not gonna lie, folks: Cancer Land, Week 5 was pretty uneventful. i think that's a good thing.

after watching the browns somehow lose to the rams on sunday night, i slept off the last of the major fatigue through late monday morning. still a little sluggish, i got myself around for some coffee, then a shower, then some lunch. then it was Finding Out How Remoting In To Work From Home was going to work. as it turns out, it works pretty well. i can access most of the stuff i need by remoting in -- it's as though i am sitting at my work computer -- and if there is anything physical/paper/analog for me, it can be scanned to me for review/processing. likewise, i can ask colleagues to be my hands and feet for things requiring a human body to be present, e.g., depositing a check to the treasurer's office. it's not quite the same as being there, but close enough for horseshoes. plus, the commute is fantastic.

as far as cancer-y things, i found monday to be the tail-end of the hardcore fatigue, and the beginning of a bit of occasional, minor light-headedness: mostly when getting up too quickly, or moving or turning too quickly. at first i thought perhaps i needed more food or hydration, despite the fact that i felt like i had been eating constantly, like a wrestler trying to make the next weight class. after a bit, i recalled that anemia is listed as a possible chemo side effect, given the upending of all my blood cell counts, and this seemed to check out with the symptoms. it comes with a different sort of tiredness; during the initial chemo fatigue, when walking upstairs, my legs and body just felt HEAVY. it felt like an enormous amount of effort. with this new replacement symptom, it was more like, oh, you made it upstairs? cool cool, no problem, now why don't you sit and rest awhile, HOT SHOT? slow your roll, overachiever, take a breather. so, still moving kinda slow, but for different reasons.

tuesday, i started working from home mid-morning, testing the waters of my light-headedness/tiredness. so far, so good. also, i received news about my PET scan: all looks to be normal with the areas they were suspicious about. hooray! thankful for the good news.

worked from home again on wednesday, not quite eight hours, but almost. i recalled the days of my "sabbatical" aka "funemployment" aka "staying home replacing light fixtures and painting and unpacking while looking for a job after getting married and moving to columbus"; learning about the rhythms of the neighborhood you normally don't think about while at an 8-to-5 job. ah, that's when the recycling truck goes by. the garbage truck just has a giant claw to grab the trash can? what a time to be alive. usps arrives around 1:30p, ok, good to know. school bus is dropping off kids, must be around 3p! that sort of thing, as well as the occasional anomaly, such as the morning's screeching of tires and subsequent crunch of metal. far enough away that at first i thought it was just a loud heavy equipment noise and couldn't see anything, but close enough that ten to fifteen minutes later, i could hear and see the emergency vehicles responding. i'm not the gal who's gonna wander down the street to gawk; hopefully everyone was all right. the occasional light-headedness was becoming more and more occasional throughout the day, so, win. met andy for dinner at aladdin's, where we received an accidental extra chicken shawarma, which i ended up liking better than the item i actually ordered, so, double win.

thursday marked my return to the office. my physical inbox actually wasn't too terrible, though plenty of things made their way to my desk throughout the day. i felt 100%, and it was good to be back, living normal life. later that evening, we watched the season four premiere of The Good Place. if you haven't been watching this WHY NOT? YOU SHOULD BE. GO WATCH SEASON ONE AND REPORT BACK.

friday was another normal day in the office, and hanging out with andy and his parents that evening for dinner. i realize this is not noteworthy, which is why i include it. normal life. i can handle every other week being normal. Cancer Land, Week 6? let's do this.