26 May 2023
A few days ago, my friend Barbara (Barbara I) texted and asked if I would like some take out from Jalisco’s, a local Mexican food place, the day of my port insertion, and if so, she would drop it off, or if I felt like it, join me for dinner. I texted back that was a great idea and would love to have her join me for dinner.
Between the procedure and the fentanyl, I didn’t remember after the procedure that she was coming over. She must have been psychic because she texted me again around 3 pm on the day of the procedure asking me what I wanted from the restaurant. Thank goodness she did. I looked up the menu online and I mentioned black beans and rice, plantains, and either chicken or pork as an entrée.
Jalisco’s has been in Fort Lauderdale forever. The outside is absolutely nondescript and I don’t think anything has been done to the building or interior prior to my arrival in 1985 nor since that date. The food was always good. It was standard practice to either eat at Jalisco’s first (so you could claim a space in the parking lot) and then go next door to a gay bar and have a beer, dance, etc. It was either that of risk being towed in the back alley and then going to Jalisco’s to rehydrate after all the beer and get a late night meal.
She showed up a little after 5:30 with two large bags of take out. Not only did she get the plantains and black beans and rice, but she got a huge container of chicken soup, their Pollo a la Plancha which is a grilled marinated chicken breast with onions but also their Bistec de Puerco a la Plancha which is their grilled marinated pork with onions. To top it off, she brought an individual serving of flan.
The chicken soup was outstanding. She even brought a special container or rice to add to it. We shared the Pollo a la Plancha (it was enough) along with the plantains. We each had our own serving of black beans and rice. It was delicious and a godsend. She repackaged the soup, rice, black beans and rice and the Bistec de Puerto a la Plancha and that’s my dinner tonight. I was still a little loopy from the anesthesia and I remember having a conversation with her after dinner, but don’t ask me about what.
As I kid, the first sleeping position I remember was on my belly with my head turned right on the pillow and my face to the wall. I shared the bedroom with my brother Archie and don’t believe a word he tells you about the stuffed blue French poodle named Pierre that I slept with. All lies.
When I moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1985, I learned afternoon naps in the summer after my teaching duties were over were a great way to recharge. Forget that my brother and I fought constantly with our mother who made us nap as kids. However, I found that I would drift off to sleep on my back and wake myself snoring. It was about that time I shifted to sleeping on my side.
My preferred position is to sleep on my right side – at least to first doze off. I shift back and forth from right to left and back again all during the night.
When bedtime came, the lidocaine was wearing off and I was worried I wouldn’t get any sleep. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was I couldn’t lie on my right side (the side of the port). I suspect that problem will go away once the port incisions heal but it was uncomfortable enough I had to sleep all night long on my left side.
The consequence was once I got up this morning, my entire life side: hips, ribs, shoulder, all ached. It’s still with me.
The ache from the port incisions abated a little today and I may try the right side tonight to give the left side some relief. Who knew major adjustments to the simplest things would have to be made from a little minor surgery?
Around noon my friend Barbra (Barbra II notice the spelling) texted and said she was bringing over some chicken soup (or as she calls it Jewish penicillin – she’s entitled, she’s Jewish, but then so is Barbara I who also called it Jewish penicillin). She had asked me via email several times if she could drop some off and today she was in Fort Lauderdale for a doctor’s appointment, and it was convenient for her. She brought over a huge container of frozen chicken soup with an additional frozen meal. I’m set for a while. I at least remembered most of the conversation with Barbra. I really do have great friends! Especially is their name is Barbara/Barbra!
Today is the first of three days I cannot bathe or shower or get my incisions wet. Fortunately, I have a solution. Over the years, I’ve learned that 90% of the national parks do not have showers for campers. I’ve learned to take “sponge” baths in the sinks of the men’s bathrooms. That gets old when it’s only cold water and the outside temperature is 20°F.
I eventually came across bath wipes sold by REI. I stocked up on them. I do, however, remember going into one particular REI store and asking for them and getting a blank look from the sales person. I did eventually find them on a shelf and went back to tell the person what they were and where to find them in his own store.
Since then, I order them from Amazon.
These things really work well. And since I haven’t camped in a national park in a while, I have a good stock of them in the house.
Amazon delivered two other things for me today. Ensure and Zensa’s Alert skin care cream with lidocaine. The lidocaine cream was a suggestion from a YouTube video of someone who had a port and was undergoing chemotherapy. Even though it is a port, it’s under the skin and you have to pierce the skin every time for infusions or blood draw and it has to be a very large needle. This one person recommended adding a lidocaine numbing cream to the surface of the skin where the port is located just before going in for your infusion and covering it with with Glad Press’nSeal to keep it from being rubbed off by clothing. When I got the port inserted and was in recovery, either Rosemary or Monique suggested the same thing so I’m going with it.
That process is remarkably like the bandage I have on now.
The RN for medical hematology told me during the chemotherapy consultation to try either Ensure or Boost or some such product. She didn’t specifically say I would lose my appetite after chemo but strongly suggested I lay in a store of the ones with the maximum amount of proteins. This makes since because the drugs attack the surface proteins of cells.
I did not realize there were so many varieties of this supplements. There are some that are for diabetics, some for those people who have gluten allergies, and this particular one was recommended for people undergoing cancer treatments. I could have gone with either Ensure, Boost or several other companies, but I liked the flavors offered with Ensure. I got creamy peach, French vanilla, strawberry, milk chocolate, mocha, and cherry cheesecake.
Part of the suggestion was that food would taste different after chemo and that I needed to eat and it was suggested to find what would taste good to me and stick with it and supplement it with an Ensure-like product. I think I’m ready for my first chemotherapy.
Stay tuned!