"Hot town, summer in the city..."

It really hasn't been too awful, but the heat has arrived.  The current forecast says we are in for at least another week or so of 99-100 degrees, with heat index values close to 110.

Cabin fever season has arrived.

I'm just glad it's not as intense as some of my past summers here have been.

I got to OK in time for the hottest summer ever recorded anywhere in the US since they started keeping track.  That was 2011. That year, it was 105-115 every day from the end of May until early September.  That's the real temperatures, of course, not the "official" readings, which are never the same as what we actually experience.

Thought I was going to spontaneously combust that year!

I think last year wasn't too bad here, if I recall, even though 2014 won the prize for the hottest summer ever world wide.

Yesterday, our back yard thermometer got up to 101.

I stayed in 99% of the day, going out only to spray bug killer where we think the ants might be coming in, and to look at some trimming Dave did around our Crepe Myrtle on the east side of the house.

The rest of the day, I spent doing chores around the house, and staying cool.

Did laundry, swept up the cat bunnies, and entered the receipts into the check book.  Made pressure cooker chicken and rice with broccoli for dinner.  Using the pressure cooker keeps the house cool.

Today, I will mop, and vacuum the area rug and the sofa (it's covered with cat hair), and re-do my manicure and pedicure.  Also cooking something later, but it will require the stove.  It'll be okay, though.  No oven or anything.

I am doing okay, mostly, as I look down the barrel at the next chemotherapy treatment coming up next Friday.

I get a little more tired than usual, but mostly, after the first 7 days, I feel well enough to go about my normal activities, including working out in the mornings before work.

My mouth has gotten worse, but I can still taste almost everything normally....not like with the drugs used before surgery.  That really messed up my sense of taste by the end, it was awful.  I probably posted about that before. Sorry for the repeat.

I use the dry mouth rinse twice a day, and am more vigilant than normal about my dental hygiene.

I really dread the next treatment....this cocktail has been pretty hard on me, compared to the drugs used in the first cycle of 4 treatments.

Dave tells me that he's researched the potential side effects, and he assures me that my 4 days of nausea, exhaustion, and body pain are NOTHING compared to how I COULD be feeling, and that my 7 days in total of feeling pretty bad are a mere drop in the bucket of what is possible.

That's encouraging, and I am very grateful.....but it's also something I can't stop dreading as it comes closer, hour by hour.

What if this time is worse?

Sigh.

I even dread the weird smell that I can't avoid every time they access the chemo port.  I can imagine it, and even thinking about it gives me the willies.  It's so ..  shudder.  It's this strong antiseptic odor.  Ugh.

So..the dread....I guess that's what my Xanax prescription is for.

I am also grateful that there is only one more treatment with this combination of drugs.

I have gotten through three, I can deal with one more, and then I'll never have to endure it again.

Ever.

My hair is growing like gangbusters right now.  I kinda wish it wouldn't because when the drugs change next month, it will all fall out a third time.

I've gotten over being self conscious about it though...it's too hot to care about covering my head right now!  It's a combination of ever-lengthening (read: sticks straight up) peach fuzz and shiny skin.

SO lovely...but who cares?

One thing I still can't do, though, is be seen without my make up on.

I don't even like seeing myself without make up on right now.

It's too stark a reminder of what my current challenges are.  It makes me uncomfortable.

I did not put any make up on yesterday, just to let my skin have a break.  I slathered my face with nourishing creams, and left the make up off.

But then....our neighbor came out while we were looking at the Crepe Myrtle.  I ALMOST ran into the house so she wouldn't see me.

I stood and talked to her....but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "Oh crap, I don't have my make up on!"

Funny, but not....

SO...today, after my shower, I put on my full face, just so I can feel better about myself when I pass a mirror.

Even if Dave is the only other person who sees me, I will have my eyebrows drawn on today, and I will have a healthy glow, and my eyes are defined instead of looking like pale, rimless holes in a pale featureless face.....

I know it sounds harsh....but I really do miss my eyebrows, eyelashes, and healthy glow.

As I've written before, chemo makes me a "whiter shade of pale," and since it's gotten hot, I can't get out in the sun anymore for my 15 minutes of healthy exposure.

Back in April, when I was off for surgery, I sat outside in the sun every day.  It was lovely to be out in the comfortable warmth, making vitamin D the natural way.  I developed a healthy glow that covered up the pallor.

Then, being off of chemo for several weeks made the pallor go away.

But not anymore.....

I guess what it comes down to is that I LOOK SICK.

I am NOT SICK.

I will say that again.  I AM NOT SICK.

I am as healthy as a freaking horse, and always have been.  There are just some rogue cells in my body that are being wiped out, and that's the extent of it.

Cancer has no power over me, and has never actually made me "sick."

It's true what they say, cancer isn't the problem, the treatments are the problem!

CHEMOTHERAPY comes close to making me sick, and wears me down for a few days, but all in all, I am a ROCK STAR when it comes to being strong and healthy.

As such, I am used to LOOKING strong and healthy.....and it upsets me that I don't look that way right now without a good deal of make up artistry!

Anyway....enough of that.  Time to get the vacuum fired up.

Everyone have a good Sunday.  Stay cool if you need to!