Holiday day 12

It’s starting to get cooler, and the autumn seems to be ready to move in!  Mornings are almost chilly, late evenings also, but daytime is usually lovely, moderately warm with some sunshine.  It’s the light-sweater stage of coolness, where sandals and shorts are still options, but a light sweater or shawl makes a difference.  Although Don told me that it was 6C and raining in Ottawa (it was easily three times that here!) he said that he was really cold from the wind, although he’d apparently closed the window already… Jerry likes this weather, and would be perfectly happy if it stayed like this indefinitely.  He gets perkier when it’s cooler and enjoys running around and would roll in the grass to his little heart’s content.  He’s still pretending that I don’t exist, and will for the next week!

I’m getting very frustrated with my energy levels, or rather, the lack thereof.  If I do stuff for a couple of hours, I need almost double that time to rest so that I don’t feel like I’ll collapse.  After my aunt’s visit on Friday and the trip to the clinic, I collapsed on the sofa for an hour before dragging myself upstairs to bed.  I’ve also been needing my sister’s help to get up the last few steps as I’m unsteady.  In all fairness, I’m more physically active here than at home, as there are the stairs to navigate twice a day at a minimum, plus 2 active kindergarteners who require my attention to answer their daily inquisitions which sometimes cover the same areas, but not always!  My appetite is quite good, especially when I remember to drink lots of liquids!  I asked my sister today for curry — something I really enjoy but haven’t been able to eat with chemo.  She made one that is milder than I do, but I ate all of it, and half an hour later, that was the end of that… so I’ll have to wait a little longer before I can have curry. 😢  In good news though, my appointments have been shifted so I now only have a 2-hour wait instead of 6, which is a LOT easier to handle!

Yesterday we went out in part to collect some items that they’d bought on Facebook marketplace and then to Walmart, to get the wool that’s needed to make the dress for the “baby doll” for my little task mistress.  We took the rental scooter and I happily drove around the store, got the wool, looked at other items, and it was remarkable freeing.  The difficulty (you know there had to be one!) was that after driving for a couple of hours and sitting for a long period, my back was on fire.  We got home and I collapsed on the sofa.  That seems to be the pattern after we go out — I need the rest and lying down helps.  

I’ve been working on a doll dress today; it’s taking longer than I thought because I made a few errors and had to unravel and restart.  My niece stood over me asking if I was finished yet, and when I took a break, she popped up out of nowhere to ask if I wasn’t working on it… we’ve been giggling at her determination.  We also had a conversation where she has decided that she doesn’t want a baby because it’s painful… and she was getting quite worked up about it.  Took a long while to calm her down and explain that this wasn’t something that she needed to worry about for quite a while… her brother then decided that he wanted a “baby in his tummy” and was quite disappointed to learn that boys can’t do that.  He informed us that boys and girls can do the same things… here’s where the challenge of capacity comes in.  We’ve told him that boys can wear earrings if they want, can have long hair, can wear nail polish or makeup and there’s nothing like a “boy colour” or a “girl colour” so to be told that there are a few things that are definite “boy” things and “girl” things needs to be reconciled with that worldview.

They’re just getting back from the park, and my elder sister will pass on the way to the airport.  My sister in law has tested positive for covid, so she’s isolating and all the rest of us who are immune compromised are minimizing contact with her and everyone else… we don’t know where she might have got it, as we’ve all been together for the last 2 weeks!  We’ll be good and stay healthy, don’t worry.  I’ll be out of quarantine by the time I’m due to travel, so we’ll work on that!  Good night!