MRI

Had an MRI of my head today.  I don’t know if they found any green dogs in there. I’m sure they will let me know in due time. It wasn’t nearly as loud as I remember from one I had before the mastectomy. 

It’s amazing how much faith people have in my brakes. They pull out in front of me when there is no cars behind me, they could wait and have nobody to scare.  It happens several times whenever I do much driving.

Don’t they recognize the “little old lady” with two hands on the wheel without her cell phone even turned on?  If they knew how many medications I am on they would not do that.

My Bro-in-law says his wife is from appalachia.  I was surprised at that as I had never thought I was from appalachia.  Then I got to thinking about my first grade experience.

When I was four years old my Father sold the farm and we moved into Athens, OH to run his new venture, a farm supply store.  His timing wasn’t great due to WWII.  Every factory was making something for the war, not for farmers.

He did well enough that we were still there in 1946 when I started first grade, no kindergarten then.  In fact he stayed in business well into the 1950’s.

I only went to school in Athens for the first grade but I educated them a little while I was there.  They learned that when the ground felt warm you didn’t need to wear shoes anymore. I emphasized the lesson by taking mine off often.

later….

Suspending Chemotherapy for now

Doctor’s appointment – I had pretty well decided before I got the results of the recent PET scan.  I will suspend chemo for now. 

In November it would be two years of chemotherapy and I think it’s time for a break.

There was really no good news in the PET scan report. Maybe it would have been worse without the chemo, no way to tell.  The cancer now shows in the lymph nodes at the top of my chest.

The doctor wants to do an MRI of my brain to see if they can find a reason for the colors that come and go.  A red, white, and blue moon is very pretty but not normal.  Gray dogs that turn green and blue are rare but not normal either.

One of my nurses asked about where to look for geneology info so I wrote down how to get into “Heritage Quest” through the library website. I slipped her a note with instructions.

You just start with the library website and click on research, then Heritage Quest.  It guides you from there.  The census is there as well as applications for pension from the Revolutionary War. 

I found a couple of ancestors who died in that war as well as one who was wounded at Bunker Hill.  You have to search for them in the state where they lived  during the war. If they never applied for a pension they won’t be there. So only us poor folk are there.

It was interesting that most of the applications for pension were five or six pages whereas my ancestor’s was eleven pages long.  I kind of knew he was related right away.

Later….

 

Surprise Plant

When I started cleaning the weeds out of what was an empty pot last spring I found several Wandering Jew plants.  Were they there before?  I sure hadn’t seen them.  So they are surprise plants.

 

  The picture below shows the blooms of a plant I have growing all over the place.  They would take over the lawn if I didn’t cut them down.  They have sneaked under the neighbors fence.  In some places they may be holding the fence up.

     

I went to pick up the new lenses for my glasses today.  My vision is very much improved! 

I also filled up my gas tank at a different station than I usually use.  “See Attendant” is not what I want to see when I try to pump gas.  I don’t want to walk that far – that is not good service. $3.79/gal.  I was very low, cost $50.00.

Teddy Bear.

Rascal.

later….

No News

We are getting a taste of fall which makes for really good sleeping.  I get all comfy in a nest of quilts and a dog on each side and I don’t wake up.  It was 10:00 a.m. today when I finally became conscious.

I’m supposed to email Susan every morning to tell her I am up.  I know she worries when I forget or am late.  Bad me. 

Have not heard from my PET scan yet, I’ll assume no news is good news.  My mind is pretty well made up what my reaction will be to whatever the news is.

Andrea (Granddaughter) has offered to take me shopping the next time my list gets long.  She gets three days off every week so she can pick the day. 

I can get there and get the stuff in the cart, it’s getting it out of the car into the house and put away that wears me out.

The dogs seem to be enjoying the cooler weather.  They stay outside longer and roll in the leaves that have fallen.  They both need a bath and may be headed to the groomer soon. 

The last time at the groomer Rascal didn’t get her nails trimmed.  She snarls so threateningly that it took me a while to figure out she is all snarl and no bite.  She probably scared them.

I stuck my hand in her mouth during one of those snarls, teeth bared, ears back, lip curled.  She didn’t know what to do.  Pretty quick she was on her back begging for a belly rub.

Sometimes I have tried growling with her.  Now I have found if I hum a higher note than her growl she follows and we hum together. 

When you figure she only spent two months with the woman I got her from and who knows where she was before that.  She is no spring chicken either.  So I think we have done well, considering.

I’m going to have to make room for the plants that have been out all summer and need to come in.  When I get the laundry done that will be my next project.

later…. 

 

 

Nothing Much

Putting my feet up is dangerous.  Monday night I woke up at 12:30.  Hadn’t taken my pills or done any bedtime routine.  It took me a couple of days to get back on schedule.

Lory took me shopping since I was dragging my feet.  The list was getting very long.  Even stocked up on dog food.

But when I open the refrigerator the only thing that sounds good is a popsicle.  Bad Kat.

Today I watched the four murdered diplomats come home.  I cried a lot.  So pointless.

Then I switched to the History channel and watched shows about bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.  I can only tolerate so much political talk.

I went to the barn for a few minutes today to return my key.  I didn’t stay long as I took the dogs with me and I wasn’t sure I could control Rascal so I didn’t let them out of the car.

Then I stopped to get gas and the pump wasn’t working so I came home.  It was spitting rain and windy and I didn’t feel like waiting for them to fix the pump.

I have a PET scan on Monday morning and the gas tank is just below half so I’m good. 

I put more moth balls under the deck.  Rascal managed to spook a young rabbit to run out from under the deck and head for the fence.  It got away but it encouraged her so much I had to drag her inside.  She is the great hunter. 

My fingers are getting numb now just like my feet did a couple years ago.  It took me a while to decide it wasn’t the keyboard, it’s me. 

Whine whine whine. 

later….

Front Lawn Got Mowed

Chemo day, I was late which is rare for me.  I just couldn’t seem to get moving.  I could blame Teddy because he was late shaking the bed by pouncing. 

I mentioned to the nurse that I had a cold and how I had forgotten the temperature I was to reach before I called.  The temperature to call about is 100.5.  I’ve only had it up to 99.5.  I also got a prescription for antibiotics which I picked up on my way home, along with some dark chocolates.

My lawnmower neighbor man weed-eated all around today and mowed the front lawn.  The lawn they put in wasn’t finished right.  We got a lot of rain and if you stepped on the grass you sunk in three of four inches.  If you drove a car on it you sank in six or seven inches.  Some garage sale customers make tracks along the driveway.  Yuck.

They should have used a roller on the dirt before or after they seeded it.  I hope it settles over time.

I paid the mowing neighbor with all one dollar bills from the garage sale.  It sure looked like a wad of money.

The E-Z up tent top got moved back to the drive-way and it’s okay – and tied down.  I forgot to get any pictures of it along the way – sorry.

I am very tired this evening.  Gotta go put my feet up.

later….

 

Post Office And Eye Doctor

First things first.  I had a package from Germany at the post office. Here is a picture of what was inside, well, most of what was inside.

 

COOKIES!  I felt like the cookie monster on Sesame Street.  As you can see part of one didn’t last very long.  Gingerbread, the best I’ve ever tasted.

The eye doctor had no explanation for a grey dog turning green, or spots of color appearing sometimes.  He said “enjoy the hallucinations”. 

He proved that my lenses  were way out of date so I ordered some new ones.  He found a piece of string in my eye way up under my eyelid.  I didn’t even feel it when he plucked it out.  With no eyelashes you can’t pull your eyelid out to see under it. 

This evening we are getting thunder storms and wind.  My E-Z up (a tent top we used in front of the garage for the sale) went flying with the first big puff of wind.  Lory and John are coming over in the morning to get it back and weigh it down with cement blocks.  Sure hope it didn’t get bent or torn.

I am running a fever again this evening.  I’m trying to remember what it has to be before I call the Dr. I think it was 101 and I’m not there yet.

I learned something at the eye doctor’s office.  Sometimes when I am resting (eyes closed) I get these grey spots that turn into circles (like donuts), move toward my eye (getting bigger) and then go around it, then another one and another.  The Dr. said it was caused by ocular migraine.  HUH.  You learn something every day.

Been chugging water and temp has gone done a bit.  Guess I’ll live.  Got to eat those other cookies!

Later….

 

Busy Week

Busy week so far.  Garage sale on Monday and Tuesday (after chemo, which I slept through), then some good friends called and took me out to lunch on Wednesday. 

Had Rascal trouble Tuesday.  I wrongfully thought that the dogs would stay around the people and let them out of the fence. 

Teddy stayed with us but Rascal ran off.  It’s a good thing Andrea (my 25 year old granddaughter) was here to chase her.  She crossed a busy street twice and was headed for parts unknown when Andrea caught her and carried her home.  She is like a large sausage.

This afternoon she somehow got left in the bedroom with the door latched.  I called and searched and finally realized where she had to be.  When I opened the door she came running out and rolled on her back.  I think that was sort of an apology. 

I got up this morning with a very stuffed up head and a very runny nose.  This evening I have developed a low grade fever. 

I’m supposed to get my eyes examined tomorrow.  We’ll see how I feel then.  I need to find out why I sometimes see colors wrong or see spots of color.  When my grey dog turns green it makes me wonder what is wrong.  I somehow don’t think it’s the dog.

later….

Garage Sale Labor Day

First of all I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day.  We had beautiful steady rain all morning and unbearable humidity this afternoon.

The first job yesterday was to clean up a bunch of weeds along the driveway.  John and Chris did that part.

The other part was preparing the garage for the sale, making tables out of sawhorses and doors, digging through boxes, making walkways.  The two pictures below are “before” pictures.

The two pictures below are “after” pictures for both the weed elimination and the garage sale.  Walkways were made and items set out.  Lots of sales were made.  People ran out of money.

Lory and Andrea got talked into opening up again tomorrow.  Some items are put aside to be paid for and picked up tomorrow.  Some of the men who came alone wanted to come back with their wives.

I have a chemo appointment tomorrow so I won’t be here.  Just one more chemo after this before I get the PET scan to see if any of this is working.

Jake came along and helped a lot.  He even dug up the August lily bulbs for me and washed them off.  If it hadn’t been raining lately there would have been no way to dig into the ground.

Just talked to a friend in a nearby town and while we were getting a steady downpour, they got hardly any rain at all.  Go figure.

later….