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!

Sick again.....

If you missed my short, mid week post, and if you care, see the one before this for a brief synopsis of our vacation.

 

A while back (2 years?), we returned from that year's trip to Chicago, and I immediately got sick with some kind of NASTY upper respiratory infection.

I never went to a doctor, because I never got a high fever, but it was, hands down, the sickest I had been as an adult. 

This past Tuesday, I woke up in the hotel with odd aches and pains, after two nights of not sleeping great in strange places.  There was this dull ache in my diaphragm when I would take a deep breath, or yawn.

No other symptoms.

I didn't really think much of it, because I had been having aches and pains all week during our time in Chicagoland.

I attributed all of it to being busy, away from my own bed, and adjusting to being off of chemo, and, as a result, suddenly back into full blown menopause.

Well, on Wednesday, the weird achy diaphragm pain was worse, and, late in the day, I got a slight head ache, so decided to take my temperature.

There it was.... I had a low grade fever.   SO, I took some ibuprofen, went to bed, and hoped for the best.

Sadly, the next day, Thursday, my fever no longer qualified as low grade , so I put a message in for my primary care provider.   The response was relatively quick.... she was only in the office that morning, and would need to see me in person before ordering a walk-in chest xray.  

Of course, she had no appointments available, and would be off into next week.

SO, I forwarded my message to my oncology clinic, and they got me in with the oncology network's "Same Day" clinic.

I'd not been aware of this clinic before, but apparently it's for oncology patients who get sick with things NOT related to treatment.

The Same Day team did a full work up.... chest xray, blood work, urinalysis, and a multi-panel swab test for various respiratory viruses (I had already tested negative for covid).  

EVERYTHING came back normal, except for evidence of dehydration (which I told them up front they would find) so they told me to just rest, force fluids, and ride it out.

By Thursday night, the weird diaphragm pain was completely gone (I still had NO other symptoms), and has not returned.

The PA I saw called me on Friday to check in, and he clarified that I should give it 7 to 10 days to run its course, whatever it is.

I have since developed a dry, tickly cough that happens in "singles" every once in a while, mostly when I try to speak..... Nothing at all worrisome.

I've been drinking 48 to 52 ounces of fluids a day, in the form of decaf iced green tea, water, electrolyte enhanced water, and home made chicken stock. 

The night before last, I had no fever all night (I did not sleep well, so I took my temp at intervals all night), but it came back yesterday.  

Ibuprofen helps lower it, but my doctor is concerned about my elevated heart rate recently, and ibuprofen tends to raise heart rate.

Ugh.

Anyway, by the time I went to bed last night, it was down again, and was "normal" every time I checked it in the night, and was only slightly elevated this morning ..... so hopefully, whatever this is, it is almost over.  

My patience wears thin, after 4 days of rest and fluids, and tomorrow, the window installers are due to arrive.  I NEED to be able to go somewhere for at least part of the day.... like the library, or a book store.

I need to feel well, and NOT need to take a nap, in order to make that kind of escape, HAH!

In other news, Pete started throwing up again yesterday.  I should not have said anything about how he was doing so well for so long.

Fortunately, we have plenty of his medicine, and will start him on it today for a few days, to calm down this flare.

The ONLY thing that has changed is that we got some pro-biotic powder to add to Annabel's food to see if it would help her over - grooming issues.  She, of course, refused to eat it, and Pete ate it instead.  

We did not think it would hurt either of the other cats to have some probiotics in their food.....but maybe there is an ingredient in it that is the same as the Purina Pro Plan that Pete can't tolerate.

Fortunately, PetSmart is pretty good about taking returns.... this stuff was expensive !

Wish us luck with this last push to get the rest of the windows replaced before winter.  

We have NEVER had one set of windows go perfectly with the installation company that Lowe's uses.  Never.  They always have one or two windows that they measured wrong, and have to re-order.

This is the biggest set by far (14 windows), so the margin for them having made an error is much greater.

We do not need this frustration, please... HAHA!

I'm off to make my pint of tea, and to take a shower. Have a good week! 

Missed Two Sundays....

 We went to Illinois for almost a full week with my family and friends. We left OKC on 8/29/2025, and returned to OKC on 9/9/2025.

Our new car was GREAT!  We both felt so much safer in it!  The hybrid engine did amazingly well on gas mileage, and we never felt like we were in danger.

We took three days to travel on each end of the trip, and took our time, visiting friends, and cool towns.

We had a nice Helfrich family cook-out on Labor day (only my brother's son- and his girlfriend- were missing), and I got to see a few friends (sadly, not many were interested, or able, to meet up with us, and one of them had the date wrong, and missed our dinner together).

We got to eat all of the things (thin crust pizza, deep dish pizza, Italian beef, Chicago style hot dogs, and REAL GREEK FOOD), and we got to go to a great Cubs game.

My heart is full.... I really needed this time with people who love me, know me, and understand me.

Granted, I have friends in Oklahoma....some very good ones.... but there is nothing like family, and friends who have known you for most of your life.

ALSO....our pet sitters confirmed that Pete never threw up pink stomach juices the whole time we were gone!  The food change has successfully calmed down his digestive system..... and we are SOOOO relieved! 

I was right all along!! YES!!!

It's been almost a year since he started with these issues, and it's been a source of so much stress.  I can't adequately express how happy we are!

I will post again this Sunday, as usual, if there's anything interesting to say, HAHA! 

And more good news.....

 The onlcology PA called me with my CT results.  I usually only get calls when the news is bad, but this time, it was good!

The glassy opacities are gone.  

Then, she asked how I did coming off of the prednisone, so I filled her in about the intense pain that I had for most of last week (which seems to be better today, by the way), and about the weight I gained.

From what I have read, it takes about a week to start to see a return to normal after high-dose steroid treatment, so.... the coming days should be better.

The best part is that I am sleeping again! 

I will see the PA at the clinic on Tuesday, and I think we will be talking about hormone blocking maintenance medication.  Not my favorite, as I have been on all of them, and each one effects me badly in one way or another.

She said that the joint pain can be treated with Celebrex, an arthritis medication, so we shall see.  I am not sure why my original doctor never prescribed that. He must not have known.

Anyway, in other news, we have been getting out and walking on the somewhat cooler mornings we have had this past week, despite (or, perhaps, IN spite of) the pain I was dealing with.

It's still been in the 90s in the afternoons, but the mornings have been in the 70s, and we REALLY need to get back into walking.

Especially because we will be going to sweet home Chicagoland soon!

Plans for our first road trip in the new car are coming together nicely.  We will be meeting with our house sitters this coming Wednesday.

We will be making TWO stops on the way up, so we can visit with friends along the way.

I've been doing my physical therapy exercises every day, too, so that I can be okay with being in the car for several hours over three days.

Dave had hoped that I would do some of the driving, but I am not up to facing that phobia yet.  I'd like to eventually, but we simply have not had the time yet.

So- we made the plan to take shorter driving "legs" over more days.  I mean...since we don't have to rush back for me to go to work!  YIPPEE!

We also have the option of heading back to OK a day earlier than planned, and taking three days to get back, but just stopping at hotels on those legs.

This past week, I got out my beading board, and made a necklace for a friend's birthday!  I will be seeing her when we go north, so I will give it to her then.

It felt good to get some beads out, come up with a simple design, and execute it successfully!

I am thinking that may be what I send for gifts this holiday season... we shall see. That, or jar candles, which I also have everything for from last year.

We shall see.

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