The third time was the charm. I kept going back to the Heliconia patch looking for my knife. I finally found it. The hilt was upside down in the stems and the blade was standing upright. It blended too well. I was lucky I didn’t cut myself while looking for it before with the blade exposed.
It’s perfect for trimming the Heliconia. I would have much missed it if I hadn’t found it.
22 September 2023
Joel and John came over last night. About the time John arrived, the bottom fell out and we decided that instead of ordering and going to pick up the food we would order and have it delivered. That necessitated a change in food venues. We opted for Sassano’s and each got the 9″ steak super (onions, mushroom, peppers, cheese, and, of course steak). We managed to only eat half and saved the second half for lunch today.
John had stopped at Fresh Market and picked up a couple of loaves of banana bread for dessert. It was good to catch up with them. I admit to chasing them out around 8:30 last night. I was failing fast.
My Apple Watch is due to be delivered today. It’s another one of those delivery quandaries – delivered by 7 pm. I’ll play it by ear since I leave at 12:45 pm for the hydration infusion and hope I make it back before the delivery. If not, maybe they’ll deliver it on Saturday like the did the iPad. I look forward to the new watch and some of the new features.
I ordered the Apple Watch Ultra 2. It can measure dissolved oxygen in your blood stream, has automobile crash recognition and has features that allow you to follow trails when hiking. It’s also a little more rugged than the one I have now (with the broken display face). Maybe I’ll feel a little more sporty. It’ll take me a while to figure out all the features. Apple also offers a training session and I may take them up on it.
Over the years, I’ve owned a lot of watches. Some cheap, some expensive and all easily broken. I am really hard on jewelry and watches. I don’t wear rings any more because I either lose them or bash them up. I quit wearing watches for years, particularly when cell phones came into prominence. I will admit that my first and only iWatch lasted me longer than any other watch I’ve owned, but even it succumbed to my clumsiness. I’ll be satisfied if the new watch lasts as long as the old one.
The morning started roughly with me hopping out of bed and heading to the toilet for a wake up bout of diarrhea. I opted not to walk this morning. I just feel drained. Maybe I overdid it yesterday with the yard work and hosting John and Joel. The good news is that I got almost 8 hours of sleep for two nights in a row.
The better news is that I usually feel much, much better after the hydration infusion. That can last a couple of days (then it’s back for another chemo session). I seem to be getting into a routine with this and seem to cope with it. The only real problem which doesn’t seem to have a solution is the diarrhea.
I’ve noticed that with me starting Metamucil, the diarrhea is less violent and a little more controlled. Some of the earlier bouts I’ve had remind me of the description of people with cholera. It’s described as projectile diarrhea. It’s so intense and debilitating, they make cots specifically for cholera patients with holes in the cot so patients can discharge into the hole and into a bucket placed below the cot. Thankfully, I’m not that bad!
Miracle of miracles! I slept 7 hours and 45 minutes last night! It’s been a while since I’ve slept in that long. I still got up at 6 am. At least it was daylight when I did my walk this morning of 1.3 miles. I ran into Ivan and Gigi and we caught up a little while they were walking Milo. That’s what I like about this neighborhood. The neighbors know you and stop and speak and care about you. It’s been pretty much like this since I moved in 28 years ago.
Twenty-eight years ago and I was the new kid on the block. Now, I’m one of the residents with the longest tenure. I think only Mary Kay, my next door neighbor has lived here longer than I have. It’s very much a working class neighborhood and has become racially diverse. Everyone seems to help everyone else out and look out for each other.
My energy level is low. I had three bouts of diarrhea yesterday and have already had one this morning. Usually, day 4 after chemo is my down day but it seems to have hit a day early this week. Good thing I go in for hydration therapy tomorrow at 1:15 pm. That always gives me a boost.
I hope to have enough energy today to get to trimming back the other patch of Heliconia in the yard. I got one patch done last week and I put out yard waste today for pickup tomorrow. Maybe if I take my time and have plenty of rest breaks.
Joel and John are supposed to come over tonight and we are going to order food in. Ostensibly, it’s our Thursday night dinners back on schedule but more than likely, they are just checking up on me.
Last night I tried a Dutch chocolate malted. It was pretty good. My next attempt will be with Blue Bell’s Coffee ice cream. I’ll keep you posted.
When I was making this, I forgot to add the malt powder. I went back and added and re-mixed. It’s was pretty good without the powder but much, much better when added.
I still am low energy but I found enough to sweep the pool deck, tend the leaf garden (it’s still producing) and then trim the other Heliconia patch.
Here’s the Heliconia before trimming.Here it is after the trimming.
Somehow, in trimming, I lost my homemade knife. I felt it slip out of my hands and down into the the Heliconia but I could not find it. It’s either still there or in the yard waste bin to be emptied tomorrow. I got another knife (not as good) and it kept slipping out of my hands also. I think the peripheral neuropathy has not gotten to my hands.
When trimming this patch, you also have to deal with bougainvillea. I should really wear long pants and long sleeve shirts when trimming this patch but I guess that would just mean I would tear the pants and the shirts.
The joys of trimming around a bougainvillea.
I jumped in the pool to cool off and then eventually had a shower in the outdoor shower. The temperature is pleasant at the moment but we are due some heavy rain this afternoon with the accompanying humidity. I’m glad I got this set of chores done early.
I’m doing better. I was awake at 4 am instead of 3:30. I’ll take it. At least that gives me time for perusing the news online and then going for my morning walk. Today’s walk was along Riverland at 6 am (total dark) and it was 1.5 miles. It’s amazing how well I feel the day after chemo. I attribute it to the saline solution that feed into me at the same time as the chemo. It’s hydrating me. Just goes to show you how much we need to hydrate.
The one thing I noticed yesterday is the peripheral neuropathy is getting worse. It’s not painful, just uncomfortable and for the most part is limited to my toes. So far, it hasn’t given me trouble in my fingers. However, I was warned that I may have trouble picking things up with my fingers after a while. Joy!
Remember my blog about malts? Amazon delivered my malt powder yesterday.
It was too tempting, so I made a chocolate malt for dinner last night. That was all I had so I justified it that way.
The recipe called for 2 cups of vanilla ice cream, 2 tablespoons of malt powder, 2+ tablespoons chocolate syrup and 1/2 cup milk. I used the hand blender to mix it up. I then whipped some cream with a little sugar and vanilla extract. I topped it off with cherries.
Next time I may try it with the Dutch Chocolate ice cream. In any case, this version was yummy and pretty much filled me up so I didn’t snack too much after dinner. Maybe it’s a new weight loss routine!
I’m going with my friend Jim to a doctor’s appointment today. Holley is teaching and can’t go with him and we are all of the opinion it helps to have someone along as an extra set of ears. I know I don’t retain everything doctors say to me.
Jim and I made it to his doctor’s appointment and I took copious notes. From there we headed to Le Tub, my favorite place in Hollywood.
This is the parking lot. They once were voted the best hamburger in the nation. You couldn’t get a seat for a few years after that.Entrance to Le Tub. It’s famous for having old toilets and bathtubs as planters scattered through the place.The reason I like it is it has outside seating along the Intracoastal Canal. Tarpon come up to the surface for feeding.And then there’s the boat traffic.You can’t get more rustic than this!And you can’t beat the view.
I ordered their famous hamburger and finished half of it. It had to be 1 1/2 inches thick! Jim ordered the peel and eat shrimp. We left stuffed.
Since I’m still full from lunch, dinner tonight will probably be another chocolate malt. Hopefully, I’ll be able to walk some of it off tomorrow as well as do yoga and swim some laps.
Another 3:30 am wake up. It’s not as bad as it sounds since I went to bed at 9:30. pm and got 6 hours of sleep. Actually, I only got up to pee and realized I had not taken my anti-nausea medicine (Dexamethasone) and figured better late than never. I also decided to dose myself with 2 Lomotil while I was at it. Today is Taxol only (unless the magnesium is low again) and I assume they’ll pump saline into me to hydrate as well.
Yesterday I got my new Covid booster at Walgreens. I was talking to the pharmacist and he said he was concerned he would run out. They had been allotted 60 doses and it looks like that will be gone by the end of the week. At least people are taking it seriously and getting boosted even though Florida’s Surgeon General is telling people not to get it unless you are old.
A friend flew to New York this past week to attend a former student’s art opening at a gallery. What a phenomenal thing for the student! His work in an art gallery opening in NYC! Catherine wanted to be there to support. Sadly, she came down with Covid after the event and later developed pneumonia. She’s now in New York University’s Langone Health. Everyone who knows the area, including U.S. News and World Report consider it one of the best hospitals in the nation. Hopefully, she’ll be home later this week.
The reason I mention this is that Holy Cross told me months ago that they are seeing a serious outbreak in Broward County and that the nurses are extremely concerned. When I was hospitalized and had a false positive, they put me on the Covid floor. Later when it came back as two negatives, the nurse said “We’ve got to get you off this floor before you get Covid.”
Also interesting is the cancer center where I get my infusions requires masks. If you walk up to the front desk and don’t have one, they hand you one. Yet people in the waiting room continue to not wear masks. I don’t think they realize the rule is not for them but for the people undergoing chemo. Because of chemo, our immune system is compromised and any little infection, much less Covid, could be a real problem for us. Then there are those that wear the mask over the mouth but not the nose. Duh!
I boxed up my old iPad and sent it off for a refund. What caused concern was both the new iPad and old iPad seemed to have the same name and when I went to remove the old iPad from the system, I also removed the new iPad. That reset the new iPad over again when I turned it on. I couldn’t merge the old with the new since the old was on its way to be “refreshed” and resold. Fortunately, everything was backed up on iCloud and I could manually re-install everything, albeit with a lot of time required.
I then had a person-to-person session with Megan at Apple who walked me through some features of iCloud, Photos, and the camera. A lot of what she covered I knew but I learned several new features on the new iPad that I figure I’ll be using. She also sent me a list of beneficial links about the new iPad. I’ll probably take advantage of that during today’s infusion.
5:46 am Just had a bout of diarrhea. I still felt pretty good so I decided to go for my morning walk.
6:45 am Finished my 1.5 mile walk. Venus was pretty obvious in the eastern sky.
Venus always reminds me of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar.” He’s talking about his death but I love the phrase “Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me.” Venus, of course, is known as the morning “star” and evening “star.” For years I thought it was two different “stars” and apparently it fooled early astronomers. In my defense, I was a kid at the time. They had no excuse.
I was pretty done in by the walk and as I met my neighbor Mary Kay on my return, I noticed I was very dizzy. Well, dizzier than I abnormally am. I had my grapefruit half and second cup of coffee and then packed lunch for the infusion.
The infusion center took me back at 9:30 and Casey is my nurse today. I’ve met her before and she’s very nice. I left the ladies (and gentleman) at the check-in desk some Tootsie Roll miniatures. They were very appreciative.
9:45 am Casey has started the saline IV and magnesium IV and has drawn a blood sample for labs. I should have them back within 30 or 40 minutes if past practice is any indication.
10:01 am The CBC with Auto Differential is reported (that was fast!). My white blood cell count is good so I won’t be coming in for the three injections to boost my white blood cells. The red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit are low. Neutrophils relative are high, lymphocytes relative are low, lymphocytes absolute are low and neutrophils absolute are high.
10:25 am Comprehensive Metabolic Panel is reported. Sodium levels were low and glucose was high (217). Total protein was low. Magnesium, as usual, was low (1.4 with normal 1.9-2.7).
The dietician came by again and I asked about the Metamucil. She said it was a good idea. It’s a soluble fiber and it becomes a gel in the intestine and helps with diarrhea. Under certain conditions, Metamucil is a laxative but in my case, she said it would help. I’ll start with a dose every morning and she suggested I work up to two doses a day. I also told her I made her magic broth. She suggested mixing it with rice and that sounds appealing. I’ll try that tonight.
11:47 am The magnesium finished. Casey administered a full bag which hasn’t been done lately. Apparently, I was supposed to be getting the full bag all along but Casey caught the error. She administered the pre-cocktail of the usual: Benadryl, Zorfram, Dexamthasone, and Pepsid. Again, the IV Benadryl knocks me for a pleasant loop.
11:50 am Started the Taxol. It’ll run from approximately 1 hour so I may bet out of here around 1 or 1:30. They don’t seem to be too busy today.
1:00 pm Done! That’s the fastest I’ve been discharged from the infusion center – 3 1/2 hours. Casey ramped up the saline to 999 ml/hour (that was only a little left) and the Taxol finished in a little under an hour. I hope they can keep the pace. I’ve shown no adverse reaction (other than diarrhea) to the two medications so they speed them up.
I bid a fond farewell to the Bienes Cancer Center!
I sent Catherine at Langone Health a photo of me showing my port.
She sent back a photo of her IV pole.
I conceded the contest. Her IV pole has an extension! She has two monitors dispensing doses. I’d hate to be the nurse who has to regulate this.
When I got home, I immediately went to bed for a nap. The Benadryl really made me sleepy. I waked with a new set of A/C filters at the front door and a tote from the New Yorker. Just what I need – another tote. The back of the jeep is stuffed with them. I didn’t realize when I subscribed to the ezine that it included a tote. It does have a classy look. And I guess I can always use it. Some of the ones I have are getting old and I expect them to rip any time now.
By my reckoning, the rest of the day should be good and tomorrow as well. Wednesday and Thursday may be a different story and then Friday I have a hydration infusion and I’ll be bouncing off the walls, turn into a whirling dervish, and go on a cleaning binge. That’ll last until Sunday and then Monday I’ll be needing the saline with the chemo treatment.
I haven’t tried it yet but I got almost 1 gallon of magic broth from yesterday’s eight hour session. I hated I had to throw the chicken away but it would have taken me years to pull the chicken from the mixture. It had boiled down to just fibers. That was the point, I guess, to get the marrow from the chicken bones.
As you can see, I’ll need to skim the fat off the top and later today I’ll warm some up and have a cup of broth. I’ll need it. I’ve already had an episode of diarrhea this morning and my stomach is making noises now.
I did my walk this morning (1.3 miles) and I knew about half way through I would not be doing yoga or swimming this morning. I was doing good to finish the walk. I’ve got enough stuff to keep me busy today, anyway. I need to pack my bag for tomorrow’s infusion. I stuff a shoulder bag with cookies, a sandwich, ginger ale, and sliced apples. And, of course, Tootsie Rolls that I pass out to the nurses (and me). I’ve yet to get out of the infusion center before 2:30 or 3 pm and I get hungry. They will provide sandwiches and cookies and juices but I can afford to bring my own.
Apple also sent me the box I’ll need to do a trade in on my iPad. I need to wipe the old iPad, box it up and take it to the UPS store. I’ll do that later this afternoon when I go in for my Covid booster. I also forgot to get coconut water yesterday during my grocery shopping so I’ll need to get that. It turns out I like the taste well enough.
There are already some things I like about the new iPad. First, you don’t have the fingerprint issue with the new one. The new one uses facial recognition. I found the fingerprint function on the old one very frustrating and often had to resort to typing the code in manually. There’s a distinct difference in resolution. I normally am not one to be able to notice different resolutions, hues, colors, etc. but the image on the new iPad is much sharper.
By the way, I did make a Coke float for dessert last night. I have a large glass tumbler that holds four scoops of vanilla ice cream and I always use regular Coke for the Coke float. There’s just something about that combination that works for me. I’m not sure but I think the first one I ever had was at Dan Ott’s drug store in Morton. They had an old fashioned soda fountain in the front of the store and would make floats, milkshakes, banana splits, and sundaes. I miss the old soda fountains.
Ott’s was smart enough to put the comic book racks just down from the soda fountain. As kids, we would order something from the fountain and then go back and sit in the booths and read comics for free. Rarely did anyone purchase a comic book and often they were a little ragged from multiple readings. Ott’s knew they made more money from the soda fountain than comic book sales and lets the kids read them for free.
Speaking of soda fountains, when I was stationed in Corpus Christi on the CGC Reliance, on liberty I would go into town to one of the larger drug stores and get a chocolate malt at their soda fountain. The malt was the real thing. That added chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, milk, and malt powder. They topped it off with whipped cream and a cherry on top. One of those was like having a 5 course meal. They were delicious! I don’t remember having malts before that but I’m sure I must have. Lester’s Diner in Fort Lauderdale doesn’t have malts but they make a mean vanilla shake.
Now that I think about it, I have Bluebell Dutch chocolate ice cream and plenty of milk. Maybe I’ll get some malt powder today and make myself a chocolate malt for dessert tonight. I figure as much diarrhea I’ve had, the lack of stamina, and just plain malaise, I deserve to treat myself. Memo to self: pick up some whipped cream. I already have Maraschino cherries!
I have a session scheduled with Apple tonight at 9 pm to go over the new features of the iPad Pro. Apparently, the one-on-one comes free of charge with the purchase.
Which brings me to my next issue. I’ve noticed lately that when I walk in the early morning, just at dawn, I can’t see as well as I once did. I’ve also noticed that when I sit at the counter in the kitchen that it seems lights are dimmer (they’re not). When I walk Riverland early in the morning I noticed glare much more pronounced in headlights of cars that I meet. I can only assume that means cataract surgery is not too far off for me. My ophthalmologist has been warning me about this for years and it might be time. I’m not sure how that will work with chemo.
I met two neighbors on the walk this morning: Stacey with her dog Bear and Katy. Both asked about how I’m doing and about the chemo. This really is a good neighborhood where everyone watches out for everyone else. The temperature was decent but the humidity was in the low 90’s. We are still scheduled for a week of rain so it’s good I got the walk in early today.
Drained! Both literally and figuratively. I was doing great yesterday, got to bed around 11 pm after Ole Miss pulled out a victory over Georgia Tech and got some sleep – until 4:30 am when diarrhea hit with a vengeance. I don’t think I have any water left in my system.
I managed to go back to bed and slept until after 8:30 am. I’m dehydrated, wasted, and weak from two episodes so far. I intend to hydrate as much as I can with coconut milk. The dietician also gave me a receipt for Magic Mineral Broth that I’m now cooking. I had everything needed except juniper berries. Publix doesn’t seem to carry them or I didn’t find them. The Magic Mineral Broth is supposed to replace electrolytes like the coconut milk. We’ll see. I’ll put the recipe down below and it takes anywhere from 4-8 hours to “distill.”
One good thing that did happen yesterday was UPS did deliver the new iPad and iPad cover. More importantly, he also delivered a box of 80 Depends. I’ve pretty much gone through the box of adult diapers Melinda brought me and I was gonna run short if I didn’t reorder. The adult diapers have been a life saver (or sheet saver or mattress saver).
I’ll probably spend some time this afternoon getting things transferred over from the old iPad to the new iPad. It’s supposed to be an easy transfer but there are all kinds of things you have to do once it is transferred and you deactivate the old iPad. It’ll take a while and I’m not sure I have the energy for it.
I did manage to get to Publix and do some grocery shopping. I love the rice pudding Barbara brought me and I stocked up on that. More importantly, I re-stocked on Bluebell Ice Cream: vanilla (I’ll make Coke floats) and Coffee. I’ve always eaten ice cream and have been judicious with it. I normally only do two scoops. These days I’m up to four scoops with a drizzle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup and a handful of peanuts. Can you say bloated?
It’s a good day to stay inside. Although the temp isn’t terrible (91°F) the humidity is off the chart and we have a 60% chance of rain today. Yesterday we had a lightning storm and plenty of rain and it looks like that will be the pattern for the week.
I also bought some Metamucil at Publix. The nurses kept saying I needed soluble fiber. It was almost like a mantra with them. I have no idea if it will help but at this point, I’m willing to try anything short of putting a stopper up my behind.
Well, my first bowel movement was what you might expect – diarrhea again. The good news is that it didn’t prevent me from my morning walk. This morning was my short route (1.14 miles). It’s kinda nice getting up and out at 5 am when everyone else is still abed.
Heading back down my street to the house. The image is a little off because of iPhone’s tendency to take pictures in total darkness. The clouds were fantastic!
After my half grapefruit, second cup of coffee and crossword puzzle, I did my yoga stretches. I can do those without getting too out of breath but when I stand up, I get very dizzy – like the time I had positional vertigo. It passes but I have learned not to make any sudden turns.
Next I decided to brave the pool. At 5:30 am it’s still total darkness out.
Thank goodness I have a pool light or I wouldn’t know which was is up. I managed an almost complete set. The breast stroke is the most strenuous for me and I cop to cutting it short at 88 strokes instead of my usual 100. I had to wait quite a bit before I did my next set just to catch my breath. Otherwise, I finished my routine, albeit a little winded. The pool temperature was a balmy 88°F. It made for perfect swimming temperature.
Again, the sky is not really that light. I normally swim after the Great White pool cleaner has done its job. Today, I had to dodge it on occasion as it started working its way towards me in the pool. The cold water shower was, shall we say, invigorating!
When I first started hiking again, if I found myself on a particularly steep switchback, I would rest at the top of the switchback to get my pulse rate down. At first, it took me 2 minutes to not feel my heart pumping. Over the years, I’ve managed to work it down to 30 seconds. Looks like I’ll be back to the 2 minute mark on my next hike unless I can build up enough stamina with my walks, yoga and swim.
It was a 2:30 am wake up this morning. Actually, I feel pretty good. I did the last time I had an hydration infusion and I think it’s a good thing they’ve scheduled me for that every Friday after every Tuesday infusion. I’ll probably get a nap in some time today but I got 5 hours of sleep even with getting up at 2:30.
Yesterday I mentioned reading encyclopedias. I made a mistake about the Encyclopedia Britanica. It was the World Book Encyclopedia I read as a kid. Apparently, they still publish it. I used to love thumbing through the pages and stopping on something that caught my interest and reading about it. Maybe that’s why I can answer some of the clues on crosswords.
I purchased my own copy of the Encyclopedia Britanica when I was in graduate school and move it with me every time I changed locations. Later, when I taught at Itawamba Junior College, I gave Mantachie High School my E.B. Their’s was so old (I think the edition was in the 50’s) and mine was in the late 70’s. They were happy to get it. I think I must have doubled their collection when I left teaching at Mantachie because I gave them my entire library of books.
Yesterday, during the infusion, one of the nurses asked if I was on magnesium pills. I answered no and she suggested I ask Dr. Velez about them next infusion. My magnesium levels are always low and they always give it to me in IV form. It doesn’t matter to me but I’ll check in with him on Tuesday.
I was dragging when I went in for the hydration yesterday. Not only the diarrhea was bothering me but I also did my usual Friday rake, sweep, clean pool filter, pool deck and patio. By the time I had sat in the chair for four hours, I was feeling pretty good.
I made a bee-line to Walgreens to pick up some glucose test strips and lancets. I did the drive-thru and the pharmacist told me she had signed for me but next time I had to come in and sign for the supplies myself. These are regulated by the federal government and they don’t want people who aren’t supposed to sticking their fingers with lancets.
As I was driving over to Walgreens, I got a text message that UPS had tried to deliver my iPad. When I got home, they had left a sticker on the door that has a whole list of options for the driver to check as well as initial his name. Nothing was checked. I have no idea what they intend to do. Previously, I had gone to the UPS web site and opted to leave the package without obtaining a signature. That’s why I asked the neighbor to keep a watch for them and take the package to her house. Apparently, that held no water with the driver.
I’ve had similar experiences with UPS. One year, they were to deliver my new (two computers ago) iMac. I was home. They never rang my door bell but did deliver it to the neighbor next door even though I had not clicked that option. Strange.
Not only did they not meet the 9:30-12:30 time frame they set for the delivery, it was after 5 pm before they attempted. UPS has provided the ability to check where the delivery truck is. From 9:30 am until around noon it was at one location on Davie Blvd. I periodically checked on it during my 4 hour infusion and it was all over my neighborhood but never delivered the package until I left the cancer center. I assume they’ll try to redeliver the package next “business” day. Of course, I have my Covid booster scheduled for 2:30 pm on Monday so that’ll be when they try to deliver.
And yes, I did make it to Winn-Dixie. I made away with three 15 oz bags of Tootsie Roll miniatures! Also, the dietician suggested coconut water as an excellent electrolyte replacement. I decided what the heck and bought two containers. I’ll see if my taste buds will accept it. If so, I’ll stock up on that. I really do like coconut. Mother would make the most wonderfully moist coconut cake icing with sweetened dried coconut. It would melt in your mouth. Thai restaurants are big into coconut ice cream and I’ve also come to love that stuff but I haven’t ever seen any in the ice cream aisle of supermarkets.
Today is clean house and wash clothes. I feel well enough (and it’s early enough) I may try to walk, do yoga and swim before I get to the household chores. That’s how good I feel at 4:07 am in the morning. Of course, my stomach is making noises since I’m upright, so there’s no telling what form that will be when it comes out.
Yesterday, I had one bowel movement with semisolid stool. Then at 3:30 this morning, I had a second. I thought everything was in hand and I had turned a corner. Then at 7 am I had an episode of diarrhea and it’s pretty much wiped me out (no pun intended). I haven’t gone for my morning walk, plan no yoga stretches and no swimming. In part, that’s because I’m expecting an Apple delivery between 9 am and 12:30 pm but the diarrhea just saps me. I guess it’s perfect timing for the hydration therapy this afternoon at 1:30 pm.
Yesterday was a good day even if I did suffer a little buyers remorse from all the electronics I purchased. I’ve always had a touch of that any time I make a big purchase but it soon goes away.
Holley and Jim invited me, Chris and Jude to the Marlin Bar at Islamorada Fish Company off Griffin Road. It’s found in the Outdoor World facility.
Jim kept trying to get me to take my photograph in the jaws of the shark. It is a popular tourist photo op. The Marlin Bar is quite nice and they have a great happy hour with $8 cocktails and a pretty decent happy hour food menu. We ordered way too much food. I had the coconut chicken and a California roll. Both were pretty much entire meals by themselves. We shared appetizers and great conversation. This group is a lot of fun and the conversation never lags. All of us have taught at one time or another at Broward College and so we certainly have some life experiences in common.
Holley and Jim dropped me off at the house and I was pretty wasted so I popped a Xanax and headed to bed. I still waked at 3:30 am but after the potty break I immediately went back to sleep until my alarm went off at 6 am.
Did you ever read encyclopedias for fun? I loved doing that as a kid. My first exposure to anything like an encyclopedia was the Childcraft set of books. On rainy days, I used to pore through the 15 volumes and it was where I was first introduced to the famous composers like Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, etc. as well as the animal and plant kingdoms. What little I know about art came from the same series.
Later, my parents bought a set of Encyclopedia Britanica and I steadily worked my way through the alphabet with them. They say as you get older, you revert to your childhood, so now I’m working my way through Larousse Gastronomique. It just might outlast me even though it’s a single volume. The big difference is I could read the other encyclopedias in dim light and not squint. Now I need bright lights and a magnifying glass to read the print.
UPS insisted they would deliver my iPad today before 12:30 pm. If that had happened, I would have been home to receive it. I think they stopped for lunch since the delivery van was at the same address for over an hour. I asked the neighbor next door to watch for the delivery and then take it into her house. I’ve never had anything stolen from the front porch but there’s no reason to take a chance with something that expensive.
I arrived at the cancer center at my scheduled time (1:15 pm) and was called back for the infusion shortly after 1:30 pm. Kenyda is my nurse today and she has parents that teach Anatomy and Physiology on south campus of Broward College. She’s also going to eventually go for her masters.
She flushed the port, took blood samples, and now we’re waiting on the blood tests to come back. I predict magnesium and saline but the blood test will tell. I’ve had two episodes of diarrhea today and feel lousy and have low energy. That makes sense since it is day four since the Taxol/Herceptin infusion. Nurses usually tell you it’s day three that is rough but for me it’s always been day four.
2:16 pm The CBC with Auto Differential just came back. My white blood cell count is normal for the first time. The red blood cell count is low (anemic) and well as hemoglobin and hematocrit. Neutrophils relative is high (body under stress) and lymphocytes relative is low (higher risk of infection). Monocytes relative is low and lymphocytes absolute is low (possible infection) along with monocytes absolute (more susceptible to infection).
2:38 pm
I just got hooked up to the saline and magnesium. The saline should take 2 hours and the magnesium can run at the same time so it should finish first. That puts me out of here around 4-5 pm. Trust me when I say I’m stopping at Winn-Dixie on the way home for a couple of bags of Tootsie Roll Miniatures!
3:06 pm The comprehensive metabolic panel came back with low sodium (135 with normal range of 136-145) and high glucose (294). Magnesium was 1.5 with a normal range of 1.9-2.7).
The dietician stopped by and had a chat and after her questioning, she seems satisfied with what I’m trying to do diet wise to help prevent diarrhea. She did give me a recipe for “magic” broth that is supposed to help replace electrolytes. Not only did she give me the recipe, she gave me kelp strips needed for the recipe. She said coconut water is excellent for electrolyte replacement. I like coconut but am not a fan of coconut water. I may pick up a couple of bottles anyway.
Now it’s just a waiting game to get the infusion over with in between numerous trips to the bathroom to pee.
3:40 pm The magnesium drip finished. Now only waiting on the saline to wind up.
I ‘found a fourth bathroom! I’m getting used to this place. Looks like I’ll be through by around 5 pm. I’ll stop at Walgreens to pick up a prescription and then head to Winn-Dixie.
3:30 am again! Seems to be a habit these days. I’m sure some of the drug regimen I’m on is causing this but there’s not much I can do about it but get up, make coffee and eat breakfast and get an early start on the day.
As a kid, I heard my Mom ask over and over again “Is that money burning a hole in your pocket?” She knew any time I had change in my pocket I was itching to go to the fruit stand to buy a coke and potato chips and I couldn’t wait to spend it.
This week, my pocket spontaneously combusted. I replaced every Apple device except my laptop (which I’ll probably replace next year). I have great excuses for each and every device I replaced at great costs.
My iMac (26 inch screen) is so old (2015) that Apple no longer supports upgrades to the operating system. The new one I ordered is a 24″ screen but it shouldn’t matter since I’ve learned how to magnify images on the iMac. There was no rebate on the iMac and all they offered was to do a free recycle of the device.
My iWatch was so old that it was the same as the iMac. They’ll recycle it but that’s it. The new iWatch has a few features that I like. One is that if you are in an automobile accident, it will notify 911. My old watch does that if you fall but the auto accident is a new feature. It also has a few more bells and whistles which will make it fun.
I’ll at least get a rebate of $260 on a new iPad. I went with he iPad Pro which has some features that will allow me to do video editing and photoshopping more easily. My old iPad often hangs up. I’ll be working on something on it and it freezes. It drives me nuts.
Lastly, I pre-purchased the new iPhone 15 ProMax. I did the surveys that asked if you should replace your current phone (iPhone 12 ProMax) and to be honest, the best features of the new one are the camera, the camera and the camera. The iPhone has become my camera of choice and I only take a pocket Canon with me as a back up in case I lose my phone. The iPhone takes better photos. I’ll get another $260 rebate on my old iPhone. Now, I need to start saving pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, etc. to build back my reserve. It’s a good thing I like ramen.
The next couple of weeks will be transferring data from one device to the other and hopefully not losing anything. It sounds simple when you read how to do it but then there are always glitches even if you have everything backed up to the cloud.
Next year I’ll replace the laptop. It has a bad habit of inserting text midway in some previous text I’ve written and start a new sentence in the middle of another. There’s been some complaints about this particular model jumping around in the text. At first, I thought I was accidentally hitting the track pad but it seems to be a design flaw. Oh well. I only use the lap top when on trips (and when I’m immobile in the chair for chemotherapy).
Yesterday, I had just finished filling up the yard waste container for Friday’s pickup when I looked around and noticed a palm frond from my royal palm (Roystonea regia) had fallen off. My royal palm is a volunteer in the yard and it’s still pretty much a baby.
This thing will get about four or five times the size you see here. These are massive palms.The palm frond was 17 feet, 7 inches long and weighed 9 pounds.
Most of these palms get to around 50-60 feet here in Florida. If this had fallen off a 60 foot royal, the impact force would be equivalent to having 17 pounds drop on your head. However, if the palm were 60 feet tall, I would suspect the palm frond would weight much more than my 9 pounds. You can see why walking the streets in the neighborhood can be dangerous.
Over the years, coconuts have narrowly missed me and I’ve dodged a few palm fronds. Then of course, there’s always falling iguanas to watch out for.
I did manage to do my walk this morning. Yesterday on my walk, when I was trying to beat my diarrhea home, I noticed I was getting out of breath. Today was much better and I didn’t have to race the diarrhea.
Not only did I walk twice the distance of yesterday but I was able to complete my yoga routine and swim routine, although I will admit to having to rest longer between sets in my swimming. I can complete my exercise routine but I can tell my stamina is not what it used to be. I’ll try to work on it daily.
I seem to have recovered well from the surgery. I still get a little pulling on the left arm area but less and less every day. I should have complete range of motion on the left side before hurricane season is over.
Hopefully, there is a nap in my future this afternoon.
