T-minus 2 days.

Longer post than usual, just rambling at this point. 

I am at the two day mark for prep instructions. Nothing different than what I've been doing before since I haven't had any greens or veggies at all for weeks. Meds I'm taking aren't a factor and my morning chemo pills are on an off week now. So the main anxiety is the prep drink starting tomorrow at 6pm. I've been chugging Powerade and water as directed. Luckily the 'large' (28 oz)  Powerade bottles are on sale at the store for .77 cents! With deposit and tax that's a little over a dollar each. Score!

Everyone says 'oh the prep is the worst part'. For anyone that has has normal bio functions in that end yes it can be horrific. The taste the prep stuff is described as salty and citrusy with the added flavor packet. If you've had to do a 1 hour glucose test, which I still remember from being pregnant the second time this is not nearly as bad. If it's only slightly worse than Powerade I think I'll be okay.  For me, having had sessions in the bathroom ranging from 20 minutes to a half hour four or five times a day, this may be just slightly worse than how bad it was a month or two ago. 

So starting it at 6pm means that besides my normal waking up every 2 hours as usual this isn't any different, just might be more urgent. The bathroom is literally six or eight steps from my side of the bed so it's not like I'm having to walk across a room to get to the toilet.  I usually don't get to sleep until around 11 anyway sometimes later so.... 

I bought a Farmer John spiral sliced ham the other day at the store because it was only 1.99/lb. The smallest one we got was a little over 11 lbs. That's still huge! I decided to cook that up today since it was taking up valuable real estate in the fridge for the prep bottle to occupy tomorrow night. At first I was wondering, okay instructions on the back of that tag is for carving but where's the cooking instructions? Had to lift the sucker off the counter and the rest of the info was on a huge tag on the flat side. 

Ham mountain! Just fit in my one oven baking pan and lined it with heavy foil then covered it as well. It heated up for almost two hours in the oven then had to pop the scalloped potatoes in the oven as well. Which didn't turn out nearly as well as they should have. 

That is half my usual helping for this sort of thing. The dish I used for the potatoes was woefully too big so they were all caked on the bottom of the glass baking dish. Should have cooked them on the stove. Will do that next time. And of course left overs galore. Most of the slices fit into that wonderful container Katie left me and the bone and large chunk of uncut meat is in a freezer bag for munching later. The glaze was really good but not nearly enough and I can make my own of course. More than enough slices for sandwiches or chopped up for breakfast. 

AFTER all this is over. I munched a bit more than I should have on the ham as I was putting it away. I was trying not to eat a whole lot today so there isn't as much going through my system. But it was sooooo gooood!

 

Nothing tomorrow but liquids, I even bought some plain old chicken noodle soup as well as more chicken broth at the store and saltines.  I indulged on some pudding snack cups as well, chocolate of course but those are all gone. Chocolate pudding is a luxury snack and don't last nearly as long as I want. I bought a package of chocolate pudding mix last year and when I got it down to make it, realized it was sugar free. WHY!! That went to the table for someone else to enjoy. 

Oh! We were concerned about our OTC cards hadn't been reloaded, would have been nice for them to give us advance warning. They switched over to a new network/bank provider and those cards came today. Much easier to use and more 'connected' to our phones. The last ones we would have to go to the website, input the entire multi digit number on the card and the expiration date and then it would give the balance. That was a Visa company, this is a Mastercard company and different bank, we're getting $10 less this year but it's still okay. Now after texting to a 5 digit number and activating that way, all we have to do is go to that conversation in messages, type in BALANCE it asks the last four digits of the card, then the 4 digit expiration (in 2031!) and then it answers with the balance left on the card. 

Wooot!

So that's on the list of things we need to do tomorrow, run over to CVS and pick up a few things. Oh this new system *I think* is now updated to use at more stores and Costco! So.... mouthwash and a few other things that may be cheaper than getting it at CVS. Do not buy anything there unless it is absolutely necessary. Don't bother with food or things like that because they are a rip off! I wanted to get a candy bar last month and it was ludicrous! Anyway, that's just a side note. Money will stretch farther of course if we can go somewhere besides there for bathroom items that are covered.

So, will post again on the other side of all this with what happened and how I fared. Not saying it's going to be a walk in the park, just can't panic about it anymore.