I did not see that coming!

                   I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink, I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
                                                                                    
                                                                                              The Beatles

        One of our greatest pleasures, are weekends at the lake. Six years ago my son Chris,daughter Jenae , Mary and I went together to buy a lot in a private camping community. It is an ideal setting for "Grandma Camping", we have a trailer and a shed. When My Sister and her Husband came up they immediately made plans to buy a lot and turn it into their dream getaway. Some of our greatest evenings have been spent sitting around someones fire or trying to out cook someones amazing food. My intentions were to have a safe, secure, 5MPH or less place my grandchildren could make childhood memories at and it has been well worth it!

                                                Brogan Helping Uncle Chris & Aunty Nay Nay

     My Grandson Brogan has the camping bug! This should be a natural as both his mother and father have been avid campers since they were babies. The plan was to meet at the lake for breakfast and spend the next two days doing camping stuff! they had an Ice cream social, a chili cook off, a dance with a live band, Lake Connor Park does it right!  We were extra blessed to be joined by Chris, Jenae, and Nolan! The whole crew was there! We met at the clubhouse at 9:30 and ordered breakfast and were pleasantly surprised when we got back to camp to see Chris & Jenae had everything already set up, water on, propane hooked up and a nice little fire going! Home sweet home!

     Within 45 minutes, I was hit by a wave of exhaustion that I have never felt. I am taking two types of Chemo drugs, a clinical trial, and Temodar, and I am also taking radiation 5 times a week. That along with steroids, anti seizure meds and Blood pressure meds make for an immense amount of drugs. It's not "Fear and Loathing " immense, but their are times when I feel like the floor is floating! I have resigned myself to the fact that I will need rest on most days. " Honey, I am going to go take a little rest", I told Mary. Just an hour or so. I crawled into the bus,turned on the fan and slept. When I woke up I had slept for seven hours.

     I was even weaker than I was when I laid down, and I was starting to feel flu like symptoms, body aches, fever, no!!! Not in July! Fortunately for the other 11 people ,  Chris a a great cook and  had made a most amazing smoked barbecue chicken, with pasta salads and potato salad and other yummy stuff. I sat down at 7:00 and forced down as much dinner as I could. By 8:00 I was falling asleep at the fire pit. I had spent an entire 1/2 hour playing with the grand babies. This was not how I planned the weekend!

    I went to bed and was trying to drink as much water as I could to fight the fever. We have a well oiled machine when it comes to treatment. What we did not anticipate was illness or emergency. We had no tylenol, no ibuprofen, no cold and flu stuff, nothing. And the wave of body aches on Saturday night was more horrific than anything I have felt in 45 years. Remember when you were little and you had growing pains where your knees would hurt or you back or your elbowsThat's what this was. No way to get comfortable and going from terrible excessive night sweats to extreme chills. I got up to go to the Bath house at 4:00 AM and almost fell asleep in the toilet.

    By Tuesdays radiation, the lethargy had continued.We also had added a new wrinkle, a heat rash around my neck and spreading down my torso. Super Radiation nurse Gaia wanted some tests taken and sent me down to ER. I don't know if you have experienced an inner city ER, but it is no picnic. The wait's, the inordinate amount of patients, and the overworked staff make it almost laughable. Please, don't misunderstand me, anyone who opts to work the ER is doing Gods work for Journeyman wages. I was there for nine hours, for 2 IV drips of water and 2 Tylenol, Heather went to the cafe and got me a cheeseburger and fries. The only reason they didn't admit me was Wednesday was my long blood draw day and i was to be back at the hospital at 7:30 in the morning.

     Early Wed, clinical trials had talked to people, they said hold off on the chemo, no blood draw, just radation and Doctor visit. Yahoo!!! a slight reprieve from the 6 blood draw day is almost a reason to celebrate! I opted for a nap. We went in and had the radiation, saw Rock Star Cancer Doc, who informed me that my immunodeficiency system is down and more than likely this could be the flu. However the heat rash is one of the two Chemo drugs. Although my suggestion was flip a coin, his much more Rock Star knowledge was take a break from both, until the rash goes away. Benadryl and a limited amount of tylenol and rest. I told him when it comes to rest, I am the Rock Star! He likes my cancer humor (I think).

     Although it's a minor setback, I am hoping for fairly rapid recovery. I am still doing daily radiation but am wearing a mask when I go to the hospital, you know there are sick people their?Plu the bonus is it keeps those chatty Cathy's in the waiting room from telling you their life story.

      The moral of this story for those of you that are also fighting the dragon or caring for someone who is, is talk to your Oncologist about what med's you can take and make up a small emergency kit. I am sure I could have been much more comfortable had i just thought about it, and think about, you're gonna get sick at some point! Lesson 2, if your taking tons o' drugs you immune system is gonna be down. If you are going to a hospital every day, it's wise to use the masks and hand sanitizers at every opportunity It might save you days of slogging through, and we don't want to waste those precious days!

      To Brogan, sorry buddy next trip Poppa will be feeling better. There are plenty of summer weekends to hike, find Salmon berries and smack each other with pool noodles. We will make it up another time!