Fresh air

Sunday September 5th, 2010



I'm gonna do a little backtracking. Friday, Coye stopped by for a visit. He was kind to go shopping for me & got 3 large photo albums. I did fill them up with the 900 plus pictures that I had finally gotten developed. I'm kind of like dad, it's sacrilage to keep the photos on the digital camera for too long. Back in the day, one couldn't have a roll of film undeveloped. Walgreens has stayed in business because of us. I also started my Lasix 40 mg tablet, which I'm not sure if it worked all that well, I don't recall "peeing like a race horse" but I did get some decent sleep Friday night = I was able to sleep on my sides.


I had worn the green caftan dress that our mom's cousin, Linda, had sent me. Perfect fit. I like it and the red one, they looked so fancy, I was hesitant to wear them. Dad likes them too. Very silky, so silky that I tried sleeping in it and I kept sliding down my bed. I have to sleep with 3-4 pillows in various arrangements to keep my head elevated and to support my back. Thank you Linda and family.


Later that evening, Bryan, a family friend and 2 of my coworkers stopped by. Paulette and Kathy were troopers. They drove for almost 2 hours, in Friday Labor Day weekend traffic using local lanes to get to my dad's from work. Now that's love. We had one of my favorites for dinner, stuffed pizza from Suparossa's. I only ate half a slice of sausage. Just torture me. Kathy had brought some yummy cookies from Ferrar's bakery on Taylor. Paulette and another coworker had given me a body pillow. I'm still working with the pillow when my liver cooperates. Sometimes my liver doesn't want me laying on my sides but if I'm tired enough, I wake up hugging it. Thanks girls.


Saturday was our day to hit the Taste of Polonia. I rested all day knowing it might be a long night, I was right. I also checked my vital signs, which I'm supposed to do before taking my Lasix. My blood pressure was 103/80 but my heart rate was 131 bpm. I was hesitant to take it, knowing my blood pressure could drop more and that I was dehydrated with my fast heart rate, I didn't want to make it worse. I paged Vera and she said that if I didn't take it today, to take it tomorrow. I'd feel better if I had more to work with vital signs-wise. I held off for today. It's a good thing that I did. When I had taken it on Friday, in the evening, I had felt a little lightheaded.


I had arrived with Jenny and Marie to the fest. We had driven and parked by the Jefferson Park terminal on Milwaukee. We walked over and by the time we got near the food tents, I was feeling woosy. No chairs were available, the ABBA tribute band was playing & it was packed. I went to get a spot @ a table. Jenny grabbed some pierogi's, cabbage rolls and potato pancakes from Kasia's deli. I felt better after eating and having water. BRRRR! It was cold too. I wore the sweat jacket that Paul had gotten me in Wisconsin with a lined hood & back. It wasn't enough to keep the cold out. I had even worn long pants and an undershirt & shirt. Our brothers, Paul and Chas and Chas's 2 kids joined us. Well, Rachel stopped by, she was checking out the sights with her friend. Chas kept taking Alex to play the carnie games, Alex won me a red bulldog which I named, Oksana.


As soon as the ABBA tribute band finished, we meandered over to find a chair and table closer to the stage. We found a spot, just in front of the port-a-potties. Not only that, people were smoking and passing really bad gas. They were eating Polish sausage and having beer. What a combo. Unfortunately, this is not the fresh air that Jenny and Paul were talking about for me to get since I've been in the house a lot since starting chemo.


Jenny's friend, Patty & her friend, Trish, joined us later. By then, Chas, had bought Alex and I black hoodie sweatshirts. I had both sweatjackets on with the hoods tied up, remember, I lost a lot of body fat. Jenny said I looked like a hooded killer kid from that movie called, "The Brood". We saw that movie when we were young, thanks to mom and the cheap theaters. The Led Zepplin tribute band, Kasmir, started playing around 9pm. I may have been a bump on a log after a while but Paul started playing air guitar during the set, so did several other people in the audience. Jenny went with me inside the Copernicus Center to use the bathroom. It was warm in the building, I wanted to stay there until the night was over, she insisted we go back out. I told her I get to blame them if I get sick. I found that they served hot tea @ the bar & got a cup. While waitingfor my tea she recognized some guy commenting on how slow the bartender was. She asked him, "Do I know you from Mondays?" He was like, "What?" Then he realized that they're both in the same Weight Watchers group. I got my tea and we headed out. We stopped to get a rootbeer float and a toasted waffle with toppings. We took a picture of the sign because they misspelled "milkshahs" and "carmel". We all couldn't believe that Kasmir DIDN'T, I repeat, DIDN'T play "Stairway to Heaven". The audience booed but with the city ordinance, the band had already played past their time.


As the fest closed, Chas walked me back to the car while the rest of the clan went to get ice cream and coffee from Dunkin Donuts in the Veteran's Square mall. I was pooped and my back was aching for the pillow in the car. It's funny, as our 6'4" brother walked me, I had to keep reminding him how slow I am, he reminded me how long his legs are. We dropped Chas off @ home then went back home. It was a fun night, I just wish my insides didn't hurt and that it wasn't so cold outside.

Again, Miss Insomnia couldn't sleep well. I finally dozed off for good @ 6 am. I woke up after 10 am. Jenny had made some decaf coffee. Paul had gone to a picnic with our cousin, Linda, yesterday before he joined us @ the Polonia fest. He had bought 6 coffee cakes, there's 4 sitting on our dining room table. Guess what I ate for breakfast. My vitals were better before I took my Lasix, both the blood pressure and heart rate. I worked on organizing my stuff in the living room, I know I'm throwing things out, condensing stuff but it seems to grow when I go back in there. GRRR!

My friend, Lisa, called, she asked if I wanted to go to Italy, India & Bali. I thought she didn't do so hot @ the boats with her mom yesterday. We made plans to see "Eat, Pray, Love" the Julia Roberts film. Lisa had read the book. She came and got me, and we dined @ Red Robin by Village Crossing. I stuck with the house salad, it's pretty big. She got the fried chicken sandwich. I had a taste of it, my goodness it was wonderful. Diet restrictions will do that to you. I also got the root beer float with free refills. They also offered her refills on her fries. I was good and held off on the fries. My belly was alrerady feeling kind of big. (Gas) We had time to kill before the movie. I bought, against my better judgement, another 1,000 piece puzzle, a book for my sister Cathy, and 2 funny books for me. One is "Dick and Jane and Vampires" and the other one is "Awkward Family Photos". The movie was beautiful, especially the food in Italy. Watching Julia slurp the spaghetti. Sigh. I miss eating the way I used to. The scenery was beautiful too. It's a good movie, I'd recommend it. However, I didn't realize that it was almost 2.5 hours long. I was restless with my back and kept squirming to get comfortable. My folded up sweat jacket would only work for so long in certain positions. I was happy when the movie ended so I could lay back in the car and rest my back. Lisa had dropped me off, it was good to see her again.

I wish I could go out and enjoy the time like I used to instead of being so restless, trying to cushion my back, massaging it when I can, walking slow, & huffing an puffing. I never know if my discomfort is an annoyance to those with me. At least if I know when I go out and eat, to order something small so I don't waste food or money. Well, gotta try and get some sleep. We'll be BBQing tomorrow. Enjoy your cookouts.