I've only been out once since my first chemo session and that was to go to the hospital for the blood check. I've been "playing things safe" by staying in during my low white cell counts . . . and I've been keeping busy at home.
However, I went out yesterday! Woo hoo! I met with a group of friends for "Sundae Club" (that's what we call "church" here) and had a great time with them. I wore my mask when I was with the group and while walking outside. I reminded everyone to wash their hands and unfortunately, I had to stay away from the babies as they had the sniffles. However, it was wonderful to be with everyone again.
After Club, we went out to eat. I'm sad that one of the side effects of chemo is that the lining of the esophagus is thinned, thus eating more "intense" foods more difficult. I'm a gal who loves her spices and now I can't eat them. I can literally feel spicy food burning its way down my throat, so I stay away from it. Fortunately, there's still enough variety in the foods of our area to keep me happy.
After lunch, I dragged Art to the meat market. We normally buy two/three pounds of beef at a time. However, since I'm heading back to Hong Kong next week and probably won't feel like shopping for food when I return, I bought ahead. I bought nine pounds of beef, separated into three different "roasts." Art's eyes went wide . . . "Are you sure we need all that?" I reminded him of his schedule in that he won't be getting home from work until 7:30 three nights a week and that I won't be able to run out and pick something up. I reminded him how I wouldn't be here for three days and that food would need to be available for the kids once they got home from school. He just kind of shook his head in wonder about how could we possibly eat all that food. I think he was also in sticker shock over how much I spent on meat! (Recipes include beef stew; BBQ beef and fajitas.)
I also bought ten chicken breasts. When I got home, I froze the beef and six of the breasts. I chopped up the remaining four, as well as some broccoli, cauliflower, onion and green pepper. I put some rice in the rice cooker and stir fried the meat and veggies. Everything was done at the same time (that's a miracle!) and dinner was served!
While I won't be teaching this semester, I will be doing my best to care for my family. This morning, the kids went back to school after their long semester break and I got up and made them scrambled egg and cheese pizza. Michael fussed at me a bit . . . he was anxious to leave for school to see all of his friends . . . but broke down and said, "I think I'll have a piece after all!"