Getting acquainted with patience

So here's the short of it,
I'm feeling better, but my neuropathy is about the same.

And here's the long

This has been another pretty good day all in all.  My diarrhea is almost gone.  I still have an urgency that is not normal, but I don't have to stay close to the bathroom all the time. And my nausea is pretty much under control almost all of the time.  I do have to be careful what I eat.  It's hard to believe that I've given up my morning coffee.  I wonder if I'll ever be able to go back to it, or if  I'll even want to.  It is a sure way to bring on the nausea even if I've taken nausea medicine. Tonight Mom was up for dinner and she reminded me of the dried the apples we harvested from the apple tree that Dad planted a couple of years ago.  We've been making plans for her to make her fried apple pies (which she bakes these days) when my taster comes back.  We'll need to wait awhile still.  I'm tasting things, but it's not back to normal yet.  I wonder if there are certain tastes that are just changed for good. Apparently there is some risk of radiation therapy causing taste changes as well.  So we'll see. I've been a bit chilly today.  One of the things I've noticed, is that my head is cold all the time.  I'm wearing a toboggan almost all the time now because of that. 

I have an appointment on November 9th with my radiation doctor.  It is looking like I'll start the radiation sometime right after Thanksgiving.  So I should be all finished with that piece by the time school starts back in January!  Anyway that's the plan I'm going with right now.  Of course there's that quote that's been attributed to many different people - "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."  So we'll just see how that all pans out!

I'm planning to work tomorrow.  I may only work a 1/2 day, but I'm going to try to make an 8:00 AM meeting.  I don't think I've been anywhere that early since my surgery.  Thank goodness, I had a nice nap this afternoon.  If I can get myself in the bed at a decent hour tonight, I think I'll be fine. 

My neuropathy report is one of frustration.  I'm taking the increased dosage of Elavil, which is supposed to give me some relief.  Apparently fatigue can be one of the side effects of Elavil...   My feet are not any worse.  My right foot is considerably worse than the left, although the left is sometimes more painful.  My hands are about the same, but my fingers and thumbs are a bit worse.  Apparently the ibuprofen I've been taking to try and help with the pain isn't very effective. Alan keeps telling me to be patient that it may take a long time for it to go away and it may be hard to notice that it's getting better a little at a time.  So maybe patience is another one of those lessons that this cancer is bringing to me.  I'll have to admit, patience is something I could work on.  Many years ago, my younger brother was telling his oldest daughter who was maybe three or four at the time that she needed to have patience.  She looked at him with great frustration and said, "But Daddy, I don't know patience."  She certainly summed it all up there - I'm not especially well acquainted with patience either! So perhaps this neuropathy will give me an opportunity to come to know patience a little better.