Thursday, October 23

It is very breezy after the nor'easter that blew through last night, but it continues to be unseasonably warm.  This is lucky for me.

We work on the letter D today. Slowly we are making our way through the alphabet, really just to have different things to glue on paper. This is a very useful skill to develop, and it also gets the kids familiar with the letter shapes and sounds.  We make ducks and daisies to put on our big D little d pictures.

Once done with gluing, we go out to see what the wind has left for us.  The ghosts and witches in Debra's yard are still standing, we find all of our favorite Halloween decorations intact.

There are lots of shaky snakes that have blown out of the tall locust tree on Blackstone Boulevard. We love to collect the long, dark brown seed pods that we find spread across sidewalks and in  gardens.  It is fun to shake them and see how many can be collected in the small hands of my treasure hunters.

One of our friends, Valerie finds us while she is out on a walk and stops by to say hello.  We look for our cat friend Fynn, but don't see him.  It must be too wet from the early morning rain for him today.

Everyone is tired from our long walk, and after lunch settle easily for naps.

On the way home from their bus stop, two former daycare friends stop by to say hello and play a little.  Shortly after they arrive, Brett stops by with some ice cream for me to eat before my chemo tomorrow.  Her youngest, who is now in first grade, joins right in with the others playing.  It is a Kathy's house reunion!  They are happy to join the daycare young'uns in play food preparation.  This is so sweet to see.

Tonight at stained glass, Kaileigh and I make good progress on our project.  It is so much fun working with her.  One of our stained glass friends, Alyssa, is finishing up a project, getting ready to frame a mosaic she has made.  Andrea, another friend is helping her by mixing just the right color to stain her frame.  It is going to look awesome when she is done.

Friday, Chemo Day

I am worried that I won't be able to do chemo today because I awaken with a cold.

Steven and I walk over to the Miriam, Kaileigh is planning on coming over to meet us when she finishes up at the science museum.  She will drive us home with her car.

I get called in right away, my blood is drawn and I get weighed and have a blood pressure check.  I will be seeing Meghan, the physician's assistant, today, since Dr. Safran won't be in until later in the day.  She tells me my white blood cell count is too low today, so I won't be receiving treatment.  I will come back a week from today, and they will see how things look then.  It is amazing how quickly they know if the count is solidly good or bad, but if it is borderline, the count takes so much longer.

Meghan asks about my side effects, and I tell her about my fat tongue.  She suggests that the sore on the side of my tongue may be from a thrush infection, but I tell her I think I bit it.  She checks my mouth, and it looks fine. There are no spots on my tongue or on the walls of my mouth.  It is healed by now, so there is nothing to show, no way to tell.  She explains that the chemo affects the soft tissue in the body and it can make the tongue swell.  If it gets too swollen, I should go to the emergency room, but otherwise she doesn't think it is a problem.  I ask her if everyone has such varied side effects from the chemo, as it seems like in addition to the consistent things that happen, I have different effects each time.  She tells me this is not usually the case. 

The results from my MRI are in, and it shows that indeed, everything has shrunken down considerably.  The blockage that Dr. Charpentier was concerned about has also gotten much smaller, and it appears that it is no longer blocking all the veins exiting my liver.  This is very good news.

I tell Megan that I have been thinking about the colon operation, the one where they remove the mass that was blocking it and repair it at the same time.  I have been thinking about the associated side effects of the chemo, one of them being diarrhea.  With an ostomy bag, this is no problem, no racing to the bathroom, no bowel discomfort.  I would like to keep the bag if I am going to continue on chemo, if it is all the same.  She notes this in my chart, and agrees that this makes sense.  I am given the option to hang around and wait for Dr. Safran to arrive, but I decide I will wait to see him until next week.  How much will change between then and now?

I go back to my pod, where Faye takes the needle out of my port and makes me an appointment for next Friday, Halloween!  The nurses will all be in costume, so it should be amusing.

Steve and I walk home, and arrive in time for lunch.  The kids are finishing up making their pizzas and Sara puts them in the oven.

Steve leaves for Boston, for an Amnesty International Conference that is happening this weekend.  He will spend the night at Kaileigh and Josh's apartment.

While I am putting down the nappers, Erica, a friend from church appears at my door with some lentil stew and a loaf of olive bread.  It looks like such a delicious dinner.  I tell her I might freeze it for next week since my chemo has been postponed.

Kaileigh and Josh come shortly before my daycare day is over.  I had told her that she didn't have to come down, but we had also made plans to go shopping this evening, so they came down anyway.

Once all the children are picked up, we decide to eat the lentil stew for dinner this evening.  It is full of flavor and fills my stomach with warmth, a lovely, delicious dinner.  Just the thing to fortify us for the trip to Target. 

Kaileigh and I are looking for pieces to build our Halloween costumes from.  I need two large backyard balls, and am shocked to find there are none in the store.  Who knew that balls were seasonal!  I am disappointed because somehow all of our balls have disappeared, and we really needed at least one to play with.  I end up getting a large inflatable exercise ball, which is much more expensive, but in reality, the thing that will work best for my costume.  I considered borrowing one from a friend, but was worried that I might ruin it.

Kaileigh needs a maxi dress, which we find on sale and is perfect for what she needs.  She is going to be a siren, and Josh, Odysseus.  My costume is secret until Halloween.