Wednesday 9.3.2008

I know that I finished yesterday's post with the hot flashes, and I want to add an awareness that I found during the night. I had been asleep for about 3 hours (which in itself is fairly unusual), and when I woke, I think I woke up because of the aura preceding the hot flash. During wake times, I've been perspiring across the top of my forehead near the hairline. Sometimes the middle of my back is wet, as well as the inside creases of my elbows, too. And other places, but I'm not going to go there. So, when I woke up after sleeping for a few hours, I was covered up all snuggly. I was curious as to--do I have hot flashes when I'm actually asleep?? Well, the pillowcase was dry, and my top sheet was dry where it was up around my neck, the bottom sheet was dry underneath me, and my pj's were dry. Does that mean that I didn't have an "episode", or did I just not perspire? As frequently as the hots happen during the day, I have a hard time thinking that they don't happen around the clock, asleep or awake. But, with as much perspiration that's been oozing, and the bedding being dry, I wonder...

Daniel got up to go for an eye appointment, then golf to follow. I went back to sleep. Much to my surprise, when I woke thinking I was hungry, it was 10:10!! Sometimes I think I'm sleeping a lot, but then I remind myself that I tell my patients that it can take a year to recover after childbirth, and surgery, too. And after what this body's been through, I guess I'm thankful that I'm able to rest and eat well and be active.

I went to Jackson to take care of some banking, as well as a haircut. My travel was at the time the heavy rain storms moved through. Just walking (sprinting) from the bank to the car, I was soaked. Really. I was so wet, that Lauretta The Haircut Lady didn't need to wet my hair any more. She just combed and cut. I used one of her towels to dry my arms, and set on my lap over my wet shorts to rest my arms on. Sheesh.

She got to going with her scissors today, and it's a little shorter than I like. It will grow, and in a couple of weeks it will be fine. When she was done, I commented about how short it was, and I think she was surprised, too, because she said "next time I won't take so much off there." Yeah, Ok. I'm happy to have hair.

The temperature had dropped, too, from 89 degrees when I left, to 69 degrees when I got back home. The humidity is still really high, though, so the comfort level hasn't improved much.

Daniel had eaten, and I fixed myself something to eat. He went in for a nap. After a bit, I woke up, too. I was surprised that I had nodded off. He got up after an hour or so.

We watched television and I wrote here. He's gone off to bed, and I'm on my way, too.

Tomorrow is my appointment with Ike, and I'm very ready for it. The area under my upper arm is a sensitive/numb/annoying sensation, as is the area directly above the axillary incision. Both incisions are puckered again, but I'm sure that's due to lymph fluid collection. She'll take care of that. I hope. Simple tylenol and motrin take care of the discomfort, but I'd rather get rid of the cause... Oh, and by the way, my nipple sloughed off again today. It was pretty sore afterward, and I put some silvadene ointment on it. Yikes. And a lot of the eyelashes that hadn't shed previously with the chemo are shedding now. Yep. They're the longer ones, and they just come out. There are lots of new, shorter ones, but it's really strange to be this far out of treatment and still having effects. I guess that's how it works, though. I'm just happy to be here.

Thank you for reading. Hugs.