Number nine....number nine....

Round #9 of chemotherapy was Thursday.

Between the usual blood draw, doctor visit, and treatment, we were there for six hours.

Six.

All freaking day.

The new medication that replaced the two previous ones takes three hours all by itself. The bag didn't seem to be bigger, but I guess the drip has to be slower.

The nurse said that the only way to reduce that is to go every week for a treatment, instead of every three weeks.

Every week until mid October.

No.

I am thinking that the doctor knew I wouldn't want to do that, so he kept me on the schedule we've become used to.

Now that we KNOW this, we will pack lunch for the next three rounds....but it might have been nice if someone had advised us ahead of time for this first time doing the new protocol!

Since we were there all day, and were both tired and weak with hunger, we just got a take and bake pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner.  That was a treat!!

I felt fine the next day, despite not having slept due to anxiety about what COULD happen with the new drug.

The weather was good that day, so I went out for TWO fitness walks during my breaks, and was only a little tired at the end of the day.  I felt jubilant over the fact that I felt.....fine.

Saturday (yesterday) was a different story, though.

I slept really well Friday night, thanks to pharmaceuticals, and got up feeling pretty good, but by mid- afternoon, I started having random intense pains in my bones.

First it was my pelvis, then my knees, then my shoulders.  It would travel from place to place, and last a few minutes, then go away.

I went about my day, though, sweeping floors, tweaking the hot tub chem, doing laundry, and preparing a feast in stages before dinner time.

But it wore me out.  By last night, I was just plain tired of hurting and felt exhausted.

But I could not sleep.  I got up at least 8 times.  Pharmaceuticals did not help.  I was just too uncomfortable.

So today is an easy day, and I am grateful for it.  The pains are still happening.

The feast I was preparing yesterday was to feed Dave and our friend Andrew (a 27 year old we met and became friends with back when we used to hang out at Urban Wine Works, before the owners ruined it, and all of the friends we'd made there quit on the same day).

Andrew and Dave spent yesterday tearing the front off of our storage shed, and replacing the door and siding.

We had reserved some of our tax refund money for this project.

Our shed was built as a garage when the house was built in 1927.  We have no way of knowing when it was converted into a shed, but whoever did it replaced the garage doors with chip board, and the old front door off of the house.

The chip board was rotting, and growing tufts of weird looking dark maroon colored mold, and the door was literally in pieces.

Dave's son had promised to help with this project, multiple times, but could never seem to find the time to do it, so Dave asked Andrew, and he was more than happy to help.

It really needed to be done now, because the door was broken.  There is also a chip board extension off of the side of the shed that will need to be re-done some day, too, but not right now.

It's also rotting, but is serviceable as a place to keep the wood pile for our fire pit, and some of our yard tools so they're easy to access.

Anyway, they did a great job on the front of the shed, and I made them a grilled steak dinner.

The weather held up in their favor for most of the day.  It started out cool, cloudy, and breezy, and one the sun came out, it didn't get THAT hot.  I think it was 92 or something.

HOT, to be sure, but not like it usually is in central Oklahoma in August!

Andrew really appreciated the good meal, because he's between jobs right now, and has been eating a lot of sweet potatoes lately....like....only sweet potatoes.

Poor kid had a good job, but the owner of the business closed it down right when it was most prosperous.  No one knows why.

Thankfully, his parents help him out, but he is pretty strapped at the moment, and if he can't find anything, he will have to go live with his folks in Tulsa.

My agenda for today is to make a batch of baked egg cups for this week's breakfasts.  Using spinach and arugula, diced bell pepper, and jack cheese.

Later, I will make a simple skillet supper.

Other than that, I think I will just need to rest.  Right now, the pain is in my forearms, so I am going to stop typing.

This pain thing is not listed on the potential side effects, but, as Dave says, I'm weird.