Today 10Jan2023: Tuesday

The morning started too early, at 6AM, and me waking up five minutes before my alarm. I managed to stay awake and avoided the shock of being re-awoken (not good). It is a work-from-office day (is that WFO instead of WFH), so I was in the kitchen getting the water hot for coffee and my NYC bagel out to defrost. Next, I got on the floor in the living room with blaring music and did my twenty-five minutes of stretches and exercises. Once completed and dragging myself off the floor in the living room, I made coffee, toasted my bagel (after defrosting a bit in the microwave), covered it in cream cheese, and got out the cottage cheese and the remaining peaches from yesterday in a can. I put pepper and just a pinch of sea salt on the cottage cheese, poured liberal (not something served in the House of Representatives, I am sure), and took breakfast to my in-home office. There I read email, text, and slack messages for the shoe company, read my own email and caught up on the news on CNN, BBC, and New York Times. My usual Tuesday-Thursday info packing before I dress.

Time, as usual, runs out, and I am in the shower (Alexa blaring Don Mclean hits at my request) and, next, getting dressed. I use Utterly Smooth 20% Urea (cow pee) every day to fight neuropathy caused by chemotherapy impacting my toes and hands. I believe it works to cancel the metallic poisons of the nerves just below the skin; chemotherapy uses the metals to kill fast-growing cells. I have also heard that ice baths work for hands and feet, but check with your oncologists–they will know what is suitable for your treatments.

I am out the door and at work before 8AM and then enjoy 2 and 1/2 hours of Zoom meetings sitting in a conference room. I get to talk to some of my colleagues, and Jatin has returned, and I get to shake his hand. So being in the office is not too bad. Also, our VP provides coffee and baked goods as a welcome-back treat. So not a bad start to WFO.

Soon I am out the door, I arrive at the hummingbird house a bit early, after 11, and Susie is still eating her breakfast. She slept poorly and was up late. But soon, she is done, and I take her to the social activity room and call her mother, Leta, to chat. They have a friendly chat, but I forget to take a picture for today. However, I did get a photo of her flower.

Susie is better today and even talks a bit; she is still hard to understand, but she is trying. She also feeds herself today. All good. But, soon, my thirty minutes are up, and it is time for me to go. I am time-blocked today. Susie is a bit sad, but Jennifer comes in and distracts Susie and Susie is happy to wave goodbye.

I went to Bethany to have Physical Therapy with me, arriving on time. Michael is my PT guy, and we go over my status; he then adds more exercises to help me bend over and lift Susie. I get to bend over against the wall lifting 3 and 5-pound weights. Susie is 98 pounds, and the exercise is about properly positioning my back to lift Susie, not strength. I also do my usual stuff, and they (Leo comes to help Michael) add more, as usual, and now I have a leg kick exercise with a rubberband on my legs to provide tension.

I am done about 1ish and head, slightly tired, to Bethany Public House to have a bowl of chili and diet coke at the bar. The bartender remembers me and asks me, “you want the chili?” “Yes, a bowl,” I say with a smile. After that, lunch is excellent and fast. I managed to get back to the shoe company by 2 and start back on a few crises of the moment.

My team, the master data engineering team, managed to dispose efficiently of the latest crises of the moment, and I headed home after 4:30 and logged back on after Air Volvo delivered me at the Volvo Cave without incident. So I sent out another challenge for Wednesday morning and headed out.

BJ’s Brewhouse is my dinner for tonight; Mariah was busy, so I am on my own. My usual waiter, Eric, suggested the small pizza for 1/2 price (Happy Hour) when I said I was thinking of pizza. I have that with a house salad. Of course, their red beer is my favorite, and I have one. I also have coffee and dessert.

I did write the blog while doing this. Thanks for reading.