One Week to Go

On December 2nd I had a bad case of stomach flu. I went to Sundre for my weekly routine home care. I met Debbie Ennis for lunch as planned but picked at my food. I was worried about having chemo the next day but thought it was probably not a good idea to postpone it any longer since it had already been postponed by a week. Chemo has been successful at reducing the size of the tumour so I like to stay on schedule. Wednesday morning, December 3rd, I felt great so had no qualms about having chemo. The night following chemo I did not sleep well as I was so 'wired.' This is quite typical after an outing and probably didn't have anything to do with chemo. Thursday night, December 4th, I slept like a log.

On Friday, December 5th, I began to experience some of the side effects of Taxotere. The pads of my feet felt numb and my calves had a tingling sensation. In addition I was experiencing stomach cramps. I may not have been finished with stomach flu as I had thought. I did not sleep well for several nights as I could not relax. I was also feeling rather 'blue.' It may have been the drug but it could have been sleep deprivation. I missed my Red Hatters Christmas party on December 8th as I didn't feel up to going. Thursday, December 11th, I had an appointment for a bone scan in Red Deer. I was feeling much better by then so I kept my appointment, did some shopping, and went to Madison's school Christmas concert in the evening. It was a good day! The next day, however, I was tired. The weather began to change, with dropping temperatures and blowing snow. Road conditions were poor and there were several vehicle accidents in Central Alberta that day. We decided not to go to my staff party in Innisfail. On Saturday, Helge shovelled out our lane and went to the Village Christmas Party. I stayed at home and kept the fires burning. With the cold weather and my health condition, I have tried to minimize my running around.

I'm off to Red Deer today as I am babysitting Madison for a few days. Aina has her face-to-face for her Module 3 CASB in Edmonton this weekend. Trevor is off to Chicago to pick up a covered snowmobile trailer that he bought on eBay. Sonja is staying at Aina's Friday night on her way to spend time with a friend in Calgary on Saturday. She will babysit Friday evening so I can go with Helge to his party at The Mountaineer. My energy and spirits are on the upward swing so I look forward to having good times with family at Christmas. We are having our Nome family Christmas at Aina's on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. On the 28th we are going to Laurel's for the Bjorgum family Christmas.

While I was still in bed this morning, between 8:00 and 8:30 I had a phone call from my friend Andy in Australia. I was after 1:00 a.m. Friday in Capella. The temperature was 38 degrees Celsius, and the fans were going full blast. Here the temperature is -22 degrees Celsius. The trees, roofs, and ground are white with snow. What a contrast!! Andy's wife Elizabeth is in London visiting their daughter Emily. Andy's son Garrett and his girlfriend are going to New Caledonia for Christmas. Andy will be spending Christmas with friends between Capella and Emerald. It's too hot for the barby. Andy and friends will have cold meats and salads, enjoy a small game of cricket in the back yard, and have a late afternoon nap.

Musical Musings

I have been doing my best to record the names of the songs and the artists that the dancers on "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance Canada?" have performed too. I was therefore very pleased to find these songs listed on the websites of each. One song I was particularly attracted to was "Shosholoza" by the Soweto Gospel Singers. I checked out their website and previewed their latest CD "African Spirit." Here is another addition to my wish list!! I would love to go to a live performance. They have a great sound and very colourful costumes. I sure seem to be attracted to that South African sound: Lorraine Klassen, Johnny Klegg, Lucky Dube, Ladysmith Black Mombasa...

I am saddened this week by the death of Odetta at the age of 77. What a powerful, soulful voice she had. She sang "Freedom" during the March on Washington in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King.

I am thinking of Eva Cassidy who passed in 1996 at the age of 33 years from melanoma cancer. I think her voice is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. She was such a versatile singer and excelled in many genres: blues, jazz, rock, gospel, etc.
She was shy and enjoyed performing in small venues. It was thought that she never obtained a major recording contract because she could not be pinned down to one type of music. I discovered today that her birthdate is the same as mine - February 2nd.

My Wellness Report: I had my fourth chemo treatment on Wednesday and am doing well so far. That is four chemo treaments down, two to go. Yay!! Since I am on a new chemo drug (Taxotere) this time I decided to take only this drug rather than the combination of Taxotere and the antibody Herceptin. This gives me a chance to see how my body responds to Taxotere (possible side effects of skin rash, edema) before I add the Herceptin. I want to enjoy this time of year and all the Christmas festivities as much as possible. In my next treatment on December 31st I will take the combination of Herceptin and Taxotere. I have to take the drug Herceptin for one year - 17 treatments, spaced 3 weeks apart. I expect it will be early March before I undergo surgery. I so want to go with Alice to Canmore the last week in March so hope I am up to it by then.

Sonja's last day of classes was yesterday. She has a big exam tomorrow, one next Wednesday, and one next Friday. Then she will have finished her first semester at the U of A!! She has taken a break from her part-time job for study and for a Christmas holiday. I'm glad for that as she has been so busy.

Aina is up to her eyeballs in audits, reviews, studying for her CA. Trevor is under the pressure of not only a new job but of a takeover by Keyera of the company that he was originally hired by. Thankfully they will both have some time off at Christmas.

Kai is finding welding very sporadic, and would like to make a change from the trades. He has a new girlfriend and is back to working out regulary at the gym so is in fairly good spirits. I think he enjoys having Sonja's companionship.

Jarl has had steady work since he started his own company Geospark in July. Rebecca is busy with household chores and caring for and running around after her children. Spencer started playing hockey this year and is very keen. So Rebecca has become a hockey Mom and is in charge of 40 hockey jerseys. This is no small feat when one has a 1-year old to care for. Luckily she has the assistance of good friends, like Launa.

We are looking forward to being with our family for Christmas Eve and Day at Aina's home in Red Deer. It is going to be a sleepover. How exciting!