Wed Thurs and Fri .... rollerbladed, curled and hiked and got my picc cleaned.  All good gentle exercise to keep me healthy as I can get.  I have met a lot of nice new people at the curling club.  Lots of survivors with encouraging words which is nice.  Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather.  The 10km walk today was lovely in this great weather.  Have a good weekend all.

Wish all our rainy days are like today.  Nice and sunny with a little breeze which made it a beautiful day to roller blade by the Ottawa River.  Did 4 ends for fun with the ladies league this morning.  Met a lot of people.  Met one other lady who is also on chemo so we compared notes.  She too only has one treatment left.  Think I will soak in the tub with the jets tonight to get rid of some of the pain in my legs.  All good....

I survived my first 8 end game that I have played in a long time.  My Thurs night league is right after work so they rarely get in 6 ends but no more.  We did one game in a bonspiel last year I think but all in all a lot of exercise.  We had only 3 players on our team so got to throw 3 rocks  each end.  24 deep knee bends and sliding... and Lots... lots...lots of sweeping.  Tomorrow morning we are just doing a social with only 4 ends so I am going roller blading after ward.  Hopefully this will get me in shape for the Radiation.

Mom has been busy making more chemo hats.

JimBob installed the back splash for me today.  He said that I should go back to work so that I don't create too many more jobs for him.  Below are two pictures of the Before this is the After.

Before the back splash was put on..

Before Back Splash on this side

Finished the first of 5 shawls for the nurses.  I started with this one that has teal in it which is the colour for  Ovarian Cancer which most of the patients seem to have.

This is the shawl.  I got the pattern from a lady who made them for the Krafty Bonspiel that we went to in Navan this year.  I contacted her through the organizer who happened to be Sara's Aunt.  What a small world.

Sparky feeling a little better today.  He sits on the back of my chair like a cat so that he can see out the front window and still be near me.

Roller bladed yesterday from Andrew Hayden Park to the Look out past Britannia Beach and back.  It was lovely to be out and about.  The pain is awful when I am just sitting around so doing things is good.  Went to the open house at the curling club last night and met up with a lot of people who hadn't seen me over the summer.  A lot of double takes but when I started talking they recognized me.  Kinda fun.  Took two tylenol and my Gabopentin to get to sleep.... it worked.  Got about 8 hours straight of sleep which was a drugged sleep but I slept..... Had two pieces of toast with boiled eggs and back in pain again....  Going for my pedicure this afternoon so hopefully my calves and feet will be better after that.... Still have to find a way to write those off as medical expenses.

Finished the book so will take it back today after getting my picc cleaned.  Just wanted to capture a couple of things from it before I give it back.
"A survivor is a triumphant person who lives with, after or in spite of a diagnosis or traumatic event.  Survivors refuse to assume the identity of their adversity.  They are not imprisoned by the constructs of a label.  Instead, survivors use their brush with mortality as a catalyst for creating a better self.  We transform our experience in order to further evolve spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally.  Our reality challenges us to go deeper.
Survivors cultivate an essence that will never be victim to a word.

1.  Get real
2.  Eat smart
3.  Shake your boody
4.  Live like you mean it
5.  Educate yourself
6.  Go quietly inward yet speak up
7.  Get involved
8.  Don't sweat the small stuff
9.  Focus on healing vs. curing
10.  Plan for a long future BUT live in the moment"

OK now I can take the book back after roller blading of course... need to get out after two days laying down.  My legs don't hurt right now so I am off.

Have I said lately how much I love my swing.  We had a great day together yesterday.  Nice little breeze.  Much nicer than lying in bed all day inside.  Glad the bad day was yesterday since it is very rainy today so bed it would have been.  If I could get some sleep, I am sure I would be ok.  I didn't take the hot flash pills right after chemo and while I was taking the steroids so sleep was impossible.  Not sure if I could have taken them or not but I do not like taking too many things at once.  Tonight I should be back to regular meds and no more pain killers that wipe me out but don't let me sleep.  At least I got to read most of my book yesterday.   Back to rest....

Had a great day shopping today.  Didnt buy much but did lots of walking which was the goal.  Jim gave my feet and legs a massage last night and tonight which helped me make it through last night without pain killers.  I hope that the same will work tonight.  Goodnight all.

Had a great day as usual the first day after chemo.  The steroids that they give you to take on the first and second day so that you do not feel the pain are awesome.  I can see why people who work out use the steroids and then they can do so much more.  I cleaned some cupboards today, went for a two hour walk exploring the new subdivision near our old house and then did laundry the rest of the day and made supper.  Now to relax and do some knitting and watch TV.  It should be the same tomorrow until I hit the wall.  Last time it hit at 5 pm, the time before it hit at 11pm, the time before not until Monday... the time before Tuesday.  I should put out a lottery to see when it will hit this time.  I may just recognize the symptoms now better so I take the Tylenol  earlier..  At least this way I do not get nauseous.  It is a lot easier to avoid getting sick then to try to get rid of the sickness later.  Only was stupid once so far... never again if I can help it.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Finished off one that Jo started in the summer but didn't get a chance to finish before she left.  One of the ladies took it today.

I did it myself.  I convinced Jim to work today so I drove myself to chemo and back again.  James was on standby as a driver if I didn't think I could make it home but I was fine.  I just took this picture since I realized I do not have any like this on my blog.  This is what I look like around the house since the wig and hats are too hot in this crazy weather and they give me a headache with something on my head all of the time.

Chemo went well again.  5 down and 1 to go then on to radiation.  Based on what I saw today, I think that I am going to keep the picc in for the rad treatments just in case.  My hemoblobin is only 109 and it should be at least 110 and for rad they usually like it to start at 120 so the nurse was saying that I might need to have a blood transfusion before I can start the rads.  There was a lady there today getting magnesium in an IV since it dropped too low on her.  She gets chemo every monday morning then radiation in the afternoon every week day.  She is finishing week 4 of 5.  They did more blood work on her while she was there and figured out that she needed  potassium as well.  Her IV was very painful so they had to keep dropping the drip so she might be there until midnight.  She still needs her radiation this afternoon so they were going to stop the drip and wheel her down for it and then bring her back up.  Those things are not meant to go in a regular IV which is why they were burning her even though she did half in one arm and half in the other.  Her arms are all black and blue from the blood work that they do on her to get the counts.... I would rather put up with the troubles of the PICC line than that.  She is the first one that I have met that was going through the rad treatments.  She has cervical cancer and will have her surgery next week.
I also met a lovely lady from Hawkesbury.  She had cancer in 2002, came back 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011 and she is still doing the treatment for that one.  She has a picc for drawing blood and pain killers and has a port for the chemo.  She truly is a fighter.  Her husband said it was the 75th trip to ottawa this time round for her.  It is now in her bones so not good.  She is knitting a sweater that she liked the pattern of because it goes across.  She told a friend that she liked the pattern and wanted to knit it but thought it would be dumb since she would never get to wear it.  Her friend said knit it and I will wear it so I will.  She has crocheted double bed size afghans and donated them for draws to raise money for cancer.  They have the ribbons on them and the hearts so she did the pink one first which came with the kit and then did a blue one for ovarian cancer using the pattern and just buying the right colour wool.  Guess what I am thinking of doing...  I can carry on her work.

The nurse gave me a book to read which I can read before I go back the last time:  Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor.  So far it is really good.  Talks about turning a negative into a positive.  "What if you could see adversity as an adventure instead of a battle, an opportunity and not a curse?  The big-daddy life question isn't whether were going to die.  I got news for ya, life is a terminal condition;  cancer patients are just more aware of it.  The real question is how many of us will choose to truly live."

I really think I will like the book.  People think I am out there doing too much but my counts are still good for  chemo at least and I am not depressed and enjoying life.  So far so good.

4 hats to donate tomorrow.  Gave 7 others today to the girl that I met who has permanently lost her hair.  Her two sisters have lost theirs as well so I figured they needed them more than chemo people who only need them for a few months.  Spread the wealth kinda.

Roller bladed for about 1.5 hours... some with Judy for her first time then by myself taking pictures See Below.  We went on the path opposite Billings Bridge.  Judy did awesome for her first time.  We are going to go again next Wed after I get my PICC cleaned at the mall and then off we will go.

Not a care in the world.  Some ducks were funny trying to swim against the current up some rapids.  Go a bit and then float backwards further then they would finally find a better path.  They work so hard which is weird because they could just fly up.

Even the pigeons can look pretty when  you are in the right mood.

Seagull checking it all out.

Best I could get of the Black Swan.  There are lots of the White ones but the Black one is hard to get.

Beautiful white one on shore cleaning itself.

Today was another learning experience....not that I wanted to learn all of this stuff but I do not have a choice.         I had my picc cleaned and then she had to take blood for me to take to the lab.  This was the first time that I had blood taken from my picc.  When they stick a needle in you the vile is attached to the needle and they just keep changing the viles until they have filled enough of them.  Well with the picc they suck out the blood and then attach a needle to the plunger that is full of blood and then stick that needle into the vile.  The vile is supposed to be vacuum sealed so when you stick the needle in, it is supposed to suck the blood into the vile.  Of course mine didn't work so she had to push the plunger to push it in which was the first sign that something was wrong.  Once she got enough in the first vile, she pulled out the needle and blood sprayed everywhere.  We couldn't help but laugh.  She said it was like she had a massacre in the room.  The second vile did the same thing but the third one was ok.  I had blood all over my hand and arm in the end.  It was all over the chair, table and floor.  I then took the viles to the lab and guess what...one of the viles that the chemo nurse gave me to use was wrong so again the lab has to get 3 tests out of 2 viles.  The lab gave me the correct viles for next time.  Next time is hopefully the last time so maybe we will get it right, and uneventful next time.
I met a lady today that lost all of her hair...not through chemo .... when she was 45.  She has to wear a wig all of the time.  We were talking about chemo hats and I happened to have some with me that Mom had made so I gave her one.  She was very appreciative.
I plan to go rollerblading on the bike trails tomorrow with Judy.  Hopefully we have good weather.

Ruth and I had a great time blading tonight.  We were out for about an hour around her neighbourhood and Darren's.  Some was on the paths and some on the streets.  We hadn't been out since the spring so it was a good warm up.  Should be able to go out more now with the cooler weather.  Must get some sleep now so that hopefully my blood will be ok tomorrow.  It will be my first time with the picc giving blood.  The giving of it will be easier, just a hastle to have to take the blood from one place to the other myself.  I guess I will take a little cooler bag so that it stays ok when I go from one place to the next.

Visited work today to drop off some of the crafts that I have completed.  It was nice visiting with the people that I found.  Four more sleeps to Chemo time.  Lets hope I sleep better than last night.  Had to take Benadryl for my allergies.  My allergies were too bad when I would lay down so I doubled up on the drugs and slept.  Added up to 5 pills to go to sleep.  It will be nice when this is over.  Had a nice long walk with James and Sparky tonight while Jim Golfed.  Nice and cool for walking now.  I am going to try roller blading with friends tomorrow night after their work.  Stay tuned for how that goes....

Just got home from Merrickville.  They cancelled the ride due to the lightening.  The rain is bad too but on bikes in lightening wouldn't be good.  Some riders tried it but they got turned around since the police and ambulances for the last part of the ride were cancelled as well.  I saw some on my way back at the Swan.  I had to go to Manotick to get my meds for this weeks chemo so then by the time I got to Manotick Station Road to come home, I saw them coming back the other way.

There were too many logistics to change it to a different day.  I am not sure what they are going to do with the food in Merrickville for  800 people that won't be there.

Any way - a lot of money was raised for a good cause which is the main thing.  Thanks again for your support.

Went to the clinic yesterday to get my picc cleaned.  Since I was going out, I put on mascara and eybrow pencil.... low and behold I am losing my eye lashes now in my left eye.  Apparently it doesn't happen to everyone but I guess I am the winner.  Just a few gaps so far but it explains why I have been having itchy eyes lately.  Off to the menopause clinic today.  Not sure what will happen there.  Every day is an adventure.  One more sleep and I get to go to the finish line for Ride the Rideau.  It is supposed to Rain but if they can bike 100km in it to raise money for cancer research, I can stand and sit a few hours in it to make sure they get into the final chute safely.  It would be awful to ride the 100km and miss the chute so would have no record of finishing.  They have the bracelets this year so they will get to know their times and splits at each of the rest stations.  Hopefully I will get someone to take my picture at the finish line for tomorrow's blog and if not there will at least be pictures of riders.  I know quite a few from the Merkley team so it will be fun seeing them again.

A little bit of beading and macrame

Changed it up a little today and finished off the beading kits that I got for my surgery recuperation.  On to the next project.

left over wool from sweater

Still had some wool leftover from the sweater so made another hat last night.  I can make a hat in an evening but it took a couple of weeks for a little sweater.....  Stay tuned for my next project.

Bored of making hats so made a little sweater

My LTD rep would be proud of me.  He told me to use complicated patterns when I was making the chemo hats so that my mind would stay active.  Well I even got bored of doing them so decided to make a little sweater.  I had to keep modifying the pattern to match the wool that I was using and also had to figure out what to do with the little wool that I had.  Believe it or not the seed cuffs etc are the same colour as the body, just a different dye lot.  Had to rip out both arms twice and one of them 3 times when I figured out that there was such a big difference.  In the end it looks pretty nice and I don't have too big of a headache.  Margaret has donated all of the wool that I have been using so she gets to choose who gets the sweater.  In the end with all of the modifications, I am not sure what size it is.  I hope some little girl enjoys it.
Walked with Sparky to mom's before the rain came today to give her more wool.  She is still making the chemo hats.  On to the next project.

Not too bad looking after 22 km bike ride

I definitely look better than I felt after a ride to Snake Island and back via the railroad track trail.  Wanted to make it to Osgoode but wasn't going to happen today.  Maybe next time if it is cooler.  Too hot.  Just like when I am cross country skiing and I get too hot, then I get nausious.  Had to stop a couple of times and sit down on the side of the trail with my head between my legs.  When you keep going it is ok because you get a breeze,  just too hot when you stop even in the shade.  It is over 30 out there though. We did go in the middle of the day also.  Any way Jimbob was there to help me but has told me never to go down there by myself... sparky doesn't count either.  Guess I will stick to the neighbourhood when I am out on my own so then I can get home easy if I need to.  Enjoy the rest of the long weekend all.

My feet and legs feel so much better after a soaking/pedicure...nice pretty pink!!

Yesterday got the dressing on my picc changed.  I have a small infection where it enters but the nurse says that 98% of all of her patients that have the new PICC line that is stiffer have an infection.  So long as it doesn't get any bigger it is ok.  They will check it again when I go back on Thursday.  Today in the shower the dressing came off so James wrapped it with gauze and taped it up again.  Good thing that we have the supplies from the home care left over.  Had a pedicure/soaking today and my feet/legs feel 100% better.  Went for the Cabana Boy colour just because....  Well back to laundry ... it is a great drying day, one load dry by the time that I put out the next.  Have fun all.