Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had mentioned in a previous blog entry that Sheila had a few medical appointments yesterday and that I would write more about these appointments soon. I have a little time today so I suppose that now is the time. Sheila's first appointment yesterday was her usual radiation treatment appointment. Physically, these are pretty easy appointments on the patient... in and out quickly and, really, not at all invasive. What is grueling about it is the everyday drive to and from the hospital as well as the emotional aspect of daily radiation treatment and constantly being reminded that you are fighting cancer... for the second time. Of course, as this daily treatment continues, more side-effects are physically affecting Sheila each day too. The radiation treatment appointment itself, however, is usually a quick in and out appointment. At the moment, Sheila says she feels as though she has a bad sunburn. Her breast is swollen and tender enough that she can no longer lay on it nor can s

New sink and faucet installed in our old cabinets. Our renovation plans include a garden window in place of the window in this photo. We're planning to completely gut and renovate the kitchen as soon as we have time and some cooperative health (for both of us!) . In the meantime, we're storing away new building supplies for this project.  We've had a new kitchen sink and faucet sitting here for a few months while the old sink and faucet continued to drive us crazy everyday. The old sink was too small... the faucet was a poor quality one with very little clearance between the sink and the spout... the sink was dented and old... and the sprayer hasn't worked correctly in years. This stuff needed to be replaced years ago. Since the sink and faucet were just sitting there on the floor, I decided to do something about it the other day. I've replaced sinks and faucets in the past and, typically , this is a quick and easy project requiring no more than one to two

It hasn't been what I would call a "terrible" week but, what the heck? As you probably already have heard, we had planned some extensive home renovations for the end of summer and early autumn but Sheila developed cancer again so we put all the renovations on hold until sometime after Sheila's recovery. We're now stuck in a cluttered house full of building supplies.  Over the past week or two, Sheila and I have been discussing what to do with all this clutter. I quickly decided to start finding a long term temporary home for each of the building supplies taking up our living space.  The kitchen and living room renovation is the biggest part of this project which is now on indefinite hold. We have Birch flooring, a lot of lighting fixtures, electrical supplies, windows, a range hood, a new faucet, a new kitchen sink, lumber, etc, all cluttering our home.  Yesterday, I decided to just go ahead and complete a little project... install that new kitchen sink an

Taking a break in the hospital's cafe. Things have pretty much moved into the extremely monotonous stage of treatment. For the most part, we do the same exact thing every single day. We go to the hospital and see the same people each and every day.  Our days are so monotonous that Sheila says she feels as though she is in the movie "Groundhog Day". Each week, we have to squeeze in a visit with the Radiation Oncologist... another day we squeeze in a visit with the nurse... another day is another doctor... and another day is acupuncture for oncology patients. Even with these added visits, things have become quite monotonous. The daily radiation has already started to create a visible burn like a sunburn. The entire right side of her chest... all the way around to under her arm... is getting darker like she spent too much time in the sun. There is some swelling... some relatively minor pain (especially if she attempts to run)... and definitely some irritation from

The rooftop garden at the hospital... the cafe's fresh vegetables are grown here. We began our week feeling positive and energized which was awesome because this is the first time we began a week in this way in months. Sheila had about five days off in a row so she could catch up on sleep and continue to recover from her recent surgery, the beginning of radiation treatment and a terrible cold that developed at a very inopportune time. By the fifth day of rest, naps, and recovery, Sheila was acting more like herself and showing a bit more energy so our week started off with both of us feeling great! The one danger of feeling great during a long and trying period of treatment is that it is very easy to overdo it by doing more than the body can handle over the next few days. We were both careful about keeping each other in check because we are already well versed in managing energy due to my own continuous health issues. That being said, it is now Thursday and we are running

Earlier in the week, Sheila and I went shopping for bras that are appropriate for radiation treatment and breast cancer in general. We had already done this same shopping at Kohl's when Sheila was first diagnosed but she quickly found that her choice in bras was not ideal for her current situation in Radiation Treatment. We decided to buy more appropriate bras so we headed back to Kohl's since that store is right near the hospital. The woman at the Customer Service counter talked Sheila into returning the bras she had originally bought and then called for a specific sales associate. When this sales associate arrived at the Customer Service counter, we informed her of Sheila's dilemma, and then the sales associate quickly and brightly explained that she, too, was a breast cancer patient and she knew exactly what Sheila needed.  We then followed the sales associate as she collected a few options for Sheila. As Sheila sat in the dressing room, the sales associate retrieved

Unfortunately, Sheila's health has been deteriorating more and more each day since beginning her radiation treatment last week. It actually has been pretty frightening watching this happen! The primary reason for this deteriorating health is that she picked up a cold right when treatment began and her overall health has been spiraling downward ever since.  Sleeping has been difficult for her for a number of reasons mostly related to her cancer treatments and surgeries starting 11 years ago so she is now getting worn down to dangerous levels. This second fight with cancer has only exasperated the problem.  She is also dealing with a weakened immune system now because she has started radiation treatment. About a week ago, she added a nasty cold into the mix which includes her radiation-induced weakened immune system and the result is that her declining health has quickly become out of control. Her Radiation Oncologist noticed this declining health in our visit to her yeste

As we were driving home from the hospital the other night after Sheila's first afternoon of radiation treatment, the moon appeared just over the horizon, larger than life. The moon actually appeared far larger than any 'supermoon' I've ever witnessed. The moon was so distracting that it was difficult keeping our eyes on the road. The moment we arrived home, I quickly made my way to one of my longest lenses to see if I could capture a shot or two of this moon. Only two minutes had passed but the moon was now obscured by clouds by the time I looked out our living room window. Since the moon covered so quickly by clouds I figured I should step outside and wait for some clouds to pass... hopefully, just as quickly. On the positive side, the clouds gave me a little time to choose some camera settings and get the camera set up correctly. I set up my shutter speed, my aperture, and the ISO, checked my focus settings, and then just waited for the clouds to start breaking up

Sheila's radiation treatment began yesterday. The next two months will be exhausting for both of us but mostly for Sheila   (I need a nap already and it's only been one day of radiation treatment) . For Sheila, this daily treatment will progressively get more taxing, exhausting and painful as the radiation sears and burns through her breast and underarm. I have some photos to share, which I'll insert below, but as I sit here staring at my computer screen, I'm at a loss for words. Maybe I'll just write whatever comes to mind when I see each photo and insert that with the photos... The entrance to Radiation Oncology is kind of cool but definitely a bit ominous... it is separated from the hospital by a long corridor and, now that I see it in photos, I know exactly what will make it less ominous... This hallway needs far more artwork on the walls with spot-lights highlighting each piece of art. I despise suspended ceilings... whether in residential homes or

I have already written about my health crashing due to hot, humid weather over the past week but I haven't really written about the early part of the weekend. On the positive side, I think I am finally beyond this latest bout of poor health. Time will tell. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were rather lousy. Well, actually, the whole week was rather lousy but Thursday, Friday and Saturday were quite rough with some dangerously lousy health. I was overwhelmingly exhausted. I could have fallen asleep only a moment after deciding to allow myself to fall asleep at any time during the day. I was fighting staying awake all week long. This should have been my first clue that I was teetering on the brink of anaphylaxis with very low blood pressure... I didn't realize it yet though. I was having difficulty breathing at times. I often have difficulty breathing especially when the weather is hot like it was this past week so I was not associating this symptom with the fatigue. I should