(no subject)
Made it to another year, kids! Not that another year makes any difference in my level of maturity. Thanks for your beautiful card, elanorgardner! That's a fantastic photograph, thank you so much for sharing it with us.
I got sick over Christmas, and didn't realize I was sick because I was so upset over a work-friend's kitten -- a 12-week-old kitten, dammit! -- needing to be put down. Wendy called me with the news on Christmas Eve, in tears, and I attributed my headache to that (and my overall reluctance to go chasing out to St. Charles for a family get-together).
Christmas Day I kept picturing Wendy sitting in her apartment, all alone with her poor kitten. So after a few phone calls to family and friends I took off for her place in Downers Grove. We sat in her quarantine room holding William, who was sleepy and had a grotesquely bloated belly, and talked and cried together. I blamed all the crying for the sore throat and headache I took with me to my mother-in-law's house later. But I was losing steam fast. Since I'd driven myself and had to get the second car home by myself, I very rudely left about 5 hours before the party broke up.
And I still didn't realize I was sick, despite chills and an inability to get comfortable. See, body aches are part of the chemo side effects. Plus it gets fucking COLD in Chicago, so with the wind whipping around outside, I just thought the house was chillier than usual. It took a night of sleep for my brain to process everything, and I woke up the next morning knowing I was running a fever.
The problem was, it was a very high fever. The Big Book o' Chemo Fun Facts says you call your doctor when you run a fever over 100.5. But I felt silly paging my doctor early in the morning, so I took some ibuprofen and waited for the Cancer Center to open at 8. By the time I called them, I was feeling much better. I'd had some nice tea (thanks, hanarobi!) and was well-bundled up, planning on a relaxing day on the sofa, watching tv and snoozing.
Instead, I was told to go to the Emergency Room.
Poor Uncle Jim, who takes me to all my chemo dates now that he quit his job, wound up carting me to Loyola's ER. We were very quickly moved away from everyone else, put in masks, and left in a private room. They took blood and urine. They took throat cultures and a chest x-ray. Finally, many hours later, they confirmed that my white count was fine and I probably just had a cold. You should go home and rest! Oh, and they gave me an antibiotic, just for fun.
The next day was chemo day. It felt like a day in the park compared to the ER, but still. Too much time at hospitals.
Yet I'd had a lot more fun, even sick, than poor Wendy, who took William to the vet on Wednesday and said goodbye. Then she went home and started cleaning carpets and doing everything she could think of to keep the FIP virus away from her five other cats (including a littermate of William's, a healthy girl who is about double his size and has 10 times the energy -- which should have been our clue that William was sick).
I worked a half day on Friday, then had another four-day weekend in which to try to get over this cold. All I managed was to pass it on to Rich, though.
I haven't managed to read much. In fact, I forgot about Yuletide altogether until the reveal was already done! *sigh!* I actually enjoy reading/commenting on anonymous stories... But then again, Yuletide is such a large group of authors that most of my comments might be to unknown authors anyway, which is close enough.
Oh, and I did get my house clean in time for the New Year. I have this superstition that whatever you do on NY's eve, you'll do all year long. So I wanted things clean, and I wanted to do fun things, too. I had coffee with Uncle Jim, and shopped at my favorite local store for non-alcoholic sparkling pear juice (ChemoGirl cannot drink!). I cooked a couple of new recipes and some standards for our fishy feast. I wish I could say I looked fabulous, but that wasn't in the cards this year. But our exercise class begins next week, and I'm still hoping for good news by February, health-wise. I'll settle for healthy and homely!
But alas, I didn't make it to LJ on NY's eve! However, I do plan to be here a lot in 2008, and one of my resolutions is to lurk less and comment more. You guys made 2007 a wonderful year for me, despite nearly 10 months of being ChemoGirl. I'm so thankful for the friends I've made here in fandom land, and for all the fun and sharing we do. Now I'm off to attempt to catch up on your news!
I got sick over Christmas, and didn't realize I was sick because I was so upset over a work-friend's kitten -- a 12-week-old kitten, dammit! -- needing to be put down. Wendy called me with the news on Christmas Eve, in tears, and I attributed my headache to that (and my overall reluctance to go chasing out to St. Charles for a family get-together).
Christmas Day I kept picturing Wendy sitting in her apartment, all alone with her poor kitten. So after a few phone calls to family and friends I took off for her place in Downers Grove. We sat in her quarantine room holding William, who was sleepy and had a grotesquely bloated belly, and talked and cried together. I blamed all the crying for the sore throat and headache I took with me to my mother-in-law's house later. But I was losing steam fast. Since I'd driven myself and had to get the second car home by myself, I very rudely left about 5 hours before the party broke up.
And I still didn't realize I was sick, despite chills and an inability to get comfortable. See, body aches are part of the chemo side effects. Plus it gets fucking COLD in Chicago, so with the wind whipping around outside, I just thought the house was chillier than usual. It took a night of sleep for my brain to process everything, and I woke up the next morning knowing I was running a fever.
The problem was, it was a very high fever. The Big Book o' Chemo Fun Facts says you call your doctor when you run a fever over 100.5. But I felt silly paging my doctor early in the morning, so I took some ibuprofen and waited for the Cancer Center to open at 8. By the time I called them, I was feeling much better. I'd had some nice tea (thanks, hanarobi!) and was well-bundled up, planning on a relaxing day on the sofa, watching tv and snoozing.
Instead, I was told to go to the Emergency Room.
Poor Uncle Jim, who takes me to all my chemo dates now that he quit his job, wound up carting me to Loyola's ER. We were very quickly moved away from everyone else, put in masks, and left in a private room. They took blood and urine. They took throat cultures and a chest x-ray. Finally, many hours later, they confirmed that my white count was fine and I probably just had a cold. You should go home and rest! Oh, and they gave me an antibiotic, just for fun.
The next day was chemo day. It felt like a day in the park compared to the ER, but still. Too much time at hospitals.
Yet I'd had a lot more fun, even sick, than poor Wendy, who took William to the vet on Wednesday and said goodbye. Then she went home and started cleaning carpets and doing everything she could think of to keep the FIP virus away from her five other cats (including a littermate of William's, a healthy girl who is about double his size and has 10 times the energy -- which should have been our clue that William was sick).
I worked a half day on Friday, then had another four-day weekend in which to try to get over this cold. All I managed was to pass it on to Rich, though.
I haven't managed to read much. In fact, I forgot about Yuletide altogether until the reveal was already done! *sigh!* I actually enjoy reading/commenting on anonymous stories... But then again, Yuletide is such a large group of authors that most of my comments might be to unknown authors anyway, which is close enough.
Oh, and I did get my house clean in time for the New Year. I have this superstition that whatever you do on NY's eve, you'll do all year long. So I wanted things clean, and I wanted to do fun things, too. I had coffee with Uncle Jim, and shopped at my favorite local store for non-alcoholic sparkling pear juice (ChemoGirl cannot drink!). I cooked a couple of new recipes and some standards for our fishy feast. I wish I could say I looked fabulous, but that wasn't in the cards this year. But our exercise class begins next week, and I'm still hoping for good news by February, health-wise. I'll settle for healthy and homely!
But alas, I didn't make it to LJ on NY's eve! However, I do plan to be here a lot in 2008, and one of my resolutions is to lurk less and comment more. You guys made 2007 a wonderful year for me, despite nearly 10 months of being ChemoGirl. I'm so thankful for the friends I've made here in fandom land, and for all the fun and sharing we do. Now I'm off to attempt to catch up on your news!