First, the good news: Chuck is doing very well with his liver transplant. April 29 will mark the one year anniversary of his transplant at the Mayo Clinic. He's showing no signs of rejection, is off 80% of his medications, and his follow up tests and visits show him to be a super star. He's back to photographing birds every morning with my son, even in minus 5 degree weather, so that pretty much says it all. My avatar pics are of his birds.
Now for the bad news: I've mentioned before having a surface melanoma on my arm removed in October of 2021. An "in situ" mole of no consequence where all the melanoma 'was removed successfully'. This was a result of having a dozen beauty marks on both arms blow up like balloons after the 2nd Covid shot, grow scabs on them, and when the scab fell off, the beauty mark disappeared entirely. Except for the one. And all of it was not successfully removed after all, as a few cells must've escaped into my body and caused metastatic stage 4 cancer in my lymph nodes, liver, and bones. I went to the ER 3 weeks ago for excruciating pain in my left side where a CT scan with contrast was ordered. The cancer was discovered at that time, and I've spent the last 2 weeks in testing. The cancer is not in my brain, thank God.
The Oncologist told me there is immunotherapy available now for malignant melanoma. 2 types at once, administered via IV (no port) every 3 weeks x4. That's the goal. To turn on my immune system to kill off this cancer. 50% of immunotherapy patients are alive 2 years later. Idk what the percentage is at the 5 year mark. I've avoided doing research bc I'm overwhelmed enough already.
I'm having tremendous pain in my spine, ribs and liver, where the cancer is the worst. The Oncologist gave me some heavy duty pain meds and told me to wait it out until the IV starts kicking in to relieve my pain. He said I would live less than 2 months without treatment so my first treatment is tomorrow morning. The side effects can be gnarly and these infusions WILL kick my butt, he said. I'm ready, I think. Ain't no beauty mark gonna take ME down at 65! 😑
I'm useless at home, so Chuck is doing everything. Laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, driving to appointments. I have a housekeeper coming in to do the heavy cleaning and my stepson and his wife are cooking 7 dinners for us and bringing them by on Saturday. I have to make sure HE'S not overworked during this treatment process to where he gets sick. He's already overcome with worry and shock over all this as it is. I'll ask my stepson to repeat that meal making plan, too...they want to help & we need help.
We've had a lot to deal with the past year, and now my issues, which were there all along, just not apparent until recently. We wouldn't have been able to handle TWO of us sick at once anyway, so this is how it had to play out, I suppose.
The one bright spot I hold onto here is the dime I found on the floor of the ER room I'd been in ALL DAY where there was no dime on the floor. And when the gal was wheeling me back into the room from the CT scan, there it was. I kicked it across the floor to Chuck and he said, "what's that?" I said, "it's a dime from dad, telling me everything will be alright." He was speechless. Dad used to send me dimes all the time after he died in 2015, but stopped the past few years. I have a whole piggy bank full of them.
We can use all the prayers we can get right now, friends. I believe in prayers, in miracles and in signs from our deceased loved ones that they are with us in tough times. If you do too, please send up some prayers for Chuck and I right now.
Many thanks.
The dolls I sold were infant newborn baby dolls (I forgot who made them) that look just like real babies. They sell new for $150 or more each.
I had tons of dolls, Chatty Cathy, and many others. I had one that was life size to me. It was three feet tall.
But I played with all kinds of different toys. We had fun toys. The toy industry has evolved and is so different today.
That’s very cool! Deal after deal after deal! It is awesome to find great deals, whether you are keeping it for yourself or selling it to make a profit.
One time I was browsing in an antique shop and I saw a toy metal cash register just like the one I had as a child. I loved that thing and played with it all the time. They were selling it for $75. I don’t know what my parents paid for it but I am sure it probably wasn’t too much money.
Antique toys are fun to look at.
Do you go to garage sales? Once in awhile I do. When I was young and single I went out of necessity! I wasn’t swimming in money!
I found great deals. Of course, my apartment was very eclectic! Nothing matched but I tried to coordinate as best I could.
You know how garage sales can be though, people got rid of incomplete sets of cups and saucers, plates, glasses and so on. I think the most I paid for a coffee mug back then was 5cents! Plates that I bought were no more than a dime. 50 cents for a pair of jeans.
One time I went to a garage sale and a man was selling a good bit of furniture. He said that he had just placed his mom in an assisted living facility and that she couldn’t take a house full of furniture with her. He had some pretty pieces. I bought an end table and a coffee table.
Did your mom collect depression glass from the movie theater? My mom did. My grandmother would pay adult ticket prices for my mom, aunt and uncle so they could get more pieces.
Sadly, mom lost her home and everything in it in hurricane Katrina. She had some really pretty things that she received as wedding gifts and other nice things too.
Mom had nine feet of water in her home. We weren’t able to save anything after being in that muck for weeks on end.
She did give me the dark red depression glass pitcher years before hurricane Katrina.
It is interesting to see what people collect. People take pride in their collections and have their items stored or displayed properly. It’s quite different from hoarders where everything is a disaster.
My youngest daughter likes to unwind with reality tv shows too. She watches quite a few of them.
I catch up on some of the ongoings from her. She is constantly telling me that I am out of the loop! 🤣
Nhwm, I don't go to pawn shops either although I did find my identical wedding ring set in one when I needed to replace it. I watch mostly reality tv shows myself, like Bargain Block, Unsellable Homes and Golden Bachelor. I loved him till he pissed me off by telling Faith he loved her, then eliminating her 😡. And the "guilty pleasures" mindless shows like 90 Day Fiance and Love After/During Lockup series 😂🤣 After This Is Us ended, I reverted to reality tv only. I do miss TIU.
I think there was a tv show on that too. I don’t remember the names of the series.
I have watched a few shows where the two guys drive to different locations to pick up stuff from people’s homes. I think they resold the items in a store that they owned. Can’t recall the name of the show.
I wonder how many people place items in storage and don’t go back to retrieve them.
I have never been in a pawnshop. I have seen that television show. Those reality shows are staged. I don’t watch reality tv. I know that people find deals in pawn shops as well.
Hope that you continue to find lots of good stuff, Lea!
A friend of my Moms gave her an old strawberry bowl with 5 dishes. I now have it. I was at a fleamarket our Library had and on a table was a dish that matched the set. I knew the woman and said "I have this set at home and missing a dish and I think it matches" The woman was sceptical but I bought it for probably a $1. Got home and not just matched but really matched. It seems that on 3 of the dishes there is an xtra rose bud. Before I bought this one, I only had two with the xtra rose bud. This one had the xtra rose bud. Since this was a local flea market, I always wondered if Moms friend had given someone something in one of those dishes and never returned it. She had passed, in her 90s, by the time I found the 6th one so couldn't ask her. At this particular fleamarket I found a number of good buys. Lenox especially.
I tried to go to a new thrift shop today, but they were closed. Not that I need anything, but I love to look. Just never know.
I get that you'd rather not darken the door of a medical facility any time soon...
Geaton.....I can have physical therapy but I'm not going to. I plan on doing my stamina building my way, now that I'm out of exile after 9 months, because going into more medical facilities than necessary is not something I want.
Hellions will wear us out! When my great niece was younger, she would spend the weekend with us. I enjoyed her visits but was exhausted when my nephew came to pick her up.
My great niece would enter my home with her pogo stick in her hands. That should give you an idea of how much energy she had! Hahaha 🤪.
Now, she’s all grown up and is a music major at her university.
Have a relaxing Sunday everyone 😍
My friend was shocked when she found LV pants for $12. She said the same thing as us. How in the world were they selling them for such a low price? Somehow, the designer pants slipped through the cracks. She grabbed them, paid for them and ran out of the store.
Did you see where not long ago a young woman who wasn’t even engaged found a wedding dress in a thrift shop? She fell in love with it. It fit her perfectly. She paid $25 for a Galia Lahav dress! She searched it online and it is worth over $6,000. She is saving it in case she gets married one day. Some thrift stores don’t pay attention to labels.
My neighbor’s daughter called off her wedding . She had an extremely expensive dress in a size 0. Her dad said, “How many people wear a size 0? I guess we will donate the dress.”
I love Antiques Roadshow too. My husband had his guitar appraised from them. It was valued at close to $10,000. His grandparents bought him the guitar for his birthday when he was a teenager.
You’re right, there are lots of fakes in the antique industry. Same in the art world.
Many years ago a few friends of mine and I decided to have a garage sale to get rid of excess stuff.
There are always people from flee markets who are looking at garage sales. My friend said to me, the antique dealers will be looking for fake items to pass off to their customers. I laughed and said, well I do have a reproduction of an antique teapot.
Anyway, north of New Orleans there is an adorable little town called Pontchatoula. They are known for their antique shops.
Sometimes, my friends and I will take a drive north of lake pontchartrain to browse in the shops.
We went to Pontchatoula the week after our garage sale and were window shopping before we went inside the shops.
Lo and behold, my friend said to me, “Look at your teapot in the window of this store!”
It was displayed beautifully sitting on top of a pretty lace doily. They paid $1.00 for it at our sale and they were selling it for some ridiculous price!
It most certainly wasn’t an antique! I think I paid around $30 dollars for it years ago at a department store.
Have you watched the Made You Look documentary? It’s really interesting, it’s about the fake art pieces.
Some people will buy things without looking for certain markings or they really like it and buy without verification.
I record Antiques Roadshow every Monday night. This week and last, they were repeating 2008 shows they did in Chatanooga TN and updating values from 2008 to 2023. Most furniture has taken the biggest hit. This week they saw a fake Faberge jeweled letter opener the buyer had paid $3500 for believing the fake Faberge hallmarks. It was valued at $3500, luckily. Had it been a genuine Russian Faberge, the value would be $35,000. And a copy of a famous oil painting where the word COPY was blacked out on the back. Valued at $2,000, the original valued in the millions. 😁
I've watched AR for 20 years and have learned a ton over the years!
My friend who is a fantastic shopper and finds fabulous deals will donate and shop on the same day. She calls it, “Drop and shop!”
She’s a clothes horse and knows all of the name brands. She got a pair of new Louis Vuitton pants at a thrift shop for $12!
The pants still had the tags on them. They fit her perfectly! They retail for close to $1000! Obviously, the thrift store didn’t know what they were selling. The thrift shop is in a very wealthy area. People donate nice items.
We do have upscale secondhand consignment shops that only carry the expensive brand names and they will discount them but they are still very expensive because they have to pay a portion to the owner of the items.
My husband’s friend went to Antique’s Roadshow when it was here in New Orleans with an antique chess table that he inherited from his grandparents.
His parents asked them to select what they wanted. He picked that particular piece because he had admired it since childhood.
His sister picked out what she wanted.
The chess table and chess pieces set was worth a fortune! It was from the gothic era.
He joked with us afterwards that he hoped his sister didn’t see the show! He said that she would want him to sell it and give her half of the money. He said that he wasn’t ever going to sell it.
It’s amazing to see what people bring to Antiques Roadshow. Sometimes it’s a painting that they bought at a garage sale and it ends up being appraised at a fortune.
Dr C is an Italian East Coaster like I am so we share expressions and things in common. He was knocking wood so many times today it was hilarious. Then he said he didn't want to JINX me so he'd get off the phone. He probably threw some salt over his shoulder afterward 😀
You’re a great shopper. Who doesn’t love a bargain? I always say that money is better in my pocket than the retailer’s pocket. It’s so nice to get amazing deals.
Dr. C sounds like a sweetheart!
I was able to hang onto the shopping cart and go my own way while Chuck went to the music section. I found a pair of brand new faux fur lined Tom's ankle boots, 6 sweaters/tops, 1 pair of pants with big brown wooden buttons going down the sides of the leg, a Gap knit dress, a soft fleece shawl with pockets and 3 CDs for $48!!! And there were 2 yellow tags in the bunch, too. Score.
Dr C called while I was browsing, to see how I was doing. I told him I was shopping at the store and he said "AWESOME, knocking wood over here". Lol. I told him we went to 3 estate sales on Fri with me just using a cane, and he yelled CONGRATULATIONS! He is genuinely happy for me, I can hear it in his voice. He told me to get out and do all I can now, which I plan to do.