hair and spit
G'day all!
Who would ever think that two of the things I most miss about this whole cancer trip are my hair and my spit? Isn't it funny how things you miss are the normal sorts of things, average, everyday stuff like good health, hair and saliva?
Yep, we are getting into the grind now. The side effects are building up as my overall health declines. It is really hard to exercise when one gets this weird indigestion and sheer getting off the couch in the week after chemo is starting to become one's major source of exercise (showering is a daily feat that I am proud of!). I am getting better from the whackiness of earlier in the week - so glad I didn't have to go out shopping or anything until today (apart from Sunday's market excursion) - but oof! I remember happy days of riding my bike around, and if I rode a fair way, feeling tired the next day. Now I get the tired without the joy of riding around! And the spit thing is just plain weird. My mouth is dry-feeling a lot. Saliva is hard to come by. My salivary glands are sore - they've been attacked by the chemo, or possibly the anti-nausea drugs - and have fairly much gone on strike. (It is really weird biting into a biscuit and having pain hit rather than a squirt of saliva!) My tastebuds are affected too - I've not been able to taste much apart from pepper and salt and mint. Everything tastes odd. So I am using a mouthwash that lubricates the mouth (get your minds out of the gutter you dirty dirty people!), brushing my teeth a lot and doing my salt water rinses heaps too.
That is one of the things about being on chemo. One has to look after oneself
All.
The.
Time.
If one slacks off, one will pay! Someone did not do her mouth stuff well on Monday, now she pays! (At the pharmacy, buying stuff to help Set Things Right.) The routine and rigour and discipline needed is tiresome but the aftermath of Not Doing the Right Thing is even more tiresome and can stop me doing important things like eating. Normally I like eating, I enjoy my tucker a lot but when I can't taste it? Eh.
But it should get better and after I go to the chiro tomorrow to get my knee sorted (who knew that one could put one's knee out by sitting too much?) and get my new prescription sunnies (and pick up the newly sharpened knives - oh bliss! Sharp knives!), hopefully I'll feel much better!
I've been trying to finish a shawlette that I started waaay back in October. I ran out of yarn for it and can't afford $$ or time to go get some more, so I decided to give it a ruffle in some pink cashmere that was just laying around in the loungeroom (really. It was just sitting there, having gotten separated from the rest of the recycled cashmere). So I knitted frantically yesterday, increased into every second stitch, then after knitting six rows or nearly an inch of ruffle over SIX HUNDRED STITCHES, realised I had not increased enough or that I needed to take 3 or 4 strands of the yarn to make the ruffle work. I had not taken into account the different in yarn weight.
So I ripped out the ruffle. Sigh. And then I had to put 300 stitches back on the needles and wind the yarn so that I could knit with four plies (that took me about three hours - recycled laceweight cashmere is not particularly forgiving yarn) and start over again.
So I've managed to increase into every stitch, purl a row and now I am increasing every two stitches and slipping the yarn in front of the other stitch. I have ideas of having a double ruffle - the slipped stitches will form the basis of the second ruffle whilst I'll cast off the first ruffle on either the purl row or the next knit one.
Will someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery? This ruffle is taking FOREVER! And I want the needles to start my echo flower shawl.
*pout*
Today's pics are from our trip to Western Australia in 2004, our honeymoon. Someone on Ravelry wanted to see pics from WA and I figured you can all join in the fun! Plus it gives me something nice to look at and remember
Hopefully I'll get this blasted ruffle done sometime tomorrow and then block the shawlette and show it off. It is a bit lurid but hopefully pretty still.
anon!
Who would ever think that two of the things I most miss about this whole cancer trip are my hair and my spit? Isn't it funny how things you miss are the normal sorts of things, average, everyday stuff like good health, hair and saliva?
Yep, we are getting into the grind now. The side effects are building up as my overall health declines. It is really hard to exercise when one gets this weird indigestion and sheer getting off the couch in the week after chemo is starting to become one's major source of exercise (showering is a daily feat that I am proud of!). I am getting better from the whackiness of earlier in the week - so glad I didn't have to go out shopping or anything until today (apart from Sunday's market excursion) - but oof! I remember happy days of riding my bike around, and if I rode a fair way, feeling tired the next day. Now I get the tired without the joy of riding around! And the spit thing is just plain weird. My mouth is dry-feeling a lot. Saliva is hard to come by. My salivary glands are sore - they've been attacked by the chemo, or possibly the anti-nausea drugs - and have fairly much gone on strike. (It is really weird biting into a biscuit and having pain hit rather than a squirt of saliva!) My tastebuds are affected too - I've not been able to taste much apart from pepper and salt and mint. Everything tastes odd. So I am using a mouthwash that lubricates the mouth (get your minds out of the gutter you dirty dirty people!), brushing my teeth a lot and doing my salt water rinses heaps too.
That is one of the things about being on chemo. One has to look after oneself
All.
The.
Time.
If one slacks off, one will pay! Someone did not do her mouth stuff well on Monday, now she pays! (At the pharmacy, buying stuff to help Set Things Right.) The routine and rigour and discipline needed is tiresome but the aftermath of Not Doing the Right Thing is even more tiresome and can stop me doing important things like eating. Normally I like eating, I enjoy my tucker a lot but when I can't taste it? Eh.
But it should get better and after I go to the chiro tomorrow to get my knee sorted (who knew that one could put one's knee out by sitting too much?) and get my new prescription sunnies (and pick up the newly sharpened knives - oh bliss! Sharp knives!), hopefully I'll feel much better!
I've been trying to finish a shawlette that I started waaay back in October. I ran out of yarn for it and can't afford $$ or time to go get some more, so I decided to give it a ruffle in some pink cashmere that was just laying around in the loungeroom (really. It was just sitting there, having gotten separated from the rest of the recycled cashmere). So I knitted frantically yesterday, increased into every second stitch, then after knitting six rows or nearly an inch of ruffle over SIX HUNDRED STITCHES, realised I had not increased enough or that I needed to take 3 or 4 strands of the yarn to make the ruffle work. I had not taken into account the different in yarn weight.
So I ripped out the ruffle. Sigh. And then I had to put 300 stitches back on the needles and wind the yarn so that I could knit with four plies (that took me about three hours - recycled laceweight cashmere is not particularly forgiving yarn) and start over again.
So I've managed to increase into every stitch, purl a row and now I am increasing every two stitches and slipping the yarn in front of the other stitch. I have ideas of having a double ruffle - the slipped stitches will form the basis of the second ruffle whilst I'll cast off the first ruffle on either the purl row or the next knit one.
Will someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery? This ruffle is taking FOREVER! And I want the needles to start my echo flower shawl.
*pout*
Today's pics are from our trip to Western Australia in 2004, our honeymoon. Someone on Ravelry wanted to see pics from WA and I figured you can all join in the fun! Plus it gives me something nice to look at and remember
Hopefully I'll get this blasted ruffle done sometime tomorrow and then block the shawlette and show it off. It is a bit lurid but hopefully pretty still.
anon!
When I first got sick, I would shout (inside my car) at people who were blithely walking up a hill or carrying a lot of bags or running (!!) because I couldn't do those things anymore. It certainty skews your perspective.
ReplyDeleteDo you have some of those lemon wipe things on sticks to make your mouth feel nice?? I have seen them at the Holman Clinic here I think.
I also think it makes your mid not work properly. I hope your ruffle is rufflicious!!!
Man, no spit sounds pretty sucky. Personally I'm OK with the no hair thing but I've had a fair few years to get used to the idea :-) I'm right there with you on the shower thing though, however for me it is more about ensuring my plaster stays dry, getting in and out while standing on one leg, etc. Showering should be a joy, not a chore :-(
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