Week 16 - My First Radiation

In a week that includes the start of post-cancer radiation, is anything else worth a mention? Of course! Have you met me?

After a couple of days that were too hot for mid-April, the high temp on Monday was 61 (hallelujah!) so I got busy cooking. In one afternoon, I made banana bread, meatballs, quiche, broccoli and an apple pie to take to knitting. I'd be set for meals all the week. 

I ran Wahoo errands on Tuesday, dropping Dottie's box, hitting 2 banks and The Warehouse. While I was at the courthouse to pay my property taxes, I went upstairs and changed my affiliation from independent to Democrat. I've never affiliated with a party EVER so this felt big. I also filled out a poll worker form and I'm sure I'll get called because Democrats are rare as hen's teeth in this state. I worked more in the yard that afternoon and had wine with dinner. It was a good day.

With my newly cleared table in the basement, I couldn't resist heading downstairs on Wednesday to sort through some bags from the craft room. It's a start. I also talked to Carolyn, who is on April vacation (it's a thing back east in schools), and finished Onyx Storm after Survivor.

Thursday was the big day. I had arranged to pick up some cat food for Husker Cats so the first stop was the warehouse. Earlier in the week, I'd scheduled lunch for every day I was having radiation and with my first appointment at 1:30, I met a new friend for lunch. She's the sister of my friend Kate, who passed away 6 years ago. We've been friends on Facebook and I met her a couple of times on campus (she worked at UNL too) but this was our first time socializing. We had a great time and will definitely get together again. Nice.

I hadn't left enough time for Lincoln traffic so ran into the cancer center a few minutes late. I didn't grab my knitting and so of course had all kinds of waiting. It was an orientation of sorts. They showed me where to go to change into a gown (a johnny for New Englanders) and where to wait for them to take me to the radiation room. The actual radiation only took ~10 minutes and I was out the door. I hit a grocery store, hung at Anne's for a bit and dropped the cat food on campus, thrifting along the way. One treatment done. Four to go.

The next session was Friday at 10:00 so only 18 hours after my first treatment. I took the highway around Lincoln, which was longer in distance but shorter in time, and was there on time. Uneventful except for meeting a nice woman in the waiting room. From there I went to Becky's to drop off banana bread for the workers at her Stuff from Strays sale. I also bought a few things then drove to Good Evan's, where I met Layton and Steve for lunch. I'd never been and it was delish (I got a southern eggs benedict with tots) and we had a nice catch up. After a quick stop to stock up on my favorite made in China lotion before tariffs kick in, I went right home. I was ready for the weekend.

Saturday was a Fremont run for spinning. We did our usual stops and it was fun, as usual. I had pulled out my afghan squares and started sewing them together at spinning. That was my mission for the weekend and it took all weekend. I didn't do anything for Easter but watched season 2 of The Recruit while I sewed and made myself a nice dinner.

40% done with radiation, two fun lunches with friends and some crocheting of all things. Three more sessions to go, all of which include more lunches with friends, and I'll be done. Life is good!

Week 15 - Gone is Good

It was a busy week! Got lots done, tons of stuff left my house and, of course, I started prep for radiation, which I hope is the final step with my cancer.

Since I was going to Lincoln on Tuesday this week, on Monday I loaded up the car with all my donations for Becky's Stuff for Strays sale. I then decided it was time to cull my socks so went through those and pulled a bunch to give to Becky to sell. I still have more pairs than will fit in my sock drawer but at least there isn't a huge pile on top of my dresser. 

Tuesday was fully booked. I met Darla for coffee at the Starbuck's in the East Campus Union at 10:00. From there I went to Becky's to offload my car and then we went to an early lunch at Penelope's Cafe because I had to be at the Cancer Center at 1:00. I was great to catch up over yummy food then I headed south to meet with the radiation oncologist. They installed the tattoos to align the radiation machine and there was yet another blood draw. My radiation would start the next week on Thursday with 5 appointments and be done before the end of April. That works. I hit the grocery store and headed home for tea. I had a library board meeting that night and was feeling off when I went to bed. Hmmm....

I was up in the wee hours in intestinal distress and was still feeling iffy Wednesday morning. Lorri was supposed to come over for tea on the deck so I called and cancelled but as the morning progressed, I felt fine so called and said to come after all. We had a lovely afternoon sitting on the deck, drinking tea and knitting while chatting for hours.

I started Thursday with a program at the lake on Arbor Day, which is a state holiday in Nebraska. There were only a few of us because it was announced late but it was interesting and I got to enjoy an applesauce donut from Wahoo Bakery. It also got me up, dressed and out early, which always makes for a productive day. That afternoon, I pruned all my roses and took the pokey canes and the rest of the brush from the alley to the city burn pile. Gone is good! I talked to Carolyn for a long time that afternoon. It was a good day.

I actually worked for 2 hours on Friday morning helping Dana with a grad allocation problem. Working in my nightie via Zoom isn't all bad. I talked to Connie later about her impending knee replacement and spent the afternoon raking the front lawn and the north beds against the house. I made chick pea salad and banana pudding (using things up) and then read after supper. I was getting back into Onyx Storm - the 3rd of the dragon books I've been reading.

Despite being retired, the weekends still matter after doing projects and work during the week. I started with a nice breakfast, talked to a friend and then it was HOT - 82 degrees! Since it would dry quickly in the hot wind, I had some fun dyeing yarn then headed down to my cool craft room in the basement and sewed a springy project bag with some fun vintage fabric that had been calling my name. Love both of my Saturday projects.

Sunday still seems to be for chores and cooking so I did laundry and hung it out first thing but then found myself downstairs again. I spent the afternoon going through the ebay room. It was a train wreck and by the time I was done, not only was everything organized but the floor and table were clear. I need to get busy selling some of the thousands of vintage linens in that room. With the table clear, I can use it for sorting linens and to go through some of the stuff in the craft room a bin or bag at a time.

I'd call that a good week. Got rid of lots of stuff, had fun in Lincoln on either side of my appointment, got started in the yard, got some education, had some crafty fun and made a big dent in the basement slog though, which will make the next steps down there a bit easier. I even got in some work, which will mean a paycheck coming albeit a tiny one. These days every little bit helps. I hope to have more weeks like this coming but first radiation. I hope that goes well. Wish me luck.

Week 14 - Study and Yarn

I had hopes of another normal week but also figured I get the call about the study. If I got in, I'd have a 50/50 chance of being in the radiation group but I'd cross that bridge when they called.

I started Monday dropping packages all over town - the big box of yarn at the hardware store for UPS pick up and several at the post office. After shipping off most of the Jean Moss books, I'd pulled emails from years old trip contact lists and had found takers for the last 2 so dropped those off too, happy to be done with book distribution. I then moved all the yarn and projects from the back room into the front room and did all the floors, ending the day knitting at the library.

I got the call Tuesday. My cells had passed the test so I was in the study but I lost the coin toss so was in the radiation group. I would have had the same amount of radiation if I hadn't done the study so it was just delayed. The gave me an appointment next week to see the radiation oncologist again and get my radiation schedule. Oh well. Thems the breaks.

I had done all the neatizing and cleaning because Lori would be in Wahoo on Wednesday for a hair appointment and was coming over for lunch. She called on Tuesday afternoon to say she was sick and couldn't come so I got busy. It was the first of the month so there were new socks and tallying entries for my sock group but then I started clearing surfaces. I started with some hot spots in the back room - the chest under the window and the Ikea rolling cart. It was a start.

With my newly clean house and a free day, it was time to tackle the front room. I had a Chewy box in front of the hutch where I'd been throwing donations so went through that  then started the big yarn sort. My friend Becky was planning her first Stuff for Strays sales of the season so I was going to donate another load of yarn for her to sell. I got out laundry baskets and started going through all the yarn I'd moved to the front room. That was step one and took most of the afternoon.

Since I had no appointments nor lunches with friends to take me to Lincoln, I needed to do a grocery run and had to convince myself it was OK to leave town just for shopping. There was a bagel shop in Omaha that I wanted to try out so I started there. I also hit a few thrifts, the bread store at the Rotella factory, Trader Joe's and Aldi. I had left early so I would be home to talk to Janice so after my last stop, I called her from the car and then we talked for another hour when I got home. It was nice to get out and about in Omaha rather than Lincoln or Fremont.

It felt good to have no obligations on Friday. I cleaned up the kitchen and fridge, zoomed with Cindy for work, ran errands in town, bagged up some yarn from Wednesday's sort and then settled in to watch Long Bright River and knit. I kept that up all weekend, bringing up yarn from the basement to go through when I was done with the upstairs yarn. I culled my yarn for making charity hats to 20 skeins that I put in an over the door shoe holder. I also did some cooking and chores and ended the weekend with bags and bags of yarn for Becky. 

So I enjoyed another normal(ish) week but it would be the last one for awhile since my radiation would most likely start soon after my meeting with the doctor on Tuesday. I wanted to be done before I needed to start my heavy spring garden work. Here's hoping.

Week 13 -A Normal Week

Since I was waiting to hear whether I'd be in the study, this was the first week in a long time with no medical appointments. Could this be a normal week? Apparently!

I spent Monday and Tuesday at home getting things done. I moved more branches to the curb - ones from the alley pile to add to the ones that came down in the storm, did my taxes since I'd found all my documents when I cleared my desk, did laundry, ran errands in town and even got downstairs to my craft room to make an Easter project bag. I also finished my book club book 2 full days before we'd meet on Thursday.

Wednesday was a Lincoln day. I started with coffee with Darla, scored some yarn at Goodwill, picked up my credit card from Anne, had lunch with my work friends at Bison Witches, hit Aldi and was home in time for tea.

I had sold tons of yarn to a woman who has a yarn website so spent a bunch of time gathering those skeins, updating my stash pages and prepping a big box to ship. I then sold 2 more lots, one of which was quite a few skeins, so pulled and prepped all of those too. I finished my sister's birthday socks and mailed them off along with the first of the of Jean Moss books that I was distributing to US knitter who had gone on her trips. Gone is good but I was ready for a break from all the packages

Andrea needed to pick up some calligraphy supplies so we headed to Blick Art in Omaha on Friday afternoon. I had heard of a new thrift store to try and I was thrilled to find a sugar bowl that not only had a hole in the lid for the spoon but was the Evesham pattern, which is close to my heart because John's mother had given me a small quiche pan in this pattern years ago for Christmas. Being Lent, I'd scoped out a pasta dinner at a nearby church so Andrea and I went there for supper. It was a fun evening.

Have you heard of the term niksen? It's a Dutch practice of doing nothing on purpose. I decided to embrace the concept for the weekend. I talked to friends and my sister, caught up on YouTube, knitted (of course) and read all Sunday afternoon. It was lovely to just relax.

I hadn't heard about the study yet but they had said it could take 2 weeks so I'd probably hear next week. In the meantime, I enjoyed a week that didn't revolve around medical appointments and cancer. It was just what I needed - the calm before the storm perhaps but time will tell on that front.

Week 12 - Weather and Fun

What a week! The weather fluctuations were crazy, going from mid 80's to a blizzard and back to warm again. My week went from planting to shoveling and ended with yarny fun.

I was supposed to go to Helen's on Monday for my overdue birthday celebration but she was sick so cancelled. It was HOT that day - 84 degrees. That's too hot for me so after planting pansies in the pot by my side door, I stayed inside but got my hands in dirt giving my overwintered plants some love and repotting all my African violets. Inside spring chores.

Tuesday was a busy day. After running Wahoo errands, I headed outside. We had a blizzard forecast for Wednesday, which would have heavy, wet snow but however much fell wouldn't last because we'd be right back to warm weather the next day. I figured this would be the perfect day to get my early veg bed planted so the snow could water it in. 

My first step was to sift the compost left in last year's bin so I'd have it to add to the early bed and would have an empty bin to start loading up. I cleared the early bed, added the compost and then planted all my early veg - lettuces, carrots, radishes, etc. I then dug 2 beds against my neighbor's chain link fence and planted snap peas in those. I covered the soil with branches and sticks to discourage the cats from digging and called it done. Cross that off.

I was enjoying tea and reading in the front room when a van pulled into my driveway with a beautiful arrangement of plants from my friend Susan, who I'd talked to that morning and told her about my cancer. How lovely! I finished Iron Flame - the 2nd of the dragon series I'm reading. Denise had told me that the library's copy was on back order so I'd bought the 3rd book, something I rarely do, and it was delivered that afternoon. I was ready for snow, which would hopefully be the last for the year on the last day of winter. 

The forecasts were all over the board depending on where you lived and how the blizzard tracked. I was surprised to see we already had an inch of snow when I got up at 6:00. It was very heavy and wet and was coming down fast. And such wind! I lost a big branch on my maple and the house shook when it fell, luckily in the middle of my backyard so it didn't damage anything. I was surprised when the power went out at 9:00. I was able to check Wahoo's page on Facebook on my phone and it was clear this was a huge problem and we wouldn't be getting power back anytime soon. It got pretty chilly in the house but I just kept adding layers. By mid-afternoon, my phone was getting low and my iPad was even lower.

I decided I should shovel my way to the garage so I could run the car and charge my devices. I got inside but when I pulled the cord to manually open the door, the old rope snapped in my hands. By then my snow crew had shown up on the assumption I'd need it done and they got me cleared out, which was a good thing because I had an early appointment in Lincoln on Thursday. After they left, I found my old desk charger and was able to drain the power from my laptop into my phone. I then went out to the car and put it on accessory long enough to get up to 12% on my iPad, which meant I could read before bed, which would be early at this rate. I figured out I could use a match to light my stovetop so was able to make tea and later made mac & cheese by candlelight.

I had a little battery powered lantern that Ginny had given me in my stocking so was reading by that in the front room as the light waned. The power came on just after 8:00 and I actually whooped when it did, scaring the cats. The first thing I did was run outside and open the garage door. I then plugged everything in to charge. I was super excited to have it back. Clearly I'm 100% dependent on power. Aren't we all? BTW, we got 9" of snow!

Thursday was a busy day, which started with me watching Survivor, which I'd missed while the power was out. Priorities you know. I went to Lincoln, where they got almost no snow, for an early lunch with Dodie before heading south to my appointment with the radiation oncologist. She was very nice and from Massachusetts so we had a nice chat about being an easterner in Nebraska. Then she asked if I wanted to participate in a study to evaluate if radiation is any use for people like me - tiny tumor, no lymph node involvement and cancer free after surgery. The clincher was I'd have a 50/50 chance of not needing radiation. Of course I was in! I had to fill out some paperwork and they'd send off my cells for testing. I'd hear in a couple of weeks if I'm in and if I get the radiation or no radiation group. Fingers crossed.

After the doctor, I went to hang out at Anne's because we, including Rene, had tickets to Annie that night. Annie was the first Broadway musical I'd ever seen and I was excited to go. We went to Tico's for Mexican food and then went to the Lied. It was wonderful.

I had a much needed quiet day on Friday because Saturday was another busy day. I picked Andrea up at 7:45 and we drove to Gretna to meet Anne and Rene for a ride to Winterset, Iowa for Fiberpalooza. We'd gone last year too and had a great time. I bought sock yarn, of course, but only 4 skeins, which felt like restraint. After shopping, we had a nice lunch in the cafeteria before heading back by the scenic route. We stopped for soft serve and explored towns along the way. We had fun in Red Oak, stopping at a bakery and chatting with the owners for an hour. I got home at 5:30 and did very little for the rest of the weekend, enjoying reading in the front room, making stew for supper and doing the bare minimum of chores.

Some week, right? I've lived in Wahoo for 29 years and never experienced anything like this storm. We were lucky in Wahoo because they had generators to get our power back. On our way out of town on Saturday, we passed miles and miles of downed power poles and dozens of line trucks from other states. They were parked when we drove by in the morning and again when we got back but they'd worked all day because there were new poles further west along the highway. There were still miles yet to repair but hopefully they'd finish it soon. And hopefully I won't experience another storm like it anytime soon.