It's Spring Somewhere. I Can Tell!

I can "assess" the weather in other parts of the country by the fresh produce available at the grocery store. We live where winter is not conducive to fresh veggies.

This week's special is lovely, young tender shoots of asparagus. We'll be harvesting our own come May/June but right now we're eating this!

Asparagus is an early spring crop and loves those first days of warm sun. Somewhere spring/summer has arrived and the first shoots of asparagus are popping up daily. The stalks shoot upward and then, as warmer weather arrives, they will branch out into wide ferny arrays which are quite pretty but not very edible. Harvesters cut them before they reach that ferny stage and ship them to us. To eat Fresh. Yum!

Someone Invent This For Me. Please!

Someone needs to invent a keyboard that one can take to bed. I'm thinking something "remote" such as special mitts that allow the fingers to "strike" the keys in mid-air.

Having spent my working years typing zillions and gazillions of documents my fingers sometimes "type" along as I am thinking. I think I could type my dreams if I had an invention that would translate my "typing" into a word document.

My sleep cycle has changed. Six months ago while I was off chemo, my nights were restful and quiet. Now my mind just chatters on and on and I awaken, look at the clock, roll over, do some more tossing with more chattering inside my head. My dreams have become verbose and I cannot stop them.

These chatterings are usually topical. Last night I can't tell you all the kinds and types of cake plates I thought of ... milk glass ... with handles ... removeable plates of different sizes that could be simply placed over the handle. Surprisingly, there was no cake. My dreams have not progressed to "high calorie" but maybe that will happen.

I hope one of you will invent this "typing" invention so that you can make a zillion bucks and I can at least come up with a useful blogpost after a night of tossing and turning.

At least I seem to awaken refreshed and ready for the day, so perhaps all is not lost.

Today's word: Verbose - containing more words than necessary...such as in most of my posts!
*wry smile*

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Is This What You Call "Pretty in Pink"?

You may never had reason to notice. But I have. And I got a mite perturbed about it today.

It seems every women's clothing store on the planet has its "pink" section...you know, a lovely display of "pink" blouses, sweaters, purses, bags, pink bracelets, etc...all of which is to remind their customers that they are "supporting breast cancer research". Businesses who sell to women know it is a good marketing idea to be on board in fighting this disease that affects so many. And so they sell "pink".

I'm glad to see businesses do this. Mine is not breast cancer...but I'm happy to see the interest and emphasis on research that will mean more lives saved amongst my breast cancer friends. I figure whatever research benefits them will eventually benefit other cancers as well, one way or another.

But today I became a little peeved. I was looking for a couple new hats or scarves with which to cover my once-again bald head. Today I was standing in front of this long wall of "pink" items, each one bearing a cute girly slogan of some sort or other, all of which were intended to lift the spirits of those who deal with breast cancer or which could be worn by family and friends of those who are fighting this disease.

But you know what? Not a single, solitary stitch of head gear for those of us (breast or other cancer) who go bald for months while we go through chemo! Not a single stitch!

The least they could do is include a head band or a baseball cap or hat or square scarf of a size to tie as a bandana. Of any color! Wouldn't ya think!!!!!!

Disclaimer (or reassurance to the fact) ...I do have a wig and a number of hats, caps and scarves but I wanted to add a new cap or scarf to my headgear. (I did manage to find a great cap in red at another store...on sale!)

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My Image Has Improved...Just Call Me Henry

A year ago when I lost my hair (thanks to chemo) I was astounded, embarrassed, and a mite bit traumatized to realize that I looked more than a little like Gollum of Lord of the Rings. Especially if I put my fingers behind my ears and snarled. Which I did once, creeping up behind Hubby while he was brushing his teeth. (I made him clean up the resultant toothpaste spatter on the mirror. You can read what I wrote about that in April of 2009 by going here.)

About that same time one of my friends who was also going through chemo thought she looked like Uncle Fester of TV's The Addams Family. I don't know which was worse, being mistaken for Uncle Festus or Gollum! It's probably a toss-up!

So this week, with my newly buzzed pate, when Hubby told me that I looked like "Henry" of the old comic strip fame, I jumped at the chance to get away from the Gollum image. I'd forgotten about Henry! I hadn't seen him since near childhood. I couldn't even remember what Henry looked like until Hubby googled for an image.

I have to agree with Hubby. My new "Henry" look is much preferred over my last year's "Gollum" look. Nicely shaped head, he has, that Henry.

Don't you agree?

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Today I Fought the Dragon. And He Did Not Slay Me

My blog is eclectic if nothing else. Rather like my decor.

I like to write. I'm usually a klutz at face-to-face but in writing I can back up, edit, rephrase, try to make my words say what I really want them to convey. And so I write. About numerous subjects.

Today I'm writing about my chemo. I won't be offended if you click elsewhere. You have my permission to do so. Not everyone wants to read about cancer.

My ovarian cancer was diagnosed a year ago during routine gall bladder surgery. Mine is stage III-C which means cells occurred throughout my abdominal cavity but had not yet metastasized (invaded) into bones, lungs, brain. Which, believe you me, is a good thing.

That month I had one major surgery and two minor and was in the hospital a total of 13 days. One of those minor surgeries was placement of a Power Port just below my left collar bone. It's a marvelous thing. Many hate their ports. I love mine...it makes accessing for chemo or blood draws easy.

A year ago in February I began six sessions of heavy-duty chemo every 3 weeks. During that time I was on a double-blind clinical trial (GOG-218) using a third drug (or placebo) in combo with the carbo/taxol. After six sessions the protocal was that my group was to continue with only the trial drug Avastin (or placebo).

By December mild symptoms of discomfort and a rising tumor marker in my blood told me that I was recurring. A PET scan January 8 verified that my intuition was right on. By protocol my recurrence meant I was dropped from the trial. My doc was able to unblind my records and tell me that I had been on the placebo and not the trial drug Avastin. Again, my intuition had been right. I had never believed I was getting the Avastin for I had none of its symptoms...high blood pressure, bloody nose, etc.

With the recurrence I am back on chemo. This time I'm taking the carbo/taxel along with Avastin. This time my treatments are weekly but with lower dosages. I get the three-drug combo on Week 1. Weeks 2 and 3 are taxol only. Week 4 is free, no chemo. Then we start all over again with Week 1. That was today. Doc says I will probably continue this for six months provided blood tests and scans show this drug combo is working.

I still have my Power Port and it is my friend! The nurse inserts a short needle thingy (I don't know what it is called!) through the skin into the port. It's as simple as plugging an electric cord into the wall socket. Just like that! It's done. There is a momentary sting...hardly enough of a sting to even say "Ouch!" And then infusion begins. The session is usually several hours long because different drugs go in at different times. Decadron. Benedryl. Zantac. Aloxi. Carboplatin. Paclitaxel. Avastin. Saline flush. (not necessarily in that order) I usually spend the first hours reading or chatting. Until the benadryl is administered and then I take a nap. I asked them to lower the benadryl and they did, but it still makes me sleepy and I can't hold my eyes open any longer.

I like to get the recliner next to the window. I can see Nurse Diana's door from there. And I can chat with whoever is in the window chairs for blood or shots or blood pressures. That is, if they want to chat. I'm careful about invading personal space.

Lesser dosages mean no more than a couple twinges of bone pain with Week 1. No symptoms whatsoever on Weeks 2 and 3. Other Than Hair loss! Yep. Hubby helped me buzz my head this week after it had thinned to patches. My curls were gone. My scalp hurt. It was a mess. I just wanted to be rid of it.

No, I won't complain about hair loss. At least until the eye lashes fall out...which I figure will be within the next three weeks sometime. Then I might complain. A little. A tiny bit. Eye liner will help but only if you stand at least six feet away from me and have poor eyesight and are deluded into thinking eyeliner looks like lashes!

This year cancer seems not so traumatic. I'm not stressed about it. I'm surprised, really, that it does not psych me out. It's as if the trauma of it all occurred last year. The shock, the struggle to sink this into my brain...the statistics, the possibilities, the what ifs, the whyfors, the why me? I've already gone through all of that and come out on the other side. I'm quite aware of the possibilities ahead of me...I just am not going to spend every waking moment obsessing about it.

I'm come to grips with it, really. I've said my prayers. I've done the tears. Now I continue in prayer and thank God that I feel well today. And presumably tomorrow. I'm convinced that the Creator God, who made us all, has my days mapped out for me (Psalm 139:16). Whatever the purpose of all this, I know that it is for my good (Romans 8:28) and for His glory. Right now, in this world, we do not see all of it to its fullness. It's as if we look through a dirty stained glass and see only dimly, but when all is said and done, when we arrive in God's presence, we will see it all clearly (I Cor. 13:12) and we will see that God's sovereign will is perfect, always and forever.

In the meantime we live. And we enjoy the step in front of us, the task in front of us, the people beside us, the world around us. I do that with joy. I hope you, too, are looking at the joy of life. And living it well in the knowledge of the goodness of God.

The dragon? You have to go here to read about the dragon and about my meeting Sven the Dragon Slayer.

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Upon How I Enjoy A Lovely Antique!

I'm still playing with my treadle sewing machine Singer 66-1, aka Elizabeth Redeye by myself and now by you. I finally bought some sewing machine oil and oiled the machine this evening.

This machine is precision machined and after oiling, Oh! does it runs smooooth! A flick of the wrist on the handwheel and it purrs. I mean it Purrs! But so silently one would never hear.

The old vintage Singers are simple to maintain. A single drop of oil at every moving part. That's it, Folks! Unless, of course, you jam a needle against a button or zipper hard enough to put the thing out of timing, but frankly, I've been sewing on this and other machines since I was 10 years old and I've never had to adjust the timing. This is not an automobile, after all! This is a Singer with a Capital S! And this particular model has never suffered a recall by its manufacturer...even if it did sew though my thumbnail once.

Basically, with vintage machines, just read the manual and oil where directed. If you don't have a manual, open up the machine everywhere that you can open it, and put a single drop of sewing machine oil on each moving part. You can click on the photos to see what I mean...I've marked key areas with a green arrow. (You can usually google your Singer and Model number and find an online manual or instructions.) You can click here for one informative vintage Singer site.

Now and then one might become a bit frustrated if the needle has been placed in backwards...which I confess that I have done...but that is easily remedied by reading the manual for the particular machine...not all machines are the same in this respect.

I changed my mind on the fabrics that I will be stitching together. So last night I cut some extra to go with them. I'll show a pic when I get them assembled.

I need to get this posted...I'm off to do my chemo this morning. And this afternoon I'll be napping...the Benadryl, you know. Later I'll have all kinds of energy...the steroids, you know.


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Mushrooms! Cheese! Do We Need Anything Else?

Who would think that "ingredients" would be worthy of a blog post? Most times the blogger presents how-to photos of some delicious recipe...most of which are fattening to boot. So I vicariously enjoy a lot of recipes via blogs. Sorta like eye candy. Enjoy the chocolate without the cals.

Today Dandy over at Spontaneous Clapping made me almost fall off my sewing stool (which I use instead of an office chair). She's reviewing some of the specialty shops in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Bop on over there and tell me that you aren't dying to try some of the fresh mushrooms and the cheese! Oh, My, the Cheese place! Today's post is here.

Dandy promises more tomorrow. I'm hoping she sends out samples via Uncle Sam's mail system...skip the photos...just send the samples.

(she said with a hopeless grin)

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