Year
of 2005:
December
-----------------------------------
Dec. 1:
The scab on my surgery site must haven fallen off overnight. Now, there's
this nasty looking flesh bubble. Hurts. Rubbed more bacitracin on it.
Will let the doc look at it tomorrow.
My husband's work - Christmas party is tonight. Can't make it. Too tired.
Sleep is the only thing on my mind. The kids are over at hubby's XO's
house -- our older child babysitting XO's daughter and our own little
Andrew. Peace. Quiet. Good night.
-----------------------------------
Dec. 2:
Soooo, soo tired, but I have more energy today than yesterday. Am able
to stay awake for a few hours. Dropped off my chemo pump at OPIS and received
a shot of Procrit since my red blood cells are still down. Dr. looked
at my surgery site again and recommended I see my surgeon up in Bethesda.
Looks puffy and is more than likely absessed. Called Bethesda General
Surgery. Appointment scheduled for Tues., 12/06/05. It popped in the shower.
Now it looks like an open wound -- pretty much like it did before it closed
up.
Will force myself to make it to dinner reservations to celebrate our daughter's
15th birthday (officially, Nov. 29). Her boyfriend will join us. Nice
dinner. Fantastic, actually, except for when I started falling asleep
at the end of dinner. Had no problem sleeping tonight. That's for sure!
-----------------------------------
Dec. 3:
Hubby and son went to our friends' place for dinner. I am too tired. Ate
some Ramen noodle soup for dinner tonight. Not much of an appetite, though
I did eat last night's leftovers for lunch -- 3 oz filet mignon, garlic
potatoes and spinach. I'm very exhausted and my I'm going back up to bed
now. Good night.
-----------------------------------
Dec. 6:
Went to the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, MD. It's
a 2-hour drive north (one way) from where I live. Found out the boo-boo
at the bottom of my abdominal incision was absessed from an internal suture.
Part of the internal suture was removed and should heal properly.
-----------------------------------
Dec. 13:
Went back to NNMC in Bethesda for a follow-up to last week's appointment.
Incision site to my abdomen is all healed up! No more pain there, thank
goodness.
-----------------------------------
Dec. 14:
Today marks my fourth chemo treatment. I am really tired of getting poked
with needles. My mediport did not work for the last three weeks when the
nurses had to get blood from me. So I had to endure being poked in the
vein. Ouch. My right arm was pretty bruised. But guess what? My mediport
worked today! What a relief. I slept during my six-hour treatment at OPIS.
And when I got home at 3pm, I hopped right into bed and slept all day
and night. Thank goodness hubby was able to pick up the kids this evening
-- Andrew from the babysitter's home and our daughter Armani from school
after cheerleading practice.
-----------------------------------
Dec. 15:
Well, what can I say? I slept from 3pm yesterday and didn't get out of
bed this morning until about 9:30 a.m.! That's 18-and-a-half hours of
uninterrupted sleep. I am blessed to have a wonderful little boy who knows
how to keep himself busy while mommy's sleeping. Oh, daddy fed him breakfast
before he had to leave for work this morning. Never have to worry about
our daughter. She's old enough to fend for herself -- after all, she is
15. Oh, it's snowing outside right now. So beautiful. The Boo (that's
one of Andrew's nicknames, by the way) and I finished lunch and soon,
I'll tuck Andrew into bed for his afternoon nap. And then I think I'll
tuck myself back into bed for a nap too. House is in order since I cleaned
from top to bottom last week on my off day from chemo. Don't have much
energy except during my off week -- and that's the only time for me to
catch up on housework and other appointments.
Some new side effects I've noticed during this treatment include closing up of the throat when I drink even room-temperature drinks. And my calves are crampy and hurt when I walk, especially when going up or down the stairs. Aside from those two new side effects, everything else remains the same from the previous treatments -- more weight gain due to the steroids in my pre-meds, drippy nose, extreme fatigue, tingling in fingertips and toes, falling hairs from my head. I have had two short hair cuts in the past month -- one while I was in Hawaii last month, and then again this past Saturday. This last hair cut is awesome. I have gotten more compliments with this shorter style. It's almost as short as the military men's regulation haircut! My hairstylist cut my hair to where the thinning spots are covered up with strategically cut hairs. And I got it highlighted too. I'll have to post a pic of my new 'do on here soon.
Are y'all ready for the holiday season? Done with your shopping and wrapping of gifts and deciding what goodies to cook for Hanukkah dinner? I'm done. Christmas eve and Christmas night dinner menus are already decided. Gifts are wrapped. All I have to do is sort them out into three piles. We are having an early Christmas this Saturday with my in-laws. So gotta decide which gifts to take with us for Saturday. Going to back home to Jacksonville, Florida and staying with my best friend Kelly from the 21st through the 28th. Gotta decide which gifts to open up at her home. And of course, we're going to spend time at my parents' home too while we're there -- again, gotta decide which gifts to open up at their home too. Don't want our kids to be empty-handed at any of the homes we visit! I'm so excieted to be spending the holiday season with Kelly. We've been friends for over 13 years and never spent a holiday together. Friends are so hard to come by -- and having a best friend is even harder to find. I am so very lucky to have such a wonderful friend! And of course, I've been blessed to have a wonderful family as well!
-----------------------------------
Dec. 29-30:
Enjoyed the Christmas holiday with family and friends back home in Jacksonville,
FL! Just got home from FL yesterday, and here I am today, getting my 5th
treatment of chemo. I slept through the first 6 hours of chemo at OPIS,
and slept as soon as I got home. Slept for four days straight. Woke up
only when I was served meals in bed and of course to use the bathroom.
My in-laws were kind enough to take the kids back with them to enjoy the
National Christmas Tree festival up in Washington, DC -- just 20 minutes
from their home in Mt. Vernon. And the kids will stay the night with Grandma/pa
and come back sometime on the 30th and stay the night with us. Sadly,
I didn't really get to see my in-laws since I was asleep for so long.
-----------------------------------
Dec. 31:
My wonderful husband David flushed out my port and unhooked me from the
portable chemo pump this afternoon. I'm still extremely fatigued. Back
to bed for the rest of the day. David woke me up just a few minutes prior
to midnight to ring in the New Year with a sip of my favorite champagne
-- Moet En Chandon's White Star. Too bad I couldn't really enjoy it because
it was too cold for me and my lips started contorting into weird positions
-- then went back to bed and slept. Guess you could say we had a very
quiet New Year's Eve celebration. :-)
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