This week's update

UPDATE: After reading this post through today I realized I didn't accurately portray the entire story of Penny's new glasses. In actual fact they were much cheaper than the figure I originally mentioned below. As for their selection, I was the one that actually picked them out and made Penny get them (she was quite uncomfortable with the price). I assured her that it's important to get your first glasses from a store where you can return them if they don't work out or if there are adjustments to be made to the frames or lenses. Subsequent pairs of glasses for Penny will come from clearlycontacts.ca I'm sure.

Sorry for the delay in getting the updates out there. I haven't been feeling like sitting in front of the computer much lately.

This round of chemo went marginally better than the first one. I took WAY less of the steroid anti-nausea drug Zofran and it improved my mood, mental health, rash and didn't make me feel any more nauseous than when I was taking it. I still felt like crap in a cup but having a clear mind helped me get through the physical annoyances that chemo causes. My next round will start Tuesday as long as I make the hurdles on my neutrophils, platelets and hemoglobin on Monday. I can't say I'm looking forward to it but after this next round I will be 1/4 of the way through this treatment program.

One of the weirdest symptoms of this chemo is the numbness that you get in your hands, mouth and throat when you either hold something cold, breathe cold air or ingest something icy. The hand thing is just annoying but the throat thing is quite scary. I forgot a few times to only drink warm fluids and on a couple of occasions have given myself a good scare. If feels like you're choking and you can't breathe. It passes quickly but for a few seconds it feels like the beginning of the end. Holding cold objects is interesting too. Retrieving a full gallon of milk from the fridge downstairs can be a challenging task. Carly must think I'm crazy wearing gloves to carry cold things around.

In other news, Andrew staged a coup this week. He hasn't been fond of his high chair for some time now but on Monday he wouldn't get in it at all and refused to wear a bib. From that time hence he has been sitting at the table in a big person chair just like the rest of us. There have been a few messes, I won't lie, but most of the time he does a pretty good job of getting the food from his plate into his mouth without making too big a mess. The lack of physical restraints does result in a little bit of eating while walking but he's learned quickly that the food gets taken away if he leaves the table.

The other thing Andrew has learned to do lately is to relocate movable objects (like chairs, stools, empty boxes) to strategic locations throughout the house, where with Navy-Seal-like speed and cunning he uses said object to obtains contraband. This contraband is often electronic in nature. His favourite things are phones, PDAs and ipods but if he finds knives, scissors, pens (especially markers) or liquids of any kind he will settle for those. It has limited our list of Andrew proof hiding spots on the main floor to the liquor cabinet above the fridge. Most of the time we even have to keep our phones and ipods on the fridge. It's most annoying to walk into the kitchen after the briefest of absences to find Andrew standing upright on the counter riffling through a cupboard full of decidedly unsafe implements. He hasn't found the switches for the fireplace or garborator yet but its only a matter of time.

Carly and Penny went to the optometrist today. It was Carly's first checkup. Things went well for her and she caused quite a bit of laughter in the office. Whenever she couldn't read a letter on the wall she said "something". As in "What are the letters in the first line Carly?" her reply would be "A, E, uh something, F". She did it the entire way through the exam. It was pretty funny. Penny got glasses for the first time in her life. Her prescription isn't that bad but hopefully she will be able to take some of the strain off her eyes. I wonder what she'll think of me the first time she sees me with her new glasses? Hmmm. I'll let you know. The glasses that fit her best cost ~$600. Having had glasses myself since grade 8 I was stunned at the price, especially having just ordered new glasses myself online for only $95 including lenses and shipping. After we got home we had a little buyers remorse and called to see if we could cancel the order but they had already started to work on the lenses. So we're stuck with them now but if you or anyone you know needs glasses or contacts be sure to check out ClearlyContacts.ca. They sell glasses online from $38 (including lenses!) and contacts at about half the price you would pay at an optometrist.

I promise to try and update more frequently. Have a great weekend all.