My cancer is back...

@naturegirl5 i'd been out of town and just getting around to checking my email... over 500+!!!! just about wore out the delete button LOL
so here's the latest....one of the chicks got injured last week moving the tractor, her leg got caught under it, so she spent a few days indoors in the cat carrier to keep her from moving but she's back in the tractor hobbling around now...
had my mid chemo CT scan...yea that was interesting...let me share a bit about it...
What a week this has been so far. Started it off Monday with my daughter taking me to UVA for my ct scan to see how the chemo is working and labwork... because having gone through this before , I was pretty sure I was at the level of needing a blood transfusion. So we get to the cancer center. I go upstairs for the lab work and they take off to run around , knowing i'm going to be a while.
I had this wonderful little Filipino nurse to access my port who actually listened when I told her to use a smaller needle instead of the one that they usually use and to just leave it accessed , because I had to go for the scan. Then downstairs to the pharmacy to pick up refills on my anti nausea drugs with a phone call to tell my daughter I was pretty much finished. And of course , she had just gotten into the parking garage , so she had to turn around and come back out to pick me up.
From there, it was across town to the fontaine center where after I got checked in, they bring me that absolutely foul , tasting contrast stuff with all the artificial sweeteners in it.. i told them I could not drink that stuff and they needed to get me the stuff that would mix with plain water. Of course, the one who brought it to me is like I can't do that, because we don't have any there's a shortage to which I politely responded to her that I told them that it was the only kind I could take during the consultation , so this was something they knew. So she said, okay, let me go see what I can do. And about ten minutes later , she comes back out with the right stuff.. so I drink it, sit there, wait the half hour or whatever it is you have to wait and then they take me back for the scan. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to hear from the doctor's office on whether or not I get a transfusion. I had already looked at my lab work and thought that they probably would , but I was right on that border line with my numbers. After waiting half hour or so after the CT scan was finished. I finally told them to just go ahead and deaccess the port I was going home. Right after I got on the interstate , I got a message from them saying they had not heard back from the doctor so it was probably okay to go home, that apparently my levels were too high for a transfusion by just a little bit. So we continued on home
Yesterday morning (Tuesday) we went to the clothes closet because it was our day to open and I get a message asking if I was having all these different symptoms (ie dizziness, faintness, fatigue etc) to which I politely replied yes, to all of the above, that was the reason I wanted you to do lab work when I was there, because I thought I needed blood. Well , I get a message back from them saying that I need a transfusion 😆.. and i'm just sitting there thinking , well duh , I told you that yesterday , but you didn't listen to me.... so now I'm scheduled to go back on Friday to get blood that could have been taken care of Monday when I was up there, had they only listened to me. Thank goodness one of my friends has agreed to drive me. I'm really tired of feeling like i'm going to drop walking through the house. BUT my CT scan showed the place on my liver is gone and the one in my pelvic cradle has decreased by half...so thats all good...
So this morning, I got up and after losing another couple of handfuls of hair, I decided I'm done, I'm going to get it cut... at least with short hair as it falls out and thins, I won't be clogging the drains quite so much.. i'm not supposed to lose it completely , but it is definitely thinning.. so that's it so far for the exciting news so far this week 😀

@mommacandy I'm relieved to see you back here. I was more than a little worried when I didn't see any updates from you for awhile.

First the chicken. How big is the tractor? I'm trying to envision what happened. And does the chicken ride on the tractor? Or just hang out there? There's always something goin' on in your menagerie of people and animals.

OK, so at least one nurse listened to you. Why don't others take lessons from the first nurse who got the smaller needle that you requested? You've been through this many times in the past as they can clearly see from your chart. And I'm thinking many of the people who work in the infusion center know you, right? And then what a mess about the lab work. Yes, thank goodness a friend will drive you back to UVA tomorrow (?).

Big congratulations on the results of the CT scan. That's all so good. I get very nervous before any imaging and think, oh, no what will show up now? I'm pleasantly surprised when I get back nothing significant and then wonder, AGAIN, why I have to get so catastrophic about it all. I guess it comes with the territory.

Will you go to a salon to get your hair cut? Do you have a regular hair stylist you like to see?

@naturegirl5 i actually go to the local beauty school where they do it because they give discounts on colorings or usually free on all other things including cuts, waxing etc to cancer patients its always done by students but supervised by instructors..I got it all done on Thurs...went and got blood friday and feeling a little better... if hair continues to fll out i'll just cut it all off and go wigs again for awhile...but you can see from the pics they did a decent job 🙂

the chicken tractor is like a mobile coop...it can move around the yard with a fenced in area to keep away from critters like our cats and dog lol.. its about 12 feet long total and 3 feet wide and very heavy so has wheels on the back to make it easier to move...we'll put wheels on front when we find more similar ones...

and thats they latest... at least atm.. now i'm feeling a little better i'm trying to do more...although i was told i need to try to eat some red meat every day.. yea right...like anybody can afford that these days lol...

@mommacandy Ooh, the style and cut is very pretty. I think our local cosmetology program has discounts and deals like you described.

It's good you are feeling better. Eating more red meat? Right, like that's affordable these days? Anything else you can do besides red meat?

I envisioned a farm tractor and couldn't figure out the image of a chicken riding the farm tractor. Ha, ha. The mobile coop tractor you describe sounds ideal to keep chickens safe and still let them roam around. My neighbors have chickens and they let them roam around their yard. I can't figure out why and how they are safe from coyotes or other critters. I count them when I drive past my neighbors and all the chickens are there.

@naturegirl5 LOL they prob make sure they go into a coop at night.. my best friend did his with that, in the evenings he would just usher them into the coop for the night..

just another quick update, went to "the holler" over the weekend only to find the power company had been through, hacked trees even cut the line to the cabin internet, was there yesterday about it, got intenet fixed, and met with one guy who promised he'd get the crew responsible there to clean it up...i'm on my way this morning back up there to meet with a different supervisor except this time i'm just staying through the weekend since tomorrow i got a guy coming to work on the solar setup (got a killer deal on some additional panels for there) and Sat is the school reunion which is always fun BUT they're calling for rain all day...boo...although we do need the rain.. still oughta be fun
Do i feel like being there alone? not really because it makes me miss my best buddy who lived there BUT i'm taking my fav items for hunting just in case the bear decides my donuts and bacon and eggs and such smell too appealing and a chain saw in case i feel up to using it...there's a LOT of trees down that the power company wasn't responsible for that needs cleared up...truth be idk what i'll feel up to doing, there's not been anyone overnight there since last fall after we got that last "person we helped" out and there's still a TON that needs done there from the disaster she left...(and people wonder why landlords won't "lend a helping hand" to people trying to get on their feet , this is why and this is someone we'd known for 30+ years!!!). but we'll see how i feel at least i'm on the up week from last chemo...otherwise ain't no way i could have drove that 2 hour drive and then turn around and do it today too
Anyways, just wanted to let yall know i'm still around and thats what is happening..

@mommacandy Thank you for update. I look forward to what you share - always informative and often hilarious. Pity the bear that smells your bacon, eggs, and donuts!

Going to a reunion? Now, I know there’s a story there somewhere since you shared that these are always fun.

I’m glad to know the energy is coming back after your most recent chemotherapy. I’m gonna get out of your way when you take the chainsaw out of its case!!

@naturegirl5 oh my word what a week!!!!
So Thurs morning the "distribution supervisor" for the power company shows up... nope not their lines.... he tells me to call the gas company that has power lines that run to their wells... Well of COURSE there's not a phone number online for them locally BUT i just happened to know where their main office in the area is...so what did i do? yep...after he left i jumped in my xterra and headed out to the town where the office is and marched my indignant self right into the office to file a complaint... and of COURSE there was no one there but the one signing for packages etc...showed him the pics, gave him my info and so forth and he said he'd have someone contact me in the morning (friday) when they came in...he said he'd send the info over right then so they'd see it first thing....
so i ventured back to the cabin and proceeded to work on assorted items there for a little bit only to realize i was out of some things i THOUGHT were there....so....then in the afternoon i ventured off to the town in the other direction ( its about halfway between 2 towns) to the walmart to pick up batteries and a few other things (found a new pair of shoes in the old school colors to wear to the reunion for only $10 on clearance!!)... then a stop by the dollar tree to grab some of the cheap "moisture eliminator" things ($1.25 each) and couple other things from there... THEN on to the SCV meeting that I'm an auxiliary member of that I've not been able to go to for awhile because its up there and i'd not been able to go ...its held in the meeting room of the local grocery store so i had sushi for supper while that was going on lol.. then grabbed bag of ice for cooler on way out door to take home....

Got back to the cabin and getting settled in and what do i hear? yep critters...sounds like 1) a mouse in the area above me and 2) there was a coon outside digging up the flowers i had planted....fortunately easy enough to scare him off.... turned music on in cabin and hopefully that scared off the other critter (or least i couldn't hear it lol)

Fri morning arrived and nope no phone call... but son and roomie showed up to redo my solar panels and omg they did a number on it...i can now run internet all night without batteries draining...who knew being set up differently with the new charge controller would make such a difference 🙂 they built me a new compost pit, moved a bunch of stuff, took my son on a hike up above the cabin and realized that was NOT a good idea ....was about dead by time i got back down etc... then took them to lunch as payment for all the work they did... so after they left i was still piddling around and finally about 5ish they called from the gas company...telling me they would be there about 930 on Monday morning to "look at it and see if there was anything they could do about it" so that told me i was gonna be staying longer than i planned...

Anyways got up Sat morning, and my car wouldn't start...wouldn't even click...called pastor up the holler from old church, he came down, gave me a boost, seen what a disaster the gas company had left the trees, and got me on my way lol... went to reunion and omg it rained and rained and rained...but gotta give them credit, they had moved EVERYTHING indoors except the food trucks but they pulled them straight up to the tents so you didn't even have to get out from under the tents to order!! met one of my mom's best friends from school...she was 85 and still getting around good and i swear looked maybe 70? showed her a pic i had uploaded to fb years ago of her with my mom and another friend when they were teenagers lol...she couldn't believe it... spent HOURS with 2 of my best friends from high school (i'm on the left in the pic, the one on the right is the one i stripped in the gym with in 8th grade before gym class)... Had a wonderful day but dang i was exhausted by time i got back to cabin...not to mention sick from all the junk food lol... you know doughnuts, funnel cakes, kettle corn, etc...crashed out early from the busy day...

Anyhow Sun was a day spent going to 2 different churches up there, sharing my cancer journey and seeing old friends and finally got to come home yesterday after the gas company supervisors had been out to "look over the property and determine if it was something one of their crews had done" NEWS ALERT...DUH yes it was...but after i got home late yesterday afternoon i got a call saying yes they had determined it was and they will be back Wed to clean up and of COURSE i'm gonna be there for it...gotta make sure they do a good job after the mess they left...and people wonder why i struggle sometimes and need blood...its like geez people with the life i live i HAVE to keep going... we have someone coming to the cabin on the 10th to stay for a month...gotta get it ready!!! and so...that was last week...thank goodness i'm on up weeks atm...next chemo is the 9th...