I am still fatigued, but I am continuing on my Comeback Tour. And much like Elvis' Comeback Special, I feel overweight, I sweat and grunt with just a little bit of exertion, none of my clothes seem to fit the same as they did (especially my sequin jumpsuits), and some days I feel like I am going to die on the toilet.
Yesterday I met with an older friend who I enjoy talking to a whole lot despite the forty year age difference. It then dawns on me, that when I finally do have a child, there will be a forty year age difference. I wonder if my child will see me as a source of wisdom and great stories as I view my friend, or will I still be just an embarrassing parent? My money is on the embarrassing parent, at least that is what I am aiming for.
Today I met with another good friend I haven't seen in a while. The first thing she said was that my mustache looked good. That is a good friend, to tell a bold-faced lie to you just to make you feel good. Liz, I know my Mo looks ridiculous, you can admit it. It was good talking to her. Of course the cancer stuff came up, I mean it has been a big event that I have been dealing with, and she hasn't seen me since it all started. But we also got to talk about a lot of non-cancer stuff, which was good. She showed me lots of pictures of her recent trip to China, in which I learned I am not going to China unless I am allowed to bring my own toilet. I have seen photos of friends' visits to China before, but her visit was away from the traditional tourist areas and I found them fascinating, and I am not just saying that because she sometimes reads my blogs, I am saying that because they were a lot better than most people's usual boring vacation pics (like the ones I show people that frequently involve a large cartoon rodent).
After that great visit, it was time for my cancer support group. One of my favorites showed up today! I was getting a little worried, because neither my wife nor I have seen her or her husband in our respective groups, but it turned out that it was just a coincidence that we kept missing alternating groups, and they are doing OK, despite being cancer patients. The non-therapying therapist that I like is doing the snowbird thing and we were introduced to our winter non-therapying therapist, who tends to therapize a little more that I thought they were supposed to. But to be fair, I really like our snowbird guy, so I guess I need to give this new guy a chance. One of the subjects we discussed today was paying for long-term care of loved ones. I suggested that if insurance refused to pay for long-term care of your loved one, you could always abuse them, then the state would step in and take care of them for you (which should scare the crap out of my parents that I even came up with that thought, I hear an American made Paul Reed Smith with double cutaways and twenty four frets makes children forget a lot of things and really want to treat their parents well in their twilight years...I'm just saying...). Everyone seemed to be amused and laughed at my comment, knowing that I only half meant it, including the person that brought up the subject that seemed to laugh a little too hard, I don't know if they were so frustrated with insurance that they were actually considering my plan or not. However, new non-therapying therapist didn't seem to be near as amused. Heck, we are cancer patients, we can joke. Does he want us to just sit around and talk about how much our lives suck right now? Because I do that in my blogs and to my wife and to the basenjis, I don't need to do that in group too. After all, that's why my wife goes to her group to complain about my complaining. The two basenjis don't have a group, except each other, and since they are barkless dogs they don't say much.
And speaking about how life can suck, one of the best things about group is getting the experience of the group and hearing about new technologies, treatments, and treatment center reviews. This chemo fatigue is really bothering me. I feel like such a lazy bum because I can't lift much and I get so exhausted, even from eating pancakes and changing channels. So I mention it to the group (and I can say this about group in specifics because it was about me) and all of the other people that have been on or are currently on chemo said I am perfectly normal...well as normal as an unemployed, one nutted, cancer patient that suggests elder abuse to pay for medical bills, can be. They said shaking the chemo fatigue does take a while, a lot longer than all of the other chemo symptoms. One suggested taking a regular midday nap until I get my strength back (I liked to hear that), while another said with chemo fatigue naps may have little effect (which I didn't like hearing as much, so I took a nap). As usual, group was very helpful. We laughed, we cried, we group hugged-which I still don't like group hugging, but I don't mind tolerating if it helps someone else.
I need to rest up for tomorrow as my tour continues. After hanging out with a seventy nine year old yesterday, I am hanging out with two twenty year olds tomorrow. I need two of them, just to give them a fighting chance. Although I am closer in age to the twenty year olds, the seventy nine year old is still easier to figure out what he is talking about. I enjoy the twenty year olds' company regardless and I am sure we will have a great time talking about what a wonderful person I am. Plus, compared to the boys the twenty year olds hang around, my Mo will look normal.
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