It’s March in South Dakota

Those looking for variety in weather or for weather as a topic of conversation can do no better than examine the weather in this state. It is late March and the high today is supposed to be 39º. Last Sunday we reached the high 60s. The March “breeze” is also blowing. The fire danger index is up because it is so dry. Green things are trying to poke out of the ground but seem to be afraid once they discover how not nice it is. I would stay out of sight in some warm place, if possible. ¶ Another group of little green things is brave enough to poke their heads out of the ground. There is hope. And there is sunshine today. Even the plants on the north side, in heavy shade are making an attempt. Nature is determined to do its thing. ¶ This past week was chemo week. All went very expeditiously. The pharmacy was spot on with deliveries on some days before I even arrived. There is one infusion room called the “Living Room” which is larger than the others, about twice as large. It is furnished with comfy chairs, has a desk and looks quite posh. That was my room on Thursday. I have no idea how the rooms are assigned. However it happens one of the nurses takes one to the appointed room and that’s your assignment. I suppose the assignment occurs because the pharmacy has to send the chemo to the correct room.

¶ It was lovely being in the Living Room. Medicine was speedily delivered and the infusion begun. The alarm on the IV went off sooner than usual. There was an equipment malfunction that sent all the chemo into the bag of fluids to which one is also attached during the process. The bag of fluids is never exhausted before the medicine has completed its drip. Because the medicine was now in the other bag one needed to wait until the whole bag was finished which took considerably longer. It was evidently a little plastic part that caused the whole thing to back-flush and thus delayed my departure. The nurse very apologetic but it certainly wasn’t her fault. I guess it had happened to another patient that same week. They became concerned that many of the same parts my be defective. No harm done. I just received some extra fluids. ¶ The blood work on Monday showed my sodium to be in the low range. That’s the first time that has happened in a long, long time. It bounced back and forth when my prescription was being tweaked but has been steady as a rock for months. I didn’t see the doctor but he sent a message saying to restrict fluids (see the previous paragraph!). I’ve been taking the same amount of sodium for the past year or more. I have not been consuming excess fluids. The thing in the back of my mind is this indicates that the cancer is active again. Way back when, over 2 ½ years ago, the critically low sodium was the clue to investigate for cancer. It is necessary for your system to function, in particular the brain. Thus, everytime I forget something or become confused, I am certain that the cancer is running rampant.

¶ This is just my imagination, of course, and probably has nothing to do with reality. The reality will be revealed when I have both CT scans and and MRI two weeks from Monday. Until then I will probably be a little bit on edge. ¶ I’ve made minimal progress on the sewing project mentioned last week because of the chemo interruptions. Sophia has helped with the project considerably. There is, of course, no other location to use for sleeping and posing in this 1800 square foot home. ¶ All else is just fine. The weather will improve daily. In the back of my mind there is the massive ice storm that took down my birch tree in April several years ago. That won’t happen again. Or? ¶ Have a wonderful week. Thank you for being you, for all you do, for your thoughts and prayers. I am grateful.