who visit as well as myself, I decided to spend the day getting everything organized. I really don't know why I took so long to get around to do this other then the fact that there has been alot going on in our lives here lately. I'll explain what I mean a little farther down in this post.

Now, where was I...hmmm...oh yah, clean-up day.
Being a fairly intelligent person...some will disagree with that statement...I realized that "Hey, it would be a whole lot easier to locate stuff if it was in alphabetical order. Besides, libraries do it so I should be able to, too." My second thought was something like "Gee, ya think". This was the point where I decided it was time to get some coffee, wake up, and get started.

As you will notice, I've split everything into two catagories, News and Commentary Links, and Links to Blogs. This is how it will stay for now, or at least until I get a bug up my butt or get frustrated again and break them down even more. This should make it alot easier for any of you, and myself, to find a certain link.

I also added a few more News links today while I was "fixing" things up. I will be adding more as time goes by. This will be another reason for doing more arranging later. At least now it's going to be much easier to enter new sites.

Here I wish to thank "Tiny Little Dots" for listing my blog on his/her/their blog. Thank-you very much, I greatly appreciate that you have done that. If anyone else has listed my blog on their blog I thank-you, also. If any have I apologize for not noticing, but I haven't been doing alot of searching lately other than news.

Now to give you an explanation of why there's been alot going on in our lives.
We got married on January 1st of this year, so as you can see we are what you could call "newlyweds". This is my wife's third marriage and my fourth so we both have experience at this marriage thing, some good and some bad. I have four kids, she has two. Her youngest still lives at home. Mine, thank God, are all out on their own.

Back in April my wife found a lump in her left breast. Needless to say we both became very concerned. Both of us being unemployed at the time, we had no insurance. At first we didn't know what we were going to do. We soon found out that my wife could get help through a program here in Wisconsin called Well Woman. It doesn't cover everything completely but it's one hell of a big help. Through this program she was able to get the medical attention she needed.

A mammogram was done first which did show a lump. Then came the biopsy. Cancer was found along with two lumps not just one. Next came the mastectomy and lymphendectomy. When this was done cancer was found in the sentinal lymph node along with a third tumor in the breast.

Monday, July 11th, is the start of chemotharapy. After chemo is radiation and then hormone therapy. With all this she has a 76% chance of being alive in five years. This chance is a whole lot better than no chemo, or radiation, or hormone therapy. That survival rate after five years is only 46%.

I love my wife with all my heart and strength. I have, and will stand by her through everything she has to endure. She is my wife, my lover, my best friend, and my very best buddy. I have told her before that it's the two of us against the world.

She has been keeping a diary blog since this all started. It's in my "Links to Blogs" section. Just look for "Ramblings...Musings...And Breast Cancer". For those women who visit my blog I highly recomend reading it. She has included alot of infomation which will be helpful to you and your health. I would also recomend it to any of the men who read this who have a wife, daughter(s), mother, grandmother, or niece(s).

Now for some good news. After several months of unemployment I start a new job on Monday, the same day that my wife has her first chemo treatment. I really wanted to be with her at that time, but we both know that the new job is really important right now. She's going to ask her daughter to go with her on Monday. If for some reason she can't go, my wife's mother said she would go.

I wanted to start posting on a daily basis but we'll have to wait and see how much time I have with the new job and all. I will try though. It may not all be bitchin' about politics and such, there may be more that I add as far as comment content.

So there you have it, a little cleaning, some bad news but even more good news. Thanks to all who stop by to read what I squak about. Thanks for reading this post, and please stop by my wife's blog and check it out.

Thanks again,

Grandpa Eddie
Citizen, Patriot, and Lover of Freedom

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pleasure to link ya Gramps.
Our best to your wife.
Keep on bloggin'!
t

Mary said...

Thank you my love.

granny said...

Fluff first, we aren't bloggers anymore. We run online magazines or something because the FEC would really like us to shut up and go away.

The important stuff is not to put too much into the less than desireable odds for your wife. Live and love like you won't have more time and there will always be prayers that you do.

A little over five years ago my mom's best friend noticed a lump and it was really advanced. She had an almost immediate radical double mastectomy-it was very advanced-and then chemo and radiation.

Her odds were pretty poor, but she cared for her mother with end stage alzhiemersduring that time and then a sick uncle during that time with very little help.

She still smokes cigarettes and she moved to another state to start life over. She comes back every few months for a checkup.

It's been more than five years and she is better than ever. I wish the same for you.

Oh, thanks for the comment on grannyinsanity.:)