Thanksgiving

     We had an awesome Thanksgiving.  We went to Brian and Tatiana's and planned out the stores we wanted to go to after dinner.  Then we went to Tampa Bay Brewing Company.  They had a turkey dinner, complete with mashed potato and stuffing (I don't like stuffing).  We had pumpkin pie...it was delicious!  It was a great idea too because I did not stuff myself to uncomfortableness but we don't have any leftovers today.  After dinner we swapped cars and headed to our first store...Walmart.  I have never been in and out of Walmart so fast and we got what we wanted.  We hit Best Buy and Target.  Best Buy had a line to get in the store that moved quickly.  Waiting in line is lame but it was a great idea.  It felt like it was just a busy day at the store...nothing crazy.  Target was insane.  We were able to get what we wanted quickly enough but the line for check out...nuts!  The store had only been open for 30 minutes and they had the checkout line serpentining up and down the lanes like an amusement park ride.  Starbucks was ridiculous too.  We drove around the corner and were like "oh good the drive thru is open".  Then we saw the line of cars...we decided to go inside.  There was still a line but it moved faster.  We still waited pretty long for the drinks but we knew that was going to happen either way.  Overall, we had such a good time hanging out that night.  We need to do it more often but such is life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, I also put some mascara on last night.  That's right...I have a couple of eyelashes growing in.

     Went to see catching fire today with my friend Sarah.  I loved it!  They did a good job turning the book into a movie.  It didn't have every thing but no movie from a book ever does.  The theater was awesome too. The seats (about 70 per screen) reclined...electronically.  Big old leather seats.  My feet didn't touch the floor and I could not get both arms on the armrests comfortably.  I had a delicious salad.  It was also the same price as a regular theater too.

   

So no treatment (those darn platelets again...20 points shy) but my scan shows my insides are unremarkable.  That's a good thing.  My white blood cells are in the 2s, so I can have a salad at a restaurant and ice in my glass.  The best thing would have been to get treatment and stay on schedule.  The next best thing is having a week off with normal cell counts.  Once I left the hospital, I called up BG and went for a visit.  Amber took me in to see Kenya (serval).  I got some rubs but no head bonks.  I scratched some Zeny pits too.  I enjoy being there so much.  I can't wait to get back to work.  Later, I met up with J and one of his co-workers for dinner/drinks.  It was good to see her and catch up.  She's good people.  Now we are home.

     I had another incident at publix.  You know how you tend to keep running into the same people when you go up and down every aisle in a grocery store?  Well there was this lady...We politely acknowledged that we were in each other's way and moved on.  Two aisles down, I'm about to move on to the next one when this lady is heading right for me with her cart.  There is plenty of space for her to be on the other side of the aisle.  She gets her cart so close to mine that I am pinned between the shelf, her and the carts.  She gets so close to me and asks if I have breast cancer.  I must have given her a look because then she asked what type of cancer I had.  Why do people assume that it must be breast cancer? I know the answer to that.  Anyways, I tell her Ewings sarcoma and give no further explanation to which she gives me a look.  I'm slightly annoyed at her initial assumption and realize I'm not being the best person I can be in this situation.  So I tell her it's a bone cancer.  She tells me she had breast cancer (part of the reason she assumed that's what I had).  We compare port sites.  She tells me she will pray for me and I thank her for that.  We bump into each other at check out and she tells me she is serious about praying for me and she does not take that lightly.  I thank her again, sincerely.  I'm not about to try and explain my beliefs to her...That would take far too long.  I do appreciate anyone taking their own time to say a prayer for my health and well being, no matter what their beliefs.  I welcome everyone to put in a good word for me.  I am learning cancer survivors are a strange bunch.  I wonder what I'm going to be like.

     Well it's almost been a week since my last blog.  I don't even know what I've done since last Wednesday.  I've played a lot of video games.  Actually, I've played one video game.  Some of you may recall a Facebook post about Fire Emblem.  I have restarted that game for a few reasons...I would like to beat the black knight and have strong characters for the sequel game.  This game is on the game cube.  You can save your completed game and upload it into the wii somehow.  This would make some of the characters that show up in the sequel extra awesome.  I couldn't take the last game I finished because I played it on easy mode.  You have to beat the game on normal mode for the transfer to work.

     Speaking of video games, I'd like to voice my displeasure with the Nintendo industry.  Last year they came out with wiiU as the latest console.  That's fine, however, they have stopped making the cool games for regular wii.  You can buy a wiiU $300 and play regular wii games on it but what about game cube games (like the game I'm currently playing)?  They have 3 new Mario bros games and they are going to come out with a fire emblem game soon.  I'm sure a zelda game is on it's way too.  lt's a vicious, expensive cycle.  If you have kids that haven't started playing video games yet...don't start.  Of course, when I go back to work I will have a lot less time to play.  That will either annoy me or be just fine.  Only time will tell.

     Looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Brian, Tatiana, Jeremy and I are going to TBBC.  They have a really nice turkey day dinner and of course good beer and we don't have to do the dishes or the cooking.  Sounds good to me!  We might even do some shopping.  Jeremy has a 4 day weekend.  I feel like we should be going somewhere or doing something special but we have nothing planned other than dinner.  Maybe we will hit St Pete or Dunedin this weekend.  I guess it all hinders on the results of this appointment I'm waiting on.  If my counts are good, I'll get my 12th treatment today.  I don't think they will be but we will see.  I also get the results of my latest scan.  I fully expect it to be clear.

:(

So I was all excited because it is beautiful outside.  J and I were going to have dinner outside somewhere and it was going to be wonderful! Enter the moth...

On our way to a new restaurant, I notice a moth in the car.  J puts the Windows down to suck him to freedom. Once he is out and the Windows are on their way up, I hear glass shatter! At least that's what it sounded like. The passenger side window will no longer roll up.  Long story short, I'm sitting in the restaurant (not outside because they don't have a patio) while J is in the parking lot taking the door apart.  There goes what could have been a nice evening.

I'm free!

Got out yesterday. Early too. As soon as my mesna was done, they deaccessed me and I was out.  12:30.  I hung out with some friends last night...played scattegories for a bit.  Feeling good. Looking forward to meandering through a toy store to find some cool things for my nieces and nephews.  Maybe hit the gym. My skins are sore to the touch so I think a hot pool is in order.  I've got scans on Friday.  I'm fully expecting that they will be clean. 

3 more treatments to go!

a good day

     I had 3 visitors today and got all kinds of yummy treats!  I was also 1 carb over on my lunch but they did not withhold any items.  I had kindle issues where I couldn't get it to turn on or charge.  So I had to use my tiny phone for all internet related activities.  Of course, when Jeremy comes it turns right on for him.  We watched Wrong Turn 5...waste of time but I was committed.  Spoiler alert...no one made it out alive.  

WTH Moffitt

     My dinner came minus one very important piece of cake that I was going to share with my husband in celebration of my brothers birthday.  Earlier, I got a note on tomorrows menu saying they switched to a carb counting system rather than a calorie counting system.  It also said my carbs should be spread out and add up to 5 for each meal.  It also said something about controlling blood sugar.  Sure, no problem I say.  Then I get my dinner and there is no cake because it pushed my total carb count up to 6...1 carb over.  Only if they knew that I couldn't eat the bun on the burger because it was rock hard and I did not eat my chicken sandwich at lunch because it was too dry and no one could find a packet of mustard.  I am disgruntled.

this is angry eyebrows face sans eyebrow do you know my level of displeasure.

birthday popsicles instead. 

doing fine

    Last night's treatment went well, as usual.  Pretty lucky to not have side effects too worry about.  My night nurse is great, so I feel very confident in that if I fall asleep, I'm in good hands.  I've probably said it before but he just has his stuff together.  He comes in before machines start beeping.  Everyone else waits for the beeping, comes in to see what needs to be changed, goes back out to get whatever, more beeping ensues before they come back.  Kory knows what's next and he brings it with him when he can.  At 4am, he changed out a bag because it was going to go off in one hour and he didn't want it to wake me up. I really appreciate his thoughtfulness.  Most of the time the nurses rely on the machines to tell them their next step and don't really think about each individual in the room.  Everyone is of course very friendly when they come in but you can tell when you are their priority.  My entourage of doctors that come in all at once are very friendly.  I always wonder how that daily visit factors into the bill.  Literally, 7-10 white coats try and cram into my room, all smiles with one asking the questions..."how are you doing today" "do you need anything from us" "that animals do you work with".  My answer has always been "fine", "no" and "education animals".  I wonder what it would do to the bill if I only saw the necessary nurses and techs.

     Getting some extra blood today.  That means I can't leave my room for 4 hours.  I should have gone out to play yesterday but I decided to stay in bed and watch tv all day and nap.  I should be done by the time at opens at 2.

Here's a fun menu item...

We all know what the quotes around prime rib imply so anyone want to guess what kind of meat it could really be?

    Another random visit...apparently every 3 months they check the patients skin and today is that day, so I get checked.  Elbows, heels and tail bone.  everything looks good.  First time that has happened in the 8 months I've been doing this.  It doesn't seem like it's been that long.  Hmm, maybe time just flies...even when you are not having fun.

     Just watched a grey hound poop on the lawn and the volunteer picked it up  That's nice.  I should ask them to come up but then I'd have to chit chat with the person.  Maybe I'll just see them when I go down.  

Lunch time...

I'm in

Labs are good and treatment 11 is underway.  I got a call at 12:30 saying my bed is ready.  I didn't show up until 4 though.  It's 9 now and I'm still waiting for the pharmacy to send up premeds and the chemo.  I would love an explanation of what goes on down there in pharmacyland. At 5 I had the doctor check when chemo would be ready and that the steroid comes in a bag and not a syringe.  He didn't give me a time for chemo but said the steroid was being changed because it wasn't right. 6:30 and still not sure about the chemo.  9 still waiting on chemo and they send up the steroid in a syringe.  Really? I want to shadow pharmacy for a day so that I can understand why nothing gets done timely or correctly the first time.  I want to be a forgiving patient but when you are dealing with such serious medication, you need to be on your A game 100% of the time.  No exceptions!

A new thing this week.  Someone from respiratory came by and will be coming by for 24 hours to check my oxygen. This is a first.  She asked if I had Oxygen at home, I said no. They had me down as might need it. She said as long as my levels are 90 and up, I won't need it. My oxygen levels have never been below 90. She said that's good, makes my job easier.  I'm thinking why are you even here...padding the bill or she got the wrong room.  The nurse that does my vitals checks the oxygen every time but now I have a second person coming in between the nurses visits to check the same vital? Makes a lot of sense.  One more person to chit chat with.

I enjoyed the hospitals finest vino earlier today...unfermented.

I apologize for any misspelled/misplaced words. I am typing this all out on my phone because the kindle is having issues with the WiFi here.  I am not going back through to proofread and fix any auto correct mistakes so have fun with that.  Maybe there will be a few funny ones in there.  I'm afraid if I don't stop noe, I will mysteriously lose everything I have written so far.  So good night.

A very nice weekend

     Saturday, J and I spent the day getting ready to host some of his friends from work.  They all wanted to see his brewing process.  We had all the party fixings that I love...cheese and crackers, summer sausage, veggies, fruit, etc.  Of course I can't forget the beer...some ciders, meades, yummy vanilla porter, and a bunch of others.  So that was all day Sunday.  Being that it is veterans day, J had today off as well.  We putzed around, went to the gym and then put up or holiday tree!

     This is not a Christmas tree.  I have rules...only one red object (for a pop of colour) until December.  All ornaments have to have a fall or thanksgiving theme and nothing with bells, Santa hats, or red and green in the same piece.  Once December comes everything comes down and Christmas related ornaments go up.  We did listen to Christmas music while we put it up...in fact Jeremy is still listening to Christmas music.  He doesn't ask for much and I don't really mind.  It is too early for Christmas songs but for putting up the tree, even though it is not a Christmas tree, I'll make the exception.  He did fluff up all the branches, which is my last favourite part so he can listen to whatever he wants!

     We are on the last season of breaking bad.  I can't wait to see what happens.  Somehow, I did not see any spoilers when the season ended and everyone was talking about it on Facebook.  

     I go in bright and early tomorrow to see if I can get my next treatment.  I've got to come up with something to do for this 5 night stay.  Last time I finished my scrapbook.  I have not been interested in reading anything lately.  I can't bring my wii with me and I'm kind of getting over this game I'm playing.  However, being the slightly ocd person I am, I must finish it.  I'm open to suggestions people.  If you had 5 days where you had to stay in your hotel room, and laying in bed all day was frowned upon, what would you do with your time?

     

It's a no go

     I went in this morning for labs and it turns out my platelets are too low, so no chemo for memo.  We will try again Tuesday.  I can't say I'm upset about this.  Now that I know my white count is good, I will get to enjoy my weekend.  I see Casa Ramos fish tacos in my near future.  Maybe a movie with some popcorn.

     I've also started playing an old video game, Fire Emblem for GameCube.  I can spend far too much time playing this game.  Entire days wasted, breaking for only food and potties.  If only there was a way to set up my Wii in the hospital...but then I would never get up and walk around.

     While I was at the hospital today, I made a crane and a water colour painting.  Two gentlemen came in with a little baby and one of the guys kept the little one entertained by making Donald Duck noises.  It reminded me so much of my uncle Tim.  He used to be the best at that when I was little.  I absolutely loved it!  It's funny, because he also taught me how to play video games.  Specifically, how to strategize, share (graciously give up the controller when my turn was over), recognizing where a useful item might be hidden, etc.  I would like to dedicate this blog entry to my uncle Tim.  I always looked forward to our visits because you were the coolest uncle.  You also had that really cool car.

     Incidentally, that babies name was Logan and that made me smile :)

it's an aardvark!

Been awhile

     Sorry for the lack of posting lately.  I've been distracted and wanted to wait until I had pictures to post from a friend.  So I'll pick up with Friday.  I went to a coworkers bachelorette party in Ybor.  We stopped at TBBC for a beer before heading to Hamburger Mary's for the Drag show.  It was "vampire chic" themed event to explain all the black and some weird looking eyes.  It was a great time.  That is where I had my bachelorette party after our rehearsal dinner.  Bethany was smart however and is not getting married until next week so no hangovers for her wedding day.  Luckily, I had my cousin Becky with me the next day come to my rescue with some medicine that made me feel better...never mix beer and liquor.  She also did my make up which I'm terrible at...save number 2.  Anyways, by the time we got to Mary's I was hungry.  I pick out a burger that has some low WBC approved vegetables (cooked onion and mushroom).  It's called "Queen Mary".  It took forever to get to the table and when it did my jaw fell open.  The waiter said something that made me think they did something special for me and I'm thinking no thank you while looking at this monstrous 2 patty burger.  Apparently, everyone around me insisted I said Proud Mary and not Queen Mary.  So my $9 burger was actually $15.

    

      
     Saturday, Jeremy and I did our usual shopping for the week and breakfast out.  We were driving by one of the retention ponds near our place and I saw two animals that appeared to be standing up on their back legs.  Without my glasses on I thought they were otters (we have seen 1 since moving into the area).  I say "pull over so we can get a closer look at the beavers".  I must have said the word beaver 3 times but in my mind I meant and was saying otters.  Know wonder he was confused.  They turned out to be ducks anyway...chemo brain incident #2.  A few other things like that happened this weekend (not as funny, so I don't remember them...surprise, surprise).

     Yesterday, I made lasagna in the crock pot.  It was not as good as the chick that made us lasagna at the beginning of my treatment (Jeremy's coworkers wife filled our freezer with homemade meals and they were delicious!) but Jeremy said he liked it so I'll take it.  Next time I'll probably just do it in the oven (I was home all day yesterday anyway).  I feel like crock pots are for when you aren't going to be home but I do have a tendency to leave the kitchen while cooking so I suppose for me a crock pot is a smart idea every time. 

     This is my pasta eating outfit so I don't get sauce all over my shirt.  If it is red sauce, even if I'm being careful, it inevitably ends up on my white shirt.  And I always seem to end up wearing white when I'm cooking/eating pasta.  My Aunt Mary had this apron made for me a long time ago.  The story behind it...I love clam chowder and have since I was little.  The family was out to dinner and I ordered the soup and someone asked about me liking fish.  I said that I did not (fish was so gross back then, swimming with their poop...I had even seen a goldfish eat it's own poop once, so I would not touch fish).  That's when it was pointed out that the clam in my chowder was from the ocean too to which I replied, "Clams!  I thought they said ham!" which wasn't actually true.  I knew it said clam, but it tasted like ham so I assumed it was ham and that clam was just some unrelated word they called the chowder, like pigs in a blanket...there is neither pigs nor blankets in that dish.  In any event, I think I did stop eating clam chowder for a little while.  I guess I was derping it way back then too...can't blame that on chemo brain :p