Monday, May 15, 2023

I’ve had a lazy day today.

We had such a lovely time at Christy’s yesterday. It was hot (37) but their house is air conditioned and when we had lunch at the creek I was able to keep moving my chair into the shade. Both Pat and I came home with left-overs and we have been enjoying them.

I was ten minutes early for my appointment today but before I had even read a page of my book they were calling my name. I guess had I not been there they would have had a bit of a break but it is nice to go, get in, and get it done.

Pat was meeting a friend downtown for brunch so I took care of the laundry. I had trouble figuring out the microwave yesterday; it wasn’t only me as another person was in the kitchen and she managed to get it working after a few tries but she didn’t know what she had done to get it to work.

The washers had good instructions but my goodness it took a long time to get a load done – almost an hour. Perhaps I pushed a wrong set of options as one machine took five minutes longer to finish than the other one did; the machines have a timer so you know how long it is going to take. The drier was straight forward too but, again, it took longer than I expected. I checked after 45 minutes and things were still quite steamy so I had to set it for a bit longer.

I had everything dried and put away before Pat got back. He called before leaving downtown to see if I wanted to meet him out front and we could go do something but it declined. I was trying to nap but it didn’t work out very well. I had just about nodded off when Pat called my cell and then I was settled back in when housekeeping arrived so I gave up and read my book. When Pat got back we went to the lounge downstairs for our afternoon snack (mixed berry smoothies) and coffee. The TV was off and there were only a couple of folks down there so we found two spots in the corner and read for the rest of the afternoon.

We are watching the hockey again tonight and hoping that the Kraken win. If not it will probably be the end of my hockey watching as I can’t see myself hoping for any team that beat out the ones I wanted to win.

As for a treat today I guess it was starting a new project. We stopped at Michael’s in Pitt Meadows yesterday (a fully-stocked store) and I was able to pick up the remaining floss that I needed.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Breakfast was a bit later today, being the weekend. Good thing too as I didn’t wake up until eight. Pat was already gone but I went downstairs for a cup of coffee before I joined him in the cafeteria. We can get coffee in the cafeteria but it comes out of a machine and there is no cream – not the best tasting coffee, not that the coffee in the lounge is a whole lot better.

We were off to Stanley Park this morning. We wanted to go earlier in the day when it wasn’t quite so hot. We got in another 5000 steps – some on the sea wall and some on trails throughout the park. I know why I always stuck to the seawall when I went on my own – I’d be lost in no time. There were a few benches in the shade and we took advantage of them.

Pat drove for a long time looking for a restaurant with an outdoor patio so we could have some lunch. Parking was hard to find but Pat has always been lucky with parking. While he paid the meter I looked at an outdoor display of fruits and vegetables. We found a Greek restaurant and we both really enjoyed having lunch of our own choosing and not just what was being served in the cafeteria.

On the way back to the truck we stopped and picked up a package of really nice looking strawberries. I’m glad we have a fridge in the room.

So, for a no-treatment day, I certainly had my share of treats.

Friday, May 12, 2023

My first week of treatments is over. Aside from the nerves at the beginning of the week everything has gone well. I’m not yet suffering from any side effects. I often lay down to read in the afternoon and end up snoozing but I think that is just laziness and the fact that I’m a little bored.

I had my treat this morning before I had my actual treatment. I decided last night to change my knitting project into a crochet project but I didn’t have the right sized hook with me. So another trip to Michael’s was our outing for the day. The shelves in the store are really bare and the crochet hooks were almost non-existent. I found the size I wanted but it came in a set of six hooks and I wasn’t going to pay $15 for the one hook of the set that I needed. Thanks to Pat’s perseverance we found a hook, in a set of three, for only $2. It wasn’t the size I was looking for but I’ve had a chance to try it and it will be fine.

It’s a double-header hockey night so I’ll make some progress on my project.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

My treatment today wasn’t until the afternoon so I had time this morning to join an online bra and prosthetics workshop. Lots of options and lots of choices provided one can find a shop that caters to mastectomy surgeries. Ideally I would like to go to Kelowna to go to the shop that is owned by the workshop presenter. I thought from the video that a fitting was something that could be done here at the Lodge so I’ll check into that tomorrow. Failing that I’m sure we can find a shop somewhere in Vancouver.

No issues with my treatment today except for a coughing fit on the last zap; it took longer for that one but I was still done within 15 minutes. I was to see the doctor afterwards although I doubt we were with her for more than ten minutes. I asked what the radiation actually does – it breaks down the DNA of the cancer cells. You have multiple treatments because some of the cells are smart enough to recover so they zap them more than once to be sure they have got them all – even the smart ones.

Pat went out tonight for a open mic so I’m on my own for dinner. I had a half-hour walk today – up only one hill. I guess my treat would be stopping at a dollar store – so many things that I have no use for!