I'm A Spring Chicken!

I've said it before and will say it again, springtime is my favorite season. Hands down I love seeing nature wake up from winter's sleep and things turn green. Sure the pollen turns my car yellow and the porch is dusted with it as well as everything outside. Don't wear black pants if you want to sit outside on a nice day. It won't turn out good, for sure.

Nature is not the only thing that wakes up in March, I have several friends and relatives celebrating birthdays in March, including myself. I'm not talking about a couple, I'm talking a huge number of birthdays including an Aunt, cousins, nephews and the list goes on of people close to me sharing the season. While most of us are no longer spring chickens, we were at one time fresh eyed beings marveling at the pretty pastel colors, deep green of leaves and grass, and bright blossoms from flowers. Even when they occasionally get a dusting of snow left over from winter. I still say the best ground hog is in patties or links and not as weather predictors.

With so much going on all at once, things like birthdays sometimes take a backseat to our complaints of this or that seasonal abnormalities. As we get older, birthdays become "just another day". There's less milestones making them special, like becoming a teenager, driver's licenses, drinking age or they eventually hit you with the realization you have to select a whole new age group on online forms. Cakes become cup cakes with a candle in it or you can't indulge because your glucose is off the scale or your hips are too wide for the door. They happen and we just move on. No presents, just another day like Tuesday or Thursday.

One year, as my birthday was approaching, Mom asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my big day. I've never had any cake I didn't like, so how does a kid turning 8 or 9 answer that question? I like all cakes regardless of what's inside, even plain cake with no frosting is good to me. It's gotta be pretty dry and crusty for me to not like cake! She was determined to get an answer though and make me the perfect cake, so all I could come up with is blue. I want a blue cake.

The day finally came and we had several relatives over, most of them also celebrating their March birthday,s and Mom put out her usual spread of food and drinks. She then brought out the blue cake, adorned with candles. It was sky blue and I couldn't imagine how she made it so perfectly. Everyone got a kick out of my blue cake and it didn't take long for it to be gone. It went down in my personal history as the best birthday I ever had and remains my favorite to this day.

I still celebrate every trip around the Sun now, but mainly as a cancer patient, I appreciate every one as well as each new day. I'd give anything if Mom could bake me a cake again, but that's a precious memory that can only happen in my mind.

February 2018 in Review

February is not my favorite month mentally since both my parents passed away around Valentine's Day. Dad passed away in 2005 on that day and we buried Mom on Valentine's Day in 2016. I really don't do any big celebrating or sweet mushy gestures this time of year. I did however, jump feet first into half priced candy after the flower frenzy day was over!

My last CT scan revealed fluid built up in the sack surrounding my right lung, so my Doctors decided to drain the fluid out. Without too many gory details, they sat me on the side of a bed leaning over a tray table with my arms crossed as a Nurse held my arms down. That was my first clue this wasn't going to be pleasant. I asked if I needed a bullet to bite on.

It's been many years since my Mom would tickle and tease me and I had forgotten how ticklish I still am. The Doctor had to probe with his fingers to locate the space between my ribs and I was having a hard time holding still while he tickled my side. Once he located the sweet spot and inserted the needle it was a piece of cake. Who knew being tickled was worse than having a needle inserted into your lung cavity?

I watched as the glass jar filled up with fluid and they had to get a second bottle. When it finished, they had drained 1400 ml of fluid, which is just over a quart. Oddly, I was not having any breathing problems and no symptoms at all before this. They did tests on it and it came back normal, but after a week of more tests, a result came back with "atypical cells", which made them suspicious given my history. They decided to hold off on radiation and start me back on chemo to knock down any abnormal cells before they attach to something and grow.

Hey, it's February, why not! We go through the lab tests, possible side effects and the chemo. I had one of the drugs on the first go round, so I knew what to expect. The second drug is a "step up", and boy, that's an understatement. My RN, Vickie, told me to let her know if I had a reaction to it, although she said she would know before me because I would turn beet red from the waist up if it happened and she would see it. Fortunately it went well and I remained tanned.

The next morning, though, it had hit me like a ton of bricks. Every "possible" side effect listed showed its ugly head and did not ease up. Even jacked up on steroids! The next day was no better, but it got me to the weekend, so I had four days to recover before the next work week. Plenty of time, no? NOPE! My fatigue level was off the chart, but slowly I was able to amble around a little more each day. Now, chemo messes with your tastes buds, which I expected, but not exactly. In previous rounds I lost my tastes for anything with artificial flavors, milk and iced tea. I'm Southern, how can I turn down tea, Pepsi or Coke? Just water, maybe with lemon.

This time however, I was like the girls in the movie "Nine To Five" eating after their pot party. Everything tasted soooo good! I got my taste for tea back, hot and iced. Food was awesome and I loved it. Didn't keep it all down, but it sure was good going in!

So I pretty much spent the rest of the month dog tired all the time, but a bit stronger each day. I started eyeing the weather forecasts since we had an abnormal end of month warm spell. Everything pointed to a great weekend to end February and I quickly booked a trip to Nags Head. We had a fantastic time and I got my annual off road beach pass for Cape Hatteras. I drove on the sand from Nags Head to Oregon Inlet, the point of the island where the ferries cross to Ocracoke and then off to the famous Shelly Island at the lighthouse. It's so cool to park on the beach, take the chairs out and watch the birds fishing and not have to lug them several hundred yards in soft sand. I didn't expect so many flies to enter the Jeep and not find their way out. It's Thursday, and I didn't see any today, so maybe the last one starved to death.

It was a horrible month, but an great way to end it!