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! 

New routines... or not....

 SO far, retirement has been kind of busy!

We bought our hoped-for new car on Monday....WHEEE!  

It is a red, 2025 Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid.  There were only 4 in the Oklahoma City area that were not out of our price range (had WAY more bells and whistles than this one does),  and this one was the only one with the interior color Dave wanted.

We invested extra money in WeatherTech floor mats, and a dash cam, which was installed on Friday.

Both of us have been driving it, though Dave has driven it more, and we agree that adjusting to something SO MUCH bigger than our Ford Focus has been pretty easy!

I love that I can see everything around the vehicle, and that it sits up so much higher.

So, now we are starting to plan our road trip to Chicagoland!  YAY!

Hopefully, our auto case settlement money will come through soon, too, so we can have a little fun money for the trip.

I had my first NON-CHEMO treatment this past week.  The bone medication causes bone pain for sure, when administered on its own (without the usual dose of IV steroid that came with the chemo).  

The night of the second day was rough.... still having insomnia from the prednisone, and then that pain... yikes.

But, yesterday, the pain was gone, and now I know what to expect.   My next treatment isn't until Sept. 25th!

This coming week, I will have my follow up chest CT scan on Thursday, and the week after that, I will see the PA.  

THEN, I get a break from appointments!

In desperation, this past week, I messaged my doctor's office on MyChart and begged for mercy with this prednisone process.  

I told them that I have not slept more than a few hours a night since the beginning, in mid-July, and that the doctor had let me taper off more quickly near the end the last time we did this.

They replied that, YES, I could reduce my dose more quickly, over fewer days, and I started that process a few days ago.... and the night before last, I FINALLY SLEPT!

It was strange to sleep "normally," after so long, and I actually had kind of a "sleep hang over" yesterday.

BUT then, last night, I was back to being awake from about midnight to about 6 am... ugh.   HOPEFULLY, though, that will end very, very soon!

Today, I will take my last dose of 10mg, and they told me to just skip the final tapering days of 5 mg.

GLADLY!

In other news, I have registered for another course in Pagan spirituality, and look forward to getting started on it.

I need some kind of routine in my life, and having that to focus on will help me to get started with that.

There will be volunteering somewhere, eventually, too...just.... not yet.  I need time to decompress, and get to know myself again.

We never really got much of a break from the heat over the past week, but now they're saying maybe this coming week.

We shall see! 

Wishing you a good week!

More good news! Oh, and MORE good news....

 While the chemo caused lung issues again (symptom free), the GOOD news is that... I AM DONE WITH CHEMO!

At my appointment last week, my doctor announced that, since there is NO ACTIVE CANCER in my body right now, the best course of action is to cease the Enhertu treatment, continue the bone treatment, and do another scan in three months.

I was so happy that I burst into tears.

My next bone treatment is this coming week, and after that, we will switch that treatment back to every eight weeks, as it was prior to starting Enhertu in January of 2023.

AHHHHH!!!  I am so relieved and happy!

So far, she is NOT putting me on any of the hormone blocking medications, either, which pleases me.  They cause me SUCH awful side effects.  But, time will tell on that.

I will still go for my follow up chest CT on the 21st of August, and will see the PA on the 26th.

In other news, Dave met with his financial guy on Friday, and we are good to go to purchase a new vehicle.

We are SO EXCITED!  I am going to get my Toyota Rav4! (If we can find one, HAHA... they sell so fast, no dealers can keep them on the lot)

We ALSO FINALLY got a call from the attorney for our auto accident case, and they are going to settle at last.  We should have a big, fat check in the mail some day soon.

AND, on the advice of my financial guy, I canceled the life insurance policy my dad took out for me in August of 1962, and will get another check in the mail for that.

Plus, my last pay check hit the bank, with all of my unpaid PTO hours on it.  

Phew!

I got my work retirement account paperwork submitted for roll over, and I got a call from the Social Security Administration about confirming my retirement date, and some additional paperwork that is needed.  My first SS check will come at the end of September.

Hopefully, my IRA income will start before that, but, if it doesn't, we'll be fine.

On Friday, some friends of ours, who are traveling from Texas to Ohio, stopped in Oklahoma City, and let us feed and shelter them for the night.  

It was a GREAT reason to continue cleaning the room that was my work-from-home office for five and a half years, and re-claim it as our guest room/multipurpose room!

It was SO NICE to have guests under our roof, and to cook for them!

Yesterday, we attended Oklahoma City Pagan Pride, and they came with us.  It was nice to be able to get out to that event again.  I've been to all of them ever held here, and am SO glad they moved it indoors as of last year.

I found a GORGEOUS pendant that I could not resist purchasing, too.

Today, I will get back into that room and go through some books to take to Half Price to sell, and set things up to start going through my beads and supplies.

I am down to 30mg a day of the prednisone, and am STILL not sleeping well.  I typically make it until around 3 am, and then I'm awake for 3 or 4 hours, and then doze a little before giving up.  Some nights are much worse than that.

It's a blessing that I have not had to be working the past week, but it sure was hard before work ended!

We should have a storm system moving through tonight, and the rumor is that we will see a break in the intense heat.  This past week has been horrible.

If it happens, we will have a few days in the 90s instead of low 100s.... MAYBE we can go to the woods one morning.

Have a wonderful week, Dear Reader! 

I'm Freeeeee!

 It's done.... I'm clocked out of work for good, going permanent status 10 - 7, over and out!

(That's emergency services dispatch lingo for "unit out of service.")

I was EXTREMELY touched, and quite surprised, by the accolades, kind words, and gifts from my co- workers, and management, on Thursday.

After years of being ignored, disrespected, and both directly, and passive-aggressively, threatened with job loss (mostly at my weakest moments), it was really nice to have people say how much my skills, knowledge, help, and presence-through thick and thin- had been noticed, and had been important.

They decorated the board room nicely, got me a DELICIOUS cake (Oh my gosh, I need to find out where it came from, because DANG!), beautiful flowers, and there was my favorite kind of party punch, with lime sherbet, ginger ale, and pineapple juice.

There was also the presentation of a glass ... thingie... I am not sure what they're called, HAH.  It's not a plaque, because it stands up, and it's not a "participation trophy," again HAH.... but it commemorates my 12 years of of excellence and dedicated service, and wishes me a happy retirement.

I was doing fine until that was presented to me, in front of everyone. THEN, I cried.  Cried many times, in fact.  I was exhausted, it was hot, I was uncomfortable.... but oh well... the tears flowed.

The CEO (who was hired after me), the director, and the team supervisor all spoke, and a few co-workers did, too.   

My kindness was recognized, too, and that was the best part.

Being kind has been one of my life's daily goals.   Even my business is called Kind Heart. Not that I have any clients anymore....but maybe that will change now.

I got lots of hugs, some lovely, thoughtful gifts, and got to bring home the rest of the cake!

Friday, we got up and took Dave for a blood draw.  He made it through, with me holding his hand, and the phlebotomist was very careful to be sure he was alright before we left.

Then, we went to Costco as soon as it opened.  What a LUXURY to be there on a week day morning!  That will become the norm, now.

A friend came over for a while, and I did some of my chores.

This weekend has been about decompressing, though I have also done all of my usual chores, and made a fantastic dinner last night.  

Yes, I remembered to write it down! 

There's been a BLESSED break from the heat, and it's raining today. LOVELY!

Dave got the ivy cut away from the laundry room windows yesterday, and I made many delicious margaritas for us.

(maybe a few too many, as I woke up in the night with a head ache)

The rest of the replacement windows have been ordered, and paid for via our home equity line of credit.  That will be a major project, when the day comes, but it just needs to be finished.

Fortunately, HELOC interest rates are VERY low, so our monthly payment will be quite manageable.

My doctor's office called and scheduled me for a sooner-than-expected office visit.  The doctor is wanting to go over a new treatment schedule or something.  I'm not really sure, since, initially upon the scan results, she said we would hold for 6 weeks (2 cycles), and I was to see her Sept. 2nd.

So, that's Tuesday.  I will get the chest xray she wants me to have that day, too, since I WAS going to go on Wednesday anyway.  It's nice that I can do that on a walk in basis.

I have been having an awful time with the steroids (especially at the maximum dosage, which is, actually the maximum recommended dosage over all), so she also let me start tapering that off this past week.  

I took 60 mg for the first full week, and now have done 50mg for 5 days.  Today will be my first of five days at 40mg, etc, etc..... 

I finally got a little more sleep the past two nights.  

On the 60mg, I was only sleeping maybe an hour or two a night, and having horrible esophageal pains (even with taking a strong anti-heartburn medication every day in order to AVOID that pain).  

I got 45 minutes of sleep the night (morning, actually) before my party.  It was terrible.  I had to train the manager and supervisor that day, and I was SOOO tired.

Last night, I made it until 3 am!  That's a VAST improvement.  That might have been partially because of the margaritas, though....HAH!

Anyway, Dave has a doctor appointment on Tuesday too, around the same time as mine, but in a different building. He will drop me off for mine, then go to his, and come back and pick me up.

We might get up and go to the woods in the morning, and then on Tuesday morning, we are going to go get pedicures.  

BUT, then we need to stop spending luxury money for a while.... I still have no idea what my income will be, or when it will start, so I am nervous about that kind of thing for now.

My last pay check will be big, though, and I will set it aside.

We are still hoping to hear something SOON about the auto accident case being settled.  We'd really like to have those funds to put toward buying a new vehicle, before heading to Illinois the next time!

I am not willing to take another dangerous highway road trip in a small, silver car that no one can see, apparently.

So that's me for this week.  Have a nice Sunday, and a good week!

Addendum:  Unfortunately, the cake was from Sam's Club.  We have boycotted WalMart/Sam's for over 20 years, and aren't going to stop now.  OH well.  Don't need to eat cake anyway, HAHA!