A little behind.....

Our friends on the cruise have been at sea, to Cape Verde, sea, Senegal, and Gambia...Sunday-Friday

I guess it is a good thing that life seems a little more settled this week.  The 3 week whirlwind of diagnosis, tests, confirmation, appointments, questions, shock, treatment plans and first chemo has given way to a week of visits with friends, movies, chores, trying to eat enough fruits and veggies and drink lots of water, continued facility with self administered shots and a second round of chemo.

Toni Holweger from Madison came by Sunday am with scones from Keys bakery/restaurant.  Jan and her sister came back after the birthday party and we all had fun visiting and chatting about this and that.  Later in the afternoon Jan, Jeannie, Sue and I went to a lake in Woodbury to take a walk, the weather was absolutely perfect.  Jeannie and I fast tracked it and I managed to keep up.  My daily walking is paying off.  They were on their way back to KC Monday morning and Sue and I can not remember what else we did that day except that a package arrived.  Big White Unnamed Bear showed up on the doorstep.  Soft and cuddly and open to being thrown across the room as needed or squeezed tightly.  You can talk to it, swear at it, sing (but I won't) or carry it around as a conversation piece.  It was my job to name him.  I tried several names but he is now Leo Raoul Big Bear.  He goes by Raoul.  Leo was my great uncle and I never knew anyone who could keep a twinkle in his eye and a positive attitude more than him.  Raoul was a big bird along the Amazon who followed us all the way down the path to visit the tribal shaman.  He stayed during the blessing ceremony and walked us back to camp.  Figured he would be a good companion on this journey.

Oh yeah, our memory is returning, Sue's cousin Kim made us a huge pot of chicken noodle soup so we drove to River Falls to pick that up.  Had a nice bowl with Kim and a good visit.  Headed home watching out for deer on the road but only saw one when we got to our hill.  Found a Harry and David package of apples and cheese. Thanks Lisa and Diane.  Yum.  Thanks Gina for the coloring book and pencils.  Love it and carry it with me to chemo.  Now I have one at home from Barbara and one more portable for chemo.  Thanks everyone for continued cards, emails, pictures and prayers.  I feel them all.

Tuesday Comcast showed up unannounced to put a filter on our cable.  We had asked for a new line...He scheduled a new line to be put in Thursday and we were off to meet Mary Margaret and Phyllis for lunch at Panera.  Had a good visit with them.  Phyllis continues rehab and is getting around better then ever.  After lunch we hit Costco and then the movies to see Spectre--good but not the best of 007.  It was dark when we came out of the theater--such is the reality of MN winter moving in.

Wednesday chemo was at 11:40 so I had time to walk before had.  We off with our packed lunch, books, iPads, phones and assorted things.  I feel like I am moving in.  We were in the outer room this time which gave us activity to watch but left much of our brought activities left undone. My white blood count low so the dose of chemo was reduced.  I had been afraid they would cancel so was happy that the does decrease could keep the process moving along.  There was a lot less stress this time.  I don't know if you can tell in the picture or not--this is my short hair chemo picture, next one....I called my chemo nurse friend in NY Wednesday night.  Told her I was feeling good, she said that is the steroids they give you.  I accept.  Sue says, "Can I have some!  Just the steroids."

Didn't sleep well--steroids, but got some reading done and caught up on Facebook.  I know, you shouldn't turn on iPhones late at night but that's the way it goes.

Thursday was a big day, high on steroids as it was.  Sue was high on Nancy's high.  I was tired but kept going.  We started with Comcast, no orders for a new line, here we go again.  The guy was great and spent almost 4 hours here--it took all of us to come with a good plan but in the end we have a new line and the internet is working.  Somewhere in the middle of that the siding guy came to do some repairs after we moved a deck.  He spent the day, through the sun and then the cold winds of the late afternoon.  Before he left, 2nd Wind Exercise showed up to deliver our new recumbent bike which has a home in the family room.  In the middle of all that we changed out some tv equipment, went through old papers to shred, shredded, rested, and supervised all the goings on.  Pooped out in the evening.  Sue says I am learning to be management instead of labor, my supervising skills are improving--though I think I did a lot of labor yesterday.

Friday--so much for facility with shots, had a hard time drawing the dose out of the vial and then OUCH, that hurt.  Not sure why each day can be so different.  Nothing I can't handle but ouch.

Sunny cold beautiful day, more chores and our first Gopher Women's basketball game this evening at 5:30  Glad it is an early game, can't do the men's game afterwards, too much.  Looking forward to the weekend.