The remainder of the week at Chapel Hill was mostly blood work. We had to do blood work every day at particular times. That was okay... I am getting the hang of this. I found a new trick. See, they are going to take blood from my arm in one of three places (Elbow, hand or wrist). And when I feel the needle, I tense up. Then the vein disappears. It's like magic. So... my thought is, if I can't feel the needle going in, I won't tense up and I will only have to get stuck once. Smart girl that I am... I decide that my Emla cream put on those locations will stop the pain. So, Wednesday I put it on the inside of my elbow, the back of my hand and the inside of my wrist, covered the places with gauze pads and went to get the work done. Piece of cake! I didn't feel a thing! Obviously, this is how I am going to handle my appointments from now on.
So, I felt pretty good. Mom and I did some shopping. Marie and I hung out again and went for frozen yogurt. We also swung by her folks old place and talked about the time we all stayed there while her folks were out of town over Pride weekend. That was a great weekend. No great drunken party... just a group of friends chilling in the back yard talking, laughing and enjoying each others company. We drank sparkling water, took cold showers rather than turn on the hot water, used candles and kept it all real low key. What a great memory. Then my sweetie arrived to spend the night and I got to show her the amazing trick I learned about the dual shower heads (getting a high powered heated massage on both your back and front at the same time is freakin' awesome!). But poor Michele... Mom snores. I snore. I snore a lot when I don't take Benadryl before bed. She said we were amazingly loud, but mom swears Michele's snores could wake the dead. Thank goodness we were in a corner room. I can't imagine how anyone in the next room could have slept through all three of us.
Thursday we let mom sleep. I had worn her out running around the day before, so Michele got to go see the infusion room where they take my blood. We met the nice cracker lady (she goes around with a basket of crackers and York mints for the chemo patients) and we explained to her our firmly held belief in dessert as a main course. I think if I ever start my own religious cult, I am going to make that one of the central tenets of the faith. We must have convinced her, because I heard her telling the next patient to eat dessert first. Then we went out with Robbie and Marie for dinner at this groovy restaurant. It was like walking into a very kitschy consignment store that sold food. Every wall had a theme (70's bachelor pad, Hawaiian tiki bar, 50's pin-up girls). The food was pretty tasty, but mostly it was just so great to hang out with our friends.
Finally it was Friday and I got to do my last blood draw for the week and go home. I gave my Clinical nurse my notes on what side effects I had and when, then we headed out. I fell into the bed as soon as I got home and slept and slept and slept.
So, I felt pretty good. Mom and I did some shopping. Marie and I hung out again and went for frozen yogurt. We also swung by her folks old place and talked about the time we all stayed there while her folks were out of town over Pride weekend. That was a great weekend. No great drunken party... just a group of friends chilling in the back yard talking, laughing and enjoying each others company. We drank sparkling water, took cold showers rather than turn on the hot water, used candles and kept it all real low key. What a great memory. Then my sweetie arrived to spend the night and I got to show her the amazing trick I learned about the dual shower heads (getting a high powered heated massage on both your back and front at the same time is freakin' awesome!). But poor Michele... Mom snores. I snore. I snore a lot when I don't take Benadryl before bed. She said we were amazingly loud, but mom swears Michele's snores could wake the dead. Thank goodness we were in a corner room. I can't imagine how anyone in the next room could have slept through all three of us.
Thursday we let mom sleep. I had worn her out running around the day before, so Michele got to go see the infusion room where they take my blood. We met the nice cracker lady (she goes around with a basket of crackers and York mints for the chemo patients) and we explained to her our firmly held belief in dessert as a main course. I think if I ever start my own religious cult, I am going to make that one of the central tenets of the faith. We must have convinced her, because I heard her telling the next patient to eat dessert first. Then we went out with Robbie and Marie for dinner at this groovy restaurant. It was like walking into a very kitschy consignment store that sold food. Every wall had a theme (70's bachelor pad, Hawaiian tiki bar, 50's pin-up girls). The food was pretty tasty, but mostly it was just so great to hang out with our friends. Finally it was Friday and I got to do my last blood draw for the week and go home. I gave my Clinical nurse my notes on what side effects I had and when, then we headed out. I fell into the bed as soon as I got home and slept and slept and slept.
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