Category Archives: Gratitude

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, Gratitude, instant pot recipes, velcade, Walking by

I’m thankful I can be flexible when I need to be because:

I woke up grumpy this morning and decided to NOT walk. That’s kind of a big deal for me not to do something when it’s planned. but I figured Fuck it, I’m not walking. I will go to the gym after Velcade and call it good.

I’m thankful the library is such a wonderful resource. I’ll get my holds after the gym.

Last night, we had homemade lentil vegetable soup with the Tartine baguette. The baguette came out very well, and I’m pleased. As I’ve said, his recipe seems to always work. It may be that his hydration is spot on. I used the instant pot for the lentil soup and it was done in 20 minutes of pressure time.

I’m over the moon that Barclay is doing so well. No nosebleeds and his energy is good. Today he’s getting labs so I’m hopeful they are still above the 100 mark for platelets. So grateful for this round being so much easier.

I’m grateful, most of what I wanted to get for Christmas is done. I feel like this is the last year of doing presents even though I didn’t do a whole lot this year. It still adds up and we’re definitely towing the line with money. I think I’ll formulate a plan and write it down so I can reference it for next year. Like maybe Amazon gift cards? Plus be more diligent with the budget.

I’m thankful it’s only 16 days to the Winter Solciste.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, Gratitude, Myeloma by

It’s Thanksgiving Day so lots to be thankful for:

For B doing well after Chemo. It’s early days yet but still, it’s nice to feel things normal. It’s around day 10 that the drops happen. The chemo was reduced some so maybe he’ll not have as big of a drop. Still, I’m thankful for the chemo working even though it’s a very difficult drug. (Cisplatin).

I’m thankful my 2 children are healthy and happy. They both help us so much. S is around to do extra stuff we need done and I’m beyond thankful for that.

I’m thankful my cancer is staying steady with my light chains in the normal range. My ratio is slightly out of range but not by much.

I’m thankful I can walk in the mornings and enjoy the early morning sunrises.

I’m thankful that we have SS and it pays our bills. Since we still have a mortgage that’s a big deal. We probably couldn’t afford to live somewhere else unless we rented and then that would just be using money from selling this. We don’t want to do that at all so here we stay. My son is putting in some railings by our deck and the sunroom for safety.

I hope this day finds you as well as can be and what are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, Gratitude, home stuff by

Well, I am beyond thankful B has felt good. There is no need for platelets or blood. Whoo hoo!!! He gets labs today, so we’ll see how much more they increase.

We are amid a rain deluge. It’s been raining almost nonstop. I didn’t walk this morning as it was pouring. It looks like next week will be raining off and on. I plan on staying home today but tomorrow I will probably go to the pool. I need to return those sweats so that’s a good reason to go rather than Saturday. Both days will be busy as Thanksgiving is next week. I don’t need anything at this point but I haven’t made a checklist yet. I’ll do that today ( I did it below).

I’m thankful I don’t really stress about Thanksgiving and keep it very simple.

Menu for Thanksgiving:

Turkey roast from Diestal( which didn’t show up yesterday???)

Nut loaf is made and in the freezer,

and mashed potatoes are from Costco and are in the freezer. My son might make homemade made which would be fine too.

cranberry sauce is my canned cranberries from last fall. My son will get or I will a can of Ocean Spray

green beans

rolls, I have a package of Hawaiian rolls in the freezer.

stuffing is just a box of Stouffers. Now that I think about it I need celery and carrots.

I think my son is going to roast some brussels sprouts too.

I have 3/4 of a Costco pumpkin pie in the freezer I’ll defrost. We rarely eat dessert at Thanksgiving but I still want it there.

I’m thankful for quiet times at home. It’s peaceful and cozy.

I’m thankful for my daily routines that keep things running smoothly in our household.

I’m thankful B installed both grab bars in the shower and even though the pan is nonslip it’s best to safer.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, Gratitude, peritoneal mesothelomia, swimming, Walking by

Thankful we had a good doctor visit and she was very apologetic about all the lack of communications. She said she has all the orders in and somehow, whoever isn’t quite getting it together.

I’m thankful we were on the same page about Chemo next week, which will be postponed until November 27. That is the day before Thanksgiving but his numbers don’t get affected till about day 10 so we should be fine.

I’m thankful she also reduced chemo even further but not by a lot. But some may help. today he has more platelets, and my daughter will take him to Rocklin at 1pm and then I will drive down to get him at 4. I thought of getting a pizza for dinner but I think we’ll just get something out of the freezer. That’ll save money and time.

I’m thankful driving hasn’t been too awful except for the lunatic right here in town speeding past me on a double line. I beeped my horn and then he was up at the light I beeped again and wow, that was some angry person. In hindsight I shouldn’t have engaged him(the beeping at him) the second time as road rage is a very real thing. Lesson learned.

I’m thankful I’m flexible where swimming and the gym are concerned. I haven’t been to the pool in a week with all the other stuff going on. I haven’t been to Roseville gym in over a week too. It’s frustrating to say the least but it’s just what needs to happen right now. Hopefully next week things will be back to some normal schedule.

Thankful Thursday( late) and Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, Gratitude, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia, Political things, Walking by

Yesterday was busy so I didn’t get anything written. I had to be down at infusion by 8:30am so needed to leave early. I did get my walk in first thing and that was nice. I’m thankful, I am still walking even though B isn’t. With his numbers so down he doesn’t have the energy.:(

I’m thankful infusion went ok. They are great nurses for sure. I noticed though there weren’t curtains to pull around the chairs which is odd for infusion rooms. All the UCD infusion chairs have some kind of curtain for privacy.

After infusion, I went to the library to pick up my holds. I am thankful for the Martha Riley Library as it is a wonderful community space.

I didn’t really have any enthusiasm to go to the gym. After that, I went back down to Winco. I finally saw where the new Trader Joe’s is and funny, it’s right down from Winco. But you can’t see it right off as the gas station blocks the view. It looks to be a bigger one than the Rocklin one so I’ll check it out next time I swim.

I’m thankful this fall has been colorful with leaves turning all shades of yellows, golds and some reds. Other than that, this week is really a downer if I’m honest.

Frugal-wise, it was ok. I didn’t really do a whole lot. All of the first-of-the-month bills are paid. There’s a little left over to get through till the end of the month. There’s Thanksgiving and so I’ll need a few more groceries for that. I ordered the Diestal turkey roast to be delivered on Nov 21. They are not cheap, but local and I’ve had good luck cooking them.

I spent $125 at Winco, $25 was on wine, so $100 was on food. I also filled the car up at Costco gas so that is a big $$ savings.

Today is a Dex day so it’s home for me. Barclay’s platelets have tanked so he’s going in for more labs this morning and hopefully scheduled for infusion. this is day 10. so we’re starting to hit the real downtime (days 10-15). He’s much better this cycle but still, there’s the platelets dropping. His hemoglobin is doing ok, but I think this is the period too where that started dropping. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.

My son is coming up today to work on a few things. If B needs an infusion tomorrow he could take him and my daughter go get him. We need the labs to come in till we know and the doctor says his platelets need to be under 50 for transfusion. I guess what she was saying is this is UCD policy. What a crock of shit. If it’s only going to keep going down and that means an ER visit, he knows he’s at 90 so why wait??? Doesn’t make any sense.

I’m still committed to not watching the news, it’s kind of a relief really. I know how I am with stuff that upsets me so much, so I feel this is a good thing for me right now. For how long? Who knows??

Thankful Thursday And Happy Halloween!!!

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, cancer, cash envelopes, Gratitude, Halloween, swimming by

The good news is that his hemoglobin went up to 10.4 so he had his chemo yesterday. I really do hope the 25% reduction helps keep his numbers at least above the cut-off for transfusions. I am very thankful he could do the chemo. So now we have to wait and see what will happen this round.

I’m certainly thankful that I could drop him off at Rocklin Infusion and then go down to the pool. It’s maybe 10 minutes away even with traffic.

Speaking of traffic, yesterday must have been crazy driver day. It started as I was getting on the freeway here in MV and a white BMW was right on my ass and then cut out in front of me and then swerved back right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. How much of a hurry are you in? Anyway, I’m grateful there wasn’t an accident.

I’m thankful we have rain this morning. It’s only a drizzle but it is getting things wet. I decided not to walk. It’s going to take some time to adjust to fall behind on Sunday. Ugh….why can’t they pass the law and leave DLS in place?

The only thing I need to do is go in to get B’s anti-nausea medication. He thought he had gotten it but he didn’t. The pharmacy opens at 10 so I’ll go then.

I’ve been trying to teach myself how to use Canva. I wanted to make some vellum placeholders for my cash envelopes. I’m somewhat challenged in that department as I can never remember quite what to do. But I did get a template done so I was pleased. When I look on Etsy some of these placeholders or dashboards are $5-8 dollars a piece. I have bought some downloads in the past for my envelopes but generally those run about $4. Today I’m going to try a few more.

I thought about canceling my Washington Post subscription over Bezos not endourseing Harris but decided not to. Did anyone out there cancel their Post sub?

I might check out the NYT. Does anyone have both? Is it worth it?

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, books, California, cancer, Gratitude, husband, library, Walking by

First, the biggest is B’s numbers went up enough that he didn’t need the transfusion. Today is his labs so we should know if they increased. The doctor will reduce the chemo by 25%. Also, we’ll know what to look for this time. Dr. Lee from Stanford doesn’t want to go down too much more otherwise the chemo is really for naught. So he thinks he’s still a good candidate for the Hipec so that’s what matters here.

I’m thankful to still keep walking at 6am even though it is very star-filled. I like it early but I have to admit I am feeling somewhat less motivated. Maybe that’s an age thing too or just that I need to find my why again. Right now I’ll just stick to what I’m doing which is 5 days a week sometimes 4( when I’m feeling lazy:))

I’m certainly thankful my daughter can take her Dad for labs etc. This morning I’m meeting up with the library friends so I can’t do it till later and it’s better to get them done early so the results come in.

I’m thankful to be able to swim at the pool even though it’s been hit or miss. With everything going on if I get one swim a week in that’s good. Yesterday, made it twice this week( hurray) but the pool was crazy busy. I had to wait 2o minutes for a lane and then because the pool closes at 9:25, I barely got a swim in. There seemed to be a lot of people there I hadn’t seen before. It’s odd how it is that sometimes it empties out at 8:30 and other times people were NOT giving up their lanes even though they had been swimming over an hour. I wonder if Roseville P and R could put an hour limit on lap time. ?? I doubt it but it does seem unfair when some people are swimming an hour and a half when there’s 3 people waiting. And that’s 2 to a lane. I won’t do circle swimming( that’s where there is another person who follows you and you swim in a circle. Last time I got kicked in the head. Oh well, it is what it is.

I’m grateful for our beautiful fall weather. We’re having a wood fire in the mornings to take the chill off the house. It’s very cozy.

I’m thankful we’re near the end of the whole campaigning thing. I’d just like to be over. It’s going to be very tense that Nov 5 and beyond whatever happens. I voted early and just got the notice my vote was counted!

I’m grateful for the Roseville Public Library. It’s a welcoming place and I love getting my books there.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, cancer, Gratitude, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia by

I’m thankful B is not in the ER after a second trip the other day. This one lasted 24 hours and was pretty awful. Something is going on with his platelets and they can’t figure it out except the chemo has affected his bone marrow.

Once again, it’s very stressful because we’ve had to coordinate pick-ups, drop-offs, and repeat. We decided if another ER visit happens which I guessing is going to, we’re just going to go to Sutter ER. It’s way closer and then we can coordinate food etc. In the UCD ER, they don’t offer coffee, water, or anything. Pretty fucked up if you ask me but I do understand because there are SO MANY PEOPLE, that the nurses etc would just be running around doing that.

Anyway, his platelets went up but by the time he was home and checked his final CBC, they had dropped some. I’m not sure where all this is going or if he can even pull out of this, but I am grateful for this time.

I’m incredibly grateful both my kids have done most of the driving him around and picking him up. Today, if he can get labs, I can drive him to that since it’s just Auburn.

I’m thankful we had a wonderful rain yesterday. Everything is fresh and smells like fall.

I’m so grateful my son went and got another load of wood from his friends. They had cut it and had it ready for him to load in the truck. I want to give them some money for all the wood they gave us, but I need to wait for the budget to settle down.

I’m thankful I had a good appt with my doctor. My kappa light chains went up 2 points and out of normal but he said, let’s not worry about that right now as it’s a minimal increase. Plus I have no mental energy to worry about it.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, bread, California, cancer, cooking, Gratitude, reading by

So thankful chemo went well. No problems at all; it went way quicker than we thought it would.

I’m thankful I had lots of books on hold so I can read today. One was a LP so I have to return that and get the regular one. I have been reading ‘The Two Towers’ and am about a third of the way through.

I’m thankful I do not have to drive to Sacramento today to pick up B’s specialty prescription. This is one that is very expensive and has to go through the grant process. It’ll probably be ready Monday or Tuesday. He is supposed to start it tomorrow but that’s not going to happen.

I’m grateful that the heat wave will soon be over and we’ll be back in normal October weather. It’s not too unusual to have higher temperatures in October just not 99 degrees. I think today is supposed to be 94.

I’m making a loaf of whole wheat bread in the breadmaker but I think the hydration is off. It seems too stiff. I’ll still bake it but next time I’ll do a bit more water. With the bread maker, it’s harder to adjust the ingredients as the machine is doing the mixing and kneading. So when I checked it later I could see that it was a little stiff but by then it’s too late to add water. I’ll see how it turns out. Whole wheat is always a little tricky anyway.