And fini!

 

Along with continuing home care for the affected area and a follow up appointment for Dr. Fossum they gave me a 'diploma' for completing my radiation. Dawwwww! Joon wants to get a frame so we can put it up on the wall. I think that's a bit excessive but I'll humor him with that.

There's a tradition that when you finish cancer treatment, whether it's radiation or chemo, you ring a bell they have mounted just for that. Everyone kept asking if I was going to ring the bell and I said nah, did that for my chemo last time but this was a walk in the park.  I never liked having people sing happy birthday to me or draw attention to myself like that. So I just told the two radiation techs, 'I don't ever want to see you again!'. I wish I had been able to wear my Grover shirt because that was what I wore when I finished chemo. I told one of the techs that and she said Grover was her favorite muppet, I told her he was my spirit animal for many years. They wouldn't have been able to see it anyway since I changed into a gown for the session. Dr. Fossum said, 'No offense taken' when I told him about not seeing him again after all this. 

So it's been an adventure this time for sure with transportation issues for four months being the biggest headache and frustration. I am eternally thankful I didn't have to do chemo this time because that would have been an added complication to the situation. From here out it's just going to be follow up doctor visits and a few lab visits sporadically along the way. 

Jon has a couple of appointments this week, one for an EKG stress test, which by the way his cariologist said his numbers are great, BP is good, all the levels are good but wanted to double up on one of his meds that would either be taking two instead of one or changing to a 'horse pill'. He opted for doubling the dose and not a larger pill. 

In other news, I am giving a ride to my friend Margaret and her family (husband and daughter) to the airport on Friday. The flight leaves at 7:20 am, they want to get there at least 2 hours in advance, so 5:30 drop off... which means for me I have to get to them by 4:45 at least to allow for loading and traffic around the airport, and that means I have to leave my place by 4:00 (even though they are only about 30 minutes away gives some wiggle room) which makes it a 2:30 or 3 am wake up alarm for me.

Does anyone else back schedule like this or is it just me? I saw someone said that was a neurodivergent trait but honestly, I've always thought it was the way you do things. You have an end point to be somewhere and have to allow for travel time so you have to backtrack to figure out when you're supposed to wake up (if necessary) and leave.  

The reason why I brought the timing thing up is I was not watching the time and ended up taking a shower almost too late. We left at 9:20 which was squeaky close since I'm supposed to check at 9:30. We're going to the car and Jon stops and says, 'oop forgot my watch' and ran back upstairs while I got to the car and started it. He got in the car and heaved a big sigh, looked at him 'what happened?'  Well when he opened the apartment door he failed to close at least one of the doors behind him and Rocky slipped out. He got his watch on, turned around, closed the door and locked the screen then when he turned to walk away he hears, 'meow'. Rocky was very confused because he thought he was going for walkies, albeit not with the right person but Jon had to unlock the door, pick him up, apologize then toss him inside and head out.  Jon's going to be giggling about that all day because he's just imagining  Rocky being confused, 'thought we were going out? These humans are so confusing and slow'. 

 

It is raining! And I have a car!

 Wind started up yesterday which, as many of us know, is a sign of changing weather one direction or the other. Or Mary Poppins coming in ....

Anyway, it is downright nippy and I have no long pants..or thought at least. I had to dig into the laundry almost down to the bottom and found four pairs of Jon's pants and one of mine. Huzzah this pair fit and oddly enough... no odor that I could detect. I think I tossed them there beginning of summer because I didn't need them for six months.  

So thankful I found the pants, it is entirely too cold to be wearing shorts for the next few days. They aren't my heavy jeans but they will do for now. It wasn't raining when we left for the appointment, at least it was just very fine sporadic mist type moisture. By the time I got out of my appointment and seeing the doctor (half hour, at the most 45 minutes) it was coming down pretty good. Great... didn't bring a jacket, didn't bring an umbrella and wearing heavier Hawaiian shirt over a t-shirt. As we are walking quickly to the car I then realized... I have to drive on wet roads with nearly bald tires.

We also had to get gas, which luckily was right down the road/hill at Costco. I was just under a half tank but wanted to get it now because I have the money and it added weight to the car on the slippery road. It was still windy so I mistakenly took the pump that was on the 'windward' side, aka wind was blowing rain at us as I tried to pump the gas. Roughly half a tank for $32, yeah yeah we all remember when it would have been half that cost, but it is what it is now and I pay my yearly Costco membership (which is up at the end of this month as well) just so I can get cheaper gas and some groceries.

 

Usually we stop at a sandwich shop for food on the way home but I had made food before we left (bow tie pasta hamburger skillet meal) so luckily neither of us were hungry and we headed straight home from there. Freeway driving is hectic as it is, we all know how white knuckle it is when you have rain on top of that. Only hit one puddle that hydroplaned for a split second and was driving almost at a crawl with huge tanker trucks and cars throwing water spray everywhere. Needless to say, I'm exhausted tonight. So glad we aren't having to take transit in the rain!

 

Oh yes, I bought a new hose for the garden yesterday and got some seedling planting pellets .... I got a hose with the intent of watering today or tomorrow. Cue ironic song.

 Well at least I have it for when I need it. Going to try and save as much money as possible to roll into next month, which is a little over two weeks away. Not likely to have much left since we'll need a case of water and sodas, milk and something else before the end of the month. I only have about $6 left on food money so that's something at least. 

As far as the radiation sessions are going, my only constant is not figuring out how to get my stupid gown over my head or untied and tied. They want you to pull your arms out and fold it down to expose my torso. Well getting it tied is an issue and then trying to figure out a short cut or 'hack' to just tie it first then slip it on isn't working.  Still look like a clumsy cat trying to fight out of a bag of fabric. The 'technician/assistants' are very nice girls they help dozens of people in a day I'm sure. 

Saw this hilarious faded bumper sticker on a car the other day and just had to get a picture: 'People..... them tasty food'. Could not stop giggling at it and wondered if the driver realizes. 

 

It's an odd weekend-cranky post

 First I want to thank one and all who have contributed to making my birthday a happy one this year. Nothing fancy happening but what did happen and what came as a surprise was very much appreciated. So thank you Talib and Bart so much, bills will be paid on time, I will have supplies for hobbies and there will be just a smidgen of money left over for next month. 

Friday started out fine, later in the evening felt overly bloated, made me uncomfortable. Yesterday was feeling it a bit still and a mood switch was flipping. Yesterday evening every small thing annoyed me more than it should have. Still have a 'dry' cough from the dregs of the allergy attack, like it happens which is another point that is making me irritable. Not sleeping well is a contributing factor and just not feeling understood and appreciated(??). We have been doing minimal laundry mostly in the sink and Jon being the germophobe is using dish soap and alcohol. Well I finally found a small bottle of our preferred laundry soap so we can wash socks and incidentals once in a while. As soon as next month rolls around we'll go back to doing full loads of laundry. So anyway, I bought the laundry soap and when I went to use it, Jon had used it already but I didn't see any socks or underwear hanging.... 'what did you use the laundry soap on?'  'Oh I washed the bath mat'....... not the external one, nothing fabric or rug like, the no slip mat that goes in the tub that is permanently discolored due to the hard water and our dirty feet. It didn't make any difference that I could see. I stared at him (mind you this is sort of the tipping point for my foul mood) I then put my head on the door frame.... in my mood I just had no words and had to calmly remind him I bought that for laundry. He is now using it on some actual laundry and was shocked at how dirty a shirt was. I need to bring up that if his pajama top was that dirty, imagine what the sheets look like that we haven't washed in two years (that are now bagged up waiting to be washed mind you).

So in other news, we may have a functional car now but have to watch gas usage again. Two trips to the doctor with one side trip to the store used a ¼ tank so am down to half tank. Maybe not a smidge of money left since might have to use that for gas before the end of the month. We have plenty of food stuffs at least and even the SDGE bill was lower than expected which was a huge bonus! Thanks to whatever payback/rebate/electric grid alternate energy thing they use. 

I think the stress of the political/world situation is also taking a toll on me mentally. Like I said, a lot of small things that are normal background annoyance are more annoying and who knows, could be I'm just hungry. We're having pollo asado today with rice for Jon and tacos for me, missing a few extras but it's still very yummy (Jon is cooking it right now which is making me realize  I am hungry). I can plan meals ahead now which is a blessing and a curse. Oh! Speaking of food, I bought the multi pack of chicken thighs at Costco, the ones in individual packs. I was used to the chicken breasts that usually had two. Boy was I surprised when four of them were packed in the first package I opened and last night there were five! That is such a deal! We had fried chicken leftovers! Our usual frugal meal is a chicken thigh each with potatoes, Jon had two thighs, I had one and there were still two thighs and two drumsticks I had cooked as well.

Oh the radiation sessions are going just fine, I'm now noticing some darkening of the skin so applying the aloe very twice a day. Barely discernible in low light but a definite straight line across the top of my boob area. This is the easiest part of my journey for sure. 

Thank you again for your patience, your phone calls and gifts.  

Oil change done, happy birthday to me!

 I have a functional and mostly road worthy vehicle now!  My day started with contemplating when I should fix the shrimp tacos I had planned and when I should leave to get the oil change. Turned out, I could do both long before I needed to leave for my appointment! Because I have a car! We needed avocado for the tacos/shrimp and more onions so we still got everything done with plenty of time to sit and digest before leaving. Wonderful feeling. 

Amber was able to send me the money for an oil change but sadly, not enough funds for a full set of tires. I went to the same Valvoline shop I did last time, they scanned my car and verified all my information and last time I was there... over a year ago.... eep. Anyway, same exact price as last time as well so that was lucky. Figured that price would go up like everything else these days but guess not. 

Down the street from the oil change shop was the Walmart grocery store so toodled on down, got a few things like avocado (small, bruised and .67 each... we don't shop there for several reasons but this was convenient). Went home, cooked up the shrimp and I had excellent tacos while Jon put his on a hamburger bun... odd choice but it was delicious for both of us. Will be chronicling that meal on my food blog along with the chicken half fail from yesterday. But I digress....

I looked at Costco first for tires and their cheapest available was almost $200 per tire and then $60 off if you buy a set of 4. Wow... then 💡💡.... Discount Tires is right down the road. Cheapest type was just under $100 per tire, huge difference! I don't need fancy all terrain, multi weather special traction types. I need wheels for the road on my granny mobile! So that will have to wait but at least it is still road worthy for dry weather and the short distances I'm going. 

Nothing unusual about the session today other than almost yelling 'it's today!' when they asked my birthday. When the scanning was all done and they came back in the room one of them said, 'sorry there's no balloons dropping from the ceiling for your birthday' I told her that was okay I have chocolate cake when I get home. They were also happy to hear my car was working again and that it was just the battery. 

We stopped at the store and picked up ice cream (using EBT funds that are still left) because we now have a car and can go straight home!  Chocolate Ganache ice cream because I ate the last slice of the chocolate birthday cake for dessert today. Jon got his usual ice cream sandwiches and it doesn't matter what we get, if it makes us happy to each their own.

One downside to not taking transit is no more knitting while out and about for long periods of time so I have to now make time. At least an hour a day or more, to dedicate to knitting. Aw gee such a hardship right? 

Allergy symptoms are mostly gone, still have a dry cough, a bit of heavy phlegm in the back of my throat, nose and eyes itchy once in a while but overall, much better.  The weather is high flat overcast that is the dregs and outer edge of a tropical storm sweeping in way to the south in Baja. So it's low 80's overcast but looks like it should be sweater weather. I had to change back into my shorts because a) too warm, and b) the inner seem gave way on my right thigh. I don't have any comfortable jeans now. Those needed to be retired years ago but since they're 'relaxed fit' (aka stretch) they've been okay to wear.

Katie called me at 7:30 this morning to sing me Happy Birthday which is her tradition. We got to chat for a while as she was on her way to work so it was good talking to her again. Compared notes on radiation treatment experiences and all that. Now, if we want to visit, I can drive there!!

Enough birthday ramblings for now. Must be the sugar high from the cake.

 

Finally! It was just the battery!

 I could just kick myself sometimes at being so afraid to make phone calls and do the things necessary as soon as possible. 

 

I can message the 'virtual assistant' for AAA right through the app, filled in the information, corrected the location (because I am at the back of the property it shows me on the next block up) left a message for the technician/driver about how to get into the lot and then waited.

Nice young Asian guy, very personable and pulled into the wrong parking lot... the gate for the church next door was open so I had to jog down and motion to him that it's the next gate. We opened the hood and immediately he said, 'it's your battery', Jon and I looked at him then looked at the battery, 'see it's from 2019, it's already way past life time for it'. I told him my amateur sleuthing and he shook his head as he hooked up his charger/tester and said, 'that batter is old and it's definitely that'. So sure enough, it was at 5%. But he also said that it was a darn good battery to last this long. He luckily had one last battery of that type in his truck and told us how much it would be. I called Amber and told her how much ($230 with taxes and stuff), she transferred the money within five minutes and it was all done in about a half hour.

Jon is so relieved you'd think he just got a death sentence commuted. He never really said anything but I could tell he despised taking transit. It is nerve wracking for him, not to mention interrupting his nap schedule. It frees up two or three hours of our day to boot as well but then we won't have as much exercise now heheh. That driveway hill, wow, anyway. 

Oh and the car still had 3/4 tank of gas so this will be great going forward. I really am overdue for an oil change I know and that will help with the mileage for sure.  Four months I haven't had to worry about gas so that will have to be a factor for the budget again.

So, getting an oil change for my birthday... would be great. Wow...  

Hitch in the works...

 Still taking transit and getting a good bit of exercise along with that having to walk up a steep driveway to the building, but here's the reason, (other than still not calling AAA but have no more excuses tomorrow because I have the AAA app and it has my digital member card loaded there.);

So when I tried to arrange for a regular pick up by calling and asked about being on a schedule they told me I needed to set that up with the patient coordinator that would email my schedule to them and make arrangements. Here's where it gets kind of odd and dodgy; the coordinator was told that they are 'too full with another group' to make the run just for me at that time of day. Hmmph, didn't seem to be a problem the last three or four times. Transportation said they needed 2 week in advance notice, which wasn't true either, and then the coordinator said they like a 48 hour advance. So yeah... she though thtat was kind of odd as well with transportation being a bit dodgy about picking me up and I might try to find a feedback thing to let them know it's not appreciated. The coordinator is very nice and was trying to help as much as possible she had no other options than trying to get me earlier in the day for my radiation sessions.

Had a quick meet up with Doctor Fossum after treatment today told him as far as I can tell, nothing's been going on (of course on the way home the area started feeling a bit tender). No other changes related to treatment and off we went. I told him my biggest thing was dealing with an allergy attack and he noticed I looked kind of 'congested' (indicating forehead). 

I'm on day 3 of allergy attack from hell and have been dosing with Allegra-D 24 hour and throat lozenges (Ricola honey herb and with echinacea from after my surgery and had a sore throat). I thought I could make it through the night without taking anything last night and woke up around 5 with a dry throat cough and eyes watering. So took an allergy pill and tried to go back to sleep. The allergy med has me kind of loopy as well as every soft tissue organ dried up. Mouth gets dry, drink water, throat gets dry and start to cough take a Ricola, mouth gets dry from that and have to drink more water.... but because it dries everything up, don't have to pee as often.

 

Two full weeks and then two days the third week and I'll be done with that. End of this week or beginning of next week I'll contact Dr. Camberos if there's any issues. I swear I will have my car fixed by the time I have to go back up there and see him!

Oh, we voted for the special ballot measure today. Walked down to the post office, literally 4 minutes walk from the bus stop and am so lucky we can do that. Even if it weren't we'd find a way of dropping it off.

Oh, birthday wishes... Home Depot gift card (virtual or physical) I really need garden supplies. I have more than enough yarn and notions, but the garden is lacking greatly. If I get money I'll likely treat Jon and I go a really good burger meal or mexican and maybe save some out for the garden. Until I get the car working, buying bags of soil or a hose, taking transit is out of the question. 

I am currently knitting a pair of dark woll blend socks, originally for John but now I think he'd do better with a thinner cotton blend yarn. So the socks may be going further north (hint!) I have the same kind of yarn in a green stripe as well, may not get done by Christmas but will see what happens. The problem with the dark neutrals is with my bad eyesight I can't work on them in regular indoor lighting. Very much limited hours I can work on those but there's no fancy stitches or anything (Devon text me your and Rem's shoe size!). The weather is cooling down a bit at least, no longer in the Heinous Heat during the day, only gets up to the mid to high 70's now, yay for Fall weather! 

::cough hack sneeze:: 

 

 

Okay I was not truthful

 

This is the short hallway for the entrance to the actual scanning room. There are more than just these, maybe two dozen or so. They are actual 'blown' glass and one of the assistants said the entire theme of the room is water, so those have a watery blue glass look and are bigger than my hand by a little bit.  It's a very relaxing kind of ambiance and makes me smile.

Okay... got my appointment done, easy peasy again nothing dramatic. We got grocery delivery last night and am not impressed with that delivery driver but that's beside the point. We got groceries we needed. I figured out that after my appointment today we could take the trolley back to our station, hop over to the other short line going to Santee, hoof the two and a half blocks to Costco, do our needed shopping there and then call for a Lyft ride back home. Why I didn't think about that until now I do not know.

So we were both starving by the time we got there as well as being a bit footsore, got our usual 'cheap lunch/dinner' hot dog, soda and pizza (they have a combo calzone for 6.99!!! Definitely going to be a thing to order next time) before going inside and getting the paper goods and meat that we needed. Which, by the way, hamburger is a dollar more than it was three months ago. I keep receipts and remember it being $4.99/lb and it's now $5.99/lb. And for an early birthday treat, got a chocolate cake with mousse filling. YUM! So needed items, foodstuffs and we're set for the month for that. Rent check! (just realized I forgot to bring it with me when we left today and went down to do that just now, the 3rd is cut off day)

 Lyft driver was in a really nice car (Hyundai Ioniq 5 wooo faancy) that had plenty of trunk space (kind of like a prius) and we were home in minutes, even traffic wasn't that bad. Also wasn't too hot today either, only got up to 81 but of course that means about 86 inside. We got home around 6 and the sun was just going down behind the other building so we were able to open up everything and get air flowing. 

No my car hasn't even been looked at yet by AAA. Stupid AAA website thinks I don't have an account even though I accessed it yesterday. Grrrr! Along with the confusion of accounts and everything wondering if me creating an account on my phone has anything to do with this now. (got through on my phone just fine)

I'll be calling for the shuttle van tomorrow to see about rides for next week instead of transit. 'Shuttle van' is a broad term. First ride was a 9 passenger standard van, second ride same day was a lift capable van, third one was an actual small bus style and the fourth one was another lift van, take what they have for sure if it's free. Not sure if I can do a standing order for the same time every day but will ask. Since all our shopping is done for the month mostly, we can come straight home. If I can arrange for AAA to come out and see about my car battery and starter, that can be something for next week as well.  If I have to get a new battery, we're sunk. I don't have the money for that at all. I could likely ask Amber if she can foot the bill, but will see what happens. 

More news when it happens.