3 September 2023
Eleven and one half hours! That’s how long I slept last night. I was exhausted, apparently from the diarrhea. I did take two Advil and one Xanax and they may have had something to do with it but diarrhea just saps you. Not only that, but I’ve been dressing for winter lately. Sitting still watching Vera seems to bring out the chills. The interesting thing is we have had very low humidity today – 70% which is a considerable break from 96%. I’m still cold and wearing long sleeved shirt and long pants. Since I waked at 10 am this morning, I didn’t walk. I probably would have been reported for being drunk in the neighborhood if I had walked.
I still have no appetite but did manage to eat my fruit and yogurt this morning. My sweet tooth is in overdrive and I did cinnamon rolls for lunch along with apple sauce. Hopefully, I’m on the road to recovery from the diarrhea since I actually had a real bowel movement this afternoon. I’m now 24 hours from the last diarrhea episode but I intend to continue with the 2 every 4 Imodium AD. I’ve been burned too many times by cutting back the dose.
Maybe later today I’ll make it to the pool. I hope to be able to do my morning walk, yoga and swim laps tomorrow morning. It’ll be the first time since my original surgery for breast cancer, sometime in July.
I gave Trevor a check for his lawn mowing for me and he also took out the 6×6 post for bulk trash pickup and put it on his own pile. He reiterated to let him know if he could ever do anything for me. They’ve volunteered to help in any way they can.
Jon stopped by with Dink this morning. He had changed phones and not all of the numbers transferred and he wanted to get my telephone. He also volunteered to help in any way he can. Jon and I met dog walking. At the time he had a border collie called Memphis and I, of course, had Rocky. They got along and so did Jon and I. Memphis has since passed and his new one is Dinky.
Jon’s an outdoorsman who used to work for many years for an outdoor store (think boats, kayaks, paddle boats, etc. His real talent is sculpture. He has some very interesting pieces at his home, both inside and out. He’s been a good conversationalist over the years about his experiences and he shares my enthusiasm for the outdoors.
I’m better this afternoon but still a little blah. I don’t know if that’s the after effects of Xanax or the diarrhea or both. Hopefully, I’ll be up to dinner at the Secret Garden tomorrow night with Jim, Holley, Tom and Kurt. It’s my favorite restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. We always ask for Yelena who is originally from Estonia. She’s great and always is fun to be around. She never pulls any punches with her suggestions and let’s face it, she puts up with us – a rowdy bunch at best.
I talked to Judith and Chris yesterday and Chris seems to have caught my diarrhea. I emphasized the importance of taking 2 Imodium every 4 hours and I think he’s been doing that since my phone call.
I noticed my Kinsa thermometer has shown a steady, upward creep of the number of cases of Covid. For quite a while it was showing a number around 14. It’s lately creeped up to 34 and today it was 36. The number represents the number of hospitalizations per 100 k of population and my info is based on Broward County, so 36 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. The US Census reports a 2021 population in the county of 1.931 million people. I suspect it will continue to rise as more and more people are forsaking the masks and going to crowded venues.
I’m curious how the Tuesday infusion will go. They’ll do a blood test first thing and I want to know how its been affected by my diarrhea. I’m also curious as to how the hydration infusion affected the blood results. Tuesday will be my third Taxol infusion and the fourth, a week from Tuesday, will be both Taxol and Herceptin.
It’ll be a tight schedule Tuesday. I have a dental appointment at 3 pm on Tuesday. The infusion starts at 9:30 am. I need to see the dentist since it’s been about 6 months since my last visit and I haven’t told her about the chemo yet. Also, I’ve had some mouth sores and want her to check those out. It makes eating more difficult than it has to be. Yes, I’m still using baking soda. At least they won’t need to spray the stuff after the cleaning.
I had a good conversation with my cousin Jimmie. We try to FaceTime every Sunday around 3 pm and catch up with our week. We do a lot of laughing which is probably the best medicine you can get.
Tonight, I’m trying a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan. It sounds good. You sweat the egg plant disks, dust with flour, egg wash and then bread crumbs. Bake eggplant for 30 minutes at 350°F and then coat bottom of dish with marinara sauce, add eggplant disks, top with mozzarella and parezan, repeat. Then bake at 400 for 30 minutes. We’ll see.
I took a dip in the pool to let it cool. While heading to the pool, I noticed the Lady of the Night had picked up a co-worker.
I think I’ve mentioned I’ve had mixed results with gladiolas. Looks like these are really going to open up and be attractive.
As you can see, I haven’t really cleaned the house this week. Stay tuned!
