Oh, I would love to have a hang with Barack dream.

That sounds like a pretty cool dream!

I had some kind of issue with teams and outlook on my phone but it started this weekend, and when I tried to fix it this morning I accidentally deleted the work profile from my phone, and trying to redo it just had it going in circles? Not sure if the circles part might have been affected by this morning’s issues even if the initial problem wasn’t. But it’s very annoying.

Tim's started his last week of treatment this morning. He's obviously so fucking ready for it to be over. Tomorrow is his last chemo infusion, and he gets to ring the done-with-chemo bell. Friday is the last day of radiation (I'm not sure if they have a done-with-radiation bell, but I feel like they should). He's only lost 5 pounds since starting therapy; not losing any weight would be ideal, but 5 pounds, even on his lean frame, is okay. His BP has been okay since the oncologist increased the dose of the meds that help keep it from dropping. His white blood cell count has been low for 2 weeks, which isn't unusual, but also not ideal. If need be, there are meds that can stimulate white blood cell production, but his count should come back up on its own, particularly once treatment is totally over.

Because radiation causes an inflammatory reaction, which could show up on a PET scan as a false positive for cancerous activity, he won't have a follow-up PET scan until about 3 months after radiation is over so everything can calm down. So we won't actually know until then if treatment got rid of all the cancerous cells, which I fucking hate. I want to know now, damn it. We do know that the type of cancer he has is extremely susceptible to radiation, and it's only stage 1, so the odds are good that it will be all gone.

The radiation oncologist said that the side effects like mouth and throat pain and swallowing difficulty often get worse after radiation is over, because radiation has a cumulative effect. But it's week 7 and we did not expect him to still be eating solid food at this point (soft stuff like noodles and mashed potatoes and yogurt, but still, it's better than a Boost-only diet or a feeding tube), so maybe his post-radiation side effects won't be overwhelmingly shitty. Fingers crossed for only slightly shitty!

Slightly shitty, FTW. It is good that he lost so little weight and that the BP is under control. I'm sorry you have to wait so long for the all clear.

Yay for ringing bells, and may all side effects be as minimal as possible and easily managed.

Excellent news on Tim's bell lap. He's really done very well under the circumstances.

I did my Monday morning Pilates and it was sweaty and vigorous. The week has officially started.

More importantly, I cleaned the Guinea Pig cage which was ripe and overdue. Then I trekked to the Post Office and with immaculate timing arrived with No Line Whatsoever, wherein I mailed a big fat frickin' check to the IRS via Priority.

Bought a Muffaletta for lunch. (And, of course it had olives on it or it wouldn't be a Muffaletta by definition!)

I've taken out the garbage and I'm about to go to therapy, and when I return I will do the other two Onerous Tasks that have been bedeviling me: the Lutheran spawning dishes in the sink, and vacuuming (which is especially necessary because I've been killing flies all over the house and need to suck up their little exo-corpses).