...Lace Up Your Gloves...

Well, maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough, it seems. I've decided that I'm going to start a series entitled, "As the Hair Grows" with weekly photos to document the progress. It's growing, I tell you. And strangely enough, it's not coming in patchy either. Granted, in the meanwhile was told, hopefully in jest, that I apparently bear a vague resemblance to Steve Van Zandt when I am wearing a bandana. Truth be told, the Silvio Dante isn't exactly my favorite look, but it's amazing what a little makeup can do, huh? Then again, that's not really the point of this entry now, is it?

So, another treatment behind us, and thank GOD for that. Not my favorite, yesterday's round, as I once again had the privilege of doubling as a human pincushion. Eight. Eight freakin' sticks until they finally found a vein that wanted to cooperate. Apparently I had been stressed out (apparently when someone comes at you repeatedly with a needle that won't get a good blood return, that tends to happen) and my vein valves were closing. Or seizing. Or something. The end result being a smattering of bruises, a few puncture wounds, and the nurses telling me not to drink water for a bit lest I shower the rest of the chemo room with it spurting out my punctures. Pleasant, no? It was waaaaaaay too quiet in there yesterday. I don't like it when it's that quiet, and this time, I wasn't exactly doing much to add to the levity. I guess we can't have every week be the best of all. The good news? It's another day, I'm feeling fine, and will warm up my arm and think more pleasant thoughts next week. Honestly, I think it works better in the morning. Yesterday's appointment was in the afternoon, and there's just too much time in the morning to idle. Not that any of yesterday morning was spent idling. The Ahwatukee Foothills News sent their Health and Education reporter to do a story on us which will appear in the October 17th edition. Don't worry, we'll get lots of copies. I'm pretty sure there will be a link online, too. The fame and (mis)fortune continues...

Thankfully, I slept pretty well last night. I remember waking up around 1 a.m. and dragging myself to the bathroom, eyes barely open. I crawled back in bed and mumbled, "I'm SOOOOOOOOO sleepy...". I guess the glass of wine helped, coupled with the fact that I tend not to sleep well on Tuesday nights. The falling asleep part is usually fairly simple, but I take the dexamethazone pre-meds on Tuesdays and if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, which I inevitably do, thanks to my Ship of the Desert quest the day before treatment, I'm up for a while.

Anyhow, last night I was only up for a little while - maybe 1/2 an hour, which is quite bearable in the grand scheme of things. However, as my mind wanders, as it tends to do at 2 a.m., I somehow found myself marvelling at the random and unrelated things I had put into my body yesterday. Let's examine the chaos, won't we?

Between the time I woke up and the time I fell asleep, I had taken (or been given) two Tylenol, 5 mg of Aloxi/Decadron, 25 mg of Benadryl, 100 mg of Herceptin, 65 mg of Taxotere, one Pepcid, a multi-vitamin, one calcium, one magnesium, and two Omega-3 fish oil pills. HUH???

Then I started thinking about the miscellaneous food I had ingested... keep in mind, I can't remember the last time I ate such a random assortment of food in a day. I started with the typical cup of coffee and antioxidant-laden smoothie. Harmless, right? This was followed by about 1/3 of an Oregano's Favorite salad, and about 2/3 of the largest slice of pizza I may have ever seen topped with mushrooms, black olives, and red onions. Not too unusual. Four hours later about a half mini-box of lemonade/wild cherry Nerds had been added to the mix. Then came the cantaloupe and the honeydew melon that I had to sample from the Edible Arrangements from my Larry & Jan. Then about a half dozen veggie spring rolls dipped in honey hot mustard mixed with Sriracha sauce. Then a chocolate covered strawberry. Oh wait, there was the glass of Lake Sonoma Zin. Then some red grapes, a couple pieces of pineapple, and a cantaloupe ball or two. All topped off with a handful of frosted mini wheats. No wonder I needed that Pepcid. It all tasted really good at the time... Hey, whatever works, right? (WTF, is a more likely comment to that discombobulated disaster of items ingested.)

New day, new menu, and Game 1 of the NLCS.
Sounds pretty good to me.