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.