Day +111, Monday

Earlier today, I told myself that I would begin my transition to writing posts mid-afternoon. This gives me time with Andy, and gets me into the habit of not staying up until 1 am – something that will be important for graduate school in a short 6-ish months. That being said, plans changed. I spent part of the day replying to texts and messages and emails and later, simply just trying to re-organize myself in my home.

I discovered that my multi-tasking is not what it used to be, interestingly enough. I would start one thing, and then go to a second, and then third. Later in the day, laundry was dry (still) in the dryer, Sally – our friendly little RoboVac – was dead in the kitchen (battery failure), a mug of tea upstairs was cold, and there were about 5 other things that for the life of me, I just can’t remember. But that’s OK – I felt good about today, just doing the things I needed to do in order to make space for myself and move back in.

The rainy day was nice – especially watching from a warm and dry spot, like inside. I flirted briefly with going for a hike, but as my productivity level was good, I opted to stay home. Later, when I really did plan on leaving the house – it was pouring. So I made myself tea. And I realized that, this has been the first time that I’ve been alone, in a space of my own for a very long time, since October.

In the hospital, my door was constantly revolving with doctors and staff, clinicians who were there to help, and for whom I was grateful. And then in Bethesda, Mom and I were together in our apartment, lovely and cozy (small) – I would head to appointments or the occasional hike on my own, but pretty much whenever I was in, so was Mom. And then here, back home – Mom didn’t leave until Friday and then Andy and I were together all weekend.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the silence – the stillness. I made tea and then just listened to the rain. It was beautiful.

My body is feeling OK, doing well. My biggest issue is still dry skin everywhere – I just can’t get enough lotion and moisturizer on my face, shoulders, body, legs, etc. At night, when I’ll get up to use the bathroom (because of all of that “aggressive hydration”), my skin will even feel tight when I slide across the sheets, as though its being tugged. It makes me grateful that the temperature here is in the 30s and 40s, not -20s like my Minnesota family is dealing with. I’m still searching for the personal moisturizer that my OBGYN recommended – they are more challenging to find than one would expect. 2 stores visited, and even Amazon is not helpful – tomorrow I will perhaps try a few more.

Speaking of which, tomorrow morning I’ve got a lab draw at 9 am, followed by an appointment with my hematologist. I appreciate being able to check in on a weekly basis for now, and I’ll be curious about my lab results and Tacro levels from the Asheville lab when compared with the NIH. To Be Continued. Post appointment, if the weather is OK and my body is feeling good, I’m planning on a hike or walk – it will be nice to get out and spend some time on local trails, even if just for a little while. Then perhaps, I’ll have better luck with the larger CVS down the road or Target, but that’s getting ahead of myself.

And before I forget – in addition to some lovely items, Andy gave me the following. Given my TP issues while inpatient, and after admitting that, quite frankly, some toilet paper is just far superior to others, I was surprised at how scratchy this stuff seemed. I’ve become pampered by Andy’s soft, lotion-y TP, and I have zero problem with that. Anyway, I think I’ll end up keeping this in my car for post-hike/run/row/whatever emergencies; that seems more in accordance with joining the over 40 crowd, anyway.