Week 2 Cycle 2 done

Today Caroline McNeel drove me to chemo despite my insistance that i was perfectly capable of driving myself. I had a great deal of fun on the way up, the way back, and during the lunch at 2Dog cafe. Adn Caroline insisted that the time committment was great contribution toward finishing addressing her Christmas cards and had evidence to support the claim. And I am reconsidering Alice Rose's suggestion that perhaps in deciding to drive myself I was being a bit "Macho". I may be able to drive myself but it is more fun with company so I am again in the business of recruiting drivers. Or at least not rejecting offers since I can drive myself for now at least if I am driver=less. Chemo went well. Another much smaller taxol reaction - suggesting that I can anticipate needing more premeds (variations on benedryl and increasingly powerful steroids) and slower infusion times this time around. I commented to Elizabeth (the super chemo nurse who is largely the reason I stay with this practice instead of returning to Emory) that my stamina seemed to be decreasing faster this time around and I occasionally get dizzy when I stand up, which did not happen until much later in the chemo experience last time. I wondered if my blood counts were dropping. Elizabeth tells me it is common the second time around to have less stamina in response to chemo and to experience more side effects more often than on first exposure to the drugs. So that is that. I continue to try to accomplish a thing or two a day - usually successfully but am already sinking into the napping in front of the TV thing. And my interest keeps lagging for the Patricia Cornwall book I am reading - but I think that may have more to do with the trend she has established for abandoning plot for instead detailing second by second interactions of the character so i have been reading for days and am 3/4 way through the book but we are still less than 6 hours further along in the actual story than when we started. Perhaps the author has developed an obsesssive disorder? if this is an intentional change in technique I think I may start getting her books at the library in the future to save that feeling that I need to read the entirety of the book I bought to justify the expenditure. On another note, in response to the questions about my Christmas plans - I have not figured them out yet. I have not spend actually a lot of time thinking about it, although I should. Probably I will stay in Atlanta since Thanksgiving has become our big extended family holiday while Christmas is now precious time for my siblings nuclear familys to reunion. My habit is Sylva, but this year I wont be working at Cherokee and the energy required to drive 2.5 hours for the Christmas Eve service and visits with friends and open house seems a bit too much. And I need to be in ATL for labs on Friday. Maybe an open house Christmas Day evening for anyone around who wants to bring leftovers and drop by for dominos? STay tuned. For the moment I am getting chemo and Balsam (as of vet visit today) is getting treated for dermatologic allergies and an ear infection, all of which is easiest to maintain from home. Dog Hobble Hill - although in reciept of a Certificate of Occupacy - is still not completed of interior work or ready to move more furniture in than the one bed I have already deposited. So I suppose Balsam and I could spend Christmas there but it would be grim and lonely since i can't take my friends along yet. So probably staying in ATL but plans yet to be developed. Open to suggestions? Tomorrow's challenges: (1) try to finish paying all bills and filing paperwork. (2) Get Balsam to the vet for medicated bath. (3) Get into work to find out whether I have a replacement Blackberry yet. (4) draft a Christmas 2014 letter? STay tuned.