Week 14 was a very short work week. the friday after thanksgiving was a vacation day due to family being in town, and thursday treatment day became wednesday treatment day due to thanksgiving. so, that left monday and tuesday as my normal work days.

wednesday came bright and early, an 8am appointment to try and beat the chaos of the office's wednesday and thursday (and maybe even friday?) appointments all getting shoved into wednesday. it was the first treatment i would be receiving without seeing dr. m first (she usually sees patients every three weeks when they are on weekly taxol), and i was coming in a day early, which increased the chances that my blood work would show that i wasn't ready for another round yet, which to me would mean a wasted day and a wasted week of possible treatment. i was a little anxious about it all, as noted by the check-in nurse ("uh, is your pulse usually high?"), but i was cleared for that morning's chemo. to the early birds go the spoils: we got a chair in the far corner of the room, so not a lot of people or traffic, and plenty of room for andy's chair and all our stuff. i had a new-to-me nurse (taylor), and she was chatty and knowledgeable. nothing out of the ordinary with the infusion: benadryl, sleepiness, dexamethasone, pepcid; DIY cryotherapy, taxol, and watching colbert on andy's ipad. then we were free, and i can't remember any errands or fun anecdotes. i think it was home for lunch, and i took a nap on the couch for the afternoon.

on thursday morning, my parents rolled into town. shortly after their arrival, the four of us made it to andy's parents' house around noon for thanksgiving festivities. the day was a blur of food, family, football watching, and games, with a walk thrown in for good measure. i felt like i ate slightly less than past thanksgivings (more on that later), but still consumed too much. you know, the usual thanksgiving story.

friday was a sleep-in sort of day, a light breakfast at home with my parents, and putting up the christmas tree (with a partial strand of the pre-lit lights not working, which makes me very sad/irritated/arrgghh-y). then it was leftovers for lunch, a short trip to the mall with my mom, and they were headed home. the evening was spent doing a little cleaning up, a little game playing, a little chilling out.

saturday was the traditional deep-fried turkey for the michigan-osu game, with andy's family in ashtabula. plenty more food, delicious crispy-skinned turkey, and a blowout of a game. it was good to see those who didn't come down to the columbus area for thanksgiving, and to just hang out for the day. sunday late morning we departed back to columbus, listening to the beginning of the browns game on the radio, which was much better than watching the end once we got home.

as noted in previous entries, i have escaped more of the serious side effects from chemo. the one side effect i do have is minor, which i finally realized during the last week or two, though all the pre-chemo pepcid drips should have tipped me off. basically, i have a sort of stomachache and/or heartburn that constantly comes and goes. it's not nausea (thank god), but it's just... annoying. it sort of affects my appetite, it sort of doesn't. it sort of affects my digestive system, it sort of doesn't. it's not major, it's just always... there. tums doesn't really help (also: i have discovered that tums is/are kind of gross). i certainly don't have a desire to stuff myself full (the novelty of thanksgiving perhaps being the exception). i may need to return to smaller meals and snacks. we will see. it's not the end of the world, just constant and unexpected.

another thing which will come as a shocker to those who know me: dr pepper just doesn't taste as good as it used to. I KNOW. YOU ARE SURPRISED. I AM TOO. so i'm looking for a different fizzy fix. perhaps ginger ale and/or root beer? those sound like good options, though maybe it will be something completely different. who knows? slight changes all around in Cancer Land, but so far, so good. let's do this.