After no naps on Thursday and Friday I got a bit blasé about the need. Yesterday it was nap central. I sat down early afternoon with B to watch the rest of the film I’d fallen asleep watching on Friday night and do some knitting. I was snuggled up on the settee with a fleece blanket and B and we’d got the heating on too. It was quite cold after some really nice weather but I think I may be a bit nesh too. B ended up taking the knitting off me as my head was bobbing up and down like an out of control puppet and suggesting I lie down. No sooner had my head touched the cushion than zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The one good thing is that when I am awake I do feel more alert than I did and not as much in slow motion. Maggie said that mental alertness can be affected and when B asked for the second time when I would be able to drive she said that once I was able to read more than a few pages without falling asleep and know what was going on I would be able to concentrate enough to drive. When pressurised by you know who for a specific timescale she said about a month. I haven’t had a problem with reading but B has got over the panic of knowing this and realises that I won’t be getting behind the wheel of the car imminently. However there are a couple of things I have been having trouble with.
There’s this really simple game on the computer where you match sea creatures in threes or more by swapping them on the board to clear them off. I seem to have completely lost the ability to do this even with the hints it gives. Occasionally I wouldn’t clear the board in time but over the last week it’s been a case of clearing it once!
‘Excuse me madam, are you fit to drive?’
‘Oh yes officer, I managed to clear the crustaceans off the board.’
The other thing that taxed my brain on Thursday was Fermat’s Last Theorem otherwise referred to as the instructions for using our new water filter jug. Bottled water being a no-no, we got a jug as our tap water is not very pleasant. The instructions may as well have been in hieroglyphics, they probably where somewhere else in the book, but I was definitely looking at the English ones. I even tried the international language of pictures shown separately. No comprende.
‘If you have purchased a water filter jug featuring a pour through lid with automatic filling mechanism …’
Well since ours didn’t seem to have legs and arms with which to walk to the tap, turn it on and fill itself I didn’t think we had bought one of those.
I kept expecting to see a disclaimer
‘If you can’t follow instructions on how to use your water filter jug and you are older than three you should be supervised at ALL times.’
Since we still have a bottle of soda water I put the jug down and went back to it on Friday when other than putting the filter in before I’d submersed it in water because I did this before looking at the instructions I was able to successfully negotiate the ‘complex’ procedure!
I know that some people, including Beth, had their SCT on an outpatient basis. I really feel I couldn’t have done it that way with the way I felt and this was confirmed last night from the ‘caregiver’ side of things. B woke me up to go to bed. I had a glass of water I’d not touched and in the interest of staying hydrated I decided to finish it before going to bed. I did and then went to brush my teeth and threw up! I have been off water, but thought it was due to taste of our tap water but this did seem to be one of the things that came back easily on holiday. I think this time it was maybe because I had nearly 500ml in one go and then moved.
So there it was in the wash basin and more kept coming up and B stood on the landing staring and couldn’t come in! Like on holiday I didn’t feel sick for more than a few seconds before or after, it just suddenly made an appearance so I felt okay after. Fortunately the ‘acquired’ surface wipes came in handy.
I feel fine this morning although did have a lie in. Normally I’m up at about 7:45, this morning 9:50!
Feresaknit's Blog 
So important to keep the water flowing inward… can you have herbal teas? That is another way to keep hydrated. But glad you are feeling better each day!
Wow. I’m really sorry that you’re still having some issues. Maybe it’s easier for those of us with more substantial mass? I’m starting to think so.
Can you handle Jell-o? Pudding? Anything wet?
I can understand B not wanting to come in while you were sick. I don’t even want to be in the room when I’M sick! I run when it’s other people. I have a funny (sort of) story about that, which I’ll save for another time.
I hope within a couple of weeks you won’t need the anti-emetics anymore. I think they had me taking them for a while after I got home, even though I thought I didn’t need them.
I think what you described about the computer game and the water filter instructions is chemo brain. Enjoy it while you can.
When Tim couldn’t stand the thought of water anymore,
he found lemonade did the trick. For some, it seems to
soothe the tummy and can be easier to get down. Sounds
like you are doing really well. So glad to hear it! Out-patient
SCT is tough. Going everyday from a condo 2 blocks from cancer center/hospital in the AM and back to condo in PM can be downright brutal when you are weak and seasick and have to be driven in circular parking garages and go up and down elevators. It had some benefits but not sure if we’d go that route again.
B picked up some lemonade yesterday. Thanks, I wouldn’t have thought about it even though when I was little and a trip in the car any distance wasn’t a regular occurrance lemonade was the beverage of choice given by my Great Auntie Betty for travel sickness. Although on a hot day after it had warming in the car boot (trunk!) for a couple of hours I think some of the ‘medicinal’ effects may have worn off.