Round 3 Session 9

Today I find myself sitting in front of the fire to try and get the chill out of the bones from the persistent rain and cool weather.  I am now in day three after my last treatment on Tuesday.  I am not feeling very perky and I am suffering a little bit more than I had anticipated.  There is probably a reason for that but first I must go back a bit and cover some of the footsteps I have taken to get to here.

My last session went pretty much as described in my last post with the addition of an intensifying cold (cough and sniffles) to make my life a little different.  I still had my usual rounds of nausea, diarrhea, constipation, sleeplessness, lack of motivation, malaise etc. but I added sneezing, sniffling and deep coughing for the duration.   I thought the cold was just a passing thing but I still have it today and it feels “full on” regardless of the fact that I have had it for greater than 3 weeks.

None-the-less after my last round I was committed to traveling to Las Vegas to visit with my brother Richard and sister-in-law Barb for a few days.  Once the planning got underway Tara-Lee and Kaia joined me for the flight down on April 20^th and the stay with the Lents.  We, the three of us, travel pretty easily and our flights were easy but full on the way down.  Travel to Las Vegas seems to be with lots of groups of people who are looking for a great time right from the wheels-up.  There were a couple of groups on our plane that were doing either bachelor weekend or bridal showers and they started early.  They managed to clean the galley of all forms of alcohol in fairly short order. 

Upon arrival in Las Vegas we secured a vehicle and drove out to Henderson to join Richard and Barb.  Richard had made some arrangements for us to stay in one of the Casino Hotels for a couple of nights and we retired there after our visit and dinner in Henderson.  Over the next few days we visited, toured, went to a concert put on by Marty Allen (age 95 now) with his wife Karon, enjoyed some great meals, enjoyed the dry warm weather and tried to rid myself of my cold.  Brehn flew in on Saturday and I moved into the house while Tara-Lee, Kaia and Brehn stayed at the Green Valley.  Richard made those arrangements also as he “knows” folks around Las Vegas.  That hotel/casino is one very nice place with all the comforts that you would like to have in your home plus the added convenience of being beside “The District” where some high end shopping goes on.  It was very nice.  We laid low on Sunday as it was a hockey day with both the Senators playing followed by the Maple Leafs in their challenge match.  All good and we followed that with a nice dinner at the house.  On Monday we set off on our different ways.  I returned to Ottawa and Tara-Lee, Kaia and Brehn flew to Victoria to see his parents.  Our flights were very close together so we went to the airport after a nice breakfast with Richard and Barb.  My flight to Toronto was full but I managed to secure a stand-by seat.  However, I was not as lucky on the Toronto Ottawa flight which was the last of the day.  I ended up bedding down at the Sheraton at the Toronto airport.  After a short sleep I caught an early morning flight to Ottawa.

Back at home I had a few days in week three where I could actually get some things done.  With the help of Bruce and Allen we made some progress on some of the many small tasks associated with renovating a bathroom.  We completed the electrical, did some plumbing, built some walls and installed back board for some of the areas to be covered by tiles.  Each one of these tasks was fraught with lots of complex details and progress was slow.  I guess that is true with any renovation compared to new build.  I also had the opportunity to have dinner with some fine friends from my work at AANDC.  We try to get together for dinner every once in a while and we managed it that week.  It is always fun to hear of their lives and work environments in a relaxed mode.  Those evenings are always special times for me.

Monday rolled around pretty quickly and that signaled a start to another round.  I went to the Bloodletters and had a visit with them.  They processed my blood tests and I did not get a call indicating that my WBC counts were low.  So I guess, even with a cold, my attention to diet and meds held up the WBC count allowing me to go forward on Tuesday May 2.  The actual session was without extraordinary events and I was finished around noon.  I felt pretty good and set off for home and a quiet afternoon/evening in preparation for another sleepless night.  To amuse myself during this sleepless period I watched late night TV instead of delving into serial type shows.  Those shows were not very rewarding and I now prefer the serial shows to the talk shows.

Yesterday I had my bottle of Chemo taken off and I managed to do some small chores in the city but retreated to the cottage in the afternoon to lie about and sleep some.  I was feeling pretty crappy all day and unfortunately that has continued into today.  I am optimistic that tomorrow will be a better day and that I will have a few great days before the next round on May 23^rd.

Be well and thank you for your notes and comments on this and other blog entries.  I hope the upcoming spring days of sun and light breezes helps everyone prepare their gardens and lawns for the summer.

With love .......