I had felt bad that I didn't update the blog in April, and now May is nearly over. So now I really feel pressured to post something. It's been a busy 2011, so I will give a relatively non-medical update of April, at least.
April started well. Carl was feeling fairly good. Carl was actually able to drive to work again on Friday, April 1, 2011. (No fooling) . He had been counting the days until he could drive again, and it was now six weeks after Carl's second neck surgery. The Dr's. gave him the go ahead.
On Saturday April 2, 2011 Carl and I got to see our very talented niece be Carlotta in the musical "Phantom of the Opera" at Marquette High School.
The photo below is from Sunday, April 3rd, when Carl, Miranda, and I went to a show at the Art Museum.
The children's spring break vacation from school started on Saturday, April 2 to Sunday, April 10, 2011. Starting Monday, April 4, 2011, Carl was happy to drive off to work and leave me at home with the children.
As spring break progressed, Carl's left knee and the area just below the knee started to bother him. By Thursday, April 7, 2011, Carl's left knee was painful enough that he had to start using crutches to walk. The children's spring break vacation continued, though, with Carl escaping to his work when he wasn't at something medical or recovering from something medical.
On Saturday, April 9, 2011 we 'left town' for the baptism of Cooper Schmidt, my niece's 1st baby, and the first grandchild in my family. We took the family picture at the beginning of this post before Cooper's baptism in Green Lake, Wisconsin.
Here is Carl with Cooper. Carl is now a Great Uncle, but we already knew that before Cooper was born.
After the baptism (the very next day, even), we started celebrating Miranda's 12th birthday. We celebrated Miranda's birthday several times, actually. (Her actual birthday is April 11)
On Wednesday April 13, 2011 Carl had a small surgery for a hernia repair.
On Thursday, April 14, 2011 we celebrated Tom's 17th Birthday.
On Sunday April 17, 2011 we celebrated my niece's birthday, and Tom's and Miranda' birthday again!
On Monday April 18, 2011 we finished our taxes.
Sunday April 24, 2011, Easter came, and we decorated Easter eggs and more.
We saw both side of the family on Easter - lunch with my relatives, dinner with Carl's relatives.
On Monday April 25, 2011, Carl's neck was swelling up.
On Friday, April 29, 2011 we went and watched a play at Homestead High school that Anthony was very active in. Anthony was the lighting stage crew manager, and had been working on this play extensively through out April.
Many other things went on in April 2011. Almost every weekday in April, Carl got a dose of radiation to the neck.
So, as I said before, April was very busy.
Monday, May 24th, 2010 Carl had outpatient chemotherapy at Froedtert's Cancer Center.
Carl felt well after the chemo, and he went to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Dr. indicated that for many patients the full impact of the chemo doesn't occur until about 48 to 72 hours after the treatment. Well, this chemo had a "Thursday" impact. Carl came home from work on Thursday, May 27, 2010, laid down and fell asleep in his work clothes. He fell asleep from about 5:30 PM until later on Friday morning. I tried to encourage him to drink water at around 10:00 PM Thursday, or even change into PJ's, but he wasn't interested.
Friday, May 28, 2010, Carl felt good enough that he wanted to go to work, (he was at least well rested!), so he did. The children had a half day of school, so he probably wouldn't have had a restful afternoon, anyway. The weekend came, children went here and there (Tom to baseball, the other 3 to a Nerf game at the church, etc.)
On Saturday May 29, 2010, WE ALL SLEPT IN! (Yeah!) A quiet Saturday Morning! Carl was feeling well and he made a pancakes for brunch around noon. Saturday afternoon, Carl and Nathan, Miranda and I went to the Family Kite Festival held at the Milwaukee Lakefront Veterans Park. I rounded up some kites we've had for years, and we went and flew them. We ended Saturday with a dinner at Beni Hana's restaurant to celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary. (Tom and Anthony wanted to stay home, so we let them.)
Sunday May 30, 2010, we had a rare second day of sleeping in. The kite festival was so fun Saturday that we decided to go again on Sunday, this time with all of the children. The weather was windy and warm, perfect for kite flying. We had great weather this weekend! All of the children enjoyed the kite festival and milk shakes and a picnic at the lakefront. Sunday night two children went to sleepovers, and one child had a friend sleep over in a tent, etc. The mad desire of the children to start summer now before school is out was probably not the smartest thing we could have agreed to, but things fared well and the children had a good time. (I didn't get much sleep, though. A storm on Monday early in the AM woke me up worried about the kids in tents scattered across Mequon.)
Monday May 31, 2010, we had a Memorial Day cookout with relatives, and Tuesday rolled around.
Carl's chemotherapy sessions this round consist of Chemotherapy on Day 1, (May 24) and then chemotherapy on Day 8 (a week later). Because of the holiday, Carl went in for chemo on Day 9 June 1. So, on Tuesday June 1, 2010 we got the children off to school and headed to the Cancer center day hospital.
Carl had blood work done first, at the Cancer Center Lab, 2nd floor, somewhere before 9:00 AM. (We had them access Carl's port there, so that there wouldn't be a hour delay up in the day hospital). The blood work results are needed before you start chemotherapy, and the tests take a minimum of one hour. Once you check in at the Day Hospital reception desk, they wait for the blood results, wait for approval from the Docs of the blood results, and then begin the process of "pulling" your medicines from the pharmacy. This means that there is another wait, especially since some of the medicines have to be defrosted. You wait until the medicines are available, a nurse is available, and the room is available. Once you get the room and drugs, the chemo takes about 3 hours and we were out before 3:00 PM Tuesday afternoon.
Then we came home, and gathered the children and ran them around to all the places they needed to go. Piano, picnics, after school activities. It sounds busy but it sure beat Carl doing a week of inpatient chemo starting May 24, 2010.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010, Carl felt well and went to work. Then I took him to the Day hospital for a shot of Neulasta. Weekday Neulasta shots are different then weekend ones. On weekdays, you have to do the waiting routine for the pharmacy. The injection itself, (into the muscle) is really quick - the nurses don't even have to find a vein. Carl wants to do the shot himself next time, to save time. If only.
Thursday, June 3, 2010, Carl went in to work. He was getting quite tired Thursday night, so he agreed (reluctantly) to let me drive him to work on Friday.
Friday, June 4, 2010, I drove Carl to work, and later we had a nice lunch together. The chemotherapy drugs were affecting Carl's taste buds, but he ate with a good appetite (to shore up energy, he said.) He finished up his day at work, but when I picked him up Friday after work Carl was really beginning to flag. THANK GOODNESS the weekend is here. Carl went straight to bed, but within an hour he agreed to take a pain pill, and later he took some Motrin. One of the side effect of Neulasta is that is can make your bones ache. Carl said his bones ache, his fingers and toes and jaw aches. As far as I know, this is the first time the Neulasta shot had this kind of impact, but then again, it could also be the new chemo drugs he got on Tuesday. Oh well, every day is an adventure....
On another note, remember when we were joking that we weren't sure if the radiation machine was turned on for Carl's leg radiation? Well, the radiation continues to be active for weeks after radiation is over, and Carl now has quite the nasty looking rash, a side effect of radiation, along the path that the radiation beam took. It hurts him were his knee bends, so that is now something else to wonder about.
We are trying to say some "healing prayers" that various friends gave us. I think maybe I'll share some of them soon.
Yesterday, Monday, May 10, 2010 was Carl's last day of radiation to his left leg. He got his first treatment of 15 on Tuesday April 20. Today is the first weekday in a long time that Carl has not gone into Froedtert. Yeah!
Here are some photos from leg radiation. They gave Carl a dot tattoo, and taped some markers on his leg with some very good adhesive. (Click on any image to see it larger.)
The machine above is the machine they use for radiation with a CT simulation. The circular part will do a CT simulation to check that the right area is getting zapped. Most days the radiation treatment was done on a machine that looks like the one in my post "What Radiation looks like."
Here is the form they custom made to hold Carl's leg in place for each radiation treatment.
This photo shows the path that the radiation machine followed. The area getting radiation was quite large, and the dose was high, which was one reason I was worried about possible side-effects. But radiation has gone very well, with almost no side effects as far as I can tell. I even joked yesterday to Carl, maybe we went through this entire procedure for 15 days and the machine went through the motions, but they forgot to turn the beam on.
Possible side effects ranging from sun-burned like skin, swelling, significant pain, etc. seemed to not happen. Carl is of course tired often, and sleeps way more then he ever used to, but he isn't complaining of major fatigue like I thought might happen. What a relief. I will thank God and all of the many prayers for this.
(Yesterday was one of the first days that Carl said he could feel an impact on his leg. I encouraged him to take a pain pill, but he didn't. It didn't hurt, per se, according to Carl.)The radiation will continue to damage the tumor cells for several more weeks. The odds that all the tumor cells in the leg will be killed are way under 20% (my number, not the Doctors), but I am hoping anyway. More rounds of chemotherapy will be starting within the next month, but for now we get a small break :)
Carl is getting 15 days of radiation treatment to the leg, so I thought that it is probably a good time to describe what radiation is and show you what radiation looks like. I'm going to describe radiation with my non-medical understanding. Our non-medical terminology for radiation is 'getting zapped'.
Radiation is a 'local treatment'. This means radiation treatments do not kill miscellaneous cancer cells floating around the body, just cancer cells in the vicinity of the location where the radiation is directed. [The 'local area']. Cancer cells outside of the target area should not be affected. Since radiation can not distinguish between healthy cells and tumor cells, there needs to be caution that the treatment is not killing healthy cells of needed structures.
Because radiation has to travel through healthy tissue to get to tumor tissue, two intersecting planes of radiation beams are used to concentrate the radiation at the area you want to kill. Unfortunately, the radiation is passing through healthy tissue and can leave some 'collateral damage', (healthy cells harmed). Therefore you have to hope the side effects aren't significant.
The radiation machine has a table that the patient lies on. The table can raise and lower, and move back and forth to align the patient. The table then remains still for the treatment. The machine has large arms that create two planes of radiation beams. These arms can move around the patient. The machine uses complicated mathematical formulas to focus planes of beams of radiation from two directions. The radiation travels through the skin and focuses on the tissue inside to kill (hopefully) tumor cells.
The radiation people carefully map the area of the tumor, and decide what area of the tumor to zap with what power. (The radiation beams are turned on and off, 'contoured' to match the shape and size of the tumor that they are targeting). The map and power information is programmed into the machine.
Radiation therapists build a custom molded form for the patient to align the area to be treated in a precise location. The face mask shown here was created for Carl to stabilize his head and neck for treatment.
For treatment, the radiation therapists strap the person down, align the machine, and leave the room, closing the thick lead door behind them; and then start the radiation treatment. The patient needs to lie still for the procedure, which is relatively fast once the machine is turned on (under 5 minutes) This can be a problem for claustrophobic people, (but not Carl, thankfully.) Wiggling around during treatment would be a big no-no. I wonder how they get children to lay still.
The radiation therapists watch the patient and machine progress closely from monitors in the next room. If you look closely at the top two monitors above, you can see the second arm of the machine extended.
Carl had radiation before, a 10 treatment course spanning 2 weeks December 27, 2009 through January 2010. At that time they were radiating to some cancer cells in Carl's neck. The photos in this blog posting are from that time period, when Carl still had hair. Click on the photos to zoom in and see them larger.
This time Carl is getting 15 radiation treatments to the left leg from April 20th through May 10th, 2010. Carl is getting the radiation treatments with with concurrent chemotherapy. The chemotherapy helps to activate and react with the radiation, which might make the radiation work even better, and the chemo can also treats any systemic (body wide) cancer cells that are lurking about.
The radiation rooms are shielded with lead on all sides. The door to the room housing the radiation machine is made of lead about 12 inches thick.
The technology is amazing, and yet still has a way to go. The Star Trek hand held scanner used by Dr. McCoy seems quite a distance away. But I am praying these big machines get the job done well. Time will tell, but in the meanwhile I appreciate all the prayers that have been sent our way. God Bless.
This week Carl continues outpatient Radiation with concurrent chemotherapy at Froedtert. The Monday infusion of chemotherapy drugs interacts with and stimulates the daily radiation. I hope it annoys the cancer cells!
Last week, on Monday, April 19, 2010, Carl got a dose of Chemotherapy. On Tuesday April 20 - Friday April 23, 2010 Carl got radiation treatments 1 to 4 to his left leg each day.
This week, on Monday, April 26, 2010, Carl got a dose of Chemotherapy and his 5th radiation treatment to his leg. On Tuesday April 27 - Friday April 30, 2010 Carl plans on getting radiation treatments 6 - 9; and on Monday, May 3 - Friday May 7, 2010 Carl should get radiation treatments 10 - 14 each morning. We are getting used to the daily drive to Froedtert Hospital. I am glad Froedtert is so close - others travel from much further to get treated. At least now the route is getting pretty with flowering trees and green grass everywhere.
After radiation on Tuesday through Friday Carl goes to work.
Carl has a good attitude, and he has a fuzzy head of - fuzz. (You can't call him bald at the moment, but you can't really call it hair yet.) I love running my fingers through his hair though. "Touch me head for good luck" Carl says in his best British accent. (or Irish?) He resembles a British Rock star or soccer player (we think), though why the British would mess up the English language like that (touch me head?) I don't know. Nevertheless, the children and I like to touch the soft ducky fuzz that is growing back in.
I hope his treatment keeps going this smoothly. That's all for now!
This week Carl started the next phase of his treatment. This phase will be a dose of outpatient chemotherapy on Monday, pre-radiation. On Tuesday radiation treatments to the leg will start daily for 5 days (but on on weekdays only, not Saturday or Sunday). Then there will be one more infusion of chemotherapy drugs, followed by 10 days of radiation treatments to the leg. So many treats and treatments!
On Monday, April 19, 2010, Carl and I went in to the Froedtert Cancer Center, met with the oncologist, and then Carl checked into the day hospital and was given an infusion of chemotherapy drugs via his port that lasted a little over an hour. We left the Cancer Center before noon. Yeah for outpatient chemotherapy! (Someday I'll add what drugs they were, but not today.)
Carl felt fine, but I had asked him not to go to work and he had agreed, and so we had lunch, ran some errands and got the children from school, etc. Carl even went to the YMCA that evening (and some of the children went swimming). We joined the YMCA over spring break and the children are loving it.
On Tuesday April 20, 2010 Carl and I drove to Froedtert and Carl got his first radiation treatment (of 15) to his leg. (Carl calls it getting zapped.) After that, Carl went to work. Carl said the side effect from this chemotherapy seems to be mostly extreme thirst. He says he can't believe how thirsty he feels, even though he is drinking water until he sloshes.
On Wednesday April 21, 2010 Carl and I drove to Froedtert and Carl got his second radiation treatment to his leg. Radiation is fast - less then 10 minutes of treatment once the receptionist calls you. Then Carl went back to work. He went to the YMCA Wednesday night as well.
On Thursday April 22, 2010 Carl got his 3rd dose of radiation. When he came home from work he laid down for a nap and didn't get up until after 9:00 PM. He says he is amazed at how wiped out he feels. It kind of surprised me too. Now I just want to get him to the weekend so I can regroup my thoughts. I hope this nap is just a one night crash and burn... but fatigue is one of the common side effects of radiation.
When something unexpected happens, I get worried and concerned. (Like cancer isn't enough?).
On Friday April 23, 2010 Carl will get his 4th dose of radiation out of 15, and then he gets to stay home for the weekend. I hope you have a great weekend, I'm planning on enjoying mine relaxing at home. God Bless!
It's now the middle of April, and I am long overdue for an update.
Carl last got treatments from March 1-March 5, 2020. At that time he had inpatient chemotherapy. Then the Doctors suggested it might be a "good time for a break". Anthony and Carl had birthdays, on March 19 and 25 respectively. Easter (April 4) and Easter break for the children came and went from April 1th to April 11. Miranda turned 11 on April 11, 2010, and we went to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate her "Golden Birthday". School resumed for the children, and our oldest Tom turned 16 on April 14, 2010. On Friday we celebrated my nieces 16th birthday (She's 16 today, April 18th), and today we celebrated my father's 89th birthday, which is tomorrow, April 19th, 2010. [Deep breath here...]
I have pictures and photos from these events, and while I someday may post them, the idea of keeping this blog "chronological" at this point seems daunting. (I still haven't posted Carl's birthday photo yet, either. I'm not sure it's been down loaded from the camera!) I can't always play catch up, I'll just jump ahead.
Medically, Carl enjoyed a long break from the hospital. So the last month he has been healthy and active, able to eat salads and from salad bars, deli sandwiches and all sorts of other treats forbidden when the white blood cell counts may be low. He has been driving himself to work everyday. He's started to grow fuzzy hair. On April 8 he had to get his port "flushed", a procedure to clean out the port when it hasn't been used for a while so that protein deposits don't build up and block the tubes. On April 12, and April 14th test and procedures started for the next treatment phase, which will be radiation to the leg area for 15 days with concurrent chemotherapy. We have enjoyed a sort of respite from the cancer treatments, which will now start again with a vengeance.
Tomorrow, Monday, April 19, 2010, Carl will get a short chemotherapy dose, and then starting April 20, 2010 and for the next 15 successive weekdays Carl will be getting radiation doses to the leg to attempt to kill the tumor there. The chemotherapy drugs selected will interact with the radiation to maximize the effect of the radiation, as well as treat stray cancer cells. I so hope that Carl's cancer is miraculously sensitive to the radiation, and that the cancer cells die at a rate, and so completely, that the Doctors are astonished. Wouldn't it be great to astonish the Doctors with a miracle? We pray for this.
The Doctors don't rule out miracles. This is a step in a treatment series that will continue throughout 2010.
That idea I find a little exhausting. I find the weekend and day before treatments begin highly stressful. I want everyone to be having a great time, when I am still dealing with 6 personalities and (effectively) 4 teenagers [OK, so the children are 16, 14, 12 and 10. I exaggerate...]
I find it a little hard to be happy and sparkly, or even relaxed and enjoying the good moments. I want to celebrate, have the children have friends over, and keep everyone happy, because the treatment weeks get a little rough. And this three week radiation will be another new challenge, slightly different, with different possible side effects and dangers.
Carl, my amazing guy, has a great and remarkable calm as my stress levels start to jump... Good thing I married him!
I am finding it hard to word this blog post elegantly, or even well, so I guess I'll just send it off into blogland and get on to the next task. Thank you so much for your prayers, your thoughts and your support, the meals and treats. I will need them again in the weeks (and months) ahead.
Smile, God Loves You, and Peace.
Carl starts inpatient chemotherapy tomorrow, Monday, Jan 18th, 2010 for five days. (That means he stays overnight at the hospital.) Pray for him. I'm praying for eradication of the bad cells and decades of living...
To catch up (quickly) since the last blog update, Carl has completed 5 chemotherapy sessions which ended Jan 1, 2010. Carl has had 10 radiation treatments to the neck, which ended Jan 7th, 2010. Carl even went to work on Monday through Friday on Jan 4 to Jan 8th, in between Doctor appointments. He likes his job, and focusing on work keeps his mind off worrying about bad cells. He was tired, of course, but who isn't?
The week of January 11, 2009 to January 15, 2009 was surreal. Carl looked and felt healthy (full head of hair!), and we didn't have any Doctor appointments or treatments. He went to work basically full time. He was probably better rested then he has been in years, and he was exercising on a stationary bike which made him feel very good. (Can you get a runners high on a bicycle? Do you get runner's high faster when you have had chemotherapy recently?) Carl and I both thought that it seemed hard to believe he 'had cancer'.
A variety of individuals helped drive Carl to and from work, because although he could drive, we felt it would be better for his energy level and neck (and lane changes in the car) if he didn't drive when he didn't have to. The snowstorm on one of the first days that Carl was planning on driving in by himself was probably God's way of saying - Hey, don't overdo it! We ate great due to a variety of wonderful meals friends delivered. On Thursday, I finally got a family photo that had been a goal of mine.
Saturday came, and Monday is looming. Carl's hair started falling out slowly on Tuesday, and significantly by Friday. On Saturday I helped Carl cut it off and then shave the rest. We had a great evening with some of our oldest friends. The children and I are getting used to Carl's new look. I have not seen Carl with short hair in 25+ years. (Pictures will follow...)
But the impact of Carl with no hair reminds us frequently of cancer and treatments starting on Monday. Sunday involved church and some preparation for tomorrow, and now it is time to get a good nights sleep.
Keep us in your prayers. We pray for our friends and relatives when we pray for Carl, which is often.
We last left off December 22, 2009, the happy day where Carl got his port placed. Many of these fun new terms (ex. port) will be defined in later posts.
- 2009 Dec 23, Wednesday:
- We woke up calm and relaxed, a plan (and port) in place. We got the children off to school.
- Carl was showered and dressed, ready to go to work for a nearly full day.
- We get a phone call. Would we like to meet with the Radiologist? (by the way, TODAY?)
- 11:00 AM Meeting with the radiologist.
- The thing in your neck concerns us... (what thing?) Remember the PET scan on December 18? The first Scan including the head? Guess what...
- 1:00 PM Hi tech custom device to immobilize Carl's head and neck for radiation created (for photo see What Radiation looks like.)
- CT simulation of radiation to neck area done.
- I left Carl at Froedtert to collect the children from the last day of school for the year 2009.
- 4:00 PM Carl got Radiation #1 (of 10) and was driven home by friend. (see What Radiation looks like)
- The treat in treatments are starting, before Christmas even.
- 4:50 PM I got a call from an anguished Anthony. He was hurt at wrestling practice.
- 5:15 PM Carl home from Radiation #1.
- 5:40-7:45 PM Mom and Anthony at the urgent care facility, X-ray shows a totally broken collar bone with the two pieces of bone not even close to touching.
- 8:30 PM Pain medication prescription filled for Anthony and Carl.
- Lots of Christmas snow coming down.
- Children at home with Carl put up the Christmas ornaments on tree (front side only).
- 2009 Dec 24, Thursday:
- The children slept in at home - no school.
- 8:00 AM Carl got Radiation #2 (of 10) at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- Carl got a neck brace. (You have to be kidding, right?) After Carl indicated he was unlikely to wear the neck brace the nurse told him that one of his vertebrae had some bone that was partially missing... You don't want to be paralyzed, do you? (answer, nope, and Carl doesn't want a sarcoma either.)
- New song invented. "It's beginning to look a lot like cancer, Every-where they look..." [Sing to the familiar Christmas tune.]
- We went home and collected the children. They enjoyed the non-stop screen time while we were gone very much.
- Christmas Eve Party with family on my side of the family. Carl moved his head carefully and didn't wear the neck brace. He figured he would risk paralysis for one more day.
- I went home and Carl and I went to bed. Carl slept with the neck brace on. I sighed, then got up and wrapped the presents I had and put them under the tree.
- 2009 Dec 25, Friday:
- Santa left precisely 5 wrapped presents under our glowing (1200 lights!) tree. This does not compare favorably to the bounty from previous years. The children did NOT let us sleep in, and one present WAS open before all the family was assembled.
- The children still had a good Christmas anyway (It's not like we don't have any toys, after all), and a Shopping Spree Day for Saturday was discussed.
- Christmas Party with family on Carl's side of the family. Carl wore the neck brace. "Let the Freak show begin" Carl said as he walked in with his neck brace and cane. OK, this is not a great thing for Carl to say, and I probably should leave it out, but it's what he said, it's what he felt, and it's what I report here. Carl thinks he will blend more once his hair falls out.
- 2009 Dec 26, Saturday:
- Shopping Spree day with family and Uncle Paul. We got the children pretty much whatever they wanted [but alas, no XBOX 360, Anthony's dearest wish. Had the progress reports of multiple children shown more (some?) progress...]
- Lots of snow falling fast does not dissuade shoppers.
- Parking was atrocious at the stores and malls. Even handicapped parking was very full (Carl got a temporary disabled parking sticker with the cane). Carl thinks they must be giving temporary disabled parking stickers out to anyone who asks. (OK, lots of the humor going around is kind of dark at the moment...)
- 2009 Dec 27, Sunday:
- 11:00 AM Church service. (Carl, with neck brace and cane attracted some welcome attention - I love my church family! Thank you all!)
- 2009 Monday Dec 28, to Thursday Dec 31... :
- 7:30 Carl got Radiation
- 8:00 Carl got Chemotherapy
- Carl did other tests, labs, appointments...
Christmas and December 2009 will be remembered like no other... Each day of Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, and Dec 31 were their own mini adventures... But I am now tired and will post this post, and I will have covered 2009. Sort of.
Happy New Year to all. (This I mean sincerely).
This is the first year in more then 15 years that I have not had my Christmas cards made and sent out before the New Year started. Something else to do in January 2010. I must make the cards, and I must get the photo, before Carl's hair falls out. After all, I scrapbook my Christmas cards into my Christmas Album. For that reason alone, if none other, I intend to create the Christmas cards, and send them out! [Note from May, 2010: I never sent out Christmas cards for 2009]
