Even shorter

Thur. night

Tomorrows treatment is the last this week and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know it's not a train. Two days off and 3 more treatments and then a few more ( OK, probably more than a few ) appointments and I'll be done at least long enough to be able to go back to work. And I would like to get back to work before winter. The alien has gone back into his shell or wherever he came from. Without looking hard the only visible evidence is a sunburnt looking area where the alien was. The truck has set since January with only occasional starting and hasn't moved since it was parked. I know I should move it but I was hoping to have it something to do. I'll take it out this weekend and let it get a few minutes of highway time.

As I've said before our house in Granbury is up for sale and there is always something to do to make it look better or just general upkeep.

I've been using Open Office for the last 4 weeks now. Yes I can definitely tell a difference between this and Microsoft Office. And although I would give Microsoft the edge if I were evaluating ( wait a minute, I think I am actually ) the price most definitely has to go to Open. Again I'm not a power user so it's hard for me to judge fairly. I have used Microsoft for a very long time, and I have used it through many different versions and updates. And before one of the last 2 versions I knew where everything I needed was, until they started adding so much stuff that they had to add ribbons to be able to get it all in there.

Sat. morn.

Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

Another beautiful morning at home. This getting up every morning has temporarily turned off the night owl. When I see light in the morning I find it hard to sleep anymore and if I stay in bed I just lay there thinking of what I could be doing. Or what I should be writing.

Last night a friend of ours came over and cut my hair. It's thinned out some, but I was starting to look like I was auditioning for That 70's Show. So I got rid of some of the fluff and curls. My beard is a different matter. What little of it comes in now I can run a razor over dry and it just breaks off. No resistance, no drag, nothing, Run the razor over my face and it's gone as easy as cleaning a dry erase board. ( Let's hope the hair on my head doesn't start breaking off. ) My neck is another matter. It looks diseased and as tall as I am I get noticed a bit more than the average person. It's almost funny seeing people first do the double take when they see me and then again when they see my neck. The burned area is down low on the right side - where the knot was and is a color of darkness that has never been on my body ever before. I don't tan ( other than a modified farmer's tan ), I burn and burn red. I have the type of skin that will have a water blister cover an area long before darker pigmentation sets in. The difference between the peeled area and the burnt area is striking but in a wrong way. It goes from a bright pink to the color of medium brown leather. Quite the odd color combo and only adds to the stares. I'm actually a bit surprised that more people don't ask what the hell happened.

I can already tell this summer is gonna be a killer for me. Considering the amount of weight I've lost, the meds I'm taking, and how weak I've gotten since all of this started it's gonna be a real fight to keep from falling down into a puddle. I've been outside today and its 91 in the shade. Not for long at a time,

because I get the feeling I would get before a heat stroke. We've turned on the AC when it got to 82 in the house although if we could get the humidity down some we could tough it out a bit more with fans. I know, wait till August it will be down then. Yeah and it will also be 110 or more. I said I was from Texas not Arizona.

Sun. night

Back again, back again, ( and I don't know the rest )

Three more treatments. When I was in the Army and there was a short timer, he was generally not good for much other than to run around, get in the way, and holler SHORT!! every chance he got. The shorter he got the louder and more obnoxious he was. This mostly applied to those who were getting out of the military, those going back to the "world" ( the US ) from overseas, or those going to a better duty assignment. And to be fair this was only people with the rank of sergeant or less. Those of any higher rank had the same feelings but were afraid to act out due to command looking down their nose at you. Now I can't run around there hollering SHORT !! because someone would tell me in a not so gentle way that that is really rude. You know it was rude in the service but who gave a damn. You were done, you were outta there !! Well I feel short. And I'm damned well more than ready to be outta here. I have had the best care that I believe was possible ( DDS excepted ) with what they had to work with. But there is still only so much poking, prodding, and irradiating that one soul should have to take and I'm at my limit. Well, that's what the Dr. said anyway. He said that I have reached the max amount of radiation a person can receive on any one area of their body. Any more and they would start to make me sicker. Hmm, yeah doc I think we should stop right there. Right now the knot is only visible if you get really close and chances are one would be looking more at the burn than for a knot.

Monday

Went in early to do labs and then headed for treatment. Finished that and had to go to the clinic that installed my PIC line to have the dressing checked. When you shower with a PIC line you are supposed to cover it with a waterproof barrier of some sort. The VA gives you a thing called a shower sleeve which is a plastic sleeve and has elastic on both ends to seal the water out. This weekend after I had showered the edge of the shower sleeve had released the edge of the PIC line dressing and scratched the area. After a day it looked like a raw area so we put some ointment on it and covered it with a bandaid. The nurse that checked it today said it should actually stay open and uncovered as much as possible. Oh good, now I have to get a Larry the Cable Guy shirt. And I really don't have the physique for showing off my arms. As my 1st ex wife was fond of telling me " You're coming to the gunfight unarmed ". Gee honey I love you too ( NOT!! ). When I finally got back to chemo for my weekly Dr. visit she said my creatinine was still too high so she sent me to the infusion room to get a bag of saline. One exceptionally nice thing about the PIC line is that it only takes an hour to get a liter of saline as opposed to an hour and a half with just a regular IV line.

Well I'm going to end this one and see if I can get it posted.