Because I took a sleeping pill the night before, again, I was not awake until about 7:30 AM. I got myself ready for the day and then went to feed the Toothless Wonder Cat. He’s having a very difficult time with eating. We know he must have an active infection in his gums, but because we can’t pick him up, let alone get him into a box or carrier, we cannot get him to a vet. He’s not been eating very well, and his grooming is suffering as well. We have a feeling by the time he is weak enough to submit to our administrations it will be too late and we will be having a vet put him to sleep rather than try to treat what ever is wrong with him.
Our plan for the day was to get the grocery shopping completed and then finish up the last of our holiday shopping. The Darling Daughter agreed to take our gifts up for the family Hanukkah celebration in the SFO area this weekend, but I forgot the Bridal Shower gift for my cousin’s soon to be bride. Since she had errands to run during the morning hours while the kids were in school, we agreed to drop that gift by about 2 PM, before they headed out to Bakersfield for the first stop of their drive up north.
We completed the grocery shopping as quickly as I could move, and also stopped at the bank so I could transfer my disability money into my normal checking account. Once we had the groceries home and the perishables put away, we headed to the dreaded mall to grab the last gifts we needed for this holiday season.
Now our closest mall has gone through a major renovation over the past few years with new high end stores going in, and a complete revamp of the existing building, an upgraded food court, as well as added square footage to the entire building. I have not really explored any of the new end of the mall, and have no idea where anything is, nor what the actual foot print is now as I never paid attention to what they were doing.
We started at one end and found a directory to see where we needed to go. Hubby figured we would go back out to the car and he would drive to the location if, where we needed to go, was at the other end. Me, on the other hand, said we should walk, I still need to get some exercise in here and there. We walked. We found everything we were looking for, a whole two items, and we stopped at See’s Candies so I could pick up some of their cinnamon hard candies. I think I could probably taste those!
We stopped at Burger City Grill to grab some burgers for lunch, and headed home. I finished wrapping the Bridal Shower Gift, then ate my burger. I could not taste it, not even the blue cheese…
We headed to the Darling Daughter’s to meet her by 2 PM. As we drove up, we saw they had just arrived home from the school pick ups as well. My daughter is very proud of her holiday decorations and was excited to show them off. Her brother-in-law was there to pick up his daughter, the Grandson’s cousin/sister (because they are as close as siblings). The Grandson and his cousin/sister were playing in his bedroom and didn’t see us arrive.
They live on the second floor, and stairs are the only way up. After the grocery shopping and walking at the mall, I was a little tired after getting up those stairs. I had to sit for a bit. Grandpa on the other hand stood in the doorway to the Grandson’s bedroom and waited with a surprised look on his face for the Grandson and cousin/sister to notice him there. Once they did, the laughter and tickling, silly fun ensued. I love listening (and watching) “Grandpa” play with the kids, he has as much fun as they do.
We took our leave of The Darling Daughter, the Brother-in-law, and the Grand-kids and headed back home. There was a skywriter working on his technique, as the person was writing the same thing over and over again – Hope. I took it as a sign.
Hope, there is always hope. Hope for a pleasant nap in the afternoon, hope for a calm weekend with minimal side effects. Hope for a cancer free future. Hope, there is so much in that word, it opens up all the possibilities.
Once we were home, I finished putting away the non-perishable groceries, and that is when chemo gut kicked in. Oh the joys. At least it waited until we were done with errands. Now let me point out that I did take an Olanzapine with my morning pills since I knew we would be driving a bit, just to be on the safe side.
About the second or third trip to the bathroom, my stomach decided it wanted in on this action and out of the blue I found myself once again reaching for the bathroom trash can as I “ran” at both ends. Why thank you stomach for your show of solidarity with my chemo gut. I know you guys don’t like chemo, but we really don’t have much choice in this matter.
That fun lasted for a couple hours. Thankfully I purchased a whole lot of fresh ginger from Costco the previous day. I sliced up a bunch and started making myself some Honey/Ginger tea to help keep me hydrated during this anti-chemo rebellion by my digestive tract. So much for Olanzapine. We think it’s the extended time in the car that may be setting this off. Guess it’s a good thing we decided to not risk the drive up to the SFO area this weekend. That would have been miserable, for both of us.
Since the Olanzapine didn’t seem to work, guess we go back to the drawing board to figure out what will keep me from having my stomach rebel every time it gets near a vehicle.
Life is keeping “buckets” handy
At least your sense of humor has not been affected by these yucky side effects of chemo. For that, we are all grateful because it shows us that you are not letting any of this alter who you really are. Hang in there, Sweetie, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. LYTTMAB!