Get A Life

Life Interrupted. I guess that is what it feels like the most.

On 7/7 I had treatment #2. Which resulted in the following week being fairly difficult. Nausea and vomiting for a day and half followed by heartburn for the rest of the week. And it was not due to the wild ride of the stock market, although that did not help. You can always count on Carol to have the camera ready and she had to take photos of me sitting in the recliner with bags hanging from the rack and tubes in my arm. Darling shot.

The week also was hot and ugly with smoke and fires all around and not any good fresh air to breath. Don't think I have ever seen it that bad in the Roseville area. We always seem to get some relief from the Delta breeze, not so for that week.

Had to finish the job the chemo started. The amount of hair in the sink and shower was increasing daily and what was left was looking pretty thin and splotchy. So went to Rick and said it was time. Out came the razor and buzz away went the rest of the hair. Talk about startling, every time I pass a mirror I wonder who that is!! This is going to sound awful but the comparison that keeps hitting me is to the image of survivors of the Holocaust. It is such a stark change that even a week later I still do a double take when I see myself.

We took a couple of days and went to Tahoe to get out of the bad air in Roseville. Well the bad air was there also, but not nearly as bad. It is rare when you don't have blue skies most of the time at Tahoe. We did not see blue sky at all this time. However it is always good to be there.
The second week after chemo I find that I am concerned about doing too much or being exposed to people because this is when my blood counts are at their lowest. It is another reason why life is so interrupted. I think I need to break out of this because, other than a daily walk in the evening, I am not doing much (did kick butt at Scrabulous). Oh yeah I fixed the sprinklers. And I watched the stock market go up and down like a yo yo.

We recently watched a documentary DVD called Jesus Camp. That was an eye opener. Kids as young as 10 being indoctrinated and essentially brainwashed by the Evangelical church. These kids are certainly too young to be making their own choice. But the fervor and emotion whipped up by the adult and parent leaders was awesome. Makes me see how something like the polygamist group in Texas could be so powerful in establishing a cult.

Looking forward next week, the third between treatments, should be the best week with blood counts up and feeling most normal. But then the anxiety of the next treatment round will start to set in also. The best advise truly does seem to live one day at a time.