Tangboy's Blog

Vacation isn’t that supposed to be a time of relaxation, a chance to get away from it all? Well my vacation was indeed a good vacation but not quite restful.

We had a splendid time snorkeling, eating and seeing some of the many beauties of the Virgin Islands but i didn’t have a the most fun traveling. St. Thomas is basically a giant pointy mountain sticking up out of the water. So the roads around the island are, well, switchbacks of the crudest nature. Yes they are paved but i honestly think they would be safer if they weren’t. I saw whole cars get swollowed up by pot holes the size of cruise ships and drop offs where pieces of the the pavement had fallen off that would have scared most anyone. Our main chauffeur was Sharon (Amys mother) and she did the best possible job she could navigating those killer pot holes and suicidal “locals” who drive giant F350s or 3500 chevie crew cabs around with seats welded into the beds with tourists flinging from every corner.

Even though i was nauseated the whole trip it was a wonderful experience. As anyone knows i love to snorkely and logged many hours in the water. Even though the chemo is supposed to make me more suseptable to light i refused to burn cause of the layers of 80 SPF and the durag i was required to wear by the two nurses in our group. I felt better knowing John (Amys step-father) wore one due to his ummm abundance of hair on his head?

Sharon and John did a stupendous job playing host/hostess with wonderful meals, transportation, baby shampoo for our goggles and of course “pink salad” (if you have never heard of it ask Amy or Sharon for the recipe best darntootin salad in the world!) So here is my formal “THANK YOU” for the wonderful experience and Thanksgiving to Sharon and John!

Today is Monday and thankfully our principle gave us teachers a “workday”. It is a day for us to do lesson plans, change bulletinboards, clean our rooms etc. So I got to sleep in, take a little more time getting ready, hang out with Tommy and just relax here at work taking it easy. I am still VERY tired from my trip so this is an added blessing! So my lesson plans are done and my grades are all in the computer so my day is done.

My last college roomate Aaron was in Chatt visiting some family for Thanksgiving and came up to visit me yesterday (Sunday). It was a bit of a drive and i appreciate it that ya came up Aaron. After showing him around the house and watching a bit of Bond we went out (Tommy, Aaron and I) and watched “Lord of War” which was a movie based on Arms dealers in the world. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting but it was a reality check to whats going on in the world. After that we headed to Olive Garden for dinner where Amy met up with us. I had the Cheese Ravioli with Marinera sauce… boy was it good, i even have some for my lunch today! It was time well spent visiting with each other and me trying to figure out that thing that Amy had told me she wanted the other day (sorry had to be there). So Aaron thanks for coming up man, i know it wasn’t the most fun driving but at least ya came to visit unlike Scott who is sitting in FL like a bum who doesn’t want to see me in my cancerous state (HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA just picking on ya Scottie, i know you had to work, so leave another funny comment here on my blog like always ok!). Anyway thanks again!

Tommy headed back this morning. If you didn’t know he came in last Sunday and stayed through til today to baby sit our “children”, watch the house and drop us off/pick us up from the airport. He is a great brother and i truly appreicate his willingness to come on down and spend a bit of time with us and take care of things. Hes a great bud who is always up for a 6 hour drive down to see me while i am feeling blah and try to cheer me up with his silly humor. Thank you Tommy for all that you have done, I know it was a tough week for ya and i pray that things turn your way soon! Thank you again.

Found a present that i received in the mail from a special someone down in Chattanooga. My advisor and mentor from SAU sent me a little goodie bag filled with all kinds of neat things. A lot of it was stuff from my work on my Masters in Outdoor Ed as well as some “get well” type items. The thing that… well… brought an honest tear to my eye was a bubble wrapped gift. I do not have it here but he wrote something along the lines of “if you need an extra “hold” here ya go” and inside was a climbing hold in the shape of the Christian fish. On the back was written an inspiration message. It truly made my day and inspired me to keep on going, to keep on keeping on. Even though ya dont know it Professor, that made my day, it truly meant a lot for you to take the time and put something in there that is personal to me and uplifting. I appreciate it more then you can imagine and I will always remember your support and honesty with me. Thank you for that “hold” when i need it.

There are so many people who have done things for me and i could sit here writing about them all day long. I will try and make sure to put some of the different things in here from time to time because it means a lot to Amy and I to know that you took the time to do something for us. So thank you for everything, the prayers, cards, small gifts, visits and whatever else! It all means so much, Thank you!

Well this is turning into a longer blog then i intended and i even managed to capatolize most sentences! Can you imagine that? I am still working on the punctuation though so we’ll see what happens, laziness is hard to overcome.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, I will try and keep more blogs coming your way as i recieve more treatments (one this Friday if WBC is high enough) and travel to different exotic locations (like New Market here in two weekends). So take care, thanks for reading my insane ponderings on the secrets of life and enjoy your wonderful week!

Well, yeah, i be in da islandz ( added for matt). we are down here in St. Thomas visiting Sharon and John (Amys mom and step dad). so here is what has happened recently.

Friday – chemo day, evening wasn’t bad, much better then the first treatment. and we headed down to see the relatives in Chatt (Steve, Vic, Nana, Bampi and Grannie – sorry for any misspellings)

Saturday – church, lunch with Nana n Bampi, nap for me, movie with Steve and Vic

Sunday – headed home, tom came in to start house sitting.

Monday – school which we had a field trip that wasted me, headed home at noon for a nap and packing for early flight Tuesday.

Tuesday – up and at ‘em at 4:45, out the door by 5:15 to the airport. airport at 6, on plane at 7, small flight to Charlotte NC, sat in there for, 3 hours? flight to San Juan Puerto Rico for about 3-4 hours (small seats with lots of stinky people). sat in San Juan for 4 hours? and a small prop jop over the water to St. Thomas to arrive there at 8:30ish. picked up by Sharon and John to be dropped off on a beach front condo. we thought we were sleeping on the floor at their apartment but they surprised us with our own place that a friend is letting us stay in on Saphire Beach.

Wednesday – up and at em at 12:00, ok thats what the clock said but it was like 8:30 which is 7:30 EST. golly that explained why i was still tired. breakfast and then snorkeling til noon. i tell ya, Sharon is a snorkeling maniac. i thought i was crazy with it, shes all over the place. went out and saw two turtles (almost caught one) a spotted eagle ray, tons of squirrel fish, flounder (peacock), and other little fish here and there. Sharon and i were out there for a long time and finally we came in, had an $11 veggie burger. i was wasted so i grabbed a couple hour nap while Amy and Sharon went out shopping. i woke up achy and just feeling BLEHHHHHHH.

so i got up, hoped in the ocean for about 15 to snorkel some, get the blood flowing, then came in for a shower. i still felt like junk so i just layed on the sofa and watched Sinbad and something on MTV about professional video gamers. kinda crazy kids making 60k a year and their 16-18 years old. haystacks up at John and Sharons and some chit chat and updating on the blog. still feeling “flu like” symptoms so tomorrow i have to really watch the energy levels and take it easy. so we’re gonna hit up a few beaches, then have some thanksgiving dinner and relax. so have a good one and i’ll catch u probably when i get back.

Well yesterday (friday) i had my second chemo treatment. which is good since tuesday i did the labwork and saw the dr and was told my WBC (white blood cells) was too low to have chemo. so they gave me a shot that made my bones increase their production of WBC which caused my whole entire body to hurt the next day. my knees hurt, back hurt, just everything hurt.

we came down after chemo friday to Steve and Vics place to visit the relatives. i figured if i am going to feel sick and stuff, i might as well do it in Chatt where i can sleep and amy can see those she misses. but thanks to some of the new drugs they gave me its not as bad as the last chemo i recieved. i still feel naseuated but its not as intense.

during the nite sometime i awoke to find myself in midair. i guess somewhere in my dreams i dreamt of jumping off a cliff or some crazy thing. well anyway after my knee hit the bed support and i hit the wonderful carpet i realized where i was and that was on the floor next to the bed. crazy experience seeings i think thats the only time in my life i have ever fallen outta bed (doh never mind ifell outta bed once in college while i was trying to smack my roomate on the bottom bunk for kicking me through the mattress and since i was in my sleeping bag, which is very slick, i slid off the top bunk and landed on my back on his chair at his desk which thusly turned over causing me to hit the floor in a crumpled mess). so i guess thats at least the second time i have fallen outta bed.

today (Saturday) we went to the second sevice of the 3rd (church service down here in Chatt which we enjoy) and then Amy and i headed over the Nana and Bampis for a wonderful lunch (*waves at Nana and Bampi*). amy proceded to go and see a friend so i grabbed a WONDERFUL 1.5 hour nap on Nanas guest bed! then we went to eat dinner with Steve and Vic at Cancun Mexican Restaraunt. unfortunately the chemo knocks out my taste buds for a couple days so i couldn’t really taste my cheese sauce covered bean burrito but i ate it all anyway and lots of chips just to make sure i get the full after affect! (ask Vic about it… she loved walking through that by product in the garage!)

so as i sit here typing i am reminded of my day (and wow that is some stinky stuff) and smile knowing i spent the day as best i could under the circumstances. gotta love having fam around to get pitty from when feeling sick now in a few days i can hit amys other side of the fam up in St. Thomas for some pitty watch out ST. Thomas here i come!!!

bye all have a happy Sat night!

wow, weekend, yeah it was pretty interesting, lets see if i can hit it off correctly.

Thursday night had Bill White (one of dads long time friends who has Bile Duct Cancer and is struggling with some of the same emotions/feelings as i) at our house. he came througha bout 2 weeks ago on his way to FL for a Pathfinders thingiemabobber. he looked tired and we had chatted enough i offered him a bed for the night like always (and he never refuses) and he accepted. i was pretty tired that night so i couldn’t wait for tom to get in (about 11:30).

Friday morning found tommy and i at school. i had enough energy and naseua to make it til noon while tommy plodded around the room scaring my students with his young hillbilly style beard and swagger. he seemed pleased with my class and made several character comments on some of my students, i was impresed with how well he could sum up their behavior etc with just a few hours of observation. after school we went to Olive Garden and spent some bro time relaxing. went home and packed up some stuff and just lazied and washed his car. Amy got home so we headed out to the young adult retreat.

We had to drive about an hour and a half to get to the Chalet in the mountains. nice looking place (but poorly built… i could see the smug look on tommys face as he inspected this and that) but it was beautiful up there and amy really enjoyed running around taking pictures. we had a nice little vespers discussion and song time and then it was in bed by 11 or so.

i tossed and turned til about 2:30 then was awake at 8ish, but stayed in bed til 10 or so. had a nice little breakfast (which i could taste for the first meal since Olive Garden) and then relaxing on the porch talking to people. we had a worship discussion and song service again, lasagnia for lunch and then the offer of ahike. i opted for a nap since it was just too draining putting on that happy “i have cancer but im ok with it” face. amy and tommy went on the hike with tommy in the lead. now bear in mind that tommy is used to mountain hiking whereas these city slickers are used to hiking along side lakes. so basically he kicked their horizontal butts with his vertical hiking abilities. they all came back huffing and puffing with tommy just grinning the whole time. i woke up just as they were getting back so we played some pool and talked etc. that night we had an “agape feast” those little “sit around the table on pillows and eat little cheese cubes and fruit for dinner while holding a spiritual atmosphere” dinners. near the end food was flying from our end of the table with the lawyer being blammed for all the tossed fruit. tom disclosed at the closure of the meal that it was he who had thrown the fruit and not the lawyer so now no one trusts the quiet new guy. night ended with games of pool, board games (which i choose to play risk with tom and 4 other guys and since tommy is my brother he choose to attack me time and time again until finally i turned in my cards for 20 extra armies and descimated him thus conquring him) and a trip to the hot tub with my wonderful wife and another couple for talks about housing building an such. its nice to have a wonderful wife like Amy who can put up with me after i run out of energy and she is stuck with just tired, stinky ole me. thank you amy for loving me even though i can be rough and not the most nice person to be around. you have stuck beside me through a lot so far and i know that we have a wonderful life planned ahead of us!

sunday came way to early, awake at 7:30 from another night spent tossing (from meds? uncomfortable bed? smelling bad?) and up at 8:30 to eat some waffles, pack, and get home about noon. tommy and i went and caught the movie “Jar head” which was a huge waste of time while amy cleaned out a few of her clothes to make room for some she had just bought. since we felt that the movie was a complete waste of time and that it just made us feel, crappy, we came back to wash and wax my car, amys car, and toms truck (wow thats a big truck). i straightened up some things and just tried to take it easy since i knew i would be coming to work for full days this week.

today (monday) is the first day i have felt some what “normal” health wise. fri-sunday i had waves of naseua or a sense of something not being right. but today i had a lot of energy even though i had yet ANOTHER bad night of sleep. i came into the classroom excited to be here all day and spent a lot of quality time actually teaching up front. about 10:30 i hit an energy “brick wall” and had to relax and teach from my chair and such. so after lunch i am relaxing while my students have a study hall and prepare for PE. which i will take care of from the sidelines. anyway this is getting long and my writing isn’t the most fun. so have a wonderful day and thanks for all the wonderful emails!
love
geoff w

Today i was supposed to get my second dose of poison *cough* i mean chemotherapy. after the lab work was drawn (which i usually hate with an utter passion equal to that of throwing up large pieces of metal and fish guts but found to be totally painless today due to the fact that my wife was there holding my hand) the doctor came in and told me that my white blood cell count was too low. so they cannot give me my poison! they gave me a shot that is supposed to kick my count up some and they will try again Friday.

its really frustrating because amy got off work, i missed my classes field trip, wasted a lot of time i could have spent with kevin, and now amy has to get off work earlier on friday and a friend has to take me in. just a lot of inconvenience and hassle ya know?!

well kevin is on his way home, just called and had a fun little spat with a po-po so email/call him for gorey details.

anyway other then all that life is ok and we’re doing alrighty. so keep in touch, keep the phone calls coming, emails sending, and messages “blinged” (sound of aim when messaged). love you all and thanks for the support!

This week and weekend has found me with many funny cards from different teachers around the conference. i wish to share with you one such card with exact grammar as was presented to me. here is one such funny card.

“Dear, Geoff
we liked your
hear-kut. and beleve
in God. becuse
you no he did not
Make the aksedent
Happen”

and the illustration that accompanied the letter was a picture of me sitting in a chair with a lady behind me holding some shavers. the letters i have recieved have been cute and uplifting in the fact that they make me smile and know that people are taking the time to show their love and support in different ways.

i hear everyday from different people from different parts of the world who have read my blogs. i get emails from people telling me to hurry up and write something new so they know what is going on and happening in the “White Hous” here in Knoxville. so here is a little update (hopefully less then 2000 characters).

Monday of last week was the first day i felt “normal”. i had energy, enthusiasm, and for the first time, no naseua. so if my memory serves me right, i had naseua from tuesday after chemo through the weekend ending on sunday. i will gauge and see how it differs this time around when i get my second dose tuesday.

Tuesday was a good day as well but i was less energetic and i could feel the fatigue. monday i was tired about 10:30 or 11:00 so tuesday i had to watch my energy closer. so for the rest of the week i put in full days but had to really manage my energy and efforts in classes. thursday i think was the worse because i had to deal with some issues after school. which is too bad because i had saved some energy for a date with amy i was planning on having after school thursday but since i had to deal with some issues i ran out. so poor amy had to suffer through some of my grumpiness while we ate pizza at Mellow Mushroom.

Friday night found us camping at “Norris Dam State Park” just 35 minutes north of our house. we were invited by some church members and some members from a neighboring church. we had gone camping with them about a month and a half or so before and really enjoyed ourselves. the weather was absolutely gorgeous. the air was crisp and clear and the moon and stars were just BRILLIANT!!!

Saturday we had a nice breakfast and worship. i thought i could get a nice nap in Sat afternoon but not with this group. they all agree that “you can get enough sleep in when you die, and im thinking “yeah” that might just be this afternoon if i go hiking, but i went anyway and had a blast. some people in the group had difficulty deciding which way to go on certain trails after we had gone past several cut offs and had gone through some loops. so at one point we found 1/3 of our group (and myself) heading off in the “right” direction and 2/3 of our group (amy included) heading off in the “wrong” direction. about 100 yards down the trail each group found the makers we were looking for to prove we were right and they were wrong. so in the end we got to sit for about 10 minutes while the other group came back with heads hung low in shame for not noting that they had already been down that way.

Onc we got back from the hike we had some haystacks and then amy and i grabbed a quick snooze. and trust me, after about 3 miles of hiking in leaves (which causes a noise about the same as a herd of buffalo stampeding thruogh a Lays Potato Chip factory) i was exhausted and welcomed the blissful slumber. we awoke to find it getting dark (about 4:30 pm) and our bellys slightly hungry. we nibbled on a bit of everything while chatting with different people around the bonefire. we headed back to bed about 10 and woke up abuot 9ish sunday.

after packing up and having some breakfast we made it outta there about 11:20 and got home about noon. just in time to clean up the house, play with my new pocket PC, go through some paper work and pay some bills. now its time for a shower (again) and an early bed time.

tomorrow finds my good friend and adopted brother (not legally) Kevin from MT visiting, tuesday is chemo day, wednesday is “iifeellikedyingrightnowsodonttouchmewiththatstickori” throwuponyou, day. next weekend tom should be here on sunday to start house sitting while amy and i head back to our honeymoon destination of St. Thomas. i hope i feel energetci enough to snorkel as much as i did on our honeymoon!

yall have a great rest of the weekend and beginning of the week! keep the emails coming and everything else!
love yas
geoff w

Ok maybe not quite safe to say, no change i am less naseous but i still feel, rough. yesterday i would rather have been at work then sitting around feeling like i am going to throw up and yet i am hungry. yes thats right, i would rather have been at work. *Sigh* even today i still feel rough, my emotions were pretty disturbed this morning, was having a lot of difficulty not shedding some tears. i called my mother during our break and it was all i could do to not tear up while i sat in the car keeping warm. i am hoping to get some nice rest this weekend at the young adult retreat that Amy, Tommy and i are heading to. hopefully it wont zap all my energy but we’ll see what happens.

Long day to say the least. Had my hair shaved this morning and then dyed blue. So i had an itchy neck the rest of my classes and had to figure out how to cover my hair during my chemo treatment.

i headed in about 12:30 to see what this big deal is about chemo and cancer and all this stuff i am supposed to go through. watching the wonderful and informative video made me feel all so warm and queazy inside. the nurse came in and did some informative information with amy and i telling us what to expect this and that. so i had to jump in asking how many shots i am going to be recieving and ivs started. she gladly said no ivs but one test shot and the rest would go into my port in my shoulder. it hurt just a little bit when she tested to see if i was allergic to one of the types of chemo. ok maybe it didn’t hurt just a bit, it hurt just shy of the bone marrow test.

After sitting around and getting the OK that i can have that drug to be serviced to me that afternoon. they hooked me up to an iv set through my port and it took roughly 2 hours for a lovely nurse to terrorize me with iv push and patting my freshly sore arm from the pneumonia shot i recieved from amy the night previous.

Got home and found out i have to take an anti nauseua med, problem is that i can’t take it orally, so i gotta take it, well, umm, i’ll stop now. just hoping it helps take away the naseua i caused putting it, there, *Sigh*