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.