Feeling better....

..the last time I posted, I was pretty depressed and I'm happy to say that things are much better now.  No, I'm not cancer-free, (I wish), but I am feeling more upbeat and have my positive attitude back which is so much better.    I'm still having my "Opdivo" treatments, which are going very well, thank goodness.  I have not had any of the nasty or scary side effects and have now complete four with my firth treatment coming up next week.

    Our weather has been much better too, which for me with Fibro and Disc Disease, is another blessing.  We did get much snow from the huge snowstorm that headed up the east coast last weekend, and for that I am so grateful.  We're also having some really nice and mild weather and today it's up on the high 40's and may even hit 60 next week,  Yahoo!!

   I had my cataract surgery yesterday and it went perfectly.  The sight in my left eye is now 20/20 and the difference from one day ago, is huge.  Everything I see is so much brighter and the colors are so pretty and vivid.  I had a follow up with my eye surgeon this morning and he said, everything was perfect and the slight bit of blurry vision I have today, will improve.  My eye is still dilated, but it feels wonderful.  I'll continue to use the eye drops I have four times each day and next Friday he'll call me and give me the update on the change.  I'll then go down to using only two of the three and will continue that until I see him again at the end of February.
  
   The most exciting thing is the my trip to San Diego is coming fast.  In only 10 days, I'll be on my way and by this time, I will landed.  I added two additional days to my trip and will not be in California on Sunday the 7th, which is Superbowl Sunday!  I had hoped my team (the Patriot's) would be playing, buy sadly we lost to Denver.  I'm now routing for the Panthers, and hope they win!!   I've never been a fan of Denver or the Manning brothers....we've been rivals for far too long!  NO offense to anyone who admires them, they are great players, just not my favorites!  LOL!

  I'll now have 19 fabulous days to relax, rest and visit with my son, Brian.  I'm also very excite that one of my dear craft friends, Pat Crank, is coming out to SD too and she'll be staying with me form the 10-17th!  See too has a son that lives there and will be spending time with him, but we also plan to do lots of fun things together.  I love Seaport Village and also love the "Old Town Trolley Tour", which starts there.  We plan to take that trip and get off over in Coronado and spend some time shopping there and maybe have lunch.   When I have taken the trip (twice now), I've never got off on any of the stops, so that'll be a fun change for me!   I'm also going to be meeting another craft friend, LesLee, who I know from the wonderful Card Swap that Deb Nolan hosts on her blog.  LesLee is going to come meet us for a shopping day and lunch.   We all love Dick Blick and since neither Pat or I have one in our home areas, we plan shop at the one in "Little Italy", which is also where we're be staying.  I rented a lovely space through Airbnb and think it'll be perfect.  It's not far from the airport and in walking distance to most of my favorite places.

  Once I come home, I'll be right back to treatments, starting the very next day and I then have my one month follow up to the eye surgery....which means I'll be tired for sure, that first few days home.  But, to me it's worth this winter escape and this will be the first time I've ever had such a long vacation in SD.  I know I'm going to miss my Hubby and Skye, my Chiweenie, but happily I am able to take her sister (Zeva) with me, since she is my Service Dog.  I'll also be talking to hubby often and he'll be here with Skye, working and also doing some projects in the house!  

   Before I go I am proud to share some pics of my babies,  (the pups), Skye and Zeva, for those of you who do not know them from my Facebook and Instagram posts!! 

 Skye

Zeva

  

  Chiweenies are  part Dachshund and part Chihuahua.  Both of mine are Rescue pups and I am love them both so much.  As you can see, Skye very much has the "ears" of a Chihuahua and looks very much like her Mom, who was actually rescued when before she had this litter.  There were six pups on the little, four males and two females and they were all named after the NCIS show.  Skye's original name was Abby and I adopted her at 14 weeks, and renamed her.   Later that Summer, I became very interested in becoming more involved in Rescue and that was when I learned that "Ziva" had never been adopted.  (At the time I applied to adopt Skye, she also had an app pending, but it fell through, thank goodness for me)!  The day I learned that I contacted her Foster-mom, Arleen and told her I wanted to adopt her too and the rest was history!  "Auntie" Arleen and I know now wonderful friends and she now has her own Dachshund Rescue, called Paw-Affection Dachshund Rescue, which was eatablish in the Summer of 2015.  I am honored and very proud to be on the PADR Board of Directors and I also the Fundraising Coordinator and help out with applications, references and love to attend local dog events.  If I was healthier, I would happily be a Foster for PADR, but rigth now, two is enough for me.    It's a JOY and I LOVE everything about rescue.  If you know of anyone who would love ot adopt a Rescue dog (we take all breeds), please let me know.  You can visit our website here and please LIKE our Facebook page.  We also are always looks for "Fosters" and anyone who wants to help out in any way!   

   Needless to say, I love my girls with all my heart and are wonderful companions, who provide me unconditional love and support.   We kept Zeva's name (just changed the spelling), and she joined our family the very day she and Skye turned 9 months old.  They celebrated their third birthday in December!    The boys were also adopted in pairs and they also live in Massachusetts.  Some day we hope to have a reunion for them all to meet again.   The litter was known as the NCIS litter and the boys were named -- Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee and Eddie, plus my girls then known as Abby and Ziva.

   Here is a picture of Cookie. who is their Mom.  She was with Arleen for over a year and now has a wonderful new home and life in Connecticut, where she has two dachshund brothers!  Skye is "clearly" her Mom's daughter.

   If you would like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me at this link and my Instagram name is -- "ThePurplePlace", named after my craft blog.

   Special thanks to all of you to do follow me on this blog or my craft blog.  I love your comments and truly am so grateful for all your support.  I am determined to win my Cancer Battle and your kinds words really do help!!   Big hugs.....