I remember once upon a time when I was excited for the weekend. This was before I worked retail, where weekends only mean work, and my current retirement state where a weekend is like any other couple of days. It still does mean we are able to more easily get together with friends and that Costco will be busier. Today though I am happy it is the weekend. I am smoking a pork shoulder on the Traeger grill and we have five friends coming over for dinner. Last night, Friday, Sharon and I went out to dinner at Carelli's in Boulder and had a very nice evening. Sharon had comforting spaghetti and meatballs. I filled my fish needs with a whole bronzini. It was delicious. We have found two very good Italian restaurants in Boulder but none in Longmont.
Yesterday Sharon and I drove to Aurora to the UCHealth Anchutz Cancer Pavilion for blood tests and a visit with a nurse practitioner. The drive is about 50 miles but the SS made it a breeze. Then I got my blood draw. The technician I got should not be drawing blood, especially in that clinic. She started with the usual "which arm" questions and I told her my right hand and pointed to the vein. She didn't freak, and that was a good sign, but then she managed to miss the vein. She pushed and pulled, but no blood. Then she pulled that one out and started to poke around. I showed her a spot on my left arm that is home to a good vein, but she kept poking around other spots on both arms, then went to get a vein finder. That is a sure sign of a problem. She ended up in my left hand but did not get a good draw, but was able to slowly pull the blood she needed. It took about 25 minutes for this whole process. Normally I am done in less than 10 without a problem. The good news is that my blood counts were fine, my white blood cells count was down but not too much and the same with hemoglobin. Down but not terribly so. I am good to go and on track for my next round of chemo on February 28, March 1, and March 2. This chemo is done over three days which to my mind makes it easier for my body to take. When I did the ABVD in 2010 it was all dumped into my body on one day every other week. The R-CEOP is done over three days every three weeks.
Yesterday while visiting with a friend he told me of a friend of his going through ovarian cancer. He mentioned that she was seeing an acupuncturist with good results and asked if I wanted the contact information and I did. When I got the info I looked at it, and then googled BCH Integrative and discovered that Boulder Community Health offers a full range of support therapies as part of their cancer center. They have Healing Touch, Oncology Massage, Acupuncture and other alternative therapies. The University of Colorado does not offer these. On Monday I will be calling BCH!
Below, early morning from our bedroom window yesterday.
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