Sigh

Well, we had a pretty mild day today; the door was open again for most of the day, but it just got closed as it’s a little too cool for that now that the sun’s set.  Jerry was amusing himself today, running around with his ball and dropping it on my toes for me to toss, then he lay on my lap on his back with one paw firmly on my arm, and the other would come up every few seconds to pat my face… He looked so comfortable that I felt too guilty to throw him off!  Don is “watching” his game, but his snores are louder than the announcer’s voice, so I’m not sure how much he’s really paying attention… unless I change the channel, and then he’ll yell!  😝 

Once again, no support worker… of my 8 hours this week, I’ve received 2!!!  So another angry email to the manager to complain.  I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve been tagged as “difficult” or something, or if it’s as simple as a staff shortage.  On the plus side, my appetite is getting normal, although I’m having a couple of hot- and cold- flashes.  I don’t usually get those, but I’ve had them off and on today.  This afternoon they were bothering me, so I took a nap, and that seemed to help.  I just had supper, which I didn’t finish (as my grandmother used to say, my eyes were bigger than my stomach) so I have a little leftover.

I learned something interesting this week.  I’ve been having issues with dry skin (after effects of chemo, plus indoor heating) and my heels in particular are peeling, while the rest of me feels like sandpaper.  For moat of my skin, I use a heavy duty lotion that soothes the dryness and itch, but for my heels, the nurse recommended… diaper cream.  I’m amazed at how well it works.  I think I’m going to add it as a standard item in my kit!  It’s got zinc, which is a mineral sunscreen, so it works beautifully to protect your skin in direct sunlight (as long as you don’t mind the slight whitish look of your skin), plus it’s a moisturizer and a skin barrier to protect cuts and bruises, etc.  I put a little on my heels and it’s been good at reducing the peeling and dryness.  It’s helped keep me from peeling off the skin to the point of bleeding — it’s so tempting to keep peeling even when it starts to hurt!  The only real negative is that it’s heavy to put on, so it feels heavy going on, but it soaks in nicely and it’s decent after.

That’s it for today.  Jerry is curled up on my feet, keeping them warm.  I can feel his breathing on my skin, and he’s snoring gently.  Basically, the room is full of snores.  I’m going to make a cup of something hot (my little niece informs me that she loves tea, but not as much as juice!) and I had a nice long conversation with my sister and my elder niece (which is why this is later than usual) so it was a nice family day.  Good night!