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| Bauhinia or Orchid Tree Flower |
I was able to fall asleep shortly after midnight, last night, and slept till the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. I had a cup of tea, got dressed, and was on the road by 7:15 a.m. I had a good drive down to the clinic and was there by 8:15 a.m. My appointment was for 8:30 a.m. I was weighed in (had lost another 1 lb. since Friday's weigh-in), blood pressure checked, etc., and given my injection. I spent a little time, afterwards, talking with another patient who has been receiving chemo on Fridays with me. She was experiencing a lot of more severe side effects, unfortunately. It takes her two hours to get to the clinic from her home, so my hour long drive is nothing!
After I came home, I had a banana and a bagel with cream cheese for brunch. Then, I did a load of laundry, walked around the garden a bit (and took the picture, above), spoke on the phone with one of my cousins, and with my daughter who was without power, for some reason. Losing power seems to happen quite frequently in Berkeley!
I also responded to some work related emails and inquiries. Later in the afternoon, I took a nap. I did more office work after my nap.
In the evening, there were some rain clouds in the horizon and I thought it might rain, but it only drizzled a bit. However, I called a friend of mine who lives just a couple of miles away to check on her and she said it poured with rain where she was!
I took the trash cans to the curb for trash collection, tomorrow morning, and called my neighbor across the street to see how she was.
One of my cousins came to visit me later in the evening and another cousin called to see how I was. She hasn't been able to come and see me since my diagnosis and was very apologetic about it, but I told her not to worry. I know people are busy and have their own problems.
I cooked some fresh rice to have with my leftover curries for dinner, but then, I didn't want to eat what I had prepared! So, I baked the last frozen pot pie I had in the freezer and had that, while I watched Dancing with the Stars. But the pot pie wasn't much to my liking, either. However, the mango I ate afterwards was good.
Later, I video chatted with daughter and listened to her rehearse her thesis presentation (she needs to keep it to under 10 minutes).
Today, I am grateful for:
- Relatively minor side effects
- A good drive to the clinic and back
- Being able to listen to favorite music on CD while driving
- Afternoon naps
- Visits and phone calls with family and friends
How was your Monday? Did you have a good start to your week?
Wishing your daughter all the luck with her presentation - scary for her! I am sure she will do well. I am also glad that I am not the only one who will look at something that they have cooked and just cannot face it after all the effort! I love the picture. Take care. x
ReplyDeleteThank you for the well wishes for my daughter. The whole thesis defense is an hour long process. She gives a 10 minute presentation and that will be followed by a 50 minute question and answer session. The panel of professors and members of the audience (mostly her cohort) will ask her questions about the thesis, her methods of analysis, why she did X instead of Y, etc. That is the scary part for her - she has tried to anticipate what they'll ask, but there's no way to know for sure. I think she'll be fine as long as she doesn't get too nervous or flustered.
DeleteI always thought that a thesis presentation took a long time so I was surprised to hear 10 minutes. But that's probably harder because you need to convey all your research and results convincingly in a relatively short amount of time. Is that followed by a panel interview?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your appointment went well although I don't know if I should congratulate you for the weight loss? It would be a success for me but maybe not something that's desirable for you?
Have a great Tuesday, Bless. Maybe your garden will get some rain today. I wish mine would. We always seem to be in the pocket where everyone around us is getting rain but we either get nothing or a drizzle. I'd like to give my new rain barrel a test drive!
The entire thesis presentation and defense will take an hour; a 10 minute presentation followed by a 50 minute question and answer session, by the examining professors and members in the audience. Daughter is confident of her presentation; what she's nervous about are the questions she might be asked. She's tried to anticipate what they might ask, but it's hard to anticipate every possible question. I remember, when I defended my thesis, I had a very supportive panel of professors and audience; I hope she'll have the same.
DeleteAh, yes, the weight loss. Well, at any other time in my life, any weight loss would be a good thing! I am more than overweight and should lose weight for health reasons. But, my doctors have told me that this is not the time to lose weight, that I need all the calories I can get to help rebuild parts of my body that the chemo is destroying. So far, I have lost almost 20 lbs. since I was diagnosed.
Glad you managed a good nights sleep and that the clinic visit went well. No matter how bad things are there is always somebody who seems to be having it worse isn't there. I'm so glad you are not experiencing severe side effects of chemo. That really is something to be grateful for. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you. I agree - there is much for which to be grateful. :)
DeleteI hope everything will go well with your daughter's thesis presentation and that the questions that she is expected to answer will be just the ones that she feels confident to expound on!
ReplyDeleteGood to know that your morning drive went well. I hope your appetite will improve. It isn't fun to have to turn your nose up at something that when feeling better would be quite delicious. But at least the mango hit the spot! ((((Hugs)))).
Bushlady
Bushlady
Thank you for the well wishes, Bushlady.
DeleteI guess the appetite will improve once the chemo is over. In the meantime, I take nutritional drinks as meal supplements, or instead of tea at times.