Second Round of Chemo

Well, after whining about my first chemo treatment, I finally started feeling much better. Week two I would actually say that I felt 99% normal. I tired easily but other than that, felt great. Worried a little about the next treatment but tried not to think about it.

 

My hair started falling out in clumps on Sunday. Crazy! Even though you know its coming, you still can't prepare for it. I have to admit though. It's kinda nice having thinner hair. It lays down better and doesn't look as frizzy. But I'm leaving DNA evidence all over East Texas! I suppose its going to have to be shaved off in a day or two. Not looking forward to that.

 

I went in Monday for treatment #2. Of course, I told the doctor that I had such a terrible time with the first one. I don't know if she changed anything or not but this time it was NOTHING! Hooray! I came home and took a short nap but was good the rest of the night. No nausea, no nothing.

 

I came home from the doctor tonight to find Craig with a bald head! What a sweetheart. He is so supportive of everything. I am truly thankful that I have him for a partner.

 

I am so blessed.

My Thoughts on Breast Cancer

I just wanted to share some of my random thoughts lately, especially on the subject of Breast Cancer, which really stinks.

October 2012 I found a lump in my left breast, not any more unusual than the other 5 lumps that I have found and had biopsied over the course of 30 plus years. I was due for a mammogram anyway, so I scheduled one for the following weeks. Since there was actually a lump found, a sonogram was scheduled at the same time. The mammogram couldn't see anything, even when they concentrated in the area of the lump, so they went ahead with the sonogram. Of course, it was "suspicious", like they ALL are, and the doctors wanted to do a biopsy the following week. Like I said, I have had 5 other negative biopsies and the thought that it could be positive never even entered my mind. I went through the motions because that is what you do. You get a biopsy. You suck it up and let the doctors do their job. They get paid big bucks for making sure you don't have cancer.

I was at a funeral for Craig's childhood friend when I saw that I had a missed call. The message asked me to call the nurse back so we could discuss the results. I thought maybe something was wrong because she would have just stated that the biopsy was negative and that she would see me in a few years. As soon as I had a minute, I called her and she informed over the phone that I had breast cancer. I laughed. She told me that I could say, "Well, shoot! That stinks!" but I couldn't. I just laughed. It was ridiculous. Just a lump. OK. Well, now what? She was very helpful and made an appointment for me to see the oncology surgeon in about a week and a half. It was Thanksgiving week and it was difficult to make an appointment immediately. Then we sat, and waited...

Telling everyone I knew seemed like the logical thing to do. Only thing is, I couldn't tell anyone with a straight face. They all thought I was joking. Nope. Just sounds stupid saying it out loud. You know, they mis-diagnose things like this all the time. Its all a mistake. Maybe I need a second opinion.

Getting to the oncology surgeon seemed like a lifetime and I was looking forward to getting some answers, like mastectomy? lumpectomy? stage? prognosis? But no. The surgeon gave me no answers. He gave me info about mastectomies and lumpectomies and sent me home to decide for myself. Wait. I can't make that decision. That's up to the experts to decide. The surgeon sent me to a plastic surgeon and then to a radiation oncologist. I did a lot of reading and thinking and changing my mind until I decided that I wanted to have a left mastectomy and then have both breasts reconstructed. And that's when I sat down and cried. It's becoming a reality. But then I think tummy tuck!! Yeh!

Nope.

Plastic surgeon says they don't take fat from your tummy anymore. They take a big ol' muscle out of your back and bring it around front to make a breast. SERIOUSLY?!? Do you not know what I do for a living?!? I don't have time for all this! I lift, tug, pull, and yank on BIG kids all day long. If not me, then who's going to take care of them? UGH!!!

Ok. So I've decided to do the mastectomy with reconstruction. Well, that complicates things. Now I have to get the sentinel nodes biopsied first so that extra nodes can be removed before reconstruction if there are any more that are positive. Great. Now I'm going for a "simple" day surgery at Baylor in Dallas.

I wake up to NO feeling in my arm, back, chest and even the back of my head! I mention that its all numb. "Oh yes, honey. That's normal." Wait. NO FEELING? At ALL? I didn't sign up for that. UGH!!!

Now, a few days later, I get another call from the surgeon. Four out of five lymph nodes are positive. Well, there's my second opinion. And now I will need to take chemo AND radiation. And I can't have the reconstruction surgery until after radiation so they're going to just use a tissue expander with saline and wait until after radiation to use the muscle in the back. UGH! Off to the mastectomy I go the day after Christmas, not very confident in my decision of complete removal of the breast along with all the remaining lymph nodes.

And the "Bye-bye Boobie" cake was priceless! One little way of poking fun at a full-blown nightmare.

Oh yeh, and the second biopsy showed 3 more nodes involved for a total of seven nodes. And now I'm a stage 3. Stage 3? That's like a 50% chance of survival. That stinks.

Off to the medical oncologist I go not expecting many new answers or help. But she says, "No. You don't have stage 3. You are only a stage 2a. You only have the three nodes involved." Well, THAT'S a BIG difference! 85% chance of survival is a whole lot better than 50%. Ok. I can do this!

But wait. Why was I told I was a stage 3? I called the surgeon's office kinda ticked about the whole thing. She brought up my reports and told me that she wished that she was wrong, but her records were correct. I was indeed a stage 3. Ok, now what? Each office is arguing that they are right. The nurse at the oncologist actually said to me, "Dr. Blum is the expert in her field. Who are you going to believe?" Wait. Believe? I don't want to just CHOOSE who to believe! I just need the truth! Ok. Well, after I asked each of the offices to talk with each other and to come to a consensus, the surgeon's office finally agreed that they had read the pathology report wrong and that, yes, I was a stage 2a. Finally! Some good news.

Alright. So I need to let my body heal from the mastectomy before starting chemo. And, yes! I will volunteer to be in a study to help future breast cancer victims. Its the least I can do. Chemo count down: 1 month, Feb. 4th.

Lots of tests to do before chemo. Labs, echocardiogram, bone scan, MRI of the abdomen, spine, installation of a chemo port, etc. That's three surgeries in the last month and I'm starting to have some gas pains now that are quite debilitating. I mention them to the oncologist and she checks the MRI that was just done. Diverticulitis. She puts me on 2 antibiotics and on a clear liquid diet. WRONG combination. I vomited the whole day. When I reported that I was vomiting, they instructed me to go to the nearest emergency room, that my bowels may have ruptured. Seriously? I'm on antibiotics and clear liquids. I ate some crackers and felt fine. That's the first time I have ever disobeyed a direct order from a doctor.

Well, Feb. 4th finally rolls around and I'm thinking I'm getting chemo. I've got myself all worked up, nightmares and all. But the doctor says, "no." We have to have at least 4 weeks without antibiotics to make sure the diverticulitis is gone. Chemo can make the diverticulitis much worse and there is a real possibility of a bowel rupture. Dang. More waiting. And by the way, you no longer qualify for the study because the window is gone. Dang again.

So I head back to the plastic surgeon who's going to make me into a beautiful lady with 20-year-old boobs. Its time to expand the breast with saline. But my tissue expander is contracted and he can't insert any more saline. It would just start coming out the top of the breast. And he says that would look funny. Does he see what I look like now? Could anything look worse? I'm serious. And its only going to get worse with radiation. More dangs.

Alright. March 4th is starting to roll around and I had one more bout of diverticulitis. I called the doctor and they want me to see the gastroenterologist, of course. So I'm thinking no chemo until I get his blessing. But she looks me in the eye and says, "But I think we need to get started on your treatment." OK. I'm at the doctor's office without anyone for support getting chemo that I thought for sure I wouldn't receive today. Thank you, Bethany, for taking off work immediately and being with me. I thought I was going to be OK but then nearly blacked out from panic when they started giving it to me.

It was poison. Pure, unadulterated poison. Actually a derivative of Mustard Gas. What was I doing to my body?!? It was fine 2 months ago! And now I'm killing it. This seems so darned barbaric to me.

And now I'm a week post-first-chemo. I was extremely nauseated, enough that I had to sleep with the garbage can the first night. UGH! BAD!!! And I slept the whole first week. I couldn't function like everyone said I would be able to after the first treatment. I was actually surprised that I couldn't function any better. I was always asleep on the couch. Yesterday was the first day I actually stayed up all day without a nap.

And now I only have 6 more days before my next treatment. UGH! I don't think I can do it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. And did I mention, I hate it? I don't have any choices. I have permanently mutilated my body. I don't have the strength in my hands to open things any more. My left breast constantly hurts. It feels like I have a bag of rocks under my skin. I have 7 more rounds of poison, I mean chemo, to tolerate and I'm starting to feel sorry for myself. Nothing tastes like it should. And my scalp hurts. In preparation of losing my hair. Another dang. Intellectually, I understand this is all necessary. But dang. It really stinks.

This is a test.

This is a test so I can see if I can send a video from my phone! Plus the video is really cute, especially the last 5 seconds!

Our First Foster Child!

We received our first child today. His name is Lawrence and he is a cutie! I hope everyone gets to meet him soon because they will fall in love with him. This is going to be FUN!

Snow Storm Feb 2010!

Well, we survived the Snow Storm of Feb. 2010!! It started out snowing all day on Thursday but only an inch or so stuck to the grass. It was pretty exciting, since it doesnt snow around here but every couple of years or so.

By Thursday night though, snow was starting to stick pretty good. The temp stayed about 34 degrees all day so some of the snow melted off. The kids loved playing in it at school, and the Superintendent had us send home notes that Friday's school would not be starting until 10am.

Then we woke up Friday morning...

Oh! Wow!

THIS is what we woke up to! It was like I was in a dream, or a fairy tale! Perfect stillness, no breeze, no snow coming down, no critters or birds moving around, just like everything was perfectly frozen in time.

Even the dog had fun! What happened to the garden?!?

Well, also got just a little bit of damage to the tree out front. But that's ok. I loved the show!

Our electricty was off sometime Friday morning before we woke up. And it didn't come back on back on till Saturday about noon. Temps inside the house were 55 on Friday, which was not really bad. We just kept blankets on and used some hand warmers from the 72 hour kits. We had no phone, no lights, no heat, and very sporadic cell phone service. We could get an occasional text but couldn't send very consistently. Plus, with it constantly looking for service, our batteries ran out quickly. We finally had to plug the phones in the car.

But Saturday morning when we woke up, temps inside the house were about 42. Different story. Very cold! That's when we decided that we needed to go somewhere and get warm. It's quite weird to take a shower in the dark, with a small flashlight shining at you. And while I was in the shower, the Flemings came by with a kerosene heater, but flipped on the lights! We had power! Yea!!!! They left the heater for us to warm the house until the central heater could get caught up. THANK YOU, FLEMINGS!!!! Gotta love those Home Teachers!

Now we have cell phone coverage, home phones, tv, and heat. It was a very strange feeling not to be able to communicate with the world. At least we had gas in the car, if we needed to go somewhere. (Couldn't get a hotel due to the NBA Allstar Game Sunday night. Every hotel in Dallas was booked.)

Glad it's over. Enjoyed the snow. We'll be getting a heater soon, I'm sure. And, of course, we used a snow day from school, so no one had to go anywhere on Friday. What a fun day off.

A Visit From Mom & Dad

I have been able to visit with my mom and dad for the last several days. It has been really fun. I miss them a lot and really enjoy the time that I'm able to spend with them. They are leaving here tomorrow to go to San Antonio to visit with my niece but then they will be coming back next week.

They brought us three huge boxes of giant oranges picked fresh off their own trees. Oh! They were SOOO good! Mmmmmm!!!

They also brought a few of my childhood toys so that I can display them in the spare bedroom. The toys that they brought were very special to me. I appreciate that they kept them in such good shape and had the forethought to keep them safe for me.

They also brought some wrought iron fencing that I am planning on hanging on the house somehow and planting a vine to climb up it.

And of course, they also brought several boxes of candy bars and put them in the house to call my name every time I passed. ugh! But good!

I do wish I lived closer so I could visit with them more often. But until that happens, I will cherish all the time that I can be with them to visit, laugh, eat and just plain ol' have fun.

Thanks, mom & dad, for being the best mom & dad that a girl can ask for.

Getting Ready to Foster Children

It seems like a crazy dream. I've been wanting to care for medically fragile children for a very long time. I started taking the courses way back in 1995 when I first became divorced. I thought that it might be a good way to bring in some extra income and still be available for my own children. Then I found out that I had to be divorced for a minimum of one year. I dropped the courses thinking that I would finish later.

Then I met and married Craig. Between the two of us, we had eight kids, and the number of children in a household are limited for foster care. So, I needed to wait until at least three of my own children were above the age of eighteen, and I had to have a spare bedroom. This all happened about the time that Linda moved out a couple of years ago.

So Craig and I signed up for the classes and travelled to Tyler about 60 miles away twice a week for about six weeks. When we thought that we were ready for the home inspection, the worker came into our house and saw some wrinkled wallpaper in the master bathroom. Immediately he told us that the house would never pass.

Just think how disappointed Craig and I were, knowing that our house was very old and needed a lot of work; more work than we had either the time or the money for.

Over the next couple of years, we finished rooms, sheetrocked and painted, completed little projects here and there until finally we thought we might be ready again. To our dismay, the classes that we took all summer long were no longer valid. One only has a year from finishing the classes to get licensed and it had been several.

I called a different agency hoping that things might be just a little bit easier if I chose one a little bit closer to home. I begged them to come out to the house first, to see if in their opinion things were close enough to proceed. Good news. They encouraged us to retake all the classes and get just a couple of things in order.

It took us eight hours a day, every Saturday in May to take all of the classes. We needed little courses here and there off the internet, updated our CPR, and had to find proof of all the little things like insurance on the car, our household income, etc., etc,. etc.

We had a hard time finding anyone who would do the fire inspection. Everyone that we talked to told us they didn't do them. Frustrated, I called a few more numbers and finally was able to contact the Fire Chief of Edgewood who came out immediately (that very day, in fact) and got us passed.

Then I forgot that Ryan had turned eighteen and needed finger printing, and a couple of other things, but finally, we felt we were once again ready.

I made the appointment for the 4 1/2 hour interview with all the family in the home.

And we passed! Finally!!!

And what overwhelming emotions that hit me by surprise. First, I felt relief, then was overcome with utter exhaustion. I started worrying about whether I would be able to take care of a medically fragile child or not. I thought of all the date nights and wondered if they were finished. I worried whether I would have to give up my callings at church, then wondered if I would now become inactive. I thought of Kelly, my after school job. Would I be able to continue taking care of her, or would I have to cut back drastically, or even quit all together? Such emotions I had not expected.

Its been a couple of days, and I'm feeling better again. I know I can do the job. I've been caring for medically fragile children for 22 years now. What makes me think I can't do it all of a sudden? Thinking about hiring someone to care for the child if they are not able to attend church has put my mind at ease about my callings. And Kelly's mom and I have come up with some backup plans "just in case," of what, I'm still not sure. But at last, my concerns are fading and once again I am excited to welcome a child into my home that needs the care that I can provide.

God gave me a little single talent. Would I hide this little talent under a stone, and return to Him with just one talent? Or will I make this talent grow, and bring back to him twice as many, and have Him say to me, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." I want to do all I can with the talent that God has given me.

The Parable of the Rings of Saturn

I grew up believing that Saturn had rings. I learned this from various teachers, my parents, and probably a few television shows. I had no reason to doubt. I just trusted others who seemed to know.

Then one day I took a class in Astronomy. I had a teacher who had a wonderful tool; a telescope. One the size that I had never used before. I was able to look inside this amazing thing and see these beautiful rings that I had learned so much about. I could see them with my own eyes! Oh, they were astounding! I had never realized that I could ever see them for myself! I sat and stared at them for several minutes, not wanting to give the telescope to the next person in line. I wanted so desperately to study their beauty longer. I had to let go of it. But at that moment, I chose to find out more about the rings that other people had studied. Many had much stronger telescopes that I did not have access to. Their pictures were staggering! There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that these rings exist.

Later, I have found out how fast these rings move, what they are made out of, and how thick of a band they are. I determined all these things from others who have studied and have stronger telescopes than I have been able to aquire in my life.

As the years have passed, I still know that there are rings on Saturn. I may not be able to see them right this minute because I do not have a powerful telescope in my hands. But I still know that these rings exist. I know this.

But there are many people who have tried to tell me lately that these rings do not exist, that all these scientists are wrong. That they are imaginary rings. They try to tell me that I am foolish for believing that they are there. I have tried to take them to a planetarium so that they too can see them for themselves but they have refused to look. They feel that they don't want to know for themselves if there truly are rings on Saturn. Just that all of us who believe are irrational and cannot think for ourselves.

It makes me very sad that everyone can't see these rings for themselves. They are magnificent! And I am not the fool, for I have seen them.

Idiots in the Rain

I had to share this. It is POURING down rain and they are moving an uncovered mattress. I think their bed will stink for a while!

Craig's Big Fat Mess

Craig, making a big fat mess!
But soon we'll have water again and I can take a shower! Yippee!!!!

Pictures of Naked Ladies

OK. I promised pictures of the Naked Ladies when they came open. I know they are hard to see in this picture but my battery on my camera went out as I was taking these pictures so this is the best one for now.

It seems that they were not planted too deep because I pulled a bit of the fallen leaves away from their bases and discovered that they are sitting right on top of the ground. Evidently, the bud comes up near the ground then grows tall before opening.

What a sight! I sure hope they keep visiting me each year in the future. Now I need to plant something pretty under them so they don't look quite so naked.

Oops!!!

Oops!!! I think Craig got just a wee too close to the barn with his new tractor! What do you think? Poor Craig!Evidence of white paint on the bucket! Oh, well! Maybe it will be torn down sooner than we expected!

Naked Ladies

I brought home 5 Naked Ladies (they're plants, boys!) from my mom's house back in 2002 and planted them in my flowerbed. They always had really pretty greens on them in the winter but never bloomed. About 3 years ago one of them had one little bloom on it but I never saw or heard from it again till today! All five plants have buds on them! I guess it was the rain that we've had this past week. I can't wait to see what they look like when they bloom. My luck, we'll have another drought and they will just die completely.

One of the buds looks like I may have planted it too deep. The bud is barely above the ground. But several of them have more than one blossom. Yea!!!!

I'll post pics when they bloom.

My Personal Beliefs

I don't like to drink alcohol. I don't like people who do drink. Drunks act like fools and I prefer not to associate with them, at least not while they are drinking. I voted the sale of alcohol in my town down and prefer not to have liquor stores in my neighborhood. I will vote against sales again this fall. If you look at areas that sell liquor, they are nearly always surrounded by pawn shops, check cashing stores, bums begging for change, and graffiti. Stereotype? Maybe. But look around.
I live in an area where there is not much for the teen aged kids to do. Alcohol seems to be the past time of choice. Anytime there is a wreck, it nearly always involves alcohol. People who choose to drive while intoxicated should be executed (Well, not executed, but SEVERELY punished). If you are going to drink, at least be smart about it and get a designated driver or drink at home. And stop allowing our children access to it.

I don't like smoking. I don't like to hang around people who do smoke. They stink, and they make ME stink. I picked up a soda in a convenience store where someone was smoking and my darned coke smelled like cigarettes! Quit! If you must smoke, go somewhere where I don't have to smell it or get it on my clothes or food. If you were to save your money from smoking, just how much richer would you be? Figure it out. And let me be able to breathe.

I believe that prostitution should continue to be illegal. I don't like topless joints and won't be involved in a relationship with someone who frequents them. I don't want topless joints in my neighborhood nor prostitutes on the doorstep to the businesses that I shop at. I don't believe pornography has a place in this world. The teenagers of today are involved in way too much sex and they don't have a clue what they are in for. Their attitudes disgust me.

I don't believe in abortion. That is a child, no matter what your argument is. It is a living human being. It is murder. Give the baby to someone who desperately wants one. And use birth control. There's really no excuse. (Unless, of course, the mother's health is at risk. TOTALLY different story)

If you do choose to have children, TAKE CARE OF THEM! Their needs are more important than yours right now. If you just can't stand their mother/father then pay your child support. If you are not the custodial parent, stop questioning where the lousy $100 went. It costs a WHOLE lot more than people realize to raise a child. Bills tend to pile up when school clothes need to be bought, or new shoes, or Christmas comes around, or school pictures, or new shoes, or baseball fees, Halloween costumes/parties/candy, new shoes, Valentines cards, Easter egg hunts, new shoes, replacing lost school books, etc. etc. etc! The list is ENDLESS! People who don't pay their child support rank right up there with child molesters in my book. I believe that people who don't pay their child support payments should be brought up on charges of neglect to a child. If you are a friend of mine and don't pay child support, you better not let me know about it because I will turn your butt in (And you probably won't be my friend much longer).

I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. I have a very sacred ordinance in my religion that involves the sealing of a man to a woman and their children. There are males, and there are females, and they were each created differently and with a different purpose. If gay marriages are legalized then my ordinance would become unconstitutional and I would be forced to change this ordinance to accommodate them. This is the very core of my religion and it would disintegrate my entire belief. If gay people want something to show that they are committed to each other, why can't we have a "Union". Lets make "unions" legally binding and allow them every right under the law for benefits, including insurance and alimony. But please don't call it a marriage so that it does not infringe on my right to freedom of religion.

I try not to watch smut on TV. There are plenty of "good" movies out there that don't have garbage in them. I don't like excessive violence nor ill-humored jokes about men's wing-wangs. Grow up.

I believe in honesty. Every problem in our world today can be traced back to someone being dishonest. Greed for money and power all stem from dishonesty. If everyone were 100% honest, we wouldn't have to pay as much income tax, our government would think of our best interest, not theirs, we would all receive an honest pay for our work that we do, employers would receive a lot more work than what they get now, our welfare system could take care of us when we need it to, and our children would be smarter because we would have teachers who actually care about teaching.

This post is entitled "My Personal Beliefs". I did not post this so you could call me names or try to impose your view onto me. This is just very simply what I believe. But you are MORE than welcome to disagree with me!

Another shot

One more shot of the RED kitchen!Here is a "before" shot. I painted a big red splotch on the wall way back in January 2008 and chickened out. The red looked hot pink. But after about a week, it looked red. I bought some tinted primer which helped A LOT! It went on red from the beginning.
I didn't take many pictures in the kitchen because it was so ugly.

My RED Kitchen!

Here's a couple of pictures of my new kitchen. It looks better in person.

Alaska, Day 4, Juneau

Juneau was a really cool town. It is the Capital of Alaska, well at least right now. They voted to move the Capital to Anchorage but they don't have enough money to actually move it! So, for now, it stays in Juneau.

There are no roads that go in or out of Juneau. There are "dead end" signs and then the road just quits. There are only three ways to get to Juneau: boat, plane and birth canal!

The famous Red Dog Saloon is there and of course, we ate there. Pretty tiny place for it being so famous. But now I can say that I've been there.

More t-shirt shops and jewelry stores to go through. I think we hit them all, too. Got a great deal on an "Aurora Lights" necklace. I bought several necklaces here in Juneau. All gorgeous!

We took a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier about 10 minutes away. This was the first glacier that I've ever seen. Wow! I can't believe how majestic it was. It looked so grand and steady. I know that they move several feet per month and looking at it just sitting there in all its grandeur made me realize just how insignificant and tiny we all are. There are many buildings that will be crushed in the wake of the glaciers. But the Alaskans all know that and they are not deterred. They deal with Mother Nature and celebrate the changes that the world will go through.

After the Glacier trip, we headed up to the top of the mountain on the sky tram. I don't like heights, and when we started up the mountain, I was just fine. Yes, we were very, very high, but I was firmly attached to a little cable and was reasonably comfortable. Until... the tram stopped 5 feet from the platform. And just SAT there! My heart began racing, and I tried desperately to control my panic attack. We got to the platform, finally, and I was able to escape quickly. Deep breath. I'm fine. Phew!!!

Played with my camera a little while up on the mountain. I was able to take this panaramic view while up on the mountain. Wow! Beautiful!

Also saw another Bald Eagle in captivity. It had been shot in the eye and beak and couldn't take care of itself. HUGE! and BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We drove by Sarah Palin's house and saw the capitol building. I think Sarah's house was much more impressive than the capitol. I didn't see her though.

We learned that a bear had figured out how to stand in front of the automatic doors in front of a local grocery store in order to gain entrance and to be able to pilfer through the food.

I loved Juneau and will GLADLY return there someday.

Alaska, Day 3, Sitka

Oh! My favorite place in the whole world right now. Sitka houses about 9000 people. Most of their houses are on little bitty islands just big enough for a house and maybe a satellite dish. Everyone owns boats. Very few cars.

I LOVED this house. SO cool! We arrived in Sitka around 9am.We were not able to get the cruise ship near the docks in this town so we all had to shuttle back and forth in these little boats. They probably had about 50 people in them. On our way back to the ship the guy that was driving our little boat didn't know what he was doing. I also think the tides were working against him but it took us 25 minutes to get a rope attached to where ever it was supposed to go so we could get off. It was a joke. Everyone was getting upset and telling the driver how to do it but I don't think it was completely his fault. We would get very close and then we would bump off the side and that would send us back out away from the ship. Over and over and over again. Finally some supervisor got on and got us in. He was so mad at our pilot that he was shaking. I fear the pilot may have gotten fired that day. This is the view from town looking out into the "bay". Not really a bay, don't know what to call it. Fjord, maybe? Anyway, the ocean that has no waves because we're really inland a ways. You can see the huge cruise ship looming in the background.

We walked quite a ways to a National Forest that had lots of totem poles from the indigenous Indians. BEAUTIFUL!!!!

This is where we saw our first Bald Eagle up in a tree. He was flying around at one point. Bald Eagles have a wing span of 8 feet across. Hold your arms out and add 2 or 3 feet to them. They really are quite impressive.

We shopped at all the little stores there. Lots and lots of jewelry stores. The cruise ship gave us a book that had coupons in them for charms and collector's coins from various shops. It was like a huge scavenger hunt. We went from shop to shop asking for our free items. It was a blast. You had to collect them from all four ports of call to get the entire sets. The charms ended up spelling out "Alaska 09". We got 8 "gold" coins, 4 coasters, Christmas ornaments, hats, necklaces and I don't remember what else. All free. Whoo hoo!

We went all the way to Alaska and found a Mexican joint to eat at. We shopped till we literally dropped! We got back to the ship around 4ish. Of course you have to add a half hour for the guy to get us docked right. But we were exhausted. We went back to our rooms to rest, then to dinner at 6pm.

At 8:15 we watched the cruise director and assistant put on a Blues Brothers show. That was GREAT! They acted just like John Belushi & Dan Aykroyd. We also watched a magic show this night. He was stupid but funny. Silly, I guess is a better word. And stupid.

After the shows were over, we had to go upstairs so we could see just how dark it was. This picture was taken at 11pm! Crazy!!!

The following pictures were both taken at 10pm. Both the sun and the moon were up at the same time. I just couldn't get over that sun! Good thing we had a room with no windows. We took our handy dandy clock that shines up on the ceiling which helped tremendously. Only problem was, the only plug was down by our feet so the clock showed upside down. Not good when you think its 6 am but its really 9!

Alaska, Day 2, at Sea

I was exhausted from the travels the day before. I did not realize that we were going to be traveling through Glacier Bay at 6am. My biggest regret: I missed it! But I got to see a few glaciers with some small chunks of ice in the water. They were magnificent! That doesn't even describe them. We took the day trying to get to know the ship. "Trying" being the operative word. I don't think we EVER got it down. It was kinda fun, though, discovering all the things that were going to be available all week.

We all had to participate in an evacuation drill and try on all our life jackets. I think they all fit!
There was plenty of entertainment, like stuffing chickens between people's legs and hopping around like idiots. It was pretty funny though. Stupid, but funny.

We ended the day with a show with singers and dancers. It was quite entertaining. We thoroughly enjoyed our first full day aboard the Carnival Spirit.

Alaska, Day 1, Arrival, part 2

The 30 people that stay in Whittier during the winter go to a bunker house and stay in there all together to help each other stay alive (I guess). They usually can't come out due to the weather.