I had my
sixth chemo session last Friday, now we wait until I get a CT scan on March 1
and see the doctor the same day to see what the next step will be. I pray the
doctor will say “I’ll see you in three months”. The chemo will have done its
job and I will be good to do a couple of trips.
This last
series of chemo had their moments of making me feel lousy, but I always felt I
would come out of it and overcome the side effects. The one side effect that is
difficult to get rid of is the tiredness, the feeling of weakness. My legs feel
weak, I attribute the feeling to not walking enough, I don’t like the cold and
if it is windy forget it I don’t go out. Now we have a treadmill and I have
forced myself to walk on it, it is in the garage, so the temps are in the
forties, no matter the temp outside. I had the garage insulated when the house
was built, best money I spent. So I just have to force myself to get out and
walk. One more side effect is the effects of prednisone, I feel and look like
the statue of Buddha, my face has never been this round, I don’t believe. But
again, it is partially due to lack of exercise, so I am going to make a push to
walk more.
I received a
Microsoft Band 2 for my birthday, it has quite a few features, http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/All-Microsoft-Band/categoryID.69889600?icid=en_US_Store_UH_devices_Msband.
I’ll let you
read about it if you want. The interesting thing about it to me is it tracks
how well I sleep and then compares the results with others of my age group, if
they can find someone still alive. I use a CPAP and it is supposed to put you
into deep sleep, this device is indicating I am not getting to that point. Of
course the fact that I am up three to four times at night to go to the bathroom
just might be a factor in all of this. But then the consequences of not getting
up to go to the bathroom are more unappealing to me than the lack of some
sleep. Besides I can fall asleep in my chair during the day if I want too.
When my
grandmother was still alive I remember going to her house and it would be 100+
degrees in there, or so it seemed, and she would be wearing a sweater and have
a blanket on her. I always thought it was strange, not any more. I don’t have
the house at 100+ degrees but I do wear a sweater and at times put a blanket
over my legs. As I have mentioned before a side effect of one of the drugs I
take are hot flashes and when I get one of those I take off the sweater but as
soon as the sensation stops I get cold and put the sweater back on. I had a
friend tell me once the best relief she found from the hot flashes was a cold
shower, I haven’t tried that yet.
Tomorrow is
Ash Wednesday already, where does the time go. I know a lot of people will be
walking around tomorrow with a black spot on their foreheads, to remind us “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you
shall return.”. Here is a great explanation for the day, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday.
I had a phone call yesterday from a
social worker at the VA. She said the oncology clinic had given my name to her
as a cancer survivor and she wanted to know if I would be interested in taking
part in a cancer survivor support group. I told her sure and she will be
sending me information on the meeting.
This got me to thinking, when does a
person become a cancer survivor? Is it after you have X number of treatments
and you are still here or is it a certain number of days or years. For me I
know I will never be free of cancer unless the Good Lord cures me of it. I will
always live with the cancer, I accept that, and believe if I am ever free of it
then I will have witnessed a miracle.
We were at
our son Daniel’s for my birthday last Sunday and to eat smoked ribs, they were
very good. We also watched Super Bowl 50. We had a great time and thank you
Daniel for cooking the ribs.
A few years
ago Sarah and I were in Green Bay, Wisconsin for a wedding. The only camp
ground we could find was about thirty minutes south of Green Bay. One day we
were looking for something to do and I came across a notice about a Shrine
dedicated to Mary the Mother of God. Well being raised Catholic I thought we
should go see it. I put the address into the GPS and we headed out, the
location is out in the middle of nowhere and without the GPS I would have been
hard pressed to find it, but it was worth the trip. Even if you don’t believe
in miracles the story surrounding the events of October 8, 1871 make
interesting reading. There were two events that are interrelated the Peshtigo
fire and the survival of individuals who took refuge in a church while the fire
surrounded them. Here are two links to offer more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Our_Lady_of_Good_Help,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo,_Wisconsin.
Reading
about fire and talking about hot flashes makes me drink more water than I have
ever drank in my lifetime. I haven’t had the problem of dehydration lately and
I always wondered how I ended up with it to begin with. I have switched over to
just bottled water now because I can measure how much I drink. Some days I feel
like if you poked me in the gut I would spray water at the point of the poke.
We have
quite a bit of snow on the ground right now but next week is supposed to be
warmer so with any luck we will get rid of ALL the snow and not get anymore. Ha-ha,
I know we will get more snow and have been known to get it all the way into
April, don’t remember any in May but I wouldn’t doubt that it could happened. I
just keep telling myself I don’t have to go out in the cold weather and the
snow unless it is absolutely necessary.
I have been
reading a lot of books these past few months. Sarah got me started on a series
of books where one of the main “characters” is a cat. They are mysteries, not
difficult reading and usually I haven’t figured out the killer until the author
reveals it at the end. The books are an enjoyable read, the authors are Sofie
Ryan and Sofie Kelly, interesting enough the same person writes under both
names. The other is Miranda James.
I am also
playing the stupid Candy Crush Saga, Soda and Jelly, I have to quite playing
them because they are so frustrating. However, my sister is ahead of me in
Jelly and I am trying to catch up with her. She plays it a lot more than me so I
don’t know if that will ever happen.
Well that is
enough for now.
Until later.
