Another week gone by

So it's been nearly a week since the last post. Like I said in the last one, the chemo went better, as in I didn't feel as bad. But I've had some crazy side effects (or just unlucky problems) this week. I couldn't sleep at all on Monday, literally. And I've had some crazy constipation and hemorrhoid-like problems as well. And lots of stomach acid. I have some other prescriptions now that help greatly with the stomach acid and apparently sleeping too. There's this somewhat new drug called Rozarem which is supposedly completely non-addictive (i.e. unlike every other sleeping medication in existence). I took it Tuesday night I think? I slept like a baby, but was totally groggy for basically the whole next day. I haven't needed it again yet though. It's possible the Decadron I get during chemo is what is keeping me up or it could be something else totally unrelated.

I worked out yesterday, first time in quite a while. I was exhausted afterward and took a nap. I mowed the lawn too. Later in the day we trekked down to Alexandria and met up with Pat and Minh Chau. They moved into a new place which we went to go see. It was nice. Their three cats are adorable. I am going to catnap them. We went to old town Alexandria and had a totally surreal experience. I wanted pizza so we found this one pizza place but it didn't look super awesome so we walked like 7 blocks back to where we started and went to an Indian place because naan and curry sounded awesome. So we went in and sat down. And we sat, for a long time. No food ever came. Sometimes we would get a drink refill maybe. After like 40 minutes two plates (there were four of us) were delivered, but no food. So we sat some more. Eventually Minh Chau took charge and we just left after wasting about an hour. There were at least three people who had been there longer than us that also had no food. Their chef must have had a seizure or something, but it would have been nice for them to share that information with us. I was still in a good mood, miraculously, despite being hungry. So we had a good hilarious laugh about the situation. Then I got cranky. We went to Dairy Godmother which is a neat creamery type place in Alexandria (I think that's where we were at least) and I got a shake, but I needed actual food. After that we went to a different Indian place, which is actually on the first floor of the apartment they used to live at. It was excellent. It was apparently Emily's first time ever having Indian food and she liked it as well. I'm pretty sure it was actually good food, but I would have eaten anything by that point in time. It was fun hanging out with Pat and Minh Chau. We really need to do it more often; too bad it's at least a one hour one-way drive :(

Today we might have a BBQ with Trevor.

Tuesday I am having my stent removed. I'm a bit apprehensive about it as there is no anesthesia involved, but I'm told by several doctors who have presumably never had anything 30cm long removed through their urethra that it is not painful and is a routine procedure.

I am looking forward to biking again and hopefully even going for another camp/hike excursion or two before winter sets in again.

Other than that I am planning to have a nice quiet week at work. We get Friday off for the 4th. We might go into DC for the 4th. The fireworks are nice, but that's about it. I just feel like there is something a wee bit special about being in "our nation's capital" for Independence Day.