Day 12 Second Chemo Round - A Great, Full Day

I'm posting this late because I had such a great day in the land of the living yesterday. I went from morning right through to bedtime and fell asleep immediately.  After my fall on Friday, I was afraid my weekend hopes and activities were going to be curtailed due to a bad left knee. However, on Friday, I iced the knee as much as possible in the late afternoon and evening. Friday evening (Day 11) when I hobbled off to bed, I could hardly put weight on the left knee. I was convinced that yesterday, I would be using one crutch to hobble around. However, a good night's sleep was the miracle cure-all. During the middle of the night, I got up to make a washroom run and the knee was able to take 80% of my weight. Woo Hoo!  Hope abounds.

So our plan for yesterday was to run some errands, visit the "Shop Local Showcase", visit with some friends and then have another couple over in the late afternoon. Hubby and I have always tried to use/shop local business establishments. Franchise chains will pretty much always have business. Before it was trendy to do so, we have always in our married life tried to support local entrepreneurs through their services and/or products. We always find that the customer service is much higher and we have always liked the uniqueness of a local business. So when we saw an advertisement earlier this week at the side of the road informing us of the "Shop Local Showcase", we decided that it would be one of the things we really wanted to do yesterday. I was afraid that my knee wouldn't hold up as it was in a local hotel conference room and also in the parking lot. This meant a lot of walking on floors that have concrete underneath the carpet. Not good cushioning for a bad knee. However, my knee held up but was very tired and starting to ache when we were finished the rounds of the showcase. I purchased a couple of items which included a lavender/oatmeal bath balm from a company called "Farmacy" where the lady makes her own bath/body ointments from her garden. The smell of the lavender bath balm is to die for. I will save it to use when I'm having a kind of day that needs a real pick me up and relaxation time. Perhaps after all this current health crisis is finished and I can enjoy a leisurely soak with a nice glass of cold, white wine and a good book. My reward to myself for enduring this current ordeal.

The other item I bought was from a business called "Caju Winds". They use imported cashews (only because in our climate, we can't grow them) to make organic, vegan and gluten free cashew spreads. At their booth, we sampled their Dill Flavoured Spread and their Garlic Flavoured Spread. The Dill spread was very good. I opted to try the Garlic spread afterwards and it was to die for!! So I bought a jar. I'll be definitely keeping their business card and using their business again.

As hubby and I were finishing up our visit to the showcase, I was starting to feel faint and a little nauseous. This concerned me because at this point in the cycle, I normally am feeling better. After checking the time, I realized that we had "missed" lunch and it was already heading into the early afternoon. We were running late as we had planned to visit our friends and their son in the early afternoon. We were also planning on taking the motorcycle out to go visit them. I mentioned to hubby, "I really need to get some lunch now."  So off we went to A&W for a teenburger and a small root beer for me. It was so good! We quickly dropped off our showcase "stuff" (business cards, brochures, purchased items) at home and then back into the car we went to visit our friends.

What a lovely visit we had. We had seen these friends in the summer when hubby and I knew that the cancer had returned but we couldn't say anything because we needed to know what kind of lymphoma it was and the treatment options. This was my first time seeing them together as a couple since the diagnosis. It was a lovely summer afternoon spent by the pool (in the shade for me) enjoying drinks (pop for me because alcohol hurts my mouth) and snack foods. The afternoon sped away and I realized that although I didn't know what time it was, I was starting to really tire. I had also hoped to have another couple of friends over in the late afternoon. I mentioned to hubby that I was quickly tiring and so we wrapped up our lovely visit and headed home.

As soon as I got home, I headed for bed and a quick nap. It was already 5:00 in the afternoon/evening. We made plans to have our other friends drop by about 7:00. This would give me time to rest and recharge my batteries. It helped and we again enjoyed a great visit and shared some of the cashew spread on crackers. My friend is willing to help me shave my head when that time comes that my head is really patchy. I trust her to be honest, as I know she will be, and help me decide it's time. The time is not right just yet. My hair has thinned a lot to what I'm used to as my normal hair, but my friend said it just looks "normal" to other people. So I still have my red hair although it is thinner and looks like it is layered and a little "flatter" than it used to be. I'm glad I changed my hairstyle to a shorter cut way back in March or April. Perhaps I did that subconsciously at the time. Perhaps I knew deep inside that the lymphoma had returned but I wasn't consciously acknowledging it yet.

So yesterday, Day 12, was a fantastic but tiring day. Life is worth living. As I once told a complete stranger back in June, "Don't let the cancer steal one more day than it needs to. Live life to the absolute fullest!"