Weekend of Surprises

I played my second round of 18 holes of golf on Friday and held up pretty well. Even scored one of my best back nines. The additional thyroid medicine is really beginning to help my energy level. Saturday was a day of celebration for a friend and her family as her son had his bar mitzvah. He did an amazing job with a long Haftorah and an winning smile. The evening was a dinner dance at the MU ballroom. The music was LOUD but everyone got up and danced. I even danced a few songs.

Got home late and tired and let Sophie out. She went running around and barking and I opened to the door to let her in and was overwhelmed by skunk odor. She had caught a skunk in the yard. Sophie was freaked out and scared. I couldn't leave her out back and she was very upset when I tried to leave her in the garage. I was way too tired to start bathing her at 11 pm. So I closed off all the house and let her sleep right outside the bedroom door. Up at 6 am to start the process of washing Sophie and trying to get the odor out of my house. I didn't have any tomato juice but did have soda water. So I bathed her three times in soda water and then two times in dog shampoo. After an hour, she didn't smell too bad. I went to the dollar store and got lots of scented candles and burned them all over the house. By the end of the day the odor wasn't too bad.

Sad thing is that the weather is now getting warm enough to sit outside. Now when I sit outside on my patio and the wind is blowing one direction, you get eau de rose and the other direction eau de skunk!!

No wonder I was tired!

Had blood tests on Monday and talked with the doctor yesterday. Not only am I anemic but my thyroid is totally out of whack. One of the lasting side effects of IL-2 is permanent damage to your thyroid. So the next month or two we will be adjusting thyroid medication to get me back in the normal range. They think that the problem with the thyroid is also causing the anemia so we will see if that straightens out as well. I am looking forward to having more energy in the next few weeks.

Some of you have wondered if I ever get photos of Jon's little ones. One of the problems is getting Dash to be still long enough to snap a photo. But I did have a few quiet moments with both of them and captured this wonderful photo. I am such a biased Granny, but what cuties Dash and Finley are!!!

Wonderful Weekend

Just spent a very enjoyable weekend listening to beautiful music, taking walks in the sunshine with Sophie and even playing 9 holes of golf. This is the week of the Chintimini Music Festival when kids that have grown up in Corvallis and are now professional musicians come back and play a week of chamber music. The first concert was Friday and they played the first movement of a quartet commissioned by the Festival. The composer and his wife, Tomas and Jana Svoboda, stayed with me. They are delightful people and the piece that he composed was beautiful and very moving.

Saturday it rained so I stayed quiet all day and watched the golf on TV(since I had done a little too much on Friday.) Today I played 9 holes of golf with a couple that Red and I used to play with on most Sundays. We had a great time and decided we need to start the Sunday tradition again. I scored a 51 so I am feeling very good about my game even if I am pretty tired by the end of 9 holes.

Tomorrow I go to Portland for blood tests to make sure that all is back to normal. Two weeks ago I was anemic and some of my electrolytes were still out of whack. So we shall see if there is anything that needs to be done to help me get back to normal. Also I get to spend some Granny time. I have really missed seeing the little ones and I am sure that they have grown so much in a month!

Visual Candy

My friend Lynda and I traveled to Eugene yesterday to see a performance of Cirque du Soleil's Dralion. I have only been to one other live performance years ago and this one was made all the more wonderful by having seats on the front row. We had a very close of view of the acrobats and dancers, their faces and costumes. You were transported to another realm for two hours. It was a great show!!

Seem to have taken a few steps back energy wise. I probably need to have my thyroid and iron levels checked again as something seems to be off. The blood tests last week showed I was slightly anemic. They were worried about more serious stuff but that may be what is making me drag a bit and needs to be addressed.

Things are looking up

Return of my appetite, digestive system beginning to get back to normal, starting to sleep at night...what a difference that makes in my mental outlook and my feeling like myself again. Now if we would just get some sunshine.....

As things improve, I will probably slow down my postings to once or twice a week. Thank you to all my faithful friends and readers. I cherish you caring and the time you take to send me messages. (even if I don't answer every one.)

Couldn't resist posting the latest of Kai and Alex. Looks like Alex is going to be bigger than Kai in no time.

New person

It is amazing what a difference a halfway decent night's sleep can make!!! Slept pretty well last night and I feel almost human again. Now if the weather would only cooperate...we got teased with a couple days of summer and now we are back to cold and rain.

Fever gone...next side effect..insomnia

Fever is gone and I can't believe that I actually feel better even though I only slept for about 4 hours last night.....Walked a mile with the dog and did some gardening so I hope that will make me tired enough to sleep tonight.

Better today

Although I had a really rough night, I had a much better day today. Fever is not gone but just on and off. Went on two short walks with Sophie and even went to a garden center with a friend for a little while and bought some plants. What a pleasure to sit outside with a book under my new patio cover and enjoy a nice warm day.

Sunshine Helps

A day of sunshine and warm weather really has helped my depression but the fever still lingers. I have been though a large battery of tests in the last two days (still waiting on blood cultures) and they haven't found anything significant which is a very good thing. Talked to my oncologist tonight and he was stumped. So it just may my propensity toward wild IL-2 side effects.

Set back

Took a big step backwards yesterday as I started to run a high fever. Got into the doctor here today. (Thank goodness, I didn't have to drive back up to Portland) Dr couldn't find anything seriously wrong, but they took tests and will let me know. Fever was normal at noon but is up again this afternoon. Nothing like a fever and grey weather to make you feel punky and blue.

Little pleasures

You don't realize until you can't do them how wonderful little things are like turning over in bed without pain, getting up out of a chair, not feeling nauseous all the time Making baby steps toward feeling better.

Brrr, we are freezing in Corvallis (58 rather than normal 70) and rain, rain, rain. Looking forward to better weather over the weekend.