So here's the lowdown:
Clay bought a house in
Norwalk and we live there with his friend Ryan, our dog
Choo Choo, our cat
Doogie Meowser, and our fish Higgins
O'Fishley.
We moved in the beginning of May and got
Choo Choo shortly thereafter. She is (now) an almost 5 months old Rhodesian
Ridgeback. They used to be raised in Africa to hunt lions. At first I was worried she would hunt and eat my cat but they interact as a dog and a cat who are not used to each other would: they chase each other around in our small living room. Clay and I are hoping that eventually they might become friends....... Or that the dog will at least learn to ignore the cat, who usually initiates the chasing by messing with the dog. By the way, she is one big puppy. She is so cute but her paws are so big!!! She's already 50 lbs.........
We feel complete. House, dog, cat, and fish.
We live the Great Suburban Lifestyle: taking the dog for walks to our
neighborhood park, watching TV on the
ol' big screen, playing in our $300 above ground
Walmart pool (yes, trashy fabulous), shopping at our local Stater Bros and Target, watching movies at the movie theatre that's less than a mile away, and grilling steaks in the backyard. Yes, it is quite the life we lead.
Work is going well. Of course it's always good when work is going well, less stress......
Not much is going on in my life other than the regular routine activities of..... life.
Sometimes I miss living in The Big City. It was cool to live in downtown LA. But it felt like there was a lifestyle we had to live when we were in the middle of it all. We had to go out to the bars, to the restaurants. There's not that desire anymore. When I'm home, it's just so comfortable and relaxing. Clay and I have pretty much stopped going out and sometimes I miss it. But then I'll go out and wish I hadn't. It's just not the same anymore. Today we took
Choo Choo out for a walk for a few blocks and it was so nice. Kids were playing in their yards, people were watering their lawns, pets were running around, and other people were also going for walks (couples, with children, with their dogs, or for
exercise). It was just so nice........
In regards to my health...... I don't know. I had my
PICC line taken out because I hadn't used it in months.
Unfortunately, my blood counts do not recover quickly enough between treatments so I've had to stop all treatment. So I'm not getting anything right now until my doctor and I decide what to do. The treatment I was on was working slowly but like I said, my body was just not recovering quickly enough anymore so my doctor did not feel comfortable continuing that treatment. I'm planning on calling him tomorrow to discuss my options. But don't worry, I feel fine. The only cancer symptom I have is a fever that goes away and then comes back on a regular basis. It's mild enough to assume that my cancer is not getting worse quickly.
It's weird because at this point, I've learned to live with low blood counts so I don't even notice the effects anymore. I've learned to live past them. I bruise easily, I'm anemic, always cold, sometimes feverish, take a long time to get over illnesses (a simple cold can last for a month), tire very easily..... I feel like an old lady when I get out of bed in the mornings. I usually limp to the bathroom until my joints and bones stop hurting and get warmed up. It's like, I can't figure out what's cancer related and what's just getting older.
On another note, I'm having serious face problems. It's like, one day I woke up and my face was a little drier than usual. A week later it was peeling, red, and itchy. A month and one
unsatisfying appointment with a
dermatologist later, I supposedly have something like
eczema, blah blah blah
dermatitis. He said that because of my many treatments my oil glands have stopped producing oil. So every morning I wash my face with
Cetaphil, put on some Bio Oil stuff, and then lather on a thick layer of extra potent vitamin E creme. At night I take it all off and lather on Vaseline. Yes, Vaseline. These are the only things that somewhat work. Sometimes I take
Benedryl and put on
hydro cortisone creme to help control the itching. It seriously is the most horrible thing. By the time I get out of work, even though I slathered on more vitamin E creme midday, my face is starting to feel really dry, extra tight, and is starting to flake. In the
beginning it really got to me and it would bring me to tears when I would see my blotchy face in the mirror. But I'm starting to get better about it. I found those few products that somewhat work and it has helped. A friend of mine says her face has gotten the same way and she was the one who recommended Vaseline so again, I can't figure out if it's just because I'm getting older or if it's just my oil glands giving up.
As always, I am trying to maintain a positive attitude. My lovely simple little life brings me great joy. My one big complaint: my doubled commute time. It takes me 2 hours, yes 2 HOURS, just to get to work and then another 2 hours to get home. That part REALLY REALLY REALLY sucks. Although, it has pushed me to read more, what with all that free time spent doing nothing. Yes I read all the
Twilight books and they were wonderful!!! When I finished the last book, for a whole week I felt like there was a hole in my life. So I started listening to the movie soundtrack nonstop. My
Twilight obsession (including the movie) finally ceased when I picked up
One Hundred Years of Solitude (for the 100
th time) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and finally finished it. Amazing but just took me so long to finish reading.
Well, this was suppose to be a short update but of course with me, it doesn't always work out that way.
:)
