Weird Sleep Schedule

Thursday darn near kicked my butt.  I was so tired when I left work and headed in for my Neulasta shot.  When I got home, I thought I'd just take a short nap so I could watch Big Brother at 8:00.  I was asleep by 3:30.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up and it was 10:30.  Oops.  Big Brother was recorded, so I still got to watch it.  I realized, too, that I'd only had about 10 saltines to eat all day.  Probably not a great plan, so I heated up a can of soup and watched my show.

After that, it was time to catch up online.  That being done, I need to see if I can squeeze in a couple more hours of sleep.  Somehow, I doubt it'll happen, but I have to give it a shot.  If not, I only have to get through one more day before the weekend.  I'm also thankful that I'm sleeping now, so I'll take it when I can get it.

Grumble Grumble Whine

I was happy to have most of  yesterday crash-free.  It was Brooke's last day here, and we enjoyed it, even if we did relax most of the day.  By 7:30 or so, though, I felt it coming.  By 8, I was nodding off in the chair and Kevin nudged me to go to bed.  The crash should have hit late Sunday morning, but I think my Saturday nap pushed my last steroid dose late enough to delay it.

I would have thought that a good thing, since it allowed me most of Sunday to enjoy my company.  The bad part was that it caused the crash to continue into a work day, as well as to allow it to overlap my severe bone pain day.  Yup.  Today sucked.

I made it six hours before heading home.  I had a pain pill and a nap for lunch, and haven't done much since.  I am thankful that the bone pain is typically limited to 24-36 hours, so before tomorrow is over, I should be feeling better.  I also believe that the crash symptoms should be mostly gone by morning.  If the steroid-induced emotional crap goes away with it, it will be a good Tuesday indeed.

Chugging Along

I don't have much to report, which is probably a good thing.  No nosebleeds, no unplanned trips to the doctor, no sickness or other nonsense.  Just chugging along.

Yesterday, we went to mom's for a catfish fry.  It was fabulous.  I had decided that I was going to spend a day without a headache, so I popped pain pills like they were Chiclets.  That's not really true, but I took one early morning, noon, and evening.  I spent the whole day (after taking the first one) headache-free.  That was nice.

The other thing that the pain pills caused was a two hour nap.  I figured that would keep me from sleeping last night, but it didn't.  I slept 7 hours with no problem.  BONUS!

Today, the girls are at Vans Warped Tour with their brother Jonathan.  They are having SO much fun, and I'm thrilled that it's a full ten degrees cooler than last week.  I have a feeling they'll get home too late for me to see them, so I'll have to hear the stories tomorrow evening.

See?  Nothing much to report, but I'm OK with that.  Yup.  It suits me JUST fine.

Back to Work

I went back to work today.  I'm nearly dead.  Due to the "near death" status, this shall be a short post:

I have been napping daily, including yesterday.  Therefore, I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight.  Therefore I worked nearly a full day at work, for the first time in over 6 weeks, with only 5 hours of sleep.  That won't happen again.  I came home, exhausted, and refused to let myself nap.  I'll be going to sleep soon.  LOL   And I'll sleep well.

Jaxson played nice and only offered up 25cc, despite the fact that I stripped the drain several times to make sure nothing was slowing it down, other than healing.  Terri said that, if he's under 30cc again in the morning, I can get him pulled tomorrow afternoon.

I'm tired and must go to sleep soon.  Please cross fingers that this JERK drain leaves tomorrow.  I wanna blow him up with one of those TNT plunger things that Wile E. Coyote uses.  Yup.  That's where I've gone now.  It's completely out of control.  I've gone to the crazy place.

I Can Drive!

As is typical of me, I do a lot of online research about EVERYTHING.  When it comes to something that directly effects my health, you can multiply that research infinitely.  I even found an amazing online community to join at http://breastcancer.org/ where you can join in message  board type chats, as well as search for answers.

I noticed a lot of folks on there who were driving themselves around, even though they had a JP drain (or multiples) in place.  This piqued my curiosity, so I emailed my handy-dandy PS nurse Terri to ask.  The only restriction on my driving is the pain pills.  What???  I could have been driving for two weeks!  As soon as she answered, I jumped in the car and left.

My poor car has been parked under the neighbor's trees for a while, and was so covered in bird dookie that it was hideous.  The girls and I laughed pretty hard about it and made the car wash my first stop. Due to a very generous donation, my windshield has been replaced (from the deer damage-no more duct tape) and getting it clean felt great.

From there, we hit Sonic's Happy Hour for drinks, and then to WalMart.  It wasn't long before I realized it may have been a bit too soon to run errands on an afternoon in which I had not napped.  Seriously?  The first day in weeks that I don't nap, and I decide to run around driving?  DUH!

I really thought it would be OK, even though I have a standard transmission, since that uses my right arm, and my left arm is the one that doesn't work.  WRONG!  I guess I actually use my left arm quite a bit.  Part of the reason for that is that NOTHING in my car is automatic.  Windows, locks, etc all need to be worked manually.  With a non-working air conditioner, that meant rolling the windows up and down a few times.

Anyway, I drove.  I can drive.  I'll be careful not to overdo it, and to maybe go earlier in the day, so I still have time to nap when I get home.  In other news:  Jaxson only gave up 10cc this morning (after nearly 12 hours) so it's looking like we might have an improvement there, too!  Fingers crossed!

And Here is Another Week

Wow.  Another Monday is here already.  I slept a LOT yesterday.  Recent surgery or not, I slept so much I felt guilty!  I would wake up for an hour or so, think I was done napping, and then BAM, back to sleep for another couple of hours.  I didn't feel as bad as I did on Saturday, but I sure was tired.  The day ended with a visit from coworkers bearing meals.  Yum is an understatement.

This morning, I decided to rest as needed, but NOT sleep the day away.  We'll see how THAT goes.  LOL  Heck, it takes an hour to shower and get dressed, 20 minutes to go to the post office and back, and then it's time for this important internet-type stuff.  :)  By then, the day is half over, so I think I have a solid plan to prevent non-stop sleep.

I've got Jaxson down to double digits, but we still have a way to go  before I can get rid of him.  Yesterday was 53cc.  The day before that was 87, so I'm hoping yesterday wasn't a fluke (because that's a huge drop.)  It has to be under 30cc for two days straight before they can remove it.  I am SO flippin' tired of dealing with it.  Tired to the point that I tear up as I'm trying to shower or get dressed or change clothes.  Of all the things that are horrible about cancer, who would have thought a stupid drain could cause this much grief?

I guess I'll go email my nurse the Jaxson status and see what she says.  Fingers crossed...

The Jaxson Saga and Mother's Day

Wow, no post since Wednesday must mean no news, huh?  That, and I'm keeping weird hours.  I've never known anyone to sleep as much as I have been sleeping lately.  Other than a baby, perhaps.  I'm not complaining, however.  I am learning to adore a good nap or three during the day.

Jaxson seems to finally be slowing down.  94cc on Thursday, and 83cc on Friday.  Keep going that direction, buddy.  I may get rid of you before the week is out, which is actually imperative, since I am to start chemo the following Tuesday, and cannot start chemo until Jaxson is out of the picture.

Today, we're going to have a Mother's Day meal of burgers and dogs on the grill.  Brett and Melissa are coming over and bringing the kids.  I can't WAIT!  It's been weeks since I've seen them.  Even Kaylie is coming, and she NEVER makes it.  I stocked up on bubbles and sidewalk chalk, so we should make it a great day.

Getting Organized and Easter Eggs

I went to bed at  7 last night.  I know, I know.  But I was TIRED!  Of course, this means I woke up at 12:30, so today is going to be screwed up.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll nap later.  I took advantage of the quiet hours to myself, though, to tidy up some cancer files.

I've really been taking advantage of Google's calendar functionality, as well as the spreadsheet feature.  I'm keeping track of appointments (with reminders that go straight to my phone,) mileage, co-pays, etc.  It's going to be an expensive year, and I plan to recoup some at tax time if possible.  I have to be careful, though, because some is paid with my flex account through work, which is pre-tax money, so that is not deductible.  It just takes a lot of organization.

My mom mentioned that she missed coloring Easter eggs, so I made a couple of calls and we dropped by her house yesterday afternoon.  I even sent a message to several of our mutual Facebook friends to ask them to bomb her page with pictures of Easter eggs.  LOL  Today, I'll go get the eggs from her house and make deviled eggs for our dinner.

It's a tasty weekend

I had planned to relax this weekend. Actually, I plan to relax every weekend! I've been very successful at it this weekend, though. I also had some tasty produce from Mom that I had been thinking about. I woke up this morning with an idea.

We don't fry much of anything around here. However, once in a great while, we have fried potatoes. It's been months and months since we've done so, and I decided to make them this morning...with a twist.

I added to the big, cast iron skillet (passed down from my Grandma Wood) potatoes, butternut squash, onion, and bell pepper, all fresh from the garden. It just doesn't get any better than this:

It was awesome. The whole family decided that it was the best fried potatoes we've ever had. It could be because it's been so long, but it really was good.

After playing with Kameron, watching some TV, and just relaxing, I announced that it was time for my nap. I like to get a nap at least once every weekend, but it hasn't been happening the past several weeks. Boy oh boy, did it happen today. It was a great nap, too.

Brett woke me up so I could say good-bye to the baby when it was time for her to be returned to her Momma. They left and Kevin mentioned quesadillas. Kevin makes some AWESOME chicken quesadillas, so the girls and I were instantly "on board" with this plan.

First, he puts the seasoned, shredded chicken breast on the tortillas:

Then he adds some cheese. This time, we used mozzarella, since it's what we had. I like all cheese. I'm a fan of cheese. Please pass the cheese.

Finally, after a bit in the oven to let them get all melty and gooey on the inside, lightly crispy on the outside. Here is the result:

What? You say This whole entry sounds like a house full of lazy food-addicts? So? What's your point? This is the perfect Saturday, as far as I'm concerned. I wonder what we'll have for a late-night snack?