Eyelashes

It’s been a week since I posted, and you’re probably wondering how I’m doing. Usually, if I don’t post anything it’s either because I feel yucky and don’t have anything entertaining to say, or I’m feeling good and am too busy running amok to write. Fortunately, I’m feeling good. Woo hoo!

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At chemo last week, I asked Dr. Birhiray if we could possibly back off the Benadryl a bit so it didn’t make me feel so crazy. He decreased it by half and it worked great—no more cussing, spitting or twitching, and no Ativan required.

I have two treatments left and right now my focus is on not losing any more eyelashes. In order to create the illusion that I still have all my lashes, I got some waterproof mascara. I truly believe this is made from the same stuff as I-70. I have yet to find anything that will remove it, though I haven’t yet tried the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I’m hoping that maybe if I don’t clean it off, it will successfully hold my failing lashes in place until new ones start to sprout. 

Kitchen Aid

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to chemo I go…

Not that I’m really looking forward to it, but I *am* thankful that this last time was way easier than the time before. And, after today I’ll be 3/4 of the way through my treatments. Yea me.

This past weekend we went over to Ohio for my nephew’s wedding. Mini Me was playing harp, so we needed to be there Friday for rehearsal. We stayed in Greenville, which is (*swoon*) the home of the Kitchen Aid mixer factory and store—The Kitchen Aid Experience. Don’t ya know that was the very first place we went. Got some spiffy new attachments for my mixer—I think I have just about everything but the ice cream maker now. I don’t think I really need that. But if they ever come out with the pedicure attachment and the back rub attachment, I’m there, dude!

The wedding wasn’t until 4:30 Saturday, so we had time to check out a museum (Greenville is the home of Annie Oakley) and the historic grist mill very similar to Bridgeton. We had a fun time all around…which is good since Friday was our anniversary. The wedding was very nice and I enjoyed immensely the opportunity to get my groove on at the reception.

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Barb did come through with that pie after all. Ahhh, there’s nothing like a nice, thick layer of guilt, applied publicly, to bring out the best in one’s friends.

 

Taxol

You guys are probably all wondering how chemo went this last week. Well, Taxol didn’t kill me. The steroids I had to take the night before didn’t even keep me awake. However, the Benadryl they put in my drip made me feel like I wanted to climb the walls! It wasn’t really fun, and Hubster kept asking me why I was gripping his arm, but I didn’t even realize I was. I was just feeling very twitchy—like some crazy Tourette’s Syndrome person, except without the shouting random obscenities part. (Although, maybe I’d have felt better if I had.) Chemo nurse Karen gave me some Ativan, which eventually knocked me out, so I was almost dozing by the time I was done.

I’ve had some bone pain from the Taxol–you don’t realize how many little bones are in your feet until they’re all screaming “Ow!” That was mostly over by Sunday. Today I’m feeling good.

Mostly I’m just happy to be feeling like my normal self—not that I’m ever a shining example of normalcy, but my brand of normal works for me. I can even TASTE! Glory! Tasting makes me feel like cooking, which makes me feel like myself, rather than the body-snatched version of me that’s been living here for a few weeks. I’m sure Hubster & Mini Me are enjoying the fact that the alien that was residing here has apparently hopped a mothership for home. While they’d probably be too nice to say so, I suspect that they might have grown tired of my culinary efforts consisting of combining random leftovers from the last week’s worth of meals folks’ have brought to us. A typical night might go like this:

Hubster: “What’s for supper?”
Me: “There’s some leftover taco meat, part of a broccoli casserole, and some birthday cake. You can make a sandwich out of it if you want.”

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Note to Barb: I’ve got a bone to pick with you. After reviewing notes with Brenda, it has come to my attention that you’ve been holding out on me. Indeed, it seems that Brenda was the recipient of a PIE, and I was not. Dutch Apple, in fact. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume that this was simply an oversight, because everyone knows that pie is my favorite food in the entire world. I even like it better than a nacho cheese birthday cake, or taco meat/broccoli/birthday cake sandwich. Besides, birthday cake was passing fad brought on by chemo-induced taste bud trauma. Now that the ol’ buds are on the mend, I’m enjoying my old favorites…like PIE…or at least I would be enjoying pie if you’d brought me one…like you did Brenda.

Mmmmm…Cake!

Gee, I’m going to have to post the weekly chemo craving EVERY week! Check out the bigger-than-my-head cake that Mom’s friend Bette made me—and let me tell you, it’s darn tasty too! Bette does this sort of thing for a living (you can even check out her website at http://www.tiersofelegance.com) and when Mom told her about my birthday cake craving, she whipped up this big mamma jamma, from scratch, complete with buttercream frosting. Mmmmmm. Bette’s my kind of cook. In addition to that cake, I also got to sample part of Brandon’s birthday cake. By the time I got to church on Sunday and found out that Brenda had also made a cake, I was starting to think that while I enjoyed the cakes and the thoughts that went into them, I wasn’t quite sure I really needed to eat my weight in birthday cake. At least not in one weekend. Besides, if I kept eating cake, I never would be able to eat my ever-increasing weight’s worth anyway.

Fast forward to today when my sister-in-law calls and tells me she has some mysterious something to drop off. I thought to myself, “Oh no—another cake!” Well, as it turns out it was not another cake (Thank you, Jesus) but instead a flower arrangement that my other sister-in-law had ordered with the intention that Hubster, who was out of the office today, would bring home to me. Since he wasn’t there when she called, she had SIL #1 pick it up to bring to me instead. Very nice of SIL #2 to think of me, and SIL #1 to be the delivery girl.

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Friday we went up to the Covington area to spend some time at T’s folks’ house. He and Hubster spent time mountain biking with T’s new bike while Molly & I hung out in the sun, canoed, and chatted and the kids swam, fished and generally ran amok. T’s Mom fed us supper and his dad cooked breakfast the next morning. Even though I normally love to be doing the cooking, it was just really nice to kick back and relax and let someone else do it for a change. After the bad week I’d had, going up there was just what I needed.