8/16/21

It’s Monday. Starting my third week of treatment today. I’ve already been to the clinic and back home again and it’s not even 10 AM yet. I had to go in to have my port flushed. I stopped in at radiation to see if they can get me in early, they are totally booked. So, I will go back for my 1 o’clock appointment.

My package still has not arrived, but they keep texting me and telling me it’s out for delivery. It’s been out for delivery for the past three days. So, apparently the driver is lost. I may have to go find him. Poor guy. Perhaps, he needs to explore pursuing a different occupation.  

I am sporting a deep, sexy voice this morning. My throat is still uncomfortable, but only on one side. I feel a little better today than yesterday, but that can be totally due to a good nights sleep last night.  

I am not allowed to take vitamins, or supplements. The radiation department gave me instructions when I first began treatment that said they were a no-no.  So, since I cannot, I am ingesting orange juice. Perhaps that will help.  I did nothing yesterday but veg.  Well, there was one exception: after our typical afternoon storm terminated, the temperature dropped. The storm had come from the north and cooled things down a bit, so I decided to go for a walk. I made it about 50 yards and it started to rain again, so I headed to the rec room. I got on the treadmill there, spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how this thing worked, and began walking. I think I’ve got this thing figured out and the screen says “warm up“. I think to myself, that’s fine. I can warm up. It warmed up for three minutes and I was going 3 miles an hour. To me, that is not a warm-up. That’s the first three minutes of my walk. After the three minutes, this contraption starts beeping and the lights are flashing., So I am watching it very carefully. Then it says, “Beginning workout“. OK, that sounds fine. The machine starts up again and now I see a different screen. It has mountains on it. Then the screen says, “beginning incline“. What? Oh, Hell no. The treadmill rises up in the front and I am now on a mountain. This is not going to work. I think I can walk, but I am certainly not mountain climbing.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to get it out of this mode, so every time I’m beginning a new mountain, I press the “incline down “ button. And I end up walking 1 mile in 20 minutes. That’s 3 miles an hour. I believe I haven’t walked that much since last fall. But, I haven’t even been able to stand for 20 minutes because my back says otherwise. However, since I met with the spinal stimulator representative, I’ve been doing a little better since he reprogrammed my stimulator and said try it for two weeks.  I think it’s going to help. When I stepped off of the treadmill, I could barely stand up. My legs felt like noodles, and I had another 200 yards to walk to get back to my RV. It was dark by that time, and if anyone was watching me, they could safely assume that I was drunk. I was weaving like crazy, but I made it back safely. I was so proud of myself. However, I stood at the base of the steps to the RV and wondered how the heck I was going to get inside with noodles for legs. I crawled. I’m glad it was dark, so hopefully, no one could see me. When I got inside, I managed to sit on the bottom step of the hallway. Then I realized I had to pee. So bad. Now, I’ve got three more steps to get upstairs to the bathroom. I sat on the bottom step and butt bumped my way up the stairs. When I got to the top, I had to figure out a way to stand up. Now I’m in the skinny little hallway with nothing to grab. I’ve got to pee so very bad and the panic is beginning to set in. There is no room to roll over onto my hands and knees, So I butt scooted backwards till I found something to hang onto. I eventually got on my feet and made it successfully into the bathroom. This was a very successful evening. And, I’m so glad I’m all alone. No one wants to see that.

I have been speaking into my iPad to write on my blog. My laptop is much slower, and is having a hard time connecting to this Internet. However, typing on my iPad is slow and tedious. My fingers are never on the right letter. So, speaking into the microphone is faster. However, this thing does not know how to do quotes. When I speak, they all come out in the same direction. I got tired of correcting them, so I’m just leaving them. So, all of you English majors can comment all you want. My give-a-shit is broken.