Long weekend

We left for Houston on Friday morning before 8.

The drive should have taken a maximum of 8 hours, with short stops for lunch and breaks.

It rained almost all the way down, though, and there was flooding on the highways in Texas, so there were multiple traffic jams.  One of them lasted 3 hours.

The storm system was literally following us down from the north, so we were under thick, black clouds almost all the way.

It should have been daylight, but it was like dusk.

Finally got safely to Dave's brother and sister in law's house.  I'm not sure what time it was.

Stayed with them that night.  On Saturday, the guys went bay fishing, and the girls went thrift store shopping.  Lillian showed me around their part of town, and it was SO cool.

Palm trees and really lovely architecture.

The sun was out, and it was really hot and tropical, but there was a breeze, so that helped.

It was fun and relaxed.

Then, we met up with the friends who did the fund raiser last year for me to get to the Grateful Dead farewell concert in Chicago. They live in a suburb south of Houston.

It was great to finally meet them in person!

Had a wonderful dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, then followed them home, and hung out in their spa and pool, and spent the night at their beautiful new construction house.

Homeward trip was MUCH easier, with no rain and far less traffic.

We got a late start, but still got home before 8 last night, after making a destination stop at Trader Joe's, and another stop at a regionally famous smoke house for some treats.

It was a nice little get away.

Now today, Memorial Day, we have to get groceries for the week, and go check out a potential assisted living center for Dave's dad.

The hope is that he will be relocated pretty soon.  He has no idea, and it will be a very rough ride.

Oops....

Sorry, faithful reader....  Dave's brother was staying with us this weekend, so I was distracted and busy and forgot to post an entry.

There are changes being made with Pop's living situation.  The woman who was staying in the house, supposedly cleaning it (it's been pretty messy the past few times I went with Dave to see Pop), doing errands, and being the safety factor of someone being in the house at night, is gone.

She was stealing money from Pop, under the guise of doing his shopping for him, and, according to what Pop said yesterday, has not been staying there for over night a while now. Pop just neglected to TELL us she wasn't staying.

For some reason, he was letting her use his money to buy HER own food, to buy stuff for her grand kids, AND to make her car payments!!

She has a full time job, AND just sold a house, was living rent free, at Pop's house for many months, and, was BEING PAID $300 a month to clean the house.....so she is rolling in money.

Apparently, she told the weekday caregiver about selling the house.  The premise for her always being gone on the weekends when we go to Pop's was that she was "working on the house" to get it ready to sell.

Mike couldn't make heads nor tails of the piles of receipts she was saving to be reimbursed, and he wanted to TALK to her about it, but she managed to be out of the house since before he arrived, insisted they talk on the phone yesterday, after promising to be there in person, and then flipped out.

She "came by and got some clothes," but, it turns out, she was PROBABLY mostly already gone, and left just enough stuff at the house for us to think was just "out" when we would go there on weekends.  I personally think that her picking up clothes was an act.

Dave said she hasn't been there when he was for weeks, and the last time he DID see her, he asked how things were going on the house, and she said "okay."

Another clue was that she had planted tomato plants out front, and they were brown and brittle.... untended.

Anyway....she's gone, and now we have to figure out what's next.

The daily care givers are still coming, so that's good.  Since we know that Pop has been alone at night already, it's not as scary a prospect as it was before this was discovered.

Okay, it's Monday morning, so there's not as much time for me to type...have a good week!

Another Sunday

After a week of one-third less Neurontin, I've lost three pounds.

Yeah.

I have not changed ANYTHING else.  In fact, we've been drinking a little more this past week, so I technically should have either gained a pound, or not seen any change at all.

Pretty clear, I think.

So yesterday, I skipped my morning pill, reducing my dose by another third, and it seemed like the effected areas became a little more "symptomatic" as the day went along.

The symptoms were not getting any BETTER during the past months, BUT,  I suppose it's possible that the chemo DID make the neuropathy worse, but that I couldn't feel it worsening because of the level of Neurontin in my system. It just felt to me like nothing at all was happening, better or worse.

It COULD also be that I was on my feet a lot yesterday, which I was, and it could also be that I was setting myself up to THINK that I felt worse.

I skipped the morning pill today, too, and so far do not notice any difference, so it will just take time to balance out, I think.

Had a good day yesterday, cooking for Dave's dad, and doing stuff around the house, while the Cubs game was on.

Today, I mowed the back yard, and now am doing some cooking for us.  Our freezer is empty of prepared servings for lunches this week, so I've got my work cut out for me.

Dave is delivering the food to his dad and doing an errand or two right now.  He will mow the front yard when he gets back.

It's supposed to rain this coming week (not that this means anything--they kept calling for rain and storms this past week, and we only ever got a few sprinkles on Friday night), so the lawn has to get done.

For some reason, technology is failing me today, and the Cubs game has no sound, AND I can't get it to jump from the computer to the tv.  It's aggravating.

So, I will go find something more constructive to do, like finishing up laundry and assembling the next cooking project.

Hope you enjoyed the before and after pictures.  They don't really do justice to the real extent of how BAD things looked, and how MUCH BETTER they look now.

Before and after (some actually "during") pictures of the paint project

Painters and pills and cats, oh my!

The painters FINALLY showed up, for about 4 hours, yesterday.  

They didn't come Wednesday because the job before ours wasn't finished.

They didn't come Thursday because their truck broke down.

They came unannounced on Friday, and left a note to say they were here, but they didn't DO anything.

They were afraid it might rain yesterday, so they only did a little work.  It stayed bright and sunny until sunset.  No sign of rain.

But whatever.  At least they got a little bit done.  They're SUPPOSED to come tomorrow, but there's a 20% chance of rain, so we'll see.

You all will just have to wait for your before and after pictures.  *wink*

I had my check up, port flush, and bone shot on Thursday.

My blood counts looked good

The doc was completely open to my request to get off of the Neurontin and replace it with supplements.  He reviewed my list of supplements, and okay'd all of them.

I started that day with taking one less pill.  I will do that for a while, then call his nurse and tell her when I step it down by another, leaving me on one a day until I see him again in early June.

I am not sure why it has to be weaned down like that, but there must be a reason.  It IS an anti-seizure drug, so maybe if you stop, you could have a seizure.

Do. Not. Want.

Hopefully, I will start to see a decrease in fatigue and dizziness soon.

It was a good week this past week for getting outside to walk (would have been great for painting, too, but I digress).  

I didn't feel very well back on Monday, so I skipped dance class.  The pollen counts have been really high, and I have been dealing with increased allergy symptoms.

Mostly, though, it was a good week for fitness.

Something really bizarre happened yesterday.  I was home alone (while the painters were here), and someone knocked on the door.

I don't usually answer the door if Dave isn't here, but since the painters were here, I answered it.

It was NOT one of the painters.  It was an inspector from OKC Animal Welfare.  

Someone had called in a complaint about us having wild cats in our back yard, saying that we are baiting the feral cats, and holding them captive.

Really???

The first thing out of my mouth was "we do TNR"  (We trap them, get them fixed, release them back into their environment, and feed and water them so they can live out their lives).  

He recognized the name of the place where we take them to get them fixed.  He didn't know they do free spay/neuter for TNR on Saturdays, or that they do $5 rabies shots and ear tips.

The inspector smiled, and nodded, and took down my name.  We chatted about what we do; that we're trying to HELP our neighborhood.  

He asked how many cats we have, on average, in our yard.  When I said "three or four," he rolled his eyes.  WE are clearly NOT the problem.

He asked to inspect our messy back yard (there's a pile of brush that needs to get dragged out to the street for pick up, and all of our plant pots and patio stuff is out in the middle, so it's away from the house and shed for the painters), where we supposedly trap and abuse the cats.

He saw the feeding boxes (we got plastic tubs, cut holes in them to keep the rain and birds off of the food), and he saw that there's no way we can "hold" the cats captive in the yard!

I explained to him that we improved our shed so that they can't get under it anymore, and we blocked their access to the space under the house and the HVAC unit.

I told him where the cats COME FROM, under (or over) the fence in the back corner.  They come from that house on the other side of the block, where there are 20 or so of them.

I told him we've gone over and talked to the lady over there.  I asked if anyone called in a complaint about her, and he didn't know.  

SHE is the problem, not us.  Her neighbor has TNR'd a few of the cats that mostly stay on that side.  We've seen the trap, and have seen the snipped ear tips, on some of our occasional back yard visitors.

The inspector said that people don't understand what TNR is, and they don't understand how bad the feral cat situation is.

He recorded the complaint against us as UNFOUNDED, but he couldn't tell me who called us in.  He said if he knew, he would tell me.

I hope they called the complainer back and explained that we are doing this FOR THE BENEFIT of our neighborhood.

Okay, we are getting too late of a start on our day.  I made a yummy breakfast, but now I really need to get showered and figure out what I NEED to get done today, and what I will have TIME TO ENJOY today.

Oh, and happy Mother's Day to anyone out there who celebrates it.

Happy May Day

When I was a kid, my Grandma taught me about leaving May Baskets on the front steps of the ladies in our neighborhood.

It was a different kind of "Ding Dong Ditch" game.  I'd pick violets from the yard, which were always in bloom on May Day, and put them in little containers.  There were probably some dandelions in the mix, and lily of the valley, if it was blooming, too.

Then, I'd quietly place them on the step, ring the door bell or knock, and run away.

She said this was something she did when she was a little girl, way back in the first years of the 20th century (she was born in 1900).

Not too much to report on this week.

My eyelashes have started to grow in.  Just like before, however, one of them is turned inward and has been irritating my eye for 4 days so far.

The body hair has started to grow in, as well.  Gotta make sure I have shaving gel and blades on hand!  It's weird to be so excited about having to shave my legs again!

My 54th birthday came and went last week.  I got a bunch of Cubs related gifts from my sister and husband.  It was definitely a theme!

The laundry weasel has already stolen one of my new Cubs socks.  *grumble*

Dave and I went out for a very nice dinner because I had a $25 coupon for the restaurant.

We have changed our habits over the past few weeks.  We are drinking a lot less alcohol, exercising more,  and eating a much cleaner diet.  We are back on track.

Dave has lost 5 pounds, and I still have lost none.

This Thursday, I go for my 6 week check up at the Cancer clinic, will get my bone treatment shot, and will see the doc and present my argument for switching to some new supplements instead of increasing the Neurontin.

This visit to the clinic will also involve getting my chemo port flushed, which has to be done every 6 to 8 weeks.  SO, I will take my numbing cream with me to work, put it on and cover it with plastic wrap (like I did before every chemo treatment), and ask them to take my labs through it while they're at it.

In other news, we have started storm season in Oklahoma.  There have been two days of severe storms in the state this past week, and the really surprising thing is that my employer has released us early, with pay, both times, so that we can get home before the storms hit.

The storms have then proceeded to not hit IN the metro area, which is a good thing.

I wonder what changed, though.

It was like this when I first started.  We were let go early when the weather was threatening, either winter or summer.

Then, that stopped last winter, and we were told that EVEN THOUGH THE OFFICE WAS BEING CLOSED, we could only leave if we used our paid time off hours.

Last winter, I was in the beginning of cancer treatment, and had to save every possible paid hour off to go to doctor appointments and chemo, so I was left alone in the office a couple of times during snow and ice storms.

Now we're back to being paid if the office closes.

My boss's boss is nothing if not inconsistent!

Whatever...I have been glad to leave early for no reason a couple of times this past week!!

The weather forecast is dry this coming week, so our house will finally get painted.

I will post some before and after pictures HOPEFULLY next weekend.

This coming week should bring the free cleaning service around again, so I am looking forward to that.  It's SO nice!!

Happy May Day!