Technically........

 ......it's autumn, but the weather sure doesn't seem to have noticed.

It IS cooler in the mornings, which is nice, but the afternoons are hot.  It has been in the low 90s most days this past week.

Yuck.  I'm OVER IT!  HAHA... not that my being over it effects anything other than my frustration level.

Did I update you on the new windows?  I don't think I did.

Most of them were installed, but three had manufacturing flaws, so the installer refused to put them in, and returned them to Lowe's almost two weeks ago.

Dave finally got a call this past Friday, and the re-made ones won't be ready until mid November, so the window project remains incomplete.

As mentioned previously, we figured SOMETHING would go wrong, because it has with every "batch" of windows.  Sigh....
But, at least the ones that were installed all fit properly, function properly, and look great!

In other news, I still have a slight cough, mostly in the mornings, but have been feeling much more "back to normal" this past week.

A local friend of mine, who I have not seen in person since before we left for Chicago, has had the same kind of thing.... weird. Hers lingered for days, too.

My bone treatment went fine on Thursday, though it took almost 2 hours for a 15 minute infusion.

The good news is that I did NOT have the pervasive joint and bone pain afterward, like I did the first time.  

I DID have two days of increased hip pain, just on the left side, which I will monitor the next time.

I have also been concentrating on doing LOTS of yoga, and my p/t exercises, every day, so I could easily have caused that pain myself.

The yoga and p/t has been helping to reduce my daily pain levels tremendously, for the most part, but once in a while, I have a set back, so it's hard to tell if that's what that was, or if it was the Zometa.  Since it was just on one side, my thought is that it was something I did.

(one of the warnings with this medication is hip pain)

Today, I woke up with zero pain, and only have slight pain now, so that's encouraging.  I need to be taking less ibuprofen, in order to monitor my heart rate accurately, and determine if I need to see my cardiologist.

I don't take THAT MUCH, but my body has always been sensitive to medications. 

We have no plans, or appointments, this coming week, and the forecast shows that the daily highs will be a bit less hot, so maybe we will go woods walking one morning.

Maybe take a drive out to a state park.  We shall see.

I did better this past week regarding feeling at loose ends.  Having appointments helped (blood draw, then treatment). 

Feeling healthier helped, too. 

Wishing you, Gentle Reader, a good week, and a lovely welcome to October.

The path forward

 This was my first week without a clear focus since retiring, and it's been pretty difficult.

Other than the spiritual course I enrolled in, I have no direction or purpose, at the moment, and, combining that with recovering from whatever bug it was that I had, it's been a challenge.

SO, this is why I decided, early on, to NOT volunteer anywhere until after the first of the year.  I need to learn how to just ... be....

Perhaps I will set myself a goal of making necklaces for my family for the holidays.... we shall see.

Speaking of the bug I had, my sister went to the doctor this past week for a bladder infection, and she told the doctor about how weak and tired she had felt the week we were visiting.

(She, her husband, and daughter had gotten back from a week in San Francisco the day before we arrived, and the whole time we were at their house, my sister was super tired and disinterested.)

When she asked about that, her doctor said that she was probably dealing with a bug of some kind (not necessarily related to the bladder infection, because it was a over week later before that set in), but she never took her temperature, so didn't know.

That is likely the source of whatever it was that I came home with.

Unfortunately, now she feels even worse about not having spent as much time with us as we all would have liked... sigh.

It took a full ten days for me to stop seeing my temperature going up and down.  I had several bouts of night sweats, chills, and a poor appetite.  Near the end, I started to get a dry, tickly cough, but nothing severe or productive. There was certainly no shortness of breath or any other respiratory symptoms.

It sure was strange.... and it left me devoid of energy.

I am doing better now, though, and got most of my usual chores done yesterday.

There was a gentle rain falling when I woke up this morning, so we didn't go out to the woods, and are, instead, going to have pancakes, banana, and bacon for a late breakfast.

This coming Thursday, I will get my bone treatment, so will go for labs on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I am hoping that the abnormal blood levels that we saw on a regular basis, during Enhertu treatment, will be returning closer to normal now. 

I will be sure to hydrate WELL for a couple of days before having the blood draw.

Wishing my gentle readers a good week, and a pleasant welcome to Autumn!

Sick again.....

If you missed my short, mid week post, and if you care, see the one before this for a brief synopsis of our vacation.

 

A while back (2 years?), we returned from that year's trip to Chicago, and I immediately got sick with some kind of NASTY upper respiratory infection.

I never went to a doctor, because I never got a high fever, but it was, hands down, the sickest I had been as an adult. 

This past Tuesday, I woke up in the hotel with odd aches and pains, after two nights of not sleeping great in strange places.  There was this dull ache in my diaphragm when I would take a deep breath, or yawn.

No other symptoms.

I didn't really think much of it, because I had been having aches and pains all week during our time in Chicagoland.

I attributed all of it to being busy, away from my own bed, and adjusting to being off of chemo, and, as a result, suddenly back into full blown menopause.

Well, on Wednesday, the weird achy diaphragm pain was worse, and, late in the day, I got a slight head ache, so decided to take my temperature.

There it was.... I had a low grade fever.   SO, I took some ibuprofen, went to bed, and hoped for the best.

Sadly, the next day, Thursday, my fever no longer qualified as low grade , so I put a message in for my primary care provider.   The response was relatively quick.... she was only in the office that morning, and would need to see me in person before ordering a walk-in chest xray.  

Of course, she had no appointments available, and would be off into next week.

SO, I forwarded my message to my oncology clinic, and they got me in with the oncology network's "Same Day" clinic.

I'd not been aware of this clinic before, but apparently it's for oncology patients who get sick with things NOT related to treatment.

The Same Day team did a full work up.... chest xray, blood work, urinalysis, and a multi-panel swab test for various respiratory viruses (I had already tested negative for covid).  

EVERYTHING came back normal, except for evidence of dehydration (which I told them up front they would find) so they told me to just rest, force fluids, and ride it out.

By Thursday night, the weird diaphragm pain was completely gone (I still had NO other symptoms), and has not returned.

The PA I saw called me on Friday to check in, and he clarified that I should give it 7 to 10 days to run its course, whatever it is.

I have since developed a dry, tickly cough that happens in "singles" every once in a while, mostly when I try to speak..... Nothing at all worrisome.

I've been drinking 48 to 52 ounces of fluids a day, in the form of decaf iced green tea, water, electrolyte enhanced water, and home made chicken stock. 

The night before last, I had no fever all night (I did not sleep well, so I took my temp at intervals all night), but it came back yesterday.  

Ibuprofen helps lower it, but my doctor is concerned about my elevated heart rate recently, and ibuprofen tends to raise heart rate.

Ugh.

Anyway, by the time I went to bed last night, it was down again, and was "normal" every time I checked it in the night, and was only slightly elevated this morning ..... so hopefully, whatever this is, it is almost over.  

My patience wears thin, after 4 days of rest and fluids, and tomorrow, the window installers are due to arrive.  I NEED to be able to go somewhere for at least part of the day.... like the library, or a book store.

I need to feel well, and NOT need to take a nap, in order to make that kind of escape, HAH!

In other news, Pete started throwing up again yesterday.  I should not have said anything about how he was doing so well for so long.

Fortunately, we have plenty of his medicine, and will start him on it today for a few days, to calm down this flare.

The ONLY thing that has changed is that we got some pro-biotic powder to add to Annabel's food to see if it would help her over - grooming issues.  She, of course, refused to eat it, and Pete ate it instead.  

We did not think it would hurt either of the other cats to have some probiotics in their food.....but maybe there is an ingredient in it that is the same as the Purina Pro Plan that Pete can't tolerate.

Fortunately, PetSmart is pretty good about taking returns.... this stuff was expensive !

Wish us luck with this last push to get the rest of the windows replaced before winter.  

We have NEVER had one set of windows go perfectly with the installation company that Lowe's uses.  Never.  They always have one or two windows that they measured wrong, and have to re-order.

This is the biggest set by far (14 windows), so the margin for them having made an error is much greater.

We do not need this frustration, please... HAHA!

I'm off to make my pint of tea, and to take a shower. Have a good week! 

Missed Two Sundays....

 We went to Illinois for almost a full week with my family and friends. We left OKC on 8/29/2025, and returned to OKC on 9/9/2025.

Our new car was GREAT!  We both felt so much safer in it!  The hybrid engine did amazingly well on gas mileage, and we never felt like we were in danger.

We took three days to travel on each end of the trip, and took our time, visiting friends, and cool towns.

We had a nice Helfrich family cook-out on Labor day (only my brother's son- and his girlfriend- were missing), and I got to see a few friends (sadly, not many were interested, or able, to meet up with us, and one of them had the date wrong, and missed our dinner together).

We got to eat all of the things (thin crust pizza, deep dish pizza, Italian beef, Chicago style hot dogs, and REAL GREEK FOOD), and we got to go to a great Cubs game.

My heart is full.... I really needed this time with people who love me, know me, and understand me.

Granted, I have friends in Oklahoma....some very good ones.... but there is nothing like family, and friends who have known you for most of your life.

ALSO....our pet sitters confirmed that Pete never threw up pink stomach juices the whole time we were gone!  The food change has successfully calmed down his digestive system..... and we are SOOOO relieved! 

I was right all along!! YES!!!

It's been almost a year since he started with these issues, and it's been a source of so much stress.  I can't adequately express how happy we are!

I will post again this Sunday, as usual, if there's anything interesting to say, HAHA!