The week between

We're in that weird, in-between time that always seems to happen at the end of the year. The break from work has gone by in a blur so far, and I feel somewhat adrift as we approach the New Year. I'm enjoying the time off, but I'll be glad to resume a more normal routine in January with the holidays firmly behind us.

Gregg is currently up at the hospital, having some last scans done and one last consultation with his radiology oncologist. He has his first session of radiation tomorrow. It's going to be a short course of treatment, with 5 sessions in all: tomorrow and Thursday of this week, and Monday-Wednesday-Friday of next week. He's really nervous about tomorrow, since it's the first one and he doesn't really know what to expect. And what a way to spend New Year's Eve! 

I'm thinking any celebrating we do for the New Year will have to happen later in January, all things considered. This year has been full of upheaval, and it's not quite over yet, but I'm hopeful for an easier and calmer time in 2025, at least personally. (World events and US politics promise to be wild next year).

So, what are your plans for New Year's Eve? New Year's Day? Even if you're just hibernating at home, I'd love to hear about what you'll be doing!

 Also, since this is probably my last post of 2024, I'd like to wish each and every one of you a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!

 See you in '25...

xx

Christmas Eve morning

Good morning to everyone, and happy Christmas eve! 

We've purposely done very little as far as decorating and socializing this year. We've had a lot going on over the past few weeks, and neither of us felt up to doing a lot of work. So, no tree this year, but we did put a few special Christmas candleholders on the mantle and a wreath on the front door.

We also bought ourselves one nice gift for Christmas: a new 75-inch tv! We'd been wanting a new tv since our old one died this summer, and Gregg's wanted a big screen for years. Yesterday two guys from Best Buy came out and mounted it on the wall, and it looks huge. We're enjoying it already, and the new chairs we bought over the summer make for really comfortable viewing.

Now that we've turned this whole room into a living room (the remodeled room is now our dining room) there's room for one of Marco's perches, and he seems to like watching the new tv, too.

As for Christmas baking and cooking, I'm keeping it really easy this year. I made a pot of chili yesterday that we'll warm in the crock pot later, and I'm also getting ready to bake a ham. Yesterday afternoon I finally got around to making two batches of cookies which will be shared with neighbors. 

Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies and Italian Angeletti

 I may make a third batch of cookies this morning before making the cookie trays. I'm thinking of Peanut Butter Blossoms, the ones that have Hershey's kisses in the center. I also picked up packages of dog treats for neighbors with canine buddies. There's a couple down the street with a cocky little dog called Alvin, and he's getting an extra special bag of goodies from George and Poppy.

After I drop off the neighbor's treats, we're going to enjoy a quiet evening at home with lots of candles lit, good food, and maybe an old movie or two to watch. I hope you all have a similarly pleasant Christmas Eve, whatever your plans! 

xx 

Jennifer

T-minus 6 hours

Six hours from now I'll be leaving work with the long winter break stretching out in front of me! I'm not overly excited about the holidays this year, but the break is sorely needed. I don't go back to work until January 6th.

I'm going to get as many of these as possible!

Silver linings

Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday's post for your kindness. It was a terrible weekend. Yesterday once I got the diarrhea under control, I had terrible body aches for a few hours, then those subsided too. I was feeling a little better by last night, but even so, I decided not to take a chance on work today. I got in touch with my principal around 5:30 to let her know that I wouldn't be in today. I hate missing work (which is why I have around 50 unused sick days with more accruing every month) but when I've been really sick like this, I try not to feel guilty about it. 

This morning in the early wee hours before dawn I woke up drenched in sweat, twice. Then when I really woke up and got up around 7:30 I felt much, much better. Maybe I was sweating out the last of it. I sure hope so.

There's a bright side to all this, though. I lost 5 pounds! Haha!

But seriously, though, I've been actively trying to lose weight since May or June. I managed to lose 35 pounds by August, then couldn't seem to lose any more. Considering that I've had to take prednisone and antibiotics three or four times this year, a nurse recently told me that I've done really well to maintain the loss and not regain. I know she's right, but it's still frustrating to do all the right things week after week and the scale doesn't budge. Now thanks to this nasty little virus, I've finally hit the 40-pound loss mark! That feels like a win, finally. 

Maybe I'll even get lucky, and this virus will have served as a good purge and reset. It certainly felt like one!

Miserable

I left work early on Friday, having been suddenly taken down by nausea, an upset stomach, and body aches. I was so afraid that I'd caught the horrible stomach virus spreading through the school, and unfortunately that seems to be exactly what's happened. 

Since late last night I've had the worst diarrhea of my life. I didn't know it was possible to have diarrhea like this. I'll bet I've had to run to the bathroom at least 20 times (probably more) and I just can't seem to stop. Gregg went out first thing this morning and picked up Imodium AD and Gatorade for me. It's only been about 30 minutes since I took the medicine and I've had to go 3 times since then. God, I hope it works soon. I can't stand much more of this. Plus I'm exhausted and my bottom is raw and feels like it's on fire. (Sorry if that's tmi)

I tried so hard at work to avoid catching this. Lots of hand washing, isolating in my office, etc...but it still got me. 

I'm absolutely miserable. I suppose I can thank all those germy little kids for this. 

Little jerk

 

Here's a recent photo of the Marcoman doing one of his favorite things: raiding the pantry! This time, at least, I got there before he had a chance to do any damage. 

I'm sure he's already plotting his next attempt.

Finished....finally!

The repair/remodel of the room that started months ago is finally finished! Finished!! I can't tell you how good it feels to have everything done  and to finally be able to get our house back in order. The guy we hired to repair the wall and ceiling (after water damage from a leak) was slow to come and finish the last little bit of work. Gregg finally texted him last month and told him, "You have to come finish up. I may have cancer treatments starting in the near future" and to Rick's credit, he came over the very next morning and finished everything that day. He did a really good job for a great price, even if it did take him way too long to finish up.

Then we had to paint. That took almost a week of careful prep work before Gregg and I could even get started on the actual painting. The last people to paint the room did a really crappy job, and the last owners left lots of scuffed places and nail holes. We finally startaed putting on actual paint on Sunday, and yesterday, we finished. 

Such a great feeling, and we're really pleased with how the room (and the coffered ceiling) turned out!

 

Things could be worse

This year the district gave us this whole week off for Thanksgiving instead of the usual three days. Everyone was super excited about it, especially folks who travel over the holiday. I imagine people who do lots of cooking/hosting will be grateful for the extra time, too.

 We won't be doing any traveling this year (not that we ever do). We're in the process of preparing to paint the remodeled room, and so the meal I cook for the two of us tomorrow will be small and relatively simple. I picked up three large turkey breasts for the freezer last week--they were such a good price that I couldn't resist--and I'll cook one of them for the holiday, and the other two will be handy to have around later in the winter. 

Gregg had three separate oncology appointments yesterday. He's going to be doing four or five radiation treatments sometime within the next few weeks, probably before Christmas. There's a small and (very) slowly growing mass in his lung and the doctors all agree that it shouldn't be ignored. His PET scan came back clear, thank goodness, although there was a slight bit of heightened activity around the spot. They can't do a biopsy, since that poses some risks when you only have one lung, so they've decided to treat it as if it's malignant and proceed from there. They're all confident that a few radiation treatments will eliminate any potential future problems. I'm really, really grateful that the doctors are being so proactive in taking care of him.

Radiation will be a new experience. The last time, it was surgery and chemotherapy, chemotherapy that he did not tolerate well at all. The first thing he said about this treatment plan was, "At least I don't have to do chemo this time." It should be over relatively quickly, and fatigue and skin irritation are the only major side effects they expect. But then, get this: the radiology oncologist Gregg met with said that occasionally a broken rib is a side effect of lung radiation.

A BROKEN RIB, Y'ALL. 

Hopefully, that won't happen. And the doctor assures him it isn't all that common and they have good pain relief available if it does. But still!

Thank goodness the treatments should be done by January, and we can leave this episode behind as just one more shitty thing that happened in 2024. I'm really hoping for a better 2025.