I didn't sleep that well last night due to the rolling stomach and nausea that I've been experiencing. I believe the nausea is worse at the moment because it is a side effect of some medication to treat a side effect of the chemotherapy. Today, so far, I seem to have figured out a dosing schedule that is keeping me nauseous but not vomitting.
My morning routine is to read the paper and do the sudoku in the paper. Then I pick up "The Friendship Book 2012" and go over the reading for the day. After that, I carefully read and follow the meditation exercises in "The Book of Awakening". I finish my quiet time with a light-hearted read of "The Book of Awesome!". Today I opened "The Friendship Book 2012" and the first thing I saw was a photograph entitled "Nearly There". It depicted a fishing boat at anchor with a brilliant sunset in the background which emphasized the background of mountains and land. What caught my attention was the beautiful sunset and the title "Nearly There". It spoke to me as I'm "nearly there" with only 2 more chemo treatments. This lifted my spirits as I was a little apprehensive about how today was going to progress. It makes it easier to face the illness now when I focus on just 2 more treatments!!
I had a nap just after eating my small lunch. I awoke in the early afternoon and then moved outside to the patio to enjoy the beautiful warm sunshine. It was so bright and warm!! I did some knitting and then my eye caught the mess that my hostas and irises are. I could see the poor little iris shoots trying to poke through the leftover debris from last year's irises. So I got the rake and started to clean it up. I did succeed in cleaning up that very small corner of the flowerbed until I got dizzy and light-headed which is my body's way of telling me "Sit down!!". My sense of humour says this sounds a little like my husband and father-in-law telling me the same thing. So I put away my rake and the bag of debris. Then I sat down and continued my knitting.
The prednisone fools me into thinking I have more energy than I do. So this translates into my not being able to sit still for very long. I was up and wandering and then started visiting with my neighbours. As I was standing at the fence, a male cardinal flew into our red maple tree. He sat there for a little while watching us standing at the fence. Then he flitted down to the birdfeeder to get a taste of the fresh seed I had just put into it moments before. From my vantage point in the yard, the feeder and the cardinal were nicely framed by the limbs of our apple tree. I was wishing I had my camera when along came the cardinal's mate. She was highlighted by the sun and when she joined her mate at the feeder, it was like the sun created a spotlight on the two of them. The male cardinal, as he always is, was a brilliant red. However, the sun caught the female mate at just the right angle and I could even see her brilliant red even though it is slighted muted.
Unfortunately, after my visit with the neighbours and viewing the birds, I again felt dizzy and light-headed. So off I went back to the patio chair and my knitting. I was good and didn't do any more movement until it was time to go to the chiropractor. I did have a sense of light-headedness for the rest of the day.
Overall, today was a much better day than yesterday. I love the outdoors and I think this is helping me to feel better. I'm a little anxious about tomorrow and Wednesdsay because this marks the end of the prednisone in this cycle. It seems to be a pattern that the following 2 days will be more challenging emotionally but also physically. Even if I'm stuck inside, I'm able to watch my tomato seeds grow and my alfalfa sprouts grow. I've been eating the sprouts and today I'm sure the tomato plants grew as I watched them!
No comments:
Post a Comment