No prisoners!

 My dear, long time friend, Cathy, who passed away last year, said this when herself, or any of her tribe of friends, were facing health challenges.

I completed round one of Trodelvy chemo last week.  The treatment went well, and I have had only slight side effects from the chemo itself, so far.  That could change any minute, though.

The day after, I received my first Neulasta injection.  My chemo nurse counseled me in a method to fight the side effects of this injection, which, you may recall, was the ONE THING that made me call in sick during my first year of chemo.

He suggested taking over the counter pepcid, and clairtin, every day, for five days, to combat the intense flu like symptoms caused by the immune boosting injection.

So far, it has been helping!  It also seemed to reduce my steroid reaction, so that's a plus.

I have been very tired, and headachy, but I have been able to function.  Even went to the gym on Friday, though I did scale things back a bit, and took it easier than usual.

I have been trying to focus on hydration, have been avoiding my nightly glasses of wine, and have been resting when I need to.

Let's hope things stay at about this level, rather than getting worse, as we go along.

I am VERY grateful that I have no more appointments until the 25th, when I see my doctor ahead of starting round two.  During this break, I can focus on recovering from round one.

I am ALSO EXTREMELY GRATEFUL that I am no longer working full time during this process.  This is a new experience for me, and I love being free to just take care of myself, instead of having to fulfill the attendance obligations of my unreasonable former employer.

In other news, I am curious about the number of views my blog has been getting.   The numbers suddenly spiked last week!

Usually, I see an average of maybe 7 to 10 views per post, but now, looking back down the list of posts, there are 20, 30, or even more views.

Do any of my readers know why this might be?  YOU CAN LEAVE COMMENTS, you know!  *wink*

Maybe Blogger updated their tracking, or maybe, for whatever reason, people are suddenly interested in the journey of one cancer patient who lives far away from friends and family, and who keeps a blog to help them all stay informed, and to stay connected when things are good.

Writing one post a week for everyone is easier than updating people one at a time, HAHA!

The weather here has been insufferable, and there is no end in sight.

Every morning, I go out and fill watering dishes, and the bird bath, and we put out bird food.

Our wren babies have started to hatch, which is SUCH a miracle in this horrible weather.  I am enlivened, and cheered, by this magical event taking place right here.

This coming week, Dave has his follow up dentist appointment to get his permanent crown, and we will get to the gym, as per usual.  

No other pressures threaten our daily functioning, which is such a lovely feeling.

Here's hoping all of you (apparently there are a lot of you) have a wonderful week.

Community

 Our house guests are on the road, and our weekend was comfortable and successful!

I had no adverse reactions to my first part of cycle 1 of the new chemo, so was able to do all of the things I wanted to do, like making food for the guests, making sure of every possible comfort for them, cleaning, and going to the Pagan Pride event yesterday.

I have been to every one of these events since moving here, and it is a great pleasure to me to see the community growing by leaps and bounds....especially in OKLAHOMA.

The group I belong to was one of the sponsors, and though I wasn't able to extend any energy to volunteer, it was a pleasure to show up and support my new friends.

Dave did okay with the noise and crowds, but ultimately, he had enough, and we had to leave.  We DID get to see our friend perform, and I got to see some other friends here and there.

Didn't buy anything this year, though, other than a piece I had commissioned from an artist a few months ago that was pre-planned.

It has been extremely hot and dry here, and the grass is suddenly brown.  Which is good, in a way, because it's too hot to mow.

My treatment day last Wednesday was extremely long.  

We were at the clinic for something like 7 and 1/2 hours all together, because they have to do the first treatment very slowly.  

They do this, and they observe me the whole time, to be sure there isn't an immediate bad reaction.  I'm given a bell to ring, in case anything happens while a nurse isn't actively watching me.  

The first hour was spent waiting for a blood test result that has to be run before each infusion.  (There will be an hour wait at the beginning every time I go.  Whee. )

Anyway, the steroid sweats that night were the worst I have ever had, I think, though I DID make sure to tell my doctor's PA that the dose needed to be what it was previously.  

Even the reduced dose caused me to soak through three sets of pajamas, and my sheets and pillows.

I got very little sleep, so I was VERY grateful that our guests were able to delay their arrival, so I could mostly take it easy on Thursday.

After the steroids wore off, though, I actually have been feeling almost normal.  My mouth feels.... different..... more dry, and sensitive, so we will see how that goes.

Part 2 of cycle 1 is Wednesday, and it it only scheduled to be 3 hours, but we shall see.  The day after, I have to go back for the Neulasta injection, which is just a shot in the arm. 

(Neulasta was the ONE THING that made me feel really bad during my first year of chemo)

I am just as pleased as punch that I did not have any ill effects this weekend.   Things may change going forward, but, for today, I am grateful.

We plan to return to the gym tomorrow, and I don't have to be at the clinic until 1pm on Wednesday, so we can go on Wednesday, too!  

I am off to continue putting things back where they were, HAHA..... (taking stuff out of the closets, where it had to be stashed to make room for guests).

Have a great week! 

Respite

 This weekend, we have had a break from the intense heat.  It's been nice to be able to open the windows in the morning, yesterday and today.  

Our wrens' nest has 4 eggs now, and we have seen momma going into the nest, so it was NOT abandoned as we had thought over the past week! 

There were also two butterflies on the prairie phlox yesterday, which REALLY made me happy.  It's been so hot and dry the past couple of weeks, that we had not seen any pollinators of any kind anywhere in the yard.

The heat met an old record of 108F on Friday, with heat index (how the humidity makes it feel outside) of 113F.

But, then a front came through in the middle of the night (making ALL of my bones hurt), and we woke yesterday to 73F, the coolest morning in a long time!  

Dave got the front yard mowed yesterday, and will do the back today. 

We are both in the process of working through lists of chores to get ready for house guests to arrive next Friday.  Thankfully, they were able to change their plans when we found out that my chemo starts on Wednesday.

I will "attack" the guest room today.  It's become a sort of catch all since I stopped working from home a year ago this past week.  My retirement anniversary was July 31st! 

It's been really nice to not be on any kind of cancer drug for this little stretch of time.  My body needed this break, even if the cancer might be spreading faster at the moment.  
I still feel fine, other than some aches and pains, and we will be hitting the cancer HARD very soon.

Because of the less hot weather this weekend, I've been able to use the grill, so I made burgers last night, and have some new-to-us fish to try tonight.

Neither of us has ever had steelhead trout, and it was on sale, so we are trying it!

We both have multiple appointments this coming week.  Dave sees his cardiologist and the dentist (miracle of miracles), and I have chemo and my own 6 month dental appointment.

The super hot weather returns tomorrow.  Ugh. 

We never made it to the art museum last week, but the exhibit will be there for a while, so we will get there eventually.

Have a good week!