Chemo 2-3

It’s slowly warming up, and I’m happy for it to take its time, because this part of Canada can get very humid and muggy in summer, which is not much fun overall.  Today is sunny, cool and comfortable, which is just lovely.  It’s the kind of day that I used to like to go for a long walk on because you don’t get overheated.  Jerry is in disgrace for stealing and eating the remains of my chicken salad arepa, which I foolishly left within reach of his fast-moving little mouth!  He’s lying on Don looking sad because I was upset with him.  Don is tired out and achy after yesterday, as things took longer than we anticipated and he was in the car with Jerry for a long while.  Then last night he was happily watching the women play, and they’re doing a marvellous job.  Plus there were regular playoff games, so that’s keeping him busy.

I slept for 12 hours last night, and I’m still a little groggy today.  Chemo went well, although we were delayed by over 90 minutes… apparently the pharmacy was backed up a bit.  I took a small lunch with me, and ate while we waited; I was hungry and had an emergency chocolate bar also.  (Note to self, refill emergency chocolate stash!)  I had slight nausea after, which we attributed to eating while being drugged, but didn’t need any meds.  I did follow the dosing schedule, which seems to make things easier overall.  I got home and ate some more stuff; I was really hungry overall.  Today I was craving an arepa, so I ordered one and ate most of it, but couldn’t finish the last couple of bites, and Jerry beat me to them!!  Also, in some great news, this is me yesterday.  I have hair!!! and eyebrows!!! I was so pleased that my eyebrows are back in place, as the grey/no eyebrow thing didn’t work for me in the slightest.  My support worker is here, and making the chicken pies that we had planned for Wednesday but delayed because she was sick.  I’ll have some for dinner.  They should be fried, but we’re baking them as it’s less difficult for me.

PSA:  be nice to your nurses and other people who look after you.  Yesterday there was a man who came into the chemo unit and was clearly in a vile mood.  He called the nurse “stupid and incompetent” because he was delayed getting in (see pharmacy backup above) and swore at her.  She apologized, asked him if he wanted to cancel or proceed with treatment, and he was again nasty.  So she offered to call the unit manager for him, and he agreed in the worst way possible.  So off she went — but the manager had just gone for lunch, so he had to wait… which he was still doing when my treatment ended 40 minutes later and I’d left.  Meanwhile, they were doing the necessary for him (checking vitals, etc) but making it as slow as possible… I tried hard not to laugh at him, as he realized that he was in for an even longer afternoon due to his behaviour!  It helped that the other patients’ machines were beeping (transfusion finished) so they’d walk off to attend to them, leaving Mr. Unpleasant to wait… and then they’d start over with his vitals.  

In “adventures with customer services” today, I’d got a call from my elder niece yesterday, letting me know that her new (still under warranty) laptop had a broken case.  So I spent 3.5 hours on the phone with Dell support, trying to find a location in Trinidad where her laptop could be repaired.  Canadian support gave me a number for international support which when called has a recording saying that the number doesn’t exist.  I called back, spoke to another agent who gave me the number of regional support including Trinidad.  The guy then sent me the address of a company that would do repairs if I took it in — in New Zealand!!  (Because the Caribbean is in Oceania!!)  Called again, spoke to someone who said that Dell doesn’t operate in Trinidad.  Google search shows a list of at least 8 companies listed as Dell partners.  I am so angry with Dell right now!  Clearly they don’t train their Latin American/Caribbean representatives at all.  One agent had the chutzpah to ask, “Can I help you with anything else?”  To which I replied, “You haven’t helped me yet, so that would be a start.”  I know that getting upset with the end agent doesn’t help, but he also refused to let me speak to a supervisor so I got no resolution.  To add insult to injury and prior insult, the numbers for one of the Dell partners (the closest to my house) would disconnect when I got past the main menu and made any selection… Don was laughing at me and asking why I’m getting annoyed when I know that Trinidad provides only piss-poor, crappy customer service and is unlikely to change… I replied that I was annoyed that I got bounced around from Mexico to Brazil to Argentina, and got even worse service than I’d expected!

OK, now that’s off my chest, I’m going to grab one of the pies that are just out of the oven and eat that.  I’m getting hungry (always recommended) and they’re piping hot and ready for consumption.  Good night!