Thumper's toilette

Today things didn't get worse so I'm taking that as a win!

My little thumper.

Night night. Sleep tight.

Happy hot tub day!

Had a really fun lunch with some friends today. We saw some sights along the way.

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a good hot tub sale!

Best Humus ever here!

Derya gave me a great purse that will adjust to any length I need!

The food was great as always!

Melanie is very serious about her ketchup but swears she no longer puts it on corn on the cob.

Hot and puffy straight out of the oven!

Waving good bye to our friendly neighborhood hot tub buddy.

Purple sparkly toes as promised!

Hope you're having a great long weekend. I'm thankful for so much especially painkillers!

I'm becoming one with the extra painkillers cause the burns are becoming one with increasingly sensitive areas.

I'm thankful for radiation and for nieces that paint my toe nails and make me beautiful turkey cards and SO much more!

Day 13

Must be getting tireder, haven't taken pictures off my camera for a few days. I know it's hard but you'll have to wait a bit longer to see my purple sparkly toes in natural light.

I have a bit of fever Don't have any cold symptoms so Dr K put me on some anti biotics just in case it's the sores.

The sores are stupid. They can't seem to choose between itching and pain so they take turns doing both. It's still not as bad as the surgery stitches were but they seem to be gearing up and spreading the love around. No crease left behind is their motto.

I have 3 days off now. Happy about that!

Pirate riddle of the day from my friend Melanie:

Q: How much does it cost a pirate to have their ears pierced?

A: A buck an ear!

Day 12

It was a treat this morning to run into two friends at the cancer centre. Sandra works there and Grace is fighting the good fight too and has been a real support.

My drivers have been fine, just a brief sighting of Mr Know Everything in the lobby and I just kept walking.

Listen, I don't really know why but now that I'm having some pain I'm having a hard time starting to write about it.

I don't know if its right to call the sores burns but they are white and I am surprised by how much they itch at first. They are coming pretty fast now. At my appointment yesterday Dr K said I could use my steroid cream so that helps. She was very apologetic for hurting me and said if we have to we can take a break in the treatment which is not ideal of course and I'd really rather just get it over with. She shakes my hand hello and goodbye which is kind of quaint but is really bending over backward to help in any way she can.

She gave me a script for breakthrough pain but I'm not there quite yet. We haven't reached post vulvectomy levels of pain (I wont wait till then to take it). I guess the difference is that then the pain occurred in one fell swoop and this time it's been such a long slow build up to it and I don't know how far it will keep going. Just that we're only half way there but hey we are also half way finished!

Tonight Emily came over and we had a girl's night. Of course this always involved a fresh pedicure. Purple with gold glitter! I'll get it in better light tomorrow.

Watching Orange Beard and Odie the Stupid!

That's 13 treatment days left - 20 days until October 24th. I can do anything for 20 days.

Day 11

Lots of pictures tomorrow gotta go to bed cause my appointment is for 8:15 in the early o'clock.

Today's new symptom is..... how should I put it. Well, you know how Kelly Pickler shaved her head for her friend in solidarity with her going through chemo? Well if you were to want to show me solidarity and shave what I'm losing no one but your closest companions will ever know.

Nuff said.

Supper was yummy!

A new book by my favorite author, yay!

Tell you about the doctor's appointment tomorrow. Nothing major. This picture's for you Maureen and Karen! Like the sky dome compared to Hamilton eh!

Day 10

Much better day as far as drivers went. Nice, calm and no DSM diagnosis that I could tell.

Two weeks and right on schedule the sores are appearing. However the tired hasn't hit yet. I know it will but I'm enjoying still being able to walk with Harrison. Especially since it looks like its going to be a colorful year!

Apparently the wild turkeys were on a walkabout right in front of my apt this am, stopping traffic and the whole deal but I missed it. My neighbor said he had the pot on the stove with turnips and carrots all ready to go!

Dora the whily card player.

Deana the shy flood rescue from Louisiana.

Sparky the cat taunter the third

Day Nine

Listen I'm totally grateful for volunteer drivers from the cancer society. Can you feel a but and some complaining coming on?

Part of it is me. Meeting a stranger every day in a car is nerve wracking to me. I instantly invest a lot of emotional energy assessing them. It's just who I am and what I do without even wanting to.

Most of them are good people who want to do something valuable with their retirement.

Today's guy was borderline personality on steroids. He opened with how he knocks on doctor's treatment rooms to confront doctors and nurses when they run late and how he knows where their private exit is and how he tunes the nurses in. Then we moved on to his favorite confrontations in his past work life. Stopping often to wait for me to laugh and admire his stories. And I'm thinking stop talking stop talking stop talking. And no I don't think I could say that out loud. He is very bright and tuned in to nuance he would smell "I just want to relax quietly" for exactly what it was - shut up. He also complained about clients and I have no control over how many rides I will have with him.

The good news is that I had a different driver for the way home. The bad news is that the second driver was running an hour late and the first guy was waiting so he stood in front of me and talked at me most of the time. If you want to know everything that's wrong with Via Rail I'm your girl.

So yeah, there'll be a letter from me when my treatments are done because I don't like bullies but it'll have to wait. I do not have it in me right now and I guess that's what makes it so insidious because probably none of us that he drives are feeling real confrontational. But hey maybe next time I'll feel a little sportier.

Anyhow that's more fun to talk about than my poor bum. I see the doctor on Wed so we'll see what she says.

Tomorrow's driver sounded nice on voice mail and here's Harry saying a prayer that that's the case!