Cloud #9

Hello all...
I know I haven't been very good about updates lately, but I'm here NOW. Tomorrow is Chemo #9. Wow, after this I will be 75% done. And thank the sweet baby Jesus because man oh man, I am getting tired of this every two weeks. I can't even imagine how much more freedom I will have when we can space these things out a little further and how much better (hopefully) I will feel with less poisons running through me.
It's been a very, very busy few days. I rented a car last week so I could run errands and I actually committed to buy the Mazda I test drove on Wednesday! YAY! I can't even tell you how excited I am to pick it up this week. The weekend was awesome - dinner and a movie with Chantelle, Kristie and Shardelle on Saturday night, I HIGHLY recommend "This Means War" - so funny! On Sunday Chantelle threw a baby shower for her cousin Brittany and her new baby Ava.  It was such a nice way to spend the afternoon - baby cuddles and cupcakes. Who could ask for anything more?
Today Chantelle took me for blood work and my chemo update. It was alarmingly busy at the canser clinic again. Chemo brain made me forget to put the numbing cream on my port before going, but seriously I don't know why I even bother with it. It totally didn't hurt much at all and the cream is dearly expensive - Laurel, my phlebotomy nurse said it really hurts some people who have low pain tolerances - I take that to mean I am a tough broad.  We struck up a conversation with a lady from the North Battleford area, who was diagnosed with stomach canser. They did surgery and when they opened her up it had spread to her other organs, so they just closed her up, gave her 2 - 6 months to live and sent her home to get her affairs in order. That was 10 years ago. Again, it is that sort of story that gives me the hope and strength to follow this journey where it takes me - with the faith that I will win. Bring It On!!!
I saw a new oncologist today and he was very thorough.  He too seems happy with my progress and gave me a script for "Magic Mouthwash" which is supposed to help me with the mouth sores and tenderness. I CANNOT wait to get me some of THAT! I am happy to report that I have gained 2 lbs (I might have done a little dance) according to the clinic's scale, 3 lbs according to mine.  At every chemo update my nurse, Janice asks about all the side effects so she can chart it and we can decide if there needs to be a change in my dosing. So we went through the laundry list of symptoms, the last (and maybe the most frustrating for me) being my impaired cognition.  In other words, I am on the edge of stupid right now.  And it's getting worse as the days go by. She didn't really know how to take it initially, but when I explained how I need to pause for three or four seconds to think about any word that has more than 5 letters in it, she started howling. I even told her how Kelly felt the need to point out yesterday that having a conversation with me is really quite painful for him right now.  Seriously, Chantelle had a music trivia game at the baby shower, which would typically be right up my alley, but I swear, it took me ten minutes just to come up with Led Zeppelin - ONLY one of the most well known rock bands in history. 

This is me on chemo...

Janice thought it was pretty funny when I told her how I have always been very good at tailoring my language (which can get inappropriate at times) based on the audience -- UNTIL CHEMO. I am a little worried that Sophie's next word is going to be an F-bomb because I can't seem to stop them from rolling off my tongue. In fact, it happened TWICE while we were talking to the nurse. It's like I have chemo-induced turrets. Jeepers I hope I can get that under control before seeing Tim's folks again....
We had a yummy lunch at Earl's with Sonya - so good to see her again and have some laughs. She always does such a good job at breaking down big problems into what really matters and what doesn't.  And she makes me howl, so always fun to see her.

Sorry - about that - fell asleep. It was about 10 o'cock when I dozed off, it is now 3:30am just woke and couldn't sleep. Please let me continue. Ahem. When Chantelle dropped me off at home, we rolled into the parking lot of the condo to see my Dad's big maroon Grand Marquis in my spot. He brought Dorothy in for a bone density test at the hospital, so I drove them to the appointment. Can't tell you how driving Dad's grandpa-mobile again reminded me of the summer that I got turfed from JOI and had to borrow it for a couple of weeks. Good news is it didn't take long so we went and grabbed a mid-afternoon snack at Foxy's - one of my favourite, locally-owned pub style restaurants in town. 
So, overall a pretty good day all things considered. One final note, today was Tim's son's birthday, so Happy, Happy Birthday Riles! We are throwing him a birthday party next weekend and I cannot wait. Pictures to come...

Only 3 and already taking charge behind the wheel. This kid is going to be a heart-breaker, I'm sure of it.

Tomorrow, which is now today thanks to the early morning wake-up call from my bladder, I have chemo at 8:30am.  Yikes, that's an early one. I am looking forward to getting it over with though, because Wednesday I pick up my car, Thursday I pack and Friday I leave for 9 days in Ontario with Tim! Wahooo.....