Not much to report..

 Weather is changing again, started out sunny, predicted to get to mid to high 80's by the time we would get home. We only closed up everything when we left for my appointment around 11. Still very cool and comfy inside when we got home around 2. Supposed to rain in a few days and over the weekend. Good thing I got new tires, just need new wipers now. The service guy offered to do it but told him I didn't have enough money for the wipers.

 Boy what a difference new tires make! Riding smooth, not fighting with the car drifting due to bald tire on that side and just not as bumpy on the road. I am very impressed with Discount Tires by the way, I haven't bought a full set of tires in decades so this was an eye opener. Ordering and scheduling online was the absolute smartest thing to do. I didn't expect anything really other than walking to the counter and telling them I was there. Well they had a sandwich board sign with my name on a piece of paper in a spot right in front of the door and had the next appointment name on the reverse side. I missed it because there were idiots in the parking lot. I found a spot three cars over so it wasn't that far. When he was scanning the tires (I have no idea what he was scanning) but on the third tire he said, 'whoa 2015!'. I'm like... say what? 'yeah these tires are from 2015 glad you came in when you did'. So, the battery and the tires were all installed the same year and not replaced since. I was riding around on pure luck for sure. Battery was only good for 3-5  years and the tires (depending on how much they're used) about the same. Ten years. Wow. Mind you, my car is a 2005 model which  makes it 20 years old. Only thing I couldn't afford was the 'extended warranty' for the tires that would give me free service, repair or whatever for the life of the tires (car?) but that was $63 I remember when it was $50.  But yes, totally impressed with their service, took all of maybe half hour 40 minutes.

As for the follow up visit today, the under arm and surrounding area are looking much better and I told Laci (Physician Assistant) how much it itched in certain spots, only wore bandage if I had to go out in public, no bra, all that. She decided to call the doctor in to get a judgement call on how well it's going. He agreed, keep moisturizer on the areas, monitor for oozing or scabs and decided I didn't need to see him next week unless things start going south. Reschedule for 3-4 weeks out which turned out to be December 2. I should be mostly healed up by then and they'll probably want to start looking at surgery date. So probably January unless they want to step it up to end of December. Which would suck.

Anyway only three appointments coming up this month and hopefully get to just relax for a bit. Which is good because that conserves gas which I used a lot today. Made a side trip to the main lab/cardiology office on our way up to the Scripps Ranch visit so I could get the ECG/EKG (almost interchangeable) for doctor visit on Thursday. She'll also let me know whether to start the kisqali as well, the pharmacy called Again and I told her that I'll know by the weekend if I start it or not.  

Oh, need to add, financially still struggling. I've got a $120 hospital bill from the 'calibration' appointment before radiation and then the other day, got my car registration for January for $167. Sigh. I'd like to say I would try to save money but we all know that's impossible.  

If anything happens, you'll see it here. 

 

My weekend, food edition

 We went to our usual store on Saturday, took the chance it wasn't as crowded and for the most part it was good. Watched what we were putting in the cart and what was on my list, turned down a few things that would have been 'extra', another bag of frozen shrimp that went up 2 dollars from last week, forgot the ice cream and decided not to get bacon or smoked sausage. Those were all extra things I wanted to get but not in the budget this week. Smoked sausage was not the horseshoe shape but sausage type in casings for a specific recipe (the Galaxy's Edge Ronto Wrap). 

Anyway, food shopping is done, fridge and freezer are packed! Top picture is before I divvied up the beef. Six pounds of hamburger in lag baggies but divided in two, chicken packs stacked. Two packs of hot dogs (third one is opened already in the fridge), bag of fish sticks, two bags of frozen veggies (chow mein and stir fry), way at the back behind everything is asian chicken rice bowls Jon likes to have in the evening. Could we have gotten less food and make our money stretch? Maybe, but that's a fallacy really. We would run out of food, have to go to the store and get more and use gas and time. Stock up when you have the money and it helps coast you through the rest of the month. Oh, white bag in the right corner is the french fries, lower right white bag is an ice pack from the chemo pills I will be taking soon that need to be kept in the fridge. Jon kind of insisted on keeping them in the freezer and fridge. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ground beef 88/12 and a little over six pounds at 5.49 a pound. Stew meat, more expensive at 6.99 and almost 4 and a third pounds. So yeah, $60 worth of meat in just two packages, broken down that is roughly 10 meals. I use my little kitchen scale I originally got for weighing yarn and weigh out portions. For whatever reason I used to get a large zip baggie and put the scale in that, zero it out and then do my weighing, one time I used plastic wrap but that was awkward as well. Then it hit me, if I'm zeroing out... use a bowl. So much easier especially when portioning out the meat in various forms. Another trick I learned, was to use a rolling pin or my hands to flatten out the hamburger when I put it in the bag so it thaws faster and takes up less space. I remember seeing a huge lump of frozen hamburger sitting in a frying pan because my mom forgot to take it out of the freezer the night before (I made the same mistake years ago). With the meat flattened, it takes up less space and it thaws in almost 24 hours in the fridge. Brilliant!

But no ice cream. Sad face.  Next trip we'll get it because we have about $60 left in food money for making the weekly milk and bread runs to the store.  You know what makes me happy? Seeing all that food and planning meals or new recipes to try. I bought a small jar of horseradish to make some Alabama White Sauce, that stuff is good on almost anything. Oh and some chipotles in adobo for making chipotle ranch sauce and also thinking about a crock pot chili/stew. So I don't usually get a lot of chips or cookies for myself, never have been  that kind of a snacking kind of person. On the other hand not really into celery and peanut butter and carrot sticks. Somewhere in between. Homemade cookies most definitely, a small bowl of my favorite ice cream once in a while yesssir. For the holidays our go to is the cordial cherries but almost any chocolate will do. So happy I found a partner that loves food and treats as much as I do.

Okay enough about food. Due to the wonderful kindness of a very good friend I will be getting new tires tomorrow! YAY! That will facilitate going up to see said friend next weekend. Tuesday and Thursday is two different doctor visits,  then two more visits the following week. At the rate I'm healing probably looking at December for final reconstruction surgery. That's it for today, probably will do a midweek update unless something monumental happens between now and then.

 

 

Improvements all around.

 Food money came through thanks to our wonderful governor.  He and a few other states had enough surplus that they were able to cover what the Federal government has already spent and shouldn't have (that's my understanding of the situation and am sticking to it). 

The underarm area and my skin is looking better in general as it should and the downside is the one method I chose to keep it covered with a certain size bandage, she only gave me three or four. So will make do until next week. These aren't bandages you can just go to the pharmacy and pick up, being doctor/hospital supply level. It's all good, it's healing and that's what counts.

So we have done the first half of food shopping and spent about half our money. We decided to go Costco first so got our bulk meat and a few other things (total of 11 items and all food). More than enough money left over to get staples and pantry things we are out of or very low on. Hopefully. I was doing a running total while we were in Costco, keeping track of things and rough estimate was about $150, I missed a few things Jon put in the cart so it was 30 over that but still good. Anyway, prices for meat was difficult to compare because it only shows the sell price not price per pound. But overall the prices were about the same within a 1-3 dollar difference. Jon loves his doritos and when we bought a bag way back in April, it was 5.99 and this time it was 7.29. Difference in store possibly but that was part of the unaccounted total. So yes, prices have gone up for sure especially on beef. I still made sure to grab a package of the stew meat because that stretches soooo far in meals when you cut it up smaller. Totally worth the money.  I prefer the quality of the meat at Costco for the price because you get what you pay for. 

I was wondering while driving, why do they assume that older people don't eat a lot of food? Jon and myself as well as many of you reading this are considered, 'seniors'.  I know some of you have dietary restrictions and that is all well and good not going to take that into consideration. For the average, healthy and non-medically challenged, I don't consider myself having a 'senior' appetite at all.  The 'senior meals' that we signed up for a few years ago were, for the most part, horrifically flavored, small portions and suitable for a hospital or care center aka 'institutional' food.  I know a good number of the residents here do have dietary issues so as far as that's concerned, I'll take my 6" sub sandwich thank you very much. Full on Mexican meal, bring it on!  Heck if budget (and inflation wasn't so heinous) allowed, we'd still be doing that once or twice a week. Both Jon and I love a variety of foods, dishes with flavors and depth, fresh foods cooked with love as he says. That's what I aim for, cooking with love.

 When I was growing up in a family of 5,  I remember having containers of soup or stew in the freezer and having leftover roast cut up with potatoes for dinner that was absolutely delicious or it was ground up for 'hash' or to put in another dish. My mom and dad cooked an over abundance of food because they grew up and were living through the depression in their adult life. You made food last for more than one meal because that was the way you survived. That brings us full circle to living on a tight budget right now.

Enough about cooking. The weather is cooling down again, Mother Nature's hot flash subsided but will spike again in a few days. Still very comfortable weather and has a wonderful 'Fall' feel, nippy at night and short sleeve shirt during the day.  Oh and had a blood test before starting chemo tablets and all my numbers are within normal including glucose! No check for cholesterol that's a different doctor.  Still need to get an ECG/EKG done but that means for a walk in have to drive allll the way over to where my oncologist is or have to call in to the local clinic for an appointment. That will have to be Monday.

So that's all folks, having food or money to buy food makes a big impact on your outlook. Don't tell me money can't buy happiness when millions of people suddenly can have food.

 

 

Developments on radiation recovery

 About two weeks ago I started feeling irritation under my right arm and thought it was just my bra irritating the area due to sweat and sensitive skin in the area. Well it got worse. I won't post pictures because no one needs to look at that. Needless to say I decided to contact the plastic surgeons office because they said to contact them if there are any issues.

The area got worse even though I was putting the ointment and the aloe on it and had Jon take pictures to send off to them. Got a reply within hours and made an appointment for today. Essentially, it is radiation burns (She didn't come right out and say it but that was in my head) because she gave me a 'silva---'something burn cream to put on the area and one spot under my boob. Then she pulled out all variations of pads and wound covers and all that to figure out how best to keep it covered and not get irritated anymore. This means, no bra until further notice, soft t-shirts and loose shirts at night. Which is what I've been doing. Also gave me a tiny little tube of lidocaine... nice. Seriously, that stuff is indispensable for most any surface pain or itching. Anyway, another follow up appointment scheduled for next week and then the previously scheduled follow up the following week.

So, I was able to actually drive up to that appointment in about 30 minutes... previously that was an hour and a half trek by way of public transit.  Thanks to another small influx of cash for doing airport shuttle we drove up the freeway to our old work stomping grounds and got gas. It was .30 more expensive up there than it was in Santee when we last got gas a week ago. It was too early in the morning to have 'lunch' so we headed back home and now making food decisions. I pulled down a pack of chicken thighs last night but they aren't thawed completely so that's the dilemma. We have leftovers and other ways of making food thankfully.

Mornings have been especially foggy the past week but then clear off to mild temperatures and sunny skies. 

If it's October in San Diego, the Bird of Paradise bushes are in bloom. 

That's the only update for now, there was something else I wanted to pass on but can't remember what it was now because I thought of it late at night when I was falling asleep. Oh, apparently I am grinding my teeth in my sleep. Jon nudged me last night to wake me up.

That's all folks!

 

Food scrounging has ensued.

 Due to ::rude words:: government and ::more specific rude words:: president, our food money has been delayed for who knows how long.

So. Looked up the best prospect for a food supply event and the one that everyone, it seems, saw advertised up in Mira Mesa (Sorrento Valley) at the headquarters for Feeding San Diego. Now if you recall four or five years ago when we would drive to a location and then do a drive through pick up, that is basically what this was, except it was standing in line. 

I was trying not to be obvious with taking a picture because so many, so so many in that crowd were every possible ethnicity. Being in Mira Mesa, there was the three major groups, Islanders (Phillipino and others), Hispanic and Asian. So very much the usual crowd for a food distribution these days and I was in the middle, single older white lady. There were a good few thousand people there. Lined up in rows like they would do for cars, so I was about the 5th row away from the yellow canopies. Behind me, there were four or five more rows and three times as many people. Yeah. There were collapsible wagons people had brought, bags, crates, boxes and multiple people in family groups. 

It started distributing around 10, me remembering previous experiences got there around 9. So an hour waiting in line, luckily it being Mira Mesa there was marine layer and it was pleasantly cool, I wore a ¾ length sleeve shirt over a t shirt and was comfortable.  A mother was in the row next to me (just to the right of that cone) with four little girls age 5 or 6 down to maybe a year old she was holding. $ girls and she had two more older ones at home. Wow. The girls started to get antsy and rambunctious so I finally had to step in. The mother wasn't offended and thanked me, told her I'm a grandmother and I know the struggle. That was only at the half hour mark and they continued to do little kid things, which I curtailed occasionally. By the time the lines started moving they were a bit tired and minding a little better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 One of the girls pointed up in the sky and said something (I thought she was saying bird) but no, it was a small drone. Dipping down low, climbing up, moving off to a side, hiding behind a tree from my perspective and then moving off to another location. Could have been police, could be news, who knows. I didn't see any police cars, no obvious armored individuals, nothing at all  that would imply 'spying'. 

So that was my excitement for today. My long wait in line got me the following: 4 potatoes, 4 cucumbers, (I turned down the 1% milk and off brand spaghetti-o's as well as a small jar of peanut butter), a package of spaghetti, two boxes of off brand mac and cheese, a bag of black beans, 8 starbucks ham and swiss cheese sandwiches on panini rolls, 2 clamshell containers of strawberries(in good condition!!) and finally, a huge bag of frozen shoestring fries. I was so ecstatic about that, the woman who handed it to me said, 'I've not seen anyone be that enthusiastic' I told her I love french fries. That was a pretty good supplement for what we have and sure it's not a lot but it's better than nothing.

Got home, put everything away, heated up one of the sandwiches augmented with some mustard and that was breakfast. Total turn around time was hour and a half from arriving to leaving. 

Now then, we still needed a few staples so I did some calculating and decided that having some needed supplies was worth cutting into budget for bills.

1 doz eggs

1 loaf wheat bread

1- 5lb bag of rice

2 small cans tomato sauce

1/2 gallon of (whole) milk

1 jar of mayonnaise

1- 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp

1 case of water

 

That was what I deemed necessary for at least two weeks of meals at this point. Total cost: $36.45.  That small list of items is almost $40.  Most expensive thing on the list was the shrimp but that is three meals for  us. Rice and potatoes can go a long way for meals, we luckily have chicken and some hamburger still so hoping that this crises is resolved in the next week or so.  

We went to Costco the other day to get paper goods and a few things all on Jon's money which is our usual division. I was so depressed and frustrated not being able to even look at anything because I didn't know when I would be able to afford shopping again. I ended up crying on the way home and essentially shut down. Jon definitely noticed and it was a very quiet ride home and the rest of the afternoon. Still not up to my usual self but feel a bit better about having food for another few weeks at least.

But it's far from over.  

So life is back to relatively dull again

 Excitement for the week has been shuttling friend and her family to the airport. Amazingly with no hiccups other than the mess of construction in the middle of the main street through Clairemont. They are digging up and repiping the main water lines for that area. Good thing I know that neighborhood like the back of my hand. Woke around 3:30, scooted out of the apartment in a half hour, got to her place in another half hour, another 30 minutes loading and various last minute chores, 20 minutes to the airport, done and done. Got back home and seeing as how it was still dark outside got back into my nightshirt and slept for another 3 hours.

Next excitement is I got soil for my garden, yay! That was another cluster... and all totally on my end. You see, my inbox is according to last date deleted at the top. I saved the original email and marked it as unread in my inbox (forgot to star or mark it important). So there I was getting frustrated not finding it thinking it was gone forever. Tried to log into my HD account which showed an image of 'a' card with the balance and only the middle four digits of the card number. No amount of tapping on it or doing anything else made it show the bar code and pin.  I went to customer service and luckily a young man took my phone, scrolled, swiped, tapped and did everything else, saw that the card was loaded..... finally gave up and said, 'I'll just mark it down   by $11' and then all we had to do was pay for the 12 pack of coke. Yes, their price is better than the grocery store oddly enough.

Now then... got back home, sat at the computer and scrolled, and looked and logged in and then it dawned on my to look at the dates of the items in my email folders..... scroll scroll scrolll........ all the way back to beginning of October (yes I need to manually purge the emails because it's set for auto delete after 30 days). So there it was, I opened it, logged in, saved it to computer, change to pdf and printed it out.

This...this is why I do not trust cards and passes loaded on my phone because sometimes I can be a dunce about it. That's why we have our physical bus passes and not an e card on our phone. It's good for back up in case the physical one is lost or damaged but I won't rely on it entirely. 

I double checked on best price for tires again because my friend CJ wants me to come up and visit her but Jon is reluctant to drive that far on questionable tires right now. Least expensive tires that fit my car are $228 for whole set, taxes, fees and all that jazz comes to about $370. CJ said she could go halves on the cost if I can find a way to get the other half.  I knew it was a long shot but messaged Amber and poor kid... she's finished with mid terms but has to save up for holidays and next semester when she switches to full time at SDSU which cuts into her work schedule.  So long trips are on hold for a while but CJ said will be happy to wait.

And now for the world news.... due to the (insert long string of derogatory, defamatory and other curse words) government, our EBT/CalFresh money is going to be delayed next month. I immediately thought of Devon when the government shut down started but he is not directly affected by that thankfully. Love you! This is going to put a definite crimp in our budget like so many others.  I'm looking at the closest food bank pick up location and due to past experience will not be going to the Salvation Army. Beggars can't be choosers I know but that is downright dangerous and ludicrous. 'What meat would you like', 'I'll take any of those' and what do they give me? Soy based protein. So no. I'll go to the food drive directly that gets a box of mixed canned goods and pantry products. Not going to be the same as the pandemic boxes for sure because.....(repeat of previous curse words) government cut the subsidy plans and organizations that helped with that.

 

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'.