Dear Family and Friends,
I try to stay mostly upbeat in my blogging but I have to agree with Steve--this last week was really rough. The double chemo last Friday did me in and I was nauseous all day every day through Wednesday night! I also had to get the three days of shots in my stomach to bring up my white blood cell counts, which are followed by three days of bone pain. I'm "enjoying" that now...but it hasn't been as bad as I was expecting. Ibuprofen seems to be working for it, thankfully.
But then yesterday (Thurs.), the clouds parted and I only needed one anti-nausea drug in the morning then felt good all day! Daniel and I took advantage of that to head downtown where we took care of a host of errands and then treated ourselves to the three-course for $15 lunch at the Steelhead Diner in the Pike Place Market for Dine Around Seattle month! We split our appetizers of curried carrot and parsnip soup and crab and shrimp tater tots, then we each had the mahi mahi and the Theo chocolate pecan pie with whipped cream. I felt as full (and happy) as if I had just finished Thanksgiving or Chrimstas dinner! Yummo! To top the good day off, Steve got home a little early and he and I enjoyed a nice walk, then Renee came home for dinner and Grey's Anatomy! So lovely to have a nice day after six bad ones!!
At 8:30 this morning we had chemo number eight. My blood counts looked really good! The chemo took four hours since the lab was slow today. We watched the movie What Women Want and I snoozed a little. This afternoon, I rested a bit and then my Mom came for a visit. After that, while Daniel was at the gym, I went on a walk. I couldn't believe how warm it was outside and had to tie my coat around my waist.
Hair alert. My extremely short buzz cut has funny bald spots on the back of my head where my head rubs on the easy chair. Remember when babies who have that soft hair get those thin spots from their head rubbing on carseats and on their beds? That's what it's like. I've been wearing my hats a lot but sometimes, I just don't care what people think and go out without one (as I did on my walk today). Nobody really stares or says anything, which is GREAT. I'm really pleasantly surprised that the hair part isn't too big a deal for me. Small price to pay for a chance to be healed of cancer!
Insider tidbit. One of the weird things that happens during chemo is the hairs inside your nose also fall out. Without the hairs inside your nose, your nose runs and/or bleeds a LOT. I should own stock in Kleenex! Thankfully Costco sells it in those huge quantities and we are going through it.
Tomorrow Daniel and I do our next putt putt golf outing. It is going to be EPIC!! You will want to see our blog post and photos for SURE. That's your little teaser to check back in this weekend. :-)
Now we are contemplating what to eat for dinner and then will probably watch a Foyle's War. I am grateful to my neighbor Cheryl who brought me daffodils today and to each of you who sent me cards this week--you know who you are. You are all amazing to keep remembering me and cheering me with your cards and other kindnesses. And thanks to all of you who are praying. I feel your prayers in a very tangible way each day.
Let me close with a verse I love that came up in Daniel's and my One Year Bible Reading today. Psalm 57:1b: "I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed." That's where I was lying low this past week--in the shadow of God's wings. I was so grateful to be there and I am so thankful that the disasterous double chemo and shots week has passed!
Love,
Gabrielle
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