Numb feet, ridged nails, and a birthday celebration

So here's the short of it,

My feet are still numb, my nails are a map of my treatments, and we had a joint birthday celebration tonight.  

And here's the long

I believe that my left foot is getting a little better today and the big toe on my right foot has had a tingly feeling rather than the numbness more often today.  It's still very annoying.  Today I realized why I'm sometimes off balance. The bottoms of both feet are numb most of the time...it's more on the balls of my feet and my toes.  I have some feeling on the heels of both feet.  Anyway as to the balance issue.  Since I can't really feel my weight distribution, I think I sometimes end up with my center of gravity over my heels.  So suddenly I'll feel like I'm falling sideways or backwards.  I haven't fallen yet I've been near enough a wall or a person to catch myself. I've been wearing my fake crocs.  They have little bumps on the inside and so I think I've been getting massaged most of the day.  I'm very hopeful that the tingly feeling is a sign that I'm getting better. 

Tonight I thought I'd share about my nails.  My fingernails have always been rather thin and hard to grow, so I keep them cut short and don't paint them at all.  I knew lots of people lose their nails during chemotherapy and I thought I surely might.  Well, I haven't lost any of them yet, but there is a map of my chemo treatments etched into the nail.  I have a ridge and a white line running horizontally across my nails.  It's pretty interesting.  I can see four distinct lines so I suppose I still have at least one more coming along.  I didn't really notice this until a few days ago. It's pretty interesting.  

I spent much of the day resting today.  I didn't leave the house at all and don't intend to go anywhere tomorrow either!  Liga has taken over doing the grocery shopping for us - it's a great help.  So tomorrow, I'll have another day when I'll try to get in a big afternoon nap.  I think one of the things I miss so much is my strength and vitality.  I'm just pretty tired - I think it's the anemia.  I'm eager to be stronger again. But I'm planning to work next week and want to get rested up this weekend.

We had a joint birthday dinner for Liga and Valdis tonight.  MaMa, Mommy Anne, and Mia and Clyde joined us for a great dinner.  It's pretty amazing to have our youngest turn 21 years old!  Time sure has flown by.  I have such a clear memory of the day we sat in the office at the orphanage and they brought the kids in to meet us for the first time!