Halloween
We, (I say we, but I
mean my husband – “royal we”) took down our Halloween decorations on Nov. 1st. We had a record number of trick-or-treaters –
12! And that was in a cold, blustery rain for part of the scheduled time.
Two new things I’ve gotten used to here in Chicagoland. One
is Halloween decorations. We never decorated for Halloween when I was a kid
growing up in Texas. At the most, someone would put out a carved Jack O’Lantern.
Up here, they can get as complex as Christmas decorations. We hang up some pumpkin lights, have two “skelemingos”- my
personal favorite, and this year we added some
lighted “ghosts” along the walk. Not much, but way more than we did growing up.
I have noticed this trend has started to move south.
The second thing is Trick-or-Treat hours. Our village has
established them from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. During that time, the police drive slowly
through the neighborhoods with their lights going making sure everyone is
safe. They also stop and give candy to the
kids as well. After 7 p.m., it’s over. I can remember getting my doorbell rung
as late as 10 p.m. in Texas!
Pre-Op
I had the pre-op anesthesia clinic today. The only weird
thing was when the triage nurse took my blood pressure, it registered 155/72! I’ve
never had that high a top number in my life!
I asked her to redo it in the other arm, and it was a much more sedate
130/80. Still slightly high for me, but then one could say that I’ve been under
a small bit of stress lately. The anesthesiologist was very good, asked the
usual questions, checked me out, very professional. She gave me a written sheet
of instructions for which medications to leave off before my surgery etc.
After the clinic, I decided to visit Temp to retrieve the
packet of information that she was supposed to email me, but had not. I did not
call ahead, but just asked for Temp at the front desk. I waited a bit, then she came and took me to
her office. I told her I was trying to save her a step by picking up the info
for my surgery instead of her emailing it. She began to rummage around her
overflowing desk, and finally said, “Why don’t you go back to the waiting room,
and I’ll come get you when I have it ready.” I did so, and eventually she came
and got me.
The first thing she gave me were two packets of wipes which
I must use the night before and day of surgery. I remember doing something
similar when I had my knee replaced as all medical institutions are trying to
be proactive about things such as staph and MERSA infections. I did wonder; however, how she was going to
email me those if I hadn’t stopped by.
Then she gave me a two page sheet of instructions on which
she had obviously just filled in some blanks. I just looked at the times, but
didn’t completely read the handout until I got home. Wouldn’t you know it, she
had me in ambulatory surgery going home after about an hour in recovery. I knew
that I had already confirmed with my Dr. that I would be staying overnight, so
I sent an email to my surgeon asking once again if I would be an overnight
visitor. Yes, I am.
Temp strikes again.
Support Staff
The pre-op instructions state that I need to bring a sports bra (no
more lifting and separating, but smashing and mashing) to wear 24/7 until my post-op appointment
on the 23rd. I did some research on this, and discovered two things,
(1) I need a front opener because my left side will not be cooperating as well
after surgery making it a bit harder to do the gymnastics required to put on a regular
bra. (2) It’s hard to find a front opening sports bra in my cup size – DD.
I looked around in stores, didn’t find anything, even put a
call out on the breastcancer.org forum for brand ideas, but finally resorted to
trusty Amazon. There I found something that had reviews all over the map, but I
decided to order it and try one out. The major complaint was the front zipper
either broke or rolled down allowing the “girls” to escape at inconvenient
times. So far, I have stayed zipped without
a causing a riot or getting arrested, so I’ll order some more.
Meals on Wheels
When I knew I was going to have my knee replaced a couple of
years ago, I began freezing meals far in advance, so my husband was able to
just heat up things that I knew were going to taste good. This whole breast
cancer thing seemed to happen so suddenly, I wasn’t really prepared at all.
I know I’ll not be feeling the cooking gene for a couple of
weeks after surgery, but what I’m really concerned about are the months of
chemo and radiation. My husband is a Type I diabetic, and he needs to eat
healthy. I could stand that myself as the pounds have piled on with the years.
I decided to check out Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating. They
have a distributor about a mile away, so we could pick up the meals without
delivery charges. They provide three meals a day which are nutritionally
balanced and calorie limited. We decided to buy ½ week of their 1200 calorie
menu to check them out and see if it would work.
Mind you, these are not inexpensive. Yes, I could cook diet
meals for a lot less than this. Of course, I haven’t, but that’s beside the
point. My husband is not going to cook well balanced meals either, and I know we’ll
resort to pizza delivery or running down to Culver’s for a butterburger –
definitely not nutritionally sound.
Lo and behold, we actually like them. Because they are for varying diets,
they lack a little in seasoning, so we have to add salt and pepper
occasionally, but they have a rotating 5 weeks of 21 meals per week, so you don’t
get tired of the same old thing very quickly.
Some of them have been quite tasty, some less so, but none have been in
the “throw this out, I can’t eat it” category. We also have a lot of fresh fruit and veggies without any wastage.
We bought a full week, and then another, and then, wouldn’t
you know it, our distributor is going out of business. No more 5 minute trips
to pick up the meals. We have found a
distributor about 20 minutes away, which is not bad when you consider that we have
to do no other grocery shopping. The
only thing we add are beverages – milk, coffee and whatever other low calorie
drink we want.
After the first week, I can say that I never felt “hunger.”
I did get the munchies, but tried to do something to keep it out of my mind. We
both lost weight – 2.8 lbs for me and 4.8 for my husband. I actually feel much
better knowing that I’ve been eating healthy, and we’ll continue this for a while.
But not when I go to Vegas!
Limbo
I got a nice surprise in the mail a few days ago. One of my
good friends had her church mail me a lap quilt with Bible verses on it. There
were knots tied for the quilting, and each knot was a prayer for me. I get a
bit more weepy now than I used to do, and that was definitely hanky time for me.
The hardest thing has been the waiting. I try to keep busy,
but as the date for surgery gets closer, I find it’s harder to keep off my
mind.
Will my surgeon get enough tissue to have clean margins-areas
with no cancer? (I’m betting she does. She’s really good at this, which is why
I picked her.)
So much is riding on the pathology report after surgery. Will
there be any surprises?
When does chemo start? How will I feel? Will my hair fall
out? When will it fall out?
The questions keep coming.
Four more days of limbo.
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