It was a pincushion kind of day......

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.  ~William James

Yes, I felt like a human pincushion going to the lab for my weekly blood draw this morning.  And Katie, the “good one,” was working!  Boy, did she have to work to get a teeny tiny bit of blood from me!  One stick in the arm (elbow joint area) and two sticks in the back of the hand.  She finally had a little bit in 3 vials, which hopefully was enough to run the necessary tests.  It seems to be getting more dreadful each time I go.  WAAAAH!  I’m not sure what I’ll do in Texas next week for my blood draw, but I’ll have to find someplace to do it – hopefully someplace with REALLY GOOD phlebotomists. 

Texas you ask??  I’m in desperate need of some sister therapy!  So I’m meeting my sister, Nancy, in Texas for a week (5/8 – 5/15)!  I’m SOOOOO excited.  The whole adventure started out as a bit of a lark but quickly became reality.  Nancy has been offering to help me with my transcription when the workload gets really overwhelming, so I started explaining different things about the job, my gastro account, the tricks of the trade, etc.  And I said, “Ya know? It would be a whole lot easier to show you everything in person!”  And she said, “Let’s do it!”  And so our Texas adventure was born.  We were trying to think of a convenient place to meet (she lives in California and I in Florida) – someplace where we could find reasonable airfares and nonstop flights (cut down on the germ factor and stress level).  As Nancy and I were discussing it on the phone one afternoon, Kenny piped in and said, “Why don’t you go to San Antonio?”  Well, neither of us has been to San Antonio, it’s about halfway between San Diego and Orlando, and Southwest (one of the most user-friendly airlines these days) flies there nonstop from both cities!  San Antonio, here we come!  Thanks for the idea, Kenny!  And we’re actually going to spend 3 of the nights in Austin, too, which is supposed to be another really cool place.  Two of “my girls” have offered to take on some extra work next week, so Nancy and I should be able to have some quality sister time together, which I am SOOOO looking forward to.  And, oh yeah, I’ll show her the transcription “ropes,” too!  Maybe while we’re hanging out by the pool at the Marriott……J

I’ve been feeling really good the past couple of days, although I was quite tired today – probably exhausted from the tedious blood draw…..although I think it was tougher for Katie than me.  I just had to sit there and watch…..and try to beg the blood to flow.  Other than the fatigue, though, I’ve been feeling great.  One of the ladies in my online “support group” suggested taking Claritin to ward off the bone/joint pain that seems to be a nasty side effect from the Neulasta injection.  Heck yeah!  I’ll try that!  And so far, I’ve had no bone pain at all this time.  Now why would Claritin (for allergies) keep bone pain at bay??!!  Another co-survivor on the website told me about MetroMint water to get rid of the yucky taste in our mouths from the chemo.  Finally found it in Publix yesterday, and it’s wonderful.  A little pricey but tastes so great and definitely gets rid of the yucky taste.  So, combine those tidbits with the lint roller for the head, and I’m learning all kinds of great things to help make this journey more tolerable! 

Well, it’s time to wrap up another day.  Tomorrow I do laundry, Saturday I pack my bags, and Sunday I’m headed for Sister Therapy!  Hugs to everybody!!  Thank you all so much for your blog comments, emails, positive thoughts, and LOVE!