December 10, 2022

On my last trip to Saskatoon we made a stop at Krazy Bins and I found a diamond dots kit of a couple of parrots. I bought it with the idea that, when done, it would be a reminder of Diane who loved parrots. It has sat in the drawer of my stitching table since I got home.

For my birthday this year Kathryn gave me this lovely kit that is from the dahlia’s on our deck. I’d never done a diamond dots but I had given a few of them as gifts myself.

It was somewhat additive, not unlike rug hooking, but totally mindless – perfect for me at the moment. I loved doing it and I love the finished product.

Friday, December 9, 2022

So far – good

Home from the first treatment. It wasn’t at all bad. IV went in the back of my hand; it’s a bit sore now but she said it was the best spot for it and I was OK with that as she had no trouble inserting it. There was about a half-hour wait with my anti-nausea drugs (3 of them) and a steroid pill that will help the anti-nausea drugs work better. They gave me another drug and its side effect is that I probably won’t sleep tonight; some people apparently scrub floors during the night but that won’t happen here. One of the chemo drugs was injected into the line manually – that took about half an hour. The IV drugs through the bag took about an hour but next time they will likely push it through in half an hour. 

I packed a bag this morning with my anti-nausea drugs, magazine, iPad, music, “family” blanket and Emma’s pillow. Next time I’ll lighten the load and just take the music, pillow, and blanket. The chair is comfortable, and it was even better once I figured out how to recline it. My feet were cold so I’ll take warmer socks next time.

I have some nausea but she said in general if you didn’t have much morning sickness during pregnancy (I didn’t) you often don’t experience it with the chemo. Feeling “off” this afternoon but I can’t decide if it is a chemo reaction or just my usual “up from a nap”. I slept for a couple of hours this afternoon but I’ve taken another anti-nausea pill.

There are several daily routines I need to keep up with. Blood pressure and temperature checks, anti-nausea pills for two more days and the white blood cell injections start on Sunday. The clinic checked on the echocardiogram and it is scheduled for January 3. Double blood work between now and my next treatment. Treatments will be every two weeks on Friday morning.

It’s all good – so far.

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Thank you for all the suggestions to solve my ink issue. At it turns out there are worse things than a bit of ink on the project.

A couple of people suggested de-greasers so that’s what I tried this morning. Dawn dish soap is often recommended to use if colours in a quilt run. I rubbed Dawn into all of the different patches of cross stitch and then threw it back into the wash. What I hadn’t expected was the amount of soap bubbles this would create.

When I opened the door on the washer the soap bubbles started pouring out. My solution was to quickly close the door and wash it all again but this time I used a pre-wash and a heavy wash in an attempt to get all that soap out. The result of that was about the same amount of soap bubbles; I pulled out three buckets of bubbles which, by this time, were all over the laundry room floor. There were still a lot of bubbles left so I pulled out the project, threw it into my largest laundry basket and ran it under the tap for ages to get as much soap out as possible. Then I ran the washer without anything in it and that seemed to get rid of the excess soap.

Lastly, I ran the project through another time and when it was done the soap bubbles were gone from the machine. I haven’t checked to see what the ink-results might be but once it comes out of the dryer I’m calling it done!

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

It was a full day on the Island yesterday but I think we are all set to get this show on the road. I had the injection for the bone scan and then we had a couple of hours in which I was to drink lots of water. We had a late breakfast/early lunch at White Spot and, while there, we spent a lot of time on the phone, checking messages, answering calls and returning messages. I am officially enrolled in a drug program for my third phase of chemo, I have a lab and pre-chemo session on Thursday and I’ll begin my chemo treatments on Friday morning. I’ve waited so long I’m just glad to get it started although I may feel differently after a session. Worry about how it will “be” isn’t easy to handle but keeping busy has kept me relatively sane.

My last order from amazon arrived today so I’m all set to get my Christmas parcels in the mail. I’m using the Express envelopes so that they can simply be dropped in the mailbox and we won’t have to visit the post office to get them on their way. One of the envelopes was large enough that I’m going to try and get a couple of birthday gifts into it as well.

And that is where I’m not quite all set. One of the gifts needed to be laundered and, sadly, it hasn’t come clean. I washed it in warm water on a delicate cycle, I washed it in cold water on a Perma-Press cycle with a spray of Shout and let it soak in the machine, I gave it a pre-wash cycle (which I’ve never used before) and the final wash was on a regular/heavy cycle and still I’m not happy. Since the card to go along with that particular gift isn’t done yet I’m going to try it a few more times. It will be what it will be in the end but there is still some wriggle room and I’m taking advantage of it.

My second problem this afternoon was that I had an embroidered card that I specifically set aside for someone for Christmas and I can’t find it anywhere. I’m hopeful that when the Christmas packages are done and I’m ready for cards it will magically appear under one of my piles.

Pat put the tree up this afternoon while I walked on the treadmill. I have a regularly-scheduled doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and I’ll get it (the tree) decorated in the afternoon.