HAYING WEATHER

We're having a heat wave! Fred calls it haying weather. ugh! Either way, I melt in it. Now I'm even adding radiation to the mix. Methinks there's something wrong with this picture. However, so far, so good.

I saw one of the radiology doctors yesterday and asked, "When do I get the salve that everyone talks about?" (They forgot.) So now I have a tube of aloe vera gel that I can put on my "area" 3-4 times a day. I brought it home and put it on Fred's poor beet red farmer's arms. Seems Sunday he went out swathing without sunscreen on the arms. I had made him put it on his face, ears and neck, but didn't realize that he'd be out there showing off his arms. He had even called me to bring out a long sleeved shirt to him.

Yesterday was so hot that the air conditioning in the car couldn't even keep up after being parked in the sun for an hour. Then, as I was driving up Division, I looked for the temperature readings, and one of them actually showed 83 degrees! (That one needs to get fixed!) The next one showed 95 degrees. Of course my trusty thermometer outside my window showed 100!

Ah, but thank goodness it cools off at night! Open all the doors and windows. Turn on the fans to suck the cool air in and sleep in cool peace! By morning, though, you have to grab the blanket, shut all the windows and doors, close the blinds, and be ready for the next onslaught of HEAT! And me? I don't go out in it unless absolutely necessary. Heck, I even let the dog come inside yesterday--the poor thing found his spot on the linoleum next to an air conditioning vent, and just STAYED there. Even the cat didn't entice him to move.

I did do a little work on the rental yesterday, but had to leave there by 2:30 to get to my PT appointment and later the Radiologist's. Today, I'm just staying home getting some stuff done around here until my 4:30 appointment. On one side of the house it says 99.5, and on the other (still shaded) it says only 90. Think I'll go get the dog.

Oops!

I was just reading some of my other posts, and realized I wrote it wrong. The tumor was still FIVE centimeters when they did the lumpectomy....not POINT five! (Those danged decimals!) ;-) So it had shrunk only 1 cm. --- not 5 and a half!

Time For An Update?

I guess it IS! Whew! A lot's been happening the past month. Most of the time I was supposed to be healing from the latest surgery, but our 11 year renters chose this time to move out, so since June 1, I've been at that place just about every day. Most days, I didn't last too long. Around 2:00 P.M., I'd hit a wall, and I'd literally be done for the day. (Of course, I didn't get going until around 10:00 AM, either.)

My tubes came out at week 2.5 and 3.5. Now, folks, that pain is truly something to behold! Luckily it's so temporary, and lasts only about one minute. And then it's completely gone. I'd had a drainage tube in before for a surgery, but it was only in for a day or two, and when it was removed, I must've still been on the morphine so never felt that at all! Those things are like a 6 inch long miniature plastic paint stirrer you get from Sears, only probably 3 times the size of the hole that the tube's been coming out of. Of course, I'd had my tubes in for over 2 and 3 weeks, so there was quite a bit of healing around the tube area. O-U-C-H! Ah, but the relief at having those buggers gone and being able to finally sleep on my side instead of my back all the time made it all worthwhile.

My wounds still are not completely healed, but today I had my first radiation treatment. I go again tomorrow and every Monday through Friday for the next 6 weeks. I was really dragging my heels on this one, since everything I had read was that radiation is used if you have only (yeah, right--"only") a lumpectomy, not a masectomy. The radiology doctor finally informed me that because of the size of my tumor, I had a 40% chance of it coming back in 2 years if I DIDN'T have the radiation vs. 10%. Well, gee. What are we waiting for?

I've also been seeing a physical therapist to learn how to give myself (or maybe Fred can?) massages so I can manage the lymphedema. That's a fancy name for swelling in the arm where some lymph nodes have been removed. Actually, it can become a serious problem since the lymph has no place to go, and then infections can occur. That's why that arm can no longer be used for blood pressure readings, IV's, or taking blood. And, I'll have to be especially careful about cuts, bites, etc. Now, that's the hard part. Mosquitoes LOVE me! They always have. Good thing I live here in Eastern WA where we don't have a problem with them like I did growing up in ND. I still have scars on both arms from those nasty suckers!

On the whole, my life seems to revolve around medical appointments, painting, cleaning, and trying to find a bed so I can sleep! Actually, I'm not the painter, but they use me mostly to haze the aisles at either Home Depot or Lowe's, call them to report my findings, and to ask them what it was that they sent me there for. (Chemo brain)

Thank goodness we've had some awesome help from some friends and former neighbors and of course, Fred's cousin, Myron. They spray painted the entire interior--ceilings included, while some of us others tried to stay ahead of them by doing the taping. I've even figured out how to fix vertical blinds. Then the blinds company told me they were not meant to be fixed! Ha! I fooled them!

Tomorrow we're going with 10 others to a dinner theater. (It's really my birthday, but we haven't told them that--I wanted to just go OUT!) It's Tim Behrens as "Scrambled McManus."
We saw him a few months ago doing "McManus in Love," and we all had such belly laughs. Shoot, I laugh everytime I read one of McManus' stories from his books--even when I've read the story 10 times already! His Rancid Crabtree and Crazy Eddie Muldoon just jump out of the pages, and now we get to enjoy them jumping out on the stage!

So, tomorrow will be a busy day: 11:45 radiation, 1:30 PT, and then 5:30 Dinner Theatre.

I think I should rest this weekend.