Traveling while bald…

I’ve been out and about these last few days because I have felt good and the weather has been very nice. I always wear a hat or scarf or cap when I go out. This doesn’t hide the fact that I have no hair. It does keep my head warm. Just walking through the house can be too much of a draft/breeze sometimes so coverage of some ilk is necessary. I’m not overly self conscious about the headgear anymore as it feels more normal to me after all these weeks. So sometimes I’m surprised when others approach me with comments or to talk chemo.

Husband and I made a run to Costco recently. A woman stopped us in the coffee isle to talk chemo. She opened the conversation by saying “I noticed your hat. Where are you doing your chemo? I recently finished up at TXOncology.” So the conversation goes on for several minutes.

I felt good enough to go to an estate sale this week. I love estate sales which have sewing “stuff” because there just might be something there that I don’t have!!! It is more likely that there is something there that I have already but don’t mind having more of it. This week I took a mask [in case there were kids or coughers around], a bottle of anti-bacterial lotion and off I went to my first estate sale in months. It was a good one!!!  I got too hot back in the sewing room so took off my hat [my personal vent-a-hood] and went back to digging in boxes. I was having so much fun I forgot the hat was off until 2 women started talking to me about their chemo experiences.

When I go to the Bernina store there is always “chemo talk.” Several of the staff women have been through various breast surgeries and chemo treatments. Almost every time a few customers join in the conversation and have something positive to offer. I’ve learned some good tricks from these women.

I was in the Donut shop this morning wearing my newest hat from my friend Joan. As I left with my little sack of treats a women in the order line said “Bless you.” My first thought was “I didn’t sneeze, did I?” And then I realized she identified me as a chemo patient. Ahhh.

Obviously I’ve joined a sorority of chemo victims and am readily identifiable by my headgear atop my bald head. It doesn’t appear that the women who stop me to talk are being overly solicitous or wanting to compare horror stories. It is more like “who [doctor], what [cancer], where [treatment center], and when [completed].” Once notes are compared we each go our separate ways.... anonymously.

What shall I do for a reward??

I can count the number of remaining chemo infusions on my 2 thumbs. Isn’t that wonderful!! I have had a few rough chemo cycles and some not quite so rough. I understand that radiation is a different challenge. The biggest side effect is fatigue which I’ve certainly had experience with during chemo. Maybe it will be easier to deal with the fatigue when I don’t have the nausea and gagging at the same time.

OK, so now it is time to begin the planning for a nice reward for completing cancer treatment. I’m not going to make a commitment until I get the “all clear” from the oncologist. However this is a big deal for me and I want to begin thinking about it now even before treatment is completed.

What do you suggest? I’ve thought about a new sewing machine. Or maybe a trip to Europe. We want to take that river boat cruise from Amsterdam to Basel in the Fall. We could stay a while with Katherine and meet again with her great friends there. Evan suggested I get some diamond earrings. Believe me, I’m good with any of the above.

Then I thought that you might have an even better idea. Maybe I’m thinking too traditional or narrow. Surprise me with some suggestions for a reward for completing chemo and radiation.

Planning an ESCAPE….

Blog 54  

Shhhhh….I am planning an escape from the house. Don’t get me wrong; I love my house. I’ve just seen too much of it lately. I have a couple of lunch plans to make for these last few good days. Yes……I’m out of here!!! Husband and the dog will just have to get along alone for a while. I’m going out with some girl friends!!

Yesterday we went to Costco for a major grocery re-stocking. Today was spent fitting all that stuff into the pantry. What is the ratio between the volume of the stuff I put in the cart and the expansion that happens between Costco and home? I can’t get it right!! How come a cart load equals half a Jeep load but becomes double a panty load? 

Today I played in the sewing room. I’m making covers for my sewing machines and serger. I have an old “cutter” quilt that I used years ago to make a valance for the sewing room. Using some of the remaining quilt for covers should give a coordinated look to the room. I finished up a stack of fancy napkins that I started last year. It’s just one little project after another. Yes!!!

The cleaning crew came today. “O, how I love thee! Let me count the ways!” That’s a love song, I think. Maybe a poem. Whatever. I love seeing these women coming in and working their magic in record time. They are always so happy and upbeat. When I’m too sick or tired to get out of the front bedroom, they work around me so quietly I sometimes don’t know when they leave. When I’m up in the sewing room they are so encouraging. We don’t have a common language but we manage to communicate. Having the house clean makes other things more tolerable.

Ahh….such a good day!!!

Wouldn’t it be great to feel good every day and not even notice it???? I want to get back to a point where I EXPECT to feel good everyday and/or all day!!! Today I tried to enjoy every hour of this day because each one was pain free and gag free. I paced my activities so keep going without side effects cropping up.

We had a great visit with Katherine on Skype this morning. She is getting some snow in Basel this week. And it is those huge flakes the size of saucers that float down so beautifully. O, it just can’t get in more beautiful to watch these flakes splattering on the tree branches! I like being on the inside looking out at it. She has to trudge several blocks from the apartment to the tram to get to work. That isn’t always fun but is a fact of life in Europe. Most people don’t have personal cars. Cars are expensive and parking places are few and gas is about double what we pay here. She uses a “rent-a-car” service called Mobility Car on those rare times when she needs a vehicle. The reservation is done online; the car is located near a tram stop and is opened with her Mobility card. She can rent by the hour, day or week. This sure beats the cost of ownership.

It is high time that I start planning my next trip to Switzerland. For the last several years I’ve gone over to Europe at least twice. Generally we take a tour and begin or end with a trip to Basel. One year it was a river boat cruise from Prague to Paris. We flew to Zurich, took the train to Basel and stayed a few days. Then we flew EasyJet to Prague to meet up with the tour.  The tour ended in Paris and we took the (then) new fast train down to Basel. That was just one of many great trips! I want to set down and plan out a Fall trip to Europe. Evan has wanted to take a river cruise from Amsterdam down to Basel. I’m feeling good enough today to actually move forward on the plan!!!

Middle of the Night Brain Storm

How come some of the best ideas come either in the shower or in the middle of the night? Maybe because we are more relaxed. So here’s my story. My sister is doing a treatment program for pre-cancerous sun damage spots on her face. The results are that she looks really blotchy now. When she is out shopping people stare because these blotches are red and flake off. And even worse the cold wind hurts when it hits the spots. Well, first, I think it is the pits that both of us have to deal with cancer. One victim per family is plenty, thank you whomever. Second, it is not nice to stare at some nice lady just because she has spots on her face or no hair on her head. I emailed Barbara that she should consider adapting a Muslim attire of scarves with a half veil and offered some of my scarves from Turkey. In my neighborhood a scarf or full burqua would not be noticed at all.

I went to sleep thinking about hats and scarves. When I woke up at 4 am I had a brain storm. Why not use an allergy mask to cover the face spots? Duh, that was simple! So then in the Dallas Morning News this morning there was an ad for a very clever creatively decorated allergy mask!! So off to the sewing room I went with a free allergy mask to use as a pattern. I have a respectable stash of fabric and beads on hand. All that I needed was a 6 in X 8 in piece of thin cotton fabric with flower or decorative motif, 8 in of elastic and 1 trash bag twist tie. Here are the directions: Make 6 accordion folds in the long side of the fabric and press. Serge or bind the edges. Encase the tie in the top edge [the accordion pleats point down]. Stitch a 4 in loop of elastic on each end of the mask. VOILA!! Get this: the ad in the paper offered these masks for $7.50 each!!! I could add the fancy beads and would be hard pressed to have $1.00 in a mask!!

When we talked this afternoon we concluded that a decorated mask would just draw attention to her face. So she will just pick up some masks at the pharmacy. O well, it was a thought.

Ran errands today!! Yeah!!

Would you be excited to go out to the UPS store and the Post Office? Probably not. I went to both of those places and was happy to do so!!! Domino loves to go to the UPS store because Sonya gives him cookies so he was a happy dog. I sent a package to the new Great Grandbaby and one to her Grandma. We priced sending a UPS package to Switzerland. Can you believe $110+!!! Good grief…I could use some of my airline miles and hand carry said package over there for less than that!! So it was off to the Post Office who will deliver the same package for $15. I guess we can figure out how come the Post Office is losing money and UPS is not.

Just going to the UPS/PO warranted a nap. After the nap I had enough energy to make a quick casserole for dinner. It felt good to be playing in my kitchen for a change. I did get to sleep through the night and that seems to be a key. So I’m going to work harder on the sleep component of this chemo management drill. More Sleepy Time tea and such.

Tomorrow the weather is going to be cold, rainy, and awful. I think I’ll just settle into the sewing room and play there. So now I’m going back to the kitchen to brew some Sleepy Time tea. Good night.

Well, that didn’t work! Now what?

This is supposed to be the beginning of a “gooder” week than last week. So why did I spend part of last night doing the dry heaves? Therefore I spend part of this day sleeping off the agony of the night. Bummer. Good thing I have a dedicated Sleeper Helper to encourage me to nap.

The Dr visit was uneventful. He thought I looked “good.” I wonder if he remembers how old I am not? If I were a zillion years old I might look good for my age. At this point I certainly don’t look “good” compared to when I began chemo. My face is dry and flakey, my eyebrows and lashes are almost gone, my wrinkles are now ditches, my arms are truly bare and crinkled, I walk at a snail’s pace, I’m out of breathe before I get started….and he thinks I looks “good.?” That’s crap. Maybe being upright at the office visit translates to looking “good” in oncology lingo.

O, well, on a more positive plane, I didn’t need fluids or antibiotics as I have on the previous week 2 visits. The fatigue is not something Dr can mitigate with drugs and it will only get worse. Same with the bone pain….it will get worse before the end of the cycles. Thank goodness there are only 2 cycles left!!! So Domino and I can just plan on sleeping fitfully for 4 weeks during the next 2 cycles. Then we can move on to the major league fatigue campaign with the radiation.

So what happened that was truly good today? [1] My brother in law is home from the hospital and back into his recliner with his cat snuggled up on his lap. [2] I Skyped with Katherine and caught up on her activities. Skype is great for those of us with kids/grandkids who live far away. [3] The cleaning ladies did a great job. They left a tool in the living room so I put it on the porch for them to pick up. [4] At the same time as the cleaning lady’s pickup pulled up to the house the UPS truck stopped at the house. Domino was in DOGGIE HEAVEN with favorite people. [5] Even better news for Domino, the UPS box was 33#s of kibble.

So the day was not a total loss.

Sunday is a day of rest….from what? O, well.

I’m alive!!! I smelled the coffee!!! I tasted the coffee!!! O, yes!!!! And its Sunday so there was a big newspaper to read while I sucked up more good coffee!!

That said there wasn’t much energy expended today; however that is OK because I had very little pain today. I didn’t want to risk triggering pain because I’ve had quite enough for this round of chemo. The weather is still cold and rainy which is hard on my old bones under the best of circumstances. Today I didn’t hurt enough for pain pills to be necessary. I can tolerate a good bit of pain.  I don’t like to take pain pills because they make me feel ga-ga, or I can’t think through the fog.

I’ll know tomorrow if I’m on the downhill side of chemo 4. The cumulative effect of the chemo drugs is really much worse with each round. The fatigue apparently can’t be managed with more pills. Dr eliminated my high blood pressure meds so I’m staying in the normal range without drugs. That is a relief; 80/56 bp is the pits for sure. It still takes a day or so to recover from being so “down and out” with fatigue.

Hats. Let’s talk about hats for the chemo challenged head. Should you want to get a chemo victim a present, think about giving them a head cover. Believe me, it takes a bunch of hats to get through the day/week. There are night hats, day hats, outside hats and fancy hats. My basic need is for a night time head cover that will stay on my head overnight. Barbara knew the answer was in WalMart’s hair care section for Black women. Voila! The skull caps are designed to stay on overnight and the extra benefit is that a skull cap will keep a daytime hat on my head. Very efficient and very cheap. During a given day I may use 3 or 4 different hats in the house. Some are better for sleeping, others work best for being more active or sewing. And if a hot flash hits, I always have the option of taking off my “vent-a-hood” and cooling off. Then by the time I want to put the hat back on I can’t find it! When the chemo victim is hairless in the winter please give them really warm hats made of wool or felt and maybe big enough to roll the edge up for extra warmth. I’m loving the fleece hats that are medium weight and can be used at the infusion clinic where the temperature is a little on the cool side. I’ve had fun decorating my hats with old costume jewelry and leftover sewing room decorations. Funky is fun since I have nothing to loose. Let people look at the hat and maybe they won’t notice there is no hair under it. I do have a wig which I really do not like to wear. It is itchy and cold. I’ll donate it to a cancer therapy group when this is over. Bald is better. Hats are fun.

Relief at last!!!

Not everything about having cancer and chemo is bad. Some good things have happened for me just really often. Some friends that I’d lost contact with have found me again. My two favorite executive assistants have sent cards and called. Friends from all over have called or sent notes. Friends stop by with treats. Friends send treats. Sometimes it is like getting surprise presents! That is fun!!

Today there was a break in the fatigue fog. We all slept in until 10:30 this morning, all snuggled down under the down comforter. When I finally woke up enough to get up I felt like helping make pancakes for brunch. That was it for my accomplishments for the day; however the pancakes were really good!!

The fatigue is still hanging on but it doesn’t hurt like it did yesterday. I can’t describe how fatigue can equal pain, but it can. The bone pain has been just horrible this round and is still hurting. This time it has settled in the right tibia and just screams even if I’m not moving or standing. Tylenol is the approved drug for pain and it doesn’t touch this hurt. Pain patches help a little.

I’m hopeful that tomorrow will be even better than today. That has been the pattern in the past and I’m going to be optimistic. I don’t know what I will do if I feel good tomorrow….I’ll be here in the house for sure because the flu is rampant in the area and neighborhood. It is a good thing that I love my home because I’m really confined here for many more weeks. Maybe I can get some sewing projects started. Evan needs to get to the post office with the last 3 projects mailed out.

Stay tuned because we may be able to have some fun in the next couple of weeks.

What happened to my last 3 hairs?

Chemo 4 is hitting with a vengeance. It is as bad if not worse than Chemo 1.  I can barely make it from a bed to a chair today. And where ever I land I’m asleep or ga-ga within minutes. Fatigue isn’t a strong enough word for whatever this condition is. “Wet noodle days” is the phrase the Dr uses. That doesn’t work either. It is much worse than that. Maybe when I’m not so fatigued I can develop a new word for this condition.

Thank goodness I’m not having the mouth sores that I had with Chemo 1. Thank you again, MaryAnn, for bring me the cure for mouth sores. [Keep the mouth really cold with ice chips 1 hr prior to the red chemo IV push and at least 1 hr after.]  I have the bathroom issues under control with all the meds. My bathroom counter looks like a drug lab. There is no way to resolve the fatigue issue with drugs or just forcing myself to do something.

Fatigue phase also means that I have no appetite and no interest in food. This is definitely NOT normal for me!! Evan has to remind me to eat and even think up a menu because it just doesn’t interest me.

There is no need to worry about finding extra time or energy for personal grooming. I’m saving a tremendous amount of time and money by not having hair. There is no need to shave my legs or armpits. And it takes less body wash to get clean when there is no hair to get in the way. Aveeno baby body oil works great for head to toe wash and moisturizer. There is some sadness today. I noticed that my last 3 long hairs are gone. They had hung on for so long!!! Why let go now??? O, well, when this chemo is over and I can grow hair again, it will definitely be a clean start!!!  I do have a few eyelashes left…not so neatly spaced but at least they are there! The eyebrows are almost gone. If I ever care enough to pencil them in again I would know where to draw the lines.

I’ve decided to put on a fresh head cover and call it a day. My sleeper helper probably won’t join me until it is officially bed time. O, well.

A day that didn’t happen

There was an old commercial line that said “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” and I don’t remember what the product was. Today I didn’t feel like a nut. Today I don’t think I felt. This was a wet noodle day of gigantic proportions. I didn’t want to get up or eat or nothing. But I did get up finally and managed to eat some cereal in the mid morning. Then I changed beds and went to the guest room so Domino could watch dog out the window while I snoozed to the TV’s drone. We emerged in the evening and I ate some tomato soup and a little casserole. It seemed like too much effort.

There is no sense in fighting a wet noodle day. I’ve learned to go with the flow and the flow is a slow drizzle. Tomorrow might be better or just a repeat. I know Domino is up to the challenge of sleeping one more day; however I’m more easily bored.

So much for the good ole days

It was back to the infusion clinic today for the liter of fluids and a Neulasta shot. I had a rough time last night from midnight to 4 am with nausea regurgitations and gagging worse than any before. At this point I had a pretty good formula for handling the nausea with an arsenal of drugs and OTC approved remedies. The results were marginal last night. So I asked the oncology nurse about what I can do at this point. Well, there is good news and bad news. The chemo drugs are accumulative in the system which means [the good news] more cancer cells are being killed plus [the bad news] the side effects get more intense and harder to manage. So what’s a victim to do?

Today was bland food and ice cream. Tonight’s drug cocktail will increase the frequency of the Zofram and Nexium along with the usual doses of the other pills for nausea. The bone pain is just beginning to hit so more Tylenol.  No wonder I need to drink so much water…that’s needed to wash down all these pills!!! Let’s hope for a better night tonight.

The fatigue is hitting sooner this round also. I even slept a little in the clinic this afternoon and I haven’t done that before. Then when we got home my sleeper helper and I racked out on the couch for almost 2 hrs. I had planned to stay awake so I’d sleep tonight, but sometimes naps just happen. This is a good TV night for me…2 NCIS shows and The Good Wife. Hopefully Jon Stewart will keep me awake and I can start Leno and/or Letterman. I like Leno’s monologue and Letterman’s interviews. If I can’t sleep after that it’s back to listening to NPR/BBC until I pass out!!!

The side effects of this round of chemo are hitting early and hard. In the good ole days [post chemo weeks 2 and 3] I could stand up to take a shower. Wonder if I can do that tomorrow? Sometimes I forget to give thanks for the little good things in life until I don’t have them. One good thing is that I have a shower with a seat area; another good thing is that using it was optional until cancer and chemo.

Ideas to help your friends; chemo 4 is a done-deal

As I got ready to go to chemo infusion today I thought I would share with you some things that seem to make the long afternoons go by faster and easier. You or one of your friends may face this pilgrimage some day and you might find some ideas here. My friend Joan shared a DVD player and some movies with me. Katherine bought some “Scrubs” DVDs which are short and pure nonsense for bad times and short attention spans. Carolyn brought some movies as well. This clinic is wi-fi enabled so many people have iPads and laptops along. Having ones own blanket is nice because the clinic blankets shed like crazy. The clinic provides water, juices, coffee. The people who can eat while getting chemo bring snacks. I can’t eat. [And it is impolite to bring in “smelly” food in the infusion room so once in a while someone has to be asked to put away leftover ethnic foods]. And one needs reading material. I take a couple of magazines and a book. This amount of “stuff” was too much for me to carry in the beginning so I used my tiny rolling airplane tote. Today I had my winter coat for cover and was planning on napping. So I took magazines and a book and a pink breast cancer mug my friend Kay A sent me…all tucked in a wine tote from Kroger! It has six pockets and was perfect for the task!!

Officially I am 2/3 done with chemo as of today!!! So the hard part for now is to get through this next 1½ weeks of fatigue and gagging and sleeplessness. Hopefully these will be the biggest problems because I have learned to live with these issues. My blood values were up this week. The white count was perfect and the red count was “in range.” I had doubled my B complex vitamin several weeks ago and I think it paid off. And today I had some blood pressure. Last week Dr. deleted my high blood pressure medication and today I was in the normal range for most people…though a little high for me. This is going to need careful monitoring!!!!

There is no way to know how the chemo is going to hit me during any given session. After the anti nausea med and Benadryl, the first drug I get is the red stuff that causes mouth sores and goes in IV push. It hurts from the point that it hits the end of the port tube all the way down into and through the larger vein when it stings. Once the red is in and a flush pushes out of the port line into the vein I can relax. The next chemo drugs and ancillary drugs are easy and I don’t even feel them dripping in. Sometimes the 3+ hours go by quickly; sometimes it seems to take days. My buddy Maureen graduated from Monday chemo pod last week so I was more lonesome this week.

When I got home from chemo today I needed something to eat since I’d been drugging all afternoon. My friend MaryAnn had sent me a treat! Her daughter lives in Quitar and brought her parents packages of dates which MaryAnn shared one with me. When Katherine and I were in Morocco we had the most wonderful dates and these from Quitar rival those for sure!! So I pitted some dates, inserted pecan halves, sat these on a thin slices of Brie cheese on a flatbread crackers. And for dessert I had a couple of plain dates. O, my!! Hopefully tomorrow we can make some date oat bran muffins. Dates are more fun than candy sometimes! Thank you, Mary Ann.

So stay turned. We are beginning to see the end of the chemo tunnel. We are planning an escape from North Texas!!! How [RV or Jeep or Plane] and where is under discussion. Some of you may want to go along!!!

There’s nothing like a day in the sewing room!!!

This day got off to a s-l-o-w start. Our 4 legged alarm system was up late last night waiting for Evan to get home from playing poker. Since Evan won some money back from his friends he needed to “chill out” after he got home. So Domino was late getting to bed and late getting us up. I let him out at 8:30 into the very crispy cold air so he was happy to come back in and snuggle down into bed with us. 2 hours later we struggled out to find our coffee. I’ve learned to appreciate every hour of sleep I can get. I took sleep for granted before chemo; now I know it is a gift.

This is the end of week 3 post chemo and I’ve been enjoying it so much. Today I played in the sewing room for about 4 hours. I finished serging Katherine’s pillows and found great buttons to go on the front. Years ago, in the late 80’s in Hawaii, I went to a sewing factory closure sale and bought zillions of buttons of all kinds. I still have bins full of buttons left!!! Sometimes I wonder why I keep all that stuff. Today I found out why….who knows when I’ll need 6 large green buttons!!!  With that job finished I serged 2 pink baby blankets for our new Great Grand Daughter. I put her name on the corner. I have a pastel calico stuffed cat to send her also.

My next sewing project is going to be to make a quilted cover for my sewing machine. While I was digging around in the button bins I found sewing themed buttons and some sterling silver sewing trinkets to put on the front. If I make a cover for the new machine I really should make a cover for the machine I tote to classes; then the serger will be jealous if I don’t make it a cover. I treat all the toys equally.

REFRIGERATOR UPDATE: This ‘frig continued to have “bad breath” after a good scrubbing. I threatened it with a trip to the shredder at the dump if it didn’t LITERALLY clean up its breath with all the baking soda, ground coffee and stick ups we put in there. Little improvement was noted. So I measured it for the replacement and told it that Saturday would be my trip to Lowe’s for a new refrigerator and Sunday it would be on its way to the dump. IT WORKED…….this morning the old refrigerator does not stink!!! Tough love worked. Now I’m going to give “the talk” to my laptop…speed up or ELSE!!

Playing Catch Up

Remember the pudding caper? Julie O from Tucson had fresh puddings delivered to my doorstep in North Texas. How did she do that? She has a friend in the area that made and delivered the puddings to me. Now that is layers of friendships playing it forward!!! What fun!

Christmas is over so I can tell you what I was making for Katherine. She has 2 Russian Blue cats, Boris and Natasha. I made the cats a cashmere cat bed. It is so cute!!! I wonder if they will use it as a bed or a big hockey puck to chase across the floor. Or a sled…if a cat took a running leap, landed in the “bed” just right,  s/he could slide across the hardwood floor and crash into the wall. Those downstairs neighbors are going to love that!!!

Cashmere cat beds….why not?? My favorite fabric store closed this past summer. I’ve been shopping there since we moved to Texas the first time in 1976. It was a sad event; however I got over the sadness by buying as much of their fabric as my conscience would allow. One of my purchases was a bolt of cashmere at 90% off. I’ve made a couple of baby receiving blankets which I monogrammed. And I made Katherine a throw size blanket to use on the plane and/or at home. I was trying to monogram her throw but my chemo brain just couldn’t get it programmed perfectly so I gave the throw to her “blank.” Maybe she will bring it home someday when I get past chemo brain and I’ll pop on a monogram.

This week I am able to play in the sewing room and actually create something. I’m making 2 pillows to match the throw mentioned above. When I was in Basel in October we were walking past one of the upper high end home decorating stores and in the window were small fancy pillows for CF180 ($195+) EACH. Katherine said, “You could make that.” So I am. The pillows are just an envelope-fold style with 3 fancy buttons across the front!!! Give me a break!!!  I’m using the cashmere and serging the edge in a tiny rolled stitch. Truly, these pillows will be even nicer that the ones we saw!! Boris and Natasha will probably like the pillows better than the cat bed!

What other loose ends are there? O, the refrigerator exercise. Did I tell you that when we got the darn thing scrubbed and put back together and shoved back into the cabinet we discovered a stray glass shelf left on the counter? I don’t know where that thing goes!!! And even if I did, is it worth pulling the refrigerator out just to put the shelf in? But I digress. The big issue was/is the smell. And it is lingering as we speak/type/read…. We have new boxes of baking soda, a fresh can of coffee, a new deodorizer gizmo, all setting in there trying to suck up the smell. I told that refrigerator to get its act together ASAP or prepare for a trip to the big shredder at the dump. And then to punctuate my point I measured it for a replacement refrigerator that does not stick. Last night I found said replacement on the Lowes website so if the stick is still around on Friday or Saturday the refrigerator will be gone when Lowes delivers the replacement. Next week is a chemo week so there can be NO SMELLS in the house that week!!

I’m off to the sewing room to celebrate another day of week 3. First I want to finish the pillows while I have the serger threaded for the pillows. I found a piece of pink flannel fabric so I will make a couple of receiving blankets for our new Great Grand Daughter. Wonder if my chemo brain can program a monogram today?

Great Grand Daughter has arrived!!!

Our Grand Daughter Ann has her second baby now.  Both Ann and Kacey are doing well. Ann will get 4-6 weeks off from military duty at Ft Carson in Colorado Springs.

Kacey Ann Leshinski
Born 01/04/2011, 4:44pm (MTN)
6lbs.  14oz.
21 3/4in.

I would love to be able to go help them!!

On the local scene, Katherine is now back in Calif and will fly from SFO to FRA on Weds arriving on Thurs morning. Please let the weather hold off any more snow storms until she can get back to Basel.

I'm doing great this week. I feel almost "normal" although many of you will say that I wouldn't have a clue what "normal" is!!!

One side effect of breast cancer chemo is an aversion to smells, much like during pregnancy. No smells are allowed in the house because it may not be tolerated. Of course something has to happen to make this worse. We have been battling with the refrigerator for days. It has really bad breath. So we had to pull it out of the built in cabinet by inching it out, side to side. Finally we could get the door open enough to get all the shelves and bins out to scrub them. Sure enough there was a puddle of sludge down in the bottom, part milk, part agar, part pure toxic pollution. Said sludge had started on the top shelf and cruised down the rails from top to bottom, getting into every nook and cranny. We had to disassemble each shelf and bin to scrape the agar stuff off the rails and shelves. Then after washing, drying and re-assembling the units we got them all back in place and the food [what was left after I ditched any potentially smelly food] back in the refrigerator….except this one piece of glass shelving we found on the counter. We can’t figure out where it goes!!!! So now I need to dig out the manual that came with the ‘frig and see if we can find a place for one more glass shelf. At least it doesn’t stink like it did. Why the ‘frig decided to go negative at this time is a mystery. It is on borrowed time anyway because it has a door that cuts off the connection between its brain and the ice/water dispenser. Believe me, if that ‘frig were a car I would have traded it years ago!!!!

New Year in the slow lane

New Year in the slow lane

This is the 3^rd week post chemo infusion so I feel pretty good.  And as an added bonus I have slept through the night TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. Believe me, this is a big deal.

Maybe I’m just “easing” into the New Year. Maybe I’m going into the New Year sideways. Whatever! I’m going forward with no particular plan beyond meeting my chemo schedule and staying healthy enough to get into radiation on time. I have no reservations in my American Airlines website. I have no hotel reservations booked. I have no sewing classes planned. Just a chemo schedule.

I was important to me to have my sister Barbara and her girls and husbands and grandson come over here for a holiday get-to-gather while Katherine was home and Carolyn and Dylan could come. I want the girls to stay connected with each other. They will need each other as time goes by. And the guys may need to be their own support group as well. It is best that they start now. Barbara brought pastries and I made the Pecan Sausage Breakfast dish that Mary Ann made for us last month. It was all very easy and meant so much to me to be able to hostess something for the kids. Will is 3 years old and just perfect. He enjoyed playing with the [antique] Fisher Price barn and school house that survived the girl’s childhoods and countless moves.   

Tomorrow will be another trip to the infusion clinic for fluids. Then it will be time to get Katherine to the airport for her flight back to SFO. I hope I can go to the airport this time. It nearly killed me to have to stay home while Evan took her to the airport in Nov. but I was too sick to ride that far. Since this is week 3 maybe I can make the airport trip this time. I wish I had a schedule for my next trip to visit her in Switzerland.