Hands of Fire

Last Thursday was chemo day. I'm usually scheduled for Monday and a doctor visit with labs drawn and Tuesday for chemo. The clinic busted a water line and the whole thing was flooded causing every body's appointments to be forwarded to later in the week.

This was number 4 of the 6 treatments scheduled. Every three weeks I receive intravenous treatment and on the start of those treatments I start taking the oral chemo which continues for two weeks.

My hands are on fire. I have blisters lining the inner and outer aspects of each finger and more on the palms of my hands. The hands are reddened but not peeling which would be considered a side effect of this chemo. The hands itch. Scratching causes the skin to thin. I fight the scratching and liberally apply lotion. If it gets unbearable, I bury my hands in ice for temporary relief.

My stomach usually gets queasy for a week following the intravenous chemo. I'm on the downside of that right now. It's easing up a bit.
That's my clinical report on my "condition".

Now, on to more UNCLINICAL stuff.

Carrie is spending the night with me. We have an ongoing Scrabble game that rests on the coffee table where we settle down in the evening to play. We both agree to not finishing the game in one evening. We take breaks and return to it the next evening. Right now, the second grader is winning!

The rains are back and I'm grateful. It causes the temperatures to take a dip and provide some relief. It also causes me to mow more often. I'm up to twice a week on mowing. I love my lawn tractor.

I'm also on a cooking spree. Baked steak and gravy, and chicken Alfredo and chicken parmigiana with noodles have kept the a/c unit here working to keep that kitchen cool. I, of course, do not keep this food here. It's delivered to family and friends.

The husband remains in St. Francisville on a job that was supposed to last three days. We are on day 9 right now. The good thing is he is only a few hours from home. When I spoke with him last night he mentioned the next job was to be in Gonzales, La. Carrie and I will visit on that one and catch some motel pool time. He also mentioned some work in Colorado! I'm so excited. I want to go back to the Rockies for a while. I'm terribly homesick. None of those jobs are set in stone so I'll just have to wait to see what comes up.

I'm off here to get showered and dressed before Carrie creeps out of bed and requests her breakfast. I'm done here!