A Rude Intrusion :: Day 8

This is my blog for day 8 of cancer treatment, Monday, 17 Jul 2017.

Slept well last night.

While the river is still rising, there was no rain. We're pretty much out of the flood zone, but my sister Jan is right in the middle of it, on the Fox river north of McHenry. Have to call her today and see how it's going. Flooded - that's how it's going. Bill is in a kayak, paddling around their house. Ouch!

Am wondering if I should post a statistic like, "1/7 done!" or "5 of 35 radiation treatments completed" or "14% done!". Still sounds daunting, at least from this side of 50%. Perhaps I'll wait until the 50% mark is reached . . .

Am not nearly as bushed today as I was just after chemo. Not that I feel like running, marathon or other. But my appetite is good, and my attitude is, as well.

And I'm working! This is my last week at Hollister, until I return after a recovery period. I participated in some testing today, with an external vendor, and was able to make a contribution. This, too, makes me feel good.

Tim took me to treatment yesterday, after driving Nancy to her treatment earlier in the morning. My weight decreased by just over 6 pounds - guess that's what happens when you eat, but you're not really hungry. So I was told to make sure that I got 2200-2400 calories each day. I looked up "calories needed to maintain weight" on Google and found that one needs 2361 calories to maintain your weight. How to get these calories is the question.

We had a really nice dinner Sunday night - turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy - so I weighted out 4 oz of turkey, 4 oz of corn and 4 oz of potatoes, topped it off with gravy, a little butter on the corn, and warmed it in the microwave. Then I calculated the calories. Turkey - 101 calories. Corn - 110 calories (what?). Potatoes - 400+ calories (that's better). Glass of milk - 190 calories. Full total was 873 calories. But then I had to eat it all. And that was the tough part.

Those of you who know me well know that I love to eat. But in the last few weeks I haven't been eating as much as usual. So putting down that turkey dinner was difficult, and left me feeling terrible. (Note: Even before posting this on Tuesday morning I still feel kinda full!) So I guess I'm going to have to move to more high-calorie, high-fat foods. It was suggested that I might want to have ice cream every day . . . suggest away. That I might be able to do!

To finish the day, here's another YouTube video. It's a song titled Because We've Ended As Lovers, made famous by Jeff Beck (from the Blow by Blow album), done here by Larry Carlton (Steely Dan session musician) and Steve Lukather (Toto).

For convenience sake, here a running list of all of the links I've posted to YouTube in the past few days:

According to Plan, Carolyn Arends - Link

Because We've Ended As Lovers, Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather - Link
Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield, Bill Kirchen - Link

My Funny Valentine, Kristin Chenoweth - Link

My Funny Valentine, Miles Davis - Link
Route 66, Asleep at The Wheel - Link
Shim, Sham, Shimmy (dance) to Tain't What You Do, Jimmy Lunceford - Link
St Louis Blues, Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi - Link
That's Jazz, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong & The All Stars - Link
Time to Blow, From That Thing You Do - Link