July 10th

My mistake, I don't fast for 24 hours before the PET scan, I have to do a no-carb diet. My PET scan is at 9:00 am tomorrow so my no-carb thing started at 9:00 this morning. Along with no caffeine, no alcohol, no carbonated beverages, no exercise, and a list of other weird things I'm not allowed.

So,  I was supposed to do lunch with my 'lunch club' today but due to the no carb thing, I cancelled it and went home for lunch so that I could eat a cheese omelet. But I wasn't thinking and I drank a huge glass of milk with my omelet!! I'm not allowed dairy either according to the PET scan place and there was 26 grams of carbs in that glass. UGH! Hopefully since my 24 hours didn't start until 9:00 this morning, and I only cheated 3 hours into the timeframe, maybe I can drink enough water to purge those carbs and offset any damage I did. They take your blood when you arrive for the PET scan and if your sugar numbers aren't under 100 or something they fine you $300 and you have to reschedule. Yeesh.

I'm all set with Leo taking me to the appointment and then Rich picking me up and bringing me back to work. I can't remember if I went back to work after the last one or not. They tell you not to take the anxiety medicine until you're at the appointment because they don't want it wearing off too fast. This leads me to believe that I should be fine working tomorrow afternoon. Which is a good thing because we've sold (3) machines in the past week! We haven't sold any machines in months and then suddenly, during what is normally the slowest month of the year, things have gone crazy. This of course is a good thing, job security and all.

I was telling a coworker earlier this week that it looks like the cancer might be back. I then realized that I was being kind of negative so I went to talk to Kunkel. I asked her if she walked out of the appointment with Dr. C feeling optimistic or pessimistic. She said it was funny that I asked because she had been wondering the same thing! She said it was a roller coaster of an appointment and she wasn't sure what to think by the end of it. I'm guessing doctors need to be obscure like that until actual test results show up.

I keep swinging both ways as well. On Sunday I swear my ear was aching a lot less than it has been. Then I started second guessing myself. Maybe I'm just wishing that the night guard is having an effect because I would prefer that my ear is aching due to TMJ rather than a second round of cancer. Now today I feel like I'm having difficulty swallowing. Like there's some kind of obstruction way down deep in the back of my throat. I have to think this is purely psychosomatic though. Or I at least hope it is.

And I had another wishy washy thought yesterday. My thrush hasn't been bothering me. But is it because I finally kicked that nasty stuff or is it because I've been downing 4-6 Advil at a time and now I've switched to Vicoden so maybe I'm just not feeling the thrush any more??

I sent my friend Sandi a picture of me wearing the incredibly cute $4 dress that I found at the thrift store last week. She responded that she loves my hair flat ironed. I laughed. I haven't flat ironed it in a while now. I think it's gone naturally straight. Somebody told me that radiation can permanently change what your hair normally does. Thanks goodness I look okay in straight hair!


Improvements:
- Thrush comes and goes.
- Spit production still around 50%.
- Bullfrog effect still happening.
- Garbled talking. Swollen throat.
- Partial taste buds - Sweet is around 15% right now.


Fun stuff:

Scott and I had a good time with Kit and Fran. They're a funny couple! And the cocktail party at the Jazz Fest was as awesome as usual. They had a bathtub of giant shrimp and super yummy hand passed snackie foods like crabcakes and bruschetta. After the cocktail party it started to rain so we ended up at a local bar shooting darts and pool. Scott kicked my ass at darts, I beat him on the pool table. We had a blast! And the 'scotch' at Woodcliff was canceled due to lack of interest. Huge bummer. We ended up going to a brand spanking new restaurant with some of Scott's friends. I had the duck. It was fabulous!

Not much of anything happened this past week on the fun side. I managed to clean my garage over the holiday weekend. Just in time too because yesterday I received an e-mail from one of the poker guys. One of our comrades, Baby B, moved to Florida a handful of years ago but will be in town this month for a couple of weeks. We don't normally play poker during the summer because everyone is too busy with their families and the nice weather but for Baby B. we'll pull together a game!

Last Friday, Scott's boss, Paul, invited me in to the office to eat lunch with the guys, he was buying. So, I baked a bunch of cookies and schmoozed with honey-bunny's coworkers/boss while they worked/ate. I mostly got to talk to Paul since he's a manager (read that as paper pusher) and so he was able to simply sit, eat, and carry on a conversation rather than having to stay glued to a monitor, dispatching drivers.  It turns out that Paul's wife recently found a lump in her breast. They have an appointment with a doctor tomorrow to get it checked out. I had Scott pass along my e-mail address and phone number to Paul in case his wife wants someone to talk to who is somewhat in the same boat.

This past Sunday I put on a super cute dress, got dolled up, and took myself out for a fancy dinner. Why? I don't know. Just because I can, I guess. :-) I sat out on the patio, had some shrimp bisque and some roast duck (again), and enjoyed myself.

Last night my friend Jamie and I met Scott and his daughter, Jessica, and her friend, Sara, at the beach and we watched a free showing of Jaws while sitting outside next to the lake. It was really cool! Unfortunately they can't start the movie until it gets dark which is around 9:00 which means halfway through I fell asleep in my chair. I'm so old. I was thinking about hitting the drive-in this Saturday because the double feature is Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University, both of which I really want to see! But if I can't make it through one movie that started at 9:00, I have no idea how I expect myself to make it through two.

That's it for now. I'll post an update when I hear what the PET scan has to say.