Connie (Mrs. WebSlave)

I am OK. Don't worry about me.

It was just a fleeting pain, likely just from the accumulated stress looking for a way to escape my body. I acknowledged it, then dismissed it.

Connie had to get blood work today, so another trip to the oncology center. Took two tries for them to get a vein to cooperate. She must have very small veins because she has always had problems getting blood extracted. But in any event, the results came back with flying colors.

Oh, her pulse rate and O2 readings have been pretty normal all day long. She credits the valiums to, as she put it "saving me". So I think she was in a negative feedback situation where the stress from her family triggered the rapid and shallow heartbeat, and her seeing the readings just made it worse. The valium broke the cycle, I guess. Luckily my doc gave me 180 of the pills, as I think we are going to be needing them. Not sure if I will need a refill, and if so, how that will go. Connie said she is afraid of becoming addicted to them, but as I told her, "curing her of a minor drug addiction will be a hell of a lot easier to do then curing her of dying from a heart attack."

She is trying to do more things around the house. Damn shame that those nasty yellow flies are peaking around here, so we really can't be outside much. As it is, I have to rush her to and from the vehicle for her appointments using one of the hand held bug zappers to knock those little bastids out of the air trying to land on her. So far she hasn't been bitten by any. I don't know what a bite will do with her being in an immunity deficit because of the chemo. So I am trying REAL hard to not have to find out. Got mosquito magnets running (which are great for trapping yellow flies) and used some stuff called TangleFoot on some black nursery buckets hanging from tree branches. The yellow flies are attracted to the buckets, and when they land on the Tangle Foot, they stay there. I ordered some new zappers because I am afraid the capacitors in the ones I bought a few years ago might be getting old and not able to build up the charge they used to. I want to KILL them, not just stun them where they can come back again. I might take apart one of the older ones and see if I can soup it up with a larger capacitor. It will give me something to do to keep my mind off of things.

Speaking of keeping my mind off of things, I bought a LaserPecker (look it up, I am NOT making this up) back before the crap hit the fan with Connie's condition. So I haven't used it much. We bought some hot/cold disposable cups for Connie to have water and drinks in, but they only have a sipper hole in the lid. She likes using a straw, so I tried using the drill press to drill a hole in the lid for her, but I didn't like that it created plastic particles during the cut. So I had an idea to try using the laser. Yeah, overkill, but heck, it worked. And laser burns the hole and basically just melts the edges of the plastic around the hole without any mess. Took some experimenting to get the right settings, but after that, no sweat. So I guess I have a new hammer that I will be looking for nails to use it on.

Been ordering protein drinks for Connie, as the oncologist said that protein will help the body to absorb the swelling she still has in her feet and lower legs. Particularly the left one. And just getting in supplies so we won't have to go out much. Honestly, I am pretty apprehensive about COVID lurking around with Connie's immune system being compromised from the chemo. Could be very bad news if COVID gets in through the door here.

But all in all she seemed pretty upbeat today. Quite a difference from yesterday evening when I thought for certain I was watching her getting ready to go into cardiac arrest. That heart beat she had was NOT good at all.

She still has a little cough now and again, and I know it makes her real apprehensive about that fluid coming back around her right lung. But I told her people cough all of the time. Most people never even pay attention to it, but it is normal without any underlying serious causes. But that being said, I won't be surprised if she has at least one more fluid extraction. Chemo is supposed to make that go away, but something tells me it won't be that simple. It will likely be traded for something else not really all that pleasant.