Onward again....

 Scan day on Monday took four hours, total.  SO MUCH WAITING!! 

I don't particularly like it when they send me to the hospital for scans, instead of the cancer center.  On Monday, the hospital was like an ant hill.  It was SO busy, and being among all of that busy-ness was exhausting.

I came home and did my strength training unit for the study anyway, though.

Then, I had my bone treatment at the cancer center on Wednesday.  

The treatment itself takes 15 minutes, and I was supposed to meet with the dietician concurrently. She was supposed to come to the infusion center to talk with me while I was hooked up to the IV.

Except that my treatment didn't start until an HOUR after my appointment time.

The treatment went fine, but the dietician never showed up, even after checking in with my infusion nurse to confirm that I was FINALLY in the chair.

Because they had run so late, she must have had a scheduling conflict.  SO, after my treatment, I went downstairs to her office and explained out front what had happened.

The receptionist said that the dietician would be out to see me "in a minute."

Another hour went by.  SO MUCH WAITING!!  I finally got to chat with her for about 5 minutes, which really was all that was needed.  She encouraged my increased iron-rich foods, but also comforted me with the fact that my hemoglobin count is still normal.

..... and we FINALLY got to go home, after being there for THREE HOURS for what was supposed to be a 15 minute appointment.

So, that was a total of SEVEN HOURS of waiting this past week.  It's NEVER been that bad before.

Anyway, while I was sitting in the cancer center, waiting, my oncologist called and left a voice mail that my scans looked GOOD, and that we will just keep doing what we are doing.

So, that was a big relief!  It was funny that she called while I was sitting right there. You know.  Waiting. 

Anyway, that day, we got home so late that I did NOT do my strength training. I was too tired from all of the waiting.... it's SO aggravating.

On Thursday, I went ahead and did the yoga unit that I normally would do on Thursday, AND the strength training unit that I DIDN'T do on Wednesday, so that I felt satisfied that I was caught up.

There is no pressure in this study program, at all, but I put pressure on myself to stay current with the tasks, so that I feel like I am really participating, and improving my health at the same time.

I really can tell a difference already!

My zoom meeting on Friday with the exercise physiologist went really well. He is very encouraging, and takes everything I say about my experiences with the study seriously.

He is going to pass on my comments that the yoga videos might benefit from being re-done.  They are not interactive, since this program is designed for participants to do everything in the safety of their own homes (due to stage 4 cancer patients having potential mobility and immunity issues).

I said that not all of us are young yoga instructors (haha), and that most of us have ports installed in our chests, and many of us have bone metastases that prevent us from twisting, etc.   The yoga videos are, in places, far too challenging even for me, who has practiced yoga on and off for years.

There are many poses in the videos that I just can't do, or that I can't do with proper form and support, and those things can't be addressed if the teacher is not live in the room with the student.  My concern is that other participants who are not familiar with yoga will try too hard, and hurt themselves.

Hopefully, they will re-do the yoga videos for the next group of study participants, and use more of the yoga practices that are commonly referred to as restorative or "yin."  These poses are far less intense, and allow the body to melt into them for ease and healing.   There is no "pretzeling" in restorative yoga!

I am glad my week full of waiting and appointments is over!!  All I have next week is the in-office visit with my oncologist to discuss the scans.

In other news, my new walking shoes, combined with the inserts from the podiatrist, are REALLY helping my foot!  This is a relief, because he said if it didn't start to get better, I'd need to go back and get x-rays, etc.

We had more dry, hot weather this past week, and today, we are under a dust storm watch.  There is a cold front coming, bearing with it potentially 65 mile per hour winds, and a possible dust storm.  There is also a red flag fire warning for almost the entire state.

It's beautiful out this morning, but will be below freezing tonight, with those gusts.

UGH!  The wind is already starting to kick up.

Yesterday, I got all of my chores done inside, and then mowed half of the back yard (the other half doesn't need it yet).  It was a very active day, and I felt great!

Got in the hot tub after dinner, which was a DELICIOUS new to me recipe for linguine with clam sauce.  Clams are high in iron, so they fit into my diet modifications mentioned last week.  Shrimp are high in iron too.

The shrimp dish that I made earlier in the week was also delicious, but I still don't like shrimp, HAHA!  SO, Dave got all of those left overs.

Making pot roast today, and will make colcannon and a nice steak for St. Patrick's Day next week, which is also the last day of this chemo cycle.

The only chore I do on Sundays, usually, is to wash towels.  I'll also do the next lesson in the ongoing spiritual course I am taking.

Hope anyone reading this has a good week!  Best of luck to dear friend, E, who is having surgery!! We wish her swift, and comfortable healing! 

Sunny Sunday

 The good news is that my potential stress fracture is just tendinitis!  My podiatrist recommended different walking shoes, so I went and got fitted by a pro at the locally owned running and fitness store.

The new shoes are super comfortable, but I am still having pain, so I still need to let it rest more than I would like.

The not so good news is that my red blood cell count continues to go down.  It's not alarmingly low, but it's dropped every time I have had labs since starting this chemo. 

I was approved to continue with the chemo pill, so my doctor is not concerned, but I am keeping an eye on my diet, and have added more high iron foods to the menu.

When I get my bone treatment on Wednesday of next week, I will have a concurrent appointment with the dietician, and will discuss this with her at that time.

We got a grand total of about 10 minutes of soaking rain over the past week.  Not enough to do much good, but it DID wash Sammie's ashes into the ground, so we don't see them anymore.

The case with Fed Ex over her death is still pending, but has been escalated.  Dave calls every few days to ask why it hasn't been resolved yet.

He will be calling tomorrow.

I have a full docket of scans tomorrow.... CT chest, abdomen, and pelvis, with and without contrast, and a nuclear bone scan.  Ugh.

I will be there for at least 2 hours, due to the injection required for the bone scan.  I think it needs two hours to run through my body before they can do the scan.

Fortunately, I can eat breakfast, because my first scan isn't until noon, and then I can eat lunch between the CTs and the bone scan.

Unfortunately, this should result in a huge bill from the clinic.  Yay.

Then, after the scans Monday, and treatment Wednesday, I have my next zoom with the exercise physiologist for the wellness study on Friday.

I can bring him up to date on the foot/shoe story, and on how I am doing with the yoga and weight workouts.

I've also lost an average of about one pound per week due to being more active, and building muscle slowly and deliberately.

Anyway it will be a busy week, and I am tired.  Oh well.... I can rest as often as I need to, now.  It's quite a luxury, after struggling for years to keep working while fatigued from various treatment protocols.

This evening, we are going to celebrate our friend's birthday.  

He and his wife are the friends who come for Christmas Eve every year.  We have not been invited to their house since the power outage of Oct./Nov. 2020, when they let us come take showers and do laundry, so it will be nice. 

I am off to do a load of laundry, and then some yoga.  Have a good week!

A quiet week

 After all of the grief lately, and the utter trauma of last Saturday, this past week has been quiet.

I am a few days into my break from chemo, and my guts are just fine.  No waterfall diarrhea.  I'll go for my every three weeks labs tomorrow or Tuesday.

I see the podiatrist on Wednesday.

Dave has a case open with Fed Ex, but no resolution yet.  He will call them again tomorrow.  We are hoping that the driver is at least reprimanded, and that they repay us for the vet bill.

In the meantime, though, Dave's forgotten annual bonus came through (for 2 months of last year), so that helped us recoup the money on this side.  That was a big relief, and a VERY nice surprise.

We remembered that he waited until March to retire so that he would get the bonus, no matter how small.

We've been hearing that it's supposed to rain and rain and rain here, starting yesterday.  Not one drop yet, and the sun is out.

Hopefully, we will get some rain at some point in the next few days.  The forecasters keep saying we're in for a drought-breaking soak, but I won't believe it until I can go out and dance in the puddles, which I often do.

In the meantime, my daffodils are very happy, not having been thwarted by the freeze that we had after they started blooming.

The back yard is lush with non-native, but lovely, spring time plants, such as henbit and veronica.  Veronica is SO very pretty, with its tiny lavender colored flowers.

It's very strange to be out in the back yard without Sammie.  Strange, and hard. She loved us so, especially Dave.

I got all of my chores done yesterday, and today, we will be draining, cleaning, and refilling our little hot tub.

Given, of course, that it's not pouring rain.

Have a good week.