on monday, i had the holiday off (government work is great), and i spent it going shopping and taking on house projects. i visited lowe's and menards and came home with a new cordless drill, smoke alarm, and two light fixtures. andy has no issues with the light fixtures in the upstairs hallway and the laundry room. i, on the other hand, have had strong feelings regarding their generic look. so as of monday, the spiky textured glass single-bulb hallway light is gone, and has been replaced with a three-bulb hallway light that actually provides decent illumination and is more aesthetically pleasing. the same spiky textured light in the laundry room will also be replaced some day. monday was not that day. but between installing the light, the smoke alarm, and finally cleaning the living room so that my various and sundry cancer paraphernalia wasn't taking over the whole place, i had a nice, productive day.

tuesday and wednesday were back to work as usual. both evenings were taken up by board games; one with a group of andy's work friends, and the other evening just the two of us at home.

thursday was chemo, round three. blood work was declared fine, and i had all the usual infusions: anti-nausea, adriamycin, cytoxan. we were out of there by about 11:45am, took a quick walk to micro center to pick up a computer mouse, and then we were off to have pho. we have a usual order of three items that we share: chicken pho, spring rolls, and chicken wings. all was well, except that i only wanted two of my usual three chicken wings. odd. by the time i got home, it was apparent that nausea was going to make a visit this time around. i took an anti-nausea pill and mostly slept for the rest of the afternoon and evening. unfortunately for andy, the plan was that i was going to make a pot roast in the instant pot for the evening meal. once it was obvious i wasn't up to it, this responsibility fell to him, and as it turns out, we had a mighty fine pot roast that evening. this guy... he's a keeper.

as usual, friday was back to the oncologist's office for my follow-up neulasta injection. i was still slightly nauseated and pretty tired, so afterwards, i mostly lounged on the couch for the afternoon. after a few plan changes involving in-laws and schedules and food options, our friends talinn and daniel stopped by that evening. we gave them an abbreviated house tour, enjoyed dinner, and caught up. it was good to see them.

if i recall correctly, i spent most of saturday sleeping a whole heck of a lot. breakfast and lunch were events that happened, but mostly were just interruptions of my napping. i may have been working on computer file transfers or something on my laptop at some point. entirely unsure. oh and that was the day we enjoyed the new neighbors and their bro friends shouting in merriment on their screened-in back porch. i am fairly certain they were not communicating, just shouting; i didn't venture out to confirm. hopefully this is not going to be a common occurrence. later in the evening, we had our friend brent over to hang out and enjoy hot dogs and s'mores over the fire pit. once again, it was a perfect evening for a fire. afterwards, andy and i played a game he was excited about, and i crushed him at it. good times!

today, sunday, i managed to make it through church (to be clear, this is a reflection of my symptoms, not the teaching), then came home to nap before andy's parents came over for lunch. we relaxed and spent time with them through the early afternoon. this evening has been spent puttering, working on laptop stuff, a small project, and lounging. it's really quite amazing how much one human can sleep, with the right attitude, dedication, and chemo regimen! hopefully i perk up as usual once Week 9 begins. let's do this.