Cold Nose

The end of my nose is cold. This isn't a new thing, it's one of those things I have forgotten to mention here.

Last night I insisted husband checked my nose temperature, and he agreed it was pretty cold.

This wouldn't be so weird were I not wearing my Quokka Oodie which is unbelievably toasty. I'm warm everywhere except my nose. Obviously now I'm looking at a gazillion side effects but nothing obvious is coming up. Maybe I'm just meant to have a cold nose. 

The side effect (which dates back to the craniotomy in October 2022) where my nose runs when I eat is still there. I think that's one I'm stuck with, alas. 

But it does make me wonder if the two things could be related in some way. 

There's Tiredness and There's Laziness

The teen helped at Brownie camp this weekend so husband and I had the house to ourselves from late on Friday. It was a bit weird, the quietness - though I was used to it with madam always taking herself off upstairs to do whatever it is she has planned (which is hopefully homework....)

It was like the old days - we could keep the tv volume up, we didn't need to close doors to keep it quiet for the teen and generally we had a different kind of freedom. This wasn't then helped by us both falling asleep in front of the tv though. 

I set aside a time to go and have a shower, but it wasn't to be. Strictly started and I wasn't going to miss Angela Rippon doing a routine to 'Do-Re-Mi' from The Sound of Music. Marvellous it was too. 

So I was left in a happy place in my pyjamas (and new Oodie) while feeling a bit lazy with it all. I was tired too, but this was definitely more on the lazy side. To make up for it I had an early shower today. I'm not sure if the gods of cleanliness will care though. 

Yesterday was also a year since I first went to A&E. That was a weird milestone to pass. 

A Long Weekend

I like how when we get an extra day off, a bank holiday it's classed as a long weekend. It also means I have no radiotherapy on Monday because of this - so all back to normal on Tuesday. 

That extra day makes all the difference. 

I can tell I've got a dry cough, not sure if it's hayfever or an actual cold but as I'm so close to the end of this phase of treatment I'm hopeful things will be fine, especially with the extra day. Oh and a nice sunny weekend and a child-free weekend too as she's going off on her practice trek for Duke of Edinburgh Bronze. 

So it feels like it could be a nice time to just slow down, eat well and relax. 

(and miss my child)

Side-effect wise, everything feels normal again other than not being able to sleep properly. My legs are a little bit dry, remedied with some moisturising cream I've been prescribed, and a drowsy antihistamine. I get there in the end, though last night slept from around 11pm until 6.30am which was the old sleep patterns I had back in the pre-brain-injury days. I'm sure tonight it'll get wonky again. I'm sure. 

So this phase of treatment will end soon, then more MRI scans to see if it did any good. Then we'll know more. My sister asked if all the waiting was frustrating, but I don't think about it. I don't think it would be helpful - we get the info when we get it (so to speak). They moved me forward with this Radiotherapy as there was a space and accommodated what needed doing. 

So yeah, who knows what happens next? 

Adverts

Every other advert on tv is a cancer-related funeral care one. 

Every other advert on tv is a bank. They'd love you to leave some money to a charity (in your will) when you die.

Every other advert on tv is a chocolate one. This wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't fighting off a cold with higher blood sugar levels so chocolate has gone back on the not-a-chance list until things calm down again. 

Every other advert on tv is a takeaway service - like Just Eat or Uber. I get so many emails every day from Uber it's getting a bit silly. Uber, cool it down a bit, eh? 

I tell you what I could do with some adverts for - chemo-friendly eyebrow reconstruction people, hairline growing fast shampoo (as I could stuff several cushions with all my hair that keeps falling out). I had the most hair fall out today which actually did enough to block the plughole - that was a first. 

Today is also the last day of me taking all my medication unless it's decided that I need to go back on anything (and of course there's starting chemo whenever that happens). So I'm also wondering if this means my diabetes days could be coming to a close. That would be nice - if only to have a break thinking about what I'm eating... 

Forgetfulness

Okay, forgetfulness is well and truly back. My short term memory isn't great. Longer term is - though it's a bit weird. For example, husband asked what I'd like for lunch today - I said I quite fancied a croissant with cheese (as that feels quite a treat right now). 

At this point husband says I asked if we needed anything else and he said "bread" - though I don't remember asking it, but I do remember wanting to make sure we got some. So it probably happened, I'm just not sure. 

I would add as an additional "this might be why" as I've had this awful cold and am trying to stay away from everything - though I've hit the night 'cough-all-night-long' thing which is really irritating. I'm up several times in the night - mainly when the coughing won't stop. Being upright usually fixes it. 

I've actually got to the stage where I insisted husband sleeps downstairs so I don't disturb him in the night which might have worked. 

But my lack of sleep might explain why my head isn't retaining much at the moment. So do hurry up and recover, body. I mean, the last thing I want is to start chemo, but it's also exactly what should be going on. So let's get it underway with me feeling strong and ready to fight. 

Books

So I have a cold. I cough all night, so much that husband slept on the settee last night so he'd get some sleep. Me and colds never get on well and this is no exception. 

It's so boring though. I get tired - I spent a lot of yesterday napping and fell asleep on the settee last night, waking up at 10.30pm and being really confused as to where I was. 

Today I've had a bit more energy so decided it was time to sort out the bookshelves because that's a really sensible thing to do when you spent most of the previous day sleeping. Obviously I've got half way and I'm really tired. BUT! I have bookshelves which have books with the same coloured spine and it looks so much nicer. Let's not mention where I missed a few books, I'll work on that another time. 

This was all inspired by me knowing I have a book on pancake recipes. Except it's nowhere to be found. I am putting it down to delirium induced by this cold. It's bumping up my blood sugars again so maybe I'm hallucinating and it never existed and was just a knitting book. 

The plus side is I've found loads of books I forgot I had. 

The down side is I've got to put the books back on the shelves. 

The biggest bonus is I've got a load of books to read so I can't complain!