I called the cancer center today and I am going to meet with the doctor on Tuesday, get labs and get fluids. I’ll also find out more about neuropathy. My concern is that it will get worse and worse the more of this cancer drug we use, but I’m not sure that that’s the case. We will postpone my chemo until after I get back from DC.   I think it’s a great plan personally and hope to get stronger every day until I have to go back for treatment.  I hope I’m not trading quality of life for quantity but then again,maybe that is ultimately a decent trade. 

On a lighter note…

I had lunch with my friend Sue, who you should be very familiar with by now lol. We are helping Lindalee from all Kitty Korner write a grant from Petsmart Charity. I love Sue dearly, but she’s a disaster on the computer and has managed to get us locked out of the website so first order of business is to  figure out how to undo her good intentions :-). All Kitty Korner has been working in our area since 2004 and has made a huge difference in the community cat population. Sadly, lindalee finds cats who are very friendly and adoptable but have been thrown away by their owners and are living in these colonies or on the streets.. Happily, she takes these cats in along with their kittens and gets them the medical treatment they need including sterilization.  She takes them to Petsmart to get them  adopted. Last year she did 192 adoptions through Petsmart!  If you’re not familiar with the problem of unsterilized pets and unsterilized animals living outdoors, check out the numbers below.  Unfortunately, sometimes animal rescue feels overwhelming. I compare it to trying to make a difference by taking one grain of sand off the beach. Fortunately, people in Rescue know that each and every life is precious and if we can make a difference in one animals’ life, it’s worth the effort :-). 

Moving on…

Today is the 18th anniversary of my son, Jake and his girlfriend Krista being together. She sent me amazing photos. I’ll share a few. 

This afternoon I was on the phone with Krista’s mom, Lisa and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. I had called her because I learned on her son’s Facebook post that their 11year old dog has cancer. I let her know that our Doberman, Dino died from cancer, but with the use of pain meds, tramadol and rimadahl combinations, he was able to have an extra year of quality life.  Our conversation flowed from one topic to the next very naturally and we both really enjoyed the talk.  Personally, I wish more people would pick up the phone instead of just texting.    It is such a better way to communicate feelings and actually engage in a real dialog.  

Late in the afternoon, Hans and I had a great time dressing up for Grisel’s 50th birthday party. She was genuinely surprised and very happy. Her close friend, Marina, had done an amazing job decorating the house and the  food was delicious   Marina showed me her husband’s office which was filled with all her living room furniture. She single-handedly schlepped the couch and tables into the room  yesterday.  Now that’s  a friend.

We had tons of fun doing make up. Hans even sprayed his head red.   Hard Lesson learned. …When you spray paint your head and sweat, it runs down your face.  Thank goodness there were plenty of napkins!