It was a busy week having Stella here. She's doing great and the few accidents in the house, I will take responsibility for. She is already on her own schedule and now that her and I are on the same page, as long as I stick to it, we are good.
Yesterday morning I was exhausted and couldn't get out of bed. She needs to go out RIGHT away when she gets up. Jim got up and showered. I was in bed. She peed in the kitchen.
She is also a devil when no one is looking. I think she waits to trash things so it could be blamed on Rocco... since no one saw anything. First it was a doggie bed with the stuffing pulled out. Then it was an electric heater cord (thank GOD it wasn't plugged in) that was chewed to bits. Thursday morning when I came home, she got into my closet, shredded a plastic bag and 3 boxes that were in it. Another Thank God.... the 3 boxes were for prescription Lidocane patches, each patch was individually wrapped (for neuropathy for my feet, but too bad they didn't work). She didn't open any of the patches up which was good, but the box shreds were everywhere! Oh and she started to shred another doggie bed too. ALL of this when we aren't home!!
But she is a complete joy and love bug. She snores so loud and hates to be alone. Her and Rocco are both with me on the sofa right now, snoring away.
What else this week? Wednesday I headed up to my parents house to have them meet Stella and my dad and I took her and Rocco for a walk at a pond near his house. It was a pretty quiet day other than driving back and forth, but that can be so exhausting for me.
Thursday I had a doctor appointment with the neuro-oncologist for the neuropathy. He prescribed a cream for my feet which will hopefully help. It wasn't ready until late yesterday so I'll pick that up today.
After the doctor appointment, I tried kickboxing! First class in about 7 months! I couldn't do have of what they did (no burpies or pushups, no crunches or specific ab work). At one point, we were kicking the bag. It was too much on my abs. I could feel one spot that just felt off. No more roundhouse kicks for me! :(
It was really nice to be back at class though. I was glad I got to see a few people too. I missed it. And it felt good to do the limited amount that I could do. I'm looking forward to trying it again, but I know I'll need to build in more recovery time. My body is still healing from all the treatments this year and it takes so much more out of me and so much more time to heal and recover from something that was once simple.
When the kickboxing class was finished, I headed back home to shower and get ready. I was in Boston at 2:30 for a meeting with the coalition on the Density Bill. More of a meeting to see where we are all at and what we have been working on.
I took the the subway back to my car, and then stopped at the supermarket on the way home. I was in the house just after 6:30 and I was exhausted! The two days just took SO much out of me. I knew I needed to recover.
Thursday night I was in bed by 10:30. Friday morning? Could NOT get out of bed (that's when Stella peed on the kitchen floor). I set an alarm for just after 8am to take Stella out again and hit snooze until 9:30! We did a quick trip outside then, and I was back to sleep for another 2 hours. We took another trip outside along with a short walk at the cemetery across the street and were back inside by 10 past 12. I was asleep again by 12:30.
Jim called me at 1:19pm and woke me up. I was in bed then. Jim got home from work around 5pm and I was in the exact same spot with the two dogs. He took them both out for me then and I was in bed until around 6pm.
Yes, I was sleeping pretty much the ENTIRE day on Friday. So much for me getting back to kickboxing! One class and two days that had a few hours outside of the house, and I was sleeping for an entire day to recover. This fatigue is so overwhelming!!
But now, its the weekend. Jim is off and he finished up all the crazy projects that he had hanging over his head for the past month or so. FINALLY. At least for this weekend, he can breathe, which is so nice.
The plan today is to take the dogs to a dog park and to also go to a fundraising event for K9 Vests which will have pictures with Santa Paws! I can't wait to do those!! How cute will that be?? And tomorrow we are heading up to Jim's parents house so they can meet their new grand-doggie.
Jim's mom is SO cute talking about her granddoggies. She loves Rocco so much and she can't wait to meet Stella. She texts me all the time to see how they are doing together and what she's up to.
SO.... since I have been busy with the dogs and sleeping, I haven't been up on my 28 days of Gratitude. Here is my catch up....
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Day 11: Photo
For those who know me well, I am a picture person. I still have a digital camera that I use when I am out for events. I can get so many more pictures and better quality than my phone. I get many printed out and I have a large shelf in the living room full of framed photos which are important to me.
I have a couple of Jim and me that I love. We have been at Cape Cod each summer for 3 summers. I bought a frame that holds 3 photos and put one of each year in that. That's hanging up in our front entryway. We look really happy in them all.
I have pictures of the cats, of Rocco, of sunset, my parents, me with my brother, my grandparents and some older pictures too. I love those.
My picture thing... I need to back up with why I think I do this. When I was little, my great-grandmother lived in a 55+ apartment complex in her small 1 bedroom apartment. Nana would have me over there every so often, spending the night and "cleaning" hear apartment. I dusted. That was my biggest job.
Nana had pictures EVERYWHERE. Shelves with framed photos, photos on the walls, on tables... literally everywhere. She had 7 children, 28 grandchildren and over 40 great-grandchildren (I'm not sure of the actual amount). She had pictures of everyone of them! And I dusted them every time I was over, hearing the stories from each picture, of when my grandmother was younger, about my dad and even when I was born.
So I took that with me. I have wedding pictures from both of my grandmothers, my parents prom picture, my grandfather's baby picture. But I have 4 favorite pictures.
First, a picture from my first birthday. It is be being held by both of my grandmothers. I love that picture so much. Then I have two pictures with four generations. Me, my mom, her mom and her mom is one, when I was abut 8-10 months old. Another was from my christening, with my dad, his mom and her mom (Nana).
My 4th favorite is another with Nana. It was a cousin's christening party in June of 1980. Nana was sitting on the outside steps with her great-grandchildren. I was the oldest. Besides us, I was holding one cousin, my brother was there, plus 4 other cousins. I love that picture!
Day 12: Job
I am very thankful for all that my company has done in the past year. There is no way I could have done all of this without insurance and I am so grateful that they did not lay me off and continued to cover my premiums for me while I have been out. I am extremely grateful that I have a job to go back to when I can start to overcome this fatigue.
Day 13: Book
I'm just grateful for books in general. I love to read and miss it so much. I haven't had any focus this year to really just lose myself in a good story and I miss that. Right now I'm reading a book for a book club that I joined and its nice that I can completely immerse myself in it and be completely unaware of whatever else is going on around me. (Luckily I like this book and it has been so easy to do that with. The last book I tried, I didn't like and never got to page 50.) I'm grateful that I still have an interest in reading.
Day 14: A Life Lesson
Too many precious life lessons to pick. I am grateful for them all. Yes, I have had many many very hard life lessons, but I am grateful for them. Each one has brought me to where I am right now and without these lessons, the course of my life would be completely different. That is why I do not believe in regret. If one small pebble in my past was changed, the ripples would be different for my life from that point forward. I would have had different experiences, met different people and I wouldn't be me, right here, right now.
In this moment, as I am typing on my laptop, laying on the sofa under a blanket, Rocco is laying on a doggie bed, snoring and Stella is snoring on the sofa next to me. Jim is on another chair, talking on the phone to his mom. I wouldn't change that. I love this.
Day 15: Charity
Hard to know what exactly this one means or is looking for. I am grateful for the charity given to me from so many this year. The help and support I have gotten has been amazing! My favorite organized non-profit groups were The Ellie Fund and Image Reborn Foundation.
The Ellie Fund provided so much assistance when I really needed it the most, right through chemo. It was a Godsend getting that help from them.
Image Reborn Foundation was the group which funded the trip to Utah I took in August. I needed that trip so much and it really meant the world to me to meet and bond with other survivors I could relate to.
Now, it is important for me to give back and pay it forward. That's why I'm working on the bill and that's why I share all the information I can with other survivors.
Day 16: A Shining Moment
Over the years, I have had many shining moments. I think my top moment was crossing the finish line in the 2011 Boston Marathon. That was an unbelievable experience!
My last day of treatment this past July was another shining moment. Knowing that I made it through and it was my last day! That was HUGE for me!!
Recently, a shining moment was taking Stella home. I wanted a dog for so long and Jim finally agreed to adopt a new one. She's so sweet! She wasn't leash trained, couldn't do stairs, didn't know sit or anything. Yeah, now she still has accidents here and there, but for the most part she's trained. She knows the leash so well now and runs up and down the stairs to go out. She sits on command and as of Thursday.. she even does "paw" now! We are still working on stay and come, but not bad for only one week!
So that's up to today, what I'm thankful for.
I still have minor issues and still get upset but my mood swings are doing so much better. I only cried a couple of times over the past week and I take a couple of those because I was too tired. If I can manage the fatigue and not overdue anything, I do much better.
Hoping that life continues to get better and move forward in a great way.
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