Checking In

Things have been relatively quiet lately.  This was my week off of chemo, what a nice break.  I'm now taking shots of Neupogen for 3 days after chemo to increase my neutrophil (white blood cells) count and it's been working because my levels are now higher than normal.  Super immune system?  I wish.

Chemo went fine last Saturday, but I got a blood transfusion because now my red blood cells were low.  It's a balancing game.  God bless the people who are able and donate blood.

I finally removed my name from the bone marrow registry.  It made me pretty sad because it cemented the fact that I can't help anyone anymore.  I can't donate blood and now my bone marrow is no good either.  Back in 1998, I was called as a potential match!  It was exciting!  I went in and got further testing done.  It was between me and one other person, and the other person was a little better matched.  That's as close as I have ever gotten to helping someone.  Ah well.  There are other ways to help, need to find them.

I've cut my work hours down.  I don't work on Mondays anymore and I work about 6 hours a day.  It seems to be working out well for me.  It's just enough, by the time I get home, I konk out on the couch and sleep.  I tell the dogs when I get home, "Assume the position" and they do!  Tanner's at my feet and Max sits where Thom sits.  It's quite funny!  Oh, and Shadow my cat comes to snuggle too.  If you know or have heard of Shadow before, he wasn't always the most friendly cat.  When we got Sir Winston (our other cat), I don't think I saw Shadow for 6 months, he just hid upstairs.  Then he slowly came out more and more.  THEN we got the dog, Tanner, and he went back into hiding again.  He's probably thinking, "I just got used to the new animal in MY house, I finally come out of hiding and you bring and EVEN BIGGER animal into MY house who likes to chase me around and smell my ass, how degrading.  Now cut the shit!"  Hahaha

It's supposed to be in the 70's today and I was looking forward to taking the dogs to the lake.  Yes, I was going to attempt it.  Tanner's easy to occupy, just give her a tennis ball and that's all she'll care about.  She can retrieve until she drops dead.  It's funny, Tanner is SUCH the retriever, Max?  He could give a care.  He'll retrieve it once, and that's it.  Animals are so funny.

I see the doctor next week.  If anyone is curious, these have been my side effects:  Sense of smell and taste have drastically changed.  Food doesn't taste the same anymore.  This is the most irritating because I LOVE food.  My hands shake, especially if I try to hold something.  If I do anything deliberate, they start to shake like crazy!  My mouth and skin are dry.  I can't open my jaw all the way (I know to some this really ISN'T a problem, but...), and of course the fatigue, that's constant.  I might have forgotten a couple, but those are the major players.  Not super annoying, but just annoying enough!  :)  I shouldn't complain because other people have it worse.  So I'm happy where I am.

My birthday was fun!  We went to my favorite Japanese restaurant and our friends Lenny and Stacy met us there.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but my fine-tuned, highly skilled sleuthing abilities figured it out!  Yup.  Just call me Sherlock Holmes from now on.  Thank you.

And on Saturday, Thom and I were at Kohl's because he wanted a new pair of pants and a pair of black shoes.  So I'm sitting in the shoe section waiting, and all of a sudden I hear, "Do you think they have this in my size?"  It was rather LOUD, so I looked up and who do I see?  My high school friends Christine, Charlene and Diana!  I must've sat there for about a minute with my jaw on the floor, trying to comprehend what I was seeing.  They all said in unison, "Oh my God, you shop here too?"  OK, remember the "fine-tuned, highly skilled sleuthing abilities" (see above)?  Yeah, not so much.  I was so absolutely clueless, I seriously thought they were there to shop, so after like a half an hour or so, I hug Charlene and say, "Well, I don't want to keep you guys."  Then they all burst out laughing!  Christine's crying.  They told me that they had come there to see ME!"  I was all sorts of confused.  Thom and Christine planned this ambush to surprise me for my birthday!    I was so excited and happy!  I hadn't seen Charlene in 21 years!!!!!!!!!! 
We went to the fanciest restaurant in the mall complex:  Applebee's!  LOL  I didn't care where we were!  It was SOOOOOOO awesome to see them and spend time with them.  They make me laugh until I can't laugh anymore.  Right back to high school, but with some added stories!  I wish I didn't live so far away from civilization.  It means SO much to me when people trek out to my neck of the woods, especially to see me!  I was so happy!  That was a spectacular day!

When my "fine-tuned, highly skilled sleuthing abilities" returned (on the way home), I realized that the mall is a little too far for them to actually "shop there" on a regular basis.  Hindsight is 20/20, Thom was acting weird.  He was texting a lot, but that wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and he was slithering around like a snake!  And it was the 3 of them specifically, and they told me that they wouldn't all go somewhere and not ask me.  It was all just too funny!  Wow, though, if you could see the gears turning in my head...they were so dusty, rusted, and stuck in place.  It was ugly, real ugly!  LOL

Easter is almost here!  We're going to my parent's of course.  You know what that means, right?  I can start playing World of Warcraft again!  I miss it.  Go ahead, say it, "GEEK"!  That's ok.