Gone again

Hristos se Rodi!  Merry Christmas to my Orthodox friends.  Wishing you all the light and joy of this season! It snowed heavily last night, although we got less than forecast but the skies were that odd yellow colour that comes  with snow.  It’s been snowing off and on all day, and the forecast calls for a major storm this week, starting on Monday night or Tuesday morning.  Jerry (and I) were awoken this morning before 9 by the doorbell.  That was not a great way to wake up, as it sent him into a frenzy of barking.  I got up, thinking unkind thoughts as I thought that my nurse had arrived over an hour early!  Turned out to be a neighbour letting me know that Don had left his keys in the mailbox downstairs when he’d gone to check the mail last night.  I thanked him for letting me know, got dressed and got his keys.  Don’s been complaining of being in a lot of pain in his arm and shoulder, so much so that lifting a coffee cup is excruciating.  I don’t know what to suggest, and he says that his meds don’t seem to be working, but hopefully he’ll find something that helps soon.

I was up late last night because I was suddenly hungry at 10pm.  I did nod off a bit today, but the timing was off as I was expecting my support worker so I couldn’t go to sleep.  This morning, there was quite a bit of hair on my pillow, and in the bathroom, I passed my hand through my hair and it came away covered!  I gave it a gently brushing, and filled a bag with the hair that just fell out.  It was traumatic.  No other word for it.  So when my worker arrived, we pulled out the clippers and a towel, and she shaved my head.  This is me now, with no hair and no eyebrows… my head feels cold at the moment, too.  I’ll break out a hat/wrap/scarf/stocking cap or whatever to keep it warm tonight.  I know it will grow back, and it will all be fine, but this first bit is always hard.  As an aside, one of my cousins can’t wear hats, except knit caps, as her head is really petite, so any formed hat just swims on her like it would on a baby.  In contrast, I’ve had to have hats custom made, as I have a large head. Although when I have no hair, none of my hats fit, either!  They just fall down over my ears.  I’ll figure out something with hats, especially for chemo.  I refuse to wear one of the little fabric caps that scream “cancer patient!” Vanity, thy name is Sonja.

In the mail yesterday was a box for me, sent from my friend in Vancouver.  It contained several homemade treats, a box of cookies, a bottle of marinade and a little stuffed crab.  It was so kind and thoughtful of her to have made and shipped these things to me.  I actually shared the goodies with Don, who normally will turn up his nose at these things, and he’s so excited about getting caramel popcorn!  This morning he sent me an email with a recipe for making some, which I think is some kind of a hint 😂 I also asked my friend for her recipe, since I already know he likes it!  I also got a couple of easy recipes from another friend for some filling but simple meals.  I’ve alerted my worker that we’ll be doing some cooking this week.  She’s really excited, because she says I show her some really delicious meals that even her husband enjoys, plus she gets dinner since we make so much!  I do like cooking to share with others, but these days… 😌 no moping, I get to make enough to share AND have meals for a few days.  So that’s all to the good.

Want to hear something funny?  Yesterday I asked my friend to pick up a container of milk if they went to the supermarket.  They agreed, and several texts later, they said they’d drop it off last night.  I said, no need to rush; I’ve got some for a couple more days, I’m just running low and it’s convenient if you’re doing a grocery run.  They dropped it off last night around 9pm, I thanked them, put it in the fridge and forgot about it.  This morning, I was making my tea, and picked up the open milk (the one I’d had) to add to my tea… on unscrewing the top I realized that it had gone OFF.  So the new bottle came in at a perfect time!  Milk less tea is doable, but not for my breakfast.  Incidentally, my breakfast was sufficiently large and filling that I didn’t need to eat until about 4pm, and I’m not yet ready for supper.  That will be something fairly light, but I’ll still work on filling!  I’ve got to go… Jerry is throwing his ball for me so I need to toss it back for him to chase!  Good night!