Where to begin…

I’m feeling fine. At the last appointment on the 28th, the nurse practitioner reiterated that while on Taxol, my white blood cell count won’t go as low as it did on the first meds. When I told her I had been pretty cautious throughout the first four infusions, she said I didn’t need to worry so much. How much is so much?

We discovered in early December that we had a timeshare about to expire, so we made last minute plans to use it on Cape Cod, in Falmouth, over New Year’s weekend with our friends who used to live next door to us in Wakefield. I took my Clorox wipes. Debbie brought the Lysol. We met up on Friday afternoon and had dinner-in while the kids played. Their daughter is a year younger than Will and plans to marry him; his first kiss – and thus far his only – was with her around the age of two or three. Their son and Liam, close in age, have telepathic connections. Many days, a conversation with Debbie and hearing about her son’s and my son’s common actions and behaviors gives me grains of sanity. Although I don’t think Debbie’s son every made warm chocolate in the toilet for her… This was the first time we’ve been together, just the eight of us, since they moved nearly four years ago. We had a great laugh that evening. The next morning, well, between a bad rash and a throwing-up incident in their room, our neighbors packed and went home. That’s no small feat given we had packed planning to spend three winter days together. All are recovering, and although we missed our three-day weekend together, we had the gift of Friday night.

One thing about the Cape in the winter: there are no crowds of people… anywhere. The beaches were deserted, the restaurants were quiet, and the swimming pool was empty. I dropped the three boys off at the pool then went shopping in Falmouth. The shops were also deserted. We even had the aquarium in Wood’s Hole to ourselves for most of the visit. It was a low-key time away from a house packed with holiday over-indulgence. At the hotel, the sparse kitchen cupboards with only the bare minimums were a pleasure to open – nothing fell on our feet.

As I type this (6 p.m. Tue. the 5th), Bill and Liam have just landed in England. Bill’s sister is going away with her family for a long weekend, so Bill and Liam are going to keep Grandma company. Will is back at school, mildly confused as he didn’t think he would be going back until “next year” and when he went back that he would be in 1st grade… He’s still in kindergarten.

With Bill away, I’ve changed my next chemo date from Friday, January 8th to Monday, January 11th. Only one more after that! Bill will be home Tuesday to manage evenings next week. In the meantime, Will and I will be enjoying a week-long game of Monopoly at the dining room table while Bill and Liam entertain abroad.

Hope your New Year is starting out well!

:)

Linda