Friday, April 16, 2010

Fifth Chemo!

I'm in the full recline position in the hospital bed now, getting the "bad" drug (the one I had the allergic reaction to) over the next four and a half hours or so.

Everything is going fine. I have a nice nurse from my old unit Four East, her name is Anne and she remembers me from when I was inpatient. Unfortunately I don't remember her...she was a first shifter who used to come into my room first thing in the AM when I was groggy.

Anyhoo....Sandy is here and has decided to stay with me through the whole process, even though she has to work her last third shift tonight. Monday she starts her new job. She did go in for an hour or so yesterday to start learning stuff for the new job and she really liked it. I am so happy for her.

I've been busy this week. Went to get my lab work done at Backus on Wednesday, early AM and then I went down to L&M and saw Dr. DiSilvestro. Then I was feeling good and went over to visit Ellen. She's doing good and looks good. We had a nice visit and made plans for me to come visit again when I go down to L&M in three weeks.

Then I went to Chester's Barbecue and got myself a pulled pork sandwich. I took it up to Jean's (she didn't want a sandwich) and visited with her and the kids, who are on vacation and were there having lunch. After that I was tired so I reclined in the living room and took a little nap. That was refreshing and so I hit the road to home, stopping for gas along the way.

Thursday I cleaned the house, downstairs, changed the sheets and did loads of laundry. OH! Tuesday I hauled out the ironing board and picked out outfits for Sandy to wear to work....I had to iron shirts and slacks and hang them in the closet, organized according to what goes with what. Put together quite a few outfits. I'm getting good at this.

Wednesday night (I know I'm jumping around) I used my Skype set-up to call Mary Anne Hunt in Florida. I saw that she had called a few times and I missed them. So, we had a nice video call and got to see each other for the first time in about 30 years!! YIKES!! She looks great and I got to see Fred too....vaguely in the background...and I got to see her dog, Sassy. I showed her Bubbles and Rocky. It was great chatting with her and catching up on things.

Then, after I hung up with her, the house phone rang. It was Carol, calling from Tennessee, using her Skype. We had a nice chat too. I have never met her in person, but we hit it off immediately as I knew we would. Got to talk to Jim too and that was wonderful! We'll do a video call someday soon.

I have to get Birgitta and Mats to get Skype, so we can talk to each other and see each other. It's great! I HATE talking on the phone, but being able to see the person makes it feel more like a chat, not a phone call. I really like it! AND, it's free! How can you mess with that?

I got our tickets for Sweden ordered....two of the last nine available for the flight we wanted. If we were going now, we wouldn't be getting anywhere...what with the volcano eruption in Iceland grounding all the flights. That's where we will go, to Iceland and then to Copenhagen.

Birgitta has found a good hotel in the city where we can stay for a good price. She is going to get the plane tickets to Stockholm and back and the hotel reservation. This hotel sounds nice and it's very close to the palace and to the Old Town...so if I get tired, I can hike back to the hotel and take a rest if I need to and the others can continue their touring.

Everything is going well. I am so lucky. One more chemo and I'm done, hopefully for good. I'm keeping good thoughts in my head and heart about that.

Well...I'm going to doze for awhile....nighty night!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Busy day again today! Sandy worked last night, so I snuck out of bed at 10:30, took a shower and started the day, lounging in the chaise out in the back yard (the deck was still off-limits due to the Thompson's Water Seal)sipping my protein shake and reading The Day.

Oh, Bubbles always gets me up in the AM....she climbs up from under the covers and bounces off my chest (almost always managing to launch herself from the port I have installed in my chest), then she gets a toy in her mouth and walks up and down me while making these weird little moaning, whimpering noises.

Of course, once I get up and start getting dressed, she goes back to bed!

I fall for it every day...and today was no exception.

Anyway, when Sandy got up we headed up to Colchester to have her car serviced. I didn't think I would make it, I was so tired as we were leaving. However, Sandy gave me a jolt of adrenalin when she almost ran into the back of a car while we were getting near the highway. She said she did it on purpose to give me the jolt. I don't know, but it does seem that I perked up after that incident!

After the car was done we went to Harry's for cheeseburgers. Delicious!

When we were coming home, we saw that the Young Marines were handing out flags, for the funeral procession for Kyle Griffin, who was killed in Afghanistan, and whose funeral is today. Sandy and I went home, I tossed on nicer clothes, got some flags and went down to RTE 138. At first there was just a handful of us and as we waited, more and more people from the neighborhood came down. I took lots of pictures and will post them on my Facebook page.

There were loads of state police cars escorting the funeral procession, and the Freedom Riders were there...maybe close to 100 motorcycles. It was very touching.

Frank and Jean came up to watch the dogs (so Lily didn't have to go in the kennel) while we were in Colchester. Frank fixed the lights out by the garden pond. He also put up the new huge umbrella that Jean bought us for the deck...it's a ten foot umbrella on a stand that sits in the corner of the deck....it's more like a canopy! AWESOME!!! Can't wait to use it this summer when it gets so damned hot out there.

Now I'm pretty pooped. Will watch some of my recorded shows, "Pacific" probably and then I'm hitting the hay early. Tomorrow I'm going to try to vacuum around here and be of some use.

Nighty night!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Well, I've had some busy days...going out Friday and yesterday.

Friday I had to get my bloodwork done. They had told me that I had to go to central registration at Backus in order to get my bloodwork done. So I traipsed over there and tried to register. They couldn't find my standing orders. I mentioned that I usually go to the MOB blood draw station...they said, "oh they must have them there."

Then I asked, "don't I have to come here before I can go to MOB to get my blood drawn?" They said NO! They didn't pull the registrar from MOB! DOH! They hadn't communicated properly to the MOB people...figures!

So I schlep over to MOB and get my blood drawn. What a relief to know that I can still go there and don't have to go to the main hospital first! WHEW!!! Of course, I don't have to go that many more times...but who knows? I don't want to jinx myself by being too cocky!

After I had my blood work done I went to Doc's Barbecue and got the pulled pork this time. It was good, but not great. It was mushy and had some hard bits of gristle in it. I'll try the ribs the next time, before I issue a final verdict. The people there are wonderful...so friendly. I'm hoping that things improve a bit. The food isn't bad...just not fantastic.

Yesterday I went to Lynne's to meet Franklin, the new addition to the family. Franklin is a two year old (maybe) bassett hound-labrador mix. They call them "bassadors" so David came up with the idea to name the dog after a famous ambassador. They chose Franklin, for Ben Franklin. I love the name....and I love Franklin. He is so sweet, he looks like a small yellow lab with a hound face (and ears). So cute!

I got to meet Lynne's friend Terry, whose name I have heard for years, but have never met. She was there too and we had a nice, brief visit. Then I felt myself starting to fade, so I hopped in the car, came home and crashed with a two hour nap.

Today Janet and Barry came over in the AM to bring me a clipping from yesterday's Norwich Bulletin, Wini was honored as the Newsmaker of the Day, for her recent award for 25 years of service as a docent at the Pink House. They had a nice picture of her and a nice write-up about her career in education and mentioned that she is married to Bob Miller. Nice.

Then Anne Masterson came over to pick up the two big boxes and one big bag of books that I'm donating to the Otis Library book sale, being held next weekend. Bummer, I can't go as I'm hoping to have chemo on Friday. Last year I went and got a lot of great books. If you go, bring bags to haul your loot away!

Now I just finished watching the Sox beat the Royals and flipping back and forth between them and the Masters tournament. I love this time of year! Jacoby got hurt in the ninth inning...he got kneed in the chest---hoping that it's a bruise and not a broken rib. He left the game clutching his chest and looking pained.

I have shepherd's pie cooking in the oven. It should be done about now, so I'll sign off and get the plates out. I'll say:

Nighty night!

Oh! "Treme" starts tonight on HBO. I've got it all set to record all episodes and will report here on how it is. I loved "Homicide Life on the Streets" and "The Wire" the two shows that these guys have put on before. "Treme" is about post flood New Orleans....can't wait to see it.