What Fun Was Had After Treatment Two
It seems that my reaction to the second treatment was not substantially different than it was after the first. I feel very sleepy and a bit nauseated for the first 6-9 days. I then slowly feel better over the following week. Right when things feel back to normal I go in for another round of chemo.
The notable difference between the first and second round of chemo was tasting the “metallic” taste quite often for the first 10 days. I put quotes around metallic because that is how everyone tries to describe it. I think it tastes more like a chemical. If you can, imagine the smell of fertilizer in the gardening isle at Home Depot and the taste it conjures up; now combine that with the sharp metallic taste from licking a penny. That taste comes on at random times, and makes you want to stick your tongue out and say “blach” while you get a full body shiver. That taste and sensation is the only thing that makes me dread chemo just a little bit.
Besides all of that we have gotten a number of projects done over the last week. With a house built in 1924 there is no lack of projects available. Each project is really only worth a few hours, but Dad and I take our time getting moving in the morning then tackle something small each day. Over the last few weeks we cleaned the garage and added shop lights, added switched lights to the backyard, replaced a receptacle in the kitchen with a GFCI, and added switched outlet under the sink for a new disposal.
The GFCI project was supposed to be very simple. Pull out the old outlet and put in a new one. When we took the old one out we found that the existing metal box was way too shallow for the much deeper GFCI so we needed to replace the box. Once we pulled the box we found out why it was what it was; the kitchen sink vent pipe ran directly behind the outlet. To make a box that would fit, the original installer had cut the one they had in half and squished it together then screwed it back together. The two inch box was now only an inch deep. To replace it we refreshed our jig saw, router, and painting skills by making a little one inch deep frame to hide the new box sticking out of the wall. It turned out well, but took much longer than it should have…because it could. The new receptacle ended up looking like it was an original part of the old school kitchen, as we intended.
Fun “Little” GFCI Project
The last day before treatment seems to be the one we push for something a little bigger. I feel a little better, and psychologically, I want to accomplish something since I will mostly be in bed the remainder of the week. Because of this, in one last big push before treatment, we prepared the raised beds in the front for planting and edged the front yard. In this case it included reinforcing the corners that have started to separate and adding a 4″ more dirt to each. Since we are giving square foot gardening a go we combined made up their fancy mix…lots of new soil.
New “Square Foot” Soil
Gotta love 1924 electrical wiring… your receptacle came out very nice, as did the planter boxes!!