Blood Test Results

Just a quick note to say thank you for all your prayers! All of my tests showed normal. No problem with my thyroid. Praise God!

Also, thank you for your prayers for my mom. Please continue to pray for her! The doctor gave her half of her dose on Monday. Her white blood count was still low but the doctor wanted to go ahead since she is only getting half of her scheduled treatments.

All Day Dr. Appt.

I went to the doctor the other day for what I thought was a sinus infection. I was taken back to the room where the nurse asked me all those questions about the medications I am on and stuff. She takes my blood pressure and pulse. All the normal stuff they do before the doctor comes in to see you, and leaves the room. In comes another nurse who proceeds to take my pulse again and askes me what I have done that morning and if I have had a lot of caffiene to drink like a red bull or a pot of coffee. I proceed to tell her that I have been in bed asleep all morning and had a little water to drink. She leaves the room and comes back to take my oxygen level with that think they clip on your finger. She then pulls out of the cabinet a paper gown and tells me to undress waist up and she would be back in to do an EKG. At this point I am wondering what is going on. She comes back in the room does the EKG and explains to me that my pulse is much to high. Finally the P.A. that I had the appointment with comes in and tells me that they are very concerned about my pulse rate. It was at 123 b/m and rising. WHAT!! She looks at my sore throat real fast (which was nothing more than the start of a sinus infection) and tells me that I need to go straight to the emergency room because of my pulse. Aaron was with the boys in the car so I get in the car and try to explain everything to him. We drop the boys off with some friends and head toward downtown. After some blood tests, urine tests, a CAT scan, and 4 hours (not bad) of sitting in a tiny room, I was told that I have an over-active thyroid. Who knew I would go from possible sinus infection to thyroid problems in a few hours. Now I have to check back with my primary care physician (see you next week Brenda) so they can do more blood work. Good news is that this could possibly make me lose weight and can be taken care of with medication.

On to a different subject, my wonderful husband surprised me the other day with a partially painted wall and informed me that my dad was comming over the next day to start painting!! It took them 3 1/2 long days and the finished product looks amazing!! Thank you Dad and Aaron!! I now have beautiful green walls and ceiling instead of the white that came with the house. It makes the whole inside look better.

Last, the boys and I went to a friends house today for their family Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. There were so many people in that one house. I forgot what it is like to be surrounded by so much family. She had a great-grandmother there all the way down to her cousins and their kids. What a day! I look foreward to being able to do that later on in life with my kids and their families.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!
Starla

Camping again

Camping for the Nortons has always been a summer thing. Until this last summer we were tent campers and I am not brave enough to camp when the nights are in the 40's. Well, since we now have a camper we decided we would try it out last weekend. We went with the Osborns and had a blast. It was an amazing experience alone just to be able to set up our campsite without breaking a sweat. Who knew that was possible? Another wonderful thing is we had a reason to have a fire all day long!! We were able to eat smores before lunch - WOW!!!

The guys went on bike rides and played washers. Dina and I sat around and caught up with what is going on in our lives. I cooked Dina helped where she could. It was an all around fun and relaxing weekend.

I recommend it for anyone with a camper or anyone with a tent who can stand the cold weather while they sleep!

A side note... took my mom to get chemo today and she failed her test again. Her white count was still low but up from last week. Keep praying!!

Starla

For Michelle

It has been almost a month since my last post and I am sure most of you are thinking "about time". Nothing big has been going on so this post is all of the little things the last few weeks. First of all, my mom went to have chemo today and was turned away. Please keep her in your prayers. Her numbers were really low this time. I keep telling myself "it is all in God's hands". Hopefully next week will be better. The good thing is Mom gets a week without poison put in her body and an excuse to rest all day.

Everyone told me that when Riley started school I would make friends with other moms. I did not believe them but sure enough it has happened. I have become pretty close to a mom of a boy in Riley's class. The odd thing is that we both feel that we have known each other for ever. Anyways, we let the boys have their first sleep over. The first weekend at my house, the next weekend at their house. They are like two peas in a pod. When I volunteer at his school and I see them down the hall they are always next to each other. Poor Mrs. Whiteman. It does remind me of the friends that I was real close to growing up and still talk to today. I am curious if this will be one of those friendships.

This Halloween Aaron and I were invited to a friends house that lives in Fort Worth for a party for the kids. Before we went to town we decided to trick-or-treat my parents and the Gearys. Between the two houses there was no need to trick-or-treat any more. They had so much candy. I think we walked away with the equivalent of a whole night knocking on doors! Riley chose to spend the night with his friend so we dropped him off on our way into town.

Although my friend in Fort Worth does not have any children of her own she decided to put together a party for all of her friends and family who do have small children. It was a hit!!!! She had fun games for the kids to play, lots of food, and made the cutest cupcakes. I wish I had pictures to show. During the evening we went to one of the near by neighborhoods and, of course, went trick-or-treating more.(If anyone wants candy we have plenty to share!!!)

Cooks, we hated to miss your party! I am sure it was a blast also. Cant wait to see the pictures!

Sorry this is so long. I will try not to let it happen again.

Thank you to everyone who is praying for my mom!!

Birthday Party

It had been a while since I posted anything. I thought that I would update you with all that has been going on with the Norton family. First, as most of you know, I took mom to get her chemo treatment last Monday and she was sent home without her chemo dose. It seems that her blood count was too low. This is something normal. The good news is that she gets the week off. She is quarantined to her house. A good excuse to do nothing all day.

Also, my baby boy is now 3! I can't believe that I am the mom of a Kindergartner and a 3 year old. We had a good party. Everyone came over last Sunday and my dad did a shrimp boil. (My first thought was YUCK!) Just the name sounds bad. Dad brought over the turkey fryer and boiled in water: potatoes, corn on the cob, 3 kinds of sausage, shrimp, and some seasoning. It was so good. We put paper towels out on the table, poured out the contents of the fryer, and literally dug in. I made a Spiderman cake for his birthday, which we managed to eat all but 2 pieces. A couple of our friends came over with their new baby girls. They are so precious. It was an all around great day!

Thank you all for you continued prayers. We appreciate all of them!
Starla

The Big One

We had a great time camping this past weekend. We went to a 1000 Trails site first for a free 2 night stay. The whole point was to get Aaron and I to buy a membership, which did not happen. While we were there we played several games of mini-golf and Aaron and Riley went fishing. They decided to go early in the morning while Dakota and I were asleep. They came back to the camper around 8:30 to come get me to show me their big catch! Of course I could not wait to see what "Riley" had caught! He was so proud. Aaron and I decided that it would be best to let the fish go back to his family in the water, Riley did not agree. He was so mad that he did not get to eat his catch that he did not talk to us all the way back to camp. Who would have thought?

On Friday we moved camp to the other side of the lake to the group camp site. There we met 5 other families and had a blast. There was a lot of fishing, eating, and sitting around being lazy. It was a very relaxing camping trip. We are already talking about planning a trip for the spring. I cannot wait!!

ONE DOWN

I am sure that everyone knows that mom had her first treatment yesterday. God blessed us with a day much better than I expected. To give you the short version of the story... Mom, Dad, and I got to the office around 9:45 am. Mom got her blood work done and saw the doctor by 11:00 am. Then Dad left around noon (there was no reason for both of us to sit with Mom). She was hooked up by 12:30, and we were back in the car by 3:45 pm. Not bad for a first dose of chemo.

Amazingly Mom has not been very sick. Praise God!! I talked to her today around 3:00 and she was feeling good. She said she did not sleep well through the night, so has napped a lot today. Overall she is much better than anyone would have expected. I hope it will be this good next week. Thank you for all of your prayers. I know it is because of prayer that she is doing so good!

For the full version of yesterday, go to Mom's blog page. If you don't have "Joyce's Journey" it is under "My Blog List".

As for Aaron and I, we leave tomorrow for Lake Whitney!! A much needed family vacation. Hopefully I will be able to put the pictures on my blog when we get back.

Cancer, Cancer Everywhere

So it seems that everyone I talk to knows someone who is dealing with cancer. I don't know if I hear about it more lately because it is in my own life or if there really are more cases of it today. The other day I went to the bank and was talking to a friend of mine from when I worked there. As I was talking to her about mom and all that is going on she started telling me about her sister that was just diagnosed with cancer. I could not believe my ears as she tells me that her sister has lymphoma. A side note here, my Maw-maw had lymphoma so this touches me deeply. I then find out that she is pretty much on the same schedule as my mom. She got her port in yesterday and starts her chemo today. Her name is Jessica. She is married and has two very small children. My request to those of you reading this is as you lift up my mom in prayer please also lift up Jessica and her family. Thank you to my many prayer warriors.

Starla

Here Goes Nothing

Okay, I have decided it is my turn to give blogging a try. I mean my mom even has a blog. I make no promises to how well or often I post. It is a known fact that I am not the writer in my family. For those of you who are avid bloggers, I will take any advise given. For those of you who are English teachers, please do not pay attention to all of my mistakes.

Hope you enjoy!
Starla