well. it's been quite a week here in Cancer Land. let's catch up, shall we?

in non-cancer news, i have been trying for the last week or two to figure out why all the usb ports on my new (in october) laptop have stopped working. after a couple of tech support phone calls and troubleshooting, the answer i received on monday is that, well, they simply stopped working. okay, great. we'll send a technician out to replace the motherboard? under warranty? yes, please. wait! while the tech is here, can he upgrade my (too small) hard drive? yes, of course, if you will have a drive there waiting for the tech? yes, sure, no problem. so i ordered a new (much larger capacity) hard drive, telling andy my task for the week is to back my files up to my external hard drive before the switch. my smart husband asks how i am going to do that without functioning usb ports? GOOD QUESTION, HUSBAND. i attempt to make it happen using google drive and my old laptop and lots of zip files, but realize it will take until spring to complete it this way, and the tech is coming next monday. andy suggests a wifi based external hard drive, which i did not know was a thing that existed. this seems to be the best option, so we decide that that will be a task for thursday, since the oncologist's office is near micro center.

tuesday is fairly uneventful, the evening involves board games with some of andy's coworkers. as the night is winding down, i find myself feeling stuffy and developing a cough and i am not happy about this because it feels similar to what i had several weeks ago. i wake up wednesday morning and it has not gotten better, so i decide to stay home from work. the full day of rest and not talking and doing nothing strenuous seems to be a good decision, as i feel definitely not worse and probably slightly better by the end of the day.

thursday arrives: taxol, round 12. the final chemo infusion! we prepare as usual. numbing cream, press and seal, check. ice packs and chemo picnic packed, check. office check-in, port access, blood draw, check. meet with dr. m, check. back down to the infusion room, settle into the recliner, check. benadryl, dexamethasone, che-- wait. i got hooked up with the dex, but no benadryl yet. we had it all planned, andy was going to head to micro center during my benadryl nap, then be back to set me up with my pre-taxol cryotherapy. i ask about the benadryl, and it sounds like she is going to start it with the pepcid for some reason. none of this is a big deal, i just had PLANS. you would think the last round would be the same as all the rest... whatever. fine. dexamethasone, THEN benadryl, THEN pepcid, THEN cryotherapy... check. bathroom break, then taxol, check. andy heads out and returns with the wifi external drive. at some point, i am presented with a certificate signed by all of the nurses, in honor of my last round of neoadjuvant (pre-surgery) chemotherapy. it is titled "certificate of courage," which is pretty cheesy, but i can appreciate the thought and effort. the certificate appears to be a substitute for bell ringing; for those familiar with the cancer world, chemotherapy offices often set up a bell that patients can ring once they have finished their treatments. this office used to have one, but removed it. for some cancer patients, it was discouraging, as they knew they would never be able to ring the bell... because stage 4 (metastatic) cancer often means chemo indefinitely. thus the certificate idea was born. (one of these days, i hope to post about the lack of research and funding regarding stage 4 metastatic breast cancer... but today is not that day).

after the infusion, it was back down to scheduling to arrange the next meeting with dr. m. she wants to see me in about a month to see how my body is recovering from chemo -- toxicity, blood work, etc., to make sure i am ready for surgery with dr. h. then it was chemo picnic in the car, then back home for me, and back to work for andy. as i struggled to get the wifi drive set up on my usb-less laptop, i was feeling a little chilly. i check the thermostat and it is 61 degrees. which is not terrible, except for the fact that we have it set for 70 degrees. uh oh. the fan is running, but no heat... awesome. i call the company that i assume installed the furnace (as it turns out, they installed the air conditioner, not the furnace, but no matter, they do both). they can send a technician out around 3-5pm, will you be around? oh yes, yes, i will. i am finally able to get a very short post-chemo nap in before the tech arrives. he inspects the fourteen year old furnace and gives the bad news about a temperature sensor, rusty furnace core, and safety issues. no repairs can be done; no furnace tonight. i learn about single stage furnaces, two stage furnaces, and the fact that the soonest we can have either of them is monday. awesome. andy has a portable oil filled radiator heater that served him well in his apartment, so i fire that up after the tech leaves. however, the house is at 58 degrees at this point, so we may need more oomph.

but first things first: we celebrate the last day of chemo at our favorite local diner. burgers, fries, and donuts to go for the next morning. after that, it's homeowner adventures in heater shopping. we decide to pass on the unreturnable, unknown brand name heater at ace hardware. we move on to target and find the perfect second radiator heater for our purposes. success! we bring it home, set it up, and are on our way to not freezing our buns (or pipes) off. it is still chilly in the house, but crawling into bed solves that issue just fine.

we wake up in the morning to find that the house is in the low 60's and also that the heaters have not burned the house down in any way. success! friday is far less exciting than thursday, which is fine by me. that evening, we crank up the heaters, order pizza, play some dominion, and watch the last episode of the good place.

saturday has involved a good amount of lounging around. several days ago, i had planned on making a pot roast in the instant pot today. we modified that plan and made it the old fashioned way -- when your furnace is borked, what better time can there possibly be to run the oven for four hours? i used one of those old-school oval roasting pans for the first time, even though it seemed like overkill for a small roast, and it all turned out deliciously. after that, we played a board game, and now here i am, updating you all on Week 23, which was far more eventful than anticipated or desired. hopefully the coming week will be a little less exciting, except perhaps for monday: a new motherboard AND a new furnace! adulthood is so random. let's do this.