Sunday, October 26, 2014

Friday, October 3

Today is my son Alex's twenty second birthday!  He celebrates by spending the day with his girlfriend.  It sounds like they have a great day planned: a picnic, purchasing a new video game and rollerskating. A day made for Alex.

Sara takes the day off to take care of some dad related business, but there are only a few kids today, so that is no problem.

In the evening I go to see Boxtrolls again with Steve, Valerie and her boys.  They all enjoy the movie as much as I did.  For me it was good even after seeing it for a second time. 

Every side effect from my chemo seems to be earlier or longer this week.  My tingles are stronger, and I still have them today.  They are usually gone by Wednesday.  My mouth is still sensitive, it did not appreciate the Klondike bar I put into it today.  Still, this did not stop me from eating it, it just made me SLOW DOWN!

My bags continue to come loose, but instead of over the weekend as I have come to expect, it starts on Wednesday this week.  Since I now know what it feels like when the bags start to work their way off, I have had no disasters.

October 4

Last night, I felt like my brain shifted into a somewhat normal place.  In the middle of the night, I woke up and worried about those nagging things you think about at two in the morning.  Are the smoke detectors working?  Is that smoke I smell from someone's woodstove, or is my house on fire? You probably know what I mean.  I haven't had these worries in months.  It was nice not to have those occasional irrational wee hours of the morning wakings, but it does tell me that my brain is focusing on more than what is happening internally.

I do feel like my body is full of chemo, like it is in my teeth and ears, that I am saturated.  As I approach chemo number eight next Friday, I am starting to think about life after chemo.  I know there will be an operation, and a recovery.  How long will that take? What side effects will I still experience? I have plenty of energy now, will I have the same or less? Will my brain be the same? This is something I have worried about, but now that I am coming out of the fog, I wonder if that is good.  How will I be changed? How will I thank all the people who have helped me get to this point?

I get up early and clean up before Anna picks me up to go grocery shopping.  Tingles are still strong in my hands, so she helps me with the cold things, helps me unload and put things away, and brings me to my hair appointment.

I left my cell phone on silent last night, and this morning I don't know where it is.  The plan had been for me to get Alex's car from Steve at the laundromat, but somehow the morning slipped away while Anna and I were shopping, and there wasn't time to get it.

After Leslie finishes with my hair, I try calling Steve from her phone, but it goes straight to messages.  I decide to walk a little, and call Steve when I find a phone.  This was a bad idea.  Of course there are no phones, and I think that he might come looking for me, so I don't want to veer off the usual route just in case.  I contemplate stopping by the one friend I have who lives nearby, but I don't feel like walking up the hill to her house, and continue on.  As I resign myself to walking the rest of the way home, Amy stops her car to say hello.  I can not believe my luck! This is the best surprise.  She picks me up and we get to have a visit as we drive.  She was heading to Blackstone Boulevard for a run because she overslept and missed her usual Saturday morning class.  I am unbelievably lucky!

I make Alex, Steve and myself some breakfast.  It is almost eleven, and I haven't eaten yet.  Probably not so good.

We are going to celebrate Alex's birthday today, and he would like to go to the carnivorous plant show at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Garden.  It is kind of creepy, but very cool.  We learn about a project involving pitcher plants being raised to help develop a drug for people with HIV.  We think this might be a project Kaileigh would be interested in.

We wander around the outside gardens, having never visited this part of the park before.  The gardens are still very beautiful even though many of the plants have been affected by the cooler weather.

The park is teeming with bicyclists.  There is a cycling event today and the roads are jam packed with cars from all over the country.  Somehow, in all this car meyhem, we find we are parked very close to Valerie's car.  Amazing.

As we are leaving, we decide we will come back this evening to see the Pumpkin Spooktacular with Ayla, Chauncey, Kaileigh and Josh, who are all planing to come over to celebrate Alex.  This is an event where thousands of carved pumpkins are lit along pathways in the park.  I haven't been in a few years so this sounds like an excellent idea to me.

We wait for Ayla to finish up at Pastiche.  The bus boy called in sick, and it has been a very busy day.  She is trying to help get the dishes caught up and is running late.  We meet her at Chili's, Alex's favorite restaurant. By the time we are done eating, it is pouring rain, not the night for a jack o lantern walk.  Instead we decide to go bowling at the East Providence Bowling Academy.  We have such a good time!


October 5

Church, chapel.
Have lunch with Steven and Alex when I get home.
Shop at WFM with Alex.
Work on computer, so many emails!
Go to dinner.  Have a good time.
Work on blog way too late!

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