A Busy Week!

The word "busy" doesn't mean what it used to before I retired. Sometimes I think back to everything I needed to get done on certain days/weeks and I wonder why I ever subjected myself to it. (That little issue of a paycheck to pay the bills is the likely culprit.) Then, once I retired, if I got busy, it was because I was scheduling things that *I* wanted to do. It was a very different, easy going and more enjoyable kind of busy.

Since getting sick, and especially since starting some of the early treatments described in previous posts, "busy" has come to mean things like several appointments in a week or even two or more appointments in a day. It's a world away from what anyone without cancer might consider busy, but it still wears me out. 

This week was a very busy week for me.

• Sunday, April 14: Our daughter visited us over the weekend. This did not create "busy" as such, but we spent some family time outside around the house and grounds. Before I got sick, that wouldn't have tired me out, but it sure did now. Plus, I still had that stupid catheter in, which made even sitting down and standing up more difficult.
  
• Monday, April 15: Early morning appointment with the urologist to have the catheter removed. A definite relief for me, eventually, but it didn't come without fears of possible infection and/or incontinence. (Thankfully neither came to be.) Our daughter was still visiting through the later afternoon.
• Tuesday, April 16, part 1: My first visit with an oncologist in the middle afternoon. Although he seemed to know his stuff, he also had a thick Indian accent and spoke about the road(s) we were going to take in a strangely non-linear way. I found myself confused by at least half our conversation. 
• Tuesday, April 16, part 2: Thankfully, the oncologist then took us to the chemo/infusion center (of the Beloit Cancer Center) and had us confer with a nurse who was much easier to understand and explained things much more linearly. I felt much better about the road(s) we were about to go down after talking with her, but the sum total of those two hours of intense but helpful information had me exhausted.
• Wednesday, April 17: Since I'm going to receive chemotherapy, they wanted to get a chemo port installed on my chest. We had an appointment to consult with the surgeon at 11:00 am, but were warned that the surgeon would be seeing us between procedures and might run a little late. We arrived at 11, answered the same battery of questions that everyone else that week had asked us already, and waited in an exam room until around noon when the surgeon came in. Noteworthy is the weirdest part of the entire conversation where he asked, "So why do you want a chemo port?" Are you kidding me? Don't you have a record of my downfall on your computer? Isn't the referral from an oncologist enough? Besides, I don't want any of this, thankyouverymuch.
• Thursday, April 18, part 1: The oncologist order genetic testing (bloodwork) to help decide if the choice of chemo drugs would be best for me. We drove back to the Beloit Cancer Center for a 2:00 pm appointment to have that done. My cursed vasovagal response means more stress for anything that involves drawing blood. Thankfully, the nurses there were very understanding and accommodating.
• Thursday, April 18, part 2: Then we went from the Cancer Center over to the Beloit clinic for a follow-up with my urologist. Everything there went fine (we even saw him 15 minutes early!) but two different appointments in two different buildings had me zonking out in an involuntary nap on the couch shortly after we got home.
• Friday, April 19, part 1: Originally, I had a haircut appointment on Thursday at noon but, with all the other appointments that got scheduled for that day, I asked my barber if I could reschedule. Thankfully, he said he could fit me in on Friday, early afternoon. My wife drove me (she's been driving me just about everywhere these days) then went to get some groceries and gas up the car while I was in the chair.
• Friday, April 19, part 2: That persistent and annoying cough I mentioned in at least one earlier post still has not gone away, despite being on three different courses of antibiotics since it first started bothering me. I just finished that third course on Thursday, and contacted my PCP that there was still no change. He ordered a chest x-ray that I could get a North Pointe (health facility near me) so, after a quick stop at home to drop off groceries, I went in for that x-ray.
  
• Saturday, April 20: There is nothing on the calendar for this day. Nothing. I'm going to do every single thing I can to keep it that way.