November is here!

 November is my second favorite month, October being the overall favorite.

Halloween ended up happening at our house, in a more subdued fashion than is my preference.

Last week, we had a wind storm that kept me from getting the rest of the decorating done, so I had planned to finish up on Thursday, and during the day Friday.  We also usually carve the Jack o lanterns on Oct. 30th, which was Thursday.

HOWEVER, we decided to go get our Covid boosters on Wednesday, and I ended up feeling icky on Thursday.... shivering chills, a low grade fever, and fatigue.

SO, none of that happened on Thursday!  I was left with Friday to get everything done, and I was still moving a little bit slowly, so the house was not as "all out" as it usually is for the trick or treaters.

That's okay, though, because, ultimately, we gave out all of our treats, and had to turn the porch light off.... and still they kept coming.  I guess the universal sign of the porch light being off no longer counts?  Don't know, haha!

I managed to dress up as Lady Gossamer Peaseblossom, the neighborhood's friendly Witch.  One kid said "I like your costume," and I said, of course, "This isn't a costume...this is how I dress every day...."

In other news, the weather has been spectacular since that wind storm passed.  Dave is hoping to get out and mow one last time, and to also try to remove some of the ivy from the back of the house.

I will be doing some chores that I didn't do yesterday, and working on the course I am taking.

The week ahead sees us each having an appointment.  Dave with his psychiatrist, and me to get my scans.

Please cross your fingers that the scans come back "STABLE."  I would LOVE to be able to continue living without chemo for a while longer.

I see my doctor on the 12th, then it's Crane Spotting time, then the 19th is my next bone treatment, and then we have Thanksgiving!

November ranks as my #2 favorite because of Crane Spotting, and Thanksgiving.

I am off to make some breakfast..... have a great week!

Halloweeeeeen is coming!

I still haven't gotten the front porch decorated, because it was either too hot, or raining...but it WILL HAPPEN before Halloween!

We have had some MUCH needed rain the past couple of days, and are supposed to have more on Tuesday next week.

At least the temperatures have dropped to "normal," and the 80s and 90s are a thing of the past....until next year.

Just so long as it doesn't get TOO cold, and rainy, at the same time, HAHA!

Today is the anniversary of that catastrophic ice storm in 2020.  As if 2020 needed anything to make it worse than it already was, with the beginning of the pandemic.

I still have PTSD from that ice storm....it was truly horrible, and then the two weeks of no power... and unseasonably cold temperatures.

No hot water, no lights, no appliances (other than the stove, which we could light with a match or lighter), the food slowly rotting away in the fridge/freezer and deep freeze..... 

Having to heat water on the stove for bathing.  Having to wash my hair with ice cold water from the hose in the back yard.  Having to take our laundry to a laundromat - that's just a few blocks away, and HAD POWER.

The block across the street from us HAD POWER....but not one neighbor came over, offering to help us. 

Thanks, Covid!  You may recall that we, as a population, were all afraid of one another during those early months of the pandemic.

We went to our friends' in Edmond, OK, who had power, to take showers a couple of times, and to do laundry for free.

As if all of that wasn't bad enough, we went down to Moore, OK (which had widespread POWER) to find a restaurant that was open, so we could have some hot food that wasn't out of a can.

And...we got rear-ended on the highway on the way home.  There was a big sheet of black plastic blowing across the highway in front of us. Dave slammed on the brakes, and BAM!

Good times.

ANYWAY.... at least neither of us got Covid... That year.

Now we have a little generator that can power the heat pump and keep the food cold.  This gives us great peace of mind.

Not much is up around here at the moment.  Looking forward to another week with no appointments, before November sets in, and I have a whole bunch of them.

Have a great week, and happy Halloweeeeeen!

 

Chilling out

 Autumn temperatures might FINALLY have arrived in central Oklahoma!  It's 44F this morning, and will only be in the low 70s by this afternoon.  Glorious!! 

Yeah, it's supposed to be back up to 90 tomorrow, but we will take what we can get, HAHA!

Later in the week, it's supposed to cool down again. 

There really isn't much to report for this past week.  Neither of us had any appointments, and nothing really happened around the house.

I managed to do my yoga and physical therapy routine every weekday, and added the hand weights back, doing two sets by the end of the week.

I'm more consistently pain-free, now, so it's definitely helping.  Re-building some strength is in order, so I will continue with the hand weights, and maybe switch to the heavy resistance bands.

Dave has also started using his little pedal machine that has been sitting in front of the tv for several years, collecting dust.

We got out and walked in the cooler mornings this past week, too....sometimes just a block due to it getting too hot by the time we stepped out, but a couple of days, we went further than that.

On Thursday, I cleared out my spice cabinet, went through everything, and re-organized it.  In that process, I dumped out maybe twenty jars of really old, or seldom used herbs and spices, to make room for fresh.

My friends in Illinois gave me a gift card for Penzey's, so an order has been placed.  I'm obviously only replacing spices that I know I will use, and my cabinet will now have more room, and be much more user friendly!  

Today, I hope to do the same thing to the pantry cabinet.  

It mostly just needs to be re-organized, but there might be an expired item or two as well.  Getting those items out of there will make the re-organization easier! 

We had planned to go to the "No Kings" rally yesterday, but a storm system came through RIGHT at the time that we would have been getting there.  

It's risky enough for me as it is.  If things were to ... get scary.... I can't really run, and if I were to fall, I could break several bones, due to the bone metastases.   Adding lightening, wet pavement, and poor visibility to the mix.... and, well.... No.

So we stayed home.  The OKC rally was completely peaceful, but not as well attended as it might have been, due to the weather.

That's about all I have for this week. Have a good one! 

Gumption

 It took a few days, but I am now completely off of the blood pressure medication, and, as long as I stay well-hydrated (another factor in high bp/heart rate), my numbers have returned to normal.

Saw my doctor on Thursday, and we are just going to keep on as we are. No hormone blockers, no bp medication.

I will just keep nourishing and hydrating myself, and hoping that the active cancer doesn't come back.

Which, we all know, is highly unlikely....because stage 4 never ends.

She assured me, though, that when that time comes, there are many new options for treatment, going forward. 

 New oral medications are now available, and there are clinical studies and trials that may also help me stay out of having IV chemo again.  At least for a while.

This is why my previous doctor bade me stay with the University of Oklahoma cancer center.... it's cutting edge.

It would be lovely if I could continue to be free from treatment through the holidays, though.  

We finally got the permanent license plate for the new car (WOW that was expensive!), and got the settlement money from the car accident deposited and allocated to pay off Dave's credit cards.

It will be really nice to have that improvement in cash flow.

Now that all of that is behind us, I will start setting money aside each month to rebuild our savings. Hopefully.

ANYWAY--We are hoping to attend the local NO KINGS rally next weekend.

Unless it's still 90 degrees... which it may be.

We shall see.

Despite the heat, I made a pot of my "Magick Chili" yesterday, and will be making my recipe for potato leek soup today.

I just get tired of waiting for the weather to cool down..... it happens every year around this time.  I hate the climate in Oklahoma, and it just keeps getting hotter.

We haven't been in our little hot tub for months...I miss it!  But it's just been way too hot when we've had the time to get in it....

We drained it this past week, and I cleaned it. Now it's fresh and ready for us.... so Summer needs to get the heck out of Oklahoma! 

I haven't started decorating for Halloween yet, either, because it's just been too hot.... Also, no mums or pumpkins on the porch yet for the same reason.

Now that the Cubs' baseball season is over, I will need to find something else to do with 3 hours a day!  Hopefully, I will find the gumption to resume my learning of embroidery, and, perhaps, get back to trying to make some beaded jewelry for holiday gifts.

We shall see.

This coming week, the only thing we have scheduled is an estimate to get the ductwork cleaned.  It's been a couple of years.

Dave received word that the corrected windows should be complete by November 20th. Sheesh.

That's all from the Dragons' Roost for this week.... have a good one! 

One less thing

 I started putting some pieces together in my mind regarding how I have been feeling in recent weeks.

Compelled to go to bed before it was dark out, and sleeping/staying in bed for 10 or 11 hours.  No stamina at all for exercise.  Feeling light headed when I stand up.

My doctor also noticed that my heart rate has been running higher than normal.

Then I thought about the fact that I was put on a blood pressure lowering beta blocker two and a half years (or so) ago, when the Enhertu chemo caused heart issues.

I have not had an Enhertu treatment since July, but was still taking this medication on a daily basis.

I started measuring my blood pressure and heart rate every day, and the pressure was low, pretty consistently, and the heart rate was elevated.

After failing to find my cardiologist's information in My Chart (maybe he moved or retired), I did some research on the medication, and YES, being on a beta blocker un-necessarily could cause all of these symptoms.

SO, I wrote a message to my oncologist's office, and the response was immediate and simple... YES, stop taking the beta blocker, and monitor your blood pressure and heart rate daily until we see you for your next appointment.

I stopped the medication, since I was only taking 12.5 mg per day, but my heart rate sky rocketed, so I did some additional research, and learned that it's bad to stop taking the medication all at once.

My oncology nurse/PA probably didn't KNOW that, so it wasn't specified in their response to my inquiry.

Fortunately, the tablets are really easy to cut with a sharp knife, so, for a few days, I took half of my normal dose, and my pressure and heart rate have been fine.

Today, I will try going without that 6 mg, and see where we are.  It will be nice to have one less thing!!

In the meantime, my lack of exercise is catching up with me, but I am determined to get back on track, one way or another.

I have a new pair of walking shoes on order, and have been doing my yoga and physical therapy exercises almost daily (took yesterday off), to stay ahead of the pain and stiffness..... I'll get moving again soon!

Especially if the weather cools down.... please??

In other news, members of my family are gathering today, in Iowa City, to lay my Aunt Janet to rest.  She passed a few months ago, at the age of 96.

I am very grateful that some of us could be there.  The funeral is today, and the interment of ashes is tomorrow.

It's very cool that the church in Iowa City has the same name as the one she grew up in, (as did we all), in Wheaton, IL.... Trinity Episcopal.  

Nothing much else to report on..... I will see my oncologist on the 9th just for a check in.  My scans aren't until November 5th, so we will just continue as we are now, on a "break" from chemo until further notice.

I will still receive my bone treatment every 8 weeks, as mentioned before.... which also accomplishes the required flushing of my port.

In the meantime, I am trying my best to stay hydrated and nourished.

Have a lovely week! 

Technically........

 ......it's autumn, but the weather sure doesn't seem to have noticed.

It IS cooler in the mornings, which is nice, but the afternoons are hot.  It has been in the low 90s most days this past week.

Yuck.  I'm OVER IT!  HAHA... not that my being over it effects anything other than my frustration level.

Did I update you on the new windows?  I don't think I did.

Most of them were installed, but three had manufacturing flaws, so the installer refused to put them in, and returned them to Lowe's almost two weeks ago.

Dave finally got a call this past Friday, and the re-made ones won't be ready until mid November, so the window project remains incomplete.

As mentioned previously, we figured SOMETHING would go wrong, because it has with every "batch" of windows.  Sigh....
But, at least the ones that were installed all fit properly, function properly, and look great!

In other news, I still have a slight cough, mostly in the mornings, but have been feeling much more "back to normal" this past week.

A local friend of mine, who I have not seen in person since before we left for Chicago, has had the same kind of thing.... weird. Hers lingered for days, too.

My bone treatment went fine on Thursday, though it took almost 2 hours for a 15 minute infusion.

The good news is that I did NOT have the pervasive joint and bone pain afterward, like I did the first time.  

I DID have two days of increased hip pain, just on the left side, which I will monitor the next time.

I have also been concentrating on doing LOTS of yoga, and my p/t exercises, every day, so I could easily have caused that pain myself.

The yoga and p/t has been helping to reduce my daily pain levels tremendously, for the most part, but once in a while, I have a set back, so it's hard to tell if that's what that was, or if it was the Zometa.  Since it was just on one side, my thought is that it was something I did.

(one of the warnings with this medication is hip pain)

Today, I woke up with zero pain, and only have slight pain now, so that's encouraging.  I need to be taking less ibuprofen, in order to monitor my heart rate accurately, and determine if I need to see my cardiologist.

I don't take THAT MUCH, but my body has always been sensitive to medications. 

We have no plans, or appointments, this coming week, and the forecast shows that the daily highs will be a bit less hot, so maybe we will go woods walking one morning.

Maybe take a drive out to a state park.  We shall see.

I did better this past week regarding feeling at loose ends.  Having appointments helped (blood draw, then treatment). 

Feeling healthier helped, too. 

Wishing you, Gentle Reader, a good week, and a lovely welcome to October.

The path forward

 This was my first week without a clear focus since retiring, and it's been pretty difficult.

Other than the spiritual course I enrolled in, I have no direction or purpose, at the moment, and, combining that with recovering from whatever bug it was that I had, it's been a challenge.

SO, this is why I decided, early on, to NOT volunteer anywhere until after the first of the year.  I need to learn how to just ... be....

Perhaps I will set myself a goal of making necklaces for my family for the holidays.... we shall see.

Speaking of the bug I had, my sister went to the doctor this past week for a bladder infection, and she told the doctor about how weak and tired she had felt the week we were visiting.

(She, her husband, and daughter had gotten back from a week in San Francisco the day before we arrived, and the whole time we were at their house, my sister was super tired and disinterested.)

When she asked about that, her doctor said that she was probably dealing with a bug of some kind (not necessarily related to the bladder infection, because it was a over week later before that set in), but she never took her temperature, so didn't know.

That is likely the source of whatever it was that I came home with.

Unfortunately, now she feels even worse about not having spent as much time with us as we all would have liked... sigh.

It took a full ten days for me to stop seeing my temperature going up and down.  I had several bouts of night sweats, chills, and a poor appetite.  Near the end, I started to get a dry, tickly cough, but nothing severe or productive. There was certainly no shortness of breath or any other respiratory symptoms.

It sure was strange.... and it left me devoid of energy.

I am doing better now, though, and got most of my usual chores done yesterday.

There was a gentle rain falling when I woke up this morning, so we didn't go out to the woods, and are, instead, going to have pancakes, banana, and bacon for a late breakfast.

This coming Thursday, I will get my bone treatment, so will go for labs on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I am hoping that the abnormal blood levels that we saw on a regular basis, during Enhertu treatment, will be returning closer to normal now. 

I will be sure to hydrate WELL for a couple of days before having the blood draw.

Wishing my gentle readers a good week, and a pleasant welcome to Autumn!