Our Week Thus Far

As you are reading this post I am in Olympia for what should be my final CT scan in my long journey from my cancer. If everything still looks great with no changes I will not have to have another CT scan. Of course we all know that this does not mean that there still won’t be tests, but this is just one more step towards being totally claimed cured. For those who are new followers or who may not know my story, in November 2007, I was diagnosed with Anal Cancer. Yes, this is the same cancer that Farah Fawcett lost her battle to. Selena was still 1 years old, and I was off on a journey of a life time. Selena was at my side as was Papa through it all. While she does not remember any of this she truly was my life line. If not for the flu that I caught from her that abscessed my very small tumor I might not even know yet today that I had this cancer. We caught it while it was still considered a floating tumor, meaning that it barely was attached and had not spread beyond the small area of inside lining, it was hardly even called stage 1, but yes, that was the stage they did place it in. I started Chemo and Radiation on December 1, 2007. I finished all my treatments in March 2008.

OK with all that said onto our week. Monday we had to go to Olympia so Selena could get her flu shot, and then I had to pick up my contrast for my scan. After all this Selena and I went out for lunch, then hit the Big mall for a fun afternoon of shopping. Selena cracked me up on numerous occasions as we walked along and she was trying to read everything in site. At one point she even stopped and announced as loud as she could, “I want a sleep number bed!” Many around us chuckled, and I told Selena, “Yes, Grandma wants one too.”

Selena got her hair trimmed and bangs cut, which in her words was “The best hair cut she has ever gotten!” We then went to find her a new pair of shoes. As we entered the shoe store, Selena’s eyes landed on the exact pair of shoes she wanted. I just hoped they had them in her size. Can you tell which pair is the old one and which is the new pair?

One of the things with Selena is she has a little OCD going on. We have only had two times we have been able to get Selena to wear shoes that didn’t look like this, once because we couldn’t find them, so she settled for brown Dora shoes, the second time was when a friend gave us a brand new pair of little white Nikes. I don’t know what we will do when Selena finally out grows this style of shoes. This isn’t the only obsession of Selena’s, lunch is not lunch without a peanut butter sandwich. I can fix anything for lunch, but she won’t eat it unless she also has a peanut butter sandwich. There are many more little obsessions that we deal with, too many to list here. Let’s just say she is my routine girl and that is all there is to it, and she lets you know if we do not follow her little routine for everything.

Tuesday morning we awoke, and Selena announced she wanted to play with play dough. Of course I obliged. She  played for a couple of hours with her play dough, telling all kinds of different stories. What would play time be though without a snack. Before I knew it Selena ran into the kitchen and helped herself to not just one but two yogurts.

This is a huge thing for Selena, as she has overcome yet another sensory issue. To think a child who would hardly eat soft ice cream let alone yogurt. She has come along ways.

We worked on math a bit, but after all this play Selena was really not up for much more table work. She did however, have to help me fix dinner tonight. Lately if I am cooking something using a recipe or from a box, Selena has to be at my side reading the instructions word for word, step by step making sure I do it just right.

Let’s just say that Selena loves to read instructions. We often catch her reading the booklets to all our appliances, or small electronics, then she turns to tell me how they work. She even gives her stuffed animals instructions on  how our vacuum cleaner works, the Wii, or whatever other thing she can find an instruction booklet for.

At AWANA tonight, the decision was made that while Selena will work through the same workbook that she started two years ago, though she is over half way done with it, we will also be working on the second handbook for the cubbies. This way she will be challenged, and not get bored. She will work in the old handbook with the class, then the club Director will come and take her and work in the second one. By the end of the year she will have all the patches and awards that would equal two years of work. I think this is the best solution considering she already has every verse in the handbook she has now memorized and only spends one evening a week, reviewing so she knows which verse she needs to say the next week. I can already see where if we don’t do more, she will get bored with handbook time anyway, and we truly want the entire AWANA experience to be it’s best for her.