Category Archives: cancer

Friday Things

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Flylady, Walking by

Since I didn’t walk yesterday, I decided to go out this morning, and I’m so glad I did. It was a nice walk, with no one around except the people who use the community center stairs for a workout. There was a crescent moon, which is my favorite.

Yesterday was a nightmare driving to Sacramento. Apparently, there was a terrible accident, and it was stop-and-go from Roseville all the way down to the I-80 split, which is quite a ways. I barely had time to check in for my appointment. And of course, my blood pressure was high. Even after waiting a bit, it was still higher than my normal. UGH, I guess I’ll talk to my PCP when I see him for my annual wellness appointment. I’ll start tracking again, which I do as a record for him to see.

Dr. Laptalo suggested I go off DEX because it could be contributing to weight gain. It could be, but I think I’m just not as active as I was with both knees having torn meniscus and my left a torn ACL. I forgot to mention any of that, but going off DEX will certainly be nice. I guess I’ll just have to take my chances with my numbers going up. Most people on maintenance don’t do dex, so that’s a positive.

After the doctor’s appointment, I went to Costco. For a moment, I thought of skipping it as I was pretty stressed out, but then I thought, no, it’ll be good to get that done, and walking around Costco would help. It did help to calm me down. So I picked up the non-food stuff, including TP, allergy pills, dishwasher pods, Lysol wipes, and a few other things. Most of that was on a coupon, so that was nice. Food-wise, I bought coffee, eggs, and their new Hawaiian ready meal. We had some for dinner, and it was tasty, but I don’t think I’d get it again. It’s a large serving, and there’s quite a bit left over, so I’m not sure how well that will freeze.

Today, I plan on cleaning the kitchen and doing my Flylady stuff there. That includes wiping all the shelves and the stove hood. Plus, using the stainless steel wipes on the appliances.

We’re heading into rain on Sunday, and the temperatures are going to get cold. We still need rain, and the ski areas really do need snow, so it’s ok. If it’s too awful out, I won’t go anywhere.

What frugal things have you done lately?

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Gratitude by

I am so thankful that there is more sunlight everyday and it makes me happy. This morning it was light at 6:20 and then sunrise was 6:58 so that is quite wonderful. Sunset is 5:38 pm so again it’s so nice to have evenings light again.

I didn’t walk this morning as I have to get ready to leave for Sacramento soon. After my doctor visit, I plan to go to Costco. I’m appreciative that the new Costco is closer to home. I mostly need coffee and a bunch of non-food things, but I’m sure other things will jump in the cart.

I am very thankful my kappa light chains only went up 1 point. So now I’m sitting at 26.3. So that’s 7 points above high normal. So I feel comfortable with those numbers, and there was no big spike.

I’m grateful that the Imodium I’ve been taking (half a pill) is totally working on bowel issues. Dr. L suggested I try that instead of a prescription for the bile malabsorption medication. So that’s very positive for me. Bile malabsorption usually occurs with some chemotherapies, and I do believe that my spat with it was a recurrence of that. So I feel very thankful that it seems to be under control.

I’m thankful we did not owe any taxes. Of course, we didn’t have anything taken out because it’s SS.

It’s a little hard to see, but that’s the flowering cherry tree with some pops of pink. In the background, you can see the ‘new’ neighbor’s garage and see that brown dirt to the right? He has had many loads of dirt brought in to fill in the gully and make a more level space. I am not too thrilled at him changing the whole hillside’s natural inclination, but it’s his property. He did put in a huge drainage pipe for runoff, but still 😦 City people trying to live in the country??

Monday menus, And Simple sunday late.

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, library, meal planning, Walking by

The day got away from me yesterday. I was doing some house chores, baking a sourdough loaf( jalapeno cheddar), and sitting in the sun. It was a very nice day.

I had a nice walk in the morning. Sunrise is now 7am, so I’ve been getting to the park at 6:30. Since sunrise is going to keep getting earlier, I’ll have to decide what my cutoff is for getting out. In the past I’d jump out at 5:30 am but I’m feeling too old for that.

Last night we had a frozen pizza and watched some more of Stranger Things. This season(4) is really intense, and the episodes are quite long. Still it’s keeping my interest.

Tonight, I might make a chicken tortilla soup as I made broth the other day. I also have chips I can use on top along with avocado.

Tuesday- this is my daughter’s later night at work, so usually I do something easy. I might do a grilled cheese. I also have leftover curry from the other night, I froze.

Wednesday- I need to look in the freezer and check what should be used. I know some pot stickers could be used with rice. I also have some tilapia I can grill up.

Thursday- Spaghetti and meatballs,salad

Friday- I might get takeout, tacos?

Saturday- Something from the freezer. I think I have some other soups frozen, so I’ll go check that out, plus I have lots of Souper cubes frozen of beans, chili, etc.

My son was here on Saturday and built the railing for the stairs off the sunporch. He’s been working on making sure I have handrails and grab bars for safety. It looks good. I just need to have him buy a piece of lattice to make it more attractive, and I can plant a vine of some sort to make it even nicer.

I went to Ace and had them match the house trim paint as the one I had saved must have deteriorated, as the color was definitely off. I haven’t opened it yet to see, but from the color on the top, it looks like a match. It looks like we have rain coming in so painting will have to wait anyway.

I have my labs this morning, and then it’ll be too late to get to the pool, so I plan on going to the gym and then the library. I have a few books to drop off and a hold to pick up.

I also see Dr. L this week, so that will change my routine as to the pool. I think I’ll plan Costco after I see him on Thursday. As usual, it’s coffee that I’ll need, plus some non-food things like toilet paper, paper towels, etc. I might pick up a ready-made meal there.

Here’s the jalapeno loaf. It looks good. I haven’t cut it yet, but I will slice it up this morning.

I finished the taxes, and it all looked good, and we didn’t owe, so that’s a win.

Friday things

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, home improvement, home stuff, velcade by

I didn’t post anything yesterday as I had my Velcade shot, then went to Winco, and then met up with my library friends for coffee. So by the time I came home, I wasn’t into it. I did get my sourdough started, did the folds and turns, and got to bulk fermentation. So it’s in the fridge doing a cold rise.

I had a nice visit with my friends, three of them are widows, so they understand. One of them just got a mammogram with something showing, so that is causing a lot of stress and anxiety. Why is it always something? One of them is quite wealthy and was showing us her brand new Honda CR-V. I’m thinking nice, gee, I just wish I had some extra money to pay my annual bills.

I lay down for a while after I took Dex and rested. I had some defrosted chicken to use up, so I made us a chicken curry with noodles. I used some of a recipe from ATK’s Easy Meal Cookbook, but I didn’t have garam masala, so I just used other spices like curry, ginger powder, and cumin. It came out very tasty. There’s some left over for lunch or another dinner.

After reading that Bezos fired all those WP employees, I checked whether I had cancelled my subscription, and I had, but it doesn’t go into effect till April. I read a few articles, both in the Atlantic and the NYT, about how this is a tragic thing for the WP and very sad too. I haven’t ordered from Amazon in a while, but I do have some camping stuff to get for our one night out in Tahoe in June. It’s only a night, but I still need a porta-potty and porta potty tent. I think my son said he had one, so I’ll check. Hindsight is always 20/20, right? WE had just bought a deluxe porta-potty for the tent trailer right before we sold it. Since we now had Rubi, we didn’t need it. Ha! Oh well, that’s just the way it goes. There are bathrooms at Nevada Beach, which are quite nice, but at night, I’m not trekking to a bathroom to go pee. 😦

Since today is a home day, I’ll probably keep it low-key till the dex wears off. I’ll bake the bread and tidy up. I did get out my low platform massage table to do some PT, so I’ll set that up and do a few. I wish I had room to leave it up, but in our very small house, there isn’t an extra place for it.

I started painting some trim on the house while it was so nice out, but once it was done, I could see that the paint had lost some color, as it is over 5 years old. So I need to get the color chip and get a fresh quart. I won’t do that today as I don’t drive on dex but maybe tomorrow if I can find it. Ace said they can match it, as it is a Kelly Moore paint, and they went out of business. Then I can finish some touch-ups.

Going Forward

Posted in Blood test, books, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, home stuff, library, swimming, velcade by

This week is my Velcade shot. I got an extra week(5 weeks instead of 4), so I could get back to my normal Thursday appt. I’m still having some neuropathy in my feet, even after that length of time. Next time I see Dr. L, I’ll mention this. Then Friday will be my Dex day at home. I’m curious if my numbers go higher with the extra week. I guess I’ll find out.

The pool is closed for 2 days for maintenance, so I’m not sure if I’ll go down there today. Since I’m driving down tomorrow, I sort of hate to use extra gas. On the other hand, I just don’t seem to be getting ‘ahead’ in swimming. My weights I keep up on regularly, so that is all good. Maybe going forward means accepting what I can do and what I do. (sigh) Who knows, right? It seems as if this is a recurring theme for me at this stage of my life. But, hey, I’m very grateful for what I can do!!

Going forward, I’m working on trying new things. It’s hard to do some stuff alone, but I’m determined to try. I did go out by myself for a burger, so that was a tiny thing. I didn’t sit in the car either but went in, so again, a tiny thing, but…

I wrapped up my taxes and submitted. I guess it’s next year that my tax status will change. The year a spouse dies, it’s still married filing jointly, but then it changes the following year. Hopefully, it will stay easy.

Here’s a picture of the upper patio around 3 pm yesterday. And a picture of the firepit on around 4 pm.

The book is from the library, and I was very impressed. Barclay, of course, was hugely influenced by Dylan and had a radio show for 25 years(KVMR) specifically devoted to Dylan. He would have loved this book. His last show was called Jewels and Binoculars after the line in a song.

Yesterday I made the Rancho Gordo King City Pink beans in the crockpot and had them for dinner. I may just do another bean bowl tonight. There is quite a bit to freeze in the Souper Cups. Rancho Gordo just moved into a new building in Napa. I’m curious what it looks like. We always had fun going into the other store, even if it was a little hard to find.

Well, I guess I’d better figure out the day.

What about you? Do you ever feel you should be doing more? Sometimes just accomplishing the smallest thing feels huge. 🙂

Menu Monday and a BIG shout out to Frugal Girl!!

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, Death, home stuff, Lake tahoe, travel, Uncategorized, velcade by

Frugal Girl has a huge blog following and deservedly so. But she never speaks of politics till now, and I am very Thrilled she has stood up and spoken out against the horrors of this administration, especially with the murder of Alex Pretti, a fellow nurse. I’m sure it was difficult for her to do, especially as she is an evangelical Christian. Although we are as far apart as can be on religion, I respect her immensely for all she has gone through and accomplished. She is an exceptional person, and thank you, Kristen, for using your voice.

I’m just a small blogger, but I will not shy away from speaking up about the wrongs this administration is doing. AND THE LIES!! You can see with your own eyes what went down, and to have them disgrace a wonderful human being is sickening. May Karma catch up to them in the end.

On to mudane things in my life.

The menu changed up a bit as one night we had ramen because we felt like it.

Last night I baked some chicken, and we had that with baked butternut squash and salad.

Monday- I think I’ll try to do the baked fish with something. I really want to empty out the small refrigerator freezer, and the fish is in there.

Tuesday- Mexican something. I have beans frozen, so I could do beans and something. I don’t have any enchiladas, but I could buy some if I get to Winco. We do love Amy’s cheese enchiladas.

Wednesday- I have some Trader Joe’s orange chicken to use up, and I could make jasmine rice to go with it.

Thursday- ?? Maybe a curry, as I have tofu to use. We really like tofu curry with rice.

Friday- Pizza of some sort. We finished up the last Costco one for lunch the other day, and it was pretty bad, so I won’t buy them again. The frozen pizza that we liked the best was Home Run Chicago Pizza, and I think only Safeway carries that.

Saturday-? TBD

After e-messaging my oncologist, Dr. Laptalo, he suggested half an Imodium for the IBS. So I’ve been doing that, and so far it’s been fine. It’s been about a week with no issues, so I’m happy about that. I went to the gym and library the other day, and no surprises. I’m not sure what triggered it, but I think the body remembers certain things, and with the Velcade, it responded to that. Dr. L thought it could have been Velcade, as the timing was right. I don’t know, and all I want is not be ‘surprised’. I’m planning on going to the pool this week at least once, so that will be sort of my marker. I overcame this before, and I will overcome it again.

I’ve had zero luck with getting a spot at Nevada Beach. My only theory is that because it is such a beautiful camping spot on Lake Tahoe and there are so few spots, getting one is getting harder. Reservations are now into the end of July, and I think I’ll skip those for now. Tahoe in the summer is not my favorite, as it is overrun by tourists.

And I’m still not sure what I would camp in. I still have Rubi, but I will try to sell it this spring. I do have the one night booked at Tahoe in June, but I can handle one night in a tent. Any more than that, I doubt I’d want to do. This probably is one of the hardest for me to accept with Barclay gone, that certain things, like camping, can’t be the same. The question is still, how do I want to go forward?

Well, this has gotten quite long, so that’s it for now.

Midweek Musings

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, reading, velcade by

I started reading Clavell’s Noble House. I read this back in the 80’s, but he is such a good writer, I wanted to reread it. The books are hard to find(any by Clavell is), but my son, who frequents thrift stores, found a first edition for me. Whereas Shogun takes place in ancient Japan, this is set in Hong Kong. I have a library book to pick up, and it’s one that’s been on hold for quite a while, Dan Brown’s Secret of Secrets. Have you read it? I’m curious about it and whether I’ll like it. I did like the action in his other books, so we’ll see.

I’ve had a flare-up of my IBS, so I haven’t been to the pool or down to the Roseville gym. I have walked and done the Auburn gym, but I want to keep track of what foods may be triggering this( pizza? dairy?). I checked with Dr. Laptalo, and he thought it might be connected to my Velcade. (Remember my chronic diarrhea started way back with Revlimid, like in 2010. Most of that is over with, but occasionally I get a period where it seems to flare up. He suggested some OTC Imodium, so I’ll check that out. I do have Lomotil, which I take when needed, and that was an absolute game-changer for me, so I could go out to eat, travel, etc. But these flare-ups make it hard to go out. Todays Wednesday, and I’ve been fine the last few days, so I’ll see how it goes for the rest of the week. This is a common side effect of chemo, but with Velcade, I haven’t noticed much. On the other had I didn’t develop IBS with Revlimid for 3 years, and then the last 2 when I was on it were truly awful.

So, as such, I haven’t decided if I want to get my book or not. I plan on making another sourdough loaf as I fed my starter. The whole wheat loaf didn’t have a very good rise, so I think my starter was too weak. I did get some organic flour to use as opposed to the whole wheat I had used. Whole wheat is great for a yeasted bread, but much harder with a sourdough starter.

I need to work on next month’s budget, too. I have Allstate as an extra expense and part of the house insurance, too. I need to check if there’s something else too. Property taxes are coming due, so I need to figure that out.

That about sums it up!

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, seasonal things, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

I took down most of the Christmas stuff and labeled the boxes. Since I did do a Snoopy tree this year, I labeled those ornaments in a box so next year I can pull them out if I decide to do a separate tree. I kept up the Ikea tree but took the bird ornaments off and put them away. I’ll probably take down the Ikea tree tomorrow or at least sometime this week. It always feels good to get a fresh start, although I do love looking at the different trees and their ornaments.

My daughter got me a compact waffle maker to replace the bigger one we have, so we had waffles last night. I might make some more this morning. Yumm.

This was our Christmas morning bagels and lox. I didn’t get a picture of dinner, but everything turned out delicious.

The pool was insane the other day. All the college kids were there. I forgot that this was winter break between semesters. I’ll have to see if I want to brave it next week. I finally got a lane with one of the college kids, and twice I got mouthfuls of water as he was kicking so hard. It wasn’t fun.

A very cold 36 degrees this morning, but the walk was lovely. The park was all frosty.

Today, I’m planning to go to the gym and then home. I might go back out later if my daughter wants to go to Home Depot. We need some things for the house.

This next week is a repeat of Christmas with New Year’s on Thursday. I have Velcade on Friday, which will be a little weird. I usually go on Thursdays. So my Dex day will be Saturday.

Other than that, I’m looking forward to the next year and hope it’s not as awful as 2025. I’ve had no luck getting a camping spot, so it’s been close to 10 days of trying every day. I’m almost at the first week of July, and I never go to Tahoe in July or August unless it’s a day trip. Too many tourists.

Friday Things

Posted in California, cancer, frugalism, home stuff, plants, Uncategorized, velcade by

My shot went well yesterday, and afterwards I went to WinCo. I spent $83 on food and paid in cash. I specifically wanted Taco sauce and a small jar of peanut butter. I don’t think buying the 2-pack at Costco is worth it for just the two of us.

Today is my dex day, and so far I feel pretty good, not too crazy:) I’m still a little sinus-y, but that’s it.

Some Christmas stuff and a totally funny New Yorker comic. B and I would always joke about this from “What About Bob ” and Siggy saying that.

I need to figure out my day but I know I need to:

clean the stove and hood

vacuum

do 1 load of laundry

look at the budget for the next 2 weeks

water some plants

???

Thankful…

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, cancer, Gratitude, Political things, swimming by

The government has reopened, and hopefully, the services people need will happen quickly!! What a joke for trump, though. Let’s hope this comes back to bite him where it hurts with the LONGEST shutdown ever. Plus the damning Epstein reports. Will it bring him down? Probably not, unfortunately. sigh….

Hip Hip Hooray!!!!! My labs came back and went down!!!! not in the normal range but down 4.5 points to 21!!!! I’m over the moon. So. I get a reprieve for at least another month!!!!

I’ve adjusted quite well to my ResMed CPAP machine. Clearly, I had sleep apnea, and this seems to have relieved ALL the symptoms. As resistant as I was, now I’m glad I persevered. The one I have just has the pillows you put in your nose, so it is not claustrophobic. Overall, I’m pleased that it’s working. I haven’t noticed much difference during the day, though. Supposedly, you are supposed to feel less sleepy, which I didn’t have to begin with. Anyway, there’s an app to use to track sleep and use of the CPAP, and it’s fun to look at it.

Thankful for the pool as always. I went on Veteran’s Day, and holidays are hit or miss. This time was a hit, and I had a lane to myself. It was very nice.

Thankful for my kids helping when they can. I’m hoping my son comes up this weekend to do some stuff, but his partner just had surgery, so he’s been caretaking them. (non binary).

Thankful to be getting a little more organized. I redid my clothes in the closet, since most of B’s are not in there anymore. One side looks good, the other is still a mess. But I plan on working on that today.

I’m thankful that, even though it’s raining, I can use the treadmill to get some steps in. Rain is forecast for the whole day.

Well, I’m off to do whatever.