Big bath day!

The pictures on the blog today are my debut into X-rated photos. I had to share the joy of a deep bath after so many months with having to take baths in a few inches of water with my arm wrapped in Saran wrap and still holding it out of the water. A bath with one hand is so not fun, whereas a nice deep bath is so nice!

I thought Don wouldn’t want to walk today because it was really windy. So, I went into our ‘work out room’ and did some work. Then Don came in and asked if I wanted to walk! I was up for it, so I bundled up and we walked and I did the whole 2 miles with him. The last half mile I was dragging my feet, but he held my hand, so I made it. I thawed a quick barbeque sandwich for him and I had a quick jello salad before I fell into bed for a great nap. Now, don’t be concerned that I’m not eating well. There is a super food called Salba, (google it) which I’m putting into everything I eat, including the jello salad. I’m getting plenty of nutrition. Tonight we had a roast that I’d made over the weekend and we hadn’t had a chance to eat it. We had roast and gravy tonight and I put the rest in the freezer for several more days.

After my nap, I woke up, but was too fatigued to get out of bed. I called Don and told him I was going to take a deep bath and I might need his help when I got out of the tub. (He’s in the living room and I call him on the house phone from my cell phone.) Then I thought of taking the bubble bath pictures, so I called him back and asked him to bring the camera. I made it out of the tub by myself, but I’m still really dragging. I’m sure the fatigue has hit for this round of chemo, but the walking probably got it off to a good start. It’s okay; it’s the name of the game: fatigue.

Normally, when I’ve had an FAC treatment I’ve finished it with part of the chemo being given to my on a pump which I wore for 3 days. When they disconnected me from the pump they’d give me a 15-minute push of a chemo called 5FU. So, with that push of chemo on Thursday after my main treatment on Monday, then in 3 weeks from Monday I had never been able to build my blood back and we delayed each treatment. Since I don’t have the PICC anymore I can’t have the pump, so they gave me the whole treatment on Monday. They talked to the oncologist in Houston and she said I could skip the 5FU push that I’ve had before. We’re hoping that since we did the whole treatment on Monday, that I’ll have a full three weeks and maybe my blood will build back in time for the next treatment. In fact, since 3 weeks falls on Christmas Eve, they have me scheduled for treatment on Wednesday the 26th. That means instead of the 2 ½ weeks that I’ve had between treatments (and failed to build my blood, so had to do another week, which made it actually 3 ½ weeks) then I will really have almost 3 ½ weeks and maybe I can make it this time. Maybe that’s confusing to all of you, but the bottom line is that things look good for me to be able to finish my chemo on the 26th. If I can do that I might be able to stay on schedule for surgery on the 28th of January. It’s all in God’s hands, so we’ll accept His timing. He has blessed us so richly and so taken care of me through this challenge. The doctor says I’m tolerating the chemo really well; I think so, too. I believe God’s hand is in it; I believe I’m in His hands and I thank Him.