Aaaaand... done...

Well, cycle two is done, at least.

I plan to enjoy my two week break.  Next treatment is 3/11.

Update on Pop... the Visiting Angels service started coming this past week, so he has full time companionship.

The cost of the service is more than his monthly retirement income, but there is money in the bank to cover the overage.

He may not have anything left to leave to his kids and grand kids, but he will be able to stay in his home.

He's not happy about a stranger coming into his home, and he doesn't know yet that it's that, or a nursing home.

We'll see how it goes.

Have I mentioned that I finally signed up for Cleaning for a Reason?  It's a free cleaning service for WOMEN in chemotherapy.

Not sure why men don't qualify.

Anyway, no less than a dozen people posted links or sent me messages on facebook regarding this service over the course of my treatment so far.

When my cousin Marta did it, I finally decided to check it out.

I filled out the application, and I got a doctor's note indicating that I am in treatment, which I faxed to them.

And then I waited for like 4 weeks for them to match me with a service.

Then the service they matched me with never returned my calls.

Then the Cleaning for a Reason person didn't answer my email....

So I gave up on it, BUT I posted about the bad result on Facebook, since all of the referrals I had received over the past year were on Facebook.

My cousin saw my post, was upset, and contacted Cleaning for a Reason on my behalf and, lo and behold, my patient advocate was suddenly in touch again.

She called, AND emailed, and I was matched with a new service within about 48 hours, instead of 4 more weeks (and I am quickly running out of time that I will be in treatment, so this is good.  They come once a month for 4 months...I am not going to tell them my treatments end on 3/27 unless they ask, since it took them so long to get this process going).

The new cleaning service called me, and is coming on Wednesday to clean my house for the first time!!

Dave has a massive amount of vacation time, so he can be here when they're here.

I spent yesterday clearing away clutter, and putting stuff away that was just tossed into the office, since the room has not been used since it was a guest room when Margaret stayed here in November.

I posted about this "tidying" process on Facebook, too, and was gently chided for doing it!

Hello?

If I want to get the greatest benefit from people coming to sweep, mop, dust/polish, and clean, I have to make way for them to be able to DO IT!!

Cleaning up for the cleaning service had NOTHING to do with fear of judgement, as a couple of people said.

If I had been afraid of judgement, I would not have posted before and after pictures on the internet!

There was clutter seemingly everywhere.  How are they supposed to dust and polish a table that's covered with crap?

SO...I got that all done, too.....and did NOT clean, though I wanted to!

It's also true that, compared to some houses I have been in, ours is immaculate.

Truly.

We keep it pretty clean, and when company is coming, it's REALLY clean.  I treat our guests with respect, and prefer give them a clean place to stay.  That's just my way.

However when no company is due, and it's just us, and we work all week, and I am tired from treatment....well...."Stuff" just gets left here and there to be dealt with later, and then it lies there until one of us gets tired of looking at it.

Anyway, the floors are ready for them (I did not do my weekly sweeping or vacuuming),  the table tops are ready for them (I did not dust and polish), the dresser and book cases are ready for them (I did not dust and polish), the desk is ready for them.

All I did was "de-crappify," as my friend Cathy put it!

I am excited about this, but, now that it's finally happening, Dave is like "are you sure you want to do this?"

YOU ASK ME NOW?!  Too funny.

YES, I am sure.  I put it off for a year! You're going to be home when they're here.  What is the problem?

Sigh.  (I know he is going to read this, and I hope he doesn't mind my saying this... )

Anyway.... also did two cooking projects yesterday, and dealt with an algae bloom in the hot tub (which happens every time we change the water because there is so much algae in OKC water), so it was a very busy, very full, hard working day for me.

I didn't even look at my phone to see if anyone called or texted.

Today, we are going to try again to get Turbo Tax to work. Wish us luck!

Just another Sunday during chemo

It's amazing what you can get used to.

I fucking hate going to chemo, but it's become "normal."

Mouth sores, hair loss, fatigue, and numb toes have become "normal."

So. Fucking. Sick. Of. It.

Okay, there, I let it out.

Back to being Positive Paula.

We are winning this war, and it's all worth it.

Got lots of stuff done around the house yesterday, while Dave got lots of stuff done away from the house.

He ran errands and I cleaned.

His dad has been falling a lot lately, so the family spent a few days trying to decide what has to happen next.

Dad can't be left alone during the day anymore, so it looks like a visiting aide service will be the first step for Dad.

Dave's eldest brother is working on getting that to start next week.

Dave was down there yesterday, getting the locks changed so that we have a key, and so that Becky, who lives with Dad, finally has a key.

Turns out, Dad lost his key months ago, and Becky never HAD ONE, so they have just been leaving the house unlocked.

Apparently, everyone was fine with that.

I didn't even know about it, but now it's fixed.

Anyway, while Dave was out, I swept, vacuumed, and mopped, and got three loads of laundry done.

It was a much nicer day yesterday than today, but, sadly, we missed our chance to enjoy it.  It has been freakishly, unseasonably warm for several days.... UNTIL today.

I had hoped we could get the bikes out today, but it's colder and windier today, so no go.

Today, we tried to get our taxes done ourselves on line instead.

It costs a ridiculous amount of money to have H&R Block do it for us just because we have a couple of extra schedules.

So, we decided to try Turbo Tax.

Unfortunately, Turbo Tax is a pain in the ass unless you figure out how to get to actual, you know, tax forms....and unfortunately, Dave did not figure out how to get to actual tax forms, and instead was stuck in some stupid "GUI" maze.....it was really aggravating.

He tried to get help from customer service, and they also did not seem to know that there is a version of their own soft ware that DOES have forms that we can just fill out and get it the fuck over with.

Idiots.

SO, after 45 minutes on hold, he gave up, and will try again next weekend or some evening this week.

A friend who owns a copy of Turbo Tax assures us that there IS a tab you can click to take you to forms if you don't want to mess with the bullshit "GUI" format.

What the HELL IS THAT????  Tax forms are tax forms...Good Lord.

It should only take about a half hour of plugging numbers into forms, once we can find the forms.

Okay, what happened to Positive Paula?

Once our "busy-ness" for yesterday was over, we got to enjoy our hot tub on a mild evening last night, and then I slept for 11 hours.

It's so nice when I can get the rest I need.  Happens so rarely.

When we eventually get our tax refund, we can get the things done to the house that we put off from last year, mainly PAINTING the outside of the house and the shed.  It's looking VERY shabby, and needs a paint face lift.

Dave and our friend Andrew replaced the front of the shed last year, and then Dave and I put on three coats of primer.  So the primer white is still just sitting there for all to see.  It will be nice to have the paint go up at last.

Off to cook a pork loin and make some slaw. Hoping for a good rest of the weekend, since there's so little of it left.

Happy Valentine's Day

We're going out for a date!

If you have a Valentine, and you mark this day, have fun!

If you don't, or you don't, have fun anyway!

My hair has started to fall out, so I am trying to just focus on having a fun day.

The days between...

This past Friday was my chemo-free Friday, marking the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the current batch of treatments.

It was actually very nice to work all week!

Not too much going on this weekend.  Took Pete to the vet.  His allergies are as bad as mine, and he has rubbed the fur off around one of his eyes.

He was very good for the doc, and didn't even flinch when she gave him a steroid shot.  He seems to be feeling better already.

After we brought him home, we went out yesterday and shopped at a thrift store for some shirts for Dave, and then had a friend over in the afternoon.  It was a good day.

Today is about staying home and cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry.

Got the steam cleaner out and did the floors.  That's pretty hard work, but so worth it.

I felt really sick over night, with a migraine and a very upset belly.  Took a compazine and ibuprofen around 3 am, but was still awake from 2 til about 6:30 this morning.  Thankfully, I never threw up, but I sure felt like I was going to.  What did happen, though, was very unhappy intestines.

Dave and I ate all of the same things yesterday, so I think I had a little bit of a bug.

Feeling well now, but still not wanting to leave the house.

Dave's birthday is tomorrow, and I am actually going to bake a cake and make my mom's chocolate icing recipe.

All of the fund raiser money is in the bank, and we are just waiting for the bills to start rolling in.

Back to treatment this coming Friday for the next set of three weekly treatments.

That's about it for this week.